Author's Note: I'm sorry this took so long. I have it written long before, but I was too busy to edit it. I wanted to portray something more about Hikari here, since her character hasn't developed much yet. For any Takari fans out there, here's a treat (although.. I don't know.. right now they're not really in a shippy moment). Digimon Adventure Tri: Saikai is about to come soon, and let me just disclose it - a lot of the character descriptions, particularly Taichi's and Yamato's descriptions have proven my head canons on them; Teenage Wolves get disbanded, Yamato creates a new one (and hopefully recruits Mimi), Taichi being the first to face adulthood. And I'm kind of really bummed how slow I've been writing this because I've already nailed the latter headcanon in some way *lmao*

To everyone, thank you for all the support. I'd be really glad if you guys drop by a review. I'll be responding to PMs later!

Also, as a consolation for my slow update, the next chapter will be about Taichi, Yamato, and Jyou.

Salad Days
Chapter Twenty-three
In medias res: Act III

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He was greeted by wind and a clear sky as he opened the door. Takeru winced at the light at first, but immediately recovered as he saw the brunette standing on front of him, her back turned. Gust of wind went through her hair and her skirt, flowing in a rather graceful direction. And yet her figure remained still, completely unaware of his presence.

He looked around; saw some familiar buildings and skyscrapers reaching the clouds. The bullet train line could also be seen from here. He could hear a bit of noise that came down from campus grounds, but it was bearable. He thought that this was a nice place to write.

His train of thought stopped when she turned around. He gulped and breathed deeply, before he walked towards her and said, "Hi."

"Oh.." She was slightly disappointed with him being terse. Nonetheless, she shook the feeling off and put up a rather familiar smile and personality. "Hi."

Nothing terrified him more than her friendly face. "You wanted to talk?"

"Mhmm." She nodded, looking down to the item in her hands. "But let's eat lunch first, shall we?"

"Ahh. I'm going to go down though, I didn't - " He stared at the thing she held up. "Oh.."

Well that's rather impolite of you, she thought to herself, not liking the expression he was making. "Ahh. I couldn't help it."

He followed her as she sat down on the floor, her nervous and fragile hands unpacking the lunch made for two. "You shouldn't have," Like, really, she shouldn't have. It was bothersome. There was completely no reason for her to make lunch for him. It didn't make quite sense, and this little gesture of Hikari confused him. It's not like we're going out.. and yet he couldn't help but also notice how waifu-material –

He immediately went red at the thought of it. Good Lord, Takeru… he scolded himself.

His silence was not helping her at all. Sure, it had already been a month or two that they haven't engaged in tête-à-tête, but knowing him - Takeru - who was rather usually talkative – should be trying to relieve the awkwardness around them. I should have lowered my expectations. "Sorry," she replied, handing him a pair of pink plastic chopsticks.

"Ahh.." He accepted them, before opening the bento she made for him. "No.. Thank you."

She gave him a smile before starting on her lunch. She noticed he has not opened his bento yet – probably contemplating on how weird this is, she thought – but she couldn't wait for him and ate her own.

It had been quiet for a while. No noise, no anything – as if the world had stopped. He noticed that, and every little move she did, from her silent chewing to her shaking chopsticks.

He opened his bento, not so surprised how pretty and organized the food was placed. He almost wanted to take a photo of it. "You made this? Or Yuuko-san?"

"I did," she replied, not looking at him. "Oka-san is too busy to cook now."

He bit off of the beef. "Oh," he exclaimed softly in between his chewing. "It tastes amazing."

"You always think food is amazing," she smirked. "whoever cooked it."

"Hmm." It was unexpectedly tasteful. He knew Hikari wasn't good at cooking, but maybe she took a cooking lesson from Sora – or Mimi. "But, you know, how did you make it?"

"Make it?" she looked up, her chopsticks on her mouth.

"Make it taste like Daisuke's yakiniku?"

"Daisuke taught me how," she replied. "Onii-san wanted to learn too, for dad. Dai-kun came over."

