Hi! I'm back with another update! For those who like action, this doesn't get into the action packed part yet. To those who want answers, you're right where you need to be! Here's another chapter in this installment. I hope you all like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Sigh.
Chapter 2 – Incompatible Personalities
"So are you going to tell us what's going on or not?" Yolei asked the woman indignantly. Matt chose to silently sit in one of the corners of Izzy's office.
They were still there. It had been an awkward ten minutes after the lady announced her unrealistic and cliché request. He ran his hands through his blonde hair. She spoke in riddles. There was no way they were going to get a reasonable answer out of her. He wondered why they bothered trying.
"Will you put your differences aside and stop fighting in order to work together as a group of friends?" The crazy woman asked yet again.
"When will it get through to your head? That will most likely not happen," Tai replied. For once, Matt agreed with him. Even Tai had the sense to know when things like that won't work.
"At least try. It is imperative that you try."
"Why?" Matt's ears perked up. That was Sora. He flinched at her behavior. If she didn't feel like getting along with the others, then who's to say anyone else will?
"Fine, we'll try. Happy?" Izzy spoke up. Matt knew that the redheaded computer nerd only wanted the answers.
"Sincerity is an important part of life, Izzy. It surprises me that you don't know how to be sincere." He looked towards Izzy, who seemed baffled at his observation. The genius had no words. This moment should really be documented.
"I would. I'll put everything aside," he was surprised to hear Mimi pipe in. They locked eyes for a moment. She raised her eyebrows at him as if saying 'you need to back me up'.
His throat felt dry as he cleared it in order to acquiesce to her request. "I think she's right."
"Of course you would," Sora muttered under her breath. He knew that she didn't mean for him to hear her. But he did nonetheless.
He narrowed his eyes at the Digidestined of Love. "It's the only way we're going to get some kind of an answer. You have a better idea?"
"Yeah. We could just not save the Digital World," she retorted. He was taken aback by her response. If she didn't feel like working with him just to save the Digital World, then all hope was truly lost. When the Digidestined of love doesn't even like you, it hurts.
"And why is that, Sora?" Mimi inquired. At least he was on good terms with her.
"Because we're old! I mean, we're not little kids anymore running around without anything better to do. We have jobs and other adult things to worry about. Shouldn't there be at least a new Digidestined to take our place? Well…to take Davis's team's place? Since technically we were relieved years ago?"
While she probably protested against him in order to spite him, Sora did have a point.
"Once a Digidestined, always a Digidestined, Sora. Do you not get that?" Davis stood up, challenging her. Whew. The guy had some guts; Matt would give him that. It wasn't everyday Sora fought with someone else. There's no telling what would happen if Sora were to fight everyone. Or just the people she detested. Which consisted mainly of him.
The telephone on Izzy's desk rang throughout the tense room. Izzy, who he assumed was too lazy to actually pick up the damn thing, pressed the speaker button.
"What is it, Brooke?"
"Sir, I tried calling your cell but you wouldn't pick up. Just wanted to remind you that you have a date with Michelle tonight."
If nothing else that transpired in the past few minutes got anybody's attention, that certainly did.
Izzy grumbled, rubbing his forehead. Matt watched as his eyes scan the room. "Just cancel it."
"But sir—"
"She'll understand. Say that a meeting held me up and I couldn't get out of it. Or just say that I don't feel like going out tonight. Whatever you like, just as long as it's polite."
"Are you sure, Mr. Izumi?"
"Yes," Izzy groaned. Matt felt himself glare at the nerd. Who gave him the right to just blow people off whenever he felt like it?
"Okay, see you tomorrow, Mr. Izumi." The phone clicked, signaling that the call was over.
"Dude…seriously?!" Tai shouted, waving his arms in the air. It seemed like this wasn't the first time it happened. Matt peeked at Mimi's reaction. She seemed stoic, not really giving way to what she was thinking at the moment.
"So…," Izzy started, getting back to the task at hand. Always the straightforward guy, huh? "Can you at least tell us your name?"
"Giselle," the crazy lady replied.
"What, like from Enchanted?" Davis spoke up. Enchanted? Isn't that like a princess movie or something?
"I have never heard of that movie. But sure," so-called Giselle answered him. This was getting better and better by the minute.
