Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, Digimon Tamers, Ryo Akiyama or Shinjuku.

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Chapter 3: Group Date

Child Ryo stood in the center of a room filled to the bursting with people. In his arms he held a Monodramon plushy, hugging it tightly. Child Ryo recognized no one in the room. One of the men came up to him.

"umedmmzelilennion?" asked the man. Child Ryo struggled to try to understand the man and respond, but found himself frozen in confusion. The man tried asking again. "umedmmzelilennion?"

Child Ryo shook his head in confusion. The man gave up and walked away to speak in gibberish to another person. A little girl Child Ryo's age came up to him and spoke up.

"umedmmzelilennion?" she asked.

"I don't understand," he replied, distress filling him. The girl turned and walked away. Child Ryo tightened his grip around the plushy even more. Suddenly he recognized a face in the sea of unfamiliar faces. He ran over to the man, calling out. "Dad!"

Ryo's father turned around to face him.

"umedmmzelilennion?" he asked. Child Ryo stopped in his tracks and had to fight the urge to cry.

"Dad? I don't understand..." he replied.

His father looked at him as if he was the one speaking gibberish. He turned and walked away, leaving Child Ryo standing there alone.

"Dad!" yelled Child Ryo, stretching out his arm in a futile attempt to stop him from leaving.

The Monodramon plushy fell out of his arms as he did so. Child Ryo reached down and picked it up, clutching it tightly to his chest. The plushy resisted being held so tightly and the whole thing burst open in a cloud of stuffing. The boy held the remains of the plushy as the stuffing fell around him like snow.

He burst into tears at that moment. No one stopped to look at him. They didn't seem to realize that he was crying or maybe just didn't want to do anything about it. As he cried, Child Ryo suddenly heard a voice whisper his name.

"Ryo," said the voice. It had a menace to it, but Child Ryo didn't care. Here was someone calling for him, someone he could understand, so he called back.

"Yes? Who are you? Where are you?"

"I'm right here," replied the voice. It sounded like the speaker was right behind his shoulder, so Child Ryo turned, but he saw no one. The presence stayed at his shoulder though, seeming to move with him. "You're my Tamer Ryo, I'll always be there for you."

Suddenly green chains of light made of code surrounded Child Ryo. He tried to get free but couldn't. Strange shadowy dragon heads appeared over each shoulder and the voice spoke up again.

"You're my partner Ryo; I won't abandon you. I understand you like no one else does or ever will. Together we can deal with anything." The menace in the voice scared Child Ryo like nothing else and he let loose a scream.

Ryo Akiyama woke up in his futon, sitting up suddenly in a cold sweat. He looked around his dark room, but it was devoid of anyone else. He crawled out of the sheets and walked carefully down the dark hall into the bathroom. The former Digimon King turned on the lights and shut the door.

Looking in the mirror, he saw his reflection staring back at him. He was covered in sweat and paler than usual. Ryo splashed water on his face, washing away the remnants of the nightmare.

After a while, he felt better and walked back into his room, checking the clock. The digital display read 3:28am. Ryo crawled back into his futon, but found that he just couldn't fall asleep for once. Ever since he had first become Cyberdramon's partner he'd been able to fall asleep quickly and wake up at the slightest sign of trouble.

Now, not being able to fall asleep, he just stared at the dark ceiling, thinking. It had been three days since Henry had invited Ryo to go on the group date. That night at work he had asked his boss and co-worker Shigure Tooyama about switching shifts and they had both been fine with it. Comments about how they were glad he was finally spending time for himself had come up, with his boss cracking dirty jokes the rest of the night.

Suzie had come over every night since then, teasing them endlessly. Henry just took it in stride and fired back with his own witty comments. While they had been some of the noisiest nights he had ever experienced, Ryo found that they had also been some of the most enjoyable.

Now it was Friday and a strange type of fear suddenly hit Ryo. Here was one of the few things he wasn't good at, interacting with people. Sure, he could be charming and hold small talk, but that was usually quick and just to get people to leave him alone after their curiosity was satisfied.

Ever since his adventures in the digital world the only people he had ever been able to relate to had been the other Tamers. That was one of the reasons that Henry wanting to split an apartment with him had felt like a godsend.