Takeru blinked a few times, before his head fell down to look at his lunch. Dai-kun. He didn't see that coming so soon. "I see."

Perhaps it was a wrong move to mention Daisuke right now, she reminded herself. She noticed his reaction, but figured it was best to ignore it. She continued to eat her meal.

Another uncounted several minutes of silence had passed them by, both trying to read each other's minds, carefully thinking of the next words they're about to say. It had taken so long, that both of them knew they were waiting for each other to speak up.

This is so painfully awkward.

But alas, he was always known to be more impatient than her – by a finger. He was done with his lunch anyway.

"Did you see the results earlier?" he asked rather cheerfully. "The newspaper club?"

"Ahh.. yeah.." she replied, eating every grain of rice left. "I didn't get in, unfortunately."

"Ohh.." His surprise came out fake. He knew she didn't, and now he was scolding himself for even bringing it up. "I'm sorry.. you can always try next time.." So lame, Takeru.

"Yeah.." She felt ashamed, somewhat disappointed in herself – and embarrassed. Definitely – since Takeru passed and got in the club.

Well there goes the small talk, he thought to himself. He thanked her for the meal, then gave the empty bento back.

Poorly attempted, thought Hikari.. She hated small talk; and by the look on his face, he was doing very poorly to communicate with her.

Nonetheless, she knew he meant well.

"So, you know, I watched the new comic book film you said I should watch," this time she was the one to start. "It was surprisingly good."

"You did?!"

"Yep. I watched it with onii-san." She replied, rather pleased and satisfied with his expression. "Even he found it awesome."

Takeru leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. He had a funny expression on his face; in between happy and proud – and she couldn't help but hold her giggles.

"That's nice," he said. "People have been really cynical about it, you know. I loved the movie though. It really went past my expectations."

"Yeah, me too," she agreed, also leaning against the wall. "It was kind of nice to watch a downsized blockbuster. The cinematography was amazing,"

"I watched that just a week ago and I noticed it too. I told myself, 'Ahh, Hikari-chan would love this'."

And from there her cheeks came ruddy; it didn't go unnoticed. "The visuals are nicely done." added Takeru.

"Yeah, they are."

"What do you think about the characters?"

"I think they're all good. The male's sort of weak but I like how much of a team player he is rather an individualistic superhero. "

"Haha. Cool. We thought the same thing. I liked how non-serious most of them are. "

"I still think female representation lacks in most of their movies,"

"Yeah…" Of course. Hikari always notices those things. "I can't argue with that. I do hope they start to focus on that in their next movies,"

"Yeah, me too."

"Have you heard about the new café downtown?"

"Uhh.. No?" Well that was out of the blue. She wondered if he was going to ask her out. The thought made her palms sweat.

"Koko Station. They have photography workshops every weekend," he answered. "Every week there's a theme and the participants have to take photos that relate to the theme,"

"They roam around?"

"Of course."

She gave a lopsided grin, scratched her head with a finger. "How tedious."

"Come on," he chuckled, softly bumping her arm. "Stop being an introvert every once in a while."

"Yeah I know, I just.." she drifted off, then looked away. Since middle school she had learned that photos weren't just decorations or memorabilia. They were meant to tell real stories. Of course, nothing made her happier than making something more out of a mere hobby, if only she didn't have to take care of her sick father every day. It would be selfish of her to say she's a victim of circumstance – I'm not that deprived after all.

It didn't mean she hated accompanying her father to the hospital since the accident, but it did put some of her life on hold, especially when things going on in her own personal life had been complicated.

But seeing how happy Takeru was, she let go of the thought and smiled instead. Takeru-kun. Dear Takeru-kun always took care of her dreams when she couldn't. Maybe she just misunderstood him back then.

"Okay, fine. I'll give it a go." she turned her head, smiling. "How much is the workshop?"

"Cool. I'll accompany you and help you if you want," he said, now leaning forward. "And it's for free, as long as you buy coffee there."

