#joura

Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, Yamato edged his feet off the bed and sat up.

“Getting up already?”

Yamato started at the voice behind him. He turned to look at the sleepy brunet still cuddled under the duvet.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Yamato asked in lieu of answering.

“Nah.” Taichi said, throwing the covers off himself and stretching his arms above his head. “I was just waking up, too. I thought you’d have a bit more of a lie-in, though, since you don’t have school.”

Yamato shrugged, standing. “Yeah, but I’m not sleepy anymore, and some of the others have work and we agreed to have breakfast together, right?”

“Right.” Taichi swung himself to sit upright on the bed. “But Sora will be the first to leave and that won’t be until ten. What time is it, anyway?” Taichi scanned the floor for his mobile, though Yamato already had his in his hand.

Yamato frowned at his phone. “It’s already eight thirty.”

“You mean ‘only,’ right?”

“No, no.” Yamato replied, distracted by the sound of the shower running upstairs. “Sora’s already up and getting ready. I should get started on breakfast.”

Taichi rolled his eyes, though his brain was already conjuring up a mischievous plan. Slyly, he reached out to snag one of Yamato’s wrists, bodily pulling the blond onto the bed.

“Hey!” Yamato yelped, landing heavily, face first, on Taichi.

Taichi grunted from the impact, but then chuckled. “Guess I didn’t think this through.” He wheezed out.

Yamato hid his chuckle in Taichi’s shoulder before rolling off to the side. “Serves you right.”

“Guess so.” Taichi acquiesced before the two lapsed into silence.

The sun was streaming in through the thin curtain, though, in the late-September morning, it wasn’t glaringly bright.

The males contemplated the ceiling in silence, neither really thinking much. They were content to just lie there, not doing anything and not feeling the need to.

A quiet knock on the door snapped both out of their stupor.

“Guys?” Sora poked her head in cautiously. “Oh, you are up.” She opened the door a bit wider. “I thought I heard sounds from here. Anyway,” she looked directly at Yamato. “I just wanted to let you know that I can take care of the cooking this morning.”

“What?” Yamato sat up. “No, no, it’s fine; I can do it, since I’m up.”

Sora frowned. “But you’ve been cooking every day and you’ll continue to do so. I can do breakfasts at weekends.”

“Both?” Yamato offered a compromise.

Sora eyed him for a bit before smiling. “Okay.” She started moving out of the room. “I’ll get some stuff set up and you can join me whenever.” She caught Yamato’s nod before the door closed.

Yamato stood again, moving away from the bed lest Taichi try pulling him in again. Not that the bed wasn’t comfortable or that it hadn’t been nice to just be, but there was breakfast to be made.

“I’ll go for a quick shower whilst you two are busy cooking.” Taichi announced, bouncing off the bed.

“Shotgun!” Yamato called, racing out before Taichi had even straightened fully.

“Hey!” Taichi ran after Yamato, only to have the bathroom door slam and lock in his face. Taichi stuck his tongue out at the piece of wood, then slunk back into his room to dig for clothes.

Yamato walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, still in his borrowed night clothes, but with a cleaner face and teeth. He smirked at Taichi as they passed in the corridor, only to get a playful slap on the arm from the brunet.

“What did Taichi do?” Asked an amused voice as Yamato entered the kitchen.

“Huh?” Yamato blinked at Sora. She had thrown on her red apron and had apparently just finished putting the rice into the cooker.

“You looked amused by something, so I’m asking what Taichi did.” She clarified, moving to the fridge.

“Oh.” Yamato made a mental note to try to reply in more than one syllable words or sounds from now on. Sora seemed to let it go, though, as she laughed and muttered something about ‘boys.’

Smiling, Yamato grabbed his own apron and started helping Sora with the eggs and vegetables.

They worked in silence for a minute before Sora spoke: “We haven’t really told you about ourselves, have we?” Yamato’s attention snapped to her, eyes wide. “I mean, general things like how old we are and where we’re from.”

