A-Sides
You Don’t Love Me Anymore
By Wisemon
This story was the winner (by default as the only entrant) of the Digiartist’s Domain Summer 2004 Writing Contest. It scored 97/100 from fellow author Nate Hunter/Kharon Alpha. For a sense of relativity, here’s what the judge said: “The highest score ever achieved in my contests was a 98 or 99 percent by Lord Archive…for his ‘Courage’…You probably would’ve won anyway, quite possibly even if Archive had sent a story in.”
Digimon is the property of Toei Animation. This is my first non-series story, a submission for the August 2004 writing contest. This story is dedicated to two other authors who worked with the second season: X-Man, whose series convinced me to start writing for the site, and AnironUndomiel, a brilliant yet mortally unlucky writer who I’m proud to say that I partially inspired. In general, this story is also dedicated to anyone who has ever discovered a deception by the people who call themselves friends. Special thanks go out to someone I call a friend, UnknownH, for testing out this story and prejudging it. You can take the characters out of the style, but you can’t take my style out of the characters. I use a mixture of Japanese and American names, whichever I prefer. This story has modified quoted lyrics by Stabbing Westward. The name of the band conjures up images of violent frontiering, which is intentionally ironic. This story, unlike the ones in my Alternate Ending Series, is neither violent nor about the Frontier season. It does have sex (a necessity for the contest), and like all of my writing, it does have an abundance of bad language. On second thought, this story will have some violent mood swings. If you’re under 18, stop reading now.
Daisuke sat in his room and stared at his D-Terminal screen, waiting for Hikari’s reply. It was just a simple yes or no question. “Are you free to hang out at the mall tonight?” It had been six months since MaloMyotismon, presumably the top rung in the ladder of evil, had been defeated by a plethora of Digivices and a final shot from Imperialdramon Fighter Mode. In those six months, Daisuke had asked Hikari out at least twenty times, and every time, she always had some excuse for why she couldn’t go. Daisuke knew that it couldn’t be a coincidence, not that many times, so he asked her the last few times if she really liked him too. It was always the same ambiguous answer, “Of course I like you.”
DemiVeemon was concerned about his partner. “You’ve been staring at that screen for an hour. Don’t you have a fifteen page report due tomorrow for Professor Yamamoto’s class? Even future noodle cart salesmen have to pass junior high school.”
“No, they don’t,” Daisuke retorted. “They just need a cart, some noodles, and a dream. I don’t care so much about my profession as I do about who I’m with.”
“You just ended a sentence with a preposition. Make sure you don’t do that in your report.” DemiVeemon missed the true weight of Daisuke’s claimed belief.
“Dude, I don’t give a shit about homework, or schoolwork. You should know that by now. Nonetheless, I promise to have this report done by the end of the night,” Daisuke assured. “I’ll write the last ten pages in two hours by doing a really half-assed job. The teachers never read past the third page anyway.”
“Fine, but in the meantime, waiting for Hikari like this, it can’t be fun,” DemiVeemon hypothesized. “Why don’t you just go to the mall without her? Actually, this waiting looks just as bad as doing your report. Maybe you should work on that now.”
“It’s something we humans call obsession. I know that it isn’t good for me. I don’t want it, I don’t need it, but I can’t stop myself. She’s the only thing that matters, the air I breathe.” A beep from Daisuke’s D-Terminal finally ended his anticipation. He read the response, “Sorry, but I have too much homework tonight.” As usual, Daisuke was disappointed, but not surprised. “That’s not a good excuse. I never let homework get in my way.”
“I guess she gives a shit,” DemiVeemon reasoned.
“Get out of my room,” Daisuke ordered. “I need to be alone.”
“You’re mad at me for nagging you, right?” DemiVeemon guessed.
“No, I just need some time alone to clear my head.” Daisuke stepped to his computer, minimized his barely completed report, and double-clicked his web browser.
“Oh, you want to be alone so you can masturbate.” DemiVeemon left the room, and the door bumped his tail on the way out.
Daisuke took off his shorts and his briefs, grabbed some tissues, and sat down at his computer. He went to his favorite porno sites, the ones with nude celebrities (the most beautiful people). He was getting hard and heated. More importantly, he was starting to forget about what he could swear was an unspoken rejection. He was perusing through pictures of softcore actresses, and he stumbled upon Kari Wuhrer. Suddenly, the mood was starting to die, along with his erection. “The name is like a dub, and when you consider the haircut, she’s too similar to the girl who consumes my thoughts. Why is she haunting me? Maybe the better question is: Why is someone who reminds me of Hikari turning me off? Endless questions fill my head, and I’m frightened by the answers. I’m feeling the weight of this girl, and it’s crushing me. Weak-dude, but I can’t let this beat me, not when I need to beat me off.” Daisuke pulled with everything he had. He even tried to stimulate the head by itself, but it was no use. “I think I’m going about this the wrong way. People who need to gather their thoughts, to meditate, usually take walks in the woods. I lost my wood, but I know where to find some woods. Alright, I’ll lay off the puns. Then again, I’m only talking to myself, and I think I can stand a few more.” Daisuke held his D-3 up to his computer screen, chose his location, and exited into the Digital World.
“I
remember hearing Sora talking about this place.” Daisuke examined the landscape. “Sure enough, it’s a forest full of street
signs. Even I know why that’s stupid. I
guess it’s abstract art, or something. Alright, it’s about now, and I’m supposed to be home for dinner by .
I’ll just walk downhill until I hit the beach. Then I’ll go for a swim. That’s the nice thing about
Daisuke started walking, but he couldn’t stop thinking about his situation. “It just doesn’t feel right. I know she’s lying to me, but her lies are the only truth that I believe. Every time she gives me an answer, it sounds so hollow. Every time I reach out, she feels so far away. I wish there was a way for her to see inside me, to see how complex I am under this rapidly disintegrating mask of confidence. What do I have to do to make her love me? What do I have to do to make her understand?” A more practical question entered Daisuke’s head. “Why does it have to be her? After all, Miyako used to flirt with me all the time, until Ken showed up. She seemed a bit more genuine. In fact, what she did to me could probably be classified as sexual harassment. So why does it have to be Hikari?” Daisuke remembered the root of the obsession. “It’s because I feel imperfect. I’m socially inept, and I can’t stick to doing my homework. I’m searching for an angel, someone who can make me whole. Miyako and I are very similar people, but Hikari could fill in my blank spots. Like everything else she does, she could do it gracefully, perfectly.”
As he approached the edge of the forest, Daisuke thought he heard a pair of voices. “There must be some Digimon having a conversation nearby.” As he got closer, the voices began to sound familiar. Daisuke stopped talking to himself aloud, and started keeping it inside his head. “What are Takeru and Hikari doing here? I thought Hikari had too much homework.” Where the forest met the beach, Daisuke felt around and found a hiding tree. He stepped into it, hoping it would have a crack or two so that he could spy on the suspicious activity. The hiding tree didn’t have any convenient cracks, so Daisuke took out his pocketknife (he always found himself needing a pocketknife when he went to the Digital World, so he had started to carry one) and slashed a slit at eyelevel. His position was about thirty feet from Takeru and Hikari, who were sitting together on a blanket on the sand.
“So how did you shake him off this time?” Of course, Takeru was referring to Daisuke.
“I told him the usual, that I had too much work,” Hikari answered. “He’s so gullible. I’ve strung him along for months with vague excuses.”
“He’s certainly pathetic. How the hell did he become our leader? He couldn’t lead a team of crash test dummies. I should’ve been the leader,” Takeru asserted.
“What about me? Even this mild mannered girl could’ve done better than Daisuke,” Hikari asserted.
“Remind me again; whose hardheadedness saved all of your asses from MaloMyotismon?” Daisuke fired back silently.
Takeru took off his hat and shirt. “So we agree; Daisuke is a miserable little shit.”
Hikari took off her gloves, her camera, and her shirt. “You’ll never hear me say that out loud, but I feel the same way. I have a reputation to maintain, so I just can’t say stuff like that.”
