The next day, Yamato was awoken by the sound of pounding on his bedroom door. It was his father, Hiroaki.

"Yamato? Are you planning on getting up anytime soon? It's two thirty in the afternoon," came the voice from the other side of the door.

"Aww, Dad, can't I get a couple more hours sleep?" groaned Yamato, "Whadda you want me up for?"

"Well, we're having guests over for dinner tonight, so you might want to think about getting up and grooming yourself. Oh, and that bathroom of yours needs some attention."

Yamato grumbled as he hauled himself out of bed. He threw on a pair of pants and a top, and opened his door, yawning.

"Are grandma and grandpa coming, or what?" he inquired casually, scratching the back of his head, "Mom and T.K., maybe?"

Hiroaki laughed, "No, and no. Asuza's coming to dinner tonight, and don't worry - I invited Mimi, too. So you better hustle your bustle, kiddo."

Yamato was speechless. He faked a grin for his father, then promptly shut the door and began worrying. He wasn't ready to put Sora's and his plan into action - not today, and not without Sora. But what was he supposed to do? Shit, he thought to himself, shit, shit, shit. He sighed, shrugged, shook his head, and resolved to go scrub that bathroom while he formulated some makeshift plan of action.

It was quarter to five and Mimi was in her bedroom, applying rosy pink blush to her cheeks. She had already curled her hair, put on the rest of her makeup, and spritzed herself liberally with her favourite perfume. She was wearing a low-cut, sleeveless purple top that tied around her waist with a pale pink ribbon, a flattering pair of blue jeans, and pink flats with little bows on them. Taichi had invited her over tonight for a "special" date, and she had no idea what to expect. She only knew that she simply had to look drop-dead gorgeous. She was just about ready to go when a knock on her door interrupted her. Her aunt poked her head in, and smiled brightly seeing Mimi all dolled up.

"Thank goodness, you're almost ready! We have to leave pretty soon, we don't want to be late," Asuza said, opening the door wider and allowing herself in.

"We?" Mimi asked, confused by her aunt's statement, "And where are we going, exactly?"

"You're such a ham, Mimi," laughed Asuza, "We are going to the Ishida's for a lovely home-cooked dinner with the boys."

Mimi feigned laughter, before commenting, "I don't recall signing on for this,"

"Mimi, don't be silly, I told you about this yesterday, or Thursday, or something, I'm sure of it. I mean, obviously you knew about it or you wouldn't be in here prepping yourself," Asuza responded with an eye-roll.

"No, I'm serious," Mimi argued, "I don't think you told me. And either way, I can't go. I already have plans for tonight. Thus, the prepping."

"Well, you're going to have to cancel them, because you're coming to dinner,"

"Aunt Asuza! You're not my mother, and if I don't want to go with you, I'm not going!"

Asuza glared at Mimi, "Hiroaki has been kind enough to invite the two of us to dinner with his family, and so you will be coming along with me, whether you like it or not!"

With that, Asuza slammed Mimi's door closed. Mimi stared at her reflection in the mirror and tried her hardest not to cry. She picked up the phone, and just as she started dialing, her aunt poked her head back in her door.

"We're leaving in five minutes," she snarled.

"Fine," Mimi snapped back at her, only briefly removing her attention from the phone.

Once she had finished dialing, she waited patiently for an answer, only to be greeted by the pesky dial tone that let her know the number she had dialed was busy. She hung up, and then quickly hit redial. She had to get through, and she had to get through quick. She didn't want Taichi to think she was just blowing him off for no reason. Panic set in as Mimi watched the minutes go by on her clock while she listened to the same, persistent dial tone. Mimi heard the garage door open and she reluctantly hung up the phone. She would just have to try and call somehow while she was at the Ishida's. She dragged herself out of her room, slamming the door behind her, grabbed her winter jacket and trudged out the garage door and into the car.

