Author's Note: Thank you for everyone who keeps supporting this story. I hope you all keep reading it and more Mimato fans will emerge now that Digimon Adventure Tri will be out soon. Anyway, I think it's safe to say that chapter 10 to 12 or to 13 is an arc *hehe* so many things can happen in one day, after all. Here's chapter 11!

Salad Days

Chapter Eleven
White Flags

Hikari went back to the bleachers to check out the quality of her photos. It was already half-time. She pouted, disappointed at how her photos came to be. A strange, rough pair of hands that smelled of dirt and grass suddenly covered her eyes from behind.

"Dai-kun, it's you," she answered, since he was the only one who liked to do it out of habit. Daisuke took them off and laughed.

"So how are things, Kari-chan?"

"Not good. Most of my photos of you and Ichijouji-senpai are blurry," she answered. "I can't seem to get the right settings. Takeru-kun's good at this stuff,"

"Yeah.. I wonder why he didn't come," he said, taking a seat beside her. "I kinda wanted to go to karaoke with you guys later,"

"We can go out afterwards," she offered. It was best to take her mind off of the blond boy.

Daisuke blushed, trying to figure out what she meant. Is it a date? Or just two friends hanging out? He was well aware of Hikari's feelings for Takeru, even if she didn't admit it. Gah. It doesn't matter! I'll be with Hikari!

"O-okay!"

Out of politeness, she smiled. He bid her bye, going back to his team. It wouldn't be so bad hanging out with Daisuke, if he refrained from being so pushy with his feelings for her. But she also didn't want to be the one to break his heart. There was nothing else to do but to tell him the truth.

Mimi observed the figure on front of her lead her to their destination. Their feet had already reached inner city, and her soles were starting to ache. Yamato had not spoken about this brash move and the purpose behind it, despite her demands.

"My feet are killing me," she cried out. He ignored her, his hand still holding her wrist as they moved through the sea of people. Mimi thought more about earlier. By the look of Sora's face, it was as if Yamato had suddenly thrown her away. But her observations didn't seem to make sense, since Sora had not messaged her about it yet. She took her free hand to reach her phone from her breast pocket, then texted her love-scorned friend. I hope she's okay..

"Just a little while," he breathed. But the truth was, he didn't know where they were going, and what to do with Mimi. His plan earlier backfired as soon as his guts started to cartwheel.

She groaned and resisted his pull. They stop walking, and he turns around to meet her glaring eyes. What's the deal with him.. Yamato's rude intervention a while ago had made her suspicious of his motives. Why her, of all people to take out of the crowd? Why not Sora? Or why not Taichi, or someone else? The worst thing that could happen is for her best friend to assume that she and Yamato are smitten with each other.

"I'm sorry," He apologized. She didn't buy it when he said it with a straight face. Their locked eyes tested each other, and for a while, she swam within his blue eyes, looking for an answer. She is interrupted as he closes his eyes. Then opened them again.

"Are you okay?" she asked as she notices his eyes becoming watery.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for dragging you here. I'll leave you here okay." Without even letting her reply he turned his back, his figure dissolving with the crowd.

"What the hell!" Mimi shrieked, unable to control her feelings. No one had heard of her outburst. With her nose held high, she turned her back, looked for a place to freshen up. She ended up going to a mall nearby, and decided to window-shop. She took interest of buying a new phone.

"This is relatively cheap.." she muttered as she suspiciously checked around the shop that sold a surprisingly inexpensive new model of the iPhone.

"Mimi-chan, what are you doing here?" She turned around and saw Koushiro, whom she had just classes with not long ago.

"Kou-kun! Ahh," the sudden encounter made her fidgety, then turned her head to look at something else. "I'm looking for a new phone, as you can see,"

"I see. You wouldn't want to buy from that shop," he said, taking a few steps to move closer to her. He already sensed her being uncomfortable. "Most of the stuff they sell here are the rejected ones,"

"I see.."