“Speaking of maintaining reputations, my cute boyish innocence is getting drained at the drug store. I’ve bought at least ten packs of condoms in the last few months. I’m sick of the guy behind the counter giving me jealous looks. Have those pills kicked in yet?” Takeru didn’t mention that spending his own money on protection had sucked up his funds.
“It’s safe now.” Hikari unhooked her seemingly unnecessary bra and let it fall off her body.
“Weak-dude,
but this can’t be what I think it is,” Daisuke told himself. “For now, it’s a great view of Hikari, and I hope it stays that way. I know they’re old friends, so maybe they’re
just comfortable being naked around each other.
They’re probably just going for a swim.”
Then he saw their arms mingling, and their lips opening and pressing
against each other. “They’re not going
swimming, and neither am I, because the last drops of
In a way, Daisuke felt relieved. He no longer had to worry about whether or not Hikari really liked him, or whether she was telling the truth. In another way, a more accurate way, he was pissed. “I don’t believe that I could be so stupid and so naïve. I know what’s going to happen next, and I don’t want to see it. It’s only going to hurt me more. I’m already hurting; it hurts so much to lose the one you love, even when you never had her. I totally don’t need to see this. Then again, I stumbled into this because I couldn’t jerk off. This is a perfect opportunity, a free show. I’m determined to get a consolation prize from this.” Daisuke dropped his pants and briefs again.
Takeru moved his hands from Hikari’s back to her chest. He spent a while feeling up what was there. Then he broke their kiss (or more accurately, face sucking) and started licking his way downward. He slobbered her neck, and moved down to her unripened breasts. He licked around the top half of them, and moved down to her hand-perked nipples. Licking them extracted cooing from Hikari, and sucking them gave Takeru’s ears low moans.
Hikari grabbed Takeru’s head and fell back on the blanket, pulling Takeru’s body onto hers. She kissed the blond hair that she loved so much, and then she gently pushed down on it, hinting what she wanted.
Takeru’s tongue made its way across Hikari’s tummy. It stopped at the edge of her shorts, at which point Takeru began to dissemble the obstruction. He pulled down Hikari’s shorts, and the panties followed. He moved to the end of her legs and yanked off the clothing completely (neither one of them was wearing shoes; they were at the beach). “Now, where was I?”
“Right where I should be,” Daisuke answered to himself. He took off his right glove (a side effect of entering the Digital World), and he started to play with himself. Envy and lust mixed evenly as he watched Takeru go down on Hikari. He soaked it in, the way Hikari tightened up when Takeru’s tongue passed through her crevice, the way her mouth opened but made no sound when her button got pressed, the way she looked more graceful while making a mess. Daisuke looked down; he was hard, but he was far from excited. “I’m not getting off, not when I’m feeling like I should be the one pleasuring Hikari. If I heard what I think I heard, what they were preparing for, I know what’s coming next. This is where it falls apart. I feel helpless as my fucking world comes crashing down on me. I don’t want to see this.” It wasn’t so much perversion or curiosity; mostly, it was masochism that kept Daisuke from looking away.
Takeru took off his shorts and boxers. Giving Hikari oral sex had gotten him hard despite a lack of contact with his genitals. He positioned his dick inches from Hikari’s vaginal lips, but he didn’t move in right away. First, he moved it around her surface, tickling her, trying to give her the chance of having a second orgasm. They both knew it was unlikely, but Hikari didn’t allow Takeru to fuck unless she had at least one orgasm. She preferred to get that out of the way, just to be on the safe side. Takeru wanted them to have one together, so he kept trying for a second. When he felt like she might have caught up to him, he thrust into her.
“So this is how it feels to be betrayed. This is what it looks like; this is what it feels like.” Daisuke was engrossed by the train wreck. “It’s so wrong that I need this abuse. It’s so wrong, but if my body were switched with Takeru’s…” He watched intently as Takeru’s flying hope moved in and out of Hikari’s pink halo. “I’ve never been loved by an angel, and I never will be.” As Takeru began pounding Hikari’s small frame harder, the picture began to look more animalistic and less angelic. By the time Takeru groaned and released his winged pork sauce, while Hikari dug her claws into his back, the personified reverse Digivolution had run its course. Daisuke experienced his first true relief, a realization. “If my body were switched with Takeru’s…it would be more wrong. She’s not the girl that I thought I was falling for. She played me. She lied to me. She ignored that I’m alive. All this time, I was wondering; how can I exist without her? Now I know that I could never exist with her.”
Takeru and Hikari separated their bodies, cleaned off in the water, headed back to their blanket, and got dressed. Takeru held his D-3 up to a nearby monitor, and the sexual conspirators returned to their own world.
Daisuke pulled up his briefs and shorts. “If I’m better off without her, then why do I feel like something deep inside has died? Why do I feel desperate now? Is it because I spent so long obsessing about her? What is left for me without her? I should have plenty of stuff to fall back on, but I don’t. These lies have torn my world apart.” The tears that Daisuke had been holding back in order to maintain his stealth began to flow. “Dude, you’ve got to hold on. How can I hold on, with nothing to hold onto? Since the day I met her, about two years ago or so, I’ve been trying to win her over. She never rejected me, never to my face. At times, she encouraged me. She made me believe that there was a chance.” Daisuke reached his maximum sob. “My life’s been wasted; now I am all alone. I’ve lost so much chasing my perfect high. I could’ve tried for Miyako when I had the chance. That’s what I should’ve done, but I just had to have my fucking angel.” Daisuke exited the hiding tree and walked back through the forest. “She’s supposed to be an angel? Whoever came up with that one must’ve been smoking something.”
As Daisuke shifted the blame away from himself, his sadness began to blossom into a beautiful anger, an anger much deeper than his initial reaction to seeing Hikari doing her “homework”. “Have I failed somehow or someway? I gave everything I had. This may look like a forest full of street signs, but to me, it’s the depths of despair. I’m all alone here…” Daisuke put his right glove back on and walked up to a “ONE WAY” sign. “…except for my rage!” Daisuke punched the sign with everything he had, and he reveled in the “clang” that echoed through the forest. He enjoyed the dull pain that he felt in his fist, if only because it was a pain he could handle. He moved on to a “TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT” sign, and he slugged it a few times. He delivered a right hook to a “NO LEFT TURN” sign. He beat on a “NO PARKING” sign for over five minutes. After every “STOP” sign had gotten at least one punch, Daisuke decided that hitting inanimate objects just wasn’t good enough.
“You’re making an awful lot of noise, and I’m trying to sleep.” A Piddomon floated down towards Daisuke. “My home is in this forest’s canopy. You’re creating a disturbance, and I don’t appreciate it. This is your only warning. Either you leave now, or I will remove you by force.”
Daisuke examined the familiar looking Digimon. He looked just like Angemon, except his staff had celestial symbols on the ends, he had only two wings, and his contrasting color was fuchsia instead of blue. “Finally, an angel is answering my prayers. It’s the lesser prayer and the lesser angel, but I’ll take what I can get.”
Piddomon was rightfully puzzled by Daisuke’s words. “What are you babbling about? Are you going to leave, or do I have to go Warren Worthington III on your ass?”
Daisuke grinned wickedly. “No way, I won’t go; I suppose I’m just hardheaded.”
Piddomon decided that the boy was clearly confused, or possibly insane, so he decided to go easy on him. He held his staff horizontally, and moved in to bunt Daisuke’s throat. “I’ll choke you out and take you to Ogremon. He knows a human doctor who might be able to help you.”
Daisuke grabbed the incoming staff, lifted his right leg, and fell backwards. His trademark bicycle kick doubled as a judo flip, sending Piddomon flat on his back (wings). Daisuke got up first, and he found himself in possession of Piddomon’s staff. He came at Piddomon with an overhead swing as the Apollo-like Digimon was rising to his knees. The bladed end of the staff connected with Piddomon’s protective visor, cracking it. Daisuke pulled back the staff and held it like a baseball bat (with no intention of bunting). He swung and hit a homerun, shattering the visor and knocking out Piddomon. “When it comes to girls, I’m striking out, but I’m still batting a thousand in fights.” Daisuke studied the uncovered face. “I’ve always wondered what you angel type Digimon look like behind the masks. Now I know; you’re ugly.”
