EDUCATING MR MOTOMIYA

PART 5

When Hikari entered the restaurant, she looked around in despair. As she had expected, she was hopelessly out-of-place. The walls were panelled in rich, dark wood, broken in places by paintings of fruit and windows framed in red velvet. The carpetting on the floor came up to her ankles, so that it felt like she was walking through long grass with every step. The tables were made of the same, dark wood and gleamed with fine crystal and silver. White, linen napkins, folded into the shapes of swans, swum on all of them. She could see at a glance that it was one of the smart, Western ones that catered to the foreign businessmen and tourists who visited Odaiba. She could not understand how people could travel halfway across the world to see another country, yet want everything to be precisely the same when they arrived there.

Hikari doubted that they had eaten a meal at Mimi’s house the entire time they had been in America. Every night, another group of her friends had arrived to take them out to McDonalds or Burger King for another round of the dreaded double cheeseburgers and icecream. Mimi had not been discreet about her adventures in the Digital World either, so they had been dying to meet the other Chosen Children. By the end of their trip, Hikari knew Takeru was as tired as she was of telling how they had defeated the Dark Masters and Apocalymon.** By some miracle, though, he had kept his temper, even when the friends had insisted on prodding, poking and stroking poor Patamon and Tailmon until their Digimon had hidden in a cupboard and refused to come out for anyone. It had taken a box of Twinkies, two bars of chocolate and half a milkshake to coax their partners out of hiding, and then they had had to contend with two, very hyper Digimon. At the time, she had wondered uncharitably if his patience had had anything to do with the girls who kept giggling and commenting on how cute he was. I don’t know why! Takeru’s not cute! He isn’t!

Consequently, it had been with a sense of relief that she had left New York to help Wallace. She had even been able to get through the farewell party where Mimi’s family had taken them out to dinner and ordered the notorious double cheeseburgers and icecream as a special treat for them. Her father had said that they should have one American meal before setting out for Japan again. She and Takeru had simply exchanged glances above the table, before pretending to enjoy the meal. That restaurant had been a lot like this one - very fancy and probably very expensive.

It was sweet of Daisuke to bring me to such a nice one, but I wish he had told me in advance. I still don’t know what I would have worn - perhaps the bridesmaid’s dress I wore to my aunt’s wedding - No, that’s too purple and frilly. I’d have had to go shopping with Miyako or Sora or somebody. I wish he’d told me.

However, Daisuke did not seem to notice her discomfort, as he continued to chatter and crack jokes even when the maitre d’ came to seat them. From the instant she had returned with her coat, he had begun talking and hadn’t stopped. As they walked to their table, he launched into a play-by-play account of his last soccer match at a speed which would have done any racing commentator proud. And his cheeks had been and were a shade to match V-mon’s red bowtie. She wondered if he was feverish. That would explain his odd behaviour. It can’t be shyness. Daisuke is never shy.

That was the understatement of the millenium. Daisuke had not received the Crest of Courage - the same crest as her brother - for nothing.*** Normally, he was one of the most confident people whom she knew. Yamato called him cocky, but Daisuke was too much like Taichi for her to agree with that description. Both of them had big hearts, which they always followed over their heads. However, when it came to how he usually behaved around her, she thought Yamato might have had a point. Tonight, however, he seemed strangely edgy. When V-mon arrived, she decided, she would ask him if his partner were feeling well.

To avoid certain, uncomfortable questions, the two Digimon had said that they would find a way to sneak into the restaurant, once Hikari and Daisuke had found a table. There had been a note in Tailmon’s voice that suggested she might try the poor, hungry kitten routine, while V-Mon had cheerfully proposed to find a fat person behind whom to hide. Regardless, she could not worry about them. Where food was involved, their Digimon would make a plan. As for herself, she had to think of a way to force fish down Daisuke’s throat, or else the whole date would have been for nothing. And, come hell or high water, Yagami Hikari was not going to let that happen!

When they had been seated at a corner table and their towels and cups of complimentary tea had been brought to them, she decided to broach the subject of the Brainbuster Challenge.

"So, are you ready for the quiz, Daisuke?"

"Eh, I guess. It shouldn’t be too hard," he shrugged, sounding a little unwilling to talk about it.

"We’re against Tamachi," she reminded him, "Tamachi means Ichijouji Ken."

"Hey, there has to be a reason I’m Ken’s jogress-partner," Daisuke grinned, sounding like himself for a moment, "It’s probably because we’re both boy geniuses."

Hikari sweatdropped, "And Takeru and Iori are partners because they both are tall and play basketball, right?"

"Heh," Daisuke’s cheeks darkened a shade or two, then he hastily changed the subject, "I wonder where Tailmon and V-Mon are."

"We’re here," a voice hissed from beneath the table. The two humans bent to look, and found the two Digimon crouched in the gloom. V-Mon had a triumphant grin on his face and a crooked bowtie around his neck, while Tailmon was busy readjusting her gloves and smoothing down her white fur, although neither was dishevelled.

"How did you two get here without us noticing you?" she asked.

"Please," Tailmon said dryly, giving her face a final preen, "I wasn’t Vandemon’s best henchcat for nothing."

"We hid at the bottom of one of those carts of food, then jumped out when it passed your table," V-Mon explained, suiting action to word with an energetic pantomime of what they had done.

"After we order, you can climb . . . ."

"Can I be of assistance, sir, miss? Have you dropped something?" she heard somebody say from beside their table. V-Mon froze, eyes wide with horror, and Tailmon took the opportunity to sidle behind Hikari’s legs. A sideways glance revealed a pair of shoes polished to a gleam and black trousers with a crisply precise crease up their sides. She shot upright to meet the mild, incurious stare of the waiter.

"My . . . uh, wallet fell," Daisuke gabbled, "But I’ve . . . heh, heh . . . found it now."

"Very good, sir," their waiter nodded, clearly too polite or disinterested to question their story, "In that case, are you ready to order?"

"I’ll have the ramen soup, please," he said, not bothering to consult the menu. The waiter nodded and scribbled on a little pad. Hikari felt her stomach drop at the words. Darn. What am I going to do now? His order’s hardly a surprise - Daisuke would live off ramen soup if he could - but I guess I hoped I’d get a chance to change his mind before the waiter came. Stupid waiter. Okay, girl, time to think on your feet. . . .

"Wouldn’t you rather have the mixed sushi?" she suggested lightly.

"Yuck," he pulled a face, "You know I hate fish, Hikari."

"That’s a pity," she knew she was sinking lower and lower by the second, but she was too desperate to care, "I think there’s nothing cuter than a boy who likes seafood."

Daisuke went an even deeper crimson.

"On second thought, make mine a mixed sushi, please."

Feeling like the rat she knew she was, Hikari smiled sweetly at him.

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NEXT TIME: Famous, last words from Hikari, as everything goes horribly wrong!

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NOTES:

* In the FY anime, Miaka is forever on about double cheeseburgers and icecream. If you ever want to improve your Japanese food vocabulary, that’s the anime for you. :)

** Is the name the same in the original? I hope so, because I’m lazy to check. It could be Apokalimon, but that’d just be the limitations of the kana.

*** I don’t think the second generation - with the obvious exception of Hikari and Takeru - really have crests, but that’s something I’m exploring in my other series.