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The Digimon King

Chapter 1: Ryo Akiyama

As Ryo Akiyama sat at his kitchen table about to eat breakfast, he heard a knock at his door. Putting down his chopsticks, he walked over to the door and answered it. Standing on the other side was the landlord, Mrs. Sugiyama.

"Good morning ma'am, need something?"

"My son called me this morning to say that he's moving back up here from Okinawa and needs a place to stay, so I'm giving him your apartment. I need you to vacate the premise by 2:00pm this Thursday." With that she walked away, leaving Ryo standing there. He just sighed, closed the door and returned to his meal.

It had been 10 years since the group known as the Digimon Tamers had defeated the D-Reaper, and been separated from their Digimon. Time had marched on though, and life had returned to a form of normalcy for the kids. Ryo himself had finally gone back to school after his long absence. School had seemed simple after surviving in the digital world for so long. Simple, easy and boring. He had had no trouble getting top grades. Finding the energy to care had been harder.

Making friends had also been difficult. Kids his age couldn't relate to him. Sure there had been plenty of kids(and adults) who looked up to him for his card skills and taming Cyberdramon, but only the other Tamers could realize what life had been like. Everyday had been a challenge to survive and make sure that Cyberdramon didn't get out of control.

He had made his comeback in the Digimon card game, defeating Rika in a tournament. Then she had defeated him in a second one. After that they had gone back and forth in defeating each other, both basically tied. Eventually this had led to them dating for half a year. They had ended it after realizing they both just enjoyed having each other as friends and rivals instead of as boyfriend and girlfriend.

After he had finished high school Ryo had gone to college and gotten a degree in classic literature just because he could. After finishing up, he had attempted various jobs in all fields ranging from working in a convenience store, to office worker, to working on a fishing boat. None of the jobs had lasted long, he had quit them all. He found himself excelling at all challenges thrown at him, but none held his interest. The only thing he really found any interest in was the Digimon card game. He still played, when he could find an opponent at least. Rika still kept in touch, and they would both compete every so often, just like they always had.

Ryo was currently unemployed, though he was searching for work. He had plenty of funds left, he didn't really need much. Finding a place to stay would be a bother though. He sighed as he finished up his meal and washed his dishes. It was Saturday, so that meant he had only five days to find a place and move out. Well, at least he had gotten that much of a warning; he supposed it could have been worse.

After finishing up the dishes he looked around his small apartment. It was clean, no trash or dirty clothes lying around on the floor. This was less because he was a clean freak, and more because he realized that if he left the problem lying around, it wasn't going to get any better, and just might get in his way.

Saturday was laundry day, so he grabbed up all of his clothes and threw them in a bag. Ryo walked down the streets of Shinjuku enjoying the exercise. He had moved to the Shinjuku ward of Tokyo from Kyushu after graduating from high school. Part of the reason was because the only people he could relate to, the other Tamers lived there. The other part, which was the biggest, though Ryo would only ever admit it under duress, was to get away from his family. He knew his father cared, but they just couldn't seem to understand each other. His father had also remarried, bringing in a step-mother and little step sister. Yuri was 7 years younger than him and had wanted to spend time with him. Sadly Ryo's time in the digital world had left him distrustful of people, and he had had trouble connecting with her.

Ryo walked into the Laundromat and took stock of his surroundings. The place was mostly empty, with only two machines in use currently. One of them was to his right, and was occupied by an old lady he always saw on Saturdays. To his left was a man in an orange t-shirt. The man closed up the washing machine he had just loaded, and turned it on. He turned, saw Ryo, and waved.

"Hey Ryo! How's it going?" said Henry Wong walking over to greet his fellow Tamer. Ryo walked over and shook his hand.

"Going good. What are you doing here? Don't you have a washing machine in your apartment?"

"It broke, and today I was in charge of laundry, so here I am." Henry shrugged and loaded up the last of his family's clothes into a second machine. Ryo separated his own clothes and loaded them in the machines. They stood there not talking for a few minutes just listening to the noise of the machines.