Daisuke headed to his entrance monitor. “I feel a little guilty about that, but he picked the wrong fight. He didn’t know me very well. He didn’t know Jyou either. Despite what he’d have you believe, Jyou’s only pre-med.” Daisuke held up his D-3 and landed in his room a few seconds later.
“So now what am I supposed to do? Who am I supposed to be?” Daisuke paced around his room. “So much of me was focused on her, that I don’t know just who I am. I’ve always thought of myself as the cool soccer star. I’m supposed to be the popular kid, but in reality, I don’t have any close friends, let alone a girlfriend. I thought I had friends, but they just think I’m a joke. I think that’s what hurts the most, knowing that they felt that way all this time. Now I know that they weren’t laughing with me. Everyone has changed but me, so my sameness must be redefined. If I’m not the popular jock, am I a geek like Koushiro, or a spaz like Jyou? I think I’m just a ticking time bomb type.”
“Anyway, who I am is relative, but getting what I want is tangible. If I can’t be successful at love, I should try to be successful at the things I can control.” Daisuke sat down at his computer. He clicked on his report, and he started typing. He didn’t stop typing until he had finished a quality product, which meant skipping dinner and only getting two hours of sleep.
The next day, Daisuke handed in his report with bloodshot eyes and pride. He didn’t talk to anybody that day. Well, he didn’t talk to any humans. He chatted with DemiVeemon when he got home, but he only intended to have small talk. “What did you have for lunch today?”
DemiVeemon was puzzled by Daisuke’s question. “The same thing I have everyday, a bowl of rice that you leave in your room for me. Why won’t you let me come to school with you anymore? Poromon and Upamon still get to go to school with Miyako and Cody.”
“The Digital World’s threats are gone, so you don’t have to be with me at all times in case there’s a problem, because there won’t be a problem.” Daisuke remembered that there was a problem, not that the thought ever left his mind. “There won’t be a problem that you can solve,” he muttered under his breath.
“I know that I’m not needed, but I want to hang out with you because you’re my friend,” DemiVeemon replied.
Tears started to form in the corners of Daisuke’s eyes. He hugged DemiVeemon tightly. “You’re all I have left, and that’s why I don’t want you to leave this room unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Now I’m really confused, and you’re weirding me out,” DemiVeemon complained.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure if you’d understand, and I’m too tired to explain it right now. Basically, I’m afraid that they’d steal you away, that you’d become one of them.” Daisuke carried DemiVeemon to his bed and fell asleep hugging the little blue dragon.
DemiVeemon knew that Daisuke needed the sleep, but he had a valid gripe. “Daisuke, it’s only in the afternoon. I can’t fall asleep right now, so can you let me go? I’ve got things that I’d like to get done. While you’re not using the computer, I’d like to get in a few games of Minesweeper. I’m trying to beat my fastest time, which I got last time when I managed to set off the mines in under a second.” DemiVeemon realized that it was pointless. His pleas were falling on slumbering ears. “Oh well, at least he’s being nice to me, even if it is kind of a scary niceness. Something must be bothering him, and I’ll bet it has something to do with Hikari. Sometimes I’d like to whoop that girl for what she puts Daisuke through.” DemiVeemon hugged his partner back and imagined using a Magna Explosion on Hikari.
The following day, Daisuke got his report handed back. He looked at the grade. “This can’t be right,” Daisuke thought. “I never get grades like this. Miyako is the only one I know who could ever get a grade like this. Actually, Koushiro and Ken could too, easily, but they just don’t give a shit.”
Professor Hiro Yamamoto reassured Daisuke that the grade was for real. “Boys and girls, let’s all congratulate Daisuke. His report got the highest grade in the class.”
All of Daisuke’s fellow students, who knew the kind of grades he usually got, turned their heads and stared at the sudden scholar.
Daisuke considered their stares perfectly understandable. “Dudes, I can’t believe it either.”
“Yeah, neither can I, and I’m the one who graded it.” Professor Yamamoto’s tone became less celebratory. “So, I want you to stay after class for a little chat.”
After class, Professor Yamamoto and Daisuke sat down at the professor’s desk, and the inquiry began. “Daisuke, you know that this school has a very strict policy about plagiarism. We have zero tolerance, so you only get one warning, and then you get thrown out.”
“If the policy is ‘zero tolerance’, shouldn’t there be no warnings?” Daisuke questioned.
“Everybody makes judgment mistakes,” Professor Yamamoto explained. “If you’re not making them now, I’m sure you’ll make plenty in college. I’ll cut to the chase; did you copy an old report?”
“No way, I wouldn’t do that. I just worked really hard.” Daisuke thought of a way to prove his case. “Look in my eyes; you can still see the redness from lack of sleep from two nights ago. There were no assistants, no smoke and mirrors; I just grinded it out.”
Professor Yamamoto saw the honesty (and the redness) in Daisuke’s eyes. “I’m sorry for questioning you like that. I should just be proud of you for doing such a great job on the three pages that I read, I mean, on your entire report. Nonetheless, I’m curious as to what caused this change in attitude about schoolwork.”
“There’s no change in attitude; I still hate it.” Even when nothing else was going right for him, Daisuke could still take pleasure in delivering smartass answers to teachers.
Professor Yamamoto pushed further. “You know what I mean. Was it pressure from your parents? Was it competition with your sister? Was it a procrastinated New Year’s resolution? Did something inspiring happen?”
“It’s probably closest to the last one, but it was more traumatic than inspiring.” Daisuke anticipated the follow-up question.
“Oh, do you want to talk about it?” Professor Yamamoto believed that his public teaching duties required him to double as a counselor in case a child’s parents were abusive.
Daisuke was about to refuse, but he figured that there was no harm in seeing if his teacher had some good advice. Of course, he realized that he couldn’t tell the whole story. He was too young to have seen such explicit material. His teacher would neglect the fact that the participants were far guiltier of engaging in unseemly behavior. “I recently found out that these two kids who I’ve known for a while, two kids that I considered to be very good friends, secretly hated me and plotted against me. How I found out isn’t important. The point is, I made this discovery, and without any social success, I decided to try harder at school.”
“So that’s what did it? I understand, probably more than you’d think.” Professor Yamamoto was reminded of a painful tale from his past. “Daisuke, have you ever heard of a band called Soundbonsai?”
It seemed like a very irrelevant question, but Daisuke still answered. “I remember them. They had a huge hit about ten years ago, ‘Red Dot Sun’.”
Professor Yamamoto began the relevance in dramatic fashion. “I was in that band.”
Daisuke gave his teacher the necessary story progression questions. “So why aren’t you rich? Why are you stuck in this teaching job?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m ‘stuck’. I love teaching, but I also loved playing bass guitar.” Professor Yamamoto finally got to his story. “I played for Soundbonsai several years before ‘Red Dot Sun’ came out. We were still unknowns back then. The lead singer and the guitarist were good friends, and I thought they were my friends too. They always said that we needed to change something to hit the charts, but they always kept it vague. One day, I came to practice, and found a new bassist there, my replacement. In reality, they knew exactly what they wanted to change, but they wouldn’t say it around me. I’ll give them credit; they obviously chose well. The new guy actually wrote some pretty good music. Despite my replacement’s superiority, I felt hurt and betrayed. I tried my luck as a solo artist, made some demos, and played them for some record producers, but they all told me the same thing. ‘You’ve got a pretty good sound, but we just don’t hear a single.’ I felt it slipping away, all of my rock n’ roll dreams. Everything I hoped to be, or ever thought I was, died with their belief in me. That’s when I decided to do everything I could to ensure that I would have at least an acceptable future. I don’t have legions of devoted fans, or beautiful women who throw themselves at me, but I do have a teaching degree. Between you and me, the degree is bogus, but as far as the principal knows, I have a teaching degree.”
