Mimi looked up at the familiar voice. Palmon was looking at her, head cocked to one side, dark eyes filled with confusion and concern.

   "Yes, Palmon?"

   "Why do you keep looking at those pictures?"

   She smiled. "Because I love them. I love the person in them."

   "But looking at her always makes you look so sad."

   She sighed. "It's a sweet pain. It's like looking at a beautiful dress in the window of the store, and knowing that you can't afford it, or it won't fit you, or whatever, but you still want it. You love it so much you keep coming back to look, even though it will never be yours."

   "You already do that with that gown at that one store at the mall."

   Mimi grinned. "I know, I know. It's the same thing - it's just that instead of pining for a beautiful dress, I'm pining for a beautiful girl with a beautiful heart."

   Palmon sighed, sitting down. "I don't understand why you'd do that. But I guess I'll take your word for it."

   "Alright." With that, Mimi turned back to the pictures. Beautiful indeed, in all ways, she thought happily. Oh, beautiful Sora, why can't you be mine?

   "Mimi?" The door was opened, just a crack.

   Mimi looked up, feeling embarrassed. "Yes, mama?"

   "Your father's ready to take you to the mall, Mimi. What've you got there?" Mrs. Tachikawa opened the door completely and moved into the room.

   Mimi panicked, holding the small photo album against her chest. "Mama! This is private!"

   "Oh, I see!" Mrs. Tachikawa giggled. "You have a new boyfriend, right?"

   Mimi flushed. "Mama..."

   "Or is it a girlfriend?"

   Mimi flushed redder. "MAMA!!" she shrieked.

   "Come on, Mimi, tell me the truth, I won't be mad..."

   The pink-haired girl sighed deeply. "I have a crush on my friend Sora."

    "Oh! I know Sora, she's a nice girl, and I'm sure she'd be a nice girlfriend... good to see you're finally displaying some taste!" Mrs. Tachikawa giggled and winked to show she was joking.

   "Mama..." 

   "Are you going to tell her?" Mrs. Tachikawa grew serious again.

   Mimi sighed. "I don't know. I'd like to, but she might reject me."

   "Mimi, if Sora is at all the way I remember her, either she won't reject you, or she'll do it in the nicest way possible. It'll just hurt you to keep it inside."

   Mimi sighed. "I guess you're right..."

   "You know I'm right. Now go on out, your father's waiting."

   Mimi nodded and stood up. "Palmon? Do you want to come?"

   "No, thanks!" Palmon grimaced. "All that walking always makes my roots hurt!"

   Mimi giggled. "Fine, have it your way. I'll bring you back some of that bottled water you like, okay?"

   "Okay!"

   "Well, look at this! It's a regular phenomenon! Kou-chan, we better call the newspapers - MIMI is at the MALL!"

   Koushiro laughed at his boyfriend's joke. "Jyou!"

   Mimi bopped Jyou with her purse lightly, grinning. Laughing, he held up his hands to ward off the blow.

   By purest chance, most of the other Chosen Children, mostly those who had retired, were already at the mall. Mimi had run into them outside a restaurant on the second floor which overlooked the fountain in the courtyard, which was shaded by potted trees and lit by the sunlight streaming in from the skylights. All in all, a nice place to run into your friends. Taichi was sitting in Yamato's lap, being fed, Hideo and Iori were gushing quietly at each other, Jyou and Koushiro had been talking about a project they were working on before they'd focused their attention on Mimi, and Sora was quietly working on a sketch. Mimi's heart did a somersault when she looked at Sora, sitting so gracefully, the sunlight shining on her hair...

   Mimi dragged her thoughts away from Sora. "So where's everyone else?" she inquired, taking a seat. She immediately flushed as she realized she was sitting next to Sora.

   "Takeru took Hikari out on a date today, and I haven't the faintest where Daisuke, Keiko, and Miyako are," Yamato supplied helpfully, feeding Taichi a chocolate.

   "Daisuke-san is at a soccer match, Keiko-san is helping her mother, I think, and Miyako-san is working on a project for her computer club," Iori said calmly from Hideo's arms. That said, he leaned up to kiss the grey-haired boy.

   Mimi stared enviously at all the boys. They all have what I want! How can they be so happy and unafraid with their boyfriends, when I'm scared to even tell Sora I like her?!

