Day 3 - Sports: Sporty Boy
Ken couldn't stop staring at the beautiful soccer ball one of the students of his school was holding. He really wanted to play, but he was a new student and too shy to ask. So he simply sighed and went to his locker.

The following days weren't that different, until one day Ken was intently watching the soccer team from Tamachi Elementary School practice for a competition among classes. He was so lost observing them that he didn't even see the coach stopping beside him.
"Too mesmerizing, huh?"
It was only then that the boy returned to his senses. He blushed rather heavily and avoided eye contact with him.
"Most of the boys out there had this exact same reaction." He placed his hand on Ken's shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Why don't you try to get into the team? You might earn a spot."
"I don't know." The boy replied in such a low tone the coach could barely hear it. "I'd probably suck at it anyway."
"Who knows? Maybe you won't be as bad as you think. Come on." The coach encouraged him to go for it.
The seven-year old boy was convinced. It would be just a test anyway. He shook his head and followed the man towards the field.

He effortlessly earned a spot in the team and quickly became one of the stars of the team. That lead to him being one of the most popular students at Tamachi Elementary School, though it made him uncomfortable cause he never meant to be popular in school.

.

Three years later and he was still the main player of the soccer team. But not only he was a star on it, he also excelled in all school subjects and other sports. In other words, he was one of a kind. All the attention he received deep down meant nothing to him, as he thought everyone else was in a lower level than him. He didn't know exactly when it started, but it felt good. He was a genius without having to study or work hard. It was perfect.

However, he could notice his soccer team mates went quiet as soon as he walked into the field to start practicing and couldn't stop looking at him. Ken realized right away they were afraid of him and a smile appeared on his lips. That meant he was respected among them. He'd often be one of the first boys to be picked for a team, when he was not the one to form his own.

He became a quieter and more closed-off person since Osamu died, but it had gotten worse since he began to go to the Digital World more often and his digivice turned black. He didn't mind the color at all; in fact he loved black. The Digital World became his escape place and it was only a matter of weeks – maybe days – for him to think the Digimon were characters of a video game and started torturing them and turned them into slaves. Wormmon would often tell him to stop and Ken always yelled at him for that, when he didn't whip him. He couldn't believe out of all Digimon, he ended up with the worst one as his partner. Nothing or anyone was going to stand on his way and ruin his plans to conquer the Digital World.

.

Ken was sure he was shaking more by each step he took, so he purposely let himself walk behind Daisuke. The last thing he wanted was for his best friend to feel bad for him; he was feeling it for both of them already.
"Here we are." The goggle boy turned to him with a grin, which quickly faded away when he looked at his friend. "What's wrong?"
"I think this is a bad idea."
"What are you talking about, Ken?" Daisuke couldn't believe what he had heard. "You were doing so good when it was just the two of us."
"Yeah… but it was just the two of us." The blue haired boy looked away.
A month had gone by since BelialVamdemon was defeated and the Digital World saved once again. Ken wasn't sure if he actually enjoyed playing soccer or it was something he was led to believe when he was brainwashed by Archnemon and Oikawa. He wasn't going to say anything to anyone, but he should have known Daisuke would notice something was off and push him to say it. Then he got out of his way to help his DNA digievolution partner to find the sparkle that were in his eyes whenever he played soccer. He didn't doubt for a second it was gone; it was just hidden.
"I don't think I can do this."
"Come on." Daisuke touched his shoulder. "I believe you. We can even be on the same team, if that makes you feel better. I'll talk to the boys, I'm sure they will understand the situation."
"Daisuke."
"I have no doubt you can do this. It's clear to me how much you love soccer. It's not something that happened only because you were the Kaiser. You started playing before that."
"That's true, but the dark seed was already in my body."
Suddenly Daisuke grabbed him by the hand and dragged him towards the field. "Come on."

