"Mimi-chan!!".

"Okaachan, I'm dressin'! Wait a li'l!".

Few later, Mimi came out from the bathroom, clad in her pajamas and her wet hair tied in a ponytail. Her mother's voice was coming from near the hall closet, and that meant....

"Mimi dear, I can't find the box of souvenirs!".

"I told you Okaachan, it's in the...".

BAM!

"Kya!".

"Top box", Mimi sighed as she heard the noise of boxes dropping down and her mother screaming as one of them landed over her head. The girl raced there and, as she thought, she found the boxes all spread, her mom with tears in the corner of her eyes, and all the place transformed in a mess of thrown things, from books to toys.

"My my... who'd think you have ALL of that put in a single box. I'd bet you have shrunk them all, Okaachan".

Mrs. Tachikawa rubbed the bump on her head, and a sound that was half a forlorn puppy's squeak, half a dying breath came from her lips. "I wish I could, Mimi. Then I would've brought all our stuff in one box and my head wouldn't hurt like it does now!". She wailed like a little girl, and Mimi nearly drowned in her sweatdrops.

"Okay, okay Okaachan", and to console her, she rubbed her mother's temples. She purred like a kitty, making Mimi laugh helplessly. "You're so full of surprises! No wonder you and Otouchan have been married for 16 years and are still going like rabbits...".

"Mimi!".

"You know, your bedroom walls aren't totally soundproof...!".

A greenish glow came through one of the now-sprawled Mimi's tiny jewelry boxes. The Crest of Sincerity that she still kept and used as a pendant once in a while, was indicating that all was true. Mimi's mother blushed even more.

"Yosh, Okaachan!", Mimi squeaked as she realized how far she was going. She let out an embarrassed giggle. "Forget it, it's not my bussiness, I suppose...".

The girl noticed that her mother wasn't listening at her anymore.

"Okaachan?".

Indeed, she wasn't. Her mother's eyes were glued in a package of books. Quite old manga tankoubons (2), more exactly, some wrapped up in paper still. She curiously peeked over mom's shoulders to see.

"Wai!", Mrs. Tachikawa girlishly squealed as she unwrapped one of the tankoubons and held it close to her chest. "It's my manga collection, Mimi! I was about your age, if not younger, when I bought those! It's my 'Garasu no Kamen'! I thought I'd never, ever find it!!".

* Okaachan... All this mess... FOR YOUR MANGA TANKOUBONS!!?*, and Mimi nearly let her own jaw touch the floor like Koushirou's did in the morning.

And the glimmer of the Crest of Sincerity didn't have any traces of fading, anyway...


* RING! RING! *

Poof! The greenish glow went away all of a sudden, as the Crest of Sincerity's owner distracted herself of her mother, to get up and walk to the phone.

"Moshi moshi ('hello' when you're at the phone), Tachikawa here".

"...".

"Sora-san! You just caught me, we were unpacking the last things".

Mimi's mother was reading, sitting on the floor, while Mimi talked animatedly to Sora. She didn't notice the moment when the conversation took a definitely different turn of events and Mimi started to talk in a quite different tone.

"You're serious...?"

"...".

"So you mean it?".

"...".

"You think I can do it?".

"...".

Mimi's mother had reached one of the most dramatic parts of the tankoubon she was reading. Again, there were tears in her eyes...

"So, it's a deal. Him and me there onstage?".

"...".

"I accept, then. Tell Kikuko-san that she can count me in".

*sniffle*

"...".

"Okay. I'll talk to you at school, Sora-san. Remember to give me my card".

"..".

"Um, yep. Ja ne!".

"...".

* tut-tut-tut...*

Mimi hung up the phone. She let out a long, heavy sigh.

"YES!!!!".

"Buah!!!".

Mimi glanced at the squeal's source -- in time to see her mother start to cry again.

"Okaachan!", she sweatdropped. "Dorama (3) ja nai (This is not drama)".


**********


After a while, Mrs. Tachikawa had already cried her eyes out as she ended up reading about the misventures of Maya Kitajima and Mr. Purple Roses. Then Mimi went to her own room, which she carefully arranged and decorated in her usual fav color: pink.

* Though a little blue would be nice, ne? *

Blue like him, she thought happily. The guy she had come to love after years of cutsie-cute, but strong friendship.

