I really am sorry for the delay on this one… Work's just been kind of crazy. We've been losing employees like crazy… (for whatever reason: one moved away, two quit, three went back to school and had their availability drastically reduced) and so I've been picking up shifts like crazy. I would write for a few hours and then not find the time to pick it back up for another few days… But we made it here in the end.
Thank you for reviewing the last chapter: Berry Doyle, Sweet Cari, and dnofsunshine!
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Shibumi
If Yuuko had ever pictured a reunion with the other families, it had certainly looked nothing like this. There were an additional seven pairs, for one. And they weren't professionally gathered backstage at some talk show, or even in the den of someone's home. From the outside, no one would have guessed the Inoue convenience store was closed. In fact, there appeared to be more customers inside than ever before. Susumu had helped Yolei's father move some of the smaller shelves against the windows, both to give the people gathered here some more room and as a further measure to keep outsiders from trying to interrupt them.
The adults appeared to be mingling… but there was a clear divide present among them. To be sensed, if not actually seen. Only the seasoned parents, the ones who'd been living with this tragedy on a daily basis for years, dared to hope now. And even that wasn't uniform. Not all were willing to trust that this wasn't just another false lead. But the faces of the newly-affected showed, without exception, an all-too-familiar worry and grief.
Yuuko herself had felt like she was moving almost in a trance since Kari left. Susumu had made all the important calls—connected with Janyu Wong, set up this gathering with Yolei's parents and the other families. Yuuko had gone through her regular nightly routine, finally slipping into bed beside her husband without saying a word. She'd been afraid to reflect on the last time she'd felt this numb.
But the next morning, she'd finally put a stop to this behavior. They weren't bothering to dress up for this meeting. It wasn't that sort of occasion. But she'd put up her hair and stood before the bathroom mirror for a long time, forcing herself to stare into her own eyes.
Okay, she told herself. Both of your children are gone—spirited off to fight evil in some other dimension. What do you do now?
Well, she wasn't going to sleep through the rest of her life while her daughter was off solving the problem. So she'd made herself useful. She'd never been much one for baking, so she'd left that to Mrs. Kido. Instead, the Kamiyas had headed over to the store early and begun helping to set everything up.
Yolei's mother seemed to be constantly on the verge of tears and was just doing what she could to keep herself busy. She'd expressed her anxiety over not knowing what to say to her other children, how hard it had been to convince them to stay home today… a woe she'd been able to share with Henry's mother when the Wongs had arrived.
One by one, all the other families had slowly trickled in. Yuuko had hovered by the door, a little relieved when so many of them had greeted her back like old friends. She knew a bit of a rift had formed between them when Nancy and Hiroaki had gotten TK back. After that first year, they'd all kind of just drifted apart.
At last, they were all accounted for. Small folding tables had been set up in the big open space in the center of the store. Yuuko had been moving the refreshments settled there as everyone started taking seats. It did not escape her notice that they'd gone mostly untouched. But she'd expected as much. The food was really more decoration than anything else—gave the gathering a more purposeful feel.
By the time enough dishes had been removed so that the tables didn't feel overcrowded, everyone else was seated and waiting. When she reemerged from the backroom, an unsettling silence had taken root around them. They could all sense the time for small talk had passed. Everyone's eyes turned her way as she passed through the doorway. Either self-consciously or instinctively, her steps slowed until she stopped completely, hesitant to join them.
"Yuuko," Ms. Takenouchi said at last, a note of desperation in her voice. "Please, will you just tell us what's going on?"
"Am I right in understanding that you have some sort of lead?" Izzy's father spoke up before she could answer.
Mimi's mother leaned forward, her hands fisting anxiously in the tablecloth. "Do you know what happened to our children?"
They all had a similar note of fear and impending grief in their voices. Somehow, Yuuko wasn't surprised that none of the new members of their company seemed to have found their voices yet. Her own eyes were drawn to the left end of the table, to the two who still held themselves as outsiders. Just as her daughter had asked, Susumu had tracked down the Ichijoujis and managed to convince them to join this gathering. But they'd remained huddled together since they'd arrived and were now glancing around at everyone else, looking a little lost.