"Ahh.. yeah.." he took a step back as he scratched his head. It's now or never, I guess, he thought.

"Say, mind taking a seat?"

"Let me carry this," offered Taichi, as he already took Sora's extra bag from her arm. She did not contend, her entire being weakening as they walked aimlessly. The silence kept growing between them, despite Taichi's best efforts to break the wall. The setting sun cast an orange light, and Sora's auburn hair, sun-kissed skin, her sad yet vivid face –it was as if she was set aflame, and he burned as he stayed next to her.

Like Sora, he saw what happened earlier with Yamato. He knew what really happened, why Yamato looked for Mimi, and not Sora . Ishida, you coward.. but ahh.. even he knew he had no right to accuse Yamato of cowardice.

But Taichi said nothing, and followed where Sora went, making sure he didn't lose sight of her in the crowded streets. Sooner he realized they were heading to the basement café in Tokyo Tower. And above it, was the observatory, where he gave her the hairclip. Coincidence? He smiled in irony as he recalled the painful memory.

At the front of the café, she stops, and turns around to look at him for the first time since earlier. "Are you hungry, Tai-kun?"

Taichi was caught off guard with her sudden smile. "Not really. Are you?"

"Hmm.. yeah." They did walk quite a distance, after all.

"Okay. I'll treat you here,"

Sora's heartily laugh rang in his ears, the thought that he finally did something good to her was the most comforting.

"Okay."

"I'm sorry," blurted out Koushiro as he played with his fingers. He couldn't dare to directly look at Mimi.

"You don't have to be.." she replied, toying with her ice cream. Apparently he took her to the same ice cream shop that Sora frequented. I guess this is a common place to everyone.. she thought, taking a spoonful.

"The truth is, I got really scared when I found out about your past," he confessed.

"I can tell, Kou-kun," she said, scooping her ice cream. "You're still avoiding my eyes."

Koushiro could only manage to say another "sorry".

"I am kind of hurt, though." She added, focusing on finishing her dessert.

"Why?"

"Because I think you're disgusted with me."

"I'm not.."

"Then what?"

He sighed, now finally meeting her eyes. "It's just that we've been so close after all this time, even when you left.. And then I'll suddenly find something out about you, something as deep as this," he argued. "After all the times we talked, all the chances you could have told me – you still chose not to tell me until everyone else had already known. It's as if I still don't know you that well at all."

"Why are you saying these things? No one really knew 'til I came back," But she already knew where he was going, where his pain was coming from – but am I really responsible for this pain?

He leaned back on his chair, feeling embarrassed. But he had to just say it now. "Because I was there for you. I wanted to be there for you. I just thought I could have been that someone,"

Mimi looked down on her cup. It was now her turn to avoid his eyes. She was at loss with words. She didn't know if she should feel guilty for his heartache or be angry at his self-importance.

"Taichi, Sora, and Yamato have each other. When something about the other came up, they'll always be the first ones to know. I only even found out when that Yamato-kun and Sora-chan were already dating when Takeru-kun told me. And I only found out that they broke up from you,"

The brunette ran a hand through her long hair. "What are you trying to say.."

"I didn't mind being one of the last people on earth to find out what's going on among our friends. I'm not intrusive enough to ask, but it felt nice to actually be one of the first people to know things," said Koushiro.

"Apart from Sora-chan and Takeru-chan, I was one of the people who knew things about you the most, and that made me feel special," Koushiro started to scratch his head, dreading to even utter what he had to say next.

"So.. Yamato-kun was the one to find out first, huh.."

"Yeah. He was." She confirmed, now getting uncomfortable of their conversation. Koushiro was being un-Koushiro, especially that he was the one doing all the talking right now. Mimi felt bad that he was wearing his heart on his sleeve, and she already knew she wasn't going to take it.

"Yeah. You two are becoming awfully close now,"

"We are." The thought of Yamato, whom she was recently with, added to her stress.

"And you know about Taichi-kun, right?"