At the event he would be an important part of the conversation. He would be expected to interact. Ryo wondered how he was supposed to do that when he just couldn't understand normal people.

The only reason I'm doing this is to help out Henry, he thought to himself. He realized he was being pessimistic and probably needlessly worrying. Maybe it won't be as bad as I'm worried about. I go to the restaurant, talk to the girls, have a nice dinner, make sure Henry and Takato leave with their dates, and kindly turn down my own.

Having reassured himself slightly, Ryo gave up on sleeping and decided to start his morning workout routine early. He stretched, did some calisthenics and went for a morning jog. The streets were even emptier than usual due to the early hour. He made it back home, took a shower and started up breakfast, deciding that since he had extra time he'd make pancakes.

Ryo was just finishing the pancakes when Henry walked out of his room rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked at all the pancakes.

"Wow, you're up early," he commented, walking over and taking a seat in the kitchen. "What's the occasion?"

"Nothing," replied Ryo, pouring the last batch of batter onto the pan. "Just woke up early and wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep. How did you sleep?"

"Fine," answered Henry, finally waking up. "You sure it's nothing? You're usually up like clockwork, feels weird to see you breaking your own schedule."

"Just a bad dream, nothing more."

Ryo took the last pancake out of the pan and put it onto the plate with the rest. He then carried over the pancakes and got out some dishes, silverware and syrup. They sat eating in silence. They both finished up and washed their plates. Ryo cleaned up the kitchen while Henry hopped in the shower.

When he was done cleaning up, Ryo prepared to leave for class. He called down the hall to Henry, who he could hear had just turned off the water.

"I'm heading out to class now. See you back here at five."

"See you later!" came the response from down the hall.

Ryo opened the front door and walked outside into the warm summer air. June was coming to a close and with it so would the school term. He'd be getting his teaching license in just a week when the University's semester came to a close, meaning the time to try to find a job was quickly approaching.

Ryo's day passed uneventfully as he made it to school, attended his classes and left. As he sat on the train heading back home he listened to music through his ear buds to distract himself from thinking about the group date in a few hours. He unlocked the front door and walked in to see Suzie already sitting at the table doing her coursework. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey. How's it going?" she asked.

Ryo walked over to the table, putting his bag down on it and took a seat.

"Fine. How about you? Shouldn't you be out with your friends or something on a Friday night instead of here?"

"All my friends have dates tonight. We're all going to meet up tomorrow for lunch and gossip about how they went," she replied, returning to her work.

"Ah. Remember not to waste all your precious youth on hanging out at your brother's smelly bachelor pad."

"I'll keep that in mind. You two actually keep this place pretty clean for a bunch of losers. I'd expect a lot more clutter or junk. Honestly, there aren't even any obvious porn magazines lying around."

"You've been looking?"

"When I'm bored, yeah. Anything to use as leverage against Henry," she responded with a smile.

"How did you get in anyways? Did Henry not lock the door when he left?"

"The landlady saw me standing outside. She's very nice and knows I'm Henry's sister so she just let me in with a master key."

"Pretty sure that's an invasion of privacy."

"There's no such thing as privacy when you have younger siblings, didn't you know that?" said Henry, walking in through the front door. He closed in and walked over to the table to join them. "Don't you have a younger sister?"

"Step sister," corrected Ryo. "Shortly after getting back from the digital world my dad remarried due to my mother passing away while I was gone. Yuri is about Suzie's age actually."

"Is she as cute as me?" asked Suzie, making what Ryo assumed she thought was a cutesy face. Ryo had to resist the very strong urge to burst into laughter, failing slightly and letting out a chuckle. Suzie pouted at his dismissal of her charm.

"Do you plan to ask that every time we mention a girl?" asked Henry, smirking at his sister's slight distress.

"Only until you give the right answer," she answered, sticking out her tongue at him.

"As much as I enjoy teasing you, I need to get ready for the group date," said Henry, standing up from the table.

Ryo also stood up and giving a small sigh went to get ready. In less than twenty minutes they were ready and bidding Suzie goodbye, leaving her Ryo's key so that she could lock up when she was done.

