Chapter 10: Someday in the Snow

The weather forecast could not have been more wrong. As it neared Christmas, Kyoto was being pelted by a burst of snowfall. The streets and roofs never stayed white for very long, melting within hours. It was consistent but always seemed to leave as quickly as it came. A winter wonderland it was not. Most of the time, it was nothing but sleet that turned foul as it touched the ground.

Mamoru wondered if Susumu was having fun. That kid was the only personal imaginable who could be enjoying this. The sudden plunge in temperature around Kyoto had made it miserable to go anywhere outdoors. Even in his dorm, it was freezing since he only had basic heating. Reina must be enjoying her kotatsu at home. Doing work was a bitterly cold experience, and trudging to class was no better. The paths were now congested, and the compacted snow often refroze turning the pavements slick.

Winter break was still over a week away and could not come soon enough. With his first semester routine disrupted by his commitments as a DigiDestined, he had been pushed into living deadline to deadline. Even his urge to read ahead during the break to save himself, so trouble was being suppressed. Really, Mamoru just wanted to lay down for a day or two and finally do nothing.

"Oi, Mamoru, are you paying attention?" Asuka jabbed his arm using her chopsticks.

"Oh, come on." Mamoru groaned as he reached for his napkin. "That's disgusting."

"I haven't touched the food with them yet."

"You have terrible manners." He sighed.

"Only because it's you." She sneered.

Mamoru ignored her and continued to eat his curry rice. The campus cafeteria was still lively despite the consistent inclement weather outside. It seemed to be busier than usual since everyone was less willing to travel out for lunch. Asuka had initially planned to eat at the café under the Yoshida clocktower. Perhaps she was making up for Mamoru's reluctance to pay more for lunch by being extra irritating.

"How come I never see you around campus with Reina?" Asuka asked between bites of her fried mackerel.

"Why would you? We aren't even in the same course."

"Neither am I, but I still find time to meet you after my economics lecture each week."

"How's your coursework going by the way?"

There was a sharp crack as Asuka slammed her chopsticks into the table. "I was just talking about that. You weren't paying attention at all."

He gave her a lacklustre shrug before eating another spoon full of his curry. "So why are you asking about Reina."

"Aren't you guys good friends now, with all your digital animal stuff?"

Mamoru narrowed his eyes. It was not clear if she was prying. Then again, Asuka was so over the top with her usual attempts that it often lulled him into a false sense of security. "I guess? I haven't seen her in person since November."

"Oh?" she made a slight smile. "Was it the day she went to your room?"

He resisted the urge to audibly groan again. Though it could be worse. Asuka would be going berserk if she knew that he had stayed overnight at Reina's house. Even if it was by accident. "Don't get any strange ideas. It was a meeting. And Kodai did show up."

"She wasn't at your bamboo outing?"

"No… she still forced me to go." Mamoru rolled his eyes.

"Forced you?" Asuka's smile had grown into a smirk. "Wasn't Noriko there?"

"It was a group outing." He protested.

"Anymore "group" outings soon?" She said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"We wanted to all go for a shrine visit on New Year's Eve. But Reina insists that everyone come. So that's unlikely to go ahead.

"The only important thing for you is if Noriko is there, right?" Asuka had her index finger out and a smug look on her face.

"What do you want Asuka? The food is getting cold."

"At first I thought you were going for Reina, but now it seems like you've changed to Noriko." She covered her mouth in faux embarrassment, her smirk still clearly visible.

He almost choked on the curry as he heard that. "What the hell? I know gossiping is your hobby but don't do this to me."

"Hey, you're the one sending all these mixed signals." Asuka shrugged.

"What signals?" A scowl came over Mamoru's face. "Stop imagining things."

"I'm not, Reina told me." Her expression was starting to change to one of genuine confusion.

"She thinks I am making a move on her?" He spat, literally. There were droplets all over his side of the table

"Now who's the one with terrible manners?" Asuka said as she rolled her eyes. "She doesn't. Reina just complains about your anti-social behaviour all the time."

"Should you really be telling me this?" Mamoru said before realizing that she gave away that information as a distraction. "Wait, the signals."