"I know, Kou-kun," she said, taking a sip from her glass of water. She then placed it down. It was time to break the ice. "I know what you feel about me, too."

But even now she couldn't really believe it; when all-throughout their conversation, Koushiro kept the same, stoic face.

Ahh.. What am I doing.. Takeru was becoming borderline depressed as he listened to Eric Clapton's "Layla" on repeat. He couldn't help it though, he wasn't a musician but the guitar was just blowing his mind off.

At the same time, he had been obsessively checking his phone for any message from Hikari. After taking an afternoon snack from a street vendor nearby, a two-hour dillydallying around the park, he was now on his way to Leisureland. From the looks of it, Hikari's probably pissed off at him for not keeping his word. But that doesn't matter now, he thought. She didn't need him.

He wondered if he should meet up with his older brother, and get some advice. What advice.. I already ran away. It didn't matter. It doesn't matter.

Daisuke was far better in taking care of her. He only wished he was just as good enough to compete.

He wasn't that in love with her anyway. I'm not. What do fourteen-year-olds know about love anyway? He kept trying to convince himself he wasn't.

A few minutes after, he got off the train, walked his way to the arcade. Whether it was his peripheral vision or Hikari 'radar', he swore he saw her, and Daisuke in his extra PE clothes, enter a shop nearby.

He takes a few steps nearer, just close enough to validate his sighting. And when Takeru was satisfied, he turned his heels away. Somehow, he was starting to have a fascination with train rides. He didn't have any right to be sad.

"I'm pretty sure it was nothing, Sora-chan," reassured Taichi for the nth time.

"It could be nothing for now, but trust me, after six months, it'll be something," she lamented, taking a bite from her third slice of cake. "Why are you so cool about it, Tai-kun? Aren't you trying to get Mimi-chan on a date?"

"Ahh.. Yeah, I am," he answered, now unsure for what he really should do with Mimi. "But I know Yamato-kun and Mimi-chan. They're our best friends. They won't do that."

"Whether or not they date, Mi-chan will become someone more important than me in Yamato's life," she said. "I'm no idiot. I knew about Yamato's little crush on Mi-chan back then,"

"You should consider that all of us guys did," Taichi added, hoping it would soothe. He did not know how she found out about that, but it was more important to steer Sora away from her dangerous thoughts. Taichi had already learned from his several misunderstandings with Sora. And most of them boiled down to either his insensitivity or her unresolved insecurities.

And like most of their arguments, she always took him wrongly; and this was no exception.

"Of course you all did," she groaned, now slamming her head on the table. "Even little Takeru-kun did,"

"That was all in the past, though,"

"Said by someone going after Mi-chan right now," she retorted. Taichi groaned out of defeat. He knew her all too well, and she wasn't going to let him win by calming her down.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Nothing. I'm not going to do anything," she leaned back from her seat, her arms crossed.

And she said she's not stubborn, he thought. It was obvious that she still wasn't over his best friend.

"Why did you break up with Yamato in the first place?" Having only heard Yamato's side of the story, maybe it was time he should find out Sora's. She glanced at him, then down at her half-eaten cake.

"I don't really know," she muttered, now scooping the icing. She made a sad smile. "It didn't feel right anymore."

"Why so?"

"Why are you suddenly interested, Tai-kun? Are you trying to win me back right now?" she asked out of amusement.

What the hell, he almost shouted, slightly offended from her little joke. He took a heavy breath to regain his temper before it gets the best of him. "No, I'm not. I just want to know."

"It just didn't feel right anymore. It wasn't the same.. there were too many misunderstandings, too many fights," she lamented. "It came to the point we started to hurt each other.. because there were just too many of everything."

Though he couldn't understand, it was similar to Yamato's story after all. I guess Yamato had already seen it coming then, thought Taichi. "Too much love?"

Oh, did she and Yamato love each other a lot, all right. But for three years of having known each other, neither of them could handle each other's monsters.

She smirked. "We loved so much that we didn't know how to be friends."