Kindred Pairs
by milesprower06
"Alright, thanks mom, I will!" Takato shouted farewell to his mom from the side entrance to the bakery as the sun started it's final descent towards the western horizon. Carrying his backpack on his shoulders, he made his way up to the street, where the overhead lamps were starting to turn on. The boy turned to look up and smile at one of the bakery's newest additions; the chibi Guilmon head that had been added next to the main signage above the door, with a speech bubble that said 'Home of Guilmon Bread!'
"You think it'll work?" Mie Matsuki quietly asked her husband as they stood outside Takato's bedroom. In the three days since Guilmon and the other Tamers' digimon had to return through the portal, their son had been keeping to himself, at least until school started back up.
"I think so, yeah. I think he'll love the idea, and it might get his mind off of what happened." Takehiro responded.
"I'm for it if you are." Mie answered.
Takehiro gave his wife a reassuring smile, then slowly pulled open his bedroom door, finding their son sitting at his desk.
"Hey there, kiddo." He greeted, announcing his presence as they entered the room.
Takato turned and gave his parents a somber, but sincere smile.
"Hey, dad. Hey, mom. What can I do for you?" He asked, turning his chair to face them.
Takehiro took a moment to glance at the contents on the top of Takato's desk. His digi-device something-or-other rested in the back corner directly next to a neatly stacked deck of cards, and the pair of yellow goggles that he had been wearing for months. That was the only neat part about it; the majority of the surface was covered in scattered sketches and fully-colored drawings of Guilmon, with at least two dozen colored pencils strewn about across the papers.
"Actually, Takato, your dad has something of a business proposition he wants to give you. Are you interested?"
"Uh, sure." Takato answered, not really sure what they meant by that. His dad took a step forward.
"I know that things have been moving pretty fast the past few weeks, and we really haven't had a chance to catch up since you all left for that other world to go after your friend. Takato, before the D-Reaper showed up, I started selling the Guilmon Bread once I had the shaping down to a science. I was amazed at how fast it was selling, my initial batches prepped before opening almost never lasted until lunch. No matter how early I got up, it seemed I could never make enough. So as you know, we're re-opening late next week, and the guy who made our overhead sign out front owes me a favor. I'm wondering if you want to design a small addition to the front sign that showcases the Guilmon Bread, and when we open, if you want to have Guilmon Bread front and center in the main display."
Takato's eyes widened.
"Are you serious, dad?"
"Absolutely. Takato you're our son, and we've seen how much Guilmon means to you. He may not be here right now, but I asked him to take care of you while you were away, and that's exactly what he did. I think that makes him as much a part of this family as the rest of us. The Guilmon Bread is selling like hotcakes. Actually, better than the hotcakes. I think putting that cute mug of his on the face of our bakery is the least I can do to thank him for keeping you safe. So what do you say?"
Takato fought back the tears threatening his eyelids, and nodded, getting out of his chair and threw his arms around his dad, who returned the embrace while his mom rubbed his back.
"Yeah, you bet," Takato said, pulling away, looking up at his parents. "I'll get started right away."
With that, he turned back to his desk and quickly started gathering the sketches and putting them into a semi-organized stack in the opposite corner of his cards and goggles. Then he opened a drawer and got out some fresh sketching paper and graph paper.
Proudly looking at his son as he immediately got to work, he felt Mie take his hand and gently pull him away towards the bedroom door. When they crossed into the hallway, he glanced back at his son, who now brimmed with a bit more energy as he sat at his desk, drawing the first sketch. As soon as he slid the door closed, Mie spun him around by the shoulder, and their lips locked for a moment.
"You're amazing." She whispered after pulling away.
He smiled back at her, coming in for another kiss.
"I meant every word."
After the idea had been spawned by Kazu and Kenta, Takehiro Matsuki spent what little free time he had testing and shaping various breads in a rough similarity to their son's partner in otherworldly affairs. Once he had settled on using anpan loaves, he put out a tray of six decorated Guilmon heads on special.
They sold before noon, and that was before word really got out.
Being the shrewd small business owner that he was, Takehiro knew a good thing when he saw it, and decided to take his previous corporate experience, and double down. By the time Takato and Guilmon returned from their interdimensional trip abroad, Guilmon Bread had become the bakery's best-selling item, overtaking what normally took a good amount of display case space, their custard-filled creampan puffs.
Unfortunately, something else had been right behind them when they came home.
The D-Reaper crisis had forced them out of their home and business for weeks, with Takato, Rika, and Henry stopping in to use the kitchen for a couple meals during a lull in the fighting.