"So, how's the job search going?" asked Henry, breaking the silence.

"Running out of jobs. I've been getting offers from several large companies and even some small ones that want me to work for them."

"That's a good thing, isn't it? Why don't you just take one of the offers?"

"They're all office jobs. Been there, done that, it was boring." Ryo let out a small chuckle. "It's kind of stupid really. I've been in so many jobs for such a short period of time and people still keep hiring me. If you were running a company, would you want an employee who would leave a job after a week because he was bored?"

"Probably not," replied Henry, considering for a moment. "Why not come work at Hypnos? I'm sure Yamaki could find something for you to do. You've always been fast at picking up on how to do things."

"Maybe," responded Ryo hesitantly. He wasn't exactly sure that he really wanted to go to Hypnos, though it would definitely have its perks. "Before I make a decision on where to work I should probably find a place to live."

"Aren't you renting an apartment a little ways down from here?"

"The landlady's son is returning and wants the room, so I'm getting evicted in five days."

"Ouch," said Henry. He looked thoughtful for a moment then spoke up again. "This could actually work out though. Since all of my siblings except Suzie moved out of the apartment, my parents have been thinking of getting a smaller living space. I was actually checking out apartments since this seemed like a good chance to move out and live on my own. I found some that would work for two people and we could split rent. I was thinking of asking Takato but since he works part time at his parents' bakery anyways he doesn't really need to move out. If you're interested we could go check out several rooms after we finish with these clothes."

The machines behind them beeped to indicate that they were done. Both of the tamers were silent as they swapped out loads and folded clothes. Ryo took the break in the conversation to think about Henry's offer. He had been very efficient at his past jobs and usually worked overtime, just to fill the hours. The young man had plenty of money, but splitting costs with another person would still be useful.

Plus, he had generally never had a problem with Henry. They had argued a few times but nothing serious just the usual discussions with people with different points of view. He guessed if he had to share an apartment with someone Henry would be at the top of the list.

When they had finished folding the current load and loaded the machines they settled back into the same positions and resumed their talk.

"Sounds worth a shot," answered Ryo. Henry smiled, relieved at his answer.

"Glad to hear it."

After that they chatted for a little while about Henry's work at Hypnos and lots of other mundane topics. The machines beeped indicating the loads were done. As they folded, they inevitably ended up talking about Digimon cards and different strategies. Even now, more than 10 years after it had first come out, new Digimon shows, cards, video games and other products were still coming out. Ryo liked that this meant that he needed to adjust his strategies every time new cards came out, it kept him on his toes.

Three hours later Ryo was sitting in Henry's apartment looking over ads for rooms he had found while searching. Ryo had brought his clothes back to his house then helped Henry carry all of his family's clothes. They had narrowed down the choices to three places, all of which were good deals and well placed. All that was really left was to visit them and talk to the landlords about terms. Since they were done for the night, Ryo and Henry had started a game of cards. Ryo always made sure to have two decks on him in case he got bored.

Henry's little sister Suzie arrived at the apartment right as Ryo's Justimon decimated Henry's Gallantmon and won him the game.

"Ryo!" exclaimed Suzie, rushing over and giving him a hug. He resisted smiling as the girl did so, figuring that if Henry caught him doing so he'd kill him. "What are you doing here?"

"I happened to meet your brother while doing my laundry today. I was thinking of getting a new apartment and Henry suggested we split one, so here I am, looking at apartments."

"Looks to me like you're just playing cards," said Suzie, putting her hands on her hips and trying to muster her most disapproving glare, though Ryo could see that see was barely restraining a smile.

"We finished," said Henry, finally speaking up. "Mom and Dad are going to be out tonight so we're in charge of feeding ourselves, by the way."

"Aw! I hate cooking!" Suzie walked down the hall to her room and threw her bag inside, presumably onto her bed from the lack of a thump. "And your cooking is awful! Honestly, you have a degree in computer science and a high paying job at a government facility and you can't even cook rice!"

"There's nothing wrong with my cooking."