   She turned to look at Sora, who hadn't said a word, working on her sketch. Curiousity perked, Mimi leaned over towards Sora and looked at the drawing. To her surprise, it was a picture of Piyomon and - Lillymon?

   "That's a nice picture," Mimi said softly. "I didn't know you could draw so well, Sora!"

   Sora jumped and blushed. "Oh, well... thanks. It's just a hobby, but kaasan says I could do well as an artist." She smiled. "I might consider it, I do love drawing..."

   "You're good at it," Mimi encouraged. "If that was in color, I'd swear they were going to fly off the page!"

   Sora bowed her head modestly, blushing. "Arigatou, Mimi..."

   Mimi smiled cheerfully. "Dou itashimashite!"

   Jyou stood up and stretched. "I'm getting stiff from just sitting here. Anyone for getting a move on?"

   "As soon as Taichi gets up off me and I get the circulation back in my legs," Yamato joked. 

   Taichi stuck his tongue out at Yamato and moved off the taller boy's lap. 

   Mimi jumped to her feet. "Let's go to Hai*Fasshon!"

   There was a collective groan from the boys.

   "Oh, come on," Mimi entreated. "You'd think you guys wouldn't mind going to a fashion store," she joked.

   "We're gay, Mimi. Not crossdressers. There is a difference," Yamato muttered. 

   "Not all of us are gay," Hideo remarked, "I'm bi. Aside from that, Yama-sama's right."

   Taichi glared at Hideo. "Will you please stop calling my boyfriend Yama-sama?"

   "Yeah, Hideo," Iori agreed.

   Hideo grinned. "Sorry, force of habit. Aww, Iori-chan, you know I love you..." As if to prove it, he kissed Iori on the cheek. Iori giggled and kissed him back.

   "Well, you can wait outside, or look at the jewelry store next to Hai*Fasshon," Sora commented. She grinned and winked. "Scope out the rings for when you all decide to get married."

   "Okay!" Hideo chirruped.

   "Oh my god, this *is* a day for surprises," Jyou remarked. "Hideo's thinking of the wedding BEFORE the honeymoon!"

   Hideo threw a wadded-up napkin at him. "Very funny."

   "Come on, Hideo, you're more hormonal than me! Just admit it!" Taichi laughed.

   "Oh, shut up."

   "Are we going, or not?" Koushiro asked a bit impatiently.

   "Hai, hai." Taichi got up, kissing Yamato as the other boy stood up. Sora closed her sketchbook and stowed it in her backpack. I'll spare you the details, but a few minutes later, Sora and Mimi were browsing through Hai*Fasshon.

   "Sora, this would look lovely on you!" Mimi held up a fancy white blouse with a long, dark blue skirt.

   "Are you sure it would go with my hair?"

   Mimi inspected it. "Hmmm... Maybe the orange skirt?"

   "Hmmm..."

   Just then, something caught Sora's eye. "Hey, look at this dress, Mimi..."

   Mimi did. It was the same dress she always stared at when she came to Hai*Fasshon. It was a beautiful white dress with elegant silver and gold embroidery on the front, along the waistline, along the bottom, and on the cuffs.

   "It's beautiful," Mimi sighed.

   "When that pink washes out, this'll look so good on you," Sora smiled. "That dye is temporary, right?"

   Mimi nodded. "I couldn't find any permanent dye."

   "Well, I think your hair looked better before."

   "Really?" Mimi blushed. 

   Sora nodded. "The color was so nice, I was so disappointed when you dyed it pink..." She blushed and cut herself off. 

   Mimi smiled. "Why, thank you, Sora... that means a lot to me..." She shook her head and sighed, the smile fading. "The only thing is, I can't afford it. My parents want to watch their spending after that trip to America, so it's not like I can get them to buy it for me..."

   Sora frowned. "Well, it is a little expensive."

   "A little! It's twenty thousand yen!" Mimi laughed.

   "Maybe they'd buy it for your birthday? It is this week, isn't it?"

   "Hai..." Mimi sighed. "They wouldn't buy it anyway. When we got back from the digital world, I begged them not to spoil me like they did before. They wouldn't spend that much money on one present now."

   Sora hung up the dress carefully. "That's too bad."

   Mimi nodded. "Every time I come here, I stare at that dress..."