"Your leading Noriko on," she now had a lyrical tone, clearly enjoying herself.

"What does that even mean?"

"Oh come on, you don't see it?" Asuka playfully chided.

"No, I really don't. I've never met here alone or anything." Mamoru was convinced that Asuka just saw what she wanted to. Her typical way to inject drama into otherwise mundane life.

"Please," Asuka said, dramatically turning her nose up at him. "You go wherever she is."

"We have the same job," Mamoru was exasperated. "It's just a coincidence."

"Oh, really?" she said with a sly smile. "What about your little 'occult research' trip."

Mamoru threw his head back in frustration. Reina had said way too much to her. He had assumed from their conversation with Takeru and Hikari that there were some underlying romantic entanglements in the group. Finding out he was somehow embroiled in it was surprising. Not to mention frustrating.

"The one time I decide to do something on a whim, and people read everything into it." He grumbled.

"You really don't see it?" Asuka was close to scoffing.

"This is what I get for being proactive." Mamoru rested his head on his left hand.

Asuka pushed up her red glasses before giving him a cloying smile. "Butting in on her and Yasushi. Poor boy, having his senpai do that to him" She said, shaking her head.

"Noriko never told me he planned it." Mamoru started. "It explains a lot now that I think about it."

She looked away and sighed. "How can you not notice this kind of thing?"

"How was I supposed to know?"

"Reina knew…" Asuka said with a raised eyebrow.

"She's been hanging out with them for way longer."

"More like you never bothered to get to know any of them very well." She was pouting now, completely unconvinced. Asuka cut him off as he was about to respond. "Before you say anything, just remember that we were in the same school with them."

"They weren't in our class. They're not in our year. Not even any clubs we were in." Mamoru knew he was getting nowhere but still tried to protest.

"You guys have all your Digi-stuff." Her eyes narrowed. "You never talked to any of them at all? In all those years?"

"I talked to Kodai and Reina… kind of."

"So basically," She said, wagging her finger. "Reina was in our school, in our year, and you basically had the same 'after-school club'. But you never bothered to talk to even her."

All Mamoru could do was shrug. "I didn't want to get too involved."

"Well, you are now." Asuka's left cheek was pushed up against the palm it was resting on, giving her an extremely fed-up look. "Who gets into a group and doesn't bother to find out what is happening."

"It's mostly a job, Asuka."

"No excuses. You're still leading Noriko on. Even if you were too obtuse to see or find out."

"I'm not." Mamoru folded his arms. "I didn't know."

"Reina said she joined the student council because of you."

"That's a terrible reason," Mamoru decried. "Who reads into stuff this much or in this way? Would Kaori or Haruka be doing this?"

"Yes, my friends would." Asuka was exceedingly unamused now. "Mamoru, anyone would see this. Except you apparently."

He opened his mouth to respond, but no words he could think up seemed adequate.

"Did you seriously not notice anything? Reina was pretty sure that even you had to know. With or without getting gossip from the group."

"You two talk too much."

"Stop deflecting," Asuka felt that she had won and resumed eating.

"Okay, okay. I was oblivious. I concentrated too much on how to manage the Digimon stuff and university."

There was the smug look of victory on her face. "So…" Her voice had changed back to cloying. "Do you like Noriko?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. What an inane question. "Of course not." He sighed. "Do you think if I am direct that she will finally stop calling me senpai?"

"Mamoru, how did that fact not already clue you in?" Asuka shook her head again.

"I thought she was just like that?"

"Who would just act like that."

"Well… she reminds me a lot of you. So I just—"

"You just assumed nothing was going on." Asuka huffed. "And then you got comfortable."

Mamoru gave her an apologetic smile. "You remember in our second-year when Kaori and Haruka started speculating about—"

"We talked about it." Her brows were now furled.

"I know. Do they still think that?"

"A little bit. I mean, we are meeting for lunch now." Asuka was starting to sound uncharacteristically evasive. It was hard to believe that this issue was still mildly festering after so many years.

"Don't you meet them every other day?"

"… Haruka's my roommate. How do you forget these things?"

"Is that really important information to have?" Mamoru said with some cheek.