I mean, he says he wants to accompany me.. so maybe I should just ask.. it's not like he's going to reject me.. her mind was going ratatata, but Hikari thought to pop the question on the right moment.

"I really want to make this photography thing more than just a hobby," explained Hikari. It had become warmer all of the sudden. She started to fan herself with her hands. "Something to take when I go to college, you know."

"Yeah, I know." He held her shoulder and gave a reassuring grip. The sudden skinship almost made her jump. "I think you should really attend to this. It might help. It won't hurt to try!"

"Yeah. I'll look in to it… Thanks." Maybe I should ask?

"How's your 'high-fantasy-epic' going on?"

So you're still reading my blog, huh, Takeru thought. "Ahh. Still in development," he answered abruptly. He didn't know world-building could have been so hard. Even more so, while having a shitty love life. "I haven't been able to concentrate with it nowadays,"

He started to talk about his project, said how hard it was to keep characters from being stereotypes, and avoiding clichés. Takeru also went on with how he and his brother had been arguing about the characters – Yamato said the main character was "too much like Taichi".

Hikari was hearing all of this, but wasn't absorbing any of it. The small talk came long, and she was also running out of patience.

She just had to ask.

"Takeru-kun?"

He paused from his chatter. "Hmm?"

She stood up, and he followed suit. "I'm sorry if I've been cold these days," She looked at the sky, the towering buildings, the little houses, the speeding train.

"No.. don't worry about it." he assured with a smile. "We're good now right?"

She turned to face him, her hands no longer clasped together, her back no longer hunched. She would remember this day – every little detail of it. It was a sunny autumn day, and it wasn't completely quiet, there was still that faint noise from below; but it was enough for her to voice out her sentiments -

"I just… things are so complicated."

- and bare out her feelings.

"I like you." It was the longest time she held her breath.

Takeru, with hands inside his pockets, just stared at her, eye-to-eye; rather surprised that she wasn't looking away. A gust of wind from the west came, perfectly giving that certain movie-like 'effect' as it blew on her hair and skirt. It was cliché, he thought, but she was beautiful. Painful. He was just an arm away from her, and he wanted so badly to reward her courage – but even his lips had gone too weak to even smile.

"I know."

"Do you like me?"

"I do."

"You understand what I meant when I said 'like', right?"

He took her hand, didn't say anything at first. He examined her palm, her translucent skin, the purplish roots underneath.

"I do," he said, now tearing his eyes away from hers. "I do, Hikari-chan.." now turning to face the horizon instead; but his hand was still clasped in hers. "But,"

How can I even say it? He didn't want to say it. "But Hikari-chan –"

"Enough." She exclaimed in a commanding tone; her other hand made a gesture for him to stop. "I know what you're going to say. You'll say that we're too young for this, and I understand why you think that way,"

Saved from another babbling explanation, he thought to himself.

"But I'm willing to wait."

He let go of her hand, his shameful expression turning into a stern one.

"I don't want you to."

She blinked a few times, wondered if she just heard him right. "Huh?"

"I don't want you to wait."

"Why not?"

"Because you shouldn't wait."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No.." he turned away from her, looked to his other side. "No you didn't."

"Then what is it?"

"Just don't."

It was enough to almost completely drive Hikari mad and anxious.

"I honestly don't understand, Takeru-kun. I like you.. and you said you like me too so why..." she said, trying to be calm, but her gaping mouth and her rapidly blinking eyes were giving it all away. "I don't understand – "

"Exactly," he said coldly, now gazing far off. He's here, but he's also somewhere else. "You don't understand."

Right after when he said this, the chaos in her wanted to get out, and she wanted to fall apart -

"W-why.. Ahh.." but fell on her knees instead, letting out a heavy breath. Gathering the now empty lunchboxes, she silently packed them back in her lunch bag, slowly stood up from ground and immediately turned her back on him.

