I have worked really hard on this story, and I hope you enjoy it. This story will be completed on the 6th of March.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon. This includes the dialogue in the last three scenes of this chapter. The first two of those are from Episode 27, and the last one is from Episode 1.

EDIT JUN 11, 2015: Names have been changed to their Japanese versions, and the original scenes have been written to match English Sub translations instead of the dub.

WORD COUNT: 1555

A man and woman stood outside a suburban house, a pile of luggage sitting on the sidewalk. Each of them held an infant in their arms. A yellow cab pulled up in front of them. At the woman's request, the driver began picking up her suitcases and tossing them into the trunk and backseat. The woman walked over to her now ex-husband – or more specifically, the child he was holding.

"Goodbye, Kōji," she whispered tearfully, kissing him on the forehead, "Mama's always going to miss you." She gave the man a cold, hurt glare before getting into the cab. As the taxi drove away, both babies started to cry.

I sat alone at my table, idly colouring the picture in front of me. Several other kids were doing the same, but they avoided me. Nobody wanted to sit with the new kid. Of course, I would get used to it some years later.

It was my first day of school here. I'd started at a different school at the beginning of the year, but then Papa had told me we were going to live in a new house. At first I thought he meant we would be living with my friend Mikoto. But instead, I learned that the new house was in another city, and I couldn't go to school with any of my friends. Papa told me I could make new friends; but so far, I wasn't. My fellow kindergarteners were mean to me. One of them threw a wooden building block at my head!

I continued rubbing the blue crayon onto the paper. The teacher said it was Mother's Day soon, so we were colouring a picture of a mama and child. Lots of other kids were talking about their mommies while they coloured.

I wished I had a mama. Or a brother or sister. I loved Papa, but it was still very lonely, just the two of us.

"My Mama bakes cookies when I help her do chores and stuff."

I did my best to help Papa wash the dishes, but all I ever got was a thank-you.

"My Mama taught me how to paint."

Papa never had time to do that, and besides, I didn't really like painting, anyway.

"My Mama reads me and my Onii-chan a bedtime story every night."

I wondered what it was like to hear a story right before bed.

"Do you have a yellow crayon?" I looked up. A boy with brown hair and green eyes stood by my table. I nodded and dug through my brand-new blue pencil case, eventually producing a fat yellow crayon. "Thank you." The boy smiled. "I'm Kai," he said, "Do you wanna sit with me?" Quietly, I gave him a small smile of my own and nodded.

"'Bye, Kai." It'd been almost three years since Kai had come over to my table to borrow a yellow crayon. We were now best friends, but I was moving again. Tou-san was getting married in less than a week, and we were relocating to a new house closer to the new Mrs. Minamoto's neighbourhood.

The new Mrs. Minamoto. Who did she think she was? Even though Kaa-san was dead, it didn't mean that Tou-san could marry another woman. Did he even care? Did he even miss her? I didn't need a new mom, and I sure as hell didn't want one.

I tried my best not to cry as I sat in the backseat of Tou-san's car, watching my best friend, my home, and my life shrink into the distance.

Another three years and four moves later, I sat alone in my new room, the door tightly shut. My stuff was still in boxes. What was the point of unpacking, anyway? Just give Tou-san and my stepmother a few months, and we'd be on the road again. I hadn't even bothered to come downstairs when the new neighbours popped by to say hello. So what if they had a kid my age? I'd stopped trying to make friends long ago. The next move would be a little less painful if I didn't have to leave something – or someone – behind. It barely even bothered me anymore. Friends were okay, but they'd always leave life eventually. I was just better prepared for it than most people. Besides, I liked being alone.

The only thing I'd unpacked, aside from my clothes, was a two-sided picture frame. A photograph of my 'family' – me, Tou-san, and my stepmother – stared at me from my bedside table. Frowning, I poked at the top so that it flipped over, showing a different picture. A woman with dark hair and blue eyes – my eyes – smiled at me now. A tiny spark of contentment filled my heart for a second, but it was soon drowned in grief. 'I wish you were here,' I thought.

