Fireflies. They're just little lights that flash for a few seconds in the darkness, and then they're gone again. But they always come back. You can't get away from them. They're all over the place. Just about anywhere you go, there they are, blinking at you.

We don't see them that often here in Odaiba, though. Usually we only see them when we go on a school trip or something. There was even one where we went just to learn about fireflies. I actually had fun that time. Imagine that, fun in school. That's not something that happens every day of the week. I really should've marked it down on my calendar. V-mon sure enjoyed it, too. But he's like me. We like anything that doesn't involving sitting down, staring at some boring blackboard, and listening to a teacher droning on and on about stuff that happened way before any of us were born. That sends me to sleep faster than anything. Except maybe when Miyako's going on about what her and her latest boy toy did together last week. That's kind of in a class by itself. But that's Miyako for you.

But I like fireflies. I don't know why I'm thinking about them still. Oh, wait, yes, I do. It's really silly, you know. They remind me of Hikari. Just a flicker, a flash against the darkness, hardly anything at all, you don't even see one unless it's flickering at you most of the time, but for one second, it lights up. And if you have enough of them together, who knows what could happen? It makes a pretty good light show, but there's always that chance that something else could happen. It hasn't yet, but that doesn't mean it won't. At least, it hasn't happened when I was around. Taichi mentioned some stuff about their first time in the Digital World with her, but since then, I don't think anything really wacko has happened. I would've noticed.

She was on that trip with us. I wish I'd thought about comparing her to them then, out loud where she could hear me. Maybe she would've said something or done something. Maybe I would've actually asked her out. Who knows, maybe she would have even said yes. Of all the things I've had the nerve to do, that's the one thing I haven't covered yet. Ken keeps telling me I can do it, and I know I can. I just also know I haven't yet.

Hikari's a lot brighter than any little firefly, though. And she's been around a lot longer. That freaky connection to the Digital World is a lot more interesting than their off and on lighting up. I wonder what would've happened if I'd been there and I'd heard that voice that took her over and told them things. Honestly, it probably would've freaked me out completely. If Jun had started talking like that, I would've known she was crazy. Not that she isn't, you know. And not that anyone else gets to call her that. Little brother privileges.

Maybe it is time I actually did something about talking to her. To Hikari, I mean, not Jun. I can always talk to Jun. But Hikari is a little different. I like her a lot, and it's not as if it's some kind of big secret. People on other continents know I like her. There's a whole other world out there that knows. I've liked her for so long and sitting around not doing anything about it is kind of driving me up the wall.

The thing is, I don't know how I feel about her. There's a really big difference between like and like. I know she's my friend. I know that I like her more than I can remember liking anyone else. She was one of the first friends I had. Not my best friend, of course. That's Ken. He always will be, too. After everything we've been through together, there's no one else who I could really see as my best buddy but him, and maybe V-mon. They're kind of my friends in different ways. But Hikari was one of the first ones I ever knew who didn't think I was too weird for talking about soccer all the time. I guess coming from a family with Taichi for a brother, she got used to it.

Jun's teased me that because of that, Hikari's never going to want to go out with me. Yeah, well, I didn't see her getting into Yamato's good graces, so I'd like to know where she gets all her dating advice from. The only reason she and Shuu are together now is because I dared her to actually talk to him for five minutes without drooling visibly. He wound up asking her out. Some guys have the weirdest taste. Go figure. But at least she's happy now. They both are. Like I said, weird taste.

I remember seeing those fireflies dancing all around when we went on that trip. Well, they weren't really dancing, more like flying, but you get what I mean. Here, there, everywhere, getting in your hair, crawling on your books, landing on your Digimon's nose and refusing to do anything but blink at him. That drove V-mon nuts. Tailmon wasn't exactly too thrilled about it either. None of them were, if I remember right. Guess there aren't too many fireflies in the Digital World.

I wonder if there's a Fireflymon out there, though. There are Flymon, so why wouldn't there be a Fireflymon? Maybe Koushirou could answer that. The question is, would I be able to understand him if he did? Probably not. But I bet Ken could put it so I could. He's good at that. My grades have taken a bit of a jump since we started hanging out together and he tutors me some. I'll never get the kinds of grades he did back when he was the Kaiser, or even the kind he does now, but I'm doing better. My parents are a lot happier about my grades. Ken knows how to make things so I like learning about them. He should be a teacher or something one day.