   "C'mon, girls, let's go," Taichi called grumpily from the door. Sora swallowed whatever she was about to say, and the two left the store to join the troupe of glowering boys.

   "What's got you guys so mad?" Mimi wondered.

   "The manager kicked us out of the store!" Taichi snarled.

   Sora looked shocked. "Why?" 

   "Because we're gay," Koushiro growled. "He said he 'didn't want any damn faggots prowling around' in his store," he added, mocking the manager.

   "Hideo didn't argue the difference?" Mimi muttered under her breath.

   Sora was fuming. "That baka! I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind!"

   "Sora, wai--"

   It was too late. Sora was already stomping into the jewelry store and demanding to see the manager. 

   Hideo was blinking. "Well, that's not much like Sora."

   Several minutes later, the yelling from the store began to ebb, and some customers left. Sora walked out, looking vindicated.

   "Getting yelled at in front of his customers embarrassed him, and some of them glared at him and left. I think he'll adjust his attitude now."

   Mimi just stared at Sora in admiration. "Sora-chan, you're so brave!"

   Sora turned beet red and bowed her head. "Thanks."

   Jyou glanced at his watch. "Oi, Shuu and Shin insisted that I be back by three..." He sighed. "Just because I told them I was going somewhere with Kou-chan, even though I assured him we'd be going with other people, he insisted that I be back by three, lest I go indulge my adolescent hormones or something." Jyou sighed again. "So I have to go."

   Koushiro grumbled. "Well, if Jyou has to leave, I might as well go home too..."

   "Oi, if it's that close to three, kaasan will be wanting me back too," Hideo piped up. "Ne, Iori-chan, want to come? I'm sure it'd be okay with our mothers!"

   Iori smiled. "Okay!"

   One after another, the group began to melt away. Mimi sighed. 

   "I might as well go back home too, this won't be any fun without anybody else..."

   Sora smiled. "Ne, Mimi, I'll stay with you..."

   Mimi stared at Sora, a slight blush staining her cheeks, her heart racing. "O-Okay!"

   Sora flopped down on her bed, heart pounding. She giggled, feeling giddy. 

   She'd spent hours alone at the mall... with MIMI...

   Doing absolutely nothing of note.

   This thought dimmed Sora's happiness, and she sighed.

   Piyomon stood over her, concerned. "Sora, what's wrong?"

   "Oh, I spent today alone at the mall with Mimi." She sighed. "And we didn't do anything, I didn't even tell her how I felt..." 

   Piyomon frowned sympathetically. "You really ought to tell her..."

   "But how would she react?" Sora sighed. "I'm pretty sure she likes guys... I mean, you saw how she used to act towards Koushiro until he finally realized he liked Jyou..."

   "But she stopped, and she didn't seem to have any hard feelings, remember? I don't think she really liked him," Piyomon said. "I think she was just pretending to like Koushiro because she really liked someone else and didn't want to admit it." The bird Digimon smiled. "And besides, I always thought she liked you!"

   Sora smiled back. "Thanks, Piyomon." 

   An idea crossed Sora's mind, and she smiled slowly. "Her birthday is this weekend..."

   The beautiful dress at Hai*Fasshon and Mimi's longing for it rose to the surface of Sora's mind. I can get her that dress! And then I can tell her how I feel... If she doesn't like me, I guess I can handle that, but if she does like me, it'll be the best birthday present she's ever had!

   Jumping up, Sora ran out of her room, leaving a confused Piyomon in her wake.

   "Kaasan! Kaasan!" 

   Mrs. Takenouchi looked up from her cooking. "Yes, Sora? My, you seem 
excited, what's up?"

   "Kaasan, I need some money to buy a dress for my friend for her birthday."

   Mrs. Takenouchi smiled. "Alright, I'll go get my wallet. How much do you need?"

   Sora looked down. "About... twenty thousand yen."

   "Twenty thousand!!" her mother yelped.

   "Yeah... it's a dress from Hai*Fasshon, and she really wants it... And it'd look so good on her, and I love her so I want to make her happy-- oops."

   Sora went red and studied the ground, waiting for the reaction.

   Mrs. Takenouchi smiled. "Well, if she's your girlfriend, I can definitely spare some cash, just not that much. Oh, don't look so surprised, I'm not upset. You like who you like. Personally, I'm glad you have someone you care for so much."