Mimi and Asuza didn't speak during their ride to the Ishida's, and, although it was essentially a five minute drive, it felt like two hours to Mimi. Two hours of pain - and the real pain of the evening hadn't even begun yet. As they settled inside the Ishida's warm abode for a delicious-smelling dinner of roast pork, rice, asparagus, and copious amounts of wine (which Mimi wasn't allowed to drink, due to her being underage), Mimi began to devise her getaway plan. The four spoke amongst themselves politely as they dined, Hiroaki and Asuza trying to prompt Mimi and Yamato into making conversation. The two reluctantly answered any questions that were asked of them, but they certainly made no efforts to keep the conversation afloat. As the dinner wrapped up, Hiroaki cleared his throat and stood up from his seat.

"I would like to make an announcement," Hiroaki began. Mimi and Yamato briefly exchanged worried glances, but quickly turned back away from each other. Hiroaki nodded his head and raised his eyebrows at Asuza, who promptly stood up and joined Hiroaki. He held her hands in his as he beamed at the two teens.

"Yamato, Mimi," Hiroaki smiled, "Asuza and I are engaged, to be wed in August,"

"We're getting marrrrrriiiieddd!" squealed Asuza, as she squeezed Hiroaki's hands. She was absolutely glowing.

Yamato choked on the piece of meat he had been gnawing on, and quickly washed it down with the remainder of his wine.

"That's, uh, that's, uh... great!" he piped up, a false grin pasted on his face in attempt to hide his shock, "I'm... gonna need some more wine."

Mimi, on the other hand was truly thrilled - Asuza and Hiroaki's marriage meant Mimi and Yamato would be relatives shortly, which also meant that she and Taichi could be together without having to worry about how Yamato would react. Mimi gushed over how happy she was for the two of them, as Yamato pounded back more wine, and Hiroaki and Asuza cleaned up the remnants of dinner.

"Well," Asuza started, "Hiroaki and I are going to go and fix up dessert and tea in the kitchen, so you two play nice until we get back, okay?"

As Asuza and Hiroaki walked to the kitchen with dinner's dishes in hand, Hiroaki remarked to Asuza, "That went over well!"

Mimi watched Asuza and Hiroaki walk off, and as soon as they had disappeared into the kitchen, she rose from her seat, uttered, "Excuse me," and started on her way to find a phone so she could call Taichi.

"Where d'you think you're going?" slurred Yamato, grabbing Mimi's arm and pulling her back to him. His breath reeked of alcohol. He had been drinking wine all night along with Hiroaki and Asuza, who were probably too excited about their announcement to realize how much they were giving him, and it seemed that the effects of the alcohol had finally settled in.

"Let go of me!" Mimi demanded, as she jerked her arm out of Yamato's grip. She turned back around and continued walking towards the living room, where she spotted a phone mounted to the wall. She was just passing the front door when she noticed Yamato was stalking along behind her, she stopped in her tracks.

"What do you want, Matt?" she growled, without even giving so much as a glance in Yamato's direction. Her eyes were glued on the phone.

"I just want a little kiss, that's all," Yamato replied with a smirk, "Don't you want to test drive me once before we're officially cousins? I mean, I know some people don't let the fact that they're related get in the way of romance, but, I'm not into that whole kissing cousins thing, so why not get it out of our systems now, huh?"

Yamato grabbed Mimi's shoulder and shoved her against the front door. He pressed his hips into hers and leaned his head down to kiss her. Mimi's mind began to race; she was panicking. Her eyes darted from one side to the other, trying to devise an escape route and quick! Realizing she was up against the front door, and inches away from her own shoes nonetheless, she maneuvered her legs so that she was able to slip on her pink flats, and she quickly pulled the doorknob. As the door swung open, Mimi stumbled backwards but caught herself and managed to turn around and move out of the way just as Yamato fell over onto the front stoop. When the cold air of the outdoors hit her bare arms, Mimi realized she had left her jacket behind - but it was too late now. Yamato was still toppled over in the entrance, and even if he weren't, there was no way Mimi was going back there. So she just ran as fast as she could, to the only place she knew to go.

"Mimi? Where have you been? I've been waiting for- oh my god, what are you wearing? Did you walk over here in that? Where's your jacket?"

Taichi's questions bombarded Mimi as she stood freezing on his doorstep. She had been outside running for who knew how long, and she couldn't feel her feet, her fingers or her ears. She had likely caught pneumonia, and the last thing she wanted to do now was stand outside the Yagami residence and answer a long stream of questions.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get to all that," Mimi sputtered, her teeth chattering, "Can I come in first?"