No, what she was feeling for Jyou Kido, was not one of her little girl crushes which flew away after 2-3 days. That was normal, too, and not only for her. Girls her age all had that attatchment for cute things -- just looking at Miyako is a proof of it ^_^

But she wanted this to be different. Definitely.

Sempai had been always there for her, since the time they met in Odaiba elementary's nurse office where he was carried after an asthma access, and she had hurted herself in PE class. Once his breath was back to normal, he practrically forgot that he was breathless, and babysat her nearly better than the own nurse. Then came the infamous summer camp and the Digiworld trip... she'd never forget their li'l quarrels which made Palmon say 'I think he may like ya'.

How right she would've been, if she said so in their second trip after the Odaiba incident. But that was Gomamon's duty, just before they split apart after the days they had to spend together.

'Admit it, Jyou, Mimi's charming!'

Laying on her bed, Mimi giggled as she recalled Jyou's blush and blurted answer: '"Yes, she is... not she's not!... We're not havin' such a talk!!! WAH!".

* I really, really want you to say so again, sempai *, she thought, hugging her pink pillow.

Friendship was their start, 6 years ago, mantaining itself through some visits, daily emails, and periodic phone calls. He was the Chosen Child with whom had a closest contact, along with Sora. It was more than enough to keep her little fantasies alive... and through the years spent in the Big Apple, develop into more serious thoughts haunting her not only before she went to sleep.

* Daisuki (luv ya). I've told him that in a kiss. Dunno if it's his first -- well, it was mine anyway, which I reserved for this moment and nothing else. He was blushing when he went away, too... *

Mimi quietly laughed to herself. She had told her mother that life wasn't a dorama, yet she acted completely like a dorama actress. What would come now? Maybe auditioning for a dorama herself!

* Not a bad idea! I wonder if Miyako-chan and Sora-san would go with me. *

Mimi sat up, turned the lamp on and stared at herself in the mirror for long minutes. She was pretty and she knew such a thing, of course. Her reflection was of a teenage, emcompassing both the innocence of a little girl and the freshness of a young woman. Maybe the pink hair was something turning the scale towards the second option, however...

* Well Mimi, that's later. Now you gotta sleep, for tomorrow you'll study for the Mogi tests they'll take specially for you in some days. And think which song will you perform there. And... dream of him. Dream of the man you've come to love. Sempai...*, and her cheeks turned red, bringing the scale to the favor of her childish side.

She brushed it off quickly, though, and turned the lamp off to finally get some sleep.


************


It was a spring day today in Odaiba. The student council had been in reunion to discuss about the upcoming school festival, and in between propositions and ideas, Jyou had caught a terrible boredom. Always the same thing, every year, he lazily thought.

While walking through the corridors, he turned to glance at the blossoming cherries by the windows.

* I pray that I don't catch any allergies to it this year... Last year I had to be carried to the hospital AGAIN from nurse office... - siiiiiiigh -*

"Kidou-saaaa~~n!!".

"Huh?", and Jyou turned to the source of the sound: the open door of the drama club's rehearsals room. What he saw nearly scared the hell out of him. A tall figure dressed in red and green, with a white and black face mask over its features, cherry-red lips -- all spiced with a malicious laughter.

* PIEMON!! HEEEEELL!!! *

Jyou reeled back and jumped aside.

"Nanda yo, Kidou-san?!", the same voice asked as the figure-that-Jyou-nearly-mistook-as-Piedmon took a step behind and made a playful bow at him. "Sir, you're sensitive today. Can't you take a li'l joke from yours truely?".

Even when its owner was disguised under the flashy clothes and makeup, the voice was unmistakeable. "Nakayama-kun?!", Jyou mused, turning violently red from the embarrassment.

"You're in Cloud Nine, Kidou-san, so I had to bring you down to Mortal Realm!", the boy grinned, hands on his hips. "Though it seems I nearly shooed you to Hell...".

"Nakayama!", a girl voice called. "Stop fooling around and come here, I'm not done with you!".

"Okaaaay mommy...". The boy shrugged and walked away, flashing at his friend an apologetic smile. Jyou chuckled to himself and prepared to leave.

"Whoa Kidou! Long time no see you here!".

Ishimaru Takumi, another council member and the upperclassman of the would-be actors, was coming in. "I see they've been doing as I told them, good. No matter if I'm not here, show must go on, ne?".