“You don’t have to…”

Sora grinned. “It’s not like you’re forcing it out of me.” Her face softened. “I want you to get to know me better. Do we want miso soup?”

Yamato was taken aback by the abrupt change in the topic, but then he shook his head in reply.

“My favourite colour’s red.” Sora said, changing topics abruptly again, as she put the packets of instant soup back into the cupboard.

Yamato wasn’t sure if he should reply by stating his favourite colour. Did he even have one anymore? He had in the past, before his life filled with worries and stress.

“I grew up on the outskirts of town.” Sora continued, not waiting for Yamato’s favourite colour. “My mother runs a flower business there, with greenhouses and huge gardens and all. She’s the fourth generation of daughters to take over the business. As you heard, I didn’t want to do that, so I ran away. I was 16 at the time, and that was six years ago.”

“Your mother didn’t come looking for you?”

Sora shook her head, checking on the rice. “I have a cousin who was more than willing to take over, so I’m not a huge loss to my mother or aunt. And I’m happy here.” Sora turned to smile at Yamato. “I’m happy with my current life.”

Yamato smiled at the eggs, uncertain about meeting such genuine joy he knew the mahogany eyes held.

Sora busied herself with the condiments for a while. “As a bartender, I get to hear so many stories from my customers. Some bitch about their days or bosses or spouses, but others—generally the older ones—give valuable life advice.” Sora turned her full attention to Yamato. “The most valuable can be summarised by: have a close group of friends to share your troubles and smiles with.”

“Seems simple.” Yamato mumbled, still keeping his eyes on the eggs even though they were fine on their own.

“It sure does, but getting there is where most people run into trouble.”

“Morning!” Jou called, walking in to the kitchen.

“Good morning.” The cooks replied in unison.

“Food’s almost ready, so go wake up the others, please.” Sora said, as the rice cooker’s setting clicked from ‘cook’ to ‘warm’.

“Sure.” Jou nodded, heading back out.

“Do I get food yet?” Taichi asked, walking into the kitchen whilst towelling his hair dry.

“Huh, so that’s how. Interesting.” Yamato commented, glancing at Taichi from the corner of his eye before turning to pull out plates.

Taichi lowered the towel around his neck. He waited a few seconds then rolled his eyes and sighed. “Elaborate!”

“Taichi, don’t yell.” Sora scolded, unplugging the rice cooker and taking it to the coffee table in the living room. Chuckling, Yamato followed with the plates and utensils.

“Yamato...” Taichi whined, in a much quieter voice than before.

Returning to the kitchen, Yamato grabbed the eggs and vegetables. “I had been wondering how you get your hair to stick out all over, but I guess that method of drying it answers that question.”

Taichi stuck his tongue out at the blond’s back, tailing him into the living room.

“The faucet in the second bathroom upstairs is doing that thing again.” Meiko announced, ushering Koushiro and Hikari into the living room. “Jou and Mimi are fixing it, which is why it’s taking them so long.”

“What thing?” Yamato asked.

Meiko opened her mouth to answer, only to blush and change her words hurriedly: “Oh, sorry everyone: good morning!” Everyone laughed, Meiko joining in after a second.

“Morning.” Yamato replied, echoed by the others. “What thing?”

“The tap is kind of loose at times and squirts water from the base.”

“Oh.” Yamato frowned. It didn’t sound too good.

“It’s okay.” Sora assured, starting to spoon rice onto Koushiro’s plate. “Jou and Mimi are amazing at tag-teaming the fix.”

“Yes, we are!” Mimi announced, stopping to raise one arm into a bicep flex and grabbing said bicep with her hand. She winked before moving further in with Jou in tow. “The food looks great.” She pecked Meiko on the cheek and gave Hikari a one-armed squeeze in greeting.

Once everyone had served themselves and settled onto the floor, Sora asked about everyone’s plans. Herself, Jou, and Mimi would be working, but everyone else had the day off.

“We’re going shopping; Yamato needs stuff.” Taichi informed through a mouthful of food. Sora gave him a disapproving look, but acknowledged his answer with a nod.

