Author's Note: Just about time! Anyone watched the Digimon Adventure Tri trailer? I'm impressed and disappointed at the same time. Taichi's design was the best, whilst Yamato's was the worst for me. He looked so messy there instead of 'clean, calm and cool'. I loved Mimi's design - pretty, seemingly intimidating; but I do hope she retains her toned-down personality. I like mature Mimi (late 01, whole 02) the most. I hate Sora's hair in the Tri design, by the way.

Another good thing about it is I can imagine Yamato and Mimi in their Tri designs now. And as far as this story goes.. they're so hot together, it's a freaking supernova. Their appearances really go well with the very first Mimato drabble I wrote. Hehe.

Also, I would like to explain something regarding some events in this chapter, in case anyone else does not know: 1.) Hanafuda is a type of card game (just look it up); 2.) in Japanese culture (I see it a lot in anime and Japanese dramas, though I'm not sure if they really do it), a girl asks for the second button of the boy (who is about to graduate) she likes. Why the second button - because it is said to be the closest in the boy's heart. The male version of this, if my memory does not fail me, is that he asks for the ribbon of the girl.

Okay, enough rambling. Here's chapter sixteen!

Salad Days

Chapter Sixteen
Buttons

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End of Spring

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"So, there it is, I decided to go to Todai," pointed Taichi at his form. Yamato peeped over Taichi's shoulder, and smirked as he read the words "Political Science".

"You're joking me."

"I am offended."

"You don't have the right to be. You don't even know if you passed,"

Taichi took his paper with him, snorted and went to Sora, who was filling in her own college application. Yamato smiled to himself. He liked bursting Taichi's happy bubble. Without much thought, he followed Taichi and stood behind his ex-girlfriend. Yamato watched the two of them talk about their future. Taichi kept pressing her to take culinary studies, while Sora just rebuked the brunet's idea over and over. Like lightning, Yamato wondered how things would have turned out if Sora went for Taichi instead of him. Maybe she would have smiled more often.

"Ugh. What are you doing here now? Came to crush my dreams again, Ishida?" ridiculed Taichi. Sora immediately bobbed her head to at the mention of her ex-lover's name.

Yamato laughed. "No. Just interested on how you'll pursue those dreams, Tai-kun,"

"At least I have dreams. What about you? Planning to major in rock n' roll and.. um.. breaking things?" snorted his chestnut-haired friend. He cursed under his breath, ashamed he couldn't think of a more witty comeback.

"Au contraire," the blond haughtily took out his own form and showed it to Taichi and Sora. He saw the ginger's eyes widened upon reading his own application.

"Physics?! Since when were you good at science?!" exclaimed Taichi, as he remembered being Yamato's laboratory partner. Both of them did very poorly and had to get help from Sora every time they wrote their reports.

"I thought you'd pursue Music.." muttered Sora. Stunned that she remembered what he told her three years ago, the blonde instantly looked away from her direction and focused on Taichi.

"Well anyway," Yamato cleared his throat. "Like you, Taichi, I don't have my results from Todai yet, so.." already out of words, he rolled his form. The three remained silent as they started thinking of the future.

Taichi sat on an empty desk beside Sora, putting a hand under his chin. "Things will change, huh.."

The three of them intimately sat beside each other; their chairs forming a little triangle as Daisuke and Takeru played a game of Hanafuda. Hikari moved a bit away from the two as she felt Takeru's arm brushing up against hers. Thanks to an unexpected pep talk from her older brother, she started to become very wary of physical contact. She did not notice Daisuke being really touchy-feely too until now.

"Stop trying to look at my cards, Dai!" warned off Takeru as he moved further away from him.

"I'm not looking at your cards, Takeru," he replied sheepishly, placing a matching card at the center. He was two cards away from a combo. Takeru, however, was just a card away. But he wouldn't be able to win if his opponent kept peeping at his cards.

The blond drew off a Bright card from his set, took its match from the center and completed his eight-point combination, Ame-Shiko.

"Ha!" he smiled brightly, pointing a mocking finger at the loser. He happily put his last card among the clutter, then leaning back on his chair coolly.

"Ame shiko," stated Hikari as she tallied their scores with a pen and unused toilet paper. "Dai-kun has 34 points, and Takeru-kun with 49 now,"

The maroon-haired boy placed his leftover cards on the table and crossed his arms out of frustration. He didn't really like being beaten by Takeru on front of his crush. "Okay, I don't want to play anymore. Takeru always wins!"

"Don't be silly Dai-kun, you always beat him when you play poker," teased Hikari.

