Reviews:
jacquelinemueller53: I don't believe I did, but you'll find out about them soon enough. Thanks for the review and happy to see you again.
Clefeifei: I'm glad you liked it and I have every intention of doing her justice.
LightSpecter141: We shall find out ;-)
Ackbarfan5556: Thanks :-)
Greymon Leader Batx flashpoint: Well, I can assure you none of that stuff will happen with Tai and Sora, Greymon. Sorry to hear about all of that.
Sweet Cari: I agree. That idea would have been jumping the shark too much. You'll find out what is ailing Matt here ;-)
Malalala11: Yup. I knew that question would be plaguing your guys' heads so I decided to answer that. Glad you liked the chapter.
Music Chick: I'm glad :)
Sakura0410: Not now, but maybe by the end of the story? You'll see.
Special shout out to Amazing Spectacular Spider Man for the favorite (You are amazing and spectacular by the way) and Rubygr23 for the follow.
Howdy, everyone. Man, all those reviews you left last week made me so happy. Thank you all. Here is the last real slice of life chapter before the main conflict gets going. I liked this scene in the movie except for possibly the ending to it. Since circumstances are different, it gave me a lot more creative freedom to work with this scene. Fun fact: the place Tai and Matt went to actually exists. Plenty of catching up on some things including the question of what you all think is eating Matt up.
Hope you guys like it. Enjoy. Don't own the song mentioned. Just mentioning it.
"I see," Matt said as he took a sip from his mug of Asahi beer. He agreed to meet up with Tai at the Buchi Asagaya Shop restaurant near Tai's apartment after he got off from his job at Tower Records in Shibuya. "So you're struggling too, huh?"
The brown-haired leader sat across from him, drinking a mug of Sapporo beer. Meat sizzled on the electric grill between them, filling the air around the table with its delectable smell. Smoke from the grill went into the chimney above it. The speakers in the ceiling played Journey's 'Who's Crying Now' at a low enough volume that it blended in with the atmosphere of the restaurant.
"I wouldn't necessarily say that," Tai replied, putting his mug down. "I'm just not sure what to do my thesis on yet. Seriously, what does that have to do with being a professional soccer player?"
The blonde smirked. "So in other words, you're struggling."
"Shut up. What about you, what have you got in mind?"
Matt gazed at his reflection in the beer. It was hard for him to admit, but he did not have a clue on what to do with his future. One day, he'd feel a pull towards something, but then the next one, he felt like doing something else. He was wrapping up his engineering degree from Keio University in Yokohama but anything beyond that was a big question mark. Even getting on the management track at Tower Records sounded like a good idea right now.
"I'm not sure what I'll do when I graduate," he finally said. "I'm thinking about going to grad school, but I don't know if I want to jump into that pool just yet."
"Why not?"
Matt shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm just not motivated to do anything about it yet." He then used his chopsticks to grab a piece of meat off the grill. "Maybe I should take some time for myself to get my affairs in order." He dabbed it in some salt and then popped it into his mouth. Grilled to perfection. The blonde took a second to savor the taste before he finished his explanation.
"I kinda envy you, buddy. Your future is out there waiting for you to grab it by the throat while I'm stuck here with no idea what to do. I'll probably be stuck as a checker at Tower Records for the rest of my life. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get to be the night manager."
"That's not gonna happen," Tai assured as he ate a piece of meat. "You're too good for that. You'll figure it out."
Matt wished he could agree with that statement but he couldn't. Not since––
He stopped. There it was again. Those feelings he tried to ignore over the last two years came running back.
He reached into his pocket on instinct and pulled out a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. His fingers went through the process like clockwork: Pluck one of the white sticks out of the pack, put it between his teeth, and then reach for the lighter in his pocket. A quick press of his thumb, a light, hover it around the end of the cigarette.
Sweet relief.
"Whoa!" Tai exclaimed. "When did you start doing that?"
Matt pinched the cigarette between his index and middle fingers before pulling it out. A stream of smoke billowed out of his mouth to the ceiling above.
"Not long ago," he said with a shrug. "Ever since Meiko and I broke up."
There. He said it. Even with the relief the cigarette brought him, that emptiness gnawed on his heart like a dog chewing on a bone. His long-distance romance with his girlfriend, Meiko Mochizuki, had ended two years ago and it left him utterly broken. In a sense, he was the dog, but with no bone.
After they broke up, he locked himself up in his apartment for a week. He didn't talk to anybody; he didn't answer any messages or phone calls; he didn't go anywhere; he didn't eat; and he didn't sleep. All he did was lay on his bed and cry all day. He was close to just letting himself wither away and die alone in his apartment like one of those hikikomoris he heard about in the news.
One day, there was a knock at the door, followed by a voice demanding he open up or else. Matt at first wanted to just stay under the covers and pretend he wasn't home but whoever it was refused to go away. When he finally did open it, TK stood at the door. He wasn't alone; behind him was their dad, stepmom, biological mom, and Raiku. Matt really lost it when his dad hugged him tight and wouldn't let go, saying that he was worried he had lost him. That shook Matt to his core. He tearfully hugged every single member of his family and apologized for putting them through all of that. Matt's dad forced him to stay with him for a couple days just as a precaution in case Matt tried anything, but nothing happened and the blonde was allowed to go back to his apartment soon after.
Tai nodded and took another drink. "Still miss her, huh?" he asked.
Matt nodded and slumped further in his seat until he was leaning right over the table. "It's been two years since she left me, Tai. Of course I still miss her a bit," he said sadly, putting the cigarette back between his teeth to let the tobacco fix him.
Tai coughed when he blew out another stream of smoke.
"Oh, sorry," Matt apologized. "I'll put it out for you if you want."
"If you could," Tai said with a forced smile.
"Sure." The blonde put the cigarette out in the ashtray to his right. He took a sip of beer to wash the taste of tobacco smoke out of his mouth. Smoke still rose from the now-extinguished white stick.
"Run through it again why you and Princess Orihime couldn't work out?"
Matt sighed. He had never been the kind of person to talk about his feelings before, but that was especially the case now. He'd rather just avoid the subject of Meiko and not think about it all together. He had been meaning to stop smoking for the past while, but whenever Meiko came to mind, his body craved its tobacco fix to chase her away. Even so, he felt compelled to open up to Tai of all people.
"Long distance relationships don't last," he said sadly. "We tried to make it work for a while when she started, but she had hardly any time to see me whenever I would go. It wasn't worth the ¥14,000 I'd spend on the Shinkansen ticket. Eventually it––"
He stopped. After another sip of beer and bite of meat, he mustered the strength to continue.
"It doesn't matter. She's probably found somebody new by now. I don't mind."
"And that was two years ago?" Tai asked as he drank some beer. "Feels like it was just yesterday."
"Tell me about it. Without her, I don't know how to live on."
"Know how to live on? It's simple: Go to where she is and ask her to marry you."
Matt snickered when he saw Tai flinch like he was going to get socked in the face for that comment. Normally, the blonde would have done exactly that, but he had something else in mind. He dumped his mug of beer over Tai's head.
"What the––?" the Destined Jedi leader gasped breathlessly. "You asshole!"
Matt shrugged it off carelessly and turned to the bar behind him. He raised his empty glass to get the bartender's attention. "Hey! Can I get a refill over here?" he asked.
"Same here!" Tai echoed, raising his empty glass too. He used his napkin to wipe off any beer from his face. "Come on, man. Do it." A smirk played on his lips. "I bet you considered it too."
"That thought may have crossed my mind at one time or another," Matt said with a shrug. "But then I wake up and remember she's where she is and I'm here. We can't stay kids forever, Tai. We all eventually have to grow up. Just like Hikoboshi and Princess Orihime, Meiko and I are doomed to look at each other from afar until the end of time."
"Not for one day a year," Tai remarked.
"Not now. Please."
Their waiter came by and put down two fresh mugs of beer. Matt and Tai thanked him before the blonde continued his speech.
"Ever since then, I've come to realize Meiko and I were not meant to be. I thought she was the one, but it didn't work out." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'll probably never love again."
That sounded pathetic even to him as he took a sip of his fresh mug of beer. Even so, he meant every single word of it. He didn't want to put his heart through something like that ever again. It was better to be alone.
Tai laughed. "Dude, you've been a miserable potato sack since then. I can only sympathize."
Matt cocked an eyebrow. "How would you know? You have no idea what I'm going through."
"When Sora and I took our little break in high school, I was as miserable as could be."
'Don't I remember,' Matt thought before he said, "You and Sora were stupid kids back then. There was no way you guys were not going to get back together. This is different."
"Not necessarily. Open a portal to where she is and ask her to marry you," Tai suggested. "I know long distance relationships suck, but you always said Meiko was worth it."
"Let's talk about something else please," Matt grumbled and sipped some beer. "How are you and Sora doing?"
The brown-haired leader smiled. "Fantastic. Just thinking about where our future is going," he said. "I'm trying to get her to sit down and talk to me, but she says she won't talk about it until we graduate and I'm signed to a club." He raised the mug to his lips, but stopped before any beer could slip into his mouth. "She's still dealing with some things." The wheat-tasting liquid slipped into his mouth and he took a long drink.
"She'll get there," Matt encouraged. He smirked. "Ya know, TK said he might ask Kari to marry him soon."
Tai's eyes bulged out of his skull.
PEWWWWWWW!
Once the burst of liquid passed, Matt's face was covered in beer.
"WHAT!" Tai shrieked.
Matt took an angry deep breath to calm himself down. This time, he really did want to slug Tai in the face, but his blood pressure returned to normal with one more breath.
"I was kidding," he said in an even tone as he wiped his face off with a napkin, trying to keep his annoyance buried. "He hasn't told me anything about his future plans with her yet."
Tai took a breath and sipped his beer. "Don't do that to me again!" he snapped. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Don't blame me. You left yourself open for that blow," Matt snickered and ate some meat. "TK's split between becoming either a novelist or a mangaka. He hasn't decided yet. Still trying to figure it out. He's been taking art classes lately to help him improve his drawing skills."
"Cool. Hopefully he does something about us someday."
"That's what he told me. Ken's doing pretty well with school too." Another sip of beer went down the hatch. "How's Izzy these days? Is he going crazy without Mimi around?"
Izzy was the CEO of his own tech company, Izumi Co., which was sort of his own answer to America's Apple and Android. He made smartphones for all of the Destined Jedi for free and even designed their phone cases, which were the same colors as their tattoo lights and featured their tattoo designs. His girlfriend Mimi Tachikawa, the Jedi of Sincerity, had been abroad in Paris starting up her own online order company for the last two months. Izzy helped her start it up so the two were still in regular contact.
"Ha! You don't know the half of it," Tai laughed. "He's still all business and Izzy-like when he's working, but he's texting and video-calling her nonstop during any break he gets. He's so anxious for her to come home because, as he told me, she's going to move in with him when she gets back."
Matt grimaced. "He has my sympathy."
"Kari's hard at work too," the leader continued. "So is Davis. Everyone's on track to do something."
"You mean everyone but me."
"You'll figure it out." Tai then smirked. "Ya know, Izzy and Mimi are apart, as are Ken and Yolei, yet they all make it work."
The annoyed look returned. "The big difference is that their separations are temporary. I know you're trying to help, Tai, but I need to handle this by myself."
Tai nodded. "I can respect that. Just know that all of us are here for you if you need it."
"Thanks," Matt smiled, expressing sincere gratitude. Sometimes he felt so unworthy of having great friends like Tai and everyone else. "It really means a lot for you to say that."
"You're welcome."
The mood lightened after that. They spent the next few minutes eating and drinking in silence. It was a very welcomed change for Matt after all the talking they had just done. He didn't want to talk about Meiko anymore; it hurt him too much to think about what happened. After a couple more minutes, he decided to ask about something else. Something he had been curious about for a while.
"Have you heard from Mr. Nishijima at all?"
Tai almost choked on his beer and coughed at the mention of their old substitute teacher. Some must have gone down the wrong pipe after all, Matt thought. The leader got his throat under control enough to answer.
"Nah. It's been years." His face fell. "Izzy tried to find him a while back but he got no leads. The trail stops cold after that night. No one has seen him in almost five years. It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth."
Matt nodded in understanding. Not long after the episode with the infected Digimon five years ago, where the group destroyed the infection and saved Meiko in the process, Daigo Nishijima disappeared without a trace. His boss and former lover Maki Himekawa died during the final battle by his own hand. Matt could still see the man's distraught, lost face when he cradled her body after killing her. No one had seen him since. Izzy had tried multiple times to find him, but always came up empty.
"Five years is a long time to not be found," he said, taking a sip of beer. "I know you don't want to hear this but I'm pretty sure he's dead, Tai."
The Jedi of Courage sighed sadly. "You might be right. I can't sense him anywhere. Can you?"
Matt shook his head. "I can't. Okay, on the off chance that he's still alive, maybe he doesn't want to be found. Maybe he'd just prefer to be left alone for the rest of his days."
Tai fingered the mug handle and stared down into his beer. Matt could only imagine the things that were running through his head.
"Can you blame him?" he said. "He was so broken and lost when Himekawa died."
Matt shrugged. "Can't say I do," he replied. "If solitude is what he wants, then let him have it. My opinion is that Himekawa was a psychopath that wanted our heads and he did what he had to do to save us from her. That's just what I think though."
"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe he still saw the old her."
The old her? Somehow Matt had a hard time believing she hadn't been a complete nutcase her whole life before she was finally put down.
"Maybe." He slammed his fist on the table. "But I will never forgive her for what she did to Meiko," he growled.
Himekawa had infused Meiko with an infection given to her by something called King Drasil in order to activate her plan to destroy the Destined Jedi before ultimately taking aim at Homeostasis, the being that maintains harmony in the Digital World. She tried to do the same with Kari, but the group stopped her in time before it could get out of control. Because of that infection, Meiko was almost a completely different person. She was wild, reckless, and powerful; she mortally wounded Izzy and he would have died if not for the fact Sora acted fast to save him.
"I don't blame you." Tai rubbed the tattoo on his wrist and flashed a teasing smirk. "Say, what does this thing do again? I can't seem to recall, but––Oh! That's right. It's like a magic trick. It creates portals."
"Shut up!" Matt snapped. He glanced down at his watch and saw that it was time for him to leave. He had class early the next morning. "I'm outta here. I'm going home."
He stood up from his seat and took out his wallet to grab some money. He laid down ¥340 as his split of the tab.
"I'll see you around."
"Later, dude," Tai smiled after he finished off his beer. "I'll check up on ya tomorrow. I'll eventually knock some sense into you."
"Sure. Whatever."
Matt then walked out of the restaurant.
He rode the train all the way back to Shibuya, where he lived. There were already thousands of people outside of the station around the Hachiko statue and out in the crosswalk. It was a scene he had come to get used to by now. He staked out a clear spot near the statue and sat down. He had claimed it as his own personal seat after coming here every night for the last two years since he and Meiko broke up.
Matt took out his precious harmonica and raised it to his mouth. A sad, mournful tune came out of the instrument as he poured all of the emotions he went through thinking about Meiko in the restaurant into it. The tune sounded similar to 'When You Wish Upon A Star'.
For these few moments, he always felt at peace. No one bothered him, only listening to the message he was sending to someone far away that he knew he could never reach anymore.
A message he hoped she could hear, wherever she was.
Pretty depressing, huh? Hope you guys liked it despite the sadness.
It took me quite a while to realize that the woman fell unconscious because of Eosmon in the movie. Here, Tai and Matt just talk uninterrupted. Also, the roles are switched––Tai is having to do the uplifting instead of Matt. So what caused Hikoboshi and Princess Orihime to break up? The answer will come as we move along.
Next time, the danger reveals itself. Hope you're ready for that. As always, leave a review and subscribe if you haven't yet. I love all of my reviewers and silent readers alike.
I'll see you all next weekend.
Tootles ;-)