Jyou could see that Ishimaru had several bags in his hands, stuffed with more colorful clothes. "Hum, Ishimaru-kun, may I...?".

"Know what the hell are we doing while dressing the guys in drag?".

"Kaoru-san?!".

Ishimaru's girlfriend, Kuwakado Kaoru, broke in happily. She was dressed as bizarrely as Nakayama and many other girls and boys in the room: red and green dress, white apron, matching stockings and shoes; only that she had no makeup still, and held a paper mask in her hands.

"Easy, Kidou-kun, take it easy", she told Jyou. "We're getting ready for our last great dress rehearsal before the contest".

"?". Jyou blinked not knowing what the girl was talking about.

"Ma, Kidou, let me explain", Ishimaru told the blue-haired boy. He took a script out of his bag and held it towards Jyou. "There's a big highschool drama contest this month, where many schools from all the Tokyo districts will perform typic and classic theather pieces, all competing for a nice money prize we're intending to use for stuff, books and material - if we win".

Jyou observed the script that Ishimaru handed him. It was 'The Two-patron Vassal' by some Italian dramaturg.

"As the local drama club, we chose to represent a classic of the Italian Comedy of Art (4). So you see... We've been rehearsing hard, and now we're preparing our outfits. You've seen with our eyes how odd they are".

Jyou eyed the script and nodded at every word his friend told him. "So, you'll perform like this. Yeah, looks... intresting...".

"Sure it is. I'll have to dress up to, mah! Fair play. Now, if you excuse me...".

Jyou handed the script back and Ishimaru went to the corner. Jyou noticed then that Kaoru was looking at him practically in the eye.

"What's up...?".

She smiled at the boy. "Kidou-kun, you know about the glass mask?".

"Nope", he replied. "Why ask?".

"I feel...", she said slowly, "that you use a mask. Like us actors do".

The girl tilted her head and continued.

"I'm in this club because my dream is to be a professional actress, to perform in theather, movies and TV. But being an actor or actress means that we all have to cover our true selves onstage. Takumi and I know it very well, we've learnt it in this club with our sempais and sensei".

Jyou didn't say anything.

"A mask", Kaoru continued as she ran her fingers over the paper cheeks of the mask, painted in white and, like Larva's mask (5), with a black tear running down, "is what we all use to cover our feelings".

His friend's words were, unadvertingly, hitting a pretty sore spot that he had in his heart.

"We actors, symbolically, wear a mask of glass so that our worries don't interfere with our performance. Others literally mask themselves to avoid being hurt or hide their secrets...".

That was when she stopped, and noticed that Jyou's eyes had a pained expression. "I'm sorry", Kaoru mused, "maybe I shouldn't have tell you...".

"Iie (nope), it's okay. You already *did* anyway, too. And today..., today I'm just not myself", he excused himself.

Kaoru looked at the mask, then at Jyou. After that, she handed it to him. "Here, Kidou-kun. For you. My way to say 'I'm sorry'".

Flatly, Jyou stared at the mask. White skin, a black tear rolling down. The boy hesitated before he extended his hand mechanically to take it from hers, avoiding contact with her skin and flesh.

Kissing noises flew in the air. Nakayama and other two boys put a hat in Ishimaru's head, telling him something that made the other boy open his eyes wide like saucers and yell: "Temee, urusai wa ne (shut up, you &*@#!^ bastards!!!!!!)".

When Kaoru un-glued her eyes from her boyfriend's red face and dared to look at Jyou, he wasn't there anymore.

"Oops", the girl murmured, an eyebrow twitching as she went towards Ishimaru to calm him down.


****************


The council room was empty, as always, after the reunions, and that suited Jyou right. The boy closed the door and sat down on a chair with a deep sigh.

* This all... *

Jyou held the paper mask in his hands, thinking about the things that Kaoru-san and Ishimaru-kun mentioned when he stopped by the drama club room.

"A mask is what we all use to cover our feelings. We actors, symbolically, wear a mask of glass so that our worries don't interfere with our performance.

"Others literally mask themselves to avoid being hurt or hide their secrets...".

* Kamen (mask). I and Koushirou. We have our masks too. One is to hide our love from others..., but I put other one when I'm with him. A mask hiding what Mimi-chan has made me feel... since she kissed me... *

Mimi. Did he love her? He didn't know, and didn't want to know either.

