From the report of Andrey Rabinovich
April 1, 20XX
Dearest Oleg,
Just as we feared, a snowstorm has hit the camp. Though the excavation spot is less than two miles north, progress is impossible until conditions improve.
The tent is pelted with snow and torn at by the wind at all times; worse than the cold, even, is the onslaught of noise from which there is no reprieve. I have taken to playing cards with the son, Ryo, in my boredom; Dr. Akiyama, however, pours over his notes and equipment more fervently than ever.
Last night, something very odd happened. I swore I heard voices, right outside my tent; at first I thought it was just the wind, but the more I listened the more sure I was. Two voices, conversing. It lasted only a few minutes, but just as I was drifting off to sleep again I swear I saw a massive shadow looming outside my tent: a clawed, dragon-like figure with raggedy wings. Perhaps this storm is getting to me.
My love for you cuts through this bitter cold like a furnace.
Andrey
Chapter Two:
"I am angry. Grrr."
Takato
Despite the early hour, the Matsuda bakery was already bustling with activity in preparation for the Sunday morning rush. After the Shinjuku Post featured the bakery in its "Around Town" column a few months ago, business had been higher than ever—higher, it turned out, than the Matsuda family could handle on their own (especially with a son who not only moonlighted as a Tamer but also had to study for college entrance exams that year.)
Only a few weeks into the new year, the family picked up their first ever non-Matsuda employee: Masahiko Katou, Juri's little brother. Masahiko was a scrawny kid, far more shy than his sister and always jumping with nervous energy. Since the Katou children helped run the family restaurant most nights of the week, Masahiko was able to backfill in the mornings and on Sundays. That the kid was familiar with Guilmon and the rest of the digimon menagerie was just an added bonus.
Guilmon, however, had got it in his head recently that Masahiko was replacing his role in the bakery. Over the years, Takato's mother entertained Guilmon with a variety of tasks to "help out" with; important things like kneading the dough (that fell on the floor), stacking mixing bowls (don't let them fall!), taste-testing new recipes, and of course "getting rid of" stale bread.
That morning, the red dinosaur was sulking in a corner as Masahiko filled sweet red bean buns as quickly as he could and Takato rushed through another load of dishes. In the front, his mother Yoshie worked the register while simultaneously writing down orders with one hand and shooing away a stray cat with the other.
"Where's your father," she hissed at Takato as he placed the most recent set of orders down next to her?
"Beat's me, but he'd better be back soon 'cause we're drowning," Takato replied, already racing back through the kitchen door to grab the batch of savory rolls before they burned.
As soon as he set them down on the counter, however, he spun around into a face full of Guilmon. "Can I help?"
Takato glanced at the kitchen timer—another 30 seconds before the second batch came out, thank god, and quickly lowered down next to his partner. "Hey boy, we're just really busy right now. How about you go upstairs and think about a fun game for us to play later? Or, you can build a fort out of all that cardboard around the side of the house. Wouldn't that be cool? Then we can go sit in it and watch more Young Justice when I'm done!"
Guilmon glared, clearly not convinced. "But Masahiko gets to help! Why don't you go make him build a fort?"
"Ah, buddy…" Takato glanced at the scrawny preteen, who was currently balancing eight trays loaded with bread and sweating profusely. "Masahiko does all of the boring stuff. You'd be wasted doing what he does! I mean, could Masahiko have invented a bread helmet?"
Guilmon considered this, then grinned. "Yeah, no way! I don't do boring stuff! Maybe I will make bread armor next…" The dinosaur trotted away towards the stairs leading to the family apartment and slipped through the door. A few seconds later, they heard his voice call out: "Hi, Dad-Bird-Mon!"
Masahiko glanced in Takato's direction, then back towards the door. "What's a bread helmet?"
Takato carefully opened the oven door, wincing at the blast of hot air. "Think Guilmon sticks his head in a loaf of bread… but stupider, somehow."
Suddenly, Takato's father Takehiro burst out of the stairwell and skidded to a stop. "S.O.S., emergency— I did a quick flyover and Mrs. Itou is on the 28C bus and approaching fast. I'd say we have five minutes, tops." He glanced up at Masahiko, who looked horrified. "How much longer on that milk bread?"
