A/N: Welcome back to Summer Diaries: Special Edition.

The following chapter is chronologically second, and was also posted second. Kinda like Haruhi Episode 12.

xxxxx

Kazu

xxxxx

My name is Hirokazu Shioda, but everyone just calls me "Kazu" for short. I like to think of myself as an outgoing guy, but there's one area where I'm as timid as anyone: girls. Not all girls, mind you, just one in particular: Kiyoko Sasaki.

Kiyoko and I met the first week of our first year in high school. I had decided that high school was the perfect opportunity to reinvent myself as a ladies' man. Unfortunately, I wasn't very good at it. Kiyoko was in that first group of girls I tried to impress, and when her friends started making fun of me, she actually stood up to them and defended me.

I think that was when I fell in love with her. I mean, it wasn't exactly love at first sight, although she is fairly pretty, but I sensed sort of a kindred spirit in her.

See, what Kiyoko doesn't know is that my friends and I are superheroes. I mean, sure she's met our digimon partners, but, let's face it, digimon aren't exactly an uncommon sight these days. No, I'm talking about actual superpowers. One I got from an ancient Amazoness treasure called the Lights of Victory. Calling on the power of my spirit animal, the rhinoceros, I can summon the power of super strength. I even give off a white aura when I do. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed that the powers didn't come with cool costumes or armor, since I've always been a big Sentai fan, but I digress.

My friends also have powers, though some of them draw their power from the Four Gods, rather than the Lights of Victory, and we all decided it was best to keep these powers secret, for now.

Little did I know that was all about to change, at least as far as Kiyoko was concerned.

Kiyoko is on the student council, and they meet before school starts, so she's usually the first one in the classroom in the mornings, but this morning I was there as she walked in. She was reading a book, and must have been so thoroughly entranced by it that she made it all the way to her desk without noticing me, so I decided to start the conversation.

"Morning, Kiyoko!"

She jumped a bit. God, she looks cute when she's startled. "Oh! Morning, Kazu. What are you doing here so early?"

"Oh, I forgot my math notebook in my desk yesterday, so I got here early so I could finish my homework." Which was mostly true. I was so caught up in planning this date that I actually did forget my math notebook.

"That sounds like you," she giggled. "Do you need any help with it?"

"Nah, it was pretty simple. I was just finishing up when you walked in." Okay, that was a lie. It was still lying half-finished in my desk, but I had other matters to talk about. "What's that book you're reading? You seem pretty caught up in it."

What the heck? Why did I ask her that?

"Oh, this? It's just a book on Norse Mythology. It's kind of a passion of mine. My favorite stories are the ones about the Norns."

"Oh! I know those! Skuld, Urd, and Belldandy, right?"

"It's actually closer to Verdandi. Belldandy was just the transliteration they used on Ah! My Goddess!"

"Right... I knew that..."

"Did you know that Skuld, the youngest Norn was also a Valkyrie?"

"Really? You mean like Brunhilde?"

"Yeah, she's probably the most famous Valkyrie, largely due to Wagner's opera."

Come on, Kazu; ask her what you wanted to ask her. "Say, are you free this Sunday?" There. Was that so hard?

"I... I guess so. Why?"

I wanted to know if you'd like to go on a date with me.

"I... Some friends and I are going to Akihabara this weekend and I was wondering if you'd like to come along."

Goddammit! Why can't my mouth ever say what my brain tells it to?

"Sure! I'd love to."

Wait, she said yes? Well, that's something. "Cool! Let's meet at Shinjuku station. Is 9 AM alright?"

"That's fine."

And then the other students started to arrive, so we returned to our small talk. My head was swimming so much that I honestly don't remember much about our conversation.

So asking her out didn't go exactly as planned. She still agreed to it, which meant I had to ask for a favor from my friend Takato.

"You want me to go on a date with you?"

It was lunchtime that same day, and Takato and I were the first ones to arrive at the roof of the school, our group's private little hangout.

"A group date!" I clarified. "You and Rika both, maybe Himura and Jeri as well."

"I'm fine with it, but I'll have to ask Rika."

"Ask me what?" A not-quite-feminine voice asked. What's that saying? 'Speak of the devil...'?