"Anyway," he saw Davis shake his head. "Sora, it's still our responsibility. Don't you care about Biyomon?"
"Of course I do, Davis! But seriously, we're pretty old to be doing this!"
"You're never too old to be a Digidestined, to save the world!"
"Just get over it and move on," he heard Izzy say and saw him placing his head in his hands.
Matt shouldn't have said anything. But he couldn't help himself. "You're one to talk."
The redhead lifted his head from the table and gave him a death glare. "Do you really want to start this now?"
He scoffed. "You know, you have always played the victim card. It's about time that you stop doing that."
"Izzy isn't the perpetrator, Matt," Mimi warned him. He looked back at her. Her eyes could carry a thousand of threats if they could.
"Don't you get sick of him blaming you all the time, Mimi? If he's telling us to get over it, he should look in the mirror before he starts giving orders." Matt heard himself say. Even though he should have immediately regretted saying it, Izzy had no right anymore to keep blaming Mimi for his troubles.
"He should. It's my fault," Mimi whispered, but loudly enough so that the room could hear her.
"Oh, don't you dare play the 'I'm-the-one-who-did-everything' card, Mimi. Don't be self-righteous like that. You don't get to do that. You weren't the only one." Sora scolded her, and then she looked at Matt.
"Very mature, Sora," he replied. She wanted to point fingers? Then he'd point them right back. "You're the one who waited to tell Izzy what was really going on until it was convenient for you."
They didn't speak of the incident that much, but everyone else stood still and held their breath as they waited for Sora to reply.
But she didn't. Instead, Izzy had to speak up.
"You knew for how long?"
Sora glared at Matt. "Not very long, Izzy, it was just—"
"What, Sora? When?"
Matt smirked. Now that the heat was taken off of him and Mimi, he could relax a little. He decided to add something in. "See, Izzy? It wasn't just us at fault."
"Yeah, but what I did was so much worse," Mimi muttered. This time it was only Matt that could hear her. Did she actually want to go over this now? Why was she suddenly playing the 'I know I screwed up and everybody should blame me' card? Sora did things wrong too.
"I just…I didn't know how to tell you. And I didn't know if I should because you seemed so happy."
"Oh. Thanks. So I would've never found out if you hadn't been so concerned about your well-being," Izzy said sarcastically.
"My intention was always to tell you," was Sora's reply. He scoffed. Was it really? Probably not. Only when it was convenient for her.
"You know, I may have believed you years ago, Sora, but I don't think I do now. Sorry," Izzy said, shrugging, not really seeming to care one way or another. Everyone watched as he stood up and put on his blazer, buttoning it up in the process. What was he doing? He walked to the door and turned around to face them.
"When you all have this figured out or have an answer from her, call me."
"Izzy—" Sora started, but Izzy faced the door, opened it, and walked out. What did she expect to happen? Him to just forgive her like what she did was nothing? Although he could've stayed and helped them figure it out. He still thought Izzy was an ass.
"Yeah…maybe Izzy's right," Yolei conceded. Seriously? Just because the guy was right most of the time didn't mean he was right this time. "I mean, we're not really in the position or have the right attitudes to talk about this right now. How about we just meet up again tomorrow?"
"But we are running out of time," crazy lady protested. Matt rolled his eyes. If they were out of time, then why couldn't she just tell them what was going on? It would be much easier that way and save them more time.
"Then you should have told us what was going on sooner," Yolei cut in. As rude as Yolei was being, she still had a point. She was wasting everyone's time and energy on something that may or may not even be true. The Shadow King? That sounded fabricated anyway. The Digital World needs saving? Well, that doesn't…but still…she should get the point, right?
"You all go and think it over tonight. We'll meet again in the morning," crazy suggested. She suddenly disappeared from the room and Davis gasped.
"Where did she go?"
"Narnia," Mimi answered. Davis turned to face her in order to give the expression of 'that's obviously not where she went'. Mimi's hands went up in the air.
"This is…Izzy's office," T.K. spoke up for the first time. Matt looked at his little brother. So what?
It was as if T.K. was reading his mind when he said, "And he's not here to lock it, so…."
"It probably locks after its shut," Ken answered. He saw T.K. nod his head in an 'oh' fashion.
"We should go," Mimi stood up from her spot on the floor. Joe also gathered his belongings and started for the door. Matt cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.