“What I’m going through isn’t quite the same.” Daisuke tried to think of the classiest way to explain the differences in his situation. “My lead singer told the guitarist to start playing bass too, but I believe that I’m a more talented bassist. Now that they’ve ousted me, I wouldn’t want to play bass for their crappy band anyway, but I’m still upset about it.”
“You don’t want back in, but you’re still angry at being left out?” Professor Yamamoto rephrased. “That’s a healthy place to be. You’ve got the glass and the steel; now all you need is their heads on a stake. There’s only one step left; tell them off.”
Daisuke could only think of one extracurricular activity at which he was guaranteed to see Hikari, and consequently, Takeru. Fortunately, the activity occurred later that day. Poor candy bar sales had forced the school to combine the varsity and junior varsity soccer teams into one super team, which placed Daisuke and Taichi on the same team. Hikari and her parents showed up to cheer on Taichi, and Takeru went with them because Takeru’s mom had to work late. At least, that was the reason that Daisuke had been given. He no longer bought that story.
Daisuke had been wondering why his “friends” tended to suddenly disappear from the stands. During halftime, he looked meticulously in a place he’d never checked, and he managed to spot them under the bleachers. “Weak-dude, but at least I’ll have something to fire me up for the second half. All I need is some mood music.” As though on cue, the stadium’s (well, the principal called it a stadium) sound system played Daisuke’s theme, “Kick It Up”. Daisuke didn’t actually score any goals, but he made numerous baseball slides into the legs of opposing team members (the move he used on Ken). Many of the people he toppled weren’t even anywhere near the ball. When the referee couldn’t let it go anymore, Daisuke claimed that he slipped.
“You expect me to believe that you ‘slipped’ into the legs of the kids on the other team over twenty times?” the referee questioned.
“That’s right, and if you card me, I might slip into your legs,” Daisuke threatened.
The referee gazed at the aftermath of Daisuke’s footwork, the row of opposing players who sat on the bench icing their shins. “You’ll get away with it today, but I hope you know that this won’t work in the professional leagues.” The referee walked away, and the game continued.
Towards the end of the game, Daisuke noticed several more familiar faces in the stands. Ken, Miyako, and Cody had joined the crowd. “This should totally change the sides. When they find out what Takeru and Hikari have been doing behind my back, behind our backs, they’ll be with me,” Daisuke assured himself. Deep down, something about the prospect of being in the majority seemed too good to be true. It was a nagging feeling, like something had to go wrong, like he would end up feeling betrayed for a second time. Daisuke made a conscious effort to leave the paranoid concern in his subconscious mind.
After the game, only the retired heroes remained on the field, and the bleachers were empty. The game ended in a scoreless tie, but the fans weren’t disappointed. “Nice work, you ruled that field with an iron cleat,” Ken commented.
“Yeah, you were fucking mental out there,” Miyako seconded.
“I wasn’t really paying attention, but I’m sure you did great.” Takeru said it without a hint of sarcasm. It was still the voice of youthful hope and encouragement.
“It’s all an act,” Daisuke reminded himself. Before he exposed the truth, he decided to get the little question out of the way. “So Miyako, Ken, Cody, what brings you guys down here?”
Taichi answered for them. “I wanted some more fan support, so in exchange for their attendance, I promised to take us all out to McDonald’s for ice cream after the game. Unfortunately, since you guys showed up late, there’s no deal. I’m going to shower and change my clothes, and then we’ll head home.” Taichi retreated to the gym’s locker room before the spectators could complain about getting gypped.
“After all this time, he’s still bossing us around,” Takeru noted. “If he says there’s no ice cream, I guess there’s no ice cream. Where are his bosses? Where did Mr. and Mrs. Kamiya go?”
Hikari recalled why her parents had left. “Remember Takeru, after we…did our stuff, and we were watching the game again? Remember when Taichi had that free shot because Daisuke injured the other team’s goalie?”
Takeru remembered the lowlight. “He gave it the Scott Norwood, wide right.”
“My parents couldn’t show their faces around the other parents after that blooper, so they went home,” Hikari explained.
“We should be getting back there too.” Takeru remembered that Daisuke was in his present company, so he corrected himself. “I mean, you should go back to your apartment, and Miyako, Cody, and I will go back to ours.” Takeru became aware that Daisuke was staring into his eyes, and it was making him uncomfortable. It was as if Daisuke were looking through him, into his soul, and judging him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“What do you mean? Does my gaze seem jealous?” Daisuke subtly showed his hand. “I must be the guy behind the counter.”
“That’s odd; it almost sounds like you’re referring to something I told Hikari two days ago. It couldn’t be; you weren’t with us for that conversation. If you were with us, you probably wouldn’t have liked what you heard, or what you saw. You’d probably be upset with us. You’d probably be glaring at me…like you are right now.” Takeru got a queasy feeling.
“What if I were there? What if I saw everything?” Daisuke decided to be more specific. “Just hypothetically, what if I found out that my would-be girlfriend and my least favorite friend had been jerking me around and fucking each other?”
Hikari felt quite embarrassed, despite the fact that she couldn’t seem to blush anymore. “Daisuke, you…you pervert! How could you just watch us like that? I mean, literally, how did you do it without us noticing?”
“I cut a hole in a hiding tree,” Daisuke answered. “Now here’s my question: How can everything be justified by you?”
“We really like each other, and we really don’t like you,” Hikari retorted.
“That’s a sound and concise argument,” Cody noted.
Hikari ignored Cody (actually, since his grandfather died, everybody ignored Cody). “Daisuke, you’ll pay for your peeping.”
“I’ve already paid, more than you could possibly imagine,” Daisuke responded somberly. “In retrospect, ignorance was bliss.”
“Takeru, defend our honor; punch Daisuke in the face,” Hikari commanded.
Takeru wasn’t too keen on his orders. “He’s been trying for months to get a date with you, and he just found out that he never had a chance. Hasn’t he been through enough?”
“No, he hasn’t; now punch him,” Hikari repeated.
“Dude, take your best shot,” Daisuke dared. “That’s exactly what I want. I’ll be able to use ‘self-defense’ as an excuse. Don’t think for a second that you can beat me up. I’ve got the athletic ability and the rage. All you’ve got is a manipulative girlfriend and a face that’s begging me for domination. It’s your choice; if you want to rock, let’s rock.”
“Hikari, I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Takeru essentially pleaded.
If all else failed, Hikari knew how to get Takeru to obey. “Do you want to get laid tonight or not?”
Takeru swallowed his loose spit, and he took a swing at Daisuke.
Daisuke
left his feet as soon as the fist’s trajectory was set. It was the same move that he’d used dozens of
times in the soccer game, except this time, he made no attempt to make it look
like a slip. It was simply a low
dropkick. Daisuke’s cleats met Takeru’s legs, and Takeru fell
forward. Daisuke proceeded to
“I’d call that a flawless victory,” Miyako remarked. “Where did you learn to do that choke move?”
“All soccer players have to know how to use the sleeper hold, in case a riot breaks out at a game,” Daisuke explained.
“No, we don’t; you just learned it for fun. You can’t pull soccer ‘rules’ out of your ass when there’s another soccer player around,” Ken lightly scolded.
The criticism was followed by laughter from Daisuke, Miyako, and Cody. Hikari wasn’t laughing; she was pissed. “Maybe Takeru doesn’t have any broken bones, but that had to kill quite a few brain cells. Daisuke, how could you do that to your friend?”
Daisuke stopped laughing, “Friend?” He turned to Hikari. “You guys made fun of me behind my back. You wasted my time by leading me on. Now you want to lecture me about friendship?” Daisuke was reminded of another lecture about friendship. “When I was trying to pull Raidramon’s egg, Taichi and Yamato were giving me the lecture, but they should’ve been giving it to their own siblings.” Daisuke did something that he only did when he showered or went to bed; he took off his goggles. Then he handed them to Hikari. “Thanks, you left me so much time to hate you, and this is what you take from me. Tell your brother that he can have these back. I don’t want to have anything to do with your hypocritical family, or Takeru’s, ever again.”
“Ken, did you just see what I just saw?” Miyako checked.