"Excuse me," Mrs. Ichijouji spoke up now, albeit timidly. "But whatever's going on here… you think my son is involved too?"
Murmurs were starting up around the table, and Yuuko began to feel like she was floundering here. But no sooner had she cast her eyes around for her husband than Susumu was getting up to stand beside her in front of all those desperate, questioning eyes.
"I want to thank you all for meeting us here on such short notice," he started. "I know this hasn't been easy… for anyone."
Immediately, the room settled back into curious silence again. Mrs. Matsuki cleared her throat and stood up from her seat. She didn't move to join them too, but her movement had already broken the spell and gotten everyone's attention.
"Excuse me… I just want to say… that I realize I don't know any of you very well. But I do know that what you're about to hear is going to be very hard to believe. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have bought it either. I guess I just ask you all to listen with an open mind. We're all here for the same reason—to do whatever we can to help our kids."
She fiddled with her hands for a while before sitting back down, having said her piece. Almost immediately, taking her place, Hiroaki stood from his seat. Nancy had chosen a seat about as far away from him as possible. Yuuko didn't miss the daggers she was glaring at him now and was pretty sure she could read that look fluently. She was sure her ex-husband had shared at least a little of what he'd already known these past few years. And the other woman was clearly displeased with being kept in the dark.
"I guess I'll start," said Matt and TK's father. "I know you all remember that when TK reappeared, no one could find any clues as to where he'd been for the past year…" He paused for a moment, the hesitation showing clearly on his features. He knew this would be the hard part. "You see, the thing is… TK didn't actually have amnesia. He told me that the kids had all been transported to another world. And he began making journeys back to this other world starting the next year, trying to find the other children—and a way to bring them all home."
Yuuko had to wince at the silence that followed. It was a very blank pause. Like they were all waiting for the punchline. She took another step closer and cut in, "Kari and the Matsukis' son Takato recently left to join them. As have the rest of your children." She took a moment to glance around this table. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to reach out to you all sooner. We only started getting answers ourselves recently."
The uncomfortable silence resumed until someone—she couldn't even distinguish who—whispered stiffly, "Is this… a joke?"
She'd expected as much. Yuuko stood her ground and leveled them all with a stare. "If any of you can look me in the eyes and honestly say you think I'd do something like that, I'm not sure I want you here. I've been living with the same despair as all of you for the last four years. This isn't something I take lightly."
"This is what I meant," Takato's mother spoke up again. "I know it sounds crazy, but I've seen creatures from that other world with my own eyes."
Janyu Wong stood up then and, just like before, like some sort of switch was flipped, Hiroaki took this as his cue to sit down. Henry's dad appeared equally uneasy to be the one with the information, but he didn't try to stall. "Perhaps I can put this all into a context that feels a little easier to believe…"
Yuuko and Susumu finally took their seats as Janyu launched into the tale of his studies and work. It was a little slow in places, but he seemed to know—without having to be told—when to get on with his explanation. At last, he got to the details of the game and the AI and how it all connected back to what they were currently facing. Janyu sat back down and took a drink from the glass of water set out before him, both to wet his throat and indicate that he was finished.
And Yuuko allowed herself a deep breath of relief. As strange and sci-fi as it all still sounded, she could tell, looking around the table of faces, that they'd started to believe. Well. Not everyone.
Mr. Kido was also looking around the table, incredulity on his features as he came to the same conclusion. In a soft, disbelieving voice, he asked, "Are you all insane?"
That seemed to set everything into motion. They all began speaking at once, struggling to get their opinions heard, and then raising their voices to try and counteract some of the other opinions floating around.
Until at last, Susumu shouted, "Enough!"
He was not usually one to raise his voice, but it rang with authority now. And slowly, all the other voices faded into silence once more.
