It was still early morning when Miyako took her first step into the shrine.

She was flanked by her parents and siblings around her, but for the first time, it felt like she was making this visit without really thinking about their presence. It was the first year she would be celebrating New Year's in this way.

It had all started with a single sentence from Iori that night.

Can we all visit the shrine together for New Year?

He had said it almost out of nowhere, in the midst of almost complete silence from himself that night. Everyone had been trying not to bother him too much as he'd been unable to say anything, and nobody could blame him — after all, while it had been an emotionally draining night for all of them, Iori had literally watched a body evaporate in his very arms.

And somehow, like clockwork, their families had started to organize it.

Miyako's family was big, and New Year's shrine visits were always crowded, so the only time she'd gone with anyone outside her family was with Iori's, and that was less because they'd organized it and more because they conveniently happened to be planning to go to the shrine at the same time. But now, here, their families were organizing a large-scale group visit.

Considering that her parents and siblings had said so little in the past few days about what they'd just learned — that she'd been fighting an effective territory war for an entire year under their noses — it was obvious that this had some kind of relationship to what had just happened, although Miyako wasn't sure exactly what. "Thank you for your hard work"? "Please communicate with us more"? Maybe even "We're glad you have such nice friends"? But she wasn't exactly in the mood to ask and thus open up a whole other barrage of questions.

So here she was, at the shrine.

It was the first New Year she'd be spending with Hawkmon. Not only that, she was about to walk right into a crowded shrine with him in plain view. This was a decision she'd deliberately made — to the point she and her siblings had even had a discussion over it, and Hawkmon himself had even offered to stay behind for the day, but she had absolutely refused. Perhaps it was because the last few days had involved her getting used to having Hawkmon around instead of Poromon, and she honestly didn't even know the reason herself, but it was firm in her mind: People are going to stare at us and think it's unusual, but they're just going to have to deal with it. We are not going to be hiding them anymore.

She didn't have to consult her friends about it, either. She knew they all felt the same way.

"So this is a shrine during New Year…" said Hawkmon, looking around. "It's quite crowded. Is it normally this crowded?"

"Generally speaking," said Miyako, perking up a little upon hearing Hawkmon's fascination. "It'd be even worse if we came on the actual 1st, though. You know, maybe next year we should see if we could make you a kimono that fits you."

"I would love that very much, Miyako-san."

From out in the distance, Miyako heard a "heeeeeey!", and when she turned around, naturally, Daisuke and his own family was there. Unlike the Inoue family, the entire Motomiya family was in casual wear, even Jun (who quickly grouped up with Miyako's sisters to chat).

Miyako suddenly realized that she was probably going to be one of the only ones wearing a kimono, and started awkwardly adjusting her hairpin. She'd always come with her family, or that one time with Iori's (which also adhered to wearing the kimono every year), so she'd normally relished in the opportunity to break it out, even after her siblings and parents had stopped bothering with the practice. But now everyone and their families were going to be there, and she suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious…

Fortunately, the Hida family showed up in short order, thus temporarily putting a small reprieve on her solitary embarrassment. As expected, they were all dressed in proper formal attire.

Iori, on the other hand, still seemed to be in low spirits. Miyako opened her mouth to talk to him, before realizing she still really wasn't sure what to say.

It wasn't long before everyone else started to come in with their own families. Miyako's family was the biggest, but their group was certainly getting larger and larger, to the point they eventually had to pull off to the side.

"Miyako-san, your kimono looks amazing!"

"Thanks, Hikari-chan!"

"Maybe I should wear it next year…" she said, putting a finger to her face while contemplating it. "My brother absolutely refuses to wear it, so I haven't in a while…" She used her head to gesture towards Taichi, who had initially looked a bit out of place but seemed to finally have settled in by striking up a chat with Takeru.

"You should, you should! Do you have a nice one?"

"I do! I haven't worn it in a while, though."

Their cheerful chatter was suddenly interrupted by a voice. "I'm sorry we're late…"

Miyako turned around to see the Ichijouji family, Ken and his parents, having arrived. Ken seemed to have dressed primarily for the cold weather, having bundled up quite tightly.

"Oh! Ken-kun!" Miyako waved a hand cheerfully at him. "Don't worry about being late, you're the one coming all the way from Tamachi, after all…"

She ran up a little closer to greet him, only to notice he seemed a bit frozen.