"Oh, God, yes, of course! Come in!" Taichi exclaimed, putting his arm around Mimi and leading her inside. When his bare skin touched hers, he gave out a little yelp, "Holy shit! You're frozen! Oh my God, Mimi, what were you thinking?! Here, get in my bed. Get in my bed now."

Taichi lead Mimi to his bedroom, and he laid her down in his bed and covered her with layers of blankets. He quickly rummaged through his closet and pulled out a sweater, tossed it to Mimi and instructed her to put it on. Then he exited his room, closing the door behind him to give Mimi some privacy, and disappeared into the kitchen. He returned shortly with two mugs full of hot cocoa and his mother's foot spa, filled with warm water.

"Alright, I know you probably don't want to move," Taichi began as he placed the foot spa beside his bed, with a towel beneath it, and the hot cocoa on top of the bedside table, "but I brought you some warm water in this foot massager thingy my mom has, so you can thaw out your feet."

Mimi slowly sat up and placed her feet in the foot spa, and Taichi sat down beside her and wrapped his comforter and blankets around her. Mimi sipped on the hot cocoa, and smiled as warmth began to return to her body.

"Have I ever told you that you're my dream boyfriend?" Mimi asked Taichi playfully. It was her way of thanking him for being such a sweetheart.

Taichi grinned, "No. And I have a feeling that you're telling me now because you don't want me to be angry that you're late. But that's okay. Feel free to elaborate."

"Hey! I have a very good reason for being late," said Mimi defensively, "In fact, I probably wouldn't have even made it here at all if Yamato weren't such a-"

"Wait a minute! Yamato?" Taichi questioned, his interest piqued. As Mimi filled Taichi in on the story of her fight with Asuza, the busy phone line, dinner at the Ishida's, and Yamato's drunken attempts to pick her up, Taichi could feel the rage inside himself building.

"That son of a-!" Taichi exclaimed as Mimi finished her story," I can't believe he had the nerve to-! And tonight of all nights! And here I was planning-! I just can't believe-!"

All of his thoughts streamed into the next; he couldn't finish a sentence. Mimi, feeling completely thawed out, removed her feet from the foot spa, and used the towel Taichi had set beneath it to dry them off. Both parties had finished their hot cocoa and set the empty mugs on the bedside table. Mimi moved herself to the far side of the bed, where she laid on her side and made eyes at Taichi, grinning coyly.

"Taichi, calm down," Mimi purred, stroking his arm gently, "Let's not dwell on it, okay? Not tonight. We can talk about it tomorrow, maybe. But I'm here now, and I'm just happy that I'm getting to see you after all. So, what did you have planned?"

Taichi's rage melted away as Mimi seduced him with her eyes. It was as if thousands of tiny workers had packed up his anger into little cardboard boxes and stacked them up on a very high shelf somewhere in the back of his mind. How could he be upset when he had a beautiful woman in his bed?

"Well, I was planning to cook you dinner," teased Taichi, finally responding to Mimi's question, "but since you've already eaten, I suppose we could skip straight to dessert..."

Flashing Mimi his signature happy-go-lucky grin, Taichi crawled over his bed until he was directly over Mimi. He leaned down and pressed his lips softly to hers. Mimi wrapped her arms around Taichi's neck, pulling him closer to her and returning the kiss. She was so relieved to just be with Taichi now; comfortable, warm, safe and happy. No annoying relatives, and no drunken admirers - just sheer bliss.

Monday came fast after such an eventful weekend, and as Sora braced herself for her walk to school in the cold weather, she was greeted by a pleasant surprise: Yamato's car out in her driveway. He rolled down his window a crack and called at her to get in.

"What's this all about?" she wondered aloud as she hopped into Yamato's car.

"Well, you're my girlfriend," Yamato responded, rolling his window back up and cranking the heat, "and I'm the kind of boyfriend that spoils his girl. Therefore, you will be traveling to school in luxury from now on. That and we have a couple things to talk about."

"We do, do we?"

"Yeah. What do you have second period? I've got a spare, do you have something you can skip?"