And then… to Yuuko's surprise… it was Nancy who stood up and took charge. Her expression was firmer than she'd ever seen it, and she addressed the table now, "I'm not here to try and convince anyone of anything. I'm here to do whatever I can to help my sons. If you're with me, I propose we move on to talk of what we can actually do about this situation. Any of you who insist this is just a ridiculous fantasy… No one is forcing you to stay. But I've been waiting four years for an answer… And this is the closest anyone's ever come to one. And I trust my intuition on this one."
She stared resolutely around the table for a moment more before finally retaking her seat. There was a full minute of silence… but no one rose to leave their company.
At last, Janyu cleared his throat again and went on, "I've begun reaching out to my old colleagues…"
…
They were both frozen for another moment. But Izzy couldn't contain himself for long. His eyes swept every corner of the strange underground room in which they found themselves. And in which they'd found the man sitting before them now.
It wasn't that Henry wasn't curious about their surroundings as well, but he couldn't quite manage to tear his eyes away from… Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to call him. Gorou? Shibumi? Gennai? He didn't know what name he was going by these days. But, after scrutinizing him for a moment, he didn't find it hard to settle on one.
The way his near-lifeless body had looked in that hospital bed wasn't likely to fade from his memory any time soon. It haunted him a little. The way a person could just waste away like that… But the man he was faced with now was nearly the mirror image of the man in the photo Henry had seen of his college days.
In it, the young Monster Makers were all gathered in one of the computer labs where they must have done a significant amount of their work, if the notebooks and diagrams spread over every available surface was anything to go by. It came across as the perfect split between a purposely posed commemoration photo and a candid shot. Henry's dad was in the middle, smiling somewhat stiffly for the camera. To his immediate right, arm thrown jovially across Janyu's shoulders and looking much more natural, was Babel. Dolphin and Daisy appeared distracted by something out of sight, the latter's composure almost completely lost to her laughter. And the bookends—Shibumi and Curly—were turned towards each other, mid-conversation.
Henry had stared at Shibumi's easygoing smile for a long time. His mouth was open, and Henry had briefly wondered what he was saying before accepting that he likely wouldn't have been able to make sense of their complicated programming talk anyway. Shibumi wore that same easygoing smile now. He was still watching them silently, amusement dancing in his eyes.
Izzy had gone to murmur excitedly over one of the many screens lining the walls. (For broadening out a little, Henry was able to see that this room was a strange mix of futuristic and ancient. For every high-tech gadget, there was a tattered old technical encyclopedia stacked up somewhere on the floor.) Henry himself went straight to the source.
"You knew we were coming?" he asked once he was close enough to speak at a normal volume.
Shibumi's smile widened. "I couldn't know for sure, of course. Involving beings with free will has certainly made things a lot more exciting! But I suspected. I'd say Izzy's the brightest mind in the game, currently. With just a few more pieces, he probably could have figured it out himself. That's where you came in—charging to the rescue with the backstory."
Their conversation had recaptured Izzy's attention, and he'd drifted back over to listen. Once Shibumi was done, that serene look still in place, the two boys shared a tentative glance. He couldn't quite put a finger to it yet, but something about the man's words made him uneasy.
"Um, right… About that… game…" He couldn't help trailing off. He really wasn't sure what to ask first.
"Fascinating to see it brought to life, isn't it?" Shibumi's eyes had taken on a faraway look. Henry had spent enough time with his dad when he was mid-project to know when he'd lost someone's attention, but Izzy stepped forward.
"Excuse me, Mr. Mizuno," he began. Shibumi's gaze snapped back to him with a distant sort of surprise. Everything about him still seemed distant, but they were on the right track. "I only became acquainted with this game recently… despite living in it for however many years… But there are still a lot of things I don't understand—and which I'm hoping you can shed some light on."
Shibumi's smile was fond. "It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it? Seeing light shed on something for the first time… And yet, there will always be countless other mysteries out there, waiting to be solved… In a way, it's just as exciting."