"Ah? Ken-kun? You okay?"

"Ah! Sorry, it's the early morning…" he said, suddenly jolting back to earth. "Miyako-san, that's a really beautiful kimono…"

Miyako put on her biggest grin. "Heehee. Thank you!" Hearing both Hikari and Ken compliment it made her feel much better about the decision to wear it.

Daisuke came over and put a hand around Ken's shoulder, and Miyako could visibly see the tension relax a little in Ken's face. "Don't worry about it, don't worry about it! We're just glad to have you here. And since we're all here, let's get started!"

The Hida family had the whole process down pat, so they approached the offering box first. Miyako waited behind them in line, watching as they clapped and prayed.

I wonder what Iori's praying for.

Iori had still been relatively silent the whole morning, and Miyako was out of earshot to hear what he was saying, if he was even saying anything at all. For possibly the first time since she'd ever met him, Miyako felt like she didn't even have the foggiest clue of what was going on in his head at the moment.

He'd been the one to ask that they all come with him to the shrine. Was he, perhaps, praying for Oikawa's soul?

Would Iori do that? A few months ago, she would have gone "never, not a chance," but now…

The Hida family finished their prayer, which left the Inoue family to go up.

"You know what to do, right, Hawkmon?" said Miyako. "Bow, clap, pray, and bow again."

"Understood, Miyako-san!"

Deliberately ignoring what must be stares and whispers from others around her at the very large bird with them, Miyako approached the shrine and bowed.

Her prayer this year was a no-brainer.

Thank you for letting me meet Hawkmon, the most important encounter of my life.

As they finished their prayer, Miyako looked at Hawkmon as they stepped down, and although neither of them said anything, she already knew he felt the same.

Once the Inoue family had finished, the Motomiya family went up next. But as they stepped down, Miyako couldn't help but keep looking at Iori, who seemed to be looking off in the distance at nothing in particular.

Once everyone had finished this year's prayers, Daisuke yelled at all of them, "Okay, we're drawing lots now! It's New Year's, we can't have New Year's without drawing lots!"

Naturally, no one protested, so they all crowded around the lot vendor. The vendor seemed to be a bit taken aback by the strange small "animals" they had around them, but Daisuke and Miyako were able to summon their best got a problem? looks to the point there could no longer be any protest.

Daisuke and V-mon were the first to draw — and simultaneously facefaulted when both of them, somehow, miraculously turned up "great curse".

"Somehow, that doesn't feel surprising at all…" said Tailmon, as Hikari giggled next to her.

As Daisuke and V-mon dragged themselves over to the side to tie up their lots and hopefully rid themselves of the curse (they hadn't even bothered to read the rest of it), Ken pulled next, handing one to Wormmon. Wormmon had pulled "half curse", but he didn't seem to mind upon seeing that Ken had somehow struck gold and gotten "great blessing".

"That's Ken-chan for you!" said Wormmon, looking very proud of his partner.

"I don't know why," said Miyako, "but somehow that doesn't seem surprising, either."

Miyako and Hawkmon pulled next. Hawkmon, opening his, seemed rather satisfied with his result of "half blessing", while Miyako opened hers and found the single solitary character of "blessing" on it.

Eh, I can live with this, she thought.

As everyone else started drawing their own lots, Miyako tried to read the rest of the fortune — she was never quite good at reading these.

"Need help, Miyako-san?"

Miyako looked up to see Takeru and Patamon (they'd pulled "half blessing" and "curse" respectively) looking at her.

"Oh! If you please."

Takeru took the fortune from her and started pointing out what each part meant, section by section — it still went quite a bit over her head, but at least with Takeru's help it made a little more sense.

"…so I think in the end, the main point here is that there will be a lot of opportunities for you, but you need to be the one to look out for them and take them."

"Right, I see, I see," said Miyako, pursing her lips. "Thanks, Takeru-kun!"

"No problem," he said, smiling back at her.

"It sounds pretty good to me!" said Patamon, still on top of his head.

Takeru handed Miyako's fortune back at her, and Miyako looked back at it.

Opportunities, huh.

She looked back at Iori, who was quietly pulling two lots and handing one to Armadimon. The other Digimon crowded around Armadimon and cheered upon seeing him get "great blessing", but Iori said nothing as he opened his.