Takeru's smile turned to a frown. He looked around their classroom, each student busy – some with a book, some with their portable gaming devices, and some were playing trading cards, trying to pass the time. "Eh, more so, where's teacher? Aren't we supposed to practice for the graduation ceremony?"

"Hmm. I guess so.. I'll look for someone in the teachers' lounge," volunteered Daisuke. "Anyone wanna come with me?" and instantly both of his friends looked away, as if they were strangers. He groaned, and stood up from his seat.

"Fine, I'll go alone," he said, taking his deck of Hanafuda cards. Their eyes followed Daisuke's moving figure, 'til he shut the classroom door.

Instantly, Takeru took the advantage to be one-on-one with Hikari. She was busy with her phone, but he didn't feel like he was going to be bothersome.

"So why didn't you come with him, Kari-chan?" he teased with a taunting smile.

"Takeru-kun," she said, her eyes still on her phone. "I'm not even going to talk about this with you."

"And why not?"

"Because it's stupid."

He smirked, then raised the pitch of his voice. "Dai-kun will feel hurt when he hears that,"

"Don't even try, Takaishi," She really, really, really hated it when he kept pairing her up with Daisuke.

"But Kari-chan," he moved closer to her, trying to find out why her phone was keeping her busy. "Daisuke likes you a lot." not for long he found out she was playing a word game.

"Like I don't know,"

"You're going to grow up as a very harsh woman,"

"I plan to be a hybrid of Sora-chan and Mimi-chan, thank you very much,"

Takeru laughed, amused how she could still be cute while also being irritated. "Trust me, you're not even close to that."

It wasn't because of the words Takeru said that made Hikari angry; rather, because the very words came from himself. She was getting fed up for tolerating his ambiguity; this mind game (she was still unsure if it really was a mind game, or if it was all just in her head) that she was playing with him. She threw a one, very short yet unforgiving look at him.

He was caught in a surprise, when Hikari abruptly stood up from her seat, and without a word, stormed out of the room without getting noticed by anyone. With her balled fists came to rest, she looked for Daisuke.

Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Takeru stared at the door, with irritation and disbelief. Since when did she become so sensitive? All this drama for one joke?! He did not know how many sacrifices he should make just to keep her happy, even if they're just friends. God, I'll never understand her.

Yamato glared at Taichi and Mimi as they laughed their hearts out after a witty joke was made about the course he opted. Sora, who was in between the two brunets, awkwardly ate her bread, trying not to let out even the faintest chuckle. Yamato turned to his side, saw that Koushiro, as silent as he was, grinned ear to ear. The musician ran a hand through his hair and crossed his arms, trying to keep his composure.

"Seriously, Taichi majoring in Political Science is more hilarious and insane. I can't even imagine him running for mayor," he scorned, hoping someone will bandwagon with his poorly-thought retort.

"Oh Yamato-kun, I'm so sorry, it's just—!" It was the times when Mimi complained, or when she unstoppably giggles, that Yamato couldn't bear her shrilly voice. Even more so when she was making fun of him. She asked Koushiro to imagine Yamato in a spacesuit; this resulted to a louder laughter, even Sora couldn't hold back. The mirth eventually died down when Taichi was approached by a female junior of his, and everyone was intently watching them.

"Taichi-senpai.." the girl, as if running out of breath, lowered her back for a bow. Koushiro seemed to have recognized her from the judo club. "Can I please have your second button?!"

Taichi's eyes widened as if he had almost spit out his rice to Koushiro, while Mimi and Yamato tried not to laugh at their friend out of embarrassment. Koushiro was also making a face.

The girl ended up crying that it wasn't the second, but the first button. But nonetheless she thanked Taichi and joined her own friends again, tightly clasping the button as if her life held on to it. Sora sighed out of relief as she looked back to her food, being reminded how Taichi was very popular at school. It wasn't because Taichi held the same reputation and killer looks like Yamato, but rather his charm and charisma that just makes him very likeable – to boys and girls alike.

"God, I can't believe girls still do that," complained Sora to her female friend. Taichi overheard, and took the opportunity to put the auburn-haired on the spotlight.

"Ha, right. You took Jyou-kun's button last year, remember?" said Taichi who only had three buttons in his coat now.

Despite already going out with Yamato, no one could really deny that Sora and Jyou were akin to best friends, after all. Yamato didn't mind, but that didn't mean Taichi was going to let her get away with it.

"Sora-chan! Whyyy! You had Ishida!" played Mimi, finding it the perfect opportunity for the two to make up and go back to being friends.