"You ever wonder why they are just my friends instead of our friends?" Asuka retorted.

"We tried that. It was exceedingly awkward. Mainly because of them."

"Can you blame them?" She threw her head up, letting her hair spill over the chair. It reminded him of Reina, their hair having the same obsidian colour.

"Not really." Mamoru began to drum his fingers on the table. A sense of melancholy was starting to creep into their conversation. "I guess, Noriko just reminds me a lot of you."

Asuka's face went slightly red at this. "So that means you do—"

"We already tried that." Mamoru sighed. "I still think it's weird to see any of this as flirting or whatever. But I'm not interested in her. You know the reasons."

"Kaori and Haruka don't think that."

"Do you? We would have changed our whole back and forth by now. As fun as this is."

"Well," She flicked her hair back. "I suppose this is just natural now. No matter what anyone else thinks."

With the lull in their conversation, Mamoru returned to his food. He gagged on a spoonful of curry. It had gone completely cold as they were talking. His remaining appetite evaporated as he shuffled his food around in the hopes of getting it to at least a tepid state.

Asuka seemed to interpret his actions as either discomfort or boredom. "So, are you going to tell me about that light over Kyoto last month?"

"Oh, it was actually two Digimon," Mamoru said as he started thinking of a way to explain what had happened.

"Yours and Reina's?"

"No, they were the Digimon partners of two other students from Tokyo."

She stroked her chin thought. "So, this has something to do with the Digimon attack in Tokyo. I bet it's not a coincidence."

As usual, it was not going to be possible to hoodwink Asuka. "We aren't exactly sure what is going on, but the original DigiDestined in Tokyo think that it's not going to stop."

"Are you guys in some kind of organization?" She said with her head tilted.

It did sound like they were taking orders from some centralized leadership. If only it were that structured instead of being just a collection of student volunteers. "Not really, we're just doing what we can."

"Isn't there a government agency supposed to handle this instead of a bunch of students? Those guys, the National Data Processing Bureau made a statement, right?" Asuka said, whipping out her phone to do an internet search.

"We already checked who they were, nothing much came up." He replied, even though it would not dissuade her.

"Well, it says that JAXA just launched a new satellite from Tanegashima for them called the Butterfly III. Why would they need one of those, with such a weird name?"

Before Mamoru could respond, his Digivice buzzed with a new alert. The push notification told him that there was a Digimon appearance at the Heian Shrine at little south of the school. Interestingly, there was now an option for him to view the details of the alert. This but be one of the improvements Yuki made after what happened at Arashiyama.

"Something come up?" Asuka said. She knew that his phone hardly ever received messages unless it was for something important.

"Digimon appeared, I'm looking at the details."

They were now able to identify the number and estimated power level of a Digimon. It still could not account for the evolution virus and how it changed their power level, but it was a remarkable step forward from giving them just a rough location only a few months ago.

"It's a minor one, just a rookie level Digmon." He said out loud. There were a few strange looks from the students at the tables near him who overheard it.

"You guys have really weird terminology," Asuka replied with a giggle.

Mamoru just shrugged and continued to monitor the LINE group. Although what happened at Arashiyama had been disturbing, it seemed to have been a one-off event. Everyone else could Digivolve normally after that. This appearance should be no problem for just one person to handle.

"Is Reina at school today?" Mamoru asked.

"Huh? Why would I know that?" Asuka sounded mildly irritated at this.

"You talk to her? Probably more than me?"

"Mamoru, you're the one that goes on all these adventures with her. Why would you expect me to know it?"

It sounded like she was insinuating something, but Mamoru decided to let it slide. "Nevermind, I think I have her schedule somewhere on my phone."

Reina's class schedule was blank for the day. Mamoru cursed internally; there was no chance she would be on campus today. Another message popped up on his phone. It was Yuki saying that she was heading to the Digimon appearance. The shrine was roughly in-between Kyodai and Kacho Girl's High.

"Reina's not at school today," Mamoru saw her crack a smile at this statement. "but someone else is already heading down to deal with it."

"Okay, so you don't need to go, right?"