"Maybe we should discuss what she told us to."
"Oh now you want to talk, Matt? No thanks," was the answer elicited from Tai. Sometimes, he believed that the bushy haired idiot just liked to disagree with him for the sake of it. That wouldn't help them in being productive.
"Look, I'm just going to go sleep on it," Mimi announced. Really? She wanted to bail too? "You should too, Matt."
"Thanks, Mimi," he heard Sora say sarcastically. "Maybe because you said it, he'll actually listen to you."
Instead of issuing a retort, Mimi shook her head and walked out of Izzy's office. Matt stared after her. Maybe it wasn't worth it trying to get the team together. Maybe Mimi had the right idea on walking out for now. Besides, she was the only one who was even remotely on his side, right?
Following his instincts, he walked out of the door, hoping to see Mimi around the corner. But instead, she was gone. That was fast. Someone scoffed behind him.
"Chasing after your girlfriend?"
He narrowed his eyes at Tai's sneer. "Ex. And no, I'm not. She's got a point. If you don't want to try to discuss this in a civilized manner, then maybe you aren't fit to be the leader of the Digidestined." Walking away, he smirked, knowing that Tai was gawking at his statement. He wasn't lying. If he wasn't willing to put his hatred for him aside, then maybe he really shouldn't be leading the team. He can't even mobilize himself to do the right thing.
"Izzy! Izzy wait up, will you?"
He turned around. Oh thank goodness he did. Mustering up the courage to speak with his piercing black eyes staring at her, Mimi forced herself to speak.
"I know I'm like the last person you'd like to talk to, let alone even see right now."
He raised his eyebrows as if to say 'why', and she really couldn't understand why he didn't hate her more than he did.
"I just wanted to apologize again. I'm so sorry, I—"
"That was years ago, Mimi. And honestly, it bears no relevance to what's happening right now. Did everyone finally sort everything out?"
"Well, no, but—"
"Then I don't actually have an interest in what you're going to say," he declared. Ouch. She knew that he wasn't acting out of spite, he was above that, but still, that hurt.
"I just…I wanted to see if you were alright after the whole Sora ordeal." She confessed. There was a long awkward pause, and she heard him sigh even though he was standing quite a few feet away from her. They've stood closer to each other before, and they've stood farther away from each other. But every single time she saw him, she couldn't feel anything other than a complete stranger regardless of whether they stood near or far from each other. He felt so far away—physically and emotionally.
Izzy ran his hands through his red hair. "Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" Straightforward and void of emotion. The Izzy she knew before they became closer friends. In fact, when they first had met, she felt closer to him then than she did today.
"Okay. Well," she clasped her hands together though she didn't know why. "Just wanted to make sure."
"Alright then. Goodnight, Mimi." As he turned around to walk away, she could feel herself start to call his name. It seemed to have been said aloud and gotten his attention when he turned to face her again. "What else do you want?"
"Look," for the first time in a long time, she could feel courage surging through her. "I don't know where you stand on the whole 'friends' perspective. I'm not exactly sure how you're feeling, or how you're doing. I don't believe you when you say that what transpired all those years ago don't matter or you don't have any ill feelings towards it. I certainly don't believe you when you say you're okay."
During her pause, he looked confused at her sudden outburst. Mimi felt somewhat pleased with herself. It took a lot to confuse Izzy after all. Actually, no. Scratch that. With the matters of the heart it didn't take long to confuse him. But with anything else, it took a whole lot.
"I would like to be your friend again." It definitely was a scary thing to say, but the adrenaline from the 'saving the world thing' coursing through her veins gave her the extra push she needed in order to tell him that.
"Um—"
She cut him off. "I wanted to let you know that I consider you my friend, Izzy. And I wanted to ask for you to consider me yours too. It sounds silly, sure, but I assure you it isn't." Where did all this vocabulary sprout out? "Or, we don't have to start out as friends right away. We could be acquaintances, where we talk about the weather and the latest news and all that."
Great, now she was rambling. She even looked like more of an idiot in his eyes than she usually did.
"I'm not going to stop trying to become your friend, but I just wanted to tell you that you'll always be mine." It wasn't everyday that she got an opportunity to tell him that.
"Could we go grab a cup of coffee or something? Catch up? As friends? Or…or acquaintances?"
