Next to You
«He was just like the sun, occationaly burning frizzily down on me, then shining warm like a pleasant embrace. At other times, he would hide behind a curtain of clouds only to advance forward to show me the light. He was that kind of person.»
A boy with night blue hair and soft features waited near by a clock tower at the train station close to the Kaihinkouen at Odaiba. He had waited for several minutes, watching a large amount of people rushing off the trains hurrying in different directions. The boy had a backpack hanging from both his shoulders which was slightly heavier than usual, as he had some extra clothes for changing and the small baked sweets that his mother gave him. Slowly, the dark haired boy looked up to the late Winter's evening sky and watched his white breath ascent to the stars. Ichijouji Ken was patiently waiting for his best friend Motomiya Daisuke.
Close to the clock tower, there was a partisserie with huge vitrines to present the delicate tartes nicely decorated with the current season's fruit and berries. Ken loved to look at the different cakes, but prefered sweets that he could store for a few days rather than eating everything at once. The sweets that his mother was providing for his visits, such as baked sweets and financiers.
It was the third time for him to visit and stay at his Daisuke's place. Ken imagined that his friend's mother would be too kind to him again, while he knew that he didn't have to worry about it, his mouth drew a helpless smile on his face.
He was still waiting for Daisuke, but his mood decreased a little bit.
Tall skyscrapers and shopping mals were surrounding him. Now hat the Valentine's Day was over, the days promised warmer weather. Just as the weather was icy, the shop windows were still decorated in shades of blue, white and pink as well as the streets glowed in golden and silver lights.
Since when started winter nights to feel lonely?
When he was in Kindergarten, the boy felt happy for all the lights sparkling in the darkness of the night, but at some point he thought that all those artificial lights stole electricity from all the places where it would be more necessary. Ken was sure, that this uneasy feeling would never change back again.
«God, it's cold." The dark haired boy muttered to himself as a severe wind blew around the corner. February was the coldest month in Tokyo and Ken felt it clearly even so he had wrapped his scarf which he had got as a Christmas present last year tight around his neck. He remembered the weather forecast from this morning. The graphic showed a little figure with a red nose, dressed in thick winter clothes and the young woman on the TV said, that this day would be the coldest of this Winter, so everyone who had to go outside should dress warmly in order to protect themselves against the cold.
Ken had followed the weather forecast's advice and wore a certainly large amount of clothes. A tight cotton shirt under a pullover, a fluffy scarf wrapped around his neck and a thick winter coat as well as long, grey jeans and a pair of black winter boots. Only one thing was missing to complete a perfectly well coordinated outfit for this icy weather: his black gloves. He already regretted that he had left them at home. On the other hand, if he wanted gloves so badly, he could have gone to the next convinience store and got some cheap ones. Instead of spending his money unneccesarily, the slender, freezing fingers lowered the scarf a little bit until they reached his mouth. A lukewarm breath gave them some warmth for at least a little moment. Ken knew that it was a pointless act. The moment he had put back the scarf to his mouth, Ken checked the time on his watch once more. He had waited for fifteen minutes in vain. A hopeless sigh excaped the mouth of the dark haired. This time, he would definitely make Daisuke regret for being late.
His friend was always late for appointments. In the beginning, Daisuke honestly apologized, so Ken felt that he had to lower Daisuke's worries and told him that he just arrived a minute ago too. Recently, however, Daisuke woudln't even apologize properly anymore, so Ken only replied with a nod and whiped away his friend's mistake.
The brunett was not only his classmate now, but since they went to the same middle school, they also were in the same soccer club and good team mates and for some reason Ken guessed that Daisuke felt too comfortable and thought that he didn't need to excuse himself anymore. On the contrary Ken never had as much contact to the other Chosen Children, but that occurred not because he didn't open up his heart to them, but rather because it was a part of his personality. Suddely, a phrase that Miyako adviced him, came to his mind.
"All of our members are either the youngest kids or only children. That means if you want something, you have to be bold about it."
