*Warning: If you haven't read chapter six, which is a bizarre chapter about the girl's day out of Natsuko and Hikari, go back and read that before you move onto this.

So, this is a mini-sode, and not really a true chapter. I wrote it because of the fact that with the last update I did, the alert system was out of whack, and I don't even know how many people got the alert that I had updated, or if it was even sent at all. In any case, this is to remind people to go check out chapter 6 if they haven't already, or if they didn't even know it existed. Chapters will resume as normal and at normal length in the future. Heads up though, chapter six was...out there, to say the least.

Quote of the day:

"Some say I'm robbing the cradle, but I say she's robbing the grave!"

—Hubert Farnsworth, Futurama

The ambassador walked with an air of great purpose as he and his Agumon partner made their way to the Tokyo shop that was their first and most important destination of the day. The ambassador, one Yagami Taichi, had spent months looking for the perfect shop to get the perfect little object that he needed so desperately, and the day had finally arrived after all of his careful planning. The man couldn't help but whistle a happy little tune that he wasn't sure where he remembered it from, and he practically skipped down the street in excitement, his digimon partner trying very clumsily to mimic him.

Taichi's eyes widened in excitement when he saw the shop in question that he needed, that held the item that he knew was just absolutely necessary for him to finally have, and if the shopkeeper waiting inside had told the truth about having everything perfect and just how he wanted it, there was no way that the day could get any more wonderful. The only annoyance however, and one that he unfortunately couldn't avoid since it was happening directly in front of the small store that he needed, was a woman who looked as if she was in her late twenties, and who had apparently thought it best to spend her morning handing out pamphlets and yelling at strangers about family values and the sanctity of marriage.

He stopped walking right in front of her, and Taichi eyed her up and down, sarcastically wondering who would ever let such a wonderful bag of crazy get away from them. It wasn't that she wasn't attractive or anything like that, she was, though not his type since Taichi had always preferred older women, but the yelling harpy was definitely off her rocker. He really should have just simply walked inside of the store, but the young ambassador couldn't help but to simply watch the woman as she went on and on about whatever it was that pissed her off. It was like having a front row seat to that time that they saved the world by wishing really hard for stuff. Daisuke wished for a noodle cart, Hikari wished for everyone to have their own digimon partners, and Miyako wished that all of her siblings were dead so that she could hoard all the sweets in their apartment for herself.

He shook away the thoughts of Miyako's fratricidal wish, and instead told himself to simply enjoy the crazy that was going on before his eyes at the moment. Watching the protesting woman was just like that time that Mimi ran away from home and spent a summer engaging in guerrilla warfare in South America as a communist freedom fighter, standing up for the proletariat against the capitalist pigs of the United States. Now that was a wild time, though, not as wild or dangerous as that time they had to rescue Jou when the young doctor accidentally joined the Church of Scientology through a series of wacky misunderstandings. In any case, he kept his eyes on the woman in front of him, hoping that her brand of neurosis would be something that was at least entertaining.

"Family values are going down the drain in this liberal world that we live in!" the protesting woman crossed her arms defiantly, and said matter-of-factly as Taichi and Agumon continued to watch her.

Agumon, ever the curious little monster, turned his nose up in Taichi's direction, his partner usually having whatever answers that the yellow digimon tended to search for. "What is she talking about?"

Being just as clueless about what the hell was going, Taichi just shrugged. "I have no idea, pal."

The woman snorted as she held out two of her pamphlets for Taichi and Agumon, to see for themselves what this great darkness that loomed upon the land was. "Marriage is between two people who love each, and not between a human and a digimon who want to get married. It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Evemon!"

Taichi's eyebrows furrowed for a moment as his eyes scanned the pamphlet he had been handed, before scoffing at the words that were printed out. "Look, lady, if digisexuals want to get married, how does that in any way affect me?" he paused for a second, before figuring that the crazy sidewalk woman did have at least one good point about what she was trying to say, "Though, I might be tempted to marry a digimon under the right circumstances. I mean, have you ever seen an Angewomon? Like holy crap, she makes me want to fist the beast king, if you know what I mean?"

The woman did not in fact know what it was that he meant, and only stared at him in horror, mouth gaping in shock. Normally, Taichi would have counted that as a victory, but seeing as even Agumon looked grossed out by his words, the man's face reddened just a bit as he silently handed the woman back her pamphlets, and made his way into the store.

Inside, the shopkeeper was waiting for him, Taichi having already sunk in thousands of dollars into what was about to happen. Taichi and Agumon waited, and quickly scanned the room to make sure that there was no one else there, and the young man approached, shaky hand reaching out to touch the ornate wooden box that the shopkeeper had so carefully set before him.

"Is this it?" Taichi whispered, already knowing the answer before he asked it.

The old shopkeeper merely smirked, and twisted one of the long white whiskers that protruded from his face, the bony and spindly old man giving a bow of his head, all the while ominous music played from the speakers in the shop. "Everything is perfect, Your Grace, and your specifications have been done to the most minute detail."

Taichi opened the box, and smiled when he read the engraving on the inside of the engagement ring.

To Natsuko, my courage, my one and truest love

Next update will definitely be interesting when Hiroaki's mother makes herself known for a visit.