   Sora sighed in relief. "Thank you, kaasan."

   "Don't worry about it." Mrs. Takenouchi handed Sora a handful of bills. "This is all the money I can spare right now."

   "This is still about five thousand... domo arigatou, kaasan." Sora bowed in gratitude and went to stow the money in her room. She sighed. Now I just have to figure out how to raise fifteen thousand yen in three days!

   The next day found her brainstorming this question with Taichi, 
Yamato, Takeru, Hikari, Jyou, Koushiro, Hideo, and Iori.

   "Maybe a raffle?" Takeru wondered.

   "That would require us having valuable things we want to sell," Jyou said. "The only thing in my house that would be good for a raffle would be Shin-niisan's motorcycle, and he'll kill me if I sell that."

   "Yeah, I don't think any of us have valuable stuff lying around we're willing to part with," Yamato sighed, leaning back.

   "Maybe we can mow lawns or walk dogs or something," Taichi suggested.

   "Those are low-paying jobs and we only have Thursday and Friday to do this," Koushiro sighed. "Mimi's birthday is Saturday."

   Sora sighed. "We have to think of something..."

   Hideo jumped to his feet, pounding his fist into his open palm. "I've got it! Yama-sama, you're in a band right?"

   "Yeah," Yamato nodded, ignoring the 'Yama-sama' and shooting Taichi a look that suggested he should ignore it too. Fortunately, Taichi didn't seem to be offended for once.

   "Yeah," the once-leader of the Chosen Children grinned. "And they're great! You should hear Yama-chan sing..." Taichi swooned.

   "Then we'll have a concert!" Hideo smiled brightly. "Everyone loves Yamato's band, so they'll be willing to pay to listen, right? You can set up in the park, and some of us can operate refreshment stands nearby, and some of us can advertise... My mom has a matchmaking streak in her, so she'll be happy to help fund it if she knows it's to ultimately help get Sora and Mimi together!"

   Sora sputtered. "Hideo, I never said--"

   Hideo winked. "Aw, c'mon, Sora, we all know why you really want to get Mimi this dress. You two were blushing way too much around each other to be just friends!"

   "Keiko-san can spread the word today," Koushiro observed. "She has enough contacts..."

   "We'll help too!" Hikari smiled. "Everyone in my class is talking about how they want to see Yamato's band perform!" 

   "A lot of the people in my kendo club do too," Iori added. 

   "The concert can be on Friday, and we can spend today and Thursday spreading the word!" Takeru said enthusiastically.

   Sora sniffled, wiped her eyes, and smiled at her friends. "Thank you..."

   "Oi, Iori!" Hideo's partner, Blademon, yelled to Hideo over the crowd. "We need a bottle of ramune and a box of Pocky!"

   In a blink, Iori had the requested items and was handing them to Blademon, who handed them to Hideo, who gave them to the customer and cheerfully accepted the money he was given.

   "Thank you, have a nice day! What would you like?" Hideo, being the outgoing, cheerful boy he was, handled the job as clerk like a pro. Iori grinned at him. He's such a people person...

   The concert was, to put it simply, a success. Practically every kid in Odaiba had gathered and paid to get into the concert, and then paid at Hideo and Iori's snack stand. Koushiro, possessing a mind that could do advanced algebra on his fingers, was acting as accountant. He smiled in satisfaction at the numbers. 

   "Currently we've raised over nineteen thousand yen," he said happily. "The concert ends in an hour. By then, I estimate we could have nearly half again the needed amount!"

   "Even if we don't," Sora said, "there's still enough money."

   "You know," Jyou grinned, "you could probably buy Mimi something else with the leftover money. Like dinner."

   Sora blushed. "Well, I guess if she likes me back..."

   "Sora-san, there is no if about it." Koushiro leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table. "She likes you. Don't ask me how I know, I just do."

   "Is this that 'gaydar' thing Americans talk about?"

   "I hate to use that term, but yes." 

   "That, and she blushed when she sat next to you," Jyou grinned. "She just gave off little 'I'm gay and in love with Sora' vibes all day, I swear."

   Sora blushed. "You guys..."

   Koushiro laughed. "We're on your side! Calm down!"

   She grinned. "Yeah, I know, thanks."

