@taioraweek for more Taiora love! @noctisfishing for Taiora/Digimon writings and more. :)
Setting: Digimon Adventure tri. timeframe / AU
Tags: Fluff, Romance
Minor pairings: Takari, Joumi, minor Kenyako
Notes: Their first date is at a summer festival because I was inspired by this beautiful fanart. There will be no goldfish or candy apple, but I promise it’ll be equally as sweet.
This may not show up in the tags because of the links but I’d like to add them for context. Here is more on the yukata (even the drawing in the link could be of Sora, lol!) and info on some of the mini-games and food stalls at a Japanese summer festival. More references at the end of the fic!
Also... Koushiro couldn’t make it to this event... (My deepest apologies to my Koushiro fans. I hope we can still be friends)
~*~*~*~*~
"So, you've finally asked her out, huh?"
“Let’s not talk about this, Hikari.”
Hikari grinned upon entering her and Taichi’s bedroom, catching sight of Taichi who was draped in blue. His brows were furrowed as he lifted his arms, looking down at the yukata he had focused on putting on properly.
“I think we should, given the occasion,” Hikari said, stopping in front of Taichi to help wrap the robe and obi around his waist. She had already put on her own lavender-colored yukata with the help of her mother, including the flower clips in her hair to match.
Taichi lowered his arms, entrusting his younger sister to help him look like less of a fool in his yukata. “You’d think that a first date would be small and simple, like catching a movie, or a walk in the park.”
“A summer festival is just as fun, Taichi. An amazing event with an amazing girl like her. Right?”
“R-right…” Taichi stared to the side, feeling the burn on his cheeks from Hikari’s widened grin. He knew that she was highly amused by his reaction. “I guess I’m lucky that Dad had his old yukata for me to borrow.”
“I’m sure Sora appreciates it! Wait until she sees you in this - Taichi, stop fidgeting.”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
He had only turned his head to try to look down at what the yukata looked like on him, but he lifted his head up and faced forward to let Hikari continue her magic.
“Okay! All done.” Hikari patted either of his shoulders. “It’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. Thanks, Hikari.”
After what seemed like forever while their mom convinced them to pose for pictures, Taichi walked with Hikari to the front of the shrine where they planned to meet Sora and Takeru. The two were already waiting in their own yukatas, with Takeru donned in green and staring in amazement as Sora did a casual turn with the geta on her feet to show off hers.
At the turn of her head, her eyes lit up when she realized that Taichi and Hikari had arrived.
Taichi was suddenly speechless.
“Hikari! Taichi!” Takeru called with a wave. He joined Sora walking over to them.
Hikari kept walking, but Taichi stopped, at a loss for words. Sora’s red hair was styled in a bun with a lock of her hair coiling down the frame of her face. Her yukata was patterned with florals in different shades of ruby, with a crimson obi tied in a tachiya-style knot at the back .
“Come on, you slowpoke!” Hikari yelled.
The other three laughed, but hearing that brought Taichi back down to Earth. As he caught up to them, he remembered that he didn’t want to embarrass himself or mess this up. He had even agreed with Sora beforehand that they didn’t have to treat this like a date to keep the pressure off between them.
“You look amazing, Sora,” Taichi blurted.
“Well, thank you,” Sora said, taking her hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. Her face began to match the color of her yukata. “You look nice, too.”
Taichi wondered if that was too cheesy to say. So much for embarrassing himself.
“Tell me I look amazing, too, Taichi,” added Takeru with a grin. Hikari giggled as she attached herself linking her arm through the hook of his elbow.
Taichi grinned. “You clean up nicely, Takeru,” he said, suddenly recognizing how close Takeru and Hikari were to each other.
“We’ll be heading off,” Hikari said with a wink. “We don’t want to intrude. Maybe we can meet up around here when the night is over?”
“Sounds good,” said Sora. “You two have fun!”
“Don’t worry,” Takeru added as he looked to Taichi. “I’ll keep an eye on Hikari.”
Takeru stole a kiss from Hikari before putting his arm around her waist as they walked away. Taichi couldn’t help but watch, and he wondered if it was actually Takeru that he needed to keep an eye on.