At first Ken threw the appropriat phrases into the conversation and answered with an "altight" to a topic that was more or less vague to him. However when they all met up at Miyako's house, the oldest of the new generation of Chosen Children put six different kinds of cakes in front of them. Promtly a voice was claiming the first one. "I want the stawberry tarte!"
"I'd like the fruit tarte."
"I'll have the Mont Blanc."
"Well then, I'll have the chocolate cake."
Nobody hesitated to express their preferences, until there only were a simple cheese cake and a piece of apple pie left. When Ken was a little boy, his older brother Osamu always listened to Ken's wishes before he acted. After Osamu's death, Ken's parents naturally let Ken have his will. Thus the night blue haired boy became aware of all selfish behavior. Contrary to his expertations, it was not Daisuke who usually seemed to be so full of self-assertation, who reached out his hands first. His team mates who otherwise seemed more matured than Daisuke, showed a more appropriate behaviour for their age.
Finally, Daisuke reached out his hands and cast Ken a slight grin. "Which do you want, Ichijouji?" he asked and caught the Ken off guard. Ken had expected a little fight about which cake they would go for between Daisuke and Miyako. "There's not much left to choose from, but you should choose first, right Miyako-san?" Miyako waited patiently as well and couldn't do anything else but agree with the younger boy. Ken guessed that the reason for Miyako's resistance was her age. She was one year older than everyone else, on the other hand it could have been the case that she let the others choose first because she was living in this house. Miyako reminded Ken about Osamu. If he had an older sister, Ken imagined that she might have been a little bit like Miyako. When they all had their respective piece of cake, Miyako-san told him once more: "That's why you have to say what you want."
From far, Ken heard a "heeeey" that caused him to turn around in order to locate the voice. Finally, the person he waited for had arrived. Daisuke was running towards him and waved with his hands. The goggles on his head, which he had received from his idol Taiichi. were his trademark. There was another stylemark resembling his outfit today. Even so Daisuke wore a thick, hooded anorak, he only wore shorts, and the slightly red kneecaps caused a chill to creep down Ken's spine. Daisuke didn't even have gloves on, but Ken was pretty sure that his friend didn't forget them at home, he just left them there. Ken sighed a little bit.
"Sorry 'bout being late." he applogized in his usual carefree manner. Ken returned this with a simple nod and shove it off. Ken actually intended to tell Daisuke, that he almost thought that he was the one who were wrong about the time. Ken had gone through this in his head several times to be able to sound as annoyed as possible. Ken was in some occasions a really good actor, but Daisuke's reaction was unexpected. The mahagony coloured orbs widened in surprise and with a "woah really!?" he only started to laugh and grin about it. Ken pouted in return.
"He-hey, Ichijouji you're not mad at me, are you? Ichijouji, are you really mad at me?" Daisuke asked, but he was still grinning broadly.
"Why do you look so happy?" Ken contered with a counterquestion.
"Yeah well, because I've been so late today that I kinda expected you to say that," the lively boy answered and caused Ken to sigh again. Daisuke giggled quietly while clapping Ken's shoulder. Albeit Ken had told him countless times that he hated to wait and the worst he knew was being laughed at, by looking at the wide but utterly cheerful grin of the other, the black haired boy suddenly didn't feel as ill-humoured anymore. This was one of Daisuke's mysterious abilities: no matter how many times he was late for an appointment, his lively nature was easing.
"But you understand why I am mad at you, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know. I'm really sorry," Daisuke stated.
Ken nodded. He didn't expect Daisuke to change anything about his bad habits, but the most important was, that Ken didn't feel moody anymore.
Ken cast a curious glance over at Daisuke's huge bag. Wasn't he actually just going to pick him up from the station? Instead it looked as if he was going to a sleep over at Ken's place.
"Motomiya, did you go somewhere?" Ken asked.