"Kazu wants us to go to Akihabara with him and Kiyoko this weekend." Takato explained to his girlfriend.

"You mean to tell me that you two have known each other for over a year, and you still can't ask her out on a simple date without getting other people involved?"

Leave it to Rika to cut right to the heart of the problem.

"It's not that simple!" I protested.

"What's not?" Himura, who had just arrived with Jeri, asked.

"Kazu asking Kiyoko out on a date," Rika stated.

"Well, why not? It's obvious she likes you," Jeri, the voice of reason, pointed out. "I mean, she did stand up for you when her friends were teasing you about that whole 'Casanova' debacle."

"Ugh, did you have to remind me about that?"

"And she even went with us to see Rei's twins," Takato added. "Remember? She didn't even object when you called it your first date!"

"Well, yeah, but I was only joking about that. I mean, going to the hospital to see your friend's babies? What kind of date is that?"

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't know! It's like whenever I talk to her, my mouth keeps running away from what my brain is telling it to say."

"Why don't you just say that your friends cancelled?" Himura offered. "That way you can still go on the date with just the two of you."

"I can't do that! What if she only said 'yes' because she knew it was going to be a group outing? If I tell her it's just going to be us now, it'll be all awkward! Please, Himura, you have to come!"

Himura sweat-dropped a bit. "What do you say, Jeri?"

"I don't see why not, if it's to help Kazu," Jeri replied. "Besides, I'd never pass up a chance to go shopping in Akiba!"

My heart leapt. One and a half couples had already agreed. My eyes turned to the lone holdout. "Rika?"

"Oh, all right," she sighed. "Just stop looking at me with those pathetic puppy-dog eyes."

"I'll call Takuya tonight," Takato chimed in. "See if he and Izumi would be up for meeting us there."

"That'd be awesome! I didn't think of them!"

With three other couples signed on for the group date, all that was left was to wait for the big day. When Sunday rolled around, I found myself at the meeting spot half an hour before the appointed time, only to find Kiyoko waiting for me.

"Kiyoko? You're early. I hope you weren't waiting long."

"Nah, I just got here."

"Now, did you really just get here? Or have you been here for a while and are just saying that."

"Drat, you saw through my cunning plan."

"Well, that was going to be my plan."

"I figured. I mean, you're not the kind of guy who comes in early just to finish your homework, you know."

"Am I that transparent?"

"Yeah, it's how we saw through your Casanova act. Even though my friends thought it was a bit dorky, I found it cute."

Huh-buh-wuh?

"You know, when you asked if I was free, I thought you were going to ask me on a date. Though I'm happy to be hanging out with you, I'm kind of disappointed it's not just us."

God DAMMIT!

"So if I'd have asked you out on an actual date, you'd have said yes?"

"Probably."

Quick! Before the subject changes! "Well, then you want to go catch a movie sometime?" YES! I actually said it!

"Slow down, cowboy. Let's see how today goes, first."

Shoot. Well, at least it's not completely hopeless.

"Hey, guys!" We heard a voice shout. We looked over to see Takato and Rika heading towards us. "Hope you two weren't waiting long."

"Nah," I said with a wink towards Kiyoko, "we just got here."

Himura and Jeri arrived shortly thereafter, and we met Takuya and Izumi at Akihabara station, since they had to take the train from Shibuya. We spent the morning looking around various shops.

I tell ya the Akiba-kei, or Akihabara-style, is a trend around Tokyo.It is what I call Otaku Haven. Here's where you'll find all your electronics, anime, manga, cosplay fashion, and what have you. Recently, it's developed strong ties to the Japanese gaming industry. Yeah, pretty much the geeks run this side of town, my kind of place!

The first stop we made was a local video and card game store. Being the gamers we are, Takato, Rika, Takuya, Himura, and I went in to check the latest Duel Monster expansion packs. Of course, I doubt Kiyoko is really into a lot of stuff I like, but she sure seemed ok with hanging with us geeks.

She pointed out the Digimon plushies they had for sale. I laughed when I saw the plushies of Guilmon, Terriermon, Calumon, Renamon, Inumon, and Impmon. I saw Himura buy an Inumon plushie for Jeri. I ought to take a page from your playbook, Himura! Too bad they didn't have a Guardromon plush. I checked. I guess it's hard to picture a big, metal robot as 'cuddly'. Poor guy. Even MarineAngemon had a plush!