“Taichi.” Sora gently took hold of his forearm. “They’ll be fine. Don’t worry about them. We’re here to enjoy ourselves, right?”
Realizing this, Taichi let out a sigh and relaxed his shoulders. “You’re right.” he said, and his worries seemed to disappear when his eyes met hers and they exchanged a smile.
The two then entered the festival side-by-side observing the rows of stands on either side that sold food and various items, and some that hosted mini-games.
“Let’s get some takoyaki at the first stand we see,” Sora said as they walked through.
“Heck yeah!” Taichi replied just as his eyes landed on a mini-game stand a few yards in front of them. “...I have an idea.”
Sora stopped and looked at the stand he was looking toward, reading the sign, “Kingyo!” She looked to Taichi with a knowing stare. “Loser pays for the takoyaki?”
Taichi grinned. “Let’s do it.”
However, both of them ended up being the loser. They each made two attempts at scooping for a goldfish, all attempts which ended with broken pois and fish squiggling back into the mini pool. Taichi noticed a few other people playing, however, and noticed how easily the paper poi ripped no matter how delicate they tried to be.
“Hey-!” Taichi began with annoyance, but Sora immediately grabbed him and walked him away from the stand.
“It’s not worth it, Taichi,” she said with her expression just as irritated. “Either way, that was a waste of yen, wasn’t it?”
Taichi knew he didn’t want this to sour the rest of their night, so he figured he would try to lighten the mood.
“Yeah… and here I was thinking that you were a master of fishing, Sora.”
She smacked his shoulder as he laughed. “Meanie.”
“Anyway, where to next?”
Suddenly, a loud gasp was heard nearby, followed by a familiar voice.
“Hey! It’s Taichi!”
As both Taichi and Sora turned their heads, they saw Daisuke quickly approaching, with Miyako, Iori, and Ken following behind. Miyako gasped as well, and both Daisuke and Miyako walked around them, staring at their yukatas in adoration.
Taichi should’ve expected an interruption like this given the popularity of end-of-summer festivals like this one.
“Wow, Taichi!” Daisuke exclaimed. “You look really cool in that-”
“Sora!” Miyako chimed in. “You look like a goddess! Oh my gosh, I can’t believe-”
“Calm down, you two!” Sora said, laughing nervously and waving her hands in front of her. “There are other people wearing these, too!”
Miyako pouted. “I should’ve worn one! I would’ve looked way nicer on this date with Ken.”
“Speaking of,” Iori added with a tempered reaction. “I think we should leave these two alone. Pardon the intrusion, Sora, Taichi.”
“Wha-?”
Daisuke was cut off by Ken pushing him in the other direction as his cheeks flushed, most likely from hearing Miyako’s comment. His other hand grabbed hold of Miyako’s elbow, pulling her away with a look on her face that was as confused as Daisuke’s. Iori was the last to follow behind them, but not before bowing politely at Sora and Taichi.
“I’ve always liked Iori,” Taichi said with relief.
“It was nice to see them, though,” Sora replied. “Come on - let’s find another game I can beat you in.”
“You’re on, Takenouchi.”
They found a stand with a ring toss game which both of them were eager to play. Tossing a ring at the same time, Sora and Taichi watched their own rings land around its own toy, making their game a tie.
“I got you a present,” Sora said with a smile and holding up a mini cartoon-ish dinosaur, orange in color.
“No way. I got this for you!” Taichi raised his palm to show the toy of a bright pink bird sitting on top of it.
The two of them laughed as they swapped their presents to oogle at for a few moments; then, Sora put them in her small bag. Taichi was happy to see Sora smile. He knew that she was having a good time, and he hoped that it would continue as the night went on.
As they continued to walk, Taichi noticed more people walking alongside them. The festival was getting busier, and he sensed that even Sora knew it when he felt her hand touch his forearm once again.
“Don’t worry!” Taichi said with a smile. “I’ll make sure we don’t lose each other!”
“Maybe I’m more worried about you losing me,” she teased.
He laughed to himself, not mentioning his heart beating as she held onto him.