"Well…" He started to scratch his head. "The rule is two people minimum to handle an appearance, but it's a really low powered Digimon so one person should be more than enough."

"Isn't that rule there for a reason?" Asuka narrowed her eyes.

"Yes?" He said hesitantly, "but that was before we got the ability to check how strong a Digimon probably is."

"Probably? Really Mamoru, just go and make sure that the other person doesn't get hurt. I am not going to be your way of justifying your reluctance."

"Tanaka Asuka…" He grumbled. Maybe they knew each other too well. "Your right, it's irresponsible to just let Yuki handle this alone."

She narrowed her eyes again at the mention of another girl's name. Mamoru rolled his eyes and waved her off. He stood up and began to put on his parka.

"At least finish your food."

"It's been cold for a while now," Mamoru said, "See you soon. And say hi to Kaori and Haruka for me. It's been a while."

Asuka gave him an exaggerated wink and a thumbs-up as he left the cafeteria. The cold bit into him the moment he walked out of the heated building. It was days like this he regretted wearing not having a scarf. It was not snowing now, but the sky was overcast. There was an occasional gust of wind that dried his eyes out as he walked down Higashioji avenue. Perhaps Asuka was right, he was becoming lax. Mamoru felt embarrassed that he thought about letting Yuki go alone. Even if it was quite a hassle. He wanted to quicken his pace, but the black sleet made it impossible. Yuki had probably reached the shrine already.

He turned left at the Tokunari Bridge and followed the canal away from the Kamo River. As he turned onto Sakuranobaba street, he could see the tall structure of Kyoto Kaikan. The modern concert hall heavily contrasted with the turquoise and red, Meiji-era temple next to it. Mamoru had only been here once before a few months ago. He had accompanied Asuka and her friends on the way to a performance they were watching. It was only recently that he found out they were there to see their juniors in the concert band play.

He received a message from Yuki telling him to go to the eastern temple gardens. She was waiting on a bridge over the pond observing the Digimon that appeared. At least nothing terrible had happened if she was able to wait and see what the Digimon did. Mamoru found the shrine grounds to be empty as he made his way through the central courtyard. The weather had been foul enough to deter most visitors.

Skirting the large pond's edge, he saw the lone figure of Yuki standing in the middle of the Taihei-kaku bridge. Thrashing in the water nearby was an odd orange animal. It appeared to have fur and black spikes protruding from its back. Gomamon was standing next to Yuki, both looking intently at the Digimon, following its every move. She was clad in a salmon-coloured scarf. As he got close, he could see the tan-coloured trench coat she wore was identical to the one Natsuki had. It made her look much more fashion-conscious compared to when she was in just her school uniform.

"How long have you been here?" Mamoru asked as he reached the pavilion at the centre of the bridge.

"Ten minutes?" Yuki said, keeping her eyes fixed on the Digimon paddling around in the water.

"It hasn't done anything since then?"

Yuki shook her head. "I am not sure how to send it back to the digital world without starting a fight. Gizamon are known to be aggressive in the water."

"It's only a rookie Digimon," Mamoru mused. "If we Digivolved and immediately attacked, we could probably knock it out in one blow."

She turned to him, adjusting her glasses by their temple. "That seems a bit excessive." She said flatly.

"When did you wear glasses?"

"I always wore them. It is too dry for contacts." She said without skipping a beat.

Despite her demeanour, it seemed that Yuki was also fairly conscious about her appearance. Whether this was due to influence from Natsuki or what gave them a connection in the first place was difficult to say.

"So, what do you propose we do then?" Mamoru asked. They were now both just standing out in the cold, watching a Digimon merrily paddle around the temple pond.

"I wonder if there is a to lure it to us without fighting."

"Like fishing for it?" It would have been better if Reina had been in school. She would be more robust in coming up with ways to solve this without violence.

"That is one way to put it," Yuki said in her monotonous tone.

Mamoru wondered if this was her way of expressing her disdain without being direct. Unable to come up with any ideas, he brought Hagurumon out of his Digivice to see if he could think up anything.

"I could electrify the water?" Hagurumon said. It was distinctly unproductive to their objective, but it was precisely what Mamoru had come up with a few minutes ago.