"Ah, do you mean this one?" Daisuke responded in a slightly nervous voice and let the bag swing back and forward. "To be honest our bathroom suddenly got weird again and there's no warm water coming out of the tab. That's why we're going to the bath house before we'll go home. My mom gave me money."
Daisuke opened the eco-friendly bag to give Ken a look at what he brought along. There were two big towels and two smaller ones to dry their hair. In addition to that there was a whole travel set with a small tube of shower gel, shampoo and conditioner.
"We only need to buy a body sponge," Daisuke added after checking all the utensils. "we should go to the 100-yen shop to get one."
"I think it's the first time that I'll go to a bath house," Ken told him in a slightly thoughtful voice.
"What, really!?"
As far as Ken remembered, they have not ever been to any public bath houses. However when he was a child, they would go to the hot springs in Izu every Winter, but a hot spring was quite different from a bath house as far as Ken could tell from the ones that he had seen on TV commercials. No matter how hard the dark haired boy thought about it, he never experienced a public bath. This seemed to be quite strange to Daisuke and Ken's cheeks turned a little red as he answered with an almost silent "yeah".
"Well, our bath is rather old so it's often acting funny. Since the bath house is close to where we live, we usually go with the whole family. My older sister always stays in the bath tub for a long time even so she knows that I get chilly very soon after the bath and that annoys the hell outa me. But this time it's only you and me, Ichijouji, so I guess it will be alright. Let's see who can stay longer in the sauna!" Daisuke said and his face showed some annoyance when he mentioned Jun. The brown haired sometimes said some mean things about his older sister, but Ken thought the reason was because Daisuke was stubborn and wanted to hide his true feelings towards her. However, imagining Daisuke standing in line quietly and without any cursing made Ken laugh.
They walked into the shopping mall where the 100-yen shop was located. Daisuke picked up two sponges and proceeded to the cashier. Next to it there were some pocket heaters and simple gloves that Ken was about to put his hands on. He had forgot his own ones, for that reason, he could just invest those hundred and eight yen to buy them. On the other hand, he was going to the bath house and it would warm him enough. In the end Ken decided to not buy them as he already heard the shop cleark's voice.
"That's 216 yen," the young check out clerk said with a friendly smile.
"Ah, Motomiya! The money..." Ken tried to stop Daisuke from paying for his sponge as well, but Daisuke shook his head. "It's alright, Ichijouji."
Daisuke's mother probably told him to not let Ken pay for anything. The black haired boy bowed slightly and whispered a shy "thank you".
When they exited the warm shopping mall, a cold wind was greeting them.
"Woah it's cold!" Daisuke let out a whiny noise.
Both nose tip, ears and cheeks turned immediately extremely cold while the sudden wind was raging again and caused the two boys to close their eyes for a short moment. When Ken opened his eyes again just to see Daisuke's deep red knees.
"I thought you'd never feel cold, Motomiya."
"Hah!? That's weird, why'd you think that?" Daisuke indignantly asked.
"That's because you always wear shorts no matter what," Ken answered at once.
"You usually wear those black gloves, but today you're not. What about that?"
"I forgot them when I was about to go," he answered. If he had known that Daisuke was that late, he would have gone back to get them, but Ken refrained from saying this out loud. Daisuke would probably feel offended since they actually should have left this issue aside by now.
After a walk of about ten minutes, they reached the bath house which the Motomiya family was always going to. It was quite different from what Ken had expected. From all the commercials he had seen on television, this one was not a super spa wonderland where they were using special bath salts that should have great effects on people's health. This one was not a new established facility at all. It was a small house that probably existed in a long time. On the outside, there was a long curtain with a sign that said "Yu" on it, just like in the old fashioned ones.
"Ma'am, for two kids, please!" Daisuke shouted to the inside.
The lively boy already paid for both himself and Ken and they proceeded to the lockers. "We're lucky that there are a lot of them empty today," Daisuke stated, "Here, the one next to me is open as well."
"Thanks," Ken replied and started to get ready.