"Kōji!" Tou-san was right outside the door. "I'm coming in." He opened the door, smiling at first, but the contentedness on his face faded as he noticed the picture. "You… again, you're looking at your late mother's photo. You have a new mother now, for three years already, so act a little more respectful."

I stared at the floor angrily. Even after three years, Tou-san was still bugging me about it. "I'm a fifth-grader now. I can think for myself."

Tou-san sighed. "Kōji, do you want her to be your mother?"

My stepmother was coming up the stairs as he said it; she dropped the teacup she was carrying with a crash and froze at his words. As angry as I was, I still felt a little guilty for the sadness on her face.

The bell above the door tinkled as I walked into the florist's. Tou-san obviously wasn't going to stop bugging me unless I got my stepmother something for their third anniversary, which was today. I stopped by a glass display case and looked at the rows of various bouquets, unsure of what to get.

"May I help you with something?" A perky young shopkeeper popped up in front of me, making me jump in surprise. "Is it a present?"

"Yes." People that energetic were the ones I found to be a little scary. It was just unnatural to be permanently cheerful.

"Oh! Is it for your mother or someone?"

I nodded.

"That's great! Just leave it to me!" She bustled over to the counter and began looking through a set of large ribbons. "Is it for your mother's birthday?"

"Today is… the anniversary of their wedding."

"Is it the tenth… no, the fifteenth?"

"It's only been three years."

"I see, three years…" She stopped to take a closer look at me. "Huh? Why has it only been three years?"

I stared at the floor for the second time that day, this time in embarrassment. I hated talking about this.

"Minamoto Kōji-kun." What was that? The sound seemed to come from my pocket. As the flower shop girl turned back to her work, I pulled out my cell phone.

"This is a game which can decide your future."

O-kay. My phone was talking to me. Weird. "My future?"

The symbol vanished, replaced by two icons: 'Yes' and 'No'. "Would you like to start? Or not?" Would I? It wasn't like this would really make much of a difference, and I felt compelled to check it out. "Kōji?"

Hesitantly, thinking: 'What the hell?' I pressed the OK button, selecting 'Yes'.

"Please go to the Shibuya Subway Station at six pm. And then please take the elevator underground."

I glanced at the clock. It was already 5:15. I had less than an hour.

"Okay!" the salesgirl chirped, holding a beautifully wrapped bouquet of pink and blue blossoms, "I'm done!"

"I'll come back and get the flowers after!" I turned on my heel and ran out.

I felt my stomach lurch as the elevator continued to plummet downward. This had to be the craziest situation I'd gotten myself into. First I'd impulsively followed some random instructions from a random text message and travelled two or three districts away from home. Now I was stuck in an elevator that was descending way below the marked floors. I wasn't alone in the elevator; a kid my age with weird goggles worn over his hat had only barely managed to dive in headfirst. He seemed to have received a mysterious message as well, but I didn't talk to him, something the guy was a little put off about. Not that I cared.

"Where the heck are w going?!" he cried as we continued downward.

CRASH! "OOF!"

Ding.

The elevator had jolted to a stop, the kid had fallen over, and the doors had opened. "Owowow," he complained.

I peeked out. Eight or nine trains were sitting in a semicircle inside a huge room. Dozens of other kids milled about, chatting amongst themselves. "You are on the final step." Great. My phone was talking again. "Do you want to get on? Or leave?" I took a look around and settled for the plain blue-grey locomotive. I ran over to it, ignoring the other kid completely.

When the trains took off seconds later, I watched as the kid barely made it onto the train next to mine. We locked eyes for a moment until our trains zoomed into separate tunnels.

Please, tell me what you think. No flames, though. Nobody likes those. Next chapters are all my work. The aftermath of Kōji introducing Kōichi to his family.