“I don’t, really…” Yamato frowned at his food. “I can manage until I get access to my money in half a year.”

“So you have some money?” Jou asked.

“Well, yeah, but when I left… I guess Natsuko—my mother—froze or blocked my account or something like that. I tried getting some money out earlier, but the card was refused. My—” He swallowed heavily. “My father has a savings account set up for me. It was supposed to be for university, but…”

“It’s alright!” Taichi said, grinning. “I’ll provide for you until then.” This caused Yamato to blush and everyone else to snort into their food.

“How’s the job-hunting going?” Mimi asked Taichi, recovering from his previous statement.

“Alright.” Taichi replied, chewing thoughtfully before elaborating: “I’ll hear back from the park maintenance position next week. Has your boss said anything?” Taichi turned his attention to Jou at the last part.

Jou pushed his glasses up his nose and licked his lips. “Actually, he did ask me about you and your work ethic. I did put in a good word for you, since I do know you’re dedicated to your job. He looked like he was seriously contemplating it.”

Sora smiled. “That sounds promising.”

A grin spread across Taichi’s face as well. “Yeah, I would actually prefer that one, since winter as a park employee could get cold.”

Hikari sighed. “I wish I was old enough to work…”

“Don’t worry.” Mimi said brightly, placing a hand on the younger brunette’s shoulder. “You’ll be 15 in a few months’ time, so you can start looking for work then.”

“I don’t know…” Taichi started, but was interrupted by a glare from his sister. “I mean, you might want to think about education first. You don’t really want to be stuck in dead-end jobs like me for the rest of your life.”

“Education requires money, though, which is something we don’t have.” Hikari countered quietly but firmly. She reached out to start clearing away the empty plates.

“Unless you’re being home-schooled.” Yamato noted, passing his plate into Taichi’s outstretched hand. “I could start teaching you and Koushiro a few things at home, if you’d like.”

All movement stopped and everyone’s eyes turned to the blond. Yamato shifted uncomfortably in the silence and spotlight, but it was thankfully broken by Hikari’s bright:

“Really? You’d honestly be willing to home-school me?”

Yamato shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. “If you want, I’d be happy to.”

“Okay!” Hikari’s grin widened and her brown eyes sparkled. “We’ll need to buy some notebooks and pencils.”

“I’ll give you some money for that.” Sora smiled as Jou nodded his agreement.

Mimi and Meiko exchanged nods. “We’ll chip in, too.”

“Thanks, everyone.” Hikari said.

“Right.” Taichi stood, pile of plates in his hands. “Now that that’s settled, who’s helping me with dishes?”

“I will.” Meiko volunteered, also standing and grabbing the rice cooker and pan from the table.

With Taichi and Meiko doing the dishes, Sora and Jou went to get dressed for work. Yamato, Hikari, and Koushiro occupied the three showers; the downstairs one, the shared one upstairs, and the master bedroom’s en suite.

About half an hour later, everyone was gathered in the foyer, putting on shoes and jackets.

“Sora needs to leave now and I’ll be walking with her, so make sure to lock up properly, okay?” Jou said, holding the door open for his girlfriend.

“Oh, damn, that reminds me.” Taichi turned, almost knocking into Yamato, who was standing behind him on one foot, trying to pull a shoe onto the other foot, whilst avoiding Mimi who was throwing a coat around her shoulders. “Yamato remember to remind me to get you a copy of the key.”

“If I remember to.” Yamato replied, distracted.

Echoes of ‘bye’ rang out as Jou and Sora left.

“It’s cute that he’s still walking her to work.” Hikari noted, dressed in a thin light pink jacket.

Mimi snorted. “Oh, please, they haven’t been going out that long; of course he’s ‘still’ walking her to work. Honeymoon phase.” She winked at the younger girl, opening the door and stepping out.

The rest of the group followed her out, noting the cool autumn breeze.

“How long have they been together?” Yamato asked, walking with Taichi to the gate.

“About a year, now.” Mimi answered from behind them, followed by the two youngest.

“Only?”