When the battle was won, and the Tamers' partners were forced to return to where they came from, Takehiro and Mie came to their son with the one way they thought might cheer him up; asking him permission to continue selling Guilmon Bread in the front-and-center display on re-opening day, and his dad ran the idea of the added signage by him. Takato happily agreed, and was in the kitchen every day helping his dad prep Guilmon loaves until school started up again to finish up the year.
The standard 'Guilmon Bread' anpan loaf had cranberry eyes, stenciled powdered sugar triangles on the snout and was served with a side of peanut butter. It was a hearty snack for one person. Soon after, they offered larger loaves similar to the ones he baked for Guilmon himself, able to feed three or four people.
Takehiro then branched out even farther, crafting Guilmon-shaped aluminum cookie cutters and was serving up sugar cookies with red and black icing. Next up was the smaller 'Guilmon Puff', with melted peanut butter filling. Their latest offering was something decidedly spicier; 'Pyro Spheres', gingersnap cookies covered in orange sprinkles. None of them quite matched the demand of the original Guilmon Bread, but they still sold plenty each day. For all the worry and uncertainty the Tamers' adventures brought, they couldn't deny that taking advantage of it in edible form had worked wonders; their sales had nearly doubled compared to last year's numbers.
Finished reminiscing for now, Takato turned and jogged to the closest bus stop down the street, taking care not to jostle his backpack too much as he went. Inside, was a gift from his parents, after weeks and weeks of increased sales. A brand new MP3 player, as they thought music would help him immensely with keeping pace in his running. Problem was, the single PC in the bakery was strictly for business purposes, and it was just old enough where there wasn't an available port to plug the MP3 player into. So he had quickly called the one friend who he positively knew had all the technical capability he would need.
"Hey Henry, your computer can take songs off of CDs, right? Sweet. Can I head over for a few?"
Henry had said yes, as it had been a few days since they had seen each other, and Takato immediately started putting his most used CD cases into his backpack, and was out the door minutes later to catch the bus. By the time he boarded, the sky was a brilliant orange as the sun dipped below the lowest of the Shinjuku skyline.
"Hendwry! The angry kid is here!" Suzie announced as she ran down the hall back to her room.
Takato honestly sure wasn't sure if this was a running gag Suzie played with him, or if his mannerisms from their very first conversation just honestly stuck with her. As he turned to close the front door, Henry poked his head out of his room.
"Hey Takato, come on in. I've got it all set up for ya." He said, disappearing behind the doorway again, obviously sliding across his floor on his computer chair. Takato took off his shoes, laying them next to the others on the mat inside the front door, then headed down the hall to the first door on the left, Henry's room. Although to be honest, he wasn't sure if it was a bedroom, or a server room that Henry decided to toss a bed into, because it was that single piece of furniture that looked entirely out of place here. Every other wall of the room was computers, monitors, and wires, with a few books and binders on the upper shelves.
"So, what do you have?" Henry asked.
Takato slid his backpack off of his shoulders, set it on the bed, unzipped it, took out the freshly unwrapped box, and handed it to Henry, who looked it over.
"One of the newer models, not bad." He commented as he opened the box and pulled out the player itself and the USB connector cable.
"Thanks for doing this for me on such short notice, I'm really hoping I can use this on my run tomorrow. I got my time under 9:27 today."
"Well, if you're gonna use music to maintain or increase your pace, I hope you have some songs that really get you pumped." Henry replied, plugging the connector into the player first, then into his computer tower. The charge indicator began to blink steadily.
"I've got it covered." Takato said, going back into his bag and coming out with four CD jewel cases, handing them to his friend, who flipped through them one by one, a smirk growing on his face.
The compiled songs and music from both seasons of Digimon Adventure.
"I had to ask." Henry said, chuckling. "Though, I can't tell you exactly how long this will take, I've never used this drive for this before. It probably won't be as fast as you'd like it to, since it's ripping physical media and making a copy of it to put on the player." Henry said, opening the disc drive and setting the first disc inside it, tapping the button to close it again. He went to his media player and began the copying process. From the speed the progress meters filled, this was going to take several minutes per disc, even before they got it put onto the player.
"So how's everyone been?" Takato asked, taking a seat on the bed.
"We're managing. Right now we're trying not to break our air conditioning. Sometimes I don't know how you manage to go out to the school track every other day. Then add in machines like this, and it only adds to the heat. Dad has an office more crammed than this." Henry commented.