The Digimon phenomenon sure has grown in the past couple years, but I think that's mostly because of our Digimon's existence becoming publicized and well known. It makes me feel good to see Digimon expand out of just a mere card game and TV anime. At this rate, it's already rivaling Pokémon and that's not even throwing Duel Monsters into the mix! Kaiba Corp is seeing lots of competition from both, and from what I heard the Sailor V property is on the comeback thanks to Hunter Tech Corp, run by Vega's father. The gaming industry is looking mighty strong these days.

Kiyoko was close to me, looking over a couple of Digimon, Pokémon, Sailor V, and Yu-Gi-Oh games for the DS.

"Say, Kiyoko, are you into video games?"

"Just the Sailor V games, but I have a little brother who adores the Pokémon, Digimon, and Duel Monster ones."

"Oh yeah? Haha, that's neat. Who's his favorite Digimon?"

"Guilmon, of course!" She smiled radiantly, and it felt like I just got struck by lightning. From her smile, I mean, not the fact that her brother chose Guilmon over Guardromon, which I can't fault him on, since apparently, Guardromon's not popular enough to have a plushie. But I'm not bitter about that, no sir.

I walked over to see what Takato and Rika were doing. There was a large crowd gathered and I managed to squeeze my head in between two guys to see those two playing a heated match on Battle Stadium D.O.N. Takato used the team of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake from Naruto against Rika's team of Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Sanji from One Piece. Man, an epic battle between Ninjas and Pirates, but I usually prefer to go with a power team like the Dragonball group.

We went over to where Takuya and Izumi were scouring through the card selections.

"You know I tried playing Duel Monsters a few times, but I can't seem to get the hang of it."

"Really?" I mused, an idea forming in my head. "The game mechanics aren't that hard to learn. I could show you a few things, if you'd like." And teaching you Duel Monsters would give me an excuse to spend more time with you. But of course I didn't say that out loud.

"Sure! That'd give us more time together, too!"

Oh. My. God. It's like we're on the same wavelength.

After a bit more browsing, we all paid for our purchases and started wandering around the city looking for another shop. Meanwhile, I was pointing out some of the sites that were relevant to us Tamers.

"And here is where my pals dealt with those two Devas, Vajramon and Pajiramon," I pointed across the pedestrian-zoned streets. "I missed out on it, since I didn't meet Guardromon until later, but you can ask Takato and Rika all about it."

I heard Takato and Rika chuckling behind my back. Was it something I said? I must be a comedian or something, because Takuya and Izumi shared some snickers. Even Kiyoko was giggling. Man, talk about awkward.

"You know this area does bring back memories, Rika," Takato remarked, reflecting back almost six years.

I saw Rika nodding. "God, time really does fly."

"I remember Inumon and I dealt with a wild digimon around here, just a few months after I woke up from my coma," Himura solemnly stated.

Jeri whispered, folding an arm around Himura's. "That wasn't long after Kotori passed away, right?"

"Yeah."

"This is also the site of the recent Akihabara massacre," Kiyoko said. "It wasn't that long ago."

I remember that horrific incident. I was appalled when this sick bastard killed seven innocent people with a truck and a knife. I could see the sadness in Kiyoko's eyes for those people who had their lives robbed from them. It's a stark reminder that, even with these powers, we can't save everybody, or be everywhere at once. It's impossible to play the hero 24/7 and balance it with a normal life.

"Well, that's enough reminiscing and tragedies," I said. "I know a great anime shop in Chūōdōri"

As we entered the shop, we could hear the FLCL ending theme Ride on Shooting Star playing. I saw Takato head straight for the latest Newtype and Weekly Shōnen Jump magazines. I glanced over and saw Rika reading Claymore and Devil Lady tankōbon. Himura and Jeri were checking out some Kamen Rider, Code Geass, and Gurren Lagann figurines. Takuya and Izumi were looking over a few wall scrolls ranging from popular titles like Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam, Soul Eater, and various other series.

Looking over to where Kiyoko was, I saw her scanning through a cell phone charm collection.

"See anything you like?" I asked.