However, he nearly jumped in fright as he felt a hand touch his other forearm.
“Hey there, handsome!” Mimi said with a wink and a grin.
“Ah! Hey Mimi!” Sora said cheerfully.
“I wanted to see what you guys were up to, and I figured that Jou and I would join you!”
Oh no, Taichi thought.
“Well, Mimi…” Sora began. Taichi could tell that she didn’t have the heart to tell Mimi otherwise.
“It’ll only be for a little bit!” added Jou who peered over from Mimi’s side with a sheepish smile. “Right, Meems?”
Taichi’s eyes darted over to Jou who mouthed a ‘Sorry!’ to him.
“Well, we were thinking about getting takoyaki,” said Sora. “Why don’t we all get some together?”
“Let’s do that!” Jou chimed in “My treat?”
“Oh, isn’t Jou such a sweetheart?” Mimi said cheerfully.
“He’s quite the charmer!” said Taichi, knowing that Jou was doing this out of pity, especially after being on the receiving end of Taichi’s death stare.
But Mimi had already let go of Taichi’s arm and stopped walking, making the rest of them stop with her.
“I see cotton candy! I totally want some!”
“Then, I’ll go buy some for you,” Jou said, gently pulling Mimi towards the stall and away from Taichi and Sora.
Mimi cupped her hand on Jou’s cheek. “You’re such a sweetheart…”
“Wouldn’t you know it,” Sora said just as Jou and Mimi left. “A takoyaki stall.”
“Ah…” Taichi turned to look and saw that there was no line in front of it. He realized at that point that the competition between him and Sora was at a draw, so he decided to change the rule of the game. “How about some takoyaki on me?”
“But, Taichi, neither of us are winning,” Sora said, which Taichi knew that she would point out.
“Then, we’ll just say that you’re the winner here.”
“Aww…” Sora began in a playful tone, mimicking Mimi as she held her palm to Taichi’s cheek. “...you’re such a sweetheart…”
The amusement and laughter only lasted a few moments, as Sora’s face turned into a shade of pink; and she must have removed her hand when she felt Taichi’s face warming up in turn.
“I’ll- be right back!” Taichi said, knowing that him being flustered was obvious.
There had already been one person ahead of Taichi when he approached the food stall. Taichi stood behind him and noticed he was wearing a green yukata, although it might have fit loosely for someone his size. The guy’s hair was short, spiky and blond under the straw hat that he wore, and Taichi wondered why he looked so familiar.
“One takoyaki, please,” the guy said in an apparently hushed voice, but Taichi was able to recognize that voice from anywhere.
“Yamato?!” Taichi said, making the guy jump in his spot.
He turned to Taichi, staring daggers and holding a finger to his lips. “Not so loud!” he hissed.
“What’s the-?!” Taichi caught himself nearly yelling, then he lowered his voice. “What’s the deal?!”
“Next, please!” yelled the stall attendant, and Yamato stood to the side with Sora while Taichi put in two orders. When he met with the two of them, Yamato hunched over as though he was hiding himself with Taichi and Sora.
“I just wanted to check out the festival on my own without getting noticed, you know?” Yamato explained. “Some people have already been staring at me longer than they should but I don’t think they recognize me.”
“People are going to stare at you if you’re wearing that hat after the sun goes down, anyway,” Taichi said, feeling the need to point that out.
“Right now, I’d rather be the weird kid with the hat than be Yamato of ‘Knife of Day’.”
The takoyaki orders were called, and Yamato and Taichi got theirs, with Taichi handing one to Sora. But just as that happened, a loud scream nearby reached their ears.
“Aahh!! You were right! That is Yamato! The lead singer of ‘Knife of Day’!”
As more heads turned and the squeals of excitement grew louder, Taichi’s eyes widened and he turned his head to Yamato.
“You probably should not have said that so loud…” Sora added.
“Gotta run,” Yamato said, just as he darted in the direction in which the majority of the crowd was travelling.
It amazed Taichi how many people recognized Yamato. Many of the girls in yukatas began to run in Yamato’s direction, some of them running in their geta and tripping over themselves.