"Is that all you and your partner can come up with." Yuki's tone was still incredibly dull, much more than usual. She was definitely irritated.

As they continued to rack their brains, the snowfall began to intensify. It had initially been a light powder, but it was now starting to blanket the ground. The snow covered the dirty sleet with a pure white coating returning the temple to its majestic winter state.

"Umm," A voice called out from behind them. They had concentrated so much on the Gizamon that they did not notice the person walking up to them. Mamoru turned to see a tall man with a white overcoat on top of his winter wear. Was he a researcher? Or maybe a doctor? Immediately, his mind started concocting an explanation for their Digimon.

The man pushed up glasses, phone in hand. A closer look revealed that he was holding a D-4. "Sorry— I got an alert that was a Digimon." He sounded quite nervous for someone who, given his age, was probably far more experienced than them.

"Umm— Where is your partner?" Yuki replied nervously. She had been fine when it was just the Kyoto DigiDestined around. It seemed like she reverted to the state which Mamoru had first met her in.

He nervously laughed. "It's a long story. Maybe the other's have mentioned me? I'm one of the DigiDestined from Tokyo, Kido Jou."

"I am Akiyama Yuki," she said with a bow before gesturing over to him. "This is Sanada Mamoru."

"Are you a doctor?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah," He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess my coat makes it really obvious."

"Kido-san, that means your one of the four who's partner is…"

"Yes," His voice turned stoic. It must have been a difficult thing to bring up. "I was still hoping I could be helpful since I'm in town."

"Kido-san—" Yuki squeaked. "We are trying to— send this Digimon back— without fighting."

Jou brought his hand to his chin as he observed the Gizamon. "I think it's possible. Who are your Digimon partners?"

Hagurumon was already in plain sight, floating next to Mamoru. Gomamon revealed himself from behind Yuki, waving with his front paw.

"Gomamon!" The sudden shout from Jou seemed to have shocked him into retreating behind Yuki. Despite being the more outgoing of the pair Mamoru had met near Furukawacho, Gomamon had the same shy tendencies as Yuki.

"Sorry," Jou blurted out. His expression had changed to what Mamoru could only describe as melancholic. "Gomamon was my partner. Or rather a Gomamon, I guess."

Mamoru wondered what it must be like to see the spitting image of a friend that was long gone.

"Kido-san?" Yuki said, a great deal calmer now. "Are you… alright?"

Jou inhaled a deep breath before perking his shoulders up. "Yes, I will be. Thank you for asking." He said, looking earnestly at them. "I think I know how to solve your problem."

He walked toward the edge of the bridge and looked down into the water. It was slightly murky, making it difficult to see far into the water's depths. Mamoru saw there were a few red and white koi fish swimming near the bridge. It had not become cold enough for them to go into hibernation.

"Gomamon's marching fishes should be able to surround the Gizamon and push him toward us," Jou said after verifying that there were fish in this pond.

"It can be used like that?" Yuki asked. "I thought it was an attack?"

"It's not very effective as an attack actually. In the digital world, we used it for all kinds of things. Mostly to get around water or push our raft."

To Mamoru, this was more proof that the Tokyo DigiDestined were not just beyond them in terms of raw power. They knew so much more about their Digimon's abilities and how to use them. At least they found a solution that did not involve electrifying the pond and killing all the koi fish.

"Will the Gizamon react to the fishes and attack?" Yuki inquired. Her anxiety seemed to be in check. She was probably interested in finding more information about her partner from Jou.

"Gizamon's attack is to roll into a ball and use its fins as a saw blade. If the fishes jostle it from the sides, they won't be hurt. It will probably even make things easier since there is a limited number of directions it can move in."

There was a nod from Yuki, satisfied with the plan. "Gomamon? Are you ready?"

Gomamon raised his paw in a salute before diving into the frigid water. There was the sound of churning as the fishes responded to his request. They were like a swarm of locust, splitting into two groups, flanking the Gizamon. There was a cry of surprise from the Digimon as the fish made contact and began to push it toward the bridge.

