KAREN: Again, the characters in this story belong to Toei Animation Corp.

JYOU: Am I the only one who finds it odd that ‘the characters in this story’ are only eleven or twelve?

KAREN: Hey, if Tamahome can propose to Miaka when she’s the ripe, old age of fifteen, Hikari and Daisuke can go on a date when they’re eleven. It’s anime, Jyou-kun. No-one cares.

TAICHI: <blinks> FIFTEEN? SORA-CHAN, MARRY ME!

SORA: Haven’t you seen the script for ‘A Million Points of Light’ yet? I end up married to Yamato. Yamato and I are an Official Couple (TM).

YAMATO: O.O ,

SORA: What’s that emoticon meant to mean? ¬.¬ #

KAREN: Eh . . . heh. Moving right on, Takeru was scheduled to be here this week, but he was so embarrassed about his Japanese gaff in the last part that he’s hiding beneath his hat. Obviously, ‘you’ is anata. Gomen nasai. ^.^

SORA: Hey! Just because you’ve taken the Ishida Yamato Pledge doesn’t mean you can shelter him by changing the subject! ¬.¬ #

KAREN: Yamato-sama, RUN! I’ll distract her with the following story . . .

***

EDUCATING MR MOTOMIYA

PART 6

With some relief, Daisuke saw the waiter disappear into the kitchen with their empty plates. It was not that he was glad their meal was finished, because that meant his date with Hikari was one step closer to being finished. It was that he would never have to take another bite of sushi in his life. Even though he had shared most of the sushi no moriawase with a happy Tailmon, eating what had remained had taken every ounce of courage he possessed. He had not known that dead fish on seaweed could be so frightening. Nonetheless, he had managed to eat every bite of it and even smile at Hikari while he was doing so. Unfortunately, his stomach was now making noises that he had not heard since Jun had dared him to eat the furry pizza at the back of their refrigerator.

However, none of that mattered. All that was important was that his first date with Hikari was going well, and that meant there might be a second or even a third in their future. He wondered if it were too soon to start introducing her as his girlfriend. At the thought of that, his stomach gave an odd, queasy flutter that had nothing to do with the sushi he had eaten. Hikari is so smart and so beautiful. I can’t believe she’s sitting across the table from me now. I can’t believe she chose me. I can’t believe she’s mine.

Feeling his cheeks grow warm, he looked up at her. To his surprise, Hikari was gazing back at him, her chin resting on laced fingers, her brown eyes as warm as melted chocolate. Her cheeks were pink, and there was a small, secretive smile on her lips. Beside her, Tailmon seemed to have gotten a furball caught in her throat. V-Mon was thumping her shoulders with a paw, but it did not seem to be helping. She kept on making strange, choking noises, and tugging on Hikari’s shirt. Surprisingly, the girl seemed oblivious to what was happening with her partner. If Daisuke had not known better, he would have said she was in a trance. He had seen the same, dreamy look on Jun’s face whenever she was within a hundred metres of Takeru’s older brother, Yamato. Wow. I must have more of an effect on girls than I thought. I must be . . . pretty hot.

Hikari leaned forward and said in honeyed tones: "Daisuke, I was wondering . . . do you know the population of Japan?"

Daisuke almost fell off of his chair in shock. Of all the things that he thought Hikari might have been wondering, the population of their country was not one of them.

"WHAT? WHY?"

"It’s a game I play with Taichi. We test each other on general knowledge, and the winner has to perform a forfeit. My brother usually makes me do his laundry for a week," Hikari said smoothly, "So, do you know the population of Japan?"

He racked his brain desperately. Think, Daisuke, think. If you get this right, you can ask her for anything, even a second date or . . . or a kiss! And she won’t be able to get mad, because it’s a forfeit! Yes! Come on, Daisuke! He remembered Mr. Hamasaki pointing to a map of their country and saying something about how many people lived there, but he had been too busy trying to spitball Takeru to pay much attention. To add insult to injury, the only person he had been able to hit with his missiles was Mr Hamasaki. At that point, he had been handed a bucket full of water and made to stand in the hallway for an hour. His stomach groaned with him.

"No, but only because I haven’t been introduced to all of them yet," he answered with a weak grin, "Heh . . . heh . . . eh. . . . Bill, please!"

His eyes bulged as he looked at his trousers. He could see his fingers sticking out through an enormous tear where his pocket had been. It was the sort of tear that looked as if it had been caused by a V-Mon bumping into his side with its horn while crossing a busy road on the way to an expensive restaurant. His wallet was probably roadkill by now.

Daisuke’s stomach grew even queasier at the thought of what he was going to have to say next.

"I can’t pay this, Hikari. I must have dropped my wallet," he hissed, "Do you have any money on you?"

"No," she replied, voice cooling by several degrees, "I don’t have any money, Daisuke. When I offered to go dutch, you said that a gentleman always paid for his date."

"I’ll have to charm my way out of this situation, then," he said, plastering a grin onto his face and lifting a hand to call the waiter, "Excuse me, sir. I’m so, so sorry, but I don’t have any money, because - ha, ha, this is so funny - my pocket tore and I dropped my wallet. And - eh, heh, heh - it’s my first date with Hikari and I was hoping that you’d . . . uh, forget all about it? Please?"

Mouth stiff from grinning so hard, Daisuke looked up at the man to gauge his reaction. He fully expected him to toss both of them on the pavement, or to call the police to haul them off to prison. Unbelievably, his speech seemed to have worked. The waiter had a sympathetic expression on his face, and his voice was very soft and very kind when he spoke: "I understand, sir. It could happen to anybody. It would be very unfortunate to let an honest accident ruin your evening. Because it’s such a special occasion, I’ll let you and your girlfriend . . . ." his eyebrows drew together as he bellowed, "WORK IT OFF IN THE KITCHEN!"

As they followed the angry waiter to the kitchen, he thought he heard Hikari mutter: "I’m going to murder Takaishi Takeru."

*

Holding the receiver a few inches away from his ear, Takeru waited for a furious Hikari to finish her account of her nightmare date with Daisuke. From what he could tell, they had spent most of the evening in the restaurant’s kitchen, scrubbing greasy pots and removing unidentifiable stains from its floor. And the owner - whom Takeru strongly suspected of being a close relative of Digitamamon - had told them that they could come back the next day to finish paying off their bill!

". . . And, as he was walking me home, he threw up all over my new shoes!" his friend concluded, "Worst of all, you can tell your mom that fish doesn’t make people smarter! Daisuke still has the intelligence of a block of lard. I kept asking him questions and he didn’t get a single one right."

When he thought it was safe to speak, he ventured: "So, we need another plan."

"No kidding. And this one had better not involve me."

"Nope, I think it’s time to call in the big guns," he said grimly, "We need Kido Jyou!"

**

NEXT TIME: Mark your diaries in red, as Kido Jyou actually gets a part in a story, but will even he be enough to make Daisuke smart? ;)