It sunk in then, what had Henry feeling so unsettled. Here they were, their actual lives at stake because of this game Shibumi was waxing philosophical about. Barricaded down here in his secret basement, hidden behind all his screens, it was all still just a matter of philosophy and imagination—practically still hypothetical. Like he didn't realize he'd trapped a bunch of real children in a dangerous world while their loved ones were left behind to wonder and worry.
"How did you get here?" he asked suddenly. He realized he'd cut off Izzy's next words—and rather sharply—but he needed to stay focused and keep charging forward if he planned to keep his temper under control. And to do that, he needed to keep everyone else focused.
Shibumi turned that serene affect back on Henry. "A most remarkable tale. While I commend your father and our other friends for being able to move on, I never could bring myself to let go of our old project. It was such a defining era of my life… How could I let something like lack of money put an end to it?"
"So you continued your work after the group split up," Izzy prompted intently, eager to get to the meat of this tale.
"As much as I could by myself," he agreed. "It was hard without the other Monster Makers. We really did each bring something different to the table. But I was pleasantly surprised, too. To my amazement, our AI was already more sophisticated than any of us had realized. The system worked with me in its continued development—collecting energy out in cyberspace until an honest-to-goodness actual separate world had formed!"
Shibumi was nearly giddy just reflecting on it, and Izzy's mouth had opened, no doubt prepped to launch one of about a million new questions, but Henry beat him to it. "Okay, but how did you get yourself here?"
Shibumi cocked his head to the side, looking genuinely curious. "Have you ever been truly passionate about something, Henry? Devoted to the point where it takes over your life, becomes a part of your very self? It only felt perfectly right that when my consciousness faded from one plane of existence, it was revived in the one that already held such a claim on my soul."
Terriermon had crawled up to hang off his shoulder. He whispered in Henry's ear now, "Whoa… I think this guy's got a few screws loose."
Henry wanted to agree, though not for quite the same reasons. After making the journey so inexplicably himself, he had no trouble accepting that Shibumi had somehow just drifted here. What still had him worried was the man's blasé attitude towards this whole situation.
"Yeah, you were in a car accident roughly four years ago. Your body's still on life support back in the real world."
It occurred to him after the fact that his tone was a little brusque to be delivering news that held this sort of weight, but Shibumi didn't appear the least bit shaken. He was still smiling in that amused way, like a kindly—if odd—uncle of some sort.
"Ah, but what is reality, exactly, Henry? Is what you're thinking and feeling and experiencing now not real?"
He could feel his patience starting to slip. "Okay, but… you do know this isn't just a game anymore… right?"
"But of course. The word 'just' is so limiting. Was it ever just a game? To me, it was always about our ability to create—what we could make reality. It would be a terrible disappointment to learn the others thought differently."
This was getting them nowhere. Even Izzy seemed to have focused in and tempered his curiosity a little. "Mr. Mizuno, what we're really trying to say is… If you created this world, you must also have the ability to shut it down, correct?"
Shibumi's eyes widened in surprise. "Why, I suppose so. Hypothetically, at least. What a morbid question."
"I don't see what's so morbid about it," Henry cut back in. "We're asking you to set things right."
His eyes took on a sad cast, and he sighed. "Oh, Henry… I would have hoped you had moved past such concrete notions of right and wrong by now. It's not a matter of coincidence that you were assigned a partner with such a free spirit. But then, I suppose one's history is rarely so easy to overcome. Tao was always a bit rigid, too."
He could practically hear something snap inside his mind. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, and Terriermon glanced at him worriedly in response to his sudden tenseness. "Will you stop with all this philosophical avoidance crap? Your game has turned into a mass kidnapping! All of our lives are in danger because of you! And don't try to tell me we're safe because no one dies in this world's story—the fact that I'm involved at all is proof enough that you've already lost control of it!"
Henry wasn't normally one to shout, and he sounded a little hoarse by the end of it, but Izzy and the Digimon weren't backing away slowly like they thought he was unhinged. If anything, the other boy's eyes had gotten a little harder. He knew, without a doubt, on which side his new friend stood.
