For those of you unaware, I am currently in the midst of working on an original novel and I do have classes to worry about so I may not be able to write for fanfiction as much as I'd like. Do not fret. For Children of the Past, Children of the Future, and this story, I will not quit, updates are just going to take a bit longer. Anyway, here is the newest chapter but I'm afraid some of you may not know some of the characters. I'll give you vague descriptions on them. Enjoy! Oh, and please review!

-X-

Jou took a look around at his former classmates that had gathered at a local bar, rented out for their class reunion.

"Has it really been two years since we graduated?" he asked no one in particular. He wasn't even quite sure why he even decided to show up. Jou was often by himself during his high school days, studying for exams and actually doing his schoolwork. He hardly knew anyone from his own class.

"Jou-kun," someone sang, plopping down beside him at his table in the corner.

"Jun!" Jyou blinked. He had almost forgotten that Daisuke's older sister had been in his year. "It's been a while since we last saw each other."

Jun nodded enthusiastically as her best friend, Momoe Inoue, came over to join them on the other side of the booth. The three of them were all connected to Digimon in some way. Actually, both of the girls' siblings were Chosen Children but after the BelialVamdemon incident, they both received their own D-3s and partners.

"How's college treating you?" inquired Momoe.

Jou sighed, giving away the answer which was not good. "I knew that Tokyo University would be challenging but I never expected to walk through it so blindly. Maybe I should've gone to Keio University instead, that would've been easier."

"Still, getting into the top school in the nation? Your parents must be so proud," said Jun.

"Well, my mom is," Jyou chuckled halfheartedly.

Even after all the hardships he had gone through in the Digital World, the monsters and battles he had come to face. His own father still has doubts about Jou becoming a doctor. It was true that he still got a little squeamish at the sight of blood and it was difficult to lay down the hard truth sometimes but it was his dream to help people this way. He's even asked Touma to help him with his studies which seemed to be going fairly well in his opinion.

Momoe suddenly stood up and called someone over. Jou turned back and noticed Rinchei Li, a classmate of Jun's and one of their friends. It was a definite shock to them all when they found out that he, or at least his brother, was involved with Digimon as well.

"Hey guys, long time no see," Rinchei smiled.

"Haven't you gotten popular?" Jun giggled.

"Huh?" Rinchei glanced back at the crowd of people he had just left. "Yeah, it's kind of weird really. I never expected to go from being that lonely, invisible kid to the popular one. But I would rather not be friends with any of them." Rinchei took a seat beside Momoe. "Besides, it's a lot more fun being with you guys."

The four of them never had many friends going through high school. Jou was too focused on academics to notice when someone was trying to be nice to him. Jun was loud and a tad rambunctious, driving people away from her. Momoe was labeled as the weird girl who was friends with Jun and it didn't help that she didn't talk all that much in the first place. Rinchei, he was just picked on because he wasn't like the other guys. He would usually be seen reading a shoujo manga and that didn't help his image at all. Still, none of these four really cared what everyone else thought of them because in the end, they found each other.

They ordered drinks and then talked about everything that had happened since graduating. For three of them, that meant what college life was like and for Rinchei, it was about getting a contract with Marukawa Publishing and getting his own books out there.

"Why did you have to go to Kyoto to study?" Jun whined.

"I wanted to broaden my horizons," was Momoe's reply. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Jou tried to take Jun's glass of whiskey away from her but she swiped it right back. "Maybe you should lay off the hard liquor; you get emotional when you're drunk."

Rinchei nodded in agreement. "Besides, aren't you driving home?"

The other girl sighed loudly, removing her glasses to rub her eyes. "No, I drove her here. She knew that she was probably going to get drunk tonight so she asked me to do it. If it was up to me, I would've probably stayed home with my family."

"Ah, I see," Jyou nodded. "I didn't really want to come either but Gomamon kept insisting that I get out of the house. He probably just wants the computer to himself."

Jun buried her face in her arms. Her flushed cheeks indicating that she still wasn't all there but her speech made it sound like she was. "I had to get out of the house because my parents were nagging and my brother was being annoying. I needed a drink and decided to use the reunion as an excuse."

That was unusual; none of them had ever heard the girl talk so seriously before. But then again, she was stubborn, strong-headed, and abrasive, she probably didn't have many friends in college to really talk to and let out some steam.

Jou was lucky to find someone who was thinking the same way he did in one of his classes so they hit it off almost immediately. As for Momoe, she was quiet but she no longer had the stigma of Jun's presence so making acquaintances became easier. It seemed like they both forgot how hard it must be for Jun.

"Drinking your problems away aren't going to help," Rinchei said to her. "It's only going to make you feel worse in the morning."

"But my problems are in the present, not the morning."

"Then talk to someone about it."

"How can I? My best friend is in another province and I hardly see anyone else I knew really well."

Momoe shook her head. "What are you talking about? We talk all the time online." She placed a hand over her best friend's. "Even though we're kilometers apart, I will always make time for you. And I'm not going to be away forever. Even if I stop talking to you, just ask your brother to nag my sister who will probably nag me, I'll crack before the day is even over."

Jun laughed a little. "Right…"

"And speaking of your brother…," Jou picked up. "Daisuke isn't as bad as you make him out to be. He's certainly matured over the years and while his teammates will admit that he's not the first person to come to for advice, he is the best person to cheer them up when they feel down. If you communicate properly with him, he might surprise you."

A tender smile graced her face. "I know you're right." She took her glass and chugged down the rest of it in one go, causing her companions to stare at her. "What? I'm paying for it and just because you guys made me feel better doesn't mean I'll stop drinking."