“I never thought he’d take off those stupid goggles,” Ken verified.
Daisuke began his lecture. “Let me tell you what friendship means to me. Real friends don’t sneak around. They’re always honest with each other, even when the truth hurts. I would’ve grudgingly accepted your relationship with Takeru, if you guys had told me. Instead, you made me find out on my own, and that wasn’t right.” Daisuke turned to Ken and Miyako. “If they were our friends, they would’ve told us, right?” Daisuke waited a minute, but he didn’t hear a response from Ken or Miyako. They looked very uncomfortable, as if they were suddenly in an awkward situation. Then Daisuke realized that he should’ve trusted his instincts; his paranoid concern was correct.
Hikari smirked as she answered for Ken and Miyako. “Actually, we did tell them.”
“Weak-dude, you guys knew all along, and you didn’t tell me?” Once again, Daisuke felt betrayed.
“I didn’t know,” Cody interjected.
“They made us promise not to tell,” Miyako explained. “I wanted to tell you, but they’re two friends, and you’re one friend, and I thought it was only fair to go with the majority. I never meant to hurt you with the things I couldn’t say, although I knew you wouldn’t take the news too well. I heard a rumor that you kicked ass on Professor Yamamoto’s report. I figure you must be pretty fucked up to suddenly be good at school. I’m just making things worse, right? I’m sorry; you know it’s just my habit. I don’t really have any brakes on what I say, the old Crest of Sincerity stuff.”
“Dude, I have the same problem; you’re forgiven…for that.” Daisuke considered his options. “The four of them, Takeru, Hikari, Ken, and Miyako, they’re all together. I can’t be friends with Miyako and Ken and not be friends with Takeru and Hikari. Either I apologize to Hikari and Takeru, or I make a clean break. I don’t want to be lonely, but even with them as my ‘friends’, I was lonely anyway. If I must be lonely, I think I’d rather be alone.”
“What’s the matter, Daisuke? Does it feel like a mutiny?” Hikari chided.
“I’ll cross that bridge, and then I’ll burn it,” Daisuke told himself. “Hikari, you’re a conniving little bitch, and if you don’t totally change your ways, you’ll get what’s coming to you. Cody, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I know that you’re going to grow up to be something evil. Miyako, I don’t know how far you’ve gotten with Ken, but you wouldn’t be his first. What did you tell me, Ken, about a dozen girls back when you were the boy genius?”
“Ken, is that true?” Miyako asked.
Ken believed that he had a good excuse. “It was like being a rock star. I had so much pussy thrown in my face; eventually, I had to take a few.”
Daisuke concluded his breakup speech. “You want a mutiny? That won’t be necessary, because I resign. Keep in mind, the war might not be over; we never really defeated Daemon. He might return someday; in fact, he promised it. I will not save you, so just save yourself. If you recall, my stubbornness beat MaloMyotismon’s spell when the rest of you were too weak.”
“You didn’t beat MaloMyotismon’s spell. You were just so content with your life, that you didn’t need his fantasy,” Ken recalled.
“That’s what I told him, but I was just putting on a game face,” Daisuke admitted. “The truth is, there’s a shit-load of stuff in my life that I’d like to change, but I’d rather take the harsh reality than a heavenly fantasy. Because I’m hardheaded, I saved you all, but I won’t do it again. Because I’m hardheaded, I won’t even try to straighten things out with any of you. Because I’m hardheaded, fuck you all.”
Daisuke turned his back to his old teammates and walked out of the stadium. When he was halfway home, it started to rain. It rained hard, with darkened skies, and the flash and boom of lightning and thunder, respectively. He welcomed it, since he hadn’t gotten a chance to shower after the game, and since it reflected his mood. “This must be the real Storm of Friendship.”
Miyako, Ken, Cody, and Hikari were in shock as they watched Daisuke walk away. “We might not ever see him again,” Ken realized.
“You might not see him, because you live in another district, but we’ll see him. We just might not ever talk to him again.” As she said the words, Miyako began to feel guilty.
Hikari couldn’t stop staring at the goggles that Daisuke returned. “The hold that I had on him, the spell he was under, I guess he’s over it,” she said to herself. “I should be glad that he’s not going to be pestering me anymore, but it makes me wonder. Are Takeru and I in love, or is he just infatuated with me? If it’s the latter, will it wear off in time? It’s not exactly an equal partnership, and I think that’s one of the requirements for love. So, if we’re going to last, I’d better make it equal.”
Takeru awoke, rolled over, and sat up. “What did I miss while I was out?”
“Do you want the long answer, or the short one?” Ken asked.
“Actually, I don’t care,” Takeru replied. “Hikari, I’m sorry I made us look bad. I didn’t think he’d beat me that badly. I’ll understand if I’m in the doghouse tonight.”
“You’re a lover, not a fighter; you did the best you could. You did all I could expect, all I could ask for. You’re as far from the doghouse as you can be. I want you here, right on the soccer field.” Hikari tossed away the goggles, stooped down, and kissed Takeru hard. She opened her mouth as she pushed Takeru onto his back.
Takeru was confused, but he decided not to question it. He opened his mouth and returned the French kiss (which he had first learned about from his French relatives). He put his arms around Hikari and rubbed her back.
Ken looked on, and he couldn’t help feeling like he should be getting some too. “Miyako, are you getting any ideas?”
Miyako glanced at Takeru and Hikari, and then she saw Ken’s grinning face and quickly figured out what he had in mind. “Yeah, I’m thinking we should breakup.”
No girl had ever dumped Ken; no girl had ever gotten a chance, and Ken was stunned. “Why do you want to breakup? Is it because of what Daisuke told you? Those girls meant nothing to me.”
Unlike Takeru, Miyako didn’t miss. She punched Ken cleanly in his jaw, and Ken dropped immediately. “Well, they should’ve meant something. I won’t be another conquest, another pathetic boy genius groupie. I honestly stopped liking you a while ago, when I found out that you had become a lazy student. So you’re more talented than the rest of us? We’re still better than you if we try harder.” Miyako paused. “What do I mean by ‘we’? I think it’s just me.” Miyako reconsidered. “No, I’m not alone, but we’re certainly a minority. Those of us with passion, those of us who are determined, those of us with fire in our eyes, we’re very much outnumbered. If ever I was, I don’t want to be with the majority anymore.” Miyako ran off the field.
“There’s no need to run, and our apartment is closer to the other side of the stadium!” Cody shouted to the fading Miyako.
Ken got up and dusted himself off. “I don’t need her. I’ve got a PDA full of girls who would be willing to fuck me tonight, and only tonight. Still, I’ve noticed a trend. First Daisuke, then Takeru, and now Miyako, have all punched me in the face.”
“I’d punch you in the face too, but I’m too short,” Cody said.
“Is that supposed to make me feel safer?” Ken inquired sarcastically.
Cody punched Ken’s scrotum, and Ken dropped to his knees. “You might want to wait a few days before you call those girls.”
Five minutes later, Ken got up again. “My judo championship is worthless. It’s no good if you have no idea that they’re going to punch you,” Ken contemplated. “I can’t even use it to get back at Cody, because judo is only used for defense.” Ken took his deflated balls and went home.
Takeru rolled his tongue together with Hikari’s. Even the kissing, it never really got old for him. He roamed around every part of her mouth, as if there were a part he missed the last time he checked. “There really is a difference this time,” Takeru realized. “She’s on top, so how am I supposed to move down to eat her out?”
Hikari broke the kiss, only to utter the word, “Shirts.” She took off her shirt while Takeru took off his, and then they resumed the kiss. It didn’t last long, because Hikari began to kiss down Takeru’s body, puckering his scrawny chest and abdomen.
Takeru became more confused than before. “What are you doing? This isn’t the usual routine.”
Hikari removed her mouth from Takeru’s body and looked up. “Just relax; I’ve had a change of heart. We can go back to the usual routine if you want…” Hikari unbuttoned Takeru’s shorts and reached inside. “…but I thought you might like to try something new.”
“Something new could be good.” Takeru tried his best to contain his enthusiasm.