"Ahh.. how embarrassing this is." She whispered, followed by a soft laugh. "Thank you for coming. I'll go now. Have a good day."

"You too." He didn't even look back at her.

Hikari closed the door behind her, completely blank. She placed a hand over her chest, felt as if it was galloping, trying to come out of her rib cage. She took several deep breaths before climbing down the stairs.

The hallway was still empty and quiet. Too quiet, it made her feel scared. She dabbed her handkerchief over the sweat trickling from her head and neck, and breathed deeply again. Loosely clutching her lunchboxes, she dragged her feet with her; her vision absolutely fixed that she didn't even blink. And when she did, tears fell.

Ahh.. I shouldn't be doing something so unsightly.. she thought, surprised at her body's reaction. Sighing and wiping her face, she rummaged through her pocket and opened her phone to check up on her dad. It took three tries before the phone was picked up, and it wasn't her father who spoke.

"Mom?" Was her mom on leave?

"Kari-chan, thank God you called," her mother cried through the phone. "I couldn't call your brother because he's in a lecture but God, I'm so glad Kari,"

"Why what's wrong?" replied Hikari, agitated.

"Otou-san had a breakdown,"

Her feet immediately stopped, and so did her heart – for a while. "What?"

"H-he, he broke down, Hikari," repeated her mother. "We were doing the recovery exercises, but he broke down… He's in the hospital right now," She could hear her mother's sniffles in between.

"W-what.. What did they say?" she asked in a forcefully calm tone and continued her walk. The walk along the hallway felt like a procession, only dragging her feet as her whole body suddenly felt too heavy.

"They said his nervous system suddenly shut down,"

"Ahh.." Hikari put a hand over her forehead, wiping off her sweat. "Is he going to be alright?"

"I don't know… Oh God Kari-chan, I don't know.."

Her mother started to cry again, and Hikari wanted so badly to join her, but was unable to when two of her classmates passed her by. She turned around to face an open window, and leaned on the sill. "Please don't cry oka-san.." she whispered softly to the phone. "It'll be alright.. Dad's a fighter, right?"

"I'm sorry.." her mother apologized. "Ahh.. don't tell this to your brother yet okay.. he's already stressed out with everything.. I'll tell it to him in the afternoon.."

"Y-yeah.." she agreed. The thought of her brother came in and bothered her more. "Okay.. I'll go there after school.."

"Thank you Kari-chan… Thank you."

"No.. it's okay 'ka-san..." she reassured in a happy manner. "I'll call again later.. Try to be strong too, okay? For dad!"

Hikari ended the call with her lips forced into a smile. Looking at her phone, she noticed two messages from Taichi; the previews of the messages seem to bear dreadful news.

"Hikari? What's wrong?"

She made a small jump, surprised to hear a familiar voice. "Ahh.." she titled her head a bit to look see him. "I-I'm okay, Takeru. Were you there the whole time?"

He ignored her question, apparently too concerned with the expression on her face, and everything he just heard.

"You don't sound like it," he said, walking towards her.

In return, she tried to shake him off by walking away. "I am, please just don't mind me,"

He managed to take her by the shoulders and forced her to turn around and face him. "I'm not buying that, something's wrong,"

"I told you, everything's fine – "

'it's not fine, Hikari –"

"Why the hell do you care Takeru, you –"

"Of course I care, Hikari.. If you would just let me – "

"Stop it, Takeru, don't make a scene here," she snarled, already running out of breath as she violently squirmed away from his hold. "Can you just go away?!"

It was rare for him or anyone else to see her so restless. Even Hikari had her moments – but he wasn't going to let her push him away.

"It's about your otou-san! I heard, okay? You could have told me –" he was cut off by surprise when she did the most unexpected.

His blue eyes were the roundest they've ever been.

"Ahh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry –" her hands tried to reach out to him, but she began to shake.

"I told you, I-I told you should have just.." she fell on her knees, on front of him, for the second time. She silently wept in between her two hands as he stood still, completely paralyzed as he held his reddening cheek.