Sora gasped as a few girls ran past. As she turned to dodge out of their way, she had slipped on her own geta and started to tumble backward.
“Sora, look out-!”
Taichi caught Sora just before she toppled to the ground, his back against the crowd while he felt more people whiz by. The moment he felt it was safe, he helped Sora stand.
“You alright?” he asked, searching her face for any sign of trouble.
“Well, our friends didn’t make it…” Sora frowned at the dinosaur and bird toys that she took out of her bag; they were now in pieces of pink and orange. She also looked down at the ground where her takoyaki had fallen. “I really wanted that.”
Taichi held his up and smiled. “Here, we can share mine-”
Startled by the sudden push at his back as one more crazed fan zoomed past, his hand was forced open, letting his takoyaki drop right next to Sora’s.
“Oy.”
Turning to the stall, Taichi saw the attendant hold up a pair of takoyaki orders and gestured to him to take them.
“Oh, no, sir- that’s okay! You don’t have to do that-”
The attendant pointed into the crowd, where Taichi and Sora found Mimi happily strolling with her cotton candy, and Jou giving them a thumbs up, quickly followed by the gesture to zip their mouths shut.
“Good ol’ reliable Jou,” said Sora, who grabbed the orders and handed one to Taichi.
He couldn’t help but laugh along with her.
As the night went on, they continued their walk down the festival rows. But Taichi noticed that Sora declined to do anything else. She didn’t want to get any more food, nor did she want to play any game, or even to try their hand at another fish scooping game. He was wondering if she was no longer having fun, if she even had any from the start.
“Can we get out of this crowd?” she asked.
“Okay.” Taichi looked around, realizing that they were both in the middle of a sea of people going in every direction. Looking ahead, he found a clearing where they could make their escape. “Hold onto me.”
Taichi led the way, holding her hand tightly as they weaved through the crowd together. They passed by people cheering as a young boy caught three goldfish at one stall; a couple winning a ticket for two free bowls of ramen from pulling a string from a senbonhiki stall; and a group of friends decided to pop confetti into the crowd, showering bits of colorful paper all over.
Soon, the lively noises were far away, and Taichi and Sora found themselves on a grassy hillside where the moon slowly rose over a large lake. Right behind them was a bridge where people were already lining up against the guardrails.
“I guess we found a great spot,” Sora said. “Let’s find a place to sit.”
She chose the spot to lay her blanket for the two of them to sit, and she set her geta off to the side.
“Sorry about that back there. I just couldn’t hear myself think.”
“Oh, was that what it was?” Taichi asked. “I was wondering if you were getting bored.”
Sora giggled. “I’m having a lot of fun with you, Taichi. Despite all the mishaps.”
Taichi turned to her, watching her laugh as her eyes glistened under the glow of the festival lights. There was a pause in her laughter, which confused him, even as she took her hand to his hair.
“Looks like confetti is your consolation prize for the night, Yagami” she said, gently picking out the colorful pieces. “At least you got something.”
Taichi caught sight of a brightly colored piece in a lock of her hair.
“Hey, looks like you win, too,” he said, reaching for it.
Just then, the sky lit up with a flash and a pop. The fireworks show had begun, but neither of them took their eyes from one another.
“What did I win?” she asked.
“If I said it was a kiss from me… would you call that a consolation?”
It was a bold question that even he didn’t think he had the courage to say.
But in response, she brought his palm against her cheek. The flashes of light above them only made her eyes sparkle as she smiled with radiance.
“I’d say that it’s the best prize of all.”
With his heart pounding in his ears, Taichi leaned forward until his lips met hers. His emotions were as bright and colorful as the skies above when she kissed him back.
Taichi almost felt silly to worry about their first date, but even after things didn’t go as expected, he couldn’t think of anything better than experiencing it all with her.
.
.
.
.
~*~*~*~*~
Terms mentioned:
yukata (summer kimono); obi - sash that wraps around the yukata and can be tied in a knot, including tachiya-style; geta - traditional sandals worn with yukata... Poor Sora’s feet.
takoyaki - appetizer made with octopus. I really want some right now..