Hikari unfastened her bra and tossed it. Then she took off Takeru’s shoes, shorts, and boxers and added them to the accumulating clothing pile. She went back to her position on the ground, and secured herself by holding onto Takeru’s stake. She stroked his shaft, simply petting it to hardness. Then, much to Takeru’s amazement, she brought her head down. She jabbed his head with her tongue. She did it more times than she had originally intended, only because she truly enjoyed the groans that she got from Takeru. She temporarily removed her hand, and she began to kiss and lick every spec of Takeru’s cock, some specs more than once.
It was the most pleasant surprise that Takeru could’ve imagined. Every shot from Hikari’s tongue made him cringe slightly, but in a good way.
Hikari put her hand back on Takeru’s shaft and put her mouth wholly on his head. She immediately got his pre-cum. “I don’t know if I really like the way that tastes, but since it’s Takeru’s, I’ll try to accept it,” Hikari told herself. She sucked on Takeru’s head, lightly at first, but then she started sucking harder. As she sucked, she pumped his shaft with her hand.
The mouth on Takeru’s dickhead felt like a semen vacuum, and the hand was working the foreskin as hard as his own hand had ever worked it. He tried to hold out for as long as possible. He wasn’t sure if Hikari would ever be willing to give him the treat again, so he wanted to savor it. There came a point when, despite his best efforts, he could no longer hold it. It was the largest load he’d ever made, and he released it all into Hikari’s mouth.
There was far too much for Hikari to swallow. She accidentally swallowed some of it, but most of it was spit out onto the soccer field. She smiled down at Takeru. “I hope you understand; it’s nothing personal.”
“You know I’d never spit you out.” Takeru rolled Hikari to her back. He took off her shoes, shorts, and panties. He put his head between her legs and began to expertly eat her. He licked over her surface, and then he moved in and covered her canyon in saliva. When she was excited enough for her clit’s emergence, he found it and sucked it. He was about to finish her, but she stopped him by grabbing her beloved blonde hair.
“I’m definitely going to have an orgasm, and you’re still pretty stiff.” Hikari touched Takeru’s cock with her knee just to be sure. “I know it’s what you want. Use your tool to get me off.”
Takeru had no clue how Hikari knew, but he moved his body up nonetheless. He didn’t want her to cool down, so he moved in right away. He wasn’t sure if he could bring her to orgasm through intercourse; it had never been the mutual goal before. He was almost certain that he wouldn’t be having another orgasm. He would’ve shrunk back to his usual minuscule size, but Hikari’s young vaginal walls preserved his erection. He got on his knees, put his hands on her ass, and fucked her as vigorously as he could. He could sense from Hikari’s moans that she was close, and that was when the rain started. The sky unloaded its jiz all over Takeru and Hikari’s sweaty bodies. The rain was cold, but Takeru refused to let it shrink him. He was determined to maintain his erection for as long as it took, but it didn’t take much longer.
Hikari squeezed her legs tightly around Takeru’s body and screamed as she came. Then they held each other, and they kissed, for at least a good thirty minutes. They didn’t care that they were lying naked in the middle of their school’s soccer field. They didn’t care that the wet grass would stay clung to their bodies when they got up. They didn’t care that Cody had silently witnessed the whole thing. They didn’t care that the rain couldn’t wash away their sins against Daisuke.
“I hope I can catch up to him,” Miyako thought. She was almost halfway to Daisuke’s apartment when it started to rain. “This sucks mega ass, but at least I’ll have some motivation to keep running.” As she had hoped, she caught up to Daisuke, but because Daisuke wasn’t running, he got knocked down.
Daisuke braced himself for his impact with the soaked sidewalk, and he managed to land without a scratch. It took one second for him to pushup to his feet. It took another second for him to spin around and tackle his assailant. To avoid inflicting a spinal injury, he made sure to land with his arms under the back of the person he was tackling (he didn’t want to get sued). “Itching for another fight, Takeru?” Then he examined the face of the person he tackled. “Oh, Miyako, it’s you. Why did you shove me?”
“The same reason you tackled me, it was an accident.” Miyako’s line of sight went straight to Daisuke’s eyes. At first, the eyes appeared dark in the rainy dusk’s light. Then a burst of lightning showed their fiery brilliance. She saw something there, the same brutal honesty, the same stubborn determination, and the same unpopularity. The rain that soaked through his uniform allowed her to see something else, Daisuke’s soccer-sculpted physique. She wasn’t just seeing it; she was feeling it. It was covering her like the rain poncho she needed.
Daisuke knew that he was supposed to get off of Miyako, but he was lost in what seemed like a special moment. “I’m kind of enjoying this, so I’ll wait to get off of her until she tells me,” Daisuke decided. “It almost feels like she’s considering me, like maybe she actually likes me. No, I’ll bet I know what it is.” Daisuke scrapped his waiting plan and got off of Miyako. He stood up, extended his hand, and helped Miyako to her feet. “Please, don’t take pity on me. This was my choice, and I’ll live with the consequences.”
“I’m not here to take pity on you. I’m here to…” Miyako wasn’t actually sure why she had followed Daisuke (or she couldn’t remember), but she found the answer when lightning struck again to ignite Daisuke’s eyes. “I’m here to join you.”
Daisuke wanted to shift his eyes downward. He wanted to see how the rain affected Miyako’s appearance. Specifically, he wanted to see the way her wet clothes precisely traced her curves. However, he was too afraid of getting caught, so he banished the notion. “What do you mean? How do you want to join me?”
Miyako’s thoughts suddenly went to the gutter as she was tempted to deliver a provocative response to Daisuke’s prompt. She banished the notion. “I want to join your side. I decided that what we did wasn’t fair to you. We really should’ve told you. Since Takeru and Hikari don’t agree with me on that, since Ken’s a scumbag, and since Cody doesn’t count, I find myself alone, just like you.”
“I’m not quite alone. I’ve still got DemiVeemon waiting for me in my room, but I get what you’re saying. Neither of us can agree with the rest of the gang.” Daisuke supposed that it was alright to mend the bridge for Miyako’s crossing, knowing that she was ready to burn it again.
“It’s not just them.” Miyako saw it as part of a larger issue. “I can’t seem to fit in with anybody. A computer geek who shoots her mouth off doesn’t really have too many friends, and keeps the ones she makes only briefly. I always make some insult, or insight, that goes too far and blows the deal. I’ve pissed off my family too many times to count. If I weren’t related to my siblings, I’d never speak to them.” Miyako paused. “Okay, that sounded incredibly stupid, but you know what I mean.”
“I totally know what you mean. You’ve seen me with my sister. We’re like complete opposites.” Daisuke could tell from Miyako’s expression that she disagreed with his statement. “We’re complete opposites,” Daisuke insisted. “Anyway, my family is alright, but peers are my real problem. You guys were the closest thing I’ve ever had to real friends. You’d think that a combination soccer star and class troublemaker would be super popular, but I’m not. I thought I was at least well liked, but now I’m beginning to think that they just liked my entertainment value.”
“I’m afraid you’re absolutely right on that one. People don’t talk about you too much, but when they do, they pretty much just pick you apart.” Miyako paused. “This can’t possibly be making you feel any better.” Miyako implied an apology.
“Actually, it makes me feel a lot better.” Daisuke summarily resolved Miyako’s puzzled expression. “It was the truth, and it hurt, but you said it anyway. I find that very refreshing. Takeru, Hikari, and everybody else seem to think that there’s a need to dress up the truth when it isn’t proper. There’s this desire for decorum in our society. It makes me sick, but everybody else loves it. I know the despicable stuff my dad does with his coworkers at the geisha bars, but my mom pretends like he just goes there to get drunk. When the truth walks away, everybody stays. Let’s not become one of them. You can shoot your mouth off all you want to me, and I won’t hesitate to slam you if the opportunity arises.”