Still, this got no emotional rise out of Shibumi. His smile had faded, but the frown that replaced it was still so… mild. Simply thoughtful. At last, he replied, "I will not try and dispute your words. I've had to accept that the participants may not share my vision… I already knew that was a possibility, however unfortunate. But let me ask you this… What of the Digimon who live here?"
Henry blinked, thrown off his stride for a moment. "The… Digimon?"
A small smile returned to Shibumi's face like a silent checkmate. "Yes. If we are to acknowledge that this plane of existence is also real—and I've yet to see either of you try to dispute this—then is the plight of the Digimon who live here something you can walk away from so readily? They've been waiting so long for a savior, and there's no one else who can fill that role. Would you deny them their happy ending after so long?"
"That's not…" Henry grit his teeth. He'd thought Shibumi to be too far gone to turn the tables on him like this. Luckily, Izzy didn't so much as flinch.
In his best businesslike tone, the red-haired boy corrected, "Perhaps you misunderstood. We're not asking you just to send all the humans back to Earth. Everything needs to be set right. You're right; I didn't understand it at first—I latched onto the knowledge that they were all made of data. But I do see your point now—the Digimon are as real and alive as I am. I'm not proposing this world be shut down completely… But they do deserve to live in peace. It's your program. Whatever was added to throw them into peril needs to be rewritten."
Henry had to admire the older boy's firm tone. Up until now, he'd been viewing Izzy as more of an advisor than a leader. But he would have no second thoughts about following him into battle now. Whatever form that battle might take.
But Shibumi seemed truly disappointed, with a sigh available to show it. "Oh, Izzy… you've always had such a bright mind. But I'm afraid your listening skills could use some work. The program has grown beyond my ability to control it. And it would react to the threat of being deleted the same way you or I would. I have managed to retain some power—admin privileges, if you will," he said, flashing another brief smile. "But—even if I did have it in me to dismantle my greatest creation—it's simply not possible with the time I have left."
Both boys seemed to perk up a little, shaken from the fog of their debate. Shibumi's serene air hadn't shifted in the least, but Henry glanced over to see that Terriermon had been distracted—he wasn't sure by what. But both partners were peering around the room, as if they'd heard something the humans could not. Tentomon was the one to finally say, "Um, I hate to interrupt, but can anyone else feel that?"
"Yeah, it's like the whole room is buzzing… Whoa!" He watched as Terriermon lifted one of his ears. And at least three inches near the end started to glitch in and out of existence. It finally settled back into a solid state, but it felt tentative.
Henry snapped back to Shibumi, who still hadn't moved an inch. "What's happening?!"
But he knew at once that they would not be getting any more answers. Shibumi's smile was still in place, but it was like the rest of him had frozen. For just a second, he thought he saw bits of data run through the man's eyes, and then his image changed into one of a stooped old man, (Gennai?) but only for a few seconds. It was like his body couldn't maintain any one form, and so it started to blink back and forth between the two. As Henry watched, he saw the desk and surrounding walls begin to glitch in and out too. It was almost mesmerizing…
"Henry, come on!" He whirled around to see Izzy already at the foot of the stairs, a woozy Tentomon in his arms. Henry stumbled into a run, and the boys bolted up the stairs with their Digimon, not stopping until they'd escaped the cottage completely.
The two tripped down to a seat on the grass, panting. The Digimon seemed to shake themselves out of their stupor… just as the house imploded. The boys let out surprised grunts and clutched their partners a little tighter as a strong wind suddenly blew in from every side, like Gennai's cottage was a sinking ship, pulling everything in towards its destruction. But just as suddenly, the valley was calm once more. And when they looked up, there wasn't so much as a scorch mark where the building had been.
It was like the cottage had never existed at all.
Review please!
I don't own Digimon!
It's probably a good time to mention that a lot of the events in this chapter and the next one are a little mixed up, chronologically. I wanted to get the part with Shibumi written, but the next chapter rewinds the clock a little to show you the events leading up to what we see here.