Pursing his lips, Izzy shook his head. "Goodnight Mimi," he said once again. This time, he quickly spun around and walked away.
Her heart deflated at his response.
It wasn't like she was expecting him to be like 'oh yeah totally, let's do it', but now she knew he viewed her as a weird, desperate person. Which she wasn't. At least they exchanged words, so that had to be something…right?
"Nothing is going to work," Yolei firmly stated. She was going to put her foot down on this. There was absolutely no way in which they could get the elder Digidestined to work together. And even if they did, their intentions would still not be sincere, and it would negate whatever that Giselle woman was saying about putting differences aside and being friends again. They haven't been friends for years; it wasn't like they were going to start now.
"And why won't it? Why are you being such a Negative Nancy, Yolei?" Her irritation level just increased. Davis shouldn't be talking. He's the one that brought Giselle to them in the first place.
As if reading her mind, he held up his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. "Hey, she found me. I didn't do anything."
A light bulb lit up inside her brain. Turning to Joe, she pointed her finger at him. "Do you know what happened?"
"To be honest…not really…," the aspiring doctor admitted. Yolei huffed. He was useless. Absolutely useless.
"Maybe instead of studying and trying to be successful, you should keep tabs on your friends!"
"He didn't do anything, Yolei," Cody spoke up, defending Joe. "Maybe we can ask Kari and T.K."
This time, it was Davis who shouted. "Are you crazy? Out of your mind? Insane? They can't be in the same room together."
"For once, the doofus is right," she nodded, agreeing with him. They might not battle it out audibly like Sora and Matt, but the tension that resonated between the two children—er, adults—of hope and light could be cut with a knife if she had one.
"Why not?" Cody asked, genuinely curious. "Did something happen between them too?"
"Did something happen between them too?" Davis mocked Cody, mimicking his actions in the process. "Of course it did! Man, you're just as useless as Joe is!"
"We're not getting anywhere." Joe declared. Yolei looked at him in disbelief. Of course they weren't getting anywhere. "What happened, Davis?"
She locked eyes with the leader of the New Digidestined. Sighing, Davis set his chin on his hands. "It was in high school, and…."
"Go on. It'll be great." Davis encouraged T.K., pushing him towards the object of his best friend's affection.
"I don't know…I don't want it to change anything."
"It can only change for the better, right?" He replied, negating any doubts T.K. had about what he was about to do.
"And if it does?"
"If it does what?"
"Change it for the worse?"
"Then we'll deal with it when the time comes. You have my blessing."
The blonde scoffed, adjusting the hat on his head. "I never needed your blessing to begin with. You're not her brother, and you've never dated her." Suddenly, T.K. froze.
"What? What is it?" Davis decided to ask. What could be the matter now?
"I didn't clear it up with Tai."
He's right. Maybe he should've done that. But to heck with it, it'll be amusing once this all goes down.
"Just forget about Tai. Go on." Nodding his head, T.K. walked towards Kari. As the two best friends started to talk, Davis smiled and patted himself on the back. He did a good deed. Now he's hungry. He'll wait for one of them to call him and tell him all about it.
"And?" Cody wondered, prodding Davis. Yolei looked at the googles guy as well. He can't just leave it off like that.
"That was all," Davis muttered under his breath.
"So what the hell was the point of that story?" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Beside her, Ken plugged his ears. Oops. Guess she was a little loud.
"To tell you what happened."
"Davis, that doesn't tell us anything," Joe groaned, falling back into his seat.
"Well, T.K. asked Kari out and Kari rejected him."
"What?!" Joe yelled while almost falling out of his seat. Yolei, however, was unphased.
"Wait, when was this?"
Looking at her, Davis replied, "Um…sophomore year?"
"But they were still pretty good friends up until junior year, right? So that's not all that happened." She knew what went on, but she didn't know this part of the story until now. Kari never told her this part.
"Well...a lot more happened is all I can say."
"Like what?" Cody prompted him. Ken glanced warily at Davis. It was at that moment Yolei wondered if any of the older Digidestined knew anything about this.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I got stuck in the middle. Sure, Yolei and Ken were there, but Yolei was mostly on Kari's side, and Ken didn't really have a side. Both of them came to me with their problems about each other, and I'd rather not relive that, thank you very much," standing up from the couch, Davis wandered into the kitchen, probably looking for something to eat.