Mamoru turned to Yuki, who silently nodded. She bent over the bridge railing, holding out her D-4 towards the on-coming Digimon. It had begun to spin rapidly, turning into an orange blur. Water sprayed into the air as the Gizamon picked up speed. The Digimon almost seemed to skip across the water with its astonishing velocity. Mamoru was beginning worry. They had never attempted to use the gate function on a Digimon mid-attack.

"Kido-san?" Mamoru started.

"It will work, trust Koshiro's design."

As reassuring as Jou's words were, Mamoru still felt something would go wrong. He moved closer towards Yuki, prompting Hagurumon to be on alert. The Gizamon launched from the surface of the pond towards them. Its trajectory was too high to hit them, intending to bring down the bridge's roof instead. Yuki had climbed onto the lower rungs of the guard rail and was on the tip of her toes. She was nowhere near tall enough to intercept the Digimon.

"Hagurumon, Gear Crash!"

The metallic Digimon soared into the air and connected with the Gizamon. Their attacks were equally forceful, sending sparks flying as the two pushed against each other. Hagurumon's electrical current surged, creating a brilliant yellow light. Gizamon's rotation began to slow as Mamoru's partner intensified the electrical barrier around himself.

Yuki leaned back, the two Digimon slightly behind her. She was just in time to catch the falling Gizamon which had finally exhausted its momentum against Hagrumon's electric barrier. The wild Digimon was sucked into her phone before she lost her balance. Mamoru rushed forward and managed to break her fall. He cursed himself for his lack of physical fitness as he buckled under the force.

It was embarrassing, mainly for Mamoru. Yuki was more than a head shorter than him. He should have been able to easily catch her. After colliding with Mamoru, Yuki had succeeded in remaining upright. She staggered away after transferring the energy of the fall to him. Mamoru lay flat on the floor, staring into the ceiling as he contemplated his ineptitude.

"Are you okay?" Yuki said, squatting down next to him.

Mamoru did not look at her. Only raising his hand to wave her away. He just wanted to lay there for a while. From the corner of his vision, he could see Gomamon leap back onto the wooden deck of the bridge and shake himself dry.

"Here," Jou said, his hand outstretched. After a deep breath, Mamoru grabbed it and pulled himself up.

"Not quite what we had hoped for," Mamoru said, "but much better than what normally happens."

Yuki sighed, though she responded to his statement with a nod.

"No need to be so hard on yourselves," Jou said with a smile. "Every time this happens in Tokyo, there is normally quite a bit of damage."

His words felt reassuring, but Mamoru could come up with any number of reasons why that was the case. Tokyo was much more densely populated than Kyoto. From the report he saw on TV, it also seemed like the Digimon that appeared there were much stronger. He suspected that black mechanical dinosaur he had seen on the news was a mega level Digimon. It took four ultimate level Digimon to subdue.

"By the way," Jou started. "since you're not in a school uniform, would you happen to be one of the DigiDestined from Kyoto University?"

"Yes, I am," Mamoru replied. "Koshiro-san must keep all of you very well informed."

"Koshiro?" Jou said with a confused look. "I guess you guys in Kyoto would think he is our leader. He is doing most of the organizing since he has the resources for it. Taichi is the one really calling the shots."

"Taichi?" Yuki repeated softly.

"Maybe you know him as Yagami-san?" Jou's eyes were looking up, trying to recall something. "If not, you'll definitely know him as one of Omnimon's partners."

"I vaguely remember what he looks like." Mamoru said, "Though it was more than ten years ago. The summer where there was a massive hacking incident."

"That's it," Jou nodded before turning to Yuki. "I guess you were probably a bit too young to be aware of it at the time."

"I have only seen videos of the fight."

"During the whole thing, I was actually stuck in cram school. I only found out after it was over." Jou laughed.

Mamoru wondered if he was guilty of that as well. Sitting in class or at home during high school while the others were handling a severe problem. It had probably happened, though not to the same extent as the incident in Tokyo. Until this year, the only time he had abandoned his classes was when he first Digivolved to Wisemon.

"Anyway," Jou continued. "I'm supposed to visit a professor at your university. Could you show me the way there? It would be a big help."

