Returning to his home town, a rebellious Wild Card reunites with old friends.
As Akira Kurusu looked out the window of the train he could see his home town coming into view, something a part of him believed he would never see again over what happened last year when Shido falsely accused him of assault.
Still, even if bad memories had tainted this place it was still home. His home, and home to the friends he left behind when he went on his probation. Checking the time he saw how late it was going to be before he actually arrived, however he knew one place would still be open by the time he arrived and if he hurried.
A small smile graced the Wild Card's lips as he pocket his phone, originally he didn't care much for it since his parents got it for him for the explicated purpose of cutting him off from his friends to 'cut off bad influences' as they put it. While he understands, now, that they did it with the best of intentions in mind that doesn't change how hurt he was at the time.
But now, that same phone was filled with new memories of friends and triumphs of the last year. He had every intention of keeping it after he gets his old phone back, and reunite with a dear friend.
As the train came into the station Akira took a moment to get his bearings before heading to his destination with his luggage with him, he got the odd look from passer bys but they went on with their day moments afterwards. Besides even if he had something to hide Akira could do that easily enough, he had to be sneaky after his 'death' in police custody so he had plenty of practice.
As the sun began setting and the sky turned to night the Leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart found what he was looking for, a cafe. As he looked in memories of the last time he was here played out in his mind.
"They can't do this, your innocent!"
"Maybe, we could hide Akira somewhere? What about moving over there?"
"Running away will only make him look guilty, even if he went there he could never come back home without the police hunting him down"
"There's something else, I overheard my parents talking earlier and they're going to take my phone off me and give me a blank one without any contacts but theirs. I don't know what their going to do with this, but even if it's just locking it away"
"Akira, what are you?"
"Please, everyone. Watch over Herissmon, because I can't where I'm going"
As the memory came to an end Akira walked into the Truffle Cafe, looking around he saw it was empty already as it was nearly time for closing.
"Sorry, we're locking up a little early today" hearing a familiar voice Akira turned to see the owner looking at him from the counter, seems she hadn't recognized him yet.
Without saying a word Akira lowered his hood to let the owner, Chihiro Tsukimori, get a good look at him. The way she paused as she looked at him before her brown eyes widened in shock told the Wild Card she finally recognized him "It's been a while"
She gave him a quick hug as they two caught up "A while is putting it mildly, I thought you were coming back tomorrow"
"I was, but due to random chance I was about to drop by a day early. Figure I'd surprise everyone" Akira said as he put down a bag he was carrying.
Chihiro shook her head "Surprise is putting it mildly" she turned to the kitchen and called out "Lopmon, break out the special blend"
"The special blend? I believed we were saving it for-" From the kitchen came a small creature with brown fur with pink stripes, using it's large ears to lift itself up higher raising itself up so that it's three horns could be seen before it's eyes. As soon as Lopmon spotted Akira the Digimon nodded "Ah I see, welcome back Akira. I'll get the special blend ready"
[The following day]
"Welcome Back!"
The cheers in the Truffle Cafe was almost deafening as the cheers of humans and Digimon mix together with party poppers, while not everyone could make it a fair number of his old friends had shown up for the welcome home party.
Michi Shinjo was helping Akira catch up on what he missed over the past year with her Digimon partner Salamon helping to reign in some of her partner's extra energy, they were the first Tamer and Digimon pair Akira had met after his own partner figured out how to get out of his phone.
Mayu Kohinata and her Digimon partner Kudamon had brought the cake they were all enjoying along with an assortment of other snacks, the aspiring cook pulling out all the stops to make the best food she could.
Akira took the glasses he had over the past year and held them out to the one who lent them to him over a year ago now "Before I forget, I promised to return these didn't I"
Keito Tamada, third year college student and Digimon researcher, looked surprised before shaking his head "It's fine, you can keep them. That being said, how well did they work"
"Did they make everyone think you were like Keito" Keito's little sister, Nozomi asked as her own Digimon partner Pumpkinmon shared food with Keito's partner Elecmon.