Everything was dysfunctional. They should just call up Giselle, lie to her, and say that they sorted everything out. Maybe it was time that Yolei paid a visit to her idol. Get her to recount the events that led to everybody hating each other.
"So...I guess this is probably not the best time to sit down and talk about feelings, huh?"
Tai saw Sora look up from the book she was reading. Her hand patted the seat beside her on the couch. He saw this as an invitation to join her. Once he plopped down on the couch, he felt it jiggle a little bit. Looking to his best friend, he raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, what went down in there should not have gone as badly as it should have."
Shrugging, he remained indifferent to her assertion. "Are you talking about Matt or Izzy?"
He knew he struck a nerve when she threw up her hands in the air. "Matt can go and drown for all I care."
"That's harsh, Sora."
"Well, he's an ass." Biting his lip, Tai nodded his head vigorously. He couldn't disagree with that. Matt did a lot of things wrong. For a guy with the crest of friendship, he sure did burn down many, many bridges.
"That probably wasn't the best setting to hash things out."
He stared into her brown eyes. "Tai, there won't ever be a right setting to do that."
"Maybe. But I feel like we owe it to the Digital World, to our Digimon friends, to try and stop the impending doom that's going to befall them."
"Befall?" He could see her eyes light up with amusement as she smiled a bit. "How—"
"Ambassadorship has its perks."
"And Izzy…," she mumbled, barely loud enough to hear. He leaned in, trying to listen to what she was about to say.
"I am not at fault, here. Okay? I did what I thought was best at the time that I knew was best."
"Mm-hmm."
"Tai!"
"What?" Glancing at her, he started to chuckle. "Izzy didn't seem that fazed by it."
"Tai, he made an insult and then left the room."
"No, he made an observation…and then left the room."
"I'm serious, Tai."
"So am I."
She gave him a look that said she couldn't believe how difficult he was being at the moment. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It wasn't not true, Sora. And I think you and I both know that. If you're feelings weren't clouded at the time, I think you would have told him right after you found out. But they were. And you might have waited because you had a lot on your mind, but at the same time, I think you know in your heart that you kind of used it to your advantage."
He could feel her relax underneath his fingertips and he knew that she agreed with him. "Doesn't matter. They got together anyway."
"Because they're selfish. They're selfish people." Adding to that, he decided to say, "Besides, Izzy's like this now."
Her eyebrows raised in suspicion. That's why the three of them should've gotten together more over the years. He felt guilty. He knew that getting together fell into the category of the things she regretted not doing after graduating high school.
"He's changed."
"You mean…he's an ass?"
Chuckling, Tai shoved her playfully. "Is everyone an ass to you?"
"Standing up that girl…that's an asshole move, Tai."
"When did you start cussing so much? This isn't like you, Sora. The real world sure has changed you." He grinned when he heard her laugh out loud. Once she did, Tai roared with laughter too. It's been too long since they've had some quality time together. This felt nice. As soon as Tai sobered up, he put on a serious face. This was serious business they were talking about.
"In his defense, there was a crazy lady in the room telling us to save the Digital World. He can't up and leave for a date."
"It felt like that wasn't the first time he did that though. And he also sounded unapologetic as well." Smiling, Tai shook his head. Sora had not changed a bit, and boy, was he glad for that. But Izzy…well that's a different story.
"He's been through a lot."
"High school doesn't count."
"That's not what I was referring to."
"Then what…?"
"It's not my place to say." He could feel Sora's eyes cut a hole through his skull. It really wasn't. Especially since Sora was probably not Izzy's favorite person right now. Though he did need to have a talk with the genius. The guy should really get his priorities straight. While Sora wasn't one to pry, she cares about Izzy. And she's right. What he did was kind of a jerk move.
"I'm not going to tell anyone."
"Maybe I'll tell you later. Probably when Izzy's cooled down about the whole thing."
"You said he didn't care."
"Didn't seem to. Doesn't mean that he didn't." To be frank, he didn't know what Izzy cared or didn't care about these days. Even though he and Izzy were on better terms than the rest of the group, it wasn't like he was a mind reader. The guy was more closed off than he had ever been—even more so than when he first met him.
