Takato stared at his contact list. He sighed.

He never knew what to say in these conversations. They were always a little awkward, but he didn't want to ignore his friend. He pressed the call button.

The phone rang twice, then:

"Hello, Juri?"

"Takato!" Juri's voice was as bright and cheerful as ever. "Hey! It's good to hear from you."

Takato was pretty sure that he and Juri had both liked each other, back in the day. He had even confessed his feelings to her, although it had turned out he was talking to an evil clone at the time. They might have gotten together, but it had never been the right time. After defeating the D-Reaper, Takato was consumed with trying to reunite everyone with their digimon partners. Then, after the second trip to the digital world, Juri's family moved, and they rarely ever got to see each other.

"How's Culumon doing?" Said Takato. "Still up to their usual antics?"

"Haha, yep."

"Gosh, it's been a while since we've talked." said Takato, "I got a chance to meet everyone at the con. I don't know if you caught the stream of our panel, but it seems like they're doing really well. We were all thinking of you."

"That's great! I didn't watch the stream though, unfortunately. You know how I feel about all that."

"Yeah…" Takato was silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry that I didn't go to see everyone." Said Juri. "It must seem like I'm the odd one out."

"No, don't worry about it. I mean, the con was started to celebrate the defeat of the D-Reaper, and we all know what that time was like for you. No one blames you for staying away from it all."

There was a long pause. Takato started to wonder if the call had dropped, but Juri spoke again.

"I guess I never told you what it was like, though. Inside the Kernel, I mean."

"Hey, if you don't want to, that's okay. I totally understand." Said Takato.

"No, it's alright. I want to talk about it."

"Then I'm all ears."

"It was… It was like being stuck inside my own head with the worst despair imaginable."

Takato stayed silent, waiting for her to continue.

"I kept remembering all the awful things I had done in my life; all the times I had done something stupid, or embarrassing, or ungrateful. I kept flashing back to Leomon's death… and my mother's."

"Juri, that's awful." Said Takato. "I'm so sorry."

"I kept having the thought that I only ever caused problems and made things worse. Like If I had never been born, none of all that bad stuff would have happened, and everyone would be happy. I know now that that was just the result of the D-Reaper feeding off my negative emotions, but at the time, it seemed like the absolute truth."

"I can't imagine what it must have been like." Said Takato. "And you were stuck in there for over a week. It must have seemed like an eternity. If I had been able to save you sooner- If I hadn't run away when I did…"

"Don't say that." Said Juri. "You made the right decision; to pull out of a losing fight and come back better prepared. I don't blame you for anything that happened. I forgave Impmon, and I even forgave myself, so I certainly don't hold anything against you."

"Oh man, why are you the one reassuring me?" Said Takato. "I think I messed up this conversation somewhere along the line."

Juri laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm doing okay, really. I mean, there's always going to be a part of me that still hurts from those memories. Some days, it hurts worse than others, but I decided a long time ago that I was going to let the past be the past. I promised myself I would keep my chin up, and keep looking ahead."

Takato chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"I always thought I was the brave one in the group, but you've got me beaten, hands down. I should turn over my digivice right now."

"You mean you don't have the app yet?"

"Well," said Takato, "it's not as if Guilmon and I are battling wild digimon anymore, so I don't really need an app. Although I did need to use a blue card so that MegaloGrowmon could fly us home after the con. Anyway, the app just seems too complicated. I'll take the stylish, classic option any day."

"'Stylish'? You know those things are basically just toys, right? I mean, even those trading cards you use for power-ups are from a game for kids. In fact, now that I think about it, it seems like an awfully frivolous thing to to rely on for saving the world."

"Hey!" Said Takato. I would take offense to that, if you didn't actually make a really good point."

"Maybe the digivices take that shape because of the feelings you associate with the card game." Said Juri. "Emotions are just another type of data after all. I mean, Impmon was able to evolve after his partner gave him a toy ray gun, right? Maybe toys are the best medium for connecting us with digimon because we love them so much. We can put all of our feelings into them, and then send that energy to our partners."

"That's a pretty liberal definition of 'data' you have there." Said Takato. "But yeah, I think I know what you mean. And kids love their phones now, so I guess that's what works for them."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward pause.

"Um, so," said Takato, "I had a really great time catching up with everyone, so I was thinking of trying to do something like that again soon. I mean, not with everyone, right away. It's pretty much impossible to get seven adults and seven digimon in the same room at the same time. You know how it is with scheduling. Ruki, Renamon, and Jian are always really busy, and Ryo and Cyberdramon are out of the country, but maybe we could work out something with a few of the others."

"Yeah, I'd really love that." Said Juri. "Ooh, I can't wait to see Guilmon again. Is he still as cute as he's always been?"

"He actually got kinda fat." Said Takato. "All that bread, you know?"

"Aah! I have to see him now! I wanna squish his chubby face!"

"Alright, calm down, you big weirdo. I'll be in touch then, okay? And I'll tell Guilmon you said 'hi'."

"Sounds good." Said Juri. "I'll talk to you soon then."

"Bye, Juri."

"Bye!"