Author's Note: Finally here, I'm so glad to be back ^^! I apologize for any grammatical errors, I couldn't wait to get this chapter out!

Disclaimer: All songs mentioned are not of my creation.

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Chapter 12: Capulets and Montagues

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A week later...

Takato arrived at the coffee shop at 9:00 that morning. In an hour, The BanHammer would take on the punk-rock rage of The Disorderlies. Deep inside, Takato felt today would go well. The rehearsals have sounded even better after Rika started picking songs herself. On top of that, Kenta and Kazu managed to make a band webpage, which received a great amount of hits in the past week. Their new reputation and today's quiet set-list would surely win them the first round of BandBlitz. However, Takato could have done without one small perk that morning.

"Is this where you and your friends are going to perform?" Mrs. Matsuki asked excitedly, as she stepped into the coffee shop. Mr. Matsuki followed in with her.

Takato sighed. "Yes mom, we're going to be playing here."

Surprisingly, Matt had phoned the Tamers' parents last night to invite them all to the band's second gig. Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki agreed to go without hesitation.

Takato scanned the view of the coffeehouse. The Capulet Café looked a lot more different from the photos since the pictures were taken in the evening. That morning, the glorious sunshine filled the room from the shop's large front windows, highlighting the wood that panelled the walls and the floors. There were small square tables alone seating four chairs, and in pairs seating six. Takato estimated there to be sixty red leather chairs in total, excluding several benches that were set up against the wall. Beside the front desk was a glass display case full of cakes, strudels, buns, and other pastries. Behind the front desk were shelves of coffee beans, tea bags, creams, and other coffee additives. And at the back of the coffee house was a small stage, behind which hung black drapes. From the single stool that sat upon it, one would assume many poetry readings and solo acts were held upon the stage.

"Hey Takato!" Rika cried. She was already sitting at the back next to the stage, with her mother and Matt.

"Oh, hey Rika!" Takato replied, and then he led his parents towards the back.

...

Soon, the rest of the band members arrived. Henry showed up after Takato, bringing his parents and his sister Suzie. After him, was Kenta with his father, then Kazu with his mother, then Jeri with her mom and dad, and finally, Ryo with his mom and dad.

Once all the Tamers arrived, they started to set up the instruments while Matt and the parents sat down to have a chat.

"It's great to finally meet you Matt." Henry's mother said, "I always wanted to know who keeps feeding Henry all this pizza he talks about." The parents chuckled and nodded in agreement.

Matt replied, "Yes, Mrs. Wong, it's certainly been too long a wait." Then Matt addressed the rest of the parents, saying, " Hello everyone, my name is Matt Ishida, and I am currently the band manager of your children's band as they compete in this year's Shinjuku BandBlitz. I'd be happy clear up any questions you might have concerning the band or the competition."

Mr. Matsuki asked the first question. "So from what I've been told, you approached our kids and asked them to play for you. Why is that? Aren't you in a band of your own?"

"My band has won BandBlitz before, but for personal reasons we've decided not to compete this year. However, I've always wanted to give a band that has never competed at BandBlitz a chance to do so. Then a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon your kids, and I've been helping them out since."

Ryo's mother responded, "But our kids aren't exactly that musically experienced. Except for Ryo and Henry, the rest of them have never picked up an instrument before, let alone play in front of a crowd."

Matt replied, "But I'm sure all of you may have seen videos of them perform or hear the rumours." Several of the parents nodded. "Your children have worked very hard, and in my professional opinion, they actually have more potential than other bands. I've already told them that they've got a good a chance at winning this year."

Kazu's mother responded, "And what happens if they lose BandBlitz? What could you say to them then?"

Matt answered, "They won't accept failure. They're competing for more than just the money."

"What do you mean?" Rika's mother asked.

Matt replied, "From what they've said, they want to fund Mr. Wong's venture into creating some kind of ark to bring their Digimon back from the digital world."

Mrs. Wong then addressed her husband, "Wait, Janyu? Did you ask them to compete so you could continue your research?"

Mr. Wong answered in an astonished tone, "I never asked the kids to help raise any money. I didn't even know there was a prize in all of this."

Mrs. Matsuki commented, "Yes, Takato never said anything about money. How much are the kids going to get if they win this competition?"

"Five-million yen." Matt answered.

There was a brief silence, as the parents grasped their minds over the sum of money at stake.

"Well that's certainly enough to cover all the costs." Janyu replied in shock. He should have known that Henry would have been listening on his talks with Yamaki.

Mrs. Matsuki then asked, "So then if Henry's father didn't ask them to help raise money to build a second ark, then who did?"