"I should go talk to him," was her reply. That might be best. Besides, Sora and Izzy didn't really have a problem with one another. There's no point in starting one between them now. The sooner he can fix it, the sooner they might have a chance at defeating the Shadow King or whoever is wreaking havoc on the Digital World.
But…he shouldn't be talking. After all, like Sora, he hates Matt's guts. And Mimi's. Are there two people who actually don't hate each other right now? He needs to hate Matt's guts because of Sora. He has an obligation to hate Mimi's guts because of Izzy. They deserve all the hate in the world. But nothing's going to get accomplished if this was the mindset he put himself in. As the leader of the Digidestined, he should try to mend friendships, not rile them up even more.
Though he can't patch things up with Matt yet. Mimi…maybe. He should at least try to be the leader that he needs to be, right? He's willing to put aside his feelings. The only question remains is this: are the others?
Mimi missed the comfort of her couch. It was soft and plush—it contained everything she needed. Not that Hiro's couch wasn't comfortable. It certainly was…it just didn't have the homey feeling of her couch. But she had no choice. Her apartment was located in New York, and it wasn't like she could jet back there. Especially with Palmon and the others counting on her and the rest of the Digidestined.
But could they get their act together to help?
She highly doubted it.
"Mimi?"
"Uh…yeah?" Looking up, she saw Hiro cast a concerned look towards her. It touched her that he really cared. He was somewhat of a typical boyfriend—kind, caring, smart, sweet…not to mention he was the son of a famous entrepreneur in Tokyo. He was her type. He's like the other guys she dated. He's just not…
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Hiro. Why do you ask?"
"You seem distant lately."
She laughed his concern off, waving her arm around as she did so. "Work." She spit out, proceeding to take a sip from her glass of wine. "It's stressful, you know?"
He nodded in a comforting way, inching closer to her. She let him, and soon they were cuddling on his expensive couch. Not that the expensiveness of it mattered though. Was expensiveness a word? She breathed in his scent; the cologne he wore today smelled really well.
The whole reunion thing could have gone better, she supposed. Sora still hated her guts. Matt still hated Sora's. She was pretty sure Tai hated her as well, even though he didn't directly say anything to her. And Izzy…her exchange with him went as well as it could have. He didn't want to be friends? Fine. But she wasn't going to stop trying to let him know that she did care for him. She'll do the same with Sora, but after the Digidestined of Love has cooled down a bit.
"I love you, you know that?" Mimi sighed. Hiro could be so sweet at times. She smiled up at him before replying herself.
"I love you too." Though, for the first time in a long time since they've confessed those words to each other, her spoken reciprocation felt hollow. Here was Hiro: the ultimate "perfect" guy, the happy ending she had always envisioned for herself. Yet, it didn't feel right. Maybe it was because there was no one to share it with, she supposed. She really needed to patch things up with everyone. Then she could tell them all about the ups and downs of her serious relationship. And maybe then she won't feel so hollow. Maybe.
When did things get so screwed up? It didn't used to be this hard. She missed the days when their problems consisted only of running away from evil Digimon and finding someplace to bathe in the Digital World. Even finding a date for homecoming was easier than this. She winced when she thought of the dance that started their downward spiral towards hatred.
Running her hands through her auburn hair, she sighed in frustration. It seemed like Matt didn't have any interest in going to the Winter Formal. Or maybe he did want to go…but with Sora. They have been awfully close lately.
Sitting down at their usual lunch table, she was surprised that she arrived first. Normally, she'd be one of the last ones to sit down and start eating. She heard the chair beside her scratch against the cold tile floor. She glanced back behind her to see who decided to grace her with their presence.
"Hey," Izzy nodded a greeting at her. As he settled into his seat and took his lunch out, she examined him.
He probably felt her eyes on him because he locked eyes with her and scrunched his eyebrows in what she could only guess was confusion. "Is something wrong, Mimi?"
She leaned back in her chair and shook her head. She cleared her throat to fill in the space between them. "Nope. Not at all."
He looked skeptical. She smiled to ward him off. "Alright…then." He went back to his lunch and she was grateful that his attention was away from her. "Where are the others?"
"Hmm?" Mimi responded, looking back at her friend. He eyed her suspiciously. "I don't know. They aren't here yet."
