Chapter Eight
Noriko headed back to the hotel, satisfied. Jewelry shopping was hard. Both of them weren't fond of accessories in general, courtesy of being around small, curious, tugging children or Kei. Also, some machine digimon liked eating them but that's besides the point.
Still, she found her ring. Their rings. They'll look nice on chains, too.
And- Noriko cackled to herself. I got the last of the boba tea and salmon bowls. The best preengagement dinner ever.
She slid her hotel key out of her wallet. Terriermon yawned from inside one bag. She remained surprised he didn't break the bag's flimsy handles with the weight of his ears alone, but Terriermon was Terriermon. She supposed he would never make sense.
As she opened the door, she heard Hikari laugh. It was the fond laugh Noriko knew from years and years of being uncomfortable friends with Takeru. Noriko swallowed the reflexive jealousy bubbling in her throat. She knew it was harmless because Takeru was a flirt terrified of genuine relationships and Hikari had explicitly told him no in front of her when they weren't together. She had let him cry on her own shoulder with ice cream afterwards, but those two had a friendship that surpassed common decency and just went forward with their lives. Takeru's revolving door of short-lived relationships was probably struggling to deal with them being like that. No one had bothered to ask her for advice, of course not.
Then she heard Takeru say, "You're happy with her." He sounded almost relieved, which was something she did not have time to unpack today.
"Am I that obvious?"
Hikari's voice softened to almost a whisper, and something in Noriko ached. It was so obvious to her. Sometimes Noriko would forget, but those were her demons. They weren't Hikari's demons. Hikari should know how happy she is every day of her life.
"Is the sky blue?"
Hikari sighed. "I suppose it's a good thing that you can tell. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing enough."
"I think Noriko would tell you if you weren't."
"I sure would," Noriko interrupted, striding in and throwing her jacket across the room into the laundry bag. "Sup, Takeru. Am I in the way?"
Takeru let out a cackle as Hikari smiled, that indulgent little 'I knew you were there and you're not cute' smile. "Girls' night!" he said with a laugh.
"Ain't it early over there?" she joked and sat down beside Hikari on the bed. Terriermon grunted because she'd dropped the bag.
"Details." Takeru glanced to the side. "I'm having the most annoying writers' block right now and Hirose just told me "write about your self-insert" and Patamon laughed at me."
Noriko didn't mean to laugh at that. Hikari must have because she was snickering.
He scowled at her in jest. "You're both the worst. Does Taichi-san know about this?"
Hikari leaned a little on Noriko. Just a little. Just enough. They weren't private. They were in family and yet … Hikari was like this. Hikari squeezed her hand, and Noriko squeezed it back.
"If it's all over the group chats, he should," Hikari replied dryly. "Or Kei's told him. Or he's buried to his ass in paperwork."
Takeru and Noriko cackled. "He always teased me about the red ink on my face," Takeru muttered. "I'll draw with red pen on him, see how he likes it."
Noriko and Hikari shared a look and Hikari turned on a movie. He turned to watch through his screen and when Noriko pulled Hikari against her just a bit more, he politely ignored them.
Taichi blew up their phone at two in the morning. They slept through it, except Tailmon, who threatened the device with dismantling. She left no scratch marks, but Hikari dutifully hid it from her clawed grip. In case.
He sent them breakfast as an apology and Noriko chatted with him (close as the Yagami siblings were, Noriko enjoyed arguing with him) while Hikari called Kei. The four of them chatted for a few minutes before the Yagami parents poked in over Kei's shoulders. Her future father-in-law greeted them both, tears in his eyes and full of pride.
"We want to be there," Yagami Yuuko protested.
Hikari laughed shyly. "Sorry it was last minute."
They didn't talk about Noriko's parents. They don't ask. No one asks. No one makes her try to reconcile with them.
She hadn't seen them since she'd walked out. She didn't particularly want to see them.
"We can have a party," Noriko blurted out, warm to the bones with the idea. With the idea of all her friends around, their families too, everyone just getting to breathe, it warmed her heart to think about.
The Yagamis all cheered, except Hikari. Hikari was an introvert at her core and Noriko was antisocial on a good day.
This would be a media showstopper. Taichi was famous, the main chosen were famous, Hikari had marks on her record that time couldn't erase. There would be some media presence there.
Her parents might see.
Let them fucking see. She wanted them to see her out in flannel or just living her life and fucking choking on the domestic bliss of it all.
"Are you sure?" Hikari murmured, right in her ear.
Noriko smiled, full of love and determination. "Let the world see us make out? Absolutely."
Hikari snorted laughter, warm and bright. "It's a deal then."
Noriko laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. A look passed over everyone's faces, but Noriko can't care about a misstep now. Not with her. Not with every dream she'd ever buried away from Vamdemon's bullshit right about to happen.