Kingyo [sukui] - fish-scooping game, using poi (a tool with thin washi paper) to catch the fish. There are other sukui-type games at festivals, too!
Senbonhiki - a lottery type game where you pull a string that guarantees you a prize (and the prizes vary)
So Taichi has become a bit of a grump ever since he started his internship at the United Nations office in Tokyo (he's working his way to become a diplomat!). I might write this as a chronological series of the nights he comes home and interacts with Hikari, who he shares an apartment with. Set after Taichi graduates university. It would be in Hikari’s POV and would show a lot of their brother-sister relationship.
Taichi loves his position in that he gets to interact with people from different countries and cultures. But this is all at his desk on the phone, or sitting in the back watching a video conference. He only has to do it for a year or so, but it annoys him that he can't do more.
"You're such a grumpy pants," teases Hikari, who has been working as a preschool teacher. She explains that normally he's grumpy after a hangover but she jokes that he wouldn't be drinking on the job.
"I'm not that big of an idiot," he'll say.
"But you are an idiot," she'll retort. "You can't even send a coherent email to your crush."
She refers to a past instance, but the burn still stings because nothing has changed.
One day, he comes home and he's smiling and Hikari wants to know why. He won't tell her and she follows him around the apartment asking him and Taichi has fun with teasing Hikari by keeping his mouth shut.
He's in a good mood like that for the next week, and Hikari compares him to a kid who finally got his favorite toy. On a Friday evening he arrives home and tells Hikari she doesn't have to make dinner for him and that he's going out to celebrate that he was selected for a permanent job at the UN.
Hikari is surprised that he didn't tell her sooner. The job was her guess as to why he's been so happy all of a sudden.
He kisses her forehead and says she's only the second person he's told and he hadn't even told their parents yet.
When Hikari asks who was the first, there came a knock on the door. Taichi heads to the door and it's Sora.
He kisses Sora and she blushes that he did that in front of Hikari, but he tells Sora not to be so shy because it's only Hikari.
Sora and Hikari share a hug, and Sora invites Hikari to come along to dinner with them and so does Taichi, but Hikari politely declines. Taichi has his arm around Sora and suddenly they're bantering about some silly little thing.
"It's not the end of the world, Mr. Grumpypants," Sora says, and Hikari snorts and Taichi gives her a stare.
But as Taichi and Sora leave, Hikari realizes that Taichi must have told Sora about his job selection first, and that he finally made his move to ask out Sora, his best friend and long time crush, which was the real reason why he's been so happy.
Hikari was glad to see Mr. Grumpypants fall in love
Taichi protect Hikari from thinking she pee the bed
Thank you for your message. This is quite interesting because in an interview of the director of this episode (21) mentioned that
Interviewer: It’s almost surrealist when they talk about the time he covered her when she wetted the bed. Not only the dialogue, but the pauses are so atypical.
Director: Kae Araki-san really understood the intent behind the direction, she wasn’t playing the role as a simple little sister (laugh). We could even go as far as to say that the episode is a love triangle between Koromon, Hikari, and Taichi.
(source)
It has this “figure of speech” around this dialogue. The dub censors this as “Hikari falling down a pile of mud, and Taichi jumping into the pile with her”.
The director continues with “There was weirdly erotic atmosphere in the episode (laugh). I remember someone telling me “That episode smelled.” When Hikari was clinging to Taichi, they’d say “She’s clearly not just caring for her brother”…that kind of thing an adult can see.”
The director wanted to get the audience’s attention into their what their sibling relationship is all about. This “figure of speech” is taken as how the siblings relationship was quite unique compared to the usual bickering and annoying siblings. It shows how delicate this relationship was and how intimate the siblings were in the series. It almost constitutes as a romantic relationship (unconscious Freudian theory), where it is viewed as a “husband and wife”, but it is considered totally platonic. This is how confusing (although I find it very a deep platonic meaning) the director was showing the audience about their sibling relationship.
* But please don’t take this seriously, the director was laughing in the majority of the interview. I find it quite uneasy as well, but that’s another opinion on how you can perceive the show… and it’s a children’s show lol