"From the Medicine Faculty? Sorry, I don't really know my way around there. I'm at the Faculty of Letters."

"Perfect," Jou said, clapping his hands together. Mamoru was confused. What other reason would he be visiting a university for? "Do you know Takenouchi-sensei?"

The name sounded familiar. More than just seeing that on the faculty staff list at school. "The anthropology professor? I've heard of him, but I'm not in his course."

"You're still in the same faculty, right? Could you show me to his office? I'm supposed to meet him soon, but my brother forgot to pass me the details."

"Sure, I'm heading back to campus anyway." Mamoru wondered if Asuka had gone to the library. He could catch up on some work after this. "Yuki, you want to come? I'm heading to the library afterwards if you need to get some work done."

"I am not sure. The computer club is expecting me back."

"Is it an official meeting?"

Yuki shook her head.

"Then you might as well see what a university library is like."

"Our project is due in a few weeks…"

"Is that why you can't come for the New Year's Eve shrine visit?"

Yuki shied away before nodding slightly.

"You can work in the library as well," Mamoru said, pointing towards her laptop bag.

This seemed to have convinced her. They began making their way back towards Kyoto University. This time through the east Yoshida neighbourhood. The fresh layer of snow made it cumbersome to walk, but they maintained a steady pace.

"What's the Kacho High computer club doing anyway?" Mamoru asked.

"It was supposed to be a game jam," Yuki said, shyer than usual. "But the other girls wanted to do something more serious. We entered a competition to make virus detection software."

Mamoru was intrigued. It sounded like something beyond the level of high schoolers. Though Kacho Girls High was considered an elite private school in Kyoto. Much harder to gain entry to than municipal schools like Todoh. His own high school had neither a long history, unlike the prestigious public schools, nor a private school's money. Elite schools like Kacho tended to attract these kinds of ambitious students.

"That's quite interesting," Jou said. "It's probably not similar at all, but my medical specialization is in virology. Though I just finished my residency, so I'm really just a beginner."

Jou was exceedingly modest, going to medical school was difficult enough. His ability to continue in such a research-heavy speciality probably meant he had performed incredibly well.

"Kido-san," Mamoru began. He wondered if he should actually be addressing him as sensei since he was a doctor. Since Jou did not seem to mind, he decided not to correct himself. "How come you're meeting someone from my faculty?"

"I guess it is pretty odd." Jou mused. "It's more about Digimon than my regular job."

"Digimon? Why would an anthropology professor be involved with that? He specializes in religion and culture." Mamoru was even more confused. He had expected Digimon research to be done by the computer science faculty.

"Well," Jou began, pausing for quite a while afterwards. It was clearly complicated given the amount of time he spent trying to distil his thoughts. They had entered the main campus and were passing the clock tower.

"I think I'll just let my brother and Takenouchi-sensei explain it. I'm not that great with this stuff myself." He said with an apologetic smile.

They entered the east building of the Faculty of Letters. There was the odd stare at the unusual company with him; a doctor, and a high school girl. Mamoru hoped that no one recognized him. If some rumour filtered back to Asuka, her mind would probably run riot with all the speculative gossip she could concoct. They arrived at the professor's office and knocked on the door.

"Go ahead," a voice said from inside. Jou opened the door, revealing the professor and another man that Mamoru had never seen.

"It's been a while, Takenoichi-sensei," Jou said looking at the man behind the desk. He turned to the other person sitting. "Shuu, you forgot to send me the directions to the office."

"Sorry, Jou," Shuu replied.

"Luckily, I ran into the two DigiDestined who knew their way around."

Mamoru was forced to introduce Yuki since she was too anxious to speak. The professor took out a stack of notes from his desk before joining them.

"Wait, I know you," the professor said. "Your Hayase-sensei's student, right? The one who published recently."

"Yes," Mamoru responded stiffly. "I take his classes on ancient philosophy."

"Ah, I see." The professor smiled. "No wonder you know your way around."

"Takenouchi-sensei," Jou asked, "have you managed to figure anything out about the Four Symbols?"

What did mythology have to do with Digimon?