He noticed Takato glance at his green-ringed D-Arc resting behind the keyboard.
"How are you doing?" He asked, more softly, and Henry knew what the subject had changed to, glancing at his digivice himself.
"Well, you know... Good days and bad." He began, taking a deep breath. "Sometimes I wish I was still Suzie's age. All of her toys seem to be a great distraction for her. I don't really have that luxury anymore. I'm even terrified of playing the game."
Takato nodded in understanding, remembering how Henry had told him how he and Terriermon had become partners.
"Some days I'm okay, and... And some days I wish it really was as simple as holding that thing up to my monitor again. I'm sure wishing for it a lot harder than I was back then..."
Henry took another breath, while Takato silently sat, waiting for him to continue.
"I know I've said it before, but really, thanks for letting me stay over at your place for that week. Everybody says you shouldn't run away from your problems, but... I think that was for the best. Otherwise I think I would have said some things that wouldn't have been so easy to take back."
"At least you had the perspective to take a step, or a few steps, back. I sure didn't when I got on the phone and screamed at Yamaki." Takato replied, shuddering for a moment at the unpleasant memory.
"For the record, I still think that was somewhat warranted, Takato. Sometimes I think screaming like that is called for when they insist on keeping their reasons from us just because we're kids. I can't even imagine how many boots would have been up Yamaki's rear end if we hadn't been there to deal with some of those bioemergences in the early days. With what we've been through... And what we've sacrificed, you know we deserve better than that."
Takato didn't reply to that. He had been furious, he had spoken, or rather screamed, out of turn in the heat of the moment, and when he had gotten the frustration out of his system and cooled off, he apologized. But if he was really, really honest with himself, yeah, he didn't think he'd go back and change any of that rather one-sided conversation. The point had been made; 'stop leaving us out of the damn loop!'
The conversation tapered off as both tamers reflected back on their individual memories, until a beeping sound from the computer snapped them out of it, as the copying was complete, and the disc drive spat the disc out, and Henry immediately put in the second one. Takato slid his backpack out of the way and stretched out on the bed, digging his digivice out of his pocket and started turning it end over end in his hand, losing track of the time.
"I was afraid of that." He heard Henry say as he closed the last jewel case. Takato sat up as his friend offered him the four cases back.
"What, did it not work?" Takato asked as he accepted the cases and returned them to his backpack.
"Oh no, it worked," Henry began, unplugging the MP3 player and returned it to it's box, then handed it to Takato. "All four discs are on there, I'll let you read the manual and get familiar with it. But that disc copying and moving them over to the player took 45 minutes. I think you just missed your last bus home."
Takato glanced up at the clock on the wall.
10:23
Yep, he sure did.
"Don't worry, I think I can get dad to give you a ride home." Henry said, getting up from his chair and started walking over to the bedroom door.
"No, don't bother Henry. I think... I think I'll walk it." Takato told him, which only caused his friend to scoff as he took another glance at the wall clock.
"Takato, you wouldn't make it home until after midnight." He objected.
"I know how far it is. It's nice enough weather. I just... I think I need some more alone time."
Henry ceased his objections there. You really couldn't ask for better walking weather than tonight, with the light breeze.
"Alright, I won't try to talk you out of it, if you call your folks first. I know how hysterical your mom gets when you don't check in."
"Fair enough." Takato said with a light chuckle.
Henry led him out to the front door, where he got his shoes on, before picking up the cordless phone that was on the end table directly next to the door. He found the bakery on the speed dial, and put the receiver to his ear.
"Hey mom, it's me. I just wanted to let you know I'm gonna be home late... Yeah, I know, I just feel like walking it tonight... I'll be safe... Okay don't wait up... Love you too. Bye."
He pressed the End Call button and set it back down on the charging base, looking back over at Henry.
"Well, have a good night. Enjoy your new toy." Henry said.
Takato smiled, before stepping forward and pulling his friend into a gentle hug.
"Hang in there, Henry."
The blue-haired tamer returned the hug, squeezing gently.
"Yeah, you do the same."
The two tamers separated, and Takato opened the front door, and stepped out into the hallway, giving his friend one last smile and a wave goodbye before heading towards the elevator.
A/N: Yeah, I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to get this finished, so what? I won't regret that for at least six hours.
Special thanks to crazyeight for giving me the idea for the Pyro Sphere cookies. His Tamers stories have long been of a quality I have aspired to reach.
Thanks for reading, and for the feedback. More to come!
-milesprower06