Ken went to his bag to put his soccer ball away after the match. There was a large grin on his face as he realized things weren't as bad as he thought they would. It didn't take long for Daisuke and his usual cheerfulness to join him.
"That was a good match."
"It really was." The blue haired boy sat down and took a long sip of his water. "We make a hell of a good duo, don't you think?"
"Absolutely!" Daisuke said excitedly. "No one can stop us."
Ken couldn't help but laugh. "That's right. Thanks for believing me and pushing me to go for it. If I wasn't for you, I'd probably have turned around and gone home."
"See, that's why you needed me to be with you today. You didn't turn around and actually had a lot of fun."
"True that." He nodded. "It's all thanks to you."
"Now you believe you actually love it and it's not just something you did because of the Kaiser?"
"I do." He stood up and put his bag over his shoulder. "I will definitely play again."
"That's the spirit!" Daisuke put his arm over his shoulders and they walked away. "By the way, do you want to sleep over tonight?"
"Won't your parents mind it?"
"Absolutely not! They love you."
"In that case, let's go."

.

"You're so talented at it, you make it seem so easy. It comes so naturally to you."
"All these years of practicing must count for something." Takeru said when he landed on the floor after jumping to throw the ball into the basket. "It's not difficult though."
"You're joking, right?" Ken asked shocked as he watched his friend walk to the ball and picking it up.
"Not completely though." The blonde threw the ball at him. "The concept for basketball is pretty simple."
"I know, but I just can't get it into the basket." The boy looked at it and then to the basket across him. "I guess I'm just not tall enough for this game."
"There are short people playing basketball. In fact, there are short players on NBA."
"Really? I thought there was a minimum height or something."
"No." Takeru couldn't help but laugh. "There's no such thing. Everyone is welcome to play, no matter how tall or short. I'm curious about something though."
"What is it?"
"Why did you decide to learn to play basketball?"
"Oh, I wanted to try a different sport, I suppose. Soccer can get pretty boring after a while."
"How long have you been playing it?"
"For about seven years, maybe."
"That's half of your life."
"Exactly. Hence why it got bored. Not to mention that's all Daisuke wants to play and he drags me along every single time."
Takeru laughed again. "So typical of Daisuke to do this."
"Tell me about it. You were lucky you already knew him and chose a different sport."
"Yeah, I didn't want to take my chances."
"On a serious note, why did you choose basketball?"
"Honestly, everything happened so fast I barely had time to process. I was playing alone one day while I waited for my brother to finish practicing with his band. The basketball coach had walked in to get something and saw me playing. He thought I was very talented and thought I should try to make it to the team. And I didn't have a club yet, so… here I am."
"That's a great story. Do you want to pursue it professionally?"
"No." Takeru shook his head. "I want to be a writer."
"Really? That's so cool! A novel writer?"
"Maybe in the future. There's just thing I'm planning, but it's a secret."
"Got it.
"I'm sorry."
"That's alright."
Takeru stood up and started bouncing the ball. "So do you still wanna play or what?"
"Alright." Ken followed him suit and got in a defense position.
"You should know I'm not taking it easy on you because you're learning."
"I wasn't expecting you to." He replied in the same playful tone, but failed to keep his friend from scoring a two-point ball. "See, this is why I shouldn't play basketball."
"Don't say that, it's only your first time playing. You'll get better at it within time."
"Sure, if you don't mind wasting years with that."
"Come on." Takeru threw the ball at him. "It's your time to score."
"Okay, here I go."

.