   Jyou cocked his head towards the stage and then smiled. "Yamato's singing Fair Wind!"

   "Fair Wind?" Sora blinked.

   "My baby, you don't know how much I love you behind of you," Koushiro sang. 

   "'Cos you always look at the front, to get your dream in future!" Jyou continued.

   "Sorry," Koushiro grinned. "It's a Slayers TRY song. Mr. Zelgadis Fanboy over here got me hooked on Slayers last year," he added, punching Jyou playfully in the arm.

   "I wouldn't talk, Koushiro, you're obsessed with Xelloss," Jyou retorted.

   "I've never cosplayed as him, unlike a certain Kido I know," Koushiro laughed.

   "Look, I had the tunic lying around, and it fit, and I didn't have any other costume ideas..."

   "I know, but Zelgadis Greywords looked pretty funny with glasses," Koushiro snickered.

   Sora sighed wistfully, watching them bicker playfully. "I wish I could have that with Mimi," she said aloud.

   Jyou patted her on the shoulder. "You will, soon enough," he said comfortingly.

   Just then, Blademon came in with another box of money, beaming. "This is easily five hundred! By the time we sell out of our stock, we'll have probably another five hundred!"

   "It's a little hard to believe so many kids have this much money to spend," Sora remarked.

   "For Yamato's band, you'd be surprised what people can come up with," Koushiro snickered. "Personally, I want to know where the underwear some of those girls are throwing on the stage comes from..."

   "I just want to see how long it'll take before Taichi explodes," Jyou grinned.

   "Poor Yamato. He's too cute for his own good!" Koushiro laughed.

   "Can't you just see Taichi flying into a jealous rage at those girls? I'll bet ya he's at least gonna go onstage and kiss Yamato at the end of the concert just to show everybody who Yamato belongs to," Jyou predicted.

   "Probably."

   Jyou cocked his head again. "Ah, it's time for us to make our big debut. Yamato's calling us on stage."

   "You're singing in this concert?"

   Koushiro nodded brightly. "We're singing a song I wrote called Open Mind." He giggled. "I'm surprised it came out so well, I wrote it at four in the morning while thinking about Jyou."

   Sora laughed. "Let me guess, you wax poetic about long blue hair and a tendency to trip over his own feet, right?"

   Jyou held a fist in Sora's face, grinning. Koushiro laughed.

   "No, you'll see. Come on, Jyou, remember you're my backup singer," Koushiro said, tugging on Jyou's arm to attempt to direct him onto the stage. Jyou turned and started following Koushiro.

   "I'll be watching!" Sora called after them, heading towards the massive crowd. By the time she got to a place where she could see the stage, Koushiro had already begun singing. About halfway through the song, a pair of underwear was thrown onto the stage at Koushiro's feet. Koushiro went as red as his hair and quietly nudged it away from him with his foot. Meanwhile his backup singer/boyfriend was desperately stifling insane laughter, only barely recovering in time to sing. Sora giggled.

   "Sora!! I didn't know you were here!"

   Sora jumped and whirled to face the source of the voice. Bright hazel eyes and a sweet smile framed by pink hair greeted her. Sora's heart did a backflip.

   "Oh! Uh, hi, Mimi!"

   Mimi hugged her in greeting. Sora's eyes went huge at the touch, and she remained frozen and blushing even after Mimi pulled away.

   "I didn't know Koushiro could sing so well! This is such a sweet song, it sounds like he was thinking of Jyou when he wrote it... Sora? Are you alright? Sora?"

   Sora forced her mouth to work. "I-I'm fine, Mimi." My heart is going to explode if it doesn't slow down, I'm blushing, I can barely speak, but that's because you hugged me, so I'm just peachy!

   "That's good, it'd be terrible if something happened to you," Mimi said softly. She looked at the stage and giggled. "Poor Koushiro, he's had three pairs of underwear thrown at him..."

   Sora grinned. "Jyou thought the first pair was funny, but now look at him, he's got murder in his eyes, poor guy..."

   And so the tension between them melted, however, not the tension in their hearts. The crowd pressed them close together, and the only thing that kept Sora from grabbing Mimi and kissing her was the determination to wait until Mimi's birthday.