“Jou only joined us three years ago.” Taichi clarified. He held the gate open as everyone filed through.

“Oh.” Yamato was about to say more, though he wasn’t sure what. Thankfully, he was spared the need to think of something.

“Right,” Mimi said, looking down the street. “I have some errands to run before I have to get to work, so you all enjoy shopping.”

Another chorus of ‘bye’s sounded as the group split again.

“It’s quite a long walk to the city centre, but we usually avoid taking buses if we can.” Taichi explained, leading the way down the street in the opposite direction to Yamato’s school.

Yamato nodded, knowing their money situation. Though, had they had the money to spare, Yamato would have preferred to walk anyway; the weather was good and it was relaxing listening to Taichi chatter on about mundane things, with Meiko or Hikari making an occasional comment. Koushiro, as usual, stayed silent, hand secured tightly in Hikari’s.

Yamato had really missed having a normal life; hanging out with friends and not having to worry about anything. His father’s lung cancer diagnosis had come two years ago and, since then, Yamato had been constantly stressed. He had pushed away most of his friends from school, only two close ones remaining now.

Yamato snapped out of his thoughts at an elbow to his arm. Blue eyes met brown.

“Alright?” Taichi asked quietly, mindful of the girls talking behind them.

An affirmation got stuck in his throat, so Yamato just nodded. He swallowed and added: “Just thinking.”

“Don’t.” Taichi smiled, nudging him again. “Life’s a lot simpler if you don’t dwell on things too much.”

Yamato rolled his eyes, a smile forcing itself onto his face. “I don’t know if I should be taking advice from the likes of you…”

“Hey.” Taichi threw a playful glare at the blond, before both burst out laughing. The girls and Koushiro gave the pair weird looks, but neither teen could explain why, exactly, they were laughing, so they didn’t.

“So we’re going for clothes, mainly?” Meiko asked, picking up her pace to join the boys at the front.

“Yeah, some everyday clothes and then winter stuff. Seriously, though, Yamato.” Taichi said, turning to the blond. “How were you planning on surviving winter with what you have?”

Yamato frowned at his feet. “I was planning on getting a job, remember? And it’s not like I really thought the whole thing through…”

“That’s understandable.” Meiko assured, preventing Taichi from picking a fight. “Sora said something along the same lines when she ran away—that it’s not something you really plan on doing, necessarily.”

“Jou had it all planned.” Taichi noted.

Meiko threw him a look. “But he’s Jou.”

Taichi chuckled, nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I guess I didn’t really plan my escape all the way through, either.”

“And you had more than yourself to worry about.” Hikari reminded cheekily.

Taichi stopped, letting Hikari and Koushiro catch up. He threw an arm around his sister’s neck, giving her a gentle noogie. “Oh hush, you.” Hikari giggled and squirmed out of his hold, moving to Koushiro’s other side, using him as a shield.

Meiko chuckled at the siblings’ antics, then turned to Yamato. “I feel a bit bad for you; Jou was able to move out of Taichi’s room and into Sora’s, but we don’t really have any spare beds left for you to move to when you get annoyed with Taichi.”

“Hey!” Taichi barked. He shoved his hands into his cargo trouser’s pockets and pouted. For all of a few seconds.

“So you and Jou were roommates?” Yamato asked as Taichi got over his pouting and joined the front again, walking next to Yamato.

“Yeah.” Taichi threw Meiko a look, past Yamato. “You should have felt bad for me, you know. And now you should feel bad for Sora having to put up with him.”

Yamato rolled his eyes at Taichi’s statement, then he frowned and bit his lip, glancing at Meiko out of the corner of his eye. “Wha—I know it’s a bit rude to ask, but… What if things don’t work out between them?”

Meiko smiled reassuringly. “Then Hikari and Jou will swap rooms; it won’t be a problem. Besides, Sora and Jou seem to get along well enough and they won’t get tired of seeing each other because they’re both working most of the time, and sharing a room is about the only time they have to spend together.”

Yamato nodded. “Do you mind me asking how long you and Mimi have been together?”