"I'll return it tomorrow before I head out with my friends," she called out as they walked through the front door. "Have fun on your date; remember to pay their side of the check."

Henry and Ryo walked down the Shinjuku streets, the Hypnos building looming in the background like a sentinel. They made it to the Matsuki Bakery and saw their friend and fellow former Tamer Takato Matsuki standing outside, doodling on a sketch pad. Henry waved and called out to get his attention.

"Takato!"

The young man almost dropped his sketch pad in surprise, having been completely involved in drawing. He turned to face them, his face slightly red in embarrassment.

"Hey Henry, how's it going?" he asked, walking towards them.

"Good," replied Henry. "You ready to go?"

"Yep," responded Takato. Together they walked down the Shinjuku streets to where they were planning on meeting the girls. Takato turned to speak to Ryo.

"So, how's it going Ryo?" he asked. "What have you been up to lately?"

"Fine," responded Ryo. "Just about to finish up with getting my teaching license."

"You're trying to become a teacher?"

"Yeah. I've tried pretty much every other job, so I figured why not. How about you? How's work at the bakery?"

"We've been busy lately. Ten years later and Guilmon bread is still as popular an order as ever. We're the official Digimon bakery, so every so often dad will experiment and make a limited edition Digimon themed pastry. We've even been asked to assist in making bread for tournaments and similar events."

Takato said all of this with a smile and Ryo wondered at how well he had gotten over the loss of Guilmon. It wasn't callousness, Takato was too kind for that, but he had seen that there was no point in dwelling on what he couldn't stop. Ryo suspected that Takato was one of the highest on the list of people who would be excited to get a working portal to the Digital world. He hadn't let the loss get him down very long and had worked to better himself.

They soon made it to the meeting spot right outside of the okonomiyaki restaurant ten minutes early. The three Tamers stood around awkwardly waiting as people walked past them, ignoring them. Almost right when Ryo's phone said that it was six came a shout.

"Henry!"

They turned and Henry smiled at the woman waving at them. Two other women stood awkwardly on either side of her.

"Hey Kimiko, how are you?"

"Glad to be done with work today," she said, walking over to them.

Now that they were closer, Ryo was able to see what each of the girls looked like. They were all young, probably the same age group as the Tamers. They were also; Ryo had to admit, very good looking.

The one Henry had called Kimiko was of medium height with medium length brown hair tied back into a tail. Her gray eyes sparkled with unconcealed glee as she led the two girls on either side of her towards them. The girl to her right was also of medium height, with short black hair cut off at her shoulders and brown eyes. She seemed amused by her friend, and was looking over each of the guys. The girl on Kimiko's left was shorter than the other two, with long black hair and gray eyes with brown rings. She was lagging slightly behind the others and Ryo got the feeling that she wasn't quite as excited as her friend.

Henry stepped forward to greet them and introduce Takato and Ryo to the group.

"Hello ladies. I'm Henry Wong and this is Takato Matsuki and Ryo Akiyama," he said, pointing to each of them in turn.

"Hey," said Ryo.

"Hiya," said Takato, waving his hand nervously in greeting.

"Nice to meet you two finally. I'm Kimiko," said the first girl. She pointed to the girl to her right. "This is Miho Hayasaka. The girl to my left is Ayumi Tohya."

"Hello," responded Miho with a smile.

"H-hi," said Ayumi nervously.

"Want to go in and sit now?" asked Henry.

"Sure," responded Kimiko.

With those two leading, Ryo and the others followed them into the restaurant, which was already rowdy. They got a table for six and were soon seated at a booth, the guys on one side and the women on the other. Ryo and Miho were the closest to the wall with Henry and Kimiko in the middle. Takato and Ayumi were both placed at the end of their respective side and glancing awkwardly around them.

The restaurant was of the cook-it-yourself variety. In the middle of the table was a metal hot plate for cooking the pancake batter and ingredients they'd be given. They each quickly ordered their toppings and gave their menus to the waiter.

An awkward silence started to settle on the table as the groups tried to figure out what they could talk about. Luckily, Miho came to the rescue this time and started up conversation.

"So, you guys were a part of the Digimon Tamers, right?" she asked. "You fought that giant blob thing, right?"