"Ah, I tend to lose my keys so take mine as well," the brown haired explaned and handed the keys to Ken. There were indeed only a few guests including the two boys, but that was probably because of the time of the day since Daisuke was quite happy to get in this easily. It was probably just an idea Ken had, but he actually had imagined that more middle aged people would be here. On the contrary there were quite a few new graduated adults and university students around.
While Daisuke undressed himself, Ken noticed that he started to feel somewhat uneasy and shy about undressing among strangers. He slowly undid his shirt's button and could already hear Daisuke's voice stating that he was quite slow and shouldn't think too much about their surroundings.
"Did you never undress in front of others? We are in the same soccer club", Daisuke claimed in a quizzically tone.
"That's different, but I think I will get used to it. I've only experienced such situations through a few scenes of the soaps which my mother always watches."
"Ah is that so?!" Daisuke didn't think that it counted as a fullworthy experience.
The lockers were closed with a loud noise and both were going into the men's section of the public bath. Ken felt a lot more comfortable that women and men were in separate sections.
As they stepped into the bathroom, Ken let his eyes grow wide in astonishment. Just as he had seen in several bath house commercials, this one was not different in one detail. There was a huge image of mount Fuji drawn on a wall paper. Daisuke who was already used to this view could not help but utter a crackling laugh.
"If it's really that easy to impress you, then it was worth to take you here," Daisuke giggled and took one of taborets and buckets that were provided. He put both taborets next to each other and put out the shampoo and conditioner for both of them. It seemed that the Motomiya family always used shampoo with a fresh scent such as lemon, grape fruit or other citrus fruits. When Ken thought about it, he always used the ones that his mother bought and those fragrances were ususally of roses and other flowers. Ken remembered what Daisuke said when he was stayiing over night one day. "The smell reminds me of you, Ichijouji. How should I put it... it suits you very well." Looking at the situation, now it was Ken who felt that Daisuke's shampoo indeed suited him very well.
"I'll wash your back! It's the true charme of a bath house!" Daisuke stated again with a wide grin.
"Ah, no you don't have to, I can do it myself," Ken replied, trying to convince Daisuke that he didn't need any help.
"Don't worry about it, it's a policy," the other boy argued and prepared a sponge with shower gel. Ken actually wanted to politly decline the offer, but as he looked around there were small kids who washed their grandfather's back and another man who washed his son's back. Ken knew Daisuke too well so he wasn't trying to refuse the offer once more. His friend sat now behind him and filled the bucket with warm water.
"I'll let the water tip out," Daisuke announced and started to rub Ken's back with the sponge. Ken wondered if Daisuke had heard something like that in some TV-series, or if it was a costum to announce the different actions. Ken just relaxed against the touch. It was better than he expected, although Daisuke was a bit rough.
"Hn? Is your back itchy?" Daisuke asked as Ken letting out a little noise.
"It hurts a bit, you're rubbing too violently," he answered and tried to look over his shoulder.
"Huh, really?"
"Yeah, I guess if you wouldn't use a sponge my back would be bright red by now," Ken claimed with a slight smile.
"Aren't you exaggerating?"
Ken didn't amplity anything. He felt his body trembling a little as Daisuke lowered the pace and presure. If he'd ever let him massage his shoulders, Ken would be crushed in no time for sure.
"Oh, you've a mole," Daisuke suddenly said when washed away all the soap on Ken's back.
"Really? Where?" he inquired in a curious voice.
"Here on your shoulder blade, I'm touching it right now," the other replied and stroke it softly.
"I didn't know I had one," Ken said and closed his eyes to feel the place where Daisuke had put his index finger. It was right under the bone of his shoulder blade, so it was quite difficult to locate it by oneself.
Now it was Ken's turn to wash Daisuke's back. Ken noticed that he felt much more comfortable in this place already. Just as Daisuke did a minute ago, he carefully started to rub Daisuke's back with the sponge.
"You don't put enough pressure into it, Ichijouji," Daisuke complained a minute after his friend started.