“Oh, I don’t mind.” Meiko shook her head, dark hair flapping around. “It’s been 12 years now; since our late teens. It wasn’t easy moving in together almost immediately, but we worked through our differences whenever we had them.”

“Try to avoid getting on the wrong side of Mimi.” Taichi commented. Yamato had almost forgotten he was there. He threw a glance over his shoulder, to make sure the two youngest were still with them. They were. “She’s great most of the time, but can get very bitchy very quickly, if you say or do the wrong thing.”

“And what are some of these wrong things?” Yamato asked him as Meiko covered up a chuckle with a cough.

Taichi shrugged. “I don’t know; it varies.”

“Great.” Yamato mumbled flatly.

“Don’t worry; Mimi’s not easy to annoy.” Meiko reassured him. “Even though Taichi makes it look very easy.”

Taichi leaned forward so he could see Meiko on Yamato’s other side. He stuck his tongue out at her and she retaliated in kind. Taichi grinned, then looked forward again.

A few minutes later had Taichi grabbing Yamato’s wrist and taking off at a run, dragging the surprised blond behind him.

“There’s the store!” Taichi announced, picking up his pace.

“Taichi, wait!” Yamato stumbled, balance off from the pulling and surprise take-off.

“No waiting—now.”

“But we have to wait for the others, too.” Yamato finally managed to get his feet under him properly—only to crash into Taichi’s back as the other stopped abruptly. “Ow.”

“Sorry.” Taichi muttered, turning to look at the rest of their group. “Hurry up, guys!”

Whilst they were waiting, Yamato took time to inspect their surroundings. They were standing on a busy road, surrounded by tall buildings, as was typical of most Japanese cities. A few smaller streets ran off from the main road. In one corner stood a large building with a yellow sign reading ‘TreFac Style.’ Treasure Factory was a chain of thrift stores—cheap and with a huge selection.

“Let’s go in, then.” Taichi said, snapping Yamato out of his inspection. The others had caught up and were now leading the way into the store. Taichi leaned closer to whisper to Yamato: “It’s lucky we have Meiko with us. Her and Sora are really good at finding the best clothes here and they have great fashion sense. Mimi does too, but she tends to forget that she’s shopping for someone other than herself. Jou refuses to come, claiming he gets anxiety attacks from how full it is.”

Upon entering the store, Yamato could only blink at how crammed full the place indeed was. True to Taichi’s words, Meiko seemed to know what she was doing, as she was eagerly waving Yamato over. Hikari and Koushiro had rushed off somewhere, probably to the small school supply section in the back.

“Do you have a specific style of clothing, or can I pick whatever?” Meiko asked as Yamato and Taichi got within hearing range.

Taichi answered before Yamato could: “Pick whatever you think he’ll look good in.” He turned to Yamato with a grin. “Trust her.” Meiko nodded in agreement. Yamato shrugged in reply, never having really cared about what he wore, other than just looking presentable.

Meiko grinned, diving into the muddle of clothing. Taichi spent most of his time looking for the most ridiculous clothes he could find and trying to slip them into Yamato’s ‘to try on’ pile. At first, the blond would just roll his eyes and put the clothes back on their racks. However, after the third trip to the changing booth, he let Taichi slip a hideous Hawaii shirt into his pile and he didn’t put it back.

“Taichi!” Meiko yelled as Yamato walked out in the brightly coloured garment. Taichi, on the other hand, had burst out laughing, clapping his hands. Yamato was laughing, but his face was also coloured in embarrassment as he retreated back into the booth.

Meiko shook her head in a disappointed manner as Yamato walked out in his normal clothes. Then the three continued browsing, Meiko piling even more clothes into Yamato’s arms. The blond wasn’t sure how she found them all so quickly.

“Taichi, you put that down.” Meiko warned, eyes narrowed at the brunet holding a purple wig. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. “Yamato!” The yell startled the blond so that he dropped a black, glittery vest. “I can’t believe this: you too? Don’t encourage him!”

