"Where are the Andes?"

"At the end of the armies!"

"What’s an atom?"

"Wasn’t he in that garden with Eve?"

"What is a ‘debate’?"

"It’s something you use to catch de fish!"

"What is a nom de plume?"

"It’s what you call a feather!"

"What was the first, Japanese novel?"

"Happy, Little Kitten’s Kana Funtime!"

"Here’s an easy one. If we breathe oxygen during the day, what do we breathe at night?"

"Nitrogen!"

Staring despondently at the floor, Daisuke rubbed his tired eyes and battled to stifle a yawn. He wanted to go to bed, and sleep until the quiz was over. Sleeping seemed to be the only thing he could do well. Jyou had been barking questions at him for over an hour now, and he was no closer to getting the right answer than he had been at the beginning of the evening. He might as well have stayed at home and played his new PS2 all evening.

He shot a poisonous glance at the snoring Digimon, stretched out on the pillow beneath Takeru’s puffer-jacket. A little bubble emerged at the corner of his mouth whenever he exhaled. Tailmon was curled up beside him, her head resting on her paws, her tail tucked neatly around herself.

I suppose V-Mon and I have to face that we’re doomed to be losers in love. We’ll always lose out to people like Takeru and Digimon like Patamon.

Reluctantly, he shifted his gaze to where Hikari and Takeru were sitting together on the floor. They were leaning against the base of Jyou’s bed, and Takeru had his arm stretched behind her on the mattress. A large atlas was spread across their laps, and they were pointing at it and talking to each other in low voices. Daisuke felt his stomach twist sourly as he looked at them. It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. I’ve tried everything to get her to like me, I’ve showed her how I feel about her over and over again, but Takeru just has to smile in her direction and she comes running to him. . . .

"Earth to Daisuke? Hello?" Jyou was waving a card in front of him, and he realised the older boy must have been trying to quiz him, "What is a U-Boat?"

"A frigging German submarine, okay? But I know that’s wrong, because I’m always wrong! I know I’m stupid! I know Hikari will never like me! I know that I’m going to embarrass our school at the quiz, and cause us to lose! I’m sorry for screwing up your perfect lives!" he yelled, anger surging up and crashing over him like a tsunami, "So, will you quit asking me questions? They aren’t going to do me any good, because I’m stupid and useless . . . ."

"A U-Boat is a German submarine," Takeru said softly, "You were right."

"I was right?" Daisuke repeated incredulously, all his anger changing to surprise in an instant, "I was RIGHT?"

"You were right!" Jyou grinned at him, "You, Daisuke, were right!"

"I was right!" he whooped, grabbing Jyou by the hands and spinning him around the room, much to the older boy’s startlement. V-Mon followed his partner’s lead by twirling a model skeleton across the table. Laughing, Takeru and Hikari applauded them. It was a good feeling to know that they were laughing with him, instead of at him, for once in his life.

Releasing his grip on Jyou, he turned to his team-mates and punched a fist in the air: "Bring on Tamachi, baby, because Motomiya Daisuke is ready to take them down!"