"Hey, Iori!" said Daisuke, back from tying his lot up. "What'd you get? Show us!"

Iori, not seeming in the mood to protest, revealed that he'd gotten the same as Miyako, a simple standard "blessing".

He turned it back without saying a word, reading the rest of it. Takeru walked over to him, clearly also offering to explain whatever his fortune was, and although Miyako was curious about whether it was similar to her own, she decided to let him take care of it.

"Um, I'm sorry, but…"

As they were walking around the shrine, Ken suddenly spoke up.

"Is it okay if I go and buy an ema?"

Miyako blinked at him a few times. "Oh! Is there a wish you want to make, Ken-kun?"

"Yeah…Well, I hadn't done this in a while, so…"

Miyako looked at him, looking downwards and a little embarrassed, and she understood immediately. Up until only a few months ago, his heart had been taken over by the Dark Seed, and things like wishes and prayers had probably become meaningless to him. She wondered how long it'd been since he'd last been able to properly "enjoy" a shrine visit like this…

But this was not the time to be asking for details on this, and Miyako did not push the subject.

"Well, I don't see why not," said Daisuke. "Anyone else wanna get one?"

As they lined up behind the vendor, to Miyako's surprise, Iori followed Ken without hesitation and bought one for himself.

Ken sat down with Wormmon and started neatly writing on the ema with the pen, with Wormmon peering over expectantly in a way that indicated that the two of them had already discussed what Ken was about to write.

Iori, sitting elsewhere, was also quietly writing on his own with a pen, but at a much slower pace.

"Iori…" said Armadimon, who clearly had not discussed this with Iori earlier.

Ken seemed to have finished, and was looking over his work with Wormmon.

"So what'd you write?" said Daisuke, looking at Ken expectantly.

"W-Well…" said Ken, suddenly seeming a bit too shy to show it.

"Come on, show us!"

Realizing that there was no point in trying to hide it, Ken sheepishly turned over the ema and showed it to the others. Both Daisuke and Miyako leaned in to look at it, and the words written in Ken's neat handwriting.

May my family and friends stay in good health and always be safe.
Ichijouji Ken
Tamachi, Tokyo
2003.1.3

"Huh? What's so embarrassing about that?" said Daisuke. "It looks nice to me."

Miyako's eyes drifted over that word "friends". Something about it stuck out to her as she stared at it, before she realized — this might be the first time she'd ever heard Ken use that word, and not just "friends" in terms of being teammates, but "friends" in terms of being…well, friends.

"You don't have to be shy about calling us friends, you know!" said Miyako, who couldn't resist speaking up about it anymore. "We are your friends, we're happy to be your friends."

Ken laughed a little awkwardly, indicating that she'd gotten it right on the nose. "T-Thanks…"

"Oh, so that's what it was!" said Daisuke, laughing a little. "Hey, look, you can call us teammates or friends or best friends or whatever you like, we'll be there for you. Or even jailmates if you like."

Ken started genuinely laughing, a bit incredulously. "Jailmates? Don't tell me we're going to end up in jail now?!"

"Well, I'm just saying…!"

Miyako giggled a little at the sight of Ken and Daisuke starting to banter, but quickly turned to check at Iori, who was staring at his finished ema. Finally unable to take the silence anymore, she walked up to him.

"Iori," she said, trying to get his attention.

Iori looked up at her, still looking a bit out of it. "Ah…Miyako-san…"

Miyako got down on her knees to look at his eye level, since he was sitting down. "Is it okay if I look? You don't have to show me if you don't want to."

Iori shook his head. "No, it's fine…"

He turned around the ema to show it to her.

May I be able to help save those who are about to fall to the darkness.
H.I.
Tokyo
H15 January 3

It was written in such poetic words for a short sentence. Miyako was surprised at the wide-spreading nature of such a wish.

"I've been…thinking about things," said Iori, turning it back after confirming that Miyako had seen it.

"About Oikawa?"

Iori nodded.

"He was a friend of my father. I'm sure that back when my father was alive, he was a good friend to him. And then, because he couldn't be saved…that happened."

He looked up towards the other side of the path, where Ken and Daisuke were having a banter argument (or, more accurately, Ken simply getting more and more incredulous at Daisuke digging himself deeper).