Chuckling, the teenagers let up the game of finding the most ridiculous clothes or accessories. They still continued to point out some of the weirder garments they chanced upon, but no longer sought them out. Or tired them on, as was Yamato’s case.

Almost two hours later, the group of five were out of the store, carrying three bags of clothing. Most were for Yamato, but the others had managed to find some good deals, too. Hikari was clutching a cylindrical, fabric pencil case in her hand. The case was a bit battered, but Hikari had fallen in love with the picture on it: it was of a strange-looking cat, mostly white, with yellow gloves and an abnormally long tail. Taichi had tried insisting that dinosaurs were cooler, but, with a lifetime of practise, the young girl had skilfully ignored him.

“Are you two hungry?” Meiko asked the two youngest.

“I am.” Taichi informed her, eyes flying to a smaller side-street, where he knew good food stalls to be. Meiko ignored him.

“No.” Hikari shook her head, mimicked by Koushiro. “But I need to use the restroom.”

“Of course.” Meiko smiled, opening the bag she was carrying. “Pop the pencil case in here and we’ll leave the stuff with the boys.” Hikari did so and Meiko handed the bag to Taichi. The girls then left to search for the nearest public bathroom.

“I’ll go grab a snack.” Taichi said, itching to run off to the nearest food stall—one of his favourites in this part of the city. “You want anything?” He asked Yamato, who shook his head. “’Kay, I’ll be right back.” And he was off.

Yamato stood on the side of the street, a bag hanging from each hand. He shifted from one foot to the other and glanced at the boy standing on his right. They were alone.

“Um, I never really properly introduced myself to you, did I?” Yamato asked Koushiro. “My name’s Yamato Ishida. I’m 17 and in my final year of high school.”

No acknowledgement.

“How old are you?”

Koushiro watched a mother pushing a stroller past them, but did nothing to indicate he had even realised Yamato was speaking to him.

“I know Hikari’s 14. Are you the same age, Koushiro?”

Still no answer.

“What’s your favourite colour?”

Nothing.

Yamato sighed, looking around the street that was getting more crowded as the morning turned to noon. “Koushiro?” Yamato tried again, but still the boy didn’t even acknowledge the name. “I promised to teach Hikari some maths and other subjects. Would you be interested in learning, too?”

Koushiro’s silent treatment was really starting to sting. Yamato knew the boy had problems socialising—even with Taichi—but it still hurt. More so when Koushiro immediately acknowledged Taichi upon his return. The boy didn’t say anything, no, but his eyes found Taichi and his posture relaxed a fraction.

“The girls aren’t back yet?” Taichi asked once he was within hearing range. Yamato shook his head in reply and Taichi shrugged, offering Koushiro one of the skewered fishcakes he had bought. Koushiro shook his head, so Taichi made the same offer to Yamato. Yamato, too, shook his head and Taichi shrugged, biting off a corner.

“Um.” The three males turned to look at Meiko, who had just returned with Hikari. “We were thinking that it might be best to take the bus back, since we have so much stuff to carry and we’ve been walking so much.”

Taichi shrugged, dropping his now-empty skewer into the nearest bin. “I don’t mind either way.”

“Maybe the three of you could take the bags home on the bus and Taichi and I will walk?” Yamato tried, knowing that saving even the few hundred yen of his and Taichi’s bus fares would help.

“You sure?” Meiko asked, taking the bags from Yamato’s hands. The blond nodded and Meiko smiled. “Okay. We’ll see you two at home, then.” Waving their goodbyes, the trio started towards the nearest bus stop.

“See ya.” Taichi said, not really caring whether they heard. He bit into another fishcake and offered the last one to Yamato again. “You’ll need the energy. Or something. I got it for you, anyway, so…” Yamato took it, turning away to hide the happiness in his eyes.

The two walked and ate in leisurely silence, making their way through the busy streets. It wasn’t until they turned onto a less crowded road that Taichi spoke:

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh?” Yamato snapped out of his stupor. He took a few moments to blink at the ground he had been staring at. He chewed on the wooden skewer, thinking back and realising he had no idea what he’d been thinking about.