"I was just thinking about getting a charm to remember this trip by."

"In that case, let me buy it for you!"

"Oh, no I couldn't ask that of you."

"Don't worry about it. In fact, I think I see the perfect one for you." I reached over and grabbed the Belldandy charm from the rack, presenting it to Kiyoko. "Remember our conversation the other day?"

"How could I forget? Thank you, Kazu." We took the charm to the cashier, and after I paid for it, I watched with satisfaction as Kiyoko immediately attached it to her cell phone.

As it was getting close to midday, we stopped at a little café for lunch (no, not a maid café), and as we were waiting for our order, I noticed the stark contrast in the relationships of the three other couples, yet all very much in love. Takuya and Izumi seemed to be all lovey-dovey, with Izumi hanging on to Takuya's arm and leaning her head on his shoulder. Himura and Jeri seemed to have a more quiet affection for each other, smiling softly and simply holding hands. Takato and Rika, well, they were busy arguing about which series was better, Neon Genesis Evangelion or Serial Experiments Lain, but you could still see the passion they had for each other in the fervency with which they were defending their favorite series. I think they get along even better when they're disagreeing than when they're in agreement.

Just as I was about to ponder what kind of relationship Kiyoko and I would have, there was a loud explosion just around the street corner. Like sheep, all the customers in the café, including us, flocked outside to see what was going on, only to be met by an oncoming horde of terrified shoppers, running from whatever caused the commotion.

"What's going on?" I asked Takato.

"I don't know. It could be those guys Kuwabara and Joey told us about."

"Let's go check it out!"

"No, we'll go. Your job is to get Kiyoko to safety, loverboy."

Kiyoko... Shit, I lost track of her! A quick look around and I found her drifting away with the crowd. I forced my way through the pack, calling out her name.

"Kiyoko!" I reached out to her and she grabbed my hand.

"Kazu! Where are the others?"

"I don't know! We got separated. Let's just get out of here for now."

I pull her into one of the deserted alleys behind the shops as the mass of people flowed by. When the coast was clear, I chanced a peek around the corner to see what was going on.

Rampaging around the city was a 15-foot tall reptilian warrior garbed in silver armor covering his back and abdomen. A large helmet with long, curved horns resembling a Viking's adorned its large narrow head. Sharp, curved spikes lined his back along the spine and down its tail which was half the length of the rest of its body. It was fighting off Suzakato, Seirika, Himakko, Ardhamon, JetSilphymon, and, for some reason, Justimon. Off to the side I saw a figure in a blue zip-up hoodie, with a blue bandana over her mouth and nose, and dark sunglasses: Jeri, in her standard disguise, glowing faintly blue with her Light of Victory.

From what I could tell, this behemoth was giving as good as he got. Suzakato and Ardhamon took to the air, launching a volley of flame attacks.

"Firepalm Blast!"

"Atomic Inferno!"

Behemoth crossed its arms and took the brunt of the attack head-on. As the smoke cleared, I could see that the creature was a bit singed, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

Holy crap! I did not just see that! C'mon, guys! You gotta put more oomph into it!

Suddenly, I saw thunder clouds forming out of nowhere. Seems like it's the girls' turn up to bat.

"Hurricane Storm!"

"Ultra Turbulence!"

Seirika and JetSilphymon fired their attacks, using gale-force winds to try to push Behemoth back, but the massive beast used its tail as a brace and stood its ground..

"Magnetic Push!"

"Justice Kick!"

Himakko and Justimon added to the ongoing assault, striking Behemoth with their attacks. Himakko's quick claw strike slashed the left side of Behemoth's face as Justimon's kick impacted on its back, but nothing seemed to slow it down! It kept going, but my friends weren't giving up!

Suzakato and Ardhamon flew over Behemoth, throwing fire blasts to keep it from advancing into the city, but Behemoth just backhanded them away. Seirika and JetSilphymon landed in front of Behemoth, combining wind and water elements to seal Behemoth's feet in ice, which caused him to stumble a bit, allowing Justimon and Himakko a chance to knock Behemoth off balance. Behemoth quickly recovered and slammed a massive fist into the ground, sending a shockwave which knocked them all around the city block.

This isn't looking good!