Once again, Miyako immediately found a Freudian meaning to Daisuke’s words, and she wanted to comment on it. “We’re talking about honesty, and I can’t say what’s on my mind. It seems so hypocritical,” Miyako thought. “I have a good excuse. This is quickly beginning to feel like it could go somewhere, and I don’t want to scare him off. Who am I kidding? I can’t possibly scare off Daisuke. He never runs away, not even when he should. I just don’t want to take advantage of him. Then again, I just broke up with Ken, so he would be taking advantage of me too. If we take advantage of each other, we’ll both have the advantage.” Miyako pondered a way to progress things. “So we agree to take shots at each other without consequences? You’ve got a deal, although I think it’s the deal that we’ve always had with each other.” She wanted it to sound friendly, without any expectations. She also wanted to get out of the rain. “The others wouldn’t understand it, and they wouldn’t go along with it, so like you said, fuck them all. What do you say me and you go somewhere to celebrate our independence?”
Daisuke stopped himself from asking if it would be considered a date. He knew it was safest to not call it one, even if it was. “Do you want to go to the mall?”
“I’d love to, but I’d have to go back to my apartment and change my clothes. They’re completely drenched, as are yours,” Miyako noted.
“No way, either we go like this, or we don’t go at all.” Daisuke knew that it sounded counterproductive, but he was making a point. “If they don’t accept us the way we are, then they can go to hell.”
It was the perfect line, and Miyako loved it. She exchanged a long gaze with Daisuke. Their kiss seemed inevitable, but it didn’t happen. They were both nervous, and they didn’t want to simply assume that the other wanted more than friendship. “We aren’t really going out like this, are we?”
Daisuke chuckled. “I’m still wearing cleats and a cup. I don’t want to walk around the mall in them. They’re pretty uncomfortable.”
“You’re wearing a cup? I thought you were just happy to see me.” In the spirit of honesty, Miyako let out some of her gutter mind.
“We were pretty close on the ground, so who says that I’m not ‘happy’?” Daisuke gave Miyako a wink.
Miyako dropped the pretenses of mere friendship. “In our own way, we’re going to be a very cute couple.”
Daisuke agreed. “We’re going to put Takeru and Hikari to shame. Let’s kick it up, to show them all the things that we can do.” Daisuke put out his hand for a handshake.
Miyako ignored the hand and gave Daisuke a hug. She got her arms around him, but Daisuke kept his body distant. “What’s the problem?”
Daisuke knew that the rain had essentially negated Miyako’s clothes. “It would be like hugging her naked,” Daisuke considered. “We have so much in common, and so much potential, that there’s no need to rush the physical stuff. We’re better than the ‘angels’.”
Miyako reeled in Daisuke’s body and forced his chest against hers. It was the greatest feeling she’d ever had. The heat from his body relieved her from the rain’s chill, and that was nothing compared to the contact stimulation. “We’ll take things slow, but we’ll still have some fun. Let’s kick it up, together.”
For those of you who are reading my style of work for the first time, the end of the story has just been indicated. If you’re a judge reading this for the contest, I’d like to use the following author’s notes as my chance to convince you that I put more thought into each and every word than any other author on the site. If you’re not a judge, you’ll probably still find my self-analysis quite enlightening. In the past, my notes have followed a flow of thought, and have been somewhat disorganized. This time, I’m using an easy to follow outline format. This time, the notes are so thorough, they can be thought of as analogous to the director’s commentary on a DVD.
Themes:
I. The struggling minority and the easy majority:
II. The rarity of sincerity:
III. Explosive and fiery personalities (redeye love):
IV. Daisuke ignores the signs:
V. Angels aren’t all they’re cracked up to be:
VI. Daisuke takes punishment while Takeru takes domination (not that they necessarily like it):
VII. The Storm of Friendship:
VIII. Franchise players:
IX. A lemon in which the main character doesn’t even come close to having sex:
X. Breaking up and regrouping (how this story gets its title):
Foreshadowing and Featured Phrases:
I. “It was just a simple yes or no question. “Are you free to hang out at the mall tonight?””…“Why don’t you just go to the mall without her?”…“Daisuke stopped himself from asking if it would be considered a date. He knew it was safest to not call it one, even if it was. “Do you want to go to the mall?””
II. “Dude, I don’t give a shit about homework, or schoolwork.”…“I never get grades like this. Miyako is the only one I know who could ever get a grade like this. Actually, Koushiro and Ken could too, easily, but they just don’t give a shit.”…“I honestly stopped liking you a while ago, when I found out that you had become a lazy student.”
III. “minimized his barely completed report,”…“I can’t stick to doing my homework.”…“without any social success, I decided to try harder at school.”
IV. “The teachers never read past the third page anyway.”…“I should just be proud of you for doing such a great job on the three pages that I read, I mean, on your entire report.”
V. “Alright, I’ll lay off the puns. Then again, I’m only talking to myself, and I think I can stand a few more.”…“It was the last pun that Daisuke would make for a very long time.”
VI. “Piddomon was rightfully puzzled by Daisuke’s words.”…“DemiVeemon was puzzled by Daisuke’s question.”…“Daisuke summarily resolved Miyako’s puzzled expression.”
VII. “Remind me again; whose hardheadedness saved all of your asses from MaloMyotismon?”…“No way, I won’t go; I suppose I’m just hardheaded.”…“Because I’m hardheaded, I saved you all, but I won’t do it again. Because I’m hardheaded, I won’t even try to straighten things out with any of you. Because I’m hardheaded, fuck you all.”
VIII. “I don’t have legions of devoted fans, or beautiful women who throw themselves at me,”…“It was like being a rock star. I had so much pussy thrown in my face; eventually, I had to take a few.”…“I won’t be another conquest, another pathetic boy genius groupie.”
IX. “Why does it have to be her? After all, Miyako used to flirt with me all the time, until Ken showed up. She seemed a bit more genuine. In fact, what she did to me could probably be classified as sexual harassment.”…“I could’ve tried for Miyako when I had the chance. That’s what I should’ve done,”…“We’ll take things slow, but we’ll still have some fun. Let’s kick it up, together.”
References:
I. Digimon episodes:
Appropriately, I started off with events from the final episode, “A Million Points of Light”.
It’s what Daiyako fans call “evidence”. Miyako holds Daisuke’s hands in “Ken’s Secret” and wraps her arms around him (from the rear) while saying, “I know something we can do that’s really fun,” in “Ultimate Anti-Hero”.
I had a tough time remembering which episode the street signs appeared in; it was “Garurumon”.
The hiding tree made its only appearance in the first episode, “And So It Begins…”.
This comes from “The Last Temptation of the DigiDestined”.
This happened initially in “Enter Flamedramon”.
Jyou, Mimi, and Ogremon became rather friendly starting in “Etemon’s Comeback Tour”. The epilogue showed Dr. Kido treating Ogremon.
Daisuke called out his bicycle kick attack and switched on the air conditioner in “Arukenimon’s Tangled Web”.
It’s the attack that finished Kimeramon in “The Crest of Kindness”.
“Kick It Up” was used as fight music (Power Rangers style) in several episodes.
Daisuke used a slide tackle to take the ball from Ken in “Ken’s Secret”.
This happened in “Storm of Friendship”.
Miyako admitted this about her personality in “The Samurai of Sincerity”.
In the epilogue, we find out that Cody grows up to be a lawyer.
In “The Dark
Gate”, he was sent to the
In “Digimon World Tour, Pt. 2”, it was revealed that Takeru has French blood. This might explain why he’s such a pussy.
Daisuke punched Ken in “Ken’s Secret” (I took a lot from that episode), and Takeru punched Ken in “An Old Enemy Returns”. Also, Miyako had already slapped Ken, but slapping wasn’t good enough for me.
This was mentioned by the reporter who talked about the boy genius.
Daisuke makes his dislike for his sister pretty clear in “Iron Vegiemon”.
Daisuke said this of himself in “Guardian Angel”. For this story, it really applies more to Hikari than to a dangerous Digimon.
II. Un-pop culture:
III. Other:
It’s a reference to the fifteen page minimum requirement for this contest entry.
Angemon would be the higher angel; he’s considered to be more powerful than his fuchsia counterpart.
This story was my first single. Personally, I think it’ll be a success.