“What’s wrong?” Taichi repeated, since Yamato wasn’t speaking. “I mean, not now, but earlier you looked like something was bothering you. What was it? Something I can help with?”

Yamato frowned, still not looking at his companion. “Earlier, when?” He asked, skewer hanging out of the side of his mouth.

“When I went to get a snack. I came back and you seemed a bit down. Did something happen? Did someone say something to you?”

“Oh.”

Taichi frowned as they walked along. He had already learned that Yamato was shit at elaborating, but this was worse than shit. “Seriously, did someone say something to you? Who was it?” Taichi looked over his shoulder, as if they were still on the same street or as if the person would announce themselves.

“No one said anything to me.” Yamato mumbled, eyes still glued to the asphalt.

Taichi’s head whipped back to the blond. “Then what happened?”

Yamato lifted a shoulder in an indifferent shrug. “That’s just it.”

The brunet stopped, head cocked to the side. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means just that.” Yamato replied, slowing to let Taichi catch up again.

Letting out a huge sigh, Taichi draped himself over Yamato from behind. “Will you stop being so cryptic!” Taichi whined, swinging Yamato back and forth bodily.

“Taichi, stop.” Yamato snapped, pulling at the arms wrapped around his chest. “You’re being an idiot in public—stop.”

Taichi let go, moving to walk next to Yamato. “Explain, then, and I won’t do it again.”

Yamato rolled his eyes at the threat, though he relented as he didn’t want a repeat of earlier. “I mean that Koushiro wasn’t talking to me at all, even though I asked him something and tried to talk.” Realising he sounded rude, Yamato hurriedly added: “I know that he has trouble socialising, but I just thought that he might at least answer one question or something. It’s not really a big deal, but I just wanted to try talking to him for a bit.”

Through Yamato’s rambling, Taichi had kept a contemplative look on his face and when he spoke, it was with clear deliberation: “He doesn’t talk a lot normally, but even less so when we’re out in public. It’s not just you; he hasn’t said a word to me either—ever—when we’ve been out. He might reply with one-word answers if Hikari asks him something, but sometimes even she gets the silent treatment when we’re out.” Taichi smiled reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it.”

The overall results / spreadsheet

Disclaimer: As the “Someone from 01/02″ and “Others” options from poll 1 and the “Someone from 01/02″ option from poll 2 have been excluded from the final analysis due to redundancy reasons and all results were culminated in another “final count”, the results will not be 1:1 to what the polls look like:

Overall votes: 107 (approx. 84 in sum after the exclusion), the main poll got 78 votes, the secondary poll got 29 votes.

The “Others” choice in the main poll received 5% (approx. 4 votes) and 7% (approx. 2 votes) in the secondary poll. The comments/tags did not specify any preferences here (aside from characters that were already part of the main choices).

Ship Analysis

1st place: This is the interesting part - as it also includes a tiny bit of bias overall. While the numbers suggest that Taichi (32%) won the poll over Yamato (31%) by the tiniest bit of advantages (and also led the main poll for the majority of the time), tumblr STILL displays both Taichi and Yamato as winners (see graphic below). And while the overall numbers even everything out in favour of Taichi once again, please excuse my non-scientific, childish excitement over this outcome by quoting one of the comments in the poll: “Sora has two hands.” So we shall go for this result for now and pick the OT3 - as both Taiora and Sorato, obviously, have very valid reasons to be here, which are highly supported by canon in one way or another. Taichi is the “childhood football friend”, one complementary soul that went through thick and thin with Sora throughout their adventure, fueling each other’s development. Yamato is the other complementary soul, mirroring and understanding Sora’s struggles, enabling her to make her own choices for once (in more than one way). And even if canon let her choose one over the other in the end - it’s no surprise that after all this time, both are considered to be the most viable options in their respective fandom corners. Canon itself tried to play it neutral for quite some time now (see the graphic above), even hinting at possibilities of other potential futures (which may or may not be taken with a big grain of salt). Long story short, it would feel wrong not include both of them.