"The D-Reaper," responded Henry. "My partner was Terriemon."

"I love Terriermon!" said Miho. "I have his card, he's so cute. What about you two?"

"My partner was Guilmon," said Takato, starting to warm up to the conversation.

"Like the bread?" asked Ayumi, finally speaking up.

"Yeah. I created Guilmon from a sketch pad, and then my father made the bread based off of Guilmon. We still sell it too. The bread that is. And other Digimon themed pastries. If you're ever in Shinjuku and nearby you should check us out. All three of you are welcome. If you ask nicely we can make retired recipes too, my dad's always up for a change of pace."

"And you?" asked Miho again, looking at Ryo.

"My partner is Monodramon, although he's usually in his ultimate form, Cyberdramon," replied Ryo, taking a sip from his drink.

"You just said is, do you still have your digimon?" asked Kimiko.

"No, they were all sent back to the digital world," said Ryo. "But to me Cyberdramon will always be my partner. No one else can take his place. I think anyone who had a Digimon partner feels the same."

Mutters of assent and nods came from Henry and Takato. The girls just stared at them, but Ryo saw respect in their eyes. The waiter came over with their batter and several bowls of rice and other side dishes, laying it all down on the table. They thanked him and started to eat. Ryo took charge of the okonomiyaki, pouring the batter onto separate sections of the metal plate. Conversation dropped for a little bit while they got everything settled. This time Henry started the conversation.

"So, what do you two do as work?" he asked, directing his question at Miho and Ayumi.

"I'm a music teacher at Shinjuku High School," answered Miho.

"My little sister's a student there," said Henry.

"Who's your sister? Do you know if she's ever taken my class?"

"Suzie Wong. I don't think she's ever mentioned a music course," replied Henry.

"No problem. Can't really expect to know every student or have every student know every teacher."

"I heard Suzie try to sing once, I don't think even your class could help her," said Ryo with a smile.

"What do you do?" Takato asked Ayumi, trying to make conversation.

"I'm an artist," she replied, looking down at her food.

"That's cool! I draw as a hobby to keep myself busy. I drew Guilmon before he was created, although my art is much better now," he said with a grin. "Do you teach like Miho? Or do you do illustrations for a company or something?"

"I-I draw Manga…" she mumbled.

"You're a Manga-ka?" asked Takato, still trying to push the conversation. "What Manga?"

"Animagus," said Miho, stepping in to assist her friend.

"I read that!" said Takato, excited now. "It's really good. The part where Lucy saved Roy from the drug dealers and was forced to reveal she could turn into a cat was great. Then there was the part where they fought the dinosaurs. Why did you set the story in America with all the characters having American names though?"

"I've always enjoyed American comics," replied Ayumi, sounding slightly embarrassed. "I just didn't really feel like having the setting here in Japan, I wanted to set the story apart from all other similar Manga. My editor was worried about it at first, but he decided to let me try it. It was lucky that it worked out. I have a friend who's an actress in California and she gives me advice and helps with research."

"Your friend is a Hollywood actress?" asked Henry.

"Yeah, Sekai Nanasawa," answered Kimiko. "Have you heard of her?"

"Wasn't she in that movie about the students shipwrecked on an island a few years ago?" asked Henry.

"Yeah," replied Kimiko. "She moved to California shortly after."

"She did a good performance in that one," said Ryo.

"So, what do you do?" Miho asked him.

"I've done a little bit of everything. I'm actually back at school getting my teaching license," he replied.

"What do you want to teach?" asked Miho

"I guess literature. I have a degree in classic literature already. Plus the subject is pretty interesting in my opinion."

"Have you found a school to work at yet?"

"Not yet,"

"What about at Shinjuku High?" asked Kimiko.

"I don't think we're hiring right now, but I could put in a good word for you," said Miho.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that," he said, flashing a smile.

Despite his earlier fears, the dinner progressed smoothly from there. Everyone eased up and conversation came out between the group as easily as it did between Henry, Suzie and Ryo. Something still felt weird to him though. He tried to figure it out and at a point in the conversation where everyone had finished eating he realized what it was.