* Why with me? *

Pretty, sweet, easygoing, energetic, friendly, truthful. That was Mimi Tachikawa to him and you. She was the dream of every guy in the school, as Koushirou told him. He nearly jumped as he knew that she was his boyfriend's classmate; hell, such a position! A little word spilled out and...

* Dammit! *

He shook inwardly.

Mimi. If she had done to him what she did to him as she arrived, just *one year ago* when he still wasn't questioning himself, when Koushirou was still only his friend, maybe... *just* maybe... he would've told her yes. That he *possibly* would be hers.

But now, now...

As one hand found its way to his nape, it pulled the elastic down and off. Silky blue hair spilled loose over his pale skin and white shirt, free after hours. But its owner was far from feeling free.

* Our situation was awkward enough with us having to hide, and my parents still not giving us their full Mi-megumi (6). And now, Mimi-chan puts herself in between, chaperoned by Sora-chan and possibly by Taichi-kun. Dammit! *

Jyou leaned over the table and buried his face between his crossed arms, the picture of misery. He closed his eyes and sighed again.

* Dammit... naze da... (why)? *


Knock, knock, no answer.

"Jyou...?", a boy voice chirped in. Hearing no reply, the redhead freshman opened the door and peered in, finding the object of his search still in the same position, unmoving. A paper mask, his hairband and his bookbag were placed over the table, not far away.

"Jyou?".

Koushirou entered the council room, closing the door behind him as well, and neared to his lover.

"Jyou?".

"ZZZZZZ...".

The snoring sound made the junior reel back, then laugh quietly to himself.

* ^_________^ *

He stood besides of the sleeping senior, opened his lips...

"Council President Kidou Jyou! WAKE UP!".

* WAH!!!! *

Jyou jumped in his seat. Too bad he lost his balance and both boy and chair landed on the floor.

"Gomen nasai (sorry)", Koushirou snickered looking down at Jyou. He blinked through his glasses and blue bangs.

"Taichi used to wake me up like that in the Digi World", he complained, forgetting momentarily about his worries. "He just *loved* to freak me out. How could *you*?!".

"You're fussing. Seems it's a good sign", Koushiro sweet yet poisonously countered. Jyou seemed to have a difficult time trying to get up, so he extended his hand to help the other boy to get up. But Jyou playfully took the chance and pulled him down.

* Can't let the chance pass... *

"You see", he mused, feeling quite bolder because of the fact of knowing that they'd be alone for a while. "There's another good sign, Koushirou".

"Which one?".

Jyou half-smiled, a tender expression in his eyes. "You're smiling".


Koushirou didn't need any other hints. He leaned down and pressed his body and lips against Jyou's softly. His flexible, long fingers ran all over the older youth's face and again started to play with his long hair.

* We may be...*, he remembered, but then Koushirou pressed his hips against Jyou's firmly to paralize him...

* 'To hell with it!*

Jyou responded to the caress, draping his arms around Koushirou's waist to pull him even lower and closer, their lower bodies half under the table, the upper halves still close to the still-sprawled chair he was sitting on 'til minutes ago.

The caresses and fondling were going to a more daring point, as Koushirou's hand was just about to slip under Jyou's school shirt...


*knock* *knock*

"Masaka (dammit)", was all that Jyou could mutter as their lips unlocked at the noise. They got up quite umconfortably to straighten their clothes and Koushirou had to pull Jyou up as his back was aching. The older boy, however, decided to open the door...

"Sempai---!!!".

All of a sudden Mimi was holding him in her slender arms. It wasn't like the time she kissed him, because this time she didn't raise her face from his chest, but buried it even more.

"I'm so happy... so, so happy...".

She started to sob then. However, you could clearly see that hers weren't tears of sadness.

"Mimi-chan?", Koushirou murmured, a huge question mark over his head as he tried to act normal. But with a girl crying in his closeness, after been about to make out with his loved one, how could he?

The pink-haired girl, upon hearing him, raised her head and face (fortunately for Jyou's shirt). Her eyes glimmered not only with tears. "Koushirou-kun! I couldn't tell you in class, but now that you're here... Can you believe it? Sora-san called me yesterday... I and Yamato-san are gonna sing in Shin-san's wedding!! Myt second time performing in public! OH I'm so happy! Zettai (absolutely)!".