Akira nodded as he looked at the glass frames with fake lenses "Something like that, no one suspected me of having a record until one of the teachers at Shujin leaked the info" feeling everyone looking at him wide eyed the Wild Card remembered that his hometown friend group didn't know what happened in Tokyo.
"It's a long story, I promise to tell you all more about it later" The leader of the Phantom Thieves said, unsure of how much of to actually tell his friends. Considering all the things said teacher had done, and that was something Akira was not going to talk about with Nozomi present, Kamoshida was the first target of the Phantom Thieves and he wasn't going to reveal himself as Joker to his old friends.
"Oh alright, putting that worrying thought aside lets move onto the main event" Michi said as she tried to bring back the bit of cheer lost due to Akira's slip up.
What she brought over left a washed with emotions as he saw a familiar white egg with mostly grey and some gold highlights, it was the egg of Akira's own Digimon partner after he sacrificed himself to save them.
The same friend he couldn't protect due to events outside his control. As Michi put the egg on the table it began to shake, the shaking growing stronger as the closer Akira got before it hatched with blast of light.
When the light cleared Akira saw the baby version of his Digimon partner, his partner who waited for him.
{After Digimon ReArise Season 2 & Persona 5 Strikers}
Akira sat back and watched from the side as the two groups he had spent a lot of time with interacted with one another, this being the first major free time of The Phantom Thieves of Heart interacting with this group of Digimon Tamer. Looking off to the side Akira spotted Sojiro on a video call with Chihiro, the parental figures of the two groups going over their shared work experience running cafes.
"You know, I was not expecting you to be involved with Digital Lifeforms" Zenkichi Hasegawa, the newest and oldest member of the Phantom Thieves, said as he rubbed his forehead and let out a long sigh.
Akira raised an eyebrow "Wait, you know about Digimon?"
The Police Inspector made a so-so gesture with his hand "Second hand knowledge really, not my department but the Public Security Intelligence Agency has been aware of Digital lifeforms for a while" he turned to Akira "I mean, while most of this Metaverse stuff has been kept on the down low events regarding the Digital World and Digimon are another story" he winced "Especially in regards to several events over the years"
"Like the Spirals?" Herissmon asked, his encounter with the Spiral known as Origin said fresh in his mind after the latter's defeat.
"Well, truth is this whole Spiral business is news to me. Seems like any effects in the Human World has been mostly isolated to this town" Zenkichi shook his head before raising up his hand to list off notable events "Let's see, first there was that suspected terrorist attack in 2000 at former Highton View Terrace in Nerima Tokyo that we're now coming to believe was actually the result of two Digimon battling"
"Oh! Yeah, I heard about that" Futaba Sakura said, her conversation with Keito being put on pause as they both overheard Zenkichi and Akira's conversation "Apparently the street got ripped up really bad but no one was actually hurt"
Keito rubbed his chin "Actually, I'm pretty sure one of the people I'm working with in regards to my research into Digimon was actually there that night. He didn't outright say it but from the wording he used I'm sure he was"
The police inspector expression became serious "The second time was connected to the bizarre weather patterns from 2003 to 2004, along with a brief invasion of Digimon that was mercifully short with no casualties. Though the sight of the sky being ripped open is still scared into my memories"
"I remember that, me a couple of my friends at the time hid until the whole thing was over" Chihiro added.
"And aside from the Doomsday Clock almost hitting midnight the following year, the next big thing was pretty much a second invasion of Digimon on a global scale, more spread out so less noticable, in 2007" The police inspector's shoulders fell "From what I heard from my superiors, politically things were a nightmare at that time. Things only really began to cool off after the United Nations agree to form an organization to handle possible dangers from the Digital Worlds, it's either called Digital Accidents Tactics Squad or Digimon Data Squad"
"Wait, what was that thing that happened in 2010? I vaguely remember things fading away before things went back to normal" Ryuji as he remembered running with his mum.