So, let's think about this seriously for a few minutes. If I'm actually going to talk to Hikari and maybe even ask her out, how should I do it? The whole roses and wine thing is a bit much for me. It's not even close to a holiday, so I can't sneak in a question while giving her something. Her birthday's not for three more months either.

Maybe I should ask Jun. So things didn't work out with her and Yamato. She and Shuu are going just fine, so maybe she's doing something right somewhere. Nah, it would just be too creepy to have to ask her how to do something like this. She'd laugh at me. Besides, it'll be more fun when I can tell her I already have a date with Hikari. If she says yes. If she doesn't, I'm not even going to tell anyone else that I asked her. There are things people just aren't meant to know, especially when it comes to my love live. Or lack thereof at the moment.

Oh, man, what am I going to do if she does say yes, though? I'd have to take her somewhere! It can't be some cheap sidewalk place or a fast food restaurant like we've been to before with everyone else. That would be just wrong on a first date. But I can't afford a really good place either! This is looking horrible already, and I haven't even asked her out yet!

Wait, I know! I'll cook her something myself! No, I can't. Mama doesn't want me to use the kitchen anymore. Just because the last time I tried to make something for her and Dad's anniversary, I wound up scorching the stove so badly that they needed to get a new one. You'd think that I'd done something wrong or something. Parents. They're about as weird as sisters. Or weirder. It's a close call to make. If I'm ever a parent, I'm going to be a cool one. Not that there's any doubt about that, of course. But that's a long way off, if ever. There's so much else that I want to get done before that happens. Like asking Hikari out in the first place.

Maybe I should ask someone to cook for me. Yamato mentioned cooking a really special dinner for his and Sora's third anniversary a while back. She seemed to like it. At least they're still together. And Taichi just flips out completely in bliss whenever Yamato makes one of his special treats for a meeting or a party or something. I guess he is a good cook. I haven't died yet from eating his food, but Miyako's said I've got a cast iron stomach anyway.

Okay, so that's settled. Kind of. I still have to ask him, but I want to be sure she's going to come first. I'd hate to have this huge meal waiting and then have to eat it myself. Well, V-mon would help me. He'd probably eat it all and not leave anything for me, then start begging for chocolate. Chocolate and V-mon...not a good combination. Scary. Maybe I should start threatening all of our enemies with a sugar-hyped Digimon just to see what they do.

But right now, I'm going to have to do something I've found every trick in the book to avoid doing for years now. I'd hoped I wouldn't ever have to do this, but it looks like the time has come at last. Eep. I wonder for a second or two if there's some way that I can face down BelialVamdemon again instead of doing this, but there's nothing else that can be done if I'm going to ask her out. Time to do it.

"Hello, Mrs. Yagami. Is Hikari there? This is Motomiya Daisuke." The phone's a little chilly in my hand, that's got to be why I'm shaking. I'm the Chosen of Courage and Friendship, I'm not going to shake myself to pieces because I'm calling up the girl I've had a crush on for about four years now. No question about it. Maybe I should look into getting a phone that has a built in warming system or something like that. If they don't have them, I can talk to Koushirou or Miyako about making one. I bet they'd go over really well with people calling to ask someone out for the first time.

"Hi, Daisuke. Something up?" She sounds so happy. Is that because she's just happy or because I called? I want to think it's because of me, but I know better than that. She's just a happy person, for the most part.

"Not really. I just wanted to talk." Got to take this slow. Don't want to rush it on her. She might get scared and run away. I have to do it like one of those nature shows I watched with Iori the last time we were all spending the night together. We were the last two up and he got to pick what we watched. He's going a little overboard with that 'getting over the fear of the ocean' thing. He's claiming he wants to be an oceanographer now. Well, okay, whatever floats his boat. But what matters now is that those guys showed you have to be careful when you're approaching some wild creature.