Matt responded, "It was Henry. He asked all the Tamers, should they win, if they were willing to invest their share of the prize into helping his father build the ark."

"And I thought they moved on from Digimon." Kenta's mother replied. "It's been so long since the D-Reaper invaded Shinjuku."

Matt commented, "A bond with Digimon isn't easy to move past. Those kids have fought and bled with their Digimon. They trusted each other with their lives and with the protection of their loved ones. It shouldn't be a surprise to you all If I said the kids were doing all of this to see their Digimon."

"That's what will make it worse for them if they lose this." Mrs. Wong said. The parents all nodded in agreement.

"And how do you know about Digimon?" Jeri's father asked.

"Because Mr. Katou, I used to be a Tamer myself." Matt replied.

A short silence swept the parents. At that moment the Tamers joined the table, having finished setting up and changed into wardrobe.

"What are you old people talking about?" Kazu joked.

Then Matt replied. "Hey I'm not that old. And we're not talking about much, just about how I feed you guys nothing but pizza."

The parents chuckled. Then Mrs. Matsuki replied, "If you guys are ever tired of having pizza, just come to our place and we'll cook up something nice."

Then Rika's mother replied, "Yes, you may not like your parents' cooking, but I think we can all make pretty good dinners when we want to." The parents united together in a hearty nod. The Tamers and Matt laughed.

Then a waitress interrupted, holding a tray of steaming mugs. "Coffee for the parents!" she said.

"Oh, but we didn't order any coffee." Henry's mother replied.

"Don't worry, it's on the house." The waitress said politely, and set the tray down on the table so she could hand out the mugs one by one.

Then a second waiter came, this time with a small white plate of some sort of pastry. "And something for the little girl..." he said, placing before Suzie a chocolate raspberry strudel topped with whipped cream, and a mug of warm milk.

Suzie let out a gasp in surprise. Mr. and Mrs. Wong then reminded Suzie to say thank the waiter, and Suzie eccentrically let out a dozen thank-you's to the waiter. The waiter gave a polite nod, and went to the front desk.

Then Rika's mother asked Matt, "Why the free food?"

Matt explained, "Because you're the parents of the band. And today, the band is providing this café entertainment and publicity. This coffee is just a way of saying thank you."

"Then where's our food?" Ryo asked. The Tamers all nodded in excitement.

"I told them not to give you guys any." Matt said, "Don't worry. I'll buy you guys some cinnamon rolls after your performance. Consider it as motivation to do your best." The adults and Suzie chuckled. Then Suzie noticed her brother besides her eyeing her plate in envy. Out of pity and love, she broke off a piece of strudel, smothered it in some whipped cream, and fed it to her brother. Her brother happily accepted. The Tamers and the adults let out a long aww at the sight.

An hour later, the restaurant started to fill at the usual peak times. The Tamers caught a few hushed whispers of people who noticed them, and felt a little pride.

Then Matt's received a text one his cellphone. After reading it he said, "Stay here for a second everyone? I have to go check something." Then Matt got up to approach the front window. At the front, he could see the coffeehouse on the other side of the street, and made out the three band members of The Disorderlies taking up their instruments inside the Montague Manor.

Matt then went back to where the Tamers, the parents, and Suzie were sitting.

"Alright, it's time for us to start." Matt announced.

...

Matt got up to the front of the stage, and tapped the microphone. The tapping was to both test it, and to also get the attention and the curiosity of the customers in the restaurant, which were a mixture of adults and teenagers.

"Good day ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are all enjoying your meal. I would just like to present today's entertainment; a band of talented young, and charming musicians, please give a warm welcome to The BanHammer!"

The crowd clapped, and cheered, as the Tamers got on stage and took their spots. Rika was sitting on a stool in front of her microphone stand, and next to a keyboard she would be playing for the first song. Henry sat on a stool by her left with his electric bass, and Ryo also sat on a stool by her right with his electric guitar. Ryo adjusted a microphone stand in front of him, and tapped it for good measure to make sure it was working.

After, he gave a nod to Rika, and Rika spoke into the microphone. "Thank you for coming everyone to see us perform! We are the BanHammer, and this song we're going to play is called Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John."

Takato clapped his drumsticks four times, and then made a short roll on the toms before going into a quiet, yet groovy beat. Then Ryo entered the song with a simple bass riff to match. Rika whistled a tune into the microphone. The song they were playing was Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John.

Rika started to recite the lyrics of the first verse. "If I told you things I did before, told you how I used to be, would you go along with someone like me? If you knew my story word for word, had all of my history, would you go along with someone like me?"