Realizing our friends were in danger, Jeri made her move. Her blue aura glowed a bit brighter as she focused her telekinetic power on a nearby car, which she flung at the monster. Behemoth effortlessly knocked it away with its tail, sending the car flying over the buildings...

...right into the alley where Kiyoko and I were hiding.

Without any hesitation, I knew what I had to do.

"Kiyoko, get down! LIGHT OF THE RHINO!" I shouted, summoning my power. I somehow managed to make it to Kiyoko in time, shielding her with my body and knocking the car away with a single hand.

Kiyoko looked up at me with a mix of shock, fear, and admiration. "Kazu, what...?"

"Uh... surprise?" There was no hiding the white aura I was giving off, nor the hand-shaped dent in the car. "Yeah, I have superpowers. Well, a superpower."

"I can see that. How...?"

"It's a long story. Suffice it to say, most of my friends have some kind of power, as well. In fact, we didn't lose Takato and the others in the crowd; they're out there right now, fighting this monster."

"And you want to go out there and help them."

"Yeah, but I don't want to leave you alone."

"Go. I'll be fine, so long as nobody throws anymore cars."

I grabbed both of her hands in mine and squeezed (lightly, I know how to control my strength) in appreciation. "Thank you, Kiyoko. I'll be back in a flash."

I untied the zip-up hoodie from around my waist and reversed it from the grey side to the white side and put it on. The hoodies were actually Kenta's idea. Since, as I mentioned earlier, the Lights of Victory didn't come with any costumes or armor, we had to make our own disguises. Our hoodies were reversible, with one side being our Light of Victory color, and the other side being a color we could wear without arousing suspicion. Mine was white and grey, Jeri's was blue and purple, Kenta's was black and orange, Suzie's was green and pink, and Philippe's was yellow and red. We're able to keep matching bandanas and sunglasses in the pockets to help hide our identities, which I also quickly employed. Suited up for battle, I strolled into the street and announced my challenge.

"Oi! Behemoth! I don't appreciate you interrupting my date!"

The reptilian turned its helmeted head toward me. "I don't care about your 'date'. I'm here for the dimension hopper." He pointed at Justimon. "If you try to interfere, I'll crush you, too!"

"Just try it, horn-head!"

Enraged, Behemoth tried to bull-rush me, but I easily side-stepped his charge and grabbed him by the tail, utilizing my super strength to twirl him over my head and fling him straight up into the air.

"You sure that was a good idea?" Suzakato asked me.

"At least I didn't try to throw a car at it. A car that almost hit Kiyoko, I might add."

"Sorry," Jeri apologized. "I didn't know what else to throw at it! It was shrugging off all the other stuff."

"Man, Kazu, how high did you throw that thing?" Himakko pondered.

"I dunno. I was pretty pissed off at him, so I used my full strength." I looked up, tracking Behemoth's ascent, and subsequent descent. "Wait, here he comes."

As he got closer to the ground, I could see Behemoth was holding some kind of hand held device and talking to a blue holographic figure emanating from it. A few seconds later, they were close enough that we could hear the tail end of their conversation.

"I was not expecting eight of them," Behemoth was saying.

"You were a fool to go alone, Vergo," the figure said with a decidedly feminine voice. "Retreat for now."

"Nonsense! I can still defeat them!"

"That is an order. Don't make me repeat myself."

"Yes, Mistress Angelia." With that, Behemoth, or Vergo, as I guess his name was, pushed a button on the device and a rift in space-time opened up directly beneath him, swallowing him before he could hit the ground.

"Ryo, what the hell was that?" Seirika demanded.

"All I know is that he was from a group called Arcadian Cross." Justimon explained. "They're an inter-dimensional terrorist group whose mission is to seek out dimensional travelers like myself and either recruit or destroy them. I'm lucky I had Cyberdramon with me when they attacked."

"Dimensional travelers... So that means..." Ardhamon started.

"Yeah, they're probably after Karin as well. I should go give her a heads up." Justimon said as he headed off in the direction of Azabu-Juuban.

"So... Arcadian Cross..." JetSilphymon mused.

"Yeah, something tells me they're going to be trouble," Himakko stated.

Well, now's as good a time as any to let the cat out of the bag. "Uh, guys? Remember how I said that car almost crushed Kiyoko? Well, I kinda had to use my power in front of her, and now she knows our secret."