Not that Hikari's a wild creature. That's more Miyako's thing, really, and maybe sometimes Mimi. They've given out some pretty nasty punches when someone's bothered them. But Hikari, she's different. She can freak out pretty easily sometimes. Like when the Darkness was boiling up back when we fought BelialVamdemon. I'd never seen her panic so much. I wanted to hold her and tell her it would be all right, but I guess Tailmon and Miyako did better than I did. Some things you really can pull off only if you're friends with a person. True love doesn't conquer all. You know, movies really have a lot to answer for. They screw up on a lot. If I ever made a movie, I'd have what really helps you win through the worst things: friends and family. Hey, it worked for me. Love's really fun, but friends and family are what's forever.

I'm not really paying that much attention to what we're talking about. I think homework or the Digital World or something like that. What does it matter? We've been yakking at each other for about five minutes now, and I don't think I've said anything yet. Not anything really important, like what I really wanted to talk to her about. Uh-oh, I think she noticed. Is this good? Bad? Or just scary? I can't tell. At least I didn't hang up and cower in the corner like an idiot.

"Daisuke, you usually don't babble like this. Are you sure there isn't something else on your mind?" She sounds so much more grown up than part of me was expecting. Well, she is fourteen now, and I'm going to be fifteen pretty soon myself, so I guess that should be expected. And she's asked an Important Question. So I'm going to have to answer her. Hope this works out all right.

"I was just kind of wondering if you'd want to go out with me or something sometime soon. You know...on a date kind of thing." All right, I said it. Ball's in her court now. It's all up to her. And about ten thousand more clichés.

"Daisuke, you just asked me out." She sounds surprised. She's not the only one. "I...well, I kind of thought you didn't have that crush on me anymore." Uh oh. This doesn't look so good. I'm going to get turned down. At least it'll be over quickly, and I can start working on feeling better about myself. I wonder if we have any ice cream in the fridge. Or maybe I could hit the Digital World and see if there are any nasty Digimon that need to get punched around. That's some good stress relief.

"Well, I don't know." I kind of fidget some. I'd be doing it even worse if she were here in front of me. I'd probably have already backed out of it if I'd had to look her in the face. Apparently Courage In The Face of Overwhelming Evil didn't come attached with Courage In The Face of Asking A Girl Out. Just my luck. I should talk to Taichi about it. Wonder if he has any advice. Time to go for the gold right now, though. "I guess I kind of am, but I still really do like you. It's okay if you don't want to. You've probably got plans or something, anyway. Maybe some other time." I'm ready to hang up and get on with my life. Better to have loved and lost and all that.

Silence from the other end. I'm getting nervous. I really don't like this. This has to be what the movies mean when they're saying something is just too quiet. Then, "All right. I'll go out with you."

"You will?" Yahooooo! She said yes! She really did! I can't believe it! "I mean, great! I was thinking about having dinner...," Can't do it here. Parents. They'd be hovering the whole time, even if I managed to talk them out of sticking around, and Jun would probably show up out of nowhere and want to tease me. Wait, I know! "Well, what do you think about having dinner in the Digital World? We could go for a walk or something after we eat."

"That sounds really nice." She really does sound happier. Is that really because of me? Maybe I should've done this sooner. I like happy Hikari. I like just about any Hikari, now that I think about it. "When did you want to do it?"

My mind races like it never has before. When. I still have to talk to Yamato. He'll probably have to have time to cook everything, which means I'm going to have to buy it. That means a trip to the store. Maybe even a lot of stores, depending on what I decide to ask him to make. Shopping won't be so bad. I like to shop, but I can't think right now of when I'll have the time to do it. But I'll figure all of that out later. Right now, I'm just too happy to think about all the details. One thing at a time. That's how to make it through. "How about next Saturday? A week from yesterday? I'll come over to your place and we can hop into the Digital World from there, if that's okay."

"Sure." There's a pause. I wonder what she's thinking about, and I'm a little scared to find out. Girl-thoughts aren't like guy-thoughts, after all. "Daisuke, what made you decide to ask me out tonight after all this time?"

I run a hand through my hair, able to avoid the goggles just by instinct. She's never going to believe this. I don't even believe it myself, and it's actually happening to me. But I'm going to tell her anyway. "Would you believe that I was thinking about fireflies?"