2nd place: After the two top options, there has been quite a gap - but Mimi (18%) proudly claims the honorary second spot now (which, technically would be third place). And it is no surprise that she’s considered viable - both Sora and Mimi went through quite a development together, with Sora starting off as the steady rock to protect Mimi at first, just for Mimi to grow up to become a steady rock to encourage and support Sora herself, with a looooot of physical closeness and gentle affirmation on both sides.

3rd place: Again, under normal circumstances, Jou (7%) would be part of the “Honorary mentions” squad, as he appears to be more of a niche choice - but one that is still held dearly by its respective supporters. Jyoura are widely considered to be “The Dad and The Mom” of the group and both of them also struggle with their senses of obligation and making choices, which may be the reason they’re considered compatible.

Honorary mentions: As the choices mentioned above already take away most of the votes, the only niche options worth mentioning here are Meiko (6%) and Daisuke (3%).

“The 1 vote squad”: Probably the most niche choices in fandom overall are being represented by Koushiro (1%) and Takeru (1%).

“0 votes go to...”: Hikari, Ken, Miyako and Iori did not receive a single vote in her poll.

Annotations: Sora is among the characters who don’t have any viable “other” choices outside of the main (+ movie) characters. Additionally, she was the character who received the second least votes overall (after Iori), which doesn’t give a lot of variety to her results.

What did the other polls say?

Sora is one of the characters who hasn’t won any other poll - but did come in second for Yamato (28%) and third for Taichi (16%) and Mimi (13%, tying with Taichi), thus mirroring her own results at least to some degree. Her shipping choices are not as consistent as Taichi’s and Yamato’s, but still indicate certain preferences, despite the low sample sizes.

In Jou’s poll, she was more of a niche choice and came in fifth (5%, tying there with Koushiro).

Thus, for the majority of the rest, she was merely a niche choice, such as Takeru (2%), Daisuke (2%), Iori (2%), Koushiro (1%) and Miyako (1%). 

She received 0 votes in the polls for only Ken - and Hikari, so neither of them received a mutual vote, meaning nobody picked Sokari as viable option.

Notable additions / comments / thoughts

Sora’s polls have been quite a matter of extremes - on one hand, she received a comparably low number of votes in general, somewhat mirroring the results of the “Most popular Chosen Children of Adventure” poll. But that, on the other hand, caused very clear results to happen. It’s not much of a surprise to see her two most popular and most visible choices compete for first place - and actually kinda succeeding in that in the end. Especially, since the Taiora vs. Sorato debate has been going on for decades already. Thus, Taiorato overshadowed basically every other choice besides Somi and Joumi (and the latter was already comparably niche), resulting in even the less obvious ships not getting much attention at all. Daiora and Someiko can be named as honorable mentions indeed, as the former is having its own little niche in fandom and the latter absolutely had a development basis in Tri. Thus, I really hope to reach a wider audience if I choose to repeat the polls once the fandom is not as quiet as it is right now.

On an interpretative level, Sora’s status as being “the mom/big sister” of the group (as well as a general absence in some pieces of media) may have contributed to her not being as visible in the votes. She may take care of the others in a loving way and is very persistent in doing so, but that may be taken more on a platonic level.

The comments in the tags have only referred to the already mentioned choices (yet the “Sora has two hands” comment deserves special mention once again!). So the “Others” option did not reveal any other potentially preferred suitors. This leaves room for speculation, but usually, the option is reserved for OC ships or for when people prefer to not ship a character at all (which will definitely be a future option to include as well!)

Other Analysis Posts 

Taichi Yagami Shipping Analysis

Yamato Ishida Shipping Analysis

Koushiro Izumi Shipping Analysis

Mimi Tachikawa Shipping Analysis

Jou Kido Shipping Analysis

Takeru Takaishi Shipping Analysis

Hikari Yagami Shipping Analysis

Daisuke Motomiya Shipping Analysis

Ken Ichijouji Shipping Analysis

Miyako Inoue Shipping Analysis

Iori Hida Shipping Analysis