"I think it's better to stroke you gently than ripping your skin off," the dark haired explained with the slight hint of a smile on his lips.
"Do I have a mole too?"
"No. But I think your shoulders are broader than mine," he answered.
"I don't think there's so much difference. You're taller than me, so your shoulders are probably broader as well."
"I don't think that that's the case," Ken spoke and washed away the left over soap. Completely soaked by the water, Daisuke streached out in pleasure and sighed deeply.
"Feels like in heaven..." he stated and caused Ken to laugh silently. A phrase like that really sounded odd when Daisuke said it. On the other hand, the water temperature was perfectly fine and let him to relax as well. Maybe this is what a paradise felt like.
Only an hour ago Ken had no idea that he would feel so pleasantly warm instead of freezingly cold from the raging wind and the waiting in vain. Ken liked to take hot bathes when it was cold outside, but he now realized that it would be nice to visit a bath house like this.
Of all things it made Ken happiest that he was able to share some time with Daisuke. It was him who was the first and only one who trusted Ken after the Digimon Kaiser's defeat. Daisuke was the only one who trusted him from the first second. If Daisuke wouldn't have been with them, Ken was sure that he would rather have chosen to keep his distance instead of being able to laugh and have fun with the other Chosen Children. To Ken it was not even an exaggeration to claim that Daisuke had changed him, however Daisuke would certainly disagree and suggest that Ken could change because he wanted to.
"Thank you," Ken whispered towards Daisuke, who was left alone with a question mark on his face as he was't able to read Ken's mind. The dark haired boy giggled slightly.
After their bath they went into the sauna to see who could stay in there longer. Since Ken didn't like this kind of humid heat, he wasn't able to stay even ten minutes and lost to Daisuke, who stayed and stayed in there until the sweat was dripping off of his hair. But he looked immensily happy about his victory, so Ken could take the defeat very easily.
After the saune, they were forced to take a cold bath to wipe out theeir sweat, just to take a warmer bath again. Despite Daisuke's complaint about his older sister Jun taking long bathes, this time it was him who was staying for a long time. Ken's first time in a public bath was the bst experience in a long time.
Daisuke hurried and rubbed his hair viloently in order to dry them, then he changed back into his clothes as fast as possible and left the dressing room. Ken who had the longest bath in his entire life felt as if his mind wasn't focusing just yet. He could feel that he was still sweating a little bit. Carefully he dried his hair while his thoughts were wandering around. When Ken stepped out of the changing room, he already found Daisuke waiting for him, handing him a small bottle filled with fruit flavoured milk.
"It's a policy," Daisuke said and grinned broadly again. "Fruit flavoured milk is especially tasty after a bath."
"Thanks..." Ken replied and watched how Daisuke opened his glass bottle and started to drink it down noisily. The other had no idea if he even tasted anything of it or not, but in the end Ken could hear that Daisuke gasped for air as he had finished his milk. Smiling, the dark haired boy opened his bottle as well but drank it slowly to relish the faint sweetness of the drink. Even so Ken was used to the taste of this brand drink, the loss of water and salt due to the hot bath probably made it taste especially good.
"Thank you so much," Ken said to the lady who sat at the entrance where they had paid earlier and left the bath house.
As soon as they exited through the huge curtain, the boys were greeted by the fierce cold again that was about to take away the nice warmth of their heated bodies. His warm hands would turn to ice again for sure, but that was an expectable fact for this day was supposed to be the coldest of this Winter.
"Heeey, I'll leave you behind!" Daisuke's voice was called out to Ken. The other boy started to walk and Ken was chasing after him. Just like a moment again when they were in the bath, Ken found that Daisuke had much broader shoulders than he had, although he wasn't as tall as him. Even so Daisuke was smaller, he seemed to always be ahead of Ken and so increadibly much stronger. A light smile sneaked onto Ken's face again. He nodded to himself while he watched Daisuke walking.