"Oh Mimi-chan, that button was anything but romantic!" defended the ginger as she shook Mimi's clingy hold on her. She could feel Yamato looking at her, and even more so with a deadly glare on Mimi. And as far Sora knew Taichi, he was not in the mood to elevate the awkward predicament either.

"Well, Sora, you were always going 'notice me senpai' with Jyou even when we were kids," Well, as far as he could remember, Sora spoke highly of Jyou out of her admiration.

"I think both of you had lost it," she shrieked, turning to the other redhead on front of her. "Kou-kun, back me up here!"

The other, darker-tinted ginger looked up from his meal, forming a kind smile on his face.

"I'm sorry Sora-chan," he muffled in between his chewing. Koushiro's incompetence at times like this only meant that he was enjoying the teasing. Yamato secretly snickered as he turned to his food. Mimi seemed to have caught him do so.

"Why is no one trying to get Yamato-kun's button?" asked Mimi as she playfully looked at the blond. He became alerted upon hearing his name. The girl seemed too oblivious that she and Taichi had indirectly put Sora and himself on the spotlight – a place he didn't want to be. He was running out of temper.

"No one attempts to because everyone still reckons Sora will get the button," answered Taichi in a very blunt manner. "Of course, I'd like to see Jun try,"

Sora, Yamato, and Koushiro cringed at the mention of the name. Mimi knew nothing about her, however. "Jun?"

But before anyone could answer her, Yamato shut her off. "None of your business, Princess." He stood up along with his tray, walking out before he could snap at any of them. He couldn't bare all the intimacy with Sora there, pretending things were okay.

A long, familiar silence was shared among the rest of them as they hastily finished their meals. Mimi was the first to break in.

"Is Yamato angry?" she was starting to regret making fun of him, since he seemed very serious the entire time.

"He is," replied Koushiro nonchalantly. "But it's not your fault, Mimi-chan."

"Yeah.." assured Sora, finishing her drink. She wiped off the substance from her lips. "He's angry because I'm here." The admittance no longer held anything to her. No way was she going to take responsibility of Yamato being difficult. As if a completely renewed person, she took out her lip balm and patted it lightly on her lips. Not anymore.

The brunette frowned and glanced at Yamato's back, who was already at the queue. She started to marvel at his really attractive physique, from his hair, down to his really flourished shoes. He seemed really composed despite the pushing of the crowd. Grace under pressure indeed. Her admiration turned to envy. "God, he can be annoyingly self-righteous,"

"Eh. He's always been like that," said Taichi expertly. A day never went by without him and Yamato getting into each other's nerves, even when they don't see each other.

Soon after, they all gathered their trash and trays. The four of them reached the queue, and Yamato had already headed back to their classroom. Mimi heard Sora sigh and Taichi groan at the sight of their moody, blond-haired friend.

"Mimi," Taichi thrusted a small item on her hand from behind. Surprised, she took a good look at the item from her palm, then blushed. She glanced at Sora, who was on her front, then looked at Taichi, confused. He now only had two buttons on his coat.

"Is this really necessary?" she asked, already giving it back.

He gently pushed her hand away. "Meh. Keep it."

She stared at the navy blue button, then back at him. "I only came back here three or four months ago though,"

He made a small, sympathetic smile, and Mimi knew that he wasn't looking at her even if they were facing each other. And it was even more confusing when he said, "It's not like I can give it to her,"

Takeru ate along with his other friends. It was unusual of him eating at the cafeteria, and his eyes wandered around for any sight of Hikari or Daisuke. Curiously, the two hadn't come back after they left the classroom. He searched for them at the patio, where they usually eat. Instead, he found the neighboring stray cat which the three of them petted.

Not for long, after finishing his meal, he used the remainder of lunchtime searching for the two. Takeru grew anxious as places and minutes passed him by. One of his teachers told him that his two friends dropped by earlier, and then headed to the direction of the library. The librarian, who knew every face in the campus, said that she overheard them talking about going to the ceremony hall. None of the information was found useful.

Sorts of images came to mind, images that he shouldn't be seeing. Such strange thoughts that he shouldn't even be thinking - not with Hikari, at least. Such is the struggle of a very advanced teen.

He climbed up at the rooftop, hoping to see the two. He already heard their familiar voices on the other side. As if all hope was restored in the world, he hastily ran towards the door.

"Kari-chan! Daisuke-ku—" he was about to open it, until –

"There's no doubt. I like Takeru."

His hand froze as it held the doorknob. There was a very long silence.

He heard Daisuke speak up. "He doesn't seem to like you, though."

Wrong.

Takeru heard Hikari giggle, followed by a very heavy sigh. "Yeah, I know."

For Takeru, they were very much wrong.