And then Ryo sang the second verse. "I did before and had my share, it didn't lead nowhere... I would go along with someone like you..." A hushed aww passed the room, and some fan-girls squealed. Rika's and Ryo's mothers also giggled in delight. Ryo blushed a bit, and went on singing:

"It doesn't matter what you did, who you were hanging with. We could stick around and see this night through."

Then Rika and Ryo sang together for the chorus, Rika playing the keyboard as she did so.

"And we don't care about the young folks, talkin' 'bout the young style... and we don't care about the old folks, talkin' 'bout the old style too... and we don't care about their own faults, talkin' 'bout our own style... all we care 'bout is talking... talking only me and you..."

And then the band moved to a short instrumental. The crowd clapped and cheered a bit. Rika could notice Jeri, Kenta, and Kazu, who were returning from the front of the restaurant with a plate of strudel and milk. Then she started to notice that more customers were ordering food to their tables.

Ryo then started to sing the third verse:

"Usually when things have gone this far, people tend to disappear. No one will surprise me unless you do...

Then Rika sang the second half of the verse:

"I can tell there's something goin' on, hours seem to disappear... everyone is leaving, I'm still with you..."

Then they sang together for the pre-chorus:

"It doesn't matter what we do, where we are going to... We can stick around and see this night through."

And the band moved into the chorus.

"And we don't care about the young folks, talkin' bout the young style... and we don't care about the old folks, talkin' bout the old style too... and we don't care about their own faults, talkin' 'bout our own style... all we care 'bout is talking... talking only me and you..."

Then Rika started to whistle, as the band repeated the main riff. All the while, Rika and Ryo repeated the line "Talking only me and you..."

The musicians faded out; first Rika, then Ryo on guitar, then Henry on bass, and finally Takato ended the song with a swift few beats on the snare.

The crowd applauded, and the band bowed, though sitting on stools made it a little awkward. "Thank you!" Rika said into the microphone.

...

The band played a few more songs to pass the hour, including a cover of Taxman by the Beatles, Time To Pretend by MGMT, and most notably, Death Cab For Cutie's I Will Follow You Into the Dark, which Ryo provided accompanying vocals on to win a few more teenage girls (and some mothers) to their fan-base. While the Tamers performed, Matt glanced around the café to see the tables absolutely full, and the waiters and waitresses glancing towards him to give him congratulatory thumbs-ups. Another thing he noticed were some people leaving Montague Manor to watch BanHammer perform.

The hour passed and the BanHammer finished their set-list. Rika finally said into the microphone, "Thank you everyone for coming, and thank you Capulet Café for having us! We hope you all enjoyed your meal here, and it was an honour to perform for you today. We'll be performing here again, hopefully!" And the crowd applauded their loudest ever as the band walked off the stage. The Tamers were greeted by some teenagers and adults who wanted to give them their personal congratulations.

Afterwards a few minutes, the Matt, the parents and the band crew, seeing how exhausted the Tamers were after performing, pulled them aside and sat them at their table.

"You guys did wonderfully!" Matt commented. "I've already ordered cinnamon rolls for you all."

Henry exhaustedly joked, "Finally, our hard-earned sustenance."

Kazu took a sip of his hot chocolate, and then commented, "The cinnamon rolls here are so good!" Kenta nodded in agreement, as he golfed down his fifth serving.

Takato, Rika, and Henry smiled. Jeri pulled up a chair beside Takato, to wipe off some of the sweat off his forehead with some napkins. Takato was happy to have a friend like Jeri.

Ryo addressed Rika, "You sounded really good up there. Something to do with reconciling with your grandmother I suppose?"

Rika smiled and nodded, "Yes, that really inspired me." She was happy to be able to talk about her grandmother with Ryo now. "You sounded even better though. I think plenty more girls will be following you wherever you go, hero-boy." Rika and Ryo chuckled.

Then Matt interrupted everyone, "Don't forget to eat up quickly everyone, we have still have to meet up with the Judge to see if we won this round."

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To Be Continued...

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Author's Note: Finally finished the twelfth chapter! I've had this on my laptop for quite some time, though I never got the chance to finish it with summative projects, and exams, and all. Now that those are done with, and the summer approaches, I can update this story weekly by the latest. I'm also currently in the process of proofreading the previous chapters for some mistakes. So far I've finished Chapters 1-4, and Chapter 10. So don't forget to put this on your story alerts list if you haven't, leave any questions or suggestions for any band names or songs in a review, and check back next in a week or less for the next chapter!

Next Chapter: TBD