"Obviously." She rolled his eyes at his bluntness. Mimi picked up her fork again in hopes of eating her food. She set it down. She wasn't hungry at the moment. Deciding to see what Izzy's godlike mother of a cook prepared for him, she peeked at his lunch. But her eyes were drawn to the genius himself, taking good portion of bites out of his food, very opposite of what Tai looked like when he ate.
She watched him and noticed his appearance. He was put together and well dressed. Sure, they had their uniform and it was standard for the boys to wear some version of it. Izzy, however, was decked out in the whole thing—tie, blazer, slacks, and dress shoes. He insisted it was because he wanted to look professional in school, but Mimi didn't care for the reason. It was a significant step up from the orange button down, beige shorts, and purple clown shoes he wore back in the day. As long as it made him look more fashionable, it was okay.
Besides his outfit, his physical appearance wasn't all too bad either. In fact, Tai claimed that the genius had a fan club that consisted of girls (not nerds, although there was one of that too) that fawned over him. They sure had a laugh that day. Izzy didn't believe it. To be honest, neither did she, but observing him now, she could see why.
His red hair was neatly styled—probably to keep up his tidy and professional appearance—not for fashion reasons. It spiked a little but not too much to appear unkempt and bedhead-like. But it wasn't flat and un-gelled either. If un-gelled was a word. His eyes were one of the best things about him, she noticed. It was like a pool of ebony…it was almost entrancing.
While he wasn't tan like Tai or French creamy colored like Matt, his paleness worked for him. He wasn't too pale or too tan.
He was also lean, but wasn't made of twigs. There were muscles under there from the Digital World and from soccer. She learned recently that he liked to play golf as well. And from carrying computer parts around, he's sure to develop something. But he wasn't too beefy like he was on steroids or something. She liked that about him.
One thing she didn't like: his height. Who decided that he would be taller than her? He surpassed her height a couple of months ago, and it wasn't something that she particularly liked. She was always taller than him. And now she wasn't. She could wear heels to be the same height, or even surpass him by a couple of inches, but it wasn't the same.
A plan formulated in her head. This just might work.
"Izzy?"
After swallowing his bite, he regarded her in such a way that it made her feel like she was the most important person in the world. She shook the feeling off.
"How do you feel about the Winter Formal?"
"Um…fine? I'm not understanding the premise of your question."
"Do you want to go or are you opposed to it?"
"You know me. I was just going to spend that night finding bits of data that I need."
"Well, how would you like to go with me?"
At the time, he was drinking his beverage. He almost choked on it and spit it out. She pretended not to notice. "Um…excuse me?"
"Izzy Izumi…would you like to be my date to the Winter Formal?"
She took in his bewildered expression and leaned back in her chair in satisfaction. Izzy would be the key to her goal. It would show the object of her affection that she wouldn't be available for long. It was perfect. Besides, they were friends. He'd understand and help her out. And then she'd finally get the man she wanted. And her happy ending.
She was jolted out of her reverie by her boyfriend getting up from the couch. "I'm getting ready for bed. You coming?"
"Yeah. Yeah I am." If only she didn't do that. If only she wasn't selfish enough to even think of doing so. Things might be okay. Things might be the same.
Her legs felt like lead as she trudged up the stairs. She scrolled her phone, checking for new messages. A message popped up on her screen that piqued her interest. She didn't recognize the number, nor did she know what the message was about. She clicked on the touch screen, the glow illuminating her face.
Not friends. Not acquaintances. A fracquaintance. Or acquiends. Whichever you prefer.
She made a mental list of who could've sent that cryptic message. Realization dawned on her as she read it over again.
For the first time that night, a genuine smile was brought to her face. She got through to him. Kinda. It wasn't much, but it was something. Though she was skeptical on why he decided to send this message. He didn't seem too keen on the idea when she brought it up. How did he know her number? Never mind…that was a dumb question. He could've hacked something, knowing him. A look of determination graced her features. If she could get Izzy to budge even just a little bit, she could get Matt and Sora to do so too. And she wasn't going to stop until they were all friends again.
Whew. There we go. Some more revealed. Still somewhat of a mystery though. They've got to get their act together, huh? It's a whole big mess they've got themselves into.
Quick question: any thoughts on Digimon Adventure Tri?
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Any thoughts? More pieces of the puzzle are arriving soon! What are your theories or thoughts on what's going on here?
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