"Oh, supposedly a grief stricken god of the Digital World wanted to either reset the Human and Digital worlds to before their friend died to bring them back to life or reset themselves to get rid of their memories and the pain of lost" Zenkichi said before shooting everyone a smile "Still, things worked out for the best. King Drasil, the digital god in question, agreed to help keep the peace between the Human World and Digital World as atonement for their grief stricken actions"
Those who had lost someone dear to them subtly nodded, even if they couldn't agree with King Drasil's plans the reasoning behind them was something they understood.
"2015 actually had a case with a pretty similar reason, the human who shall go unnamed kidnapped all the Humans with Digimon partners they could find and put them in some dream world" seeing panicked look in Keito's eyes as they shot over to his little sister the police inspector quickly added a piece of information "They seemed to have exclusively targeted older Tamers with the younger ones left alone, meaning you would be the one kidnapped Mr Tamada and not your sister"
Keito gave a shaky nod "Thanks for the info"
{Digimon x Persona}
"Hey, Akira. Do you think there are other Persona Users with Digimon Partners?" Herissmon asked, the two of them back in Akira's old bedroom.
Thinking it over the Wild Card give his answer "It's hard to say, from what I understand few people have the ability to use a Persona and having both that and being lucky enough to get a partner"
"Oh" Herissmon said, disappointed that the odds of meeting another Digimon who was partnered with a Persona User was so low.
Akira rubbed his partner's head to cheer them up "The odds are low, but I'm sure we'll meet them one day. Considering how Persona Users almost seem attracted to each other like Tamers I'm sure it's only a matter of time"
Herissmon's cheery demeanour returned before a question popped into the Spiral turned Digimon "Attracted? Like dating?"
"Nothing like that, I mean in that they keep running into each other" Akira answered, the two laying down to sleep soon after. However, Herissmon's words had put a question in Akira's mind.
If there are others in the world who were both Persona Users and Digimon Partners, what were the odds of one of them also being a Wild Card?
Putting those thoughts aside for the night Akira drifted off to sleep, for now the future seeming to be a bright one for both Humans and Digimon.
Author's Notes:
Surprise Persona and Digimon Crossover.
Also, the 'There' they were referring to was the Digital World.
This is a quick one shot meant to act as both as a celebration of Persona's 25th Anniversary and as tribute to the app Digimon ReArise [Realize being a word used often in game] which is shutting down on April 21st, I downloaded the game when it first came out and have played it since after the previous game Digimon Link was too shutdown.
Now, cards on the table in this I more or less fused the Persona and the original Digimon Adventure timelines together and added in ReArise to the continuity. Some may point out that I got some years wrong but the truth is it's all planned and accounted for in this fused timeline, as for what this timeline looks like.
1992: Shin Megami Tensei 1 {Bombs are not dropped]
1993: Original Digi Destined adventure in the Digital World
1994: Shin Megami Tensei IF {The game that would lead to the creation of the Persona series]
1995: SMT Persona 1
1999: SMT Persona 2 Innocent Sin + Eternal Punishment, Dark Hour Creation
2000: Digimon Adventure Zero / Adventure [Movie]
2004: Digimon Adventure 01
2005: Digimon Adventure 01 movie
2007: Digimon Adventure 02 [AU]
2008: Digimon Adventure 02 movie [AU]
2009 – 2010: Persona 3 | Digimon Adventure Tri [AU]
2011 – 2012: Persona 4
2015: Digimon Last Evolution | Digimon ReArise Season 1 | Tokyo Mirage Session ?
2016 – 2017: Persona 5 Royal Strikers | Digimon ReArise Season 2
2020: Persona Trinity Soul [Non canon, but I will acknowledge it]
2032: Digimon Adventure 02 Epilogue.
There aren't any magic mind wipes to hand wave away everyone forgetting about Digimon, so while the average citizen would be willingly to ignore the issue for the most part world governments are aware of Digimon.
Futaba knows about Digimon, never met one before, and how some hackers are planning on using Digimon once they et their hands on the right tool for the job to make it work, ala Cyber Sleuth.
