Karen: Daisuke, why do you like your goggles so much?

Daisuke: They’re almost like my Crest of Courage.

Taichi: That’s right! Goggles give you courage!

Yamato: Yeah, by cutting off the bloodflow to your brain.

:: Taichi pulls out cell-phone::

Taichi: Don’t make me use this!

Yamato: Gee. The threat of weak radiation. I’m scared.

::Taichi punches in a random number and grins at Yamato::

Taichi: Hi, is this Motomiya Jun? I’m ‘phoning on behalf of my best friend. He wants to let you know that he loves you.

::Yamato looks horrified::

Yamato: And your new, best friend is . . . Takeru!

Takeru: Hey! Thanks a lot! -.-#

Hikari: Yeah! Thanks a lot! He’s my ‘best friend’. -.-#

::Taichi drops the phone and stares at her::

Taichi: Were those inverted commas I heard, Hikari?

Hikari: Heh . . . eh . . . I meant to say, we all belong to Toei, and the author doesn’t make any money from this fanfiction.

::Takeru grabs a microphone::

Takeru: “Kimi no kokoro no fookasu boku ni atte iru kana . . .”

::Everyone stares at him, except Hikari who blushes::

Yamato: When did you start singing, Takeru? O.o

Taichi: When did you start singing to my little sister? -.-#

Karen: Beats me. I didn’t schedule musical numbers for this chapter.

Daisuke: Everyone knows my image song is better . . . “Goggeru wa shiteru ze!” ^.^

::Everyone sweatdrops::

Karen: Some people call him extreme, but that’s a compliment, isn’t it?

::Yamato smirks a la Kazama Yuuto::

Yamato: Everyone knows who the real singer is . . .

Mimi: Yeah, me! AiM, remember? ^.^

Yamato: Oh, go kiss a Numemon!

***

EDUCATING MR MOTOMIYA

PART 14

“On what continent is Brazil?”

The question had barely left Mr Ishida’s lips before the small, pale girl from Tamachi shot her hand to hit the buzzer in front of her, “South America.”

“Correct,” Mr Ishida gave her a slightly sick smile, “It is indeed on South America. We’ve now come down to the last question of the last round and the scores couldn’t be closer . . . . A scarce 10 points divides our two teams. Whoever answers this last one correctly wins the contest! Ladies and gentlemen, we have what is termed a nailbiter!”

Takeru licked his dry lips as he looked at the glowing scoreboard in front of them. As his father had said, they were at the last question of the last round and Tamachi had 290 points to their own 280. After he and Hikari had won them a lead in the second round, the other school had staged something of a comeback, answering the majority of the questions and not getting any of them wrong. Regardless, they could still win this contest, if they got to the buzzer first and responded absolutely perfectly.

He took a deep breath, as his father tapped his cards against his podium and cleared his throat in readiness to read from the top one, “For the game, then, Prince Genji in Genji Monogatari had another appellation. What was it?”

Takeru shot out his hand to hit his button, but in the split second before he reached it a harsh buzz sounded from next to him. What on earth is Hikari doing? It was her idea I took all the non-science ones. He looked at her, and his eyes widened when he saw that the light in front of her was dark. It wasn’t her, but that means . . . . Hikari herself shook her head, an irritated expression on her pretty face, and pointed to Daisuke.

Slowly, Takeru turned his head to see the older boy staring at his father with an expression of fixed horror on his face. Beneath the bright lights of the studio, drops of sweat were clearly visible on his forehead. They trickled down from beneath his goggles, tracing silvery lines down his cheeks. Evidently realising his two friends were watching at him, he looked in their direction and mouthed: “My hand slipped. It was an accident. What am I going to do?”

Takeru ran a hand through his hair, considering his options and wincing at the sticky gel in it. Yamato would have a fit when he discovered what the station had used on him. He had always told his younger brother that you could tell what kind of person someone was by the gel that they used. According to him, cheap gel was only used by a) pimps, b) boy bands and c) Yagami Taichi. Takeru was waiting until he could run faster than Yamato to tell him that he himself fitted into category b.

On the one hand, he desperately wanted to win the Brainbuster Challenge. His entire family had come to support him. His brother had cancelled a sell-out concert; his mother had come back early from a conference; his father . . . his father had decided to host it for some weird reason. He couldn’t let them all down, any more than he could let down Hikari. He knew she wanted to win this, for no better reason than she was a Yagami and it seemed to be a genetic trait, along with abnormally high voices. On the other, he was only human, and it would be no more than Daisuke deserved for volunteering for the team just to impress Hikari. . . . So what, Takeru? You’re jealous, so you’re going to screw up your team’s chances? You got through her date with Daisuke, and you can get through this. He sighed. It wasn’t like he had ever had a choice, anyway. He would give the other boy the answer, and let him take the glory. Story of my life. (1)

However, before Takeru could mouth the answer back to him, Mr Ishida said: “Daisuke from Odaiba, I’m going to have to press you for an answer.”

Takeru sank back into his chair and folded his arms in his lap. It was too late for him to be of help, to give him the answer, to rescue him at the last moment. It all came down to Daisuke now. Whether they won or lost the Brainbuster Challenge came down to his knowledge of Heian Era literature, and Takeru doubted that he had read much more than volumes of Dragonball Z and Neon Genesis Evangelion in his lifetime. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t very hopeful of them walking away with the trophy, although there was a slender chance that Daisuke might have remembered this one fact for the worst possible reason. . . .

He heard Daisuke take a deep breath before looking up at Mr Ishida: “I think the answer is Hikaru. Genji Hikaru.” (2)

His expression not changing for a moment, Mr Ishida glanced at the card in his hands, then back at the three children sitting to his left, “Odaiba, your answer is . . . correct! Congratulations! You are the winners of this year’s Brainbuster Challenge!”

Odaiba’s section of the crowd erupted, drowning out even Miyako’s loud protests about her Ken-chan being robbed. People jumped to their feet and clapped their hands. Banners, fans and scarves were waved. Programs were thrown into the air to land on heads. Taichi and Yamato’s (teenage) wolf-whistles rose above the rest of the noise. As Takeru exchanged shocked looks with Hikari, Daisuke stared at his hands and whispered, “I did it? I got it right? We won?”

***

To be concluded . . .

***

1) Taichi and Hikari both have female seiyuu and scarily high voices. ^.^

2) Genji the Shining One. Trust Daisuke to remember a name that sounds like Hikari, for those who didn’t get what Takeru was muttering about ‘worst possible reasons’.