"And, also…that Ichijouji-san has been trying hard all this time, and yet I didn't understand…"

Miyako got up from squatting and sat next to him on the bench.

"I don't think you should blame yourself for things you couldn't do much about," said Miyako. "The important part is that now you understand, right? And Ken-kun is trying his best, so you shouldn't worry too much about him."

"Iori's trying his best too, dagya!" said Armadimon.

Miyako laughed lightly. "He is. Iori's trying his best." She looked gently at him. "And that's what's important. You're trying your best, and you're even making a wish on an ema about it, and the only thing you can do is do your best going forward, right?"

Iori nodded.

"…Thanks, Miyako-san."

Hawkmon tapped Miyako's shoulder.

"Miyako-san, I'm wondering if maybe we should write one too?"

"Oh!" Miyako put a finger to her chin and thought about it. "Hmmm…"

In the end, all of them ended up buying one — peer pressure was enough to get them all into it.

Miyako sat on the bench holding the pen, with Hawkmon peering over her.

"Do you have an idea of what to wish for, Miyako-san?" said Hawkmon.

"Hmm, I wonder," she said. "I've never done one of these for New Year's before…"

She thought about what she'd wanted to wish for. She'd generally associated these with people wishing for good luck on exams, and it seemed tempting to ask for prosperity for her middle school entrance this year, but after seeing what Ken and Iori had written, it honestly made something like that seem incredibly superficial.

"I think it's fine if you simply write down your own feelings, Miyako-san," said Hawkmon. "As long as your feelings are honest and pure, the gods will understand."

"…Yeah, you're right."

She uncapped the pen and started to write.

May everyone be able to smile happily and always be happy this year.
Inoue Miyako
Tokyo
January 3, 2003

It felt a little vague for something like this, but, in all honesty, she couldn't think of anything that she wanted more.

As Hawkmon admired her handiwork, Miyako looked up at Daisuke, Takeru, and Hikari writing their own wishes while consulting their respective partners. She had a feeling they probably were writing something around the same thing.

Yeah. It's a new year. Let's look forward to something great.

The sleeves of her kimono rustled a little along with the winter wind.

[Author's note]

It's been a while, hasn't it?

There might be a few of you out there who recognize what this fic is. To put it simply, this is a fic I have been attempting to write since something like 2007, and my third attempt at it. The first time was embarrassing to the point there are no longer records (I hadn't even seen 02 in Japanese at the time), and so I did a second attempt in 2013 - only for a little something called Digimon Adventure tri. to throw things off for me, since this was meant to be a fic explicitly meant to try and be canon-compliant. Then, well...circumstances made that entire four-year wait kind of end in moot anyway, but then Kizuna happened, so that was another two years of waiting, this time with a pretty significant amount of material. So now, I hope things have settled down enough that I can finally take a proper attempt at doing this again.

Still, it might have been for the better that I waited, despite everything. There are many things I didn't quite understand about writing nor even about 02 or Miyako as a character during my earlier attempts, and while I by no means can be perfect now, I really want to make this the best I can with the abilities I currently have. Although there may be some things kept from the second attempt, overall I've decided to re-approach this from scratch, even the format. So this is my third attempt, and hopefully, this time, I will actually finish it for once (even with my current busy schedule)...

In summary, this is meant to be a fic that encapsulates Miyako's life story between 2003 and the 02 epilogue in 2028, covering all of the interesting events that must have happened between there, and how she grew as a person. This is, as said before, meant to be canon-compliant, so you can assume Ken/Miyako (which will naturally be a major part of the story, but not the sole one) and Yamato/Sora will be holding. The Adventure universe timeline is quite convoluted, so there are some things I'm going to be shifting around to make the timeline make sense, but otherwise this should all be within the scope of canon.

As for this chapter, I had always made comments about how 02's finale being on New Year's Eve meant that they were all going to have an awful New Year's, but then I was reminded of the existence of hatsumode, so I decided to try integrating those thoughts together. I was a little afraid of covering such an extensively cultural topic in terms of whether it was my place to do so, but I did ultimately spend about half a day doing a lot of intimate research on what each component mentioned in this chapter entails, and tried to limit it to things that were appropriate to the story. I do think something as incredibly cultural as the Adventure universe would have this happen in any fanfic set in it, but I do hope I've executed it in a sufficiently tasteful manner.