"We're still in the middle of our research so today will be brief. I suspect that there is a resonance between the sovereigns and their respective seasons. Though I can't prove any of it without more data. That will probably have to wait for spring."

Mamoru contemplated interjecting to ask for a full explanation. But it seemed distinctly rude. They seemed to notice this, likely from the expression on his face that everyone kept telling him he had.

"Ah, my apologies." The professor said. "I think you kids in Kyoto don't know much."

Both Mamoru and Yuki silently nodded at his statement.

"Even though Digimon are related to computer software, they seem to have a supernatural element to them." Noriko would have been on edge if she heard that. "There is a correlation between our mythology and Digimon behaviour. As you might have noticed, there are more Digimon appearances in Kyoto than anywhere else in Japan. We think that it is connected to the concentration of spiritual energy here."

Mamoru started to digest what the professor had told him. Spiritual energy sounded like complete nonsense in the digital age. Though, thinking back to their Digimon encounters. They were overwhelming at shrines or other places in nature. There seemed to always be Torii gates nearby when they were battling Digimon.

The professor seemed to sense his scepticism. "Spiritual energy is just a term I'm using. There is a high correlation between Digimon appearances and religious sites. The whole of Kyoto has been one big spiritual area since the construction of the Imperial Place during the Heian period. While it may not have anything to do with actual kami, the correlation is too strong to just be a coincidence."

"What about the seasons and these sovereigns?" Mamoru asked.

Before professor Takenouchi could reply, Jou stopped him. "Taichi said there is nothing to worry about now. We'll tell you when we are more certain."

Mamoru became irate remembering what Takeru and Hikari had told him. "Does this have anything to do with convergence events? What about the evolution virus?"

It seemed to strike a chord with Jou, causing him to flinch slightly. "We aren't sure yet. All we know is that there will be more of those events."

He was about to press his question before he noticed Yuki turn to him. She had not said anything so far. Yet she mustered the resolve to shake her head in an attempt to dissuade him. Mamoru knew getting more information would be unlikely and decided to let it be instead of potentially souring things.

"I'm sorry," Jou said, recognizing his frustration. "we'll tell you when we figure it out. Taichi is still working on getting permission to release everything."

Permission? Mamoru thought they were just informally organized. Koshiro should have told them he was also working with someone else. For the sound of it, whatever Taichi was involved in was official. Could this be related to the National Data Processing Bureau?

Mamoru excused himself along with Yuki from the meeting. Their presence was probably hindering their discussion, and he was sure there was nothing more he could learn there. What they had already told him was enough for the Kyoto DigiDestined to begin their own research.

"Yuki," Mamoru said as they walked towards the central campus library. "I'll tell the rest about this development; you just focus on your project." He wondered how much time she had sunk into Digimon related stuff behind the scenes. Despite being pressed for time himself, it seemed unfair to make her do even more work.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "Should I ask Koshiro-san?"

Mamoru shook his head. "If it were important, they would have told us. There probably isn't much you can get from him."

As they passed by the library's ground floor windows, he saw someone enthusiastically waving at him. It was Asuka. Mamoru groaned internally, knowing he would have to explain Yuki's presence to her overactive imagination. He saw, seated with her, the familiar faces of Kaori and Haruka. Both their greeting and expressions were much more reserved. Asuka shot him another exaggerated wink, clearly having noticed Yuki's presence.

"Hey…" Mamoru began. "So those are my old high school classmates. We'll probably be studying with them."

Yuki nodded uncertainly. "I guess I will be okay once I plug in my earphones."

"The one with the red glasses, she is basically an older version of Noriko. Just ignore her drama."

Yuki gave him a quizzical look. It was abnormal. An expression Mamoru had never seen her make. Did she also know about this whole fiasco with Noriko? Was he really the only one who had not picked up on it? She managed to compose herself, politely nodding.

"Anyway," Mamoru said, trying to move past the topic. "You should come for the shrine visit if you can. It would make Reina happy, and it would be the first time in a while we've all met up together."

"I will try," Yuki said as they pushed open the library doors.

Mamoru braced himself for another round of Asuka. There was a reason he did not meet her more than once a week most of the time. He wondered how he had survived high school, seeing her every day in class.