He just couldn't relate to the girls. The experiences they talked about, the stories about their adventures in high school, hanging out with friends; these weren't things he had experienced. Inversely, any conversation about Digimon wasn't taken serious by them. For the Tamers, and especially Ryo, Digimon were real and had been an important part of his life.

For these girls, they had been a passing fancy that they would make fun of the boys in their class for playing. Maybe if they saw a cute card, like Terriermon, they would collect it, but that was it.

Vikaralamon, the boar Deva, had brought Digimon into their life when he had destroyed large sections of Shinjuku and made them realize they existed, but it still didn't click for most people. They had been evacuated before the real danger had kicked in. When the fighting against the D-Reaper had started, they had been far away. The only information they had received had been through a TV screen, causing all of the events to seem impersonal. Only the Tamers, the parents who had been there and the members of Hypnos could really know the terror of the D-Reaper's attack.

Similarly only the Tamers could relate to each other on their time in the digital world. Ryo had spent by far the most time and had faced down dangers that none of the others could relate to. Ironically, he guessed that the one he could relate to the most besides Cyberdramon would be Renamon due to her surviving on her own in the digital world for a long time before meeting Rika.

They finished up at the restaurant and decided to go out for karaoke. The group then passed the next two hours happily singing and chatting in one of the karaoke rooms. Ryo wasn't bad at singing, but he wasn't exactly star material. Luckily, Takato's bad singing stood out much more than Ryo's. After the first time he got to the mike, Miho made sure to go after him. Her singing was phenomenal and Ryo wondered why she would teach at a school instead of performing.

When their time was up, they cleared out of the karaoke room. They exchanged information, said their goodbyes then split up since they lived in different directions. Takato left Ryo and Henry soon after, waving his goodbye as he walked into the Bakery.

The pair walked down the Shinjuku streets in silence. Eventually Henry spoke up.

"Fun night," he said, stilling looking forward and walking down the street.

"Yeah," replied Ryo. "Found some lively people."

"You didn't seem like you were very into them," said Henry, cutting straight to the chase. "Sorry for dragging you along."

"No, it was fun," responded Ryo. "Honestly, I really enjoyed the whole thing a lot more than I thought I would. It just got me thinking a little."

"About?"

"How different the Tamers are from normal people. I don't mean like we're special or anything. Just that our experiences growing up were so different. You guys were slightly more normal, but I spent around a year in the digital world. I just can't relate to someone with a 'normal' childhood."

"I guess I can see that. You seem fine normally though."

"Seem being the operative word. I'm just good at hiding it," confided Ryo. "I actually moved away from Kyushu to Shinjuku because your guys were here. I couldn't relate to my family anymore, but I feel I can to the people here."

They made it to their apartment and stood facing each other in front of the door.

"You and Suzie have been extremely good to me. You two make me feel like I belong to a normal family," said Ryo. "I just want to thank you for that. It means more to me than you could imagine."

"Glad to be there," replied Henry. "You make a great roommate. Thanks again for coming tonight. You really helped me out."

Ryo unlocked the door and they walked inside. Henry turned on the lights and Ryo looked around. Suzie had left and the apartment was the empty and still. Despite that, it had a feeling in it that Ryo had never felt anywhere else. It had a feeling of being lived in. The presence of its three usual occupants could be felt all over. It felt like home.

No more words were said between them as the two men went to their separate rooms and prepared to sleep. As Ryo lay in his dark room trying to fall asleep, he thought back on the day and smiled. It felt like a weight had lifted from his chest.

Soon he was sleeping soundly, his dreams full of adventures in the digital world. This time he was older and joined by all of the Tamers and their partners. Together they fought through danger after danger as if it was nothing, working together towards their goal of saving their friend. In what seemed like no time at all the Tamers had made it past all of the dangers to a castle dungeon.

Terriermon and Lopmon broke down the cell door in front of them. Henry and Suzie walked forward and each stretched out a hand to the occupant inside. A tiny figure walked out, clutching a Monodramon plushy to his chest. Child Ryo looked up at older Ryo timidly. Ryo stretched out a hand to his younger self. The little boy grabbed it and Ryo led him out of the cell, introducing him to all of his friends.