Mimi broke her hold on Jyou, and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. "Gomen ne (sorry). Did I actually interrupt something here?".

Jyou turned red, but Koushirou just shook his head.

"Even then, gome ne again... I was so excited to tell sempai that I'll be one of the singers in his Oniisan's wedding, I got carried away...".

She shook her head. "Oh, Sora-san told me to go and wait for her at the soccer practice. She'll tutor me for the Mogi. Bye bye, sempai, Koushirou-kun, see ya, and luv ya two".

Mimi sighed, repeated for a ladt time her 'I'm so happy' mantra, and got out of the room. Koushirou opened his mouth to say something; but, as he looked at Jyou's blank expression as the older boy took his bag and the mask in his hands to go away, he couldn't.

He *just* couldn't.




-- end part 3 --
-- TSUZUKU (TO BE CONTINUED) --

MINAMI & NATSUMI SAY:

(1): "Garasu no Kamen (Glass Mask)": The title of this chapter comes from Mrs. Tachikawa's manga -- which REALLY exists! It's a classic shoujo (girl-oriented) comic that has been published in the bi-weekly magazine "Hana to Yume" (Flowers and Dreams) of Japanese editorial Hakusensha, since 1975 'til AT LEAST '99 (40 volumes!); written by the mangako Shizue Miuchi, it depicts the world of stage theater from the POV of a would-be actress named Maya Kitajima.
Here's a great page on Garasu no Kamen: http://fly.to/kamen

(2): "Tankoubons": In Japan, a manga is normally first published in special magazines, each specially released by the editorials for specific publics (i.e., Editorial Shogakukan has the magazine 'Shonen Sunday' specialized in manga for boys, and another named 'Bouquet' specialized in manga for girls). If the comic is successful enough, the next step is its release in independant phone books, to carry your favourite stories everywhere you go: the 'tankoubons' or 'volumes'.

(3): "Dorama": Japanese version of the well-known 'soap-operas', with stories that go from nosense crazy comedy to highly-heartwretching plots. Many idol singers, like Noriko Sakai, have started as dorama actors, or viceversa: some idol singers passed to dorama after their singing careers were over, like Eriko Tamura (the singer whose story inspired the classic girl anime 'Idol Densetsu Eriko').

(4): "The Comedy of Art (La Comedia Dell'Arte)": a very old form of theater origined in Italy, which had many own treats like the use of pre-fixed stereotypes of character (male and female servants, old doctors, captains, sailors, noble men, lovers, etc.), masks, simple and festive plots, etc. It has influenciated even Digimon: the character of Piedmon, whose name was taken from Pierrot, an old French comic character later integrated to the Comedy, was designed in base of the male servant Harlequin, one of the most famous "charas" of the Comedy of Art, here represented by Nakayama while Kaoru plays the role of the female servant Columbina, Harlequin's girlfriend.

(5): Larva is a Shinma (god-demon) who appears in Kakkinouchi Narumi's "Vampire Princess Miyu", and is forced to use a white and black mask covering his face as a punishment for not being able to kill Miyu, the princess of vampires, before she awakened her power.

(6) Mi-Megumi: The word "Megumi" in itself refers to the granting of a blessing, the bestowing of grace. 'Mi-megumi' is the form used when referring respectfully to a blessing from a god, a parent, or a person of superior rank.



Jikai (next)! Suki nan desu, part 4!!

As Koushirou walked in the restroom, he though of what he had seen yesterday. Did Mimi really need to do it? He knew that he and Jyou, as quite prominent members of the student council, should keep their love relationship in secret, but eventhough Mimi was a girl, his friend and his classmate, he felt the urge to show off their bond towards her.
Say 'what's mine, is mine'.
'What's mine...'
*Moshikashite (could it be)... *, he wondered to himself as he made the pieces coincide and thought of a certain green-eyed bug that did *NOT* look like Tentomon...
... *Are you jealous, Izumi Koushirou?! *

******

"Because......
he's my loved one.
There is no other reason.
He's my loved one.
I want to be with him forever".
"Aww... it's perfect...", Hikari cooed. She was leaning against Miyako as Mimi kept with the song, her sweet voice echoing through the rehearsals room. Sora played the piano along, and from the corner of her eye, she saw somebody standing there.
Somebody who had long blue hair.




**************