"I kinda had that feeling when you showed up," Suzakato replied. "I guess it can't be helped. I mean, you weren't planning on keeping it a secret from her forever, were you?"

"No, I guess not."

"You should probably go get her, before she starts worrying that you forgot about her!" Jeri suggested.

"Oh, right!"

I found Kiyoko in the alley where I had left her, and introduced her to the others' hero forms. With the attack pretty much putting a damper on the rest of the day's activities, we depowered and caught the train. On the ride back to Shinjuku, Takato, Rika, Himura, Jeri, and I took turns telling Kiyoko about how we got our powers, and all the times we saved the world. Back at Shinjuku station, we all went our separate ways, and I decided to walk Kiyoko home.

As we got to the gate outside her house, Kiyoko surprised me with a sudden kiss on the cheek.

"Huh-buh-wuh?" That time, I'm sad to say, I actually did say that out loud.

"That was for showing me a good time."

"You mean you're not freaked out by all this?"

"I am, a little, but the whole 'saving my life' thing kind of outweighs it. Speaking of which, I still haven't properly thanked you for that." She grabbed my shirt and pulled me in for another kiss, this time smack dab on the lips. "You're my hero, Hiro."

All I could reply with was, "So... about that movie..."

xxxxx

LazerWulf's Commentary: Since K had never written anything in the first-person perspective before, I typed up this one to show him how it should go. We had plans for a chapter with a group date. Rukato, Takumi, and Himeri were all a given to be included, but one of the things we wanted to do with this series was give a voice to the smaller characters, so I set up the plot so that it was Kazu asking Kiyoko on a date, then having to get his friends to come along so it wouldn't be awkward, and, thus, Kazoko was born.

Kiyoko was a character introduced briefly at the end of The Taiyoukai Awakening, and was always intended to be a love interest for Kazu, but since the plot of Dawn of Chaos started as abruptly as it did, there was no real time to develop their relationship. Since we were setting Summer Diaries in between the two fics, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

If I were to pick my strongest talent in writing, it would be dialogue. It just comes so easily to me, because I can hear the character's voices in my head. Writing in the first-person is not much different, because, besides the regular dialogue, the rest of the story is told in a sort of running internal monologue. Once you find a character's voice, all you have to do is think about what needs to happen and let them tell the story.

Since I actually wrote most of this chapter (Kanius added a few scenes and created the "Behemoth" character), it gives me a unique sense of pride to point out some of my favorite things. The first is the Belldandy charm. K, Belle, and I are all huge fans of Norse mythology (as one might guess from some of the plot elements in the overall story), so it was nice to have a character who shares in that love. The second are the new costumes for the Victory Tamers. When we first created the Lights of Victory, we decided against having them come with armor (or making the leader's color red), instead having them manifest as a colored aura, a "light". However, since all the others have transformations that protect their civilian identity, and since this chapter was going to feature a very public fight, we needed some way to protect Kazu's and Jeri's identity. The color-coded hoodies, bandanas, and sunglasses were because I thought it would look cool, and would be a cheap way for high school students to conceal themselves. However, unlike the Power Rangers, who always seem to broadcast their color in their civilian clothes, I made the hoodies reversible to further conceal them.

The observations Kazu made about the other couples during lunch were actually ones I had made to K when discussing this chapter. Takuya and Izumi were the typical "lovey-dovey" couple, and Takato and Rika had a fiery, passionate, almost antagonistic romance. (For those who didn't get the Lain/Eva reference, Chiaki J. Konaka, the writer for Digimon Tamers, also wrote Serial Experiments Lain, and was reportedly a big fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and both series had been used to describe Digimon Tamers.) Himura and Jeri, though, are my favorite type of couple: the quiet, almost understated, but nevertheless strong type.

Finally, (because this commentary has gotten rather long,) I feel I must admit that I stole the scene where Kazu catches the car from the Twilight movie. The revelation of both Kazu's and Edward's powers was too similar, and that scene too funny (for me at least), not to borrow it. (Although, since they were hiding in an alley rather than in a parking lot, I had to have the car come flying from above, rather than the side.)

Sayounara! (And please review!)