Date Started: January 17, 2013
Date Finished: January 17, 2013

Summary: Four summers in the lives of Daisuke and Hikari.

Warm and Funny

i.

Summer was finally here and Daisuke was pumped. The ocean waves provided a pleasant ambiance along with the endless noise and chatter of the large crowd at the beach. He knew that today would be the perfect day. He gathered his courage and forced his legs onwards.

Soon the prettiest girl in the world sat next to him on the smooth fine sand, and he most definitely wasn't nervous – not the least bit. His heart was racing, his palms were sweaty, and his face was red, but that didn't prove anything. He would be brave and strong and confident just like Taichi-senpai. It would be easy.

There was most certainly nothing for him to worry about. He just had to follow through with the plan in his mind and everything was bound to work out.

Thus he began. "Hikari-chan, would you be my girlfriend?"

The girl turned at first to the sound of her name, and then blinked at the question that was directed to her. She momentarily paused her playing with the brightly colored bucket and a plastic shovel that was just barely small enough to be grasped in her hands. "I'm flattered," she at last said to her fellow third grader. "But could I get your name first?"

ii.

The phone was answered after a single ring, and Daisuke wasted no time in proposing his plan for the day. It was a cloudy summer day with a moderate chance of showers, but he wouldn't let the weather deter his plans at all if he could help it. He was determined to hang out and have fun with his friends and classmates. And so he spoke into the phone as soon as he heard Hikari's voice on the other end.

"Takeru and I are about to go hang out at the arcade," Daisuke explained, "And maybe later we'll catch a movie. Come with us, we'll make an attempt to be indoors all day."

There was a short moment of silence from the other line as Hikari contemplated his words. When she finally replied her voice was apologetic and regretful. "I'm sorry, Daisuke. I don't think I can make it today."

Daisuke frowned visibly as if his expression could carry through the telephone. "Aw, you really can't?"

"I booked an appointment for a check-up with my doctor today," Hikari said. "After all, it is the flu season."

"Oh," Daisuke said, still sounding his disappointment. "Do you have to go? I mean, can't you skip it? Just call to cancel and tell 'em you're sick or something."

iii.

"Tell me the truth, Daisuke." Hikari stared him down hard. She was rather irate and he winced at her gaze. "You just stood by there as he asked me out on a date. Why?"

He stuttered, his mind thinking up excuses rather than explanations. The two of them had gone on a few dates by this point but had not yet acknowledged that they were in a relationship. He didn't know how to explain that he wasn't yet confident in announcing her as his girlfriend. And so he gulped audibly, clearly nervous in regards to the topic of conversation, before he finally managed to speak. "Well, he told me about how he'd be doing it beforehand..."

"And that solves everything then?" Hikari frowned deeply. "Do you realize the awkward situation you put me in? I had to explain how I was already seeing you, while you were standing right there, and then he goes on to say how he had your approval."

Daisuke shifted his feet glumly. "I wouldn't call it approval, exactly…"

"So what would you call it?" Hikari wondered skeptically. "To me it seems like you were perfectly fine with another guy asking me out on a date right in front of you."

"I wasn't alright with it at all!" Daisuke defended. "I told him straight to his face the day I'd simply stand by and let him ask you out would be the day that pigs fly!"

By now Hikari's skepticism and irritation had faded away into confused. "You did? So what happened then?"

Daisuke frowned. "Well, you see, he had a Patamon with him so..."

iv.

She hadn't seen Daisuke in several months, not since they both graduated from college and she found employment as a student teacher at a local elementary school. Daisuke on the other hand had moved back in with his parents and was slowly collecting the funds and resources necessary for the grand opening of his future restaurant, supposedly.

And so it came that this morning she decided to invite him over for tea; it was the excuse she imagined for the pair to get reacquainted and talk about their current and future prospects. The planned conversation lasted an entirety of two minutes before Daisuke managed to catch sight of her classroom planner.

She had placed it absentmindedly on her kotatsu, and Daisuke had picked it up while she poured their tea.

"Hikari-chan," Daisuke called out to her as he flipped through the pages, "Don't you think you're giving your little rascals a bit too much homework here?"

She arrived and placed the teacups down on the table in front of them as he finally settled on a page. "Not at all," she replied. "What makes you think that?"

"Look over here," Daisuke pointed at the dates and scribbles as if it were obvious. "After all the work you planned out for Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar is clearly saying WTF."

End Notes:
- A kotatsu is the term for a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon that's used almost exclusively in Japan.
- The title Warm and Funny is a play on the phrase "warm and fuzzy."