"I've got religion," replied Sora, "but Mr. Stambene's showing us a movie today. Probably some epic football movie. So I think I can afford to skip it."

"Great. Taichi and Mimi have CALM second period, and I know where their classroom is. Their teacher's got a back door that's always open, so we can stand outside their classroom and make out loudly, so as to draw attention to ourselves. One of them or, ideally, both of them will spot us sooner or later, and then they'll likely sneak out and come confront us. Then we have a great opportunity to engage our "We're Dating" plan without it looking contrived."

"Oooh, well played. Sounds like a good plan."

"I thought so. But, uh, there's one more thing," Yamato boldly continued. He was very hesitant to tell Sora about Saturday night's events, but he knew that it was something that he had to bring up with her. If their story was that he and Sora had started dating Friday night, then Yamato had already attempted to cheat on her within a day of being in a relationship with her.

"Yes?" Sora asked, curious as to why Yamato had gone silent all of a sudden.

"Well, um, on Saturday night, my dad invited Mimi and her Aunt over for dinner so that he and Asuza could announce their engagement to Mimi and I at the same time," Yamato started, "and, well, they kept giving me more and more wine, and I kind of..."

"What did you do, Yamato?"

"I just had a bit too much to drink and kind of… came on… to Mimi," he blurted, "And uh... I mean that in the strongest sense of the word."

"So? I don't see what the problem is," Sora responded nonchalantly.

"We were technically dating then. So I potentially tried to cheat on you, drunk or not drunk. So do we stick to our original story? You know Mimi will have already told Taichi about the whole affair, so I can't deny it."

"Ohhh," Sora nodded, understanding the importance now, "Well that balls things up for sure. Shit... well, I say we stick to our original story, and you pretend like you don't remember Saturday. If anyone brings it up, we'll deal with it then. Until it comes out, it's between you, Mimi and Taichi, okay?"

Yamato nodded. He wasn't sure he liked dealing with the situation this way - it seemed neglectful to him - but he trusted Sora. After all, wasn't trust what a relationship was all about? He grinned; he couldn't help but be excited to put their plan into action. Second period, here I come!

It wasn't long before Mimi and Taichi found themselves sitting back in Mr. Beshoff's CALM classroom, enduring yet another lesson that they were sure to forget by the time lunch rolled around. Today Mr. Beshoff was asking each of his students who his or her "personal hero" was. It seemed that he only found the answers acceptable if the student's chosen hero was deceased. This, of course, sparked a heated debate with one of the students who sat nearer to the front, who claimed his hero was Tiger Woods, as well as a few surrounding him, whose heroes were people such as Angelina Jolie, and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Despite all the excitement, Taichi still found himself scribbling in his notebook with boredom. I wish I was kissing you right now, he scrawled across his page, tearing it out of his notebook, crumpling it up and tossing it to Mimi. A deep pink blush crept across Mimi's cheeks as she uncrumpled the piece of paper and read its contents. She wrote back, Then why don't we blow this popsicle stand? You get the hall pass, and I'll sneak out the back door. Taichi grinned reading her message, and glanced casually at the back door to see if it was open so their plan would work. The door was open, but as Taichi's gaze fell upon the open door, something much more exciting caught his attention. Just outside the classroom, Taichi spotted two bodies pressed up against a locker, making out. This normally wouldn't take Taichi by surprise, except that this time the two bodies were his ex-girlfriend and his best friend. Without thinking, Taichi stood up and headed for the backdoor. Mr. Beshoff, noticing Taichi's sudden ascension from his seat, silenced his debaters to call after him.

"Ex-excuse me! Mr. Yagami! We are still in class here! I haven't had the chance to ask you who your personal hero – oh, never mind."

It was too late, Taichi had already passed through the door, slamming it behind him. Alright then, I guess I'll take the hall pass, Mimi thought to herself, raising her hand in the air and waiting patiently to be noticed. Unfortunately, Mr. Beshoff had launched straight back into his debate after the minor disturbance, so gaining his attention now was going to prove difficult. Mimi sighed. Oh, how she hated this class.

Meanwhile, things were about to get heated in the hallway.