"Yes there is, it tastes awful! Maybe eating so much of it dulled your taste buds or something," she said, walking back down the hall into the living room.

"Hey," said Ryo, speaking up. "If you want, I could cook. I'm not half bad."

"Really?" asked Suzie, her eyes lighting up with hope. She might be older, but she was still as expressive as when she was a kid of seven.

"Yep. You can show me where everything is, let's just clean up these cards first." Suzie nodded in assent and went to grabbing things and taking them out of the fridge.

As they cleaned up the cards Ryo discreetly sneaked a peak at the teenager. Last he had seen her had been just one year prior, but every time he saw her she seemed to change tremendously. Gone was the little girl who had cried at every little thing. In her place was a cheerful teenage girl who spent most of her free time out with her friends. She had matured physically also, though Ryo estimated that height wise, and maybe even bust wise, she still had some more growing to do.

With the cards cleaned up, Ryo headed into the kitchen, and got to work, with Suzie assisting him. While she didn't like cooking for herself, she enjoyed helping others do so. Ryo didn't have a problem with her help though. He had never had any trouble dealing with the young girl, and had actually enjoyed spending time teaching her cards when they were younger.

Teaching, now that was something he never really got tired of doing. Every day was different and a challenge. Maybe I should get a teaching degree, just for the heck of it, he thought to himself. Plus, the satisfaction when the other party finally understood the lesson was priceless. After dealing with Cyberdramon, a hyperactive kid or two was literally child's play.

Ryo decided to get creative with the meal. He heated up some canned chicken broth and adding water and some herbs made a soup. While he did so Suzie following his instructions cooked up some rice noodles. Ryo then blanched some vegetables, throwing everything together right before they started to eat. What came out was a very interesting soup to say the least. Henry sat at the table staring at his food for a minute as if trying to figure out if it was edible. He took a spoonful and ate it. His face lit up in pleasant surprise.

"Hey, this is pretty good," he said, taking another spoonful. Suzie and Ryo both dug into their own bowls. "Where did you learn to make it?"

"I was in China briefly for a card tournament and the family I was staying with blanched their vegetables a lot like this. Just gave me the idea, glad it turned out well."

Ryo drained the rest of the broth and occupied himself with the challenge of eating the remaining vegetables and rice noodles with his chopsticks. Even the slippery noodles couldn't escape from his skilled grasp.

When they were finished eating, Henry washed up the dishes while Ryo assisted Suzie with her homework. After instructing her on how to work with trigonometric functions he looked at the clock and started to leave.

"Well it's getting late so I should probably head out," he said, standing up from the table. Henry put the last dish into the drying rack and looked up at him.

"Have a good night. I'll drop by your apartment tomorrow at ten and we can go and check out the apartments."

"Got it," replied Ryo, walking over to the front door. As he opened the door and was about to leave, Suzie walked over and gave him a hug.

"Thanks for the help tonight," she said, a smile on her face. "I hope you find a new place tomorrow." With that, she took her books from the table and walked into her room.

Ryo walked out of the apartment, closing the door behind him. As he walked leisurely down the brightly lit Shinjuku streets, he thought back on the days events. While he could always file a complaint and probably end up keeping his current apartment, he had started to get bored with his current living situation. Every day was the same, with nothing new or interesting and they blurred together monotonously. A new apartment plus a roommate might liven things up.

In addition, he had gotten a new idea for a possible job: teaching. It might take a while to get his degree and license and actually land a job, but he figured the challenge would liven up his life significantly. He'd probably need to find a part-time job just to help with possible expenses, but that shouldn't prove too hard.

Ryo made it home without difficulty, and brushed his teeth and changed into pajama bottoms and an undershirt. Soon he was lying down in his futon and sleeping. His dreams that night were of his meetings with the other tamers, with special emphasis on the parts with Henry and Suzie.

When he woke up in the morning the next day he remembered none of them. When Henry knocked on his door he was ready to leave immediately. When they left his apartment Ryo couldn't help, but smile and think that this felt like the start of an interesting new adventure.