Takeru shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He hated these train rides; the material of the seats was itchy, the temperature of the train was always way too cold, and the commute seemed to last anywhere between half an hour to forty-five minutes. When he had first started attending Den City High, he would take the train twice a day, once in the morning to get to Den City and once in the afternoon to get home after classes. His partnership with Yusaku and Kusanagi made his days longer, and his train rides got later and later. With things escalating in Link Vrains with Lightning and his allies, Takeru was finding himself spending nights slumped over an office chair in Cafe Nagi or on Yusaku's couch - and on the train less often.
However, he hadn't seen his grandparents in over a week and a half now and he knew they missed him more than he missed them. He also had the desire to see Kiku and catch up on old times with her. Guilt had been gnawing at him for the past few days now, especially when Yusaku, Kusanagi, and the rest of their allies were slaving away on coding new programs and investigating Link Vrains. Takeru convinced himself that he was no help to them anyways; he was proficient when it came to technology. It was a surprise he knew how to work his Duel Disk. It was only thanks to Flame that he hadn't thrown away dueling completely.
"Takeru," came a quiet voice from his wrist. Right; speak of the devil. "I can tell you are upset about something."
The teen frowned, pulling his hood over his head (why was it so damn cold in there?) with a frown. "I'm..." - he thought for a moment to find the word - "frustrated." There was no point in lying to Flame, the Ignis would figure it out eventually.
The eye blinked, the Duel Disk's dim light flickering. "Is it about Lightning?"
"No." Pulling his schoolbag to his chest for warmth, Takeru placed his chin over the top and looked down at Flame. "Well, sort of." He kept his voice low - perhaps out of respect - as there were other people on the train, despite none of them seeming to pay attention to him. "I just feel like I'm no help."
The eye in his Duel Disk narrowed in confusion. "You are fighting alongside Yusaku and the others," he reasoned, and Takeru distantly recognized that reasoning was something Flame was programmed to do, "You are certainly not 'no help'."
It was no secret that Takeru had no knowledge of coding or hacking. Flame was just trying to be nice and point out his strengths. And Flame wasn't inherently wrong, per se - the two of them had done their fair share of dueling - but Takeru felt more like a burden, especially when Yusaku and Kusanagi were always discussing the logistics of a program they were working on or collaborating with Ghost Girl or the Knights of Hanoi.
Thinking back on those long nights, the ones where he would be in Den City and not on the train, he remembered the very reason he had forced himself to finally take a break and spend a night at home. Takeru had been in the hotdog truck, seated behind Yusaku and Kusanagi, and he waited in that chair for hours, hoping for there to be something that the two needed help on - something that only he could do so that he wouldn't feel so useless. Of course, Yusaku and Kusanagi never had any problems; they had been a team far longer than Takeru had been a part of them, and he clearly wasn't needed. Takeru had been falling asleep in that chair because he was waiting to be called on to help. He'd end up on Yusaku's couch because the trains had stopped running at that late hour.
He felt tiny hands on his arm shaking him back to reality. Blinking past his thoughts, he sighed. "It's easy for you, Flame," the teen muttered, unhappiness creeping into his tone. "You were born with the same kind of knowledge that Yusaku and Kusanagi and the rest of them have." He took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, drowsiness clinging to him like ink. "Then you have someone like me, who can hardly turn on a computer, as your partner -"
Flame's little head shot up and his eyes burned with an emotion Takeru couldn't name. "Stop berating yourself, Takeru!" The Ignis raised his voice, but it was more of a whisper shout; Takeru nearly dropped his glasses in shock. He seemed to compose himself once he had his origin's undivided attention, giving the teen time to readjust his glasses. "... We all have different strengths. Yours are not technology-oriented so there is not much you can help with now," Flame crossed his arms, and with only his torso and head outside of the Duel Disk, his form was minuscule and it all seemed counter-intuitive to the lecturing he was doing to someone more than ten times his size. "But trust me," there was a smile in his voice despite his lack of a mouth, "a day will come where you will be the only person capable of doing the job. You just have to be patient."
Takeru found himself nodding, slightly overwhelmed by the speech. He nuzzled the top of Flame's head with his pointer finger like one would ruffle the hair on a dog, earning an indignant noise of surprise from the Ignis. "Thanks, Partner," the teen smiled at Flame, despite the weariness of a few sleepless nights weighing him down, "that's something I definitely needed to hear."
A comfortable silence followed. There was the sound of Takeru breathing, the distant sounds of the other passengers, and the rocking of the train on the tracks. Just when Flame was about to shrink back into the Duel Disk, Takeru lifted his arm with the Duel Disk on it to see through the window. The Ignis had a halfhearted complaint about vertigo ready to go, but the words died in his throat at the sight.
Outside of the window lay what looked like a never-ending ocean, surrounded by docks and ships arriving to shore. The sky was painted with hues of pinks and yellows and reds and the setting sun left glimmering rays of light reflecting off the calm waves. The moon was steadily rising in the sky behind them and the sunset hues slowly retreated into the blues of the night.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Takeru asked wistfully, breaking Flame out of his trance.
The Ignis hardly took his eyes off the sky, too enraptured by the sight to break away. "I have never seen a sunset like this," he mused absentmindedly, "we have always been inside Link Vrains or in the truck during this time of night."
Takeru hummed a note of triumph. "I guess I made the right decision to head home for tonight, then."
Right now, their worries had been forgotten. Lightning and everything going on in Link Vrains could wait a day. Takeru needed the break, and Flame probably needed it more than he would let up on. Yusaku and Kusanagi probably could use a night without them also.
Flame stifled a laugh.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Takeru was feeling contented, basking in the light of the dying sun, and he couldn't figure out what his Ignis had found so funny about a sunset. "Did I miss something?"
"Your strength is what led us here tonight," the Ignis stated - as if Takeru knew what his partner was alluding to.
"My... strength?" What did his strength have to do with anything? He still had muscles from his delinquent years, but what did that have to do with this?
Flame sighed, but it held no exasperation; it was content. "Your strength is your drive," he then seemed to snicker a little. "That, and your impulsiveness."
Takeru poked a finger at Flame in mock accusation but laughed through it all. "H-hey, I didn't ask to be thrown under the bus tonight-"
Flame seemed almost too willing to jump into another joke after Takeru had taken the bait. "Don't you mean the train?"
"Oh, shut up," Takeru laughed, nudging his partner with his finger again.
They continued poking fun at one another and laughing it off until the train finally came to a stop. The sky was painted with stars and Takeru could only pray that his grandparents would greet him with open arms and not scold him for walking alone to their home in the dark.
And if they did accuse him of the latter?
He glanced down to his Duel Disk and smiled at the familiar red and yellow eye staring back at him.
Well. He wasn't exactly alone, so they would only be half right.