   Mr. and Mrs. Tachikawa had been happy to help with the plans for Mimi's surprise party. They'd kept their daughter out of the house long enough to let her friends prepared. Every last one of the Chosen Children, retired and active, had gathered for the party. Keiko and Kesshomon had arrived with a gift each and smothered Sora in support the instant they saw her.

   "Sora, I think it's absolutely wonderful you're going to finally tell Mimi!" the blue-haired girl had gushed, hugging Sora. "I always knew you liked each other! Oh, Mimi will be so happy!"

   And she had proceeded to nag for details until Yamato finally had to tell her to kindly shut up and stop fraying Sora's nerves even more than they already were.

   Then the lights were downed, the decorations were up and everyone was waiting patiently for Mimi to show up.

   The door opened.

   "Mama? Papa? Where are you? Why's it so dark in here?" They could hear Mimi's voice as she felt her way through the dark apartment and found the light switch.

   "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIMI!!" twelve voices had chorused.

   Mimi had shrieked in surprise, then run around hugging everyone, thanking them profusely. One present after another had been opened - a beautifully carved decorative wooden dagger from Blademon, a lace teddy from Hideo ("A joke! A joke! It's a gag gift! Don't kill me, Mimi! Don't be jealous, Iori-chan..."), a harmonica from Yamato, a Kama Sutra from Taichi ("Dear god, Taichi-chan, you and Hideo were born in the gutter, weren't you?!" "Are you complaining, Yama-chan?"), and so on. 

   So the events played in Sora's mind. She stopped paying attention to what Mimi was getting after a little while. Time was going way too slow.

 Finally, Mimi came to Sora's present. The paper had been handmade, a beautiful print of the crests of Purity and Love on a background of sakura and leaves. A silk rose with a spray of forget-me-not graced the bow. Mimi stared at it for a long time, then began to open it slowly, taking great care not to rip the paper or damage the bouquet. The paper and bow were set aside, and Mimi held the plain white box on her lap for a moment before opening it. A bouquet of roses lay inside on a layer of tissue paper. Mimi took out the bouquet and smelled it, sighing happily before reluctantly setting it aside.

   As Mimi took away the tissue paper, Sora felt like she was going to explode. Everything was moving so painfully slowly, she couldn't stand it!

   Mimi was remarkably silent as she pulled the beautiful dress out of its box, for several minutes, before she began to cry.

   "Oh, Sora!" She tenderly set the dress aside and hugged Sora tightly. "Sora, thank you! Where did you ever get the money?"

   Sora hugged her back, smiling. "With a little help from our friends."

   "What?" Mimi pulled away to look at the gathered children.

   Yamato grinned. "That concert was a fundraiser."

   "We put it on to raise two hundred dollars for the dress. The turnout was above and beyond expectations," Koushiro smiled. "Now, Sora, you have another gift to give, remember?"

   Sora blushed as Mimi looked at her expectantly. Swallowing, she held Mimi's hands in hers.

   "Tachikawa Mimi," she said softly, "I love you. I have loved you for a long time. If you don't return these feelings, I'll under-ghk!"

   That last strangled sound was made when Mimi, her face lighting up, had glomped Sora tightly.

   "'If I don't return these feelings'?! Sora!! What nonsense! I love you too, Sora!!"

   With that, she kissed Sora on the cheek.

   There was a squeal from Keiko, and the Chosen Children rose to their feet and applauded.

   Miyako walked towards them, hands clasped, eyes bright with joy.

   "Congratulations," she whispered, hugging them both.

   "You know," Iori said softly, standing, "I think we were all waiting for this. Especially the three of us who have only recently joined your ranks." The serious boy walked up to Mimi and Sora, a rare smile on his face. "We received the Digimentals we did for a reason. Not just because we exhibit the corresponding traits, but because of the bonds the original eight formed. Taichi and Yamato, Jyou and Koushiro, and now Mimi and Sora. We were all ready for this to happen when Miyako inherited her second Digimental." He actually laughed a little. "And I'm glad the wait is over! Now that you're together, I wish you the best." He bowed respectfully to them before returned to Hideo's side.

   "Now, lovebirds, shall we clear out so you can have your private time?" Taichi said, grinning maddeningly. The girls blushed. 

   "Actually, we have money left over from the concert... Mimi-chan, may I have the honor of treating you to dinner?"

   Mimi smiled. "Sora-chan, the honor would be mine."