The group laughed before ordering another round. Jun berated the rest of them for ordering girly drinks again while they scolded her for getting so much alcohol. Still, it didn't stop them from having an enjoyable conversation about work, their families, and anything else that came to mind.

At some point in the conversation, they were congratulating Jou for getting into Tokyo University like they had during a graduation party thrown by Mimi. Then they let Momoe take the floor and talk about how amazing Kyoto had been. They even talked about going out and buying some copies of Rinchei's work before the night is over.

"All the bookstores will be closed by the end of the reunion though," Rinchei reminded them with a laugh.

"No one said we'd have to stick around until then," Momoe laughed.

They agreed to pack up their stuff and head out now. It wasn't like anyone was going to miss them though they did say some amiable farewells to their former classmates, who knew when they might see each other again. And their classmates returned the gesture with a cheer, not with hostility, just a friendly air.

Winter wasn't going to end for another month so they tightened their clothes around themselves and shivered against the chilly night. They couldn't argue that the streetlamps being reflected on the snowbanks didn't make for a wonderful picture of the dimly lit streets though.

"The stars are beautiful tonight," Rinchei mused, looking skyward.

Jou nodded in agreement. "Our classmates really know how to pick a spot for a reunion. It's so quiet and peaceful here; it's hard to believe that we're still in the densely populated city of Tokyo."

"It's hard to believe all the bad stuff that has happened here actually happened," Jun added.

"Hopefully, nothing worse will happen in the future," Momoe chuckled.

None of them knew if this was true. Tokyo seemed to attract danger in a way but for that one evening, they all felt that it could be. What's so wrong with wishing for a time in the future when everything was at peace? When and where nothing went wrong?

"I'm surprised they knew about that spot," Rinchei remarked, once they were a block away from the neon sign of the bar. "Usually, every place in the city is aglow with fluorescent lights and neon signs from every building. But the lack of lighting here makes it so easy to see the night sky with all its stars."

Momoe nodded in agreement. "It's one of the reasons I went to Kyoto. Almost no matter where you are in the city, you can see the stars at night. It's so wonderful."

Once they hit the bookstore and bought as many texts as their hearts desired at that moment, they started heading back. They needed to get back to their vehicles and drive on home; they didn't really care much for the rest of the reunion. Though admittedly, it wasn't all that bad since they were able to see each other again.

"We should have our own little reunion party or dinner sometime," Jou suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea," Jun agreed, jumping up at the thought. "Let's invite some other people too, really have fun with it."

Momoe giggled as she watched her friend dance in the middle of the sidewalk. "It's certainly not a bad idea. Maybe during summer vacation, when we're still around."

"That reminds me," Rinchei chuckled. "There's going to be a new graduating class of Yagami High next month, isn't there?"

"Koushiro and Mimi's class," Jou nodded.

"We could throw a graduation party for them."

"That's also a great idea."

They made it back to the bar where they started splitting up. Momoe started up her car while Jun asked Jou about his brother before getting pulled into the front seat. After that, Jou got into his own car and said goodbye to Rinchei and both vehicles drove off, leaving the mangaka by his lonesome.

Rinchei reached for his car keys when he heard the door to the bar open. He would've thought nothing of it if he didn't recognize the voices conversing loudly behind him. It made him freeze up and nearly drop his keys.

"Did you see the waitress? Oh man, would I…"

They trailed off when they noticed Rinchei standing there and the half-Chinese boy knew he should be running or jumping into his car but he was glued to the concrete. That is, until one of them spun him around to face them. They were three guys, all former schoolmates, all jerks who used to pick on Rinchei. And all of them in fairly drunken states.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Li?" one of them laughed.

Rinchei had already gotten good with blocking out the mean things some people would say but he could judge from the shape of their lips what they were saying. Just because he didn't hear it, doesn't mean their words couldn't sting.

"It looks like you don't have those underclassmen to help you out of this one," another one of them grinned, his breath stinking of booze. "Yagami and Ishida aren't here to save you now."

Rinchei wasn't sure what would come next. More taunting or a beat down? Whatever was supposed to happen, didn't.

"Oi! Leave him alone!"

They all turned their heads to see Taichi there, sitting on his bike with a boxed cake from Matsuda Bakery attached. He must've been delivering it to the bar for the reunion party. Even if he wasn't, Rinchei was grateful to see him there.

"Hmph, and what are you going to – Whoa!"

A car had suddenly come charging down the road and it climbed right over the curb and nearly ran over one of the jerks. The passenger side window rolled down and Jun's glaring face was there. "You better just go inside before I force Momoe to crush you."

"Yeah, that's going to happen," Momoe groaned from inside.

The three bullies ran back inside, afraid that Jun might actually go through with it. Once they slammed the door behind them, Rinchei's knees gave out; he hadn't realized how scared he was to see those guys again. He nearly collapsed if Taichi hadn't helped him back up.

"Are you okay?" Taichi asked.

"I'm fine…," Rinchei nodded. "Thanks… again."

"It reminds me of when we first met, huh."

"When you saved me from those guys back then too?"

Rinchei was really grateful for them. Taichi had seen them while biking to his delivery destination so he sped up and Jun had noticed something off from her mirror so she told Momoe to turn around. It was a good thing too.

The girls and Rinchei glanced at each other before they all burst out laughing, leaving Taichi a tad puzzled but even so, he still smiled when he saw that they were happy. "This has been one heck of a class reunion."