"What the hell is this?" demanded Taichi as he stormed over to the entwined lovers. Yamato and Sora, caught off guard, broke off their passionate kiss and turned to face the intruder who ruined their privacy. Yamato couldn't help but grin a little to himself when he noticed it was Taichi who had interrupted the two; their plan was working perfectly.

"What a world we're living in," Yamato said with a smirk, "A guy can't even kiss his girlfriend anymore without being rudely interrupted."

"Girl... friend?" Taichi questioned, a look of puzzlement crossing his sun-kissed face.

"Oh, that's right, you don't know yet," Yamato laughed, "Sora and I are dating now. Since Friday night, in fact,"

"He wrote me a song," Sora offered sheepishly.

"He wrote you a song," Taichi repeated, "And now you're dating? Just like that? But... you guys don't even like each other!"

"Excuse me?" challenged Yamato, "Who made you the judge of other's emotions? Sora and I like each other just fine."

"Clearly," added Sora, running her hands all over Yamato's body. She kissed him on the cheek and nibbled his ear a bit, watching Taichi react out of the corner of her eye. She wondered why she hadn't thought of this earlier; the satisfaction she felt from toying with Taichi was unlike anything she'd experienced before - and she liked it. As she watched Taichi's reactions, Sora took notice of something else. There, just coming out of the doorway of the CALM classroom, was Mimi, who had stopped dead in her tracks. For Sora and Matt, this couldn't get any better.

"So, you break up with me, and then you move on to Yamato within months? We dated for over a year, Sora! You're already over it?"

"This is how I look at it, Tai - you were like... the appetizer in my love life," Sora began to explain, "I mean, you kept me occupied until my main course came along."

"And that's... Yamato?"

Sora nodded, "And I couldn't be more satisfied with my meal,"

Taichi's jaw dropped. His past relationship with Sora had just been compared to an appetizer. All the happy moments they had shared together were now turned into mozzarella sticks and nachos in Taichi's mind - delicious and good for occupying time, but nothing more than filler. Before he could open his mouth in protest of Sora's analogy, Sora and Matt had declared their need for some privacy and pranced off down the hallway, hand in hand. As Taichi stood watching them skip off in complete awe, he felt a hand slip into his empty hand and give it a squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Taichi," a sweet voice whispered gently to him. Taichi knew right away it was Mimi, and he shook himself out of his trance and turned and engulfed her in an embrace.

"You don't need to be sorry for anything," Taichi sighed, "because, truth be told, you're my main course... so I guess I'm no better than Sora."

"It still wasn't a very nice thing to say," Mimi chimed in, squeezing Taichi and kissing his neck, "but, just so you know, I'm completely satisfied with my meal, too. My compliments to the chef."

Taichi smiled half-heartedly. It wasn't that he wasn't head over heels for Mimi, or that he didn't believe the words he had just spoken, but something about Yamato and Sora's newfound "love" rubbed Taichi the wrong way. Even now, as he embraced the only person who had kept him sane for the past month, his mind lingered on the conversation with Sora and Yamato. It was in those few moments that Taichi realized that this was going to eat at him all day.

As soon as Sora and Yamato were out of ear's reach, they burst into laughter, collapsing against the lockers that lined the hallway.

"Did you see the look on his face, Sora? Shiiiit!," hollered Yamato, "Oh man, and that junk about the appetizer and whatever? That was pure gold! Did you come up with that on the spot?"

Sora nodded, giggling uncontrollably.

"That's my girl!" Matt exclaimed, giving Sora for a high five. The two chuckled again, clearly proud of their work. When they had finally finished laughing, Sora turned to Matt.

"So, whadya say we go grab some lunch?"

"What – just the, uh, just the two of us?" Yamato stuttered, taken back by her proposal.

"Yeah, why not?" Sora pushed on, "I mean, we deserve it, after that performance back there. Come on, it's my treat."

"Hey, alright. I drive, you pay… sounds like one heck of a deal – so, where to?"

Sora grinned, "I'm thinking Dairy Queen."

"Dairy Queen?" Yamato choked, his stomach lurching as he recalled taking Mimi there, oh-so-long ago. He swallowed and shook the thought from his head. Time for new memories.

"Dairy Queen it is."