"Isn't it too slippery?" Hikari asked unsure as she watched the skating rink in front of her. "It seems to be polished."
"I'm sure it's fine."
Ken walked into the rink first and almost fell down. Normally she would have laughed about it, but that only made her more terrified.
"I'm so not getting in there."
"Come on, Hikari, it's not that bad at all." He approached her and leaned over the rail that separated both sides. "See? I can already stand up."
"Who guarantees you won't fall down again? You're holding onto this rail."
"See?" He released his hands from it and skated backwards, holding his hands in front of his chest with their palms facing her.
"Can you tell him to stop trying to give me a heart attack?" Hikari begged Takeru when he stopped beside her to put on his own rollerblades.
"I could, but I actually agree with him." He replied with a smirk and quickly stood up. It didn't take him long to be seemingly floating on the rink. "Come on!"
"You two and your habit of wanting to try out every sport out there." Hikari pretended to be annoyed, but laughed.
"You're lucky Taichi isn't here." The blonde said. "It would be way worse."
"Ugh, don't remind me." She walked to the gate that led to the rink. "Okay, here I go."
As she started to skate carefully around the rink, she thought it wasn't as hard as she thought. That was, until Ken scared her from behind.
"What the hell were you doing?" She shouted when she turned around after she screamed so loud everyone else looked at them. "Don't ever do that again!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, immediately holding her hand.
"We could have just gone bowling instead, but no one listened to me."
"Skating is so much more fun though."
"When you know how to."
"It's not a problem at all. We can teach you."
"Okay, I guess."
"I gotta say this place is really cool, Ken." Takeru joined them after skating around the rink for a while. "I love this disco vibe… the neon colors and the music are amazing. I didn't know you liked these kind of things."
"Not exactly. I mean, it's a cool place, but the music isn't exactly my type. I figured you'd enjoy it."
"I have to admit it's really a nice place." Hikari stated. "Okay, there's something I need to say."
"What is it?"
"I actually know how to skate."
"What?" Ken asked shocked. "So was this all acting?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I wanted to know if you'd be a good teacher."
"You knew about this?" Ken turned to Takeru.
"She's one of the best ones I've seen. She bribed me not to tell you, by the way."
"What the hell?" She jokingly punched him in the arm. "You said you weren't going to say it!"
"I'm sorry, it slipped."
"Well…" She skated away from them and then turned around, stretching her arms and smiling. "Who's up for a small competition?"

.

The sun was starting to raise and it was a little after 6 a.m. that Tuesday morning. Most people were getting up at that time, and some were already out. That was Ken's case. He had recently started jogging very early in the morning, as part of his preparation to be a detective. Being agile wasn't a requirement for the job, but he thought it would be better to be safe than sorry. He'd usually do it on his own, but that day he had run into one of his fellow Chosen Children.
"Yamato?" He called his name when he was near enough. "I didn't know you were into jogging."
"Ken, hi." Yamato looked over his shoulder when he got near. "Yeah, astronauts have to be in really good shape, so… I thought this would go well with gym and everything."
"I see."
"What about you, though? It will sound ironic, but isn't it too early for you to be out here running?"
"It does sound ironic." Ken couldn't help but laugh. "My reasons are pretty much the same as yours. I mean, it's not something obliged for us, but I thought it'd come in handy. Besides, turns out I actually enjoyed running so early in the morning and watching the sunrise, or sort of."
"I know what you mean. Hikari didn't want to come with you?"
"I actually didn't invite her. She's so busy with college and all, I didn't want to bother her with this."
"That's sweet of you, but I'm sure she'd love to join you."
"I know she would. I'm just not brave enough to invite her because of what I've just said." Ken took a deep breath and drank some of his water. "What about Sora though? I heard she likes seeing the sunrise sometimes."
"Yes, she does." Yamato smiled. "Sometimes she comes with me, but today she wasn't able to. She has a fashion show coming soon and wants to get everything started soon, in case something happens in the meantime and there's time enough to fix it."
"It's good to be safe."
"That's true." He also drank a sip of his water. "So I just thought of something."
"What is it?"
"I think today wasn't a coincidence. I think we were meant to run into each other, so I was thinking if you'd like to go jogging with me."
"What? Are you serious?"
"Absolutely! It's much better than jogging alone. Besides, we'd keep each other company and that would allow us to get close. But if you don't want to, it's perfectly fine."
"No, no, I'd love to. I mean, if you don't mind getting bored with me."
"I think it won't happen at all. I can't wait for it actually, I think we have a lot in common."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. More than you think."
"Alright then. I'm looking forward to it already."
"You know, we can start right now if you want to."
"Let's go for it then. You should know, I'm very fast. I need to be home by 7 to get ready for college and see Hikari before I leave."
"Sure. I can't stay much longer as well. Sora will be upset if I don't take her obentou to college. So let's go." Yamato took off, closely followed by Ken.