'Yeah, as long as Motomiya is continuing forwards, everything will be alright and I can feel relaxed,' he calmly thought. 'No matter how many times I am going to lose sight of my goal, as long as you are in front of me, I know that I won't stop to carry on. I want you to let me chase after you for all eternity. It might seem selfish, but I think that there's nothing to doubt as long as you are with me.'
"Oi!"
"Huh?" Ken cast Daisuke a quizzically look. The other had stopped walking and turned around to face sapphire blue eyes. The dark haired returned the glance.
"Why are you walking behind me?" He asked.
Ken replied in astonischment. "Oh, well... I... kinda like when you are walking in front of me. It calms me a lot."
"But we're not standing in line at a cash point or anything," Daisuke sighed out a little bit and walked back to his friend. "I like it next to you."
"Huh?"
"I like it better when we walk next to each other."
Even so Daisuke's words were not special at all, it caused Ken's head to turn slightly pink and he suddenly felt a little shy about it. However the taller boy nodded only a little and answered with an "okay". Daisuke nodded as well, although he seemed somewhat affected by his own words and sounded like a small cricket.
'I like it better when we walk next to each other, huh? I probably should stop walking behind you to always see your back, shouldn't I? I guess this is very important,' Ken thought and while both boys were contiuing to walk along the streets of the night of Tokyo, Ken remembered what Miyako said once again.
"You have to say clearly what you want."
The dark haired boy was wondering why he felt so grateful towards Daisuke. One reason might be that he had saved Ken. Or was it because they were partners because of their Digimon's jogress evolution? He might feel like this because Daisuke was the first friend, that Ken could keep close to him and touch without feeling uncomfortable. Nevertheless Ken was probably too young to understand these emotions to their full extent, but what he perfectly understood was the fact that he was charmed by Daisuke's honest smile and lively nature.
"Motomiya," Ken spoke all of a sudden.
"Huh?" Daisuke turned, casting the other a questioningly glance.
"I..." Ken hesitated for a split second to find the right words to use, "I am glad that we met, Motomiya. I'm happy that we can be together like this."
Initially Daisuke blinked of perplexity induced by what Ken phrased, but then he nodded and let out a little laughing noise. "Dummy, me too! When you're smiling, I feel like smiling as well and it makes me increadibly joyful. Y'know, when I see you working and struggling so hard, I'm motivated to take any challenges as well. I start to think that I can't affort to lose to anyone! Isn't that kinda a great thing?"
Ken agreed with a nod. Daisuke's smile was always radiant. He was right about it, it was important that Ken wouldn't always chase after Daisuke, but kept on going side by side together with him.
"As long as you're with me, we are invincible, right?" Ken asked and got a "yeah" in return before they both burst into wild laughter again. If something like happiness existed, then it was about this moment, laughing together. Both of them started to feel warm even so the wintry wind.
Despite their feeling of inner warmth, Ken's hands still turned cold very easily, so he put them to his mouth to blow some heat to them.
"Give me your hand," Daisuke instructed.
"Huh?" Another surprised glance graced Ken's face.
Daisuke grinned broadly. "You forgot your gloves, didn't ya?" He said and before Ken could reply anything, Daisuke's slightly smaller fingers entangled with the other boy's. Daisuke's hands were unexpectedly warm, even so his ears and nose should feel lik a fridge right now. As soon as they held each others hands, the black haired boy imagined a protecting shield of heat wrapping around his whole existance. This sight of Dasiuke and his cold, deep red cheeks, enlighted by the street light was dear to Ken.
"Motomiya, your hands are really hot," Ken spoke in a low voice as he squeezed Daisuke's hand tighter. The auburn haired boy grinned while squeezing Ken's hand even more. "Yours are pleasantly warm."
Ken heart only his own heart beat at first.
Then he was able to listen to Daisuke's heart as well.
As they walked, the first snow of this year began to dress the city in a thin, white coat. In this icy cold winter night.
The End