Little league
teams often raise money for equipment and uniforms with candy bar sales. In some parts of
In a way, Digimon are the original PDA’s.
Inspirations:
A. As mentioned with the legal stuff at the beginning, the lyrics of Stabbing Westward were used throughout this story for Daisuke’s quotes. I won’t list all of the examples, but fans of the band (if there are any out there) might’ve recognized them. Most of their songs are about breaking up on bad terms. Their songs seemed fitting for this story. Perhaps their most precisely fitting song is one that I didn’t quote directly, “The Thing I Hate”.
B.
“Ty Cobb” by Soundgarden influenced much of this story. Three lines in this story were modified
quotes from the song. More importantly,
here’s what the song represented to the band (taken again from Soundgarden’s unofficial website): “"Ty Cobb"
is the final single from Down On The
Upside and the final single in Soundgarden's
13-year career, leaving "hardheaded, fuck you all" as their parting
words. It was released as a limited
edition (300 copies) club promo CD in
C. “Kick It Up” produced by Jeremy Sweet, it’s available as a hidden track on the Digimon The Movie soundtrack. More importantly, it’s Daisuke’s official American theme. Sure, every character has gotten a Japanese image song, but Daisuke was the only character to get his own American theme. Since I gave my season 4 characters American themes (spirit songs), I wanted to use Daisuke’s too. If you recall, it played during the soccer game in “Ken’s Secret”. Maybe in the episode, we were supposed to assume that it was playing over the stadium’s sound system. Okay, maybe not, but that’s my assumption for this story.
D. “Have You Ever” by The Offspring very accurately reflects Daisuke’s mentality throughout the story. This quote was taken directly from the song: “When the truth walks away, everybody stays.”
The rest of these songs weren’t directly quoted, but they set the motif. In other words, they form the soundtrack. I’ll give you some links to some lyrics websites. Do yourself a favor and lookup the songs I’ve listed. You’ll know why I chose them for this story’s soundtrack.
E. “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, the title track.
F. “Pushing Me Away” and “Faint” by Linkin Park.
G. “She Hates Me”, “Out Of My Head”, and “Away From Me” by Puddle Of Mudd.
H. “Your Name Here” and “Totalimmortal” by A.F.I..
I. “Slither” and “Sucker Train Blues” by Velvet Revolver.
J. “Low Man’s Lyric” by Metallica.
K. “Violence Fetish” by Disturbed.
L. “I Fucking Hate You” by Godsmack.
M. “Know Your Enemy” by Rage Against The Machine.
N. “Electrical Storm” by U2.
O. “Honesty” by Billy Joel.
P. “Somebody To Shove” by Soul Asylum.
Q. “No More Love” by Shinedown.
R. “Minority” by Green Day.
S. “What You Are” by Audioslave.
Top Ten Favorite Lines:
10. ““I didn’t know,” Cody interjected.”
9. “They’re not going swimming, and
neither am I, because the last drops of
8. “If all else failed, Hikari knew how to get Takeru to obey. “Do you want to get laid tonight or not?””
7. “What if I were there? What if I saw everything?” Daisuke decided to be more specific. “Just hypothetically, what if I found out that my would-be girlfriend and my least favorite friend had been jerking me around and fucking each other?”
6. “Miyako dropped the pretenses of mere friendship. “In our own way, we’re going to be a very cute couple.””
5. “If I’m not the popular jock, am I a geek like Koushiro, or a spaz like Jyou? I think I’m just a ticking time bomb type.”
4. “Thanks, you left me so much time to hate you, and this is what you take from me. Tell your brother that he can have these back. I don’t want to have anything to do with your hypocritical family, or Takeru’s, ever again.”
3. “Cody punched Ken’s scrotum, and Ken dropped to his knees. “You might want to wait a few days before you call those girls.””
2. “They didn’t care that they were lying naked in the middle of their school’s soccer field. They didn’t care that the wet grass would stay clung to their bodies when they got up. They didn’t care that Cody had silently witnessed the whole thing. They didn’t care that the rain couldn’t wash away their sins against Daisuke.”
1. “I’ve always wondered what you angel type Digimon look like behind the masks. Now I know; you’re ugly.”
Bonus Tracks:
As
a special treat to anyone who bothered to read through all these self-quotes
(or anyone who scrolled down without reading), I’d like to share an extra piece
of writing. This is a point of view
poem. It’ll be included with point of
view poems for characters in my Alternate Ending Series in a separate work, but
for now, it’s a B-side to this single.
These point of view poems are meant to be read like song lyrics. This one has a very carefully crafted
Angels In The Outfield
I think she likes me.
She said she likes me.
Why can’t we go on a date?
Thought they were just friends.
Thought they were my friends.
Now I think my friend is hate.
They’re set with themselves.
Upset with myself.
Take it out on all these signs.
Here comes an angel.
Despise the angels.
Hit the mask inside foul lines.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
They made me feel so small.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Hardheaded, fuck you all.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Somewhere in the lights, hope the angels drop the ball.
I’ll get my work done.
Because I’m undone.
Teacher must believe red eyes.
Tells me his story.
Sounds like my story.
Tells me to go sever ties.
I’m getting game on.
Internal flame on.
Hurting kids just feels so right.
Faint Takeru’s head.
Goggles off my head.
Choked the hope and shut the light.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
They made me feel so small.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Hardheaded, fuck you all.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Somewhere in the lights, hope the angels drop the ball.
I’m batting zero.
I’m batting a thousand.
Hit by the pitch.
And now I’m walking.
I’m walking home.
I’m walking away.
I’m finally walking away.
Gang and I breakup.
Miyako breaks up.
I’m trotting home in the rain.
I’m getting knocked down.
We’re setting talk down.
Together, we end the pain.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
We should go to the mall.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Just by each other fall.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Blinded by the light, hope the angels drop the ball.
X-Man chose “Chop Suey!” by System Of A Down for Takeru’s theme. Here’s the reference quote from his soundtrack: “If you haven't heard this, definitely check it out; you'll see what I mean.” As a further tribute to him, and because “Chop Suey!” is more fitting for a future noodle cart salesman, I’d like to present the following remix:
Angels In The Outfield (The “Chop Suey!” Remix)
I think she likes me.
She said she likes me.
That is the lie that she made up.
She wanted to.
Thought they were just friends.
Thought they were my friends.
I find out that I’ve been played up.
They wanted to.
They’re set with themselves.
Upset with myself.
I ignored the signs and paid up.
Unwanted clues.
What will I become?
With whom will I come?
Future in doubt, get my grade up.
Don’t want to lose.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
They made me feel so small.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Hardheaded, fuck you all.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Somewhere in the lights, hope the angels drop the ball.
I’ll get my work done.
Because I’m undone.
Teacher wonders, “Why the shake up?”
I wanted to.
Tells me his story.
Sounds like my story.
Tells me that it’s time to breakup.
We wanted to.
I’m getting game on.
Internal flame on.
The hurting hobby, I take up.
My wanted rules.
Faint Takeru’s head.
Goggles off my head.
Be a while before he’ll wake up.
The pawn is schooled.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
They made me feel so small.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Hardheaded, fuck you all.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Somewhere in the lights, hope the angels drop the ball.
Trust that I.
Will always continue to try.
They lie.
That’s why.
The angels deserve to die.
Gang and I breakup.
Miyako breaks up.
In their thoughts forgetting me.
Never they’re regretting me.
I’m getting knocked down.
We’re setting talk down.
Like where this is getting me.
Hug her ‘cause she’s letting me.
Trust that I.
Will always continue to try.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Trust that I.
Will never just give up and die.
I’ll keep swinging for the fences.
Trust that I.
Will send this ball deep in the sky.
They lie.
That’s why.
The angels deserve to die.
I hope you enjoyed that. As you can imagine, this entire process took a lot of thought and time. I’d appreciate any comments that you have on my writing. The release of creativity gets me writing, but it’ll probably take some feedback to keep me writing. I’d love to get some praise under my stories in my section (hint). For questions, comments, or complaints about my writing, here’s my email address: