Chapter 28: Growing Orchid

"Before we set off, we gotta bring some 'money' with us," Tasuku said as he walked towards the clinic with a duffle bag slung across him. "Apparently, Beetle Land has an inn for tourists."

"Florists?" Guy asked from beside Tasuku. "Should we plant some flowers to stay there?"

"It's 'tourists.' Travelers."

"My apologies."

The clinic's automatic doors slid open, sending out a gust of cool air. Tasuku flashed Guy a smile as he stepped into the building. "It's no big deal. We're used to it after all."

Following Tasuku, Guy wondered what had gotten into his troupe mate. Tasuku had just given a very encouraging speech to Tsumugi, hadn't he? According to Blikmon, Tasuku had sounded warm and earnest.

Maybe it had something to do with Tasuku being warmer than usual.

Once inside, Guy heard a familiar line coming from behind the blue curtain: "'Cagey,' are you, Nakatsu? Interesting."

Both Tasuku and Guy ran through the curtain. The sight was disappointing, to say the least. Homare was still comatose. A stooped Hisoka sat on the chair beside Homare's bed while hugging Pen Pen, his hair messy, his face sagged.

Standing on the other side of the bed, Agumon told Hisoka, "It's okay. I'll watch over him while you rest up."

Hisoka said nothing.

The silence still lingered as Guy reached the wooden crate at the corner of the area, took off his backpack, and opened the lid. What should he do to break it? Resolving such situations was never his forte.

"Wish Tsukioka is here," he wanted to say.

After a moment of silence, Tasuku said, "'Keiji' is my name."

Hisoka stared at Tasuku. "Mr. Keiji Nakatsu, then? Good. Being cagey isn't a good quality for an inspector to have."

Tasuku smiled. "For sure."

As far as Guy remembered, the scene would then shift to a back-and-forth between Shiki and Sagishima. Without Homare as Sagishima, the show couldn't possibly go on, could it?

"Aren't you tired, Mister?" Agumon asked Hisoka. "You've been talking for a long time."

Wait, what?

"Mikage," Guy began, "have you been reciting the lines from My Master's Mesmerized by Mystery by yourself before we came?"

Hisoka nodded. "It's to keep me awake and… I thought if Arisu hears the lines from that play, he'll wake up faster."

"You really should rest," Tasuku told Hisoka.

"I'm not sleeping until Arisu is up."

"Don't push yourself too hard. Take a break whenever you need it. Arisugawa will understand."

Guy could only watch in awe. Tasuku sure had changed.

And it was silent again. Hisoka still looked somber as he returned his gaze to the comatose Homare.

"Uh, sorry," Tasuku muttered.

For what? Guy didn't understand. Unfortunately, Hisoka wasn't answering, giving him not even a single clue about Tasuku's apology. Maybe Tasuku felt he was being so meddlesome? After all, everyone in Winter Troupe never liked meddling too much with others' affairs; even Homare had his limits.

"Well, Guy and I are off to Beetle Land for a day or two. If Arisugawa wakes up while we're away, tell us."

"No phone," Hisoka said flatly.

"No worries!" Agumon chimed in. "You can write a letter and ask Airdramon to deliver it!"

Tasuku raised an eyebrow. "Airdramon offers a post service? Never knew that."

"Want me to introduce you to it?"

"No, thanks. We need to arrive at Beetle Land before the tournament registration closes. It'll be better to introduce Tsumugi to Airdramon because he's staying in the town."

"Got it."

"Agumon," Hisoka called out, pointing at the almost empty flask hanging on the IV stand beside Homare's bed.

"Oh, I'll replace it in a bit." Agumon sprinted out of the area.

Tasuku looked at Guy. "Anyway, you're done with our stuff, Guy?"

Uh, oh, he was so busy observing Tasuku that he'd forgotten about it. After muttering, "No," Guy hastily moved some Deluxe Mushrooms, Happy Mushrooms, and Digimushrooms into the backpack. Tasuku had never specified how much they should bring, but Guy knew those who remained in File City would need a lot.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be waiting outside." Before leaving, Tasuku flashed a smile at Hisoka and Homare. "We'll be waiting for good news."

Hisoka nodded, while Homare didn't respond.

Tasuku's warmth towards others had almost distracted Guy once more, but Guy couldn't afford to waste more time. After zipping the backpack and wearing it, he said, "Take care."

Hisoka nodded.

Guy strode out of the clinic, and froze at the sight out there. Tasuku, now in his KaiserLeomon form, stood beside their duffle bag.

They'd never asked Jijimon about controlling Beast Form when evolving into it the second time, had they?

"What's wrong, Guy?" Tasuku asked.

It took a moment for Guy to finally say, "You didn't lose control."

"Well, I didn't feel anything strange when evolving into KaiserLeomon." Tasuku smiled. "That means it's safe the next time we evolve into our Beast Form."

"Even Arisugawa?"

Tasuku's smile vanished. "I'm not sure about that. Oh, well, get on."

Guy had ever ridden horses back in Zafra, sometimes without saddles and reins, and even taught Citron how to ride one, but riding a lion felt strange. Now, this wasn't a simple flesh-and-blood lion; it was an armored one. It wouldn't be a comfortable ride.

After strapping the duffle bag to Tasuku's back, Guy climbed onto him and held onto the lion's armored neck.

And with that, Tasuku set off. The scenery went by as a blur, and Guy had to tighten his grip on Tasuku to keep his balance. As they trudged through the deeper part of Native Forest, the tree branches brushed against Guy and left a small cut on his cheek. Golden particles trickled out of it as Guy winced at the stinging pain.

Things could get worse when they went further.

"Takato, please slow down," Guy told Tasuku.

Tasuku did, but a medium-sized branch hung a few meters away from Guy. At this rate, Tasuku couldn't possibly stop before it hit Guy and knocked him down.

As they drew closer to the branch, Guy prepared a knife hand. And with a well-timed chop, the branch broke off cleanly and landed on Tasuku's back. Guy's hand burned a bit, though.

Tasuku finally stopped, and when he looked back, his eyes widened. "Guy, your cheek!"

"Do not worry. The branches merely grazed me." Guy took off the backpack, unzipped it, and took a band-aid out of it.

As Guy stuck it on his wound, Tasuku said, "I moved too fast, didn't I? Sorry, I didn't think of those branches."

Zipping the backpack and wearing it again, Guy smiled at Tasuku. "I'm fine."

"I'll move more slowly this time."

The slower pace reminded Guy of the leisure horse-riding with Citron back in Zafra; they'd roam the flower field together and enjoy the view under the shining sun. Well, Guy hadn't enjoyed it as much as Citron actually; he'd only thought of protecting Citron and nothing else, being an android and all.

The next time they went to Zafra, Guy would like to have another leisure horse-riding with Citron at the flower field. It'd certainly feel different since he no longer thought himself as an android.

As they went further, Guy had expected attacks from some wild Digimon. Yet it never really happened; the Digimon scurried as soon as they heard Tasuku growl. The RedVegimon however, being Adult level Digimon, would only flee after Tasuku grazed them with misdirected bolts of dark energy from his mouth.

Tasuku's way of handling wild Digimon had caught his interest, Guy had to say. He'd first thought that a tall, intimidating figure like Tasuku would kill anything that blocked his path, but he was wrong.

The amount of trees diminished the further they went, and the terrain had less detritus. A huge body of water lay in the distance, behind a rocky shore.

Setting a foot on the shoreline, Tasuku told Guy, "This is Dragon Eye Lake. In the game, this area has the best fish."

"Such as?"

"The Digiseabass. They're very rare and hard to catch." He stopped before the lake. "We should catch one before going back to File City. Judging from its effects in the game, it should have great medicinal properties here."

Medicinal properties… Guy could guess where this was going.

"It's for Arisugawa, isn't it?" he asked with a smile.

"Of course."

That was fast.

"You've changed, Takato," Guy said.

"I guess." Tasuku looked up at the clear blue sky. "A long time ago, my inability to speak out my feelings caused many problems. I've gotten better thanks to Winter Troupe, but this journey makes me realize that it isn't enough." He took a deep breath. "Tsumugi excels at this kind of thing, and that's how he keeps us together all this long, but he can always use a hand. He isn't without his own moments of weakness."

Guy remained speechless, his mouth ajar. Listening to Tasuku's honest rambling was both shocking and fascinating, and honestly, he'd like to hear more.

"Now that we're here, we should play the Blue Flute to summon Seadramon," Tasuku said. "It's inside our backpack."