"Umm, shoot, at least a half hour… oh my god, Mr. Matsuda, I'm so sorry—"
"Hey, don't worry about it kid!" Takehiro snapped up to attention with a grin. "Takato, tell Mom to get ready—we're giving out samples."
Takato smiled sadly at the younger boy as his father rushed on an apron and got to work. He remembered countless times when he'd been in that exact position. "Seriously, it's fine. It's not your fault Itou orders twenty loaves and, oh yeah, is totally insane."
"Yeah, I guess," Masahiko replied quietly, staring towards the front of the store with balled fists.
With a sigh, Takato headed towards the register with a tray of small-cut pastry samples. If he thinks this is bad, just wait 'til a bunch of Americans wander in looking for an 'authentic Japanese experience'…
As the morning shifted towards afternoon, Takato's father pulled him to the side. "Hey. You're on bird duty next—head out after this batch is done." Takato nodded, frowning as he followed Takehiro's gaze towards their very stressed employee. "He hasn't told you what he is yet?"
He shook his head. "Juri won't tell me either. I just don't feel right pressing the issue..."
"Pity." The older man turned towards the endless stream of people making their way through the front of the store. "We could use another scout. Or maybe a big dog for crowd control."
Takato sighed. That would be nice. But given that Juri still hadn't told him after almost a month, he was running out of guesses. As much as he wanted to share this experience with her—and he did want to, very badly—it was her choice.
Still, Kenta had literally been raiding trash bins recently. Could it really be worse than that?
Jenrya
/WHAT ABOUT NOW?/
"Oww, yes Dad, we hear you on the 14th floor too. Do we really have to go down one by one?"
/YES, ABSOLUTELY. WE'RE COLLECTING DATA HERE./
Jenrya grabbed the walkie-talkie from Shiuchon and jammed his thumb on the button. "Dad, you have to stop shouting. You're just giving us headaches."
Shiuchon glared at him and snatched the device back. "Hey! I get the walkie-talkie, you write down the numbers, remember?"
/ARE YOU SUR—ah, sorry—are you sure there isn't a difference if I shout?/
"Yep. We were sure the first 10 floors too," Shiuchon said, nodding at Terriermon who slapped an ear against the elevator button for the next floor down.
By the time they reached the lobby of the apartment building, Jenrya was really wishing he hadn't joked about headaches. Shiuchon wasn't looking better. "I can't believe we just spent two hours riding an elevator," she muttered, rubbing her forehead.
Lopmon gently swatted her partner's hand away with an ear. "Shiuchon! Please don't rub like that, you're going to get pimples. I packed some aspirin in your bag."
"Ugh, you're worse than Mom," Shiuchon groaned. "I need a nap."
/ARE YOU OUTSIDE YET?/
The siblings yelped and Jenrya grabbed the walkie-talkie again. "No, Dad, why would we be outside? We're coming back up. And PLEASE be quieter!"
There was a pause.
/WHY WOUld you come back up? We haven't found the thought-speak range yet./
"Tell him we have homework or something!" Shiuchon hissed, clearly getting nervous.
/I HEARD THAT! IT'S THE WEEkend and I know you both worked yesterday. This won't take more than another 20 minutes./
It was at that exact moment, of course, that both of their D-Arks started to beep, signaling a bio-emergence. Terriermon made a little whooping noise and jumped onto Jenrya's shoulder. "YES! Finally we get to do something fun around here!" He stuck his nose at the walkie-talkie. "See ya later, suckers! Come on Jen, let's go!"
Jenrya was all too happy to comply until Shiuchon grabbed onto his wrist with fire in her eyes. "No WAY. You are not leaving me here to finish Dad's stupid experiment! How about YOU stay and WE go instead!?"
Terriermon stuck his tongue out at the younger Tamer and her partner. "No way, you're way too important for Janyu. Afterall—" he snatched the device from Jenrya's hands and tossed it at Shiuchon, who caught it in surprise—"you're the one in charge of the walkie-talkie!" He tugged at Jenrya's hair harshly and hissed: "Go go go go go!"
Jenrya didn't need to hear another word. Two seconds later, the two were out the door and sprinting in the direction of the D-Ark's blinking light
The bio-emergence pointed them east; after a few minutes of running, a Hypnos tech messaged Jenrya through the encrypted app on his phone with an update: apparently, a dozen Betamon had appeared at the docks in Odaiba and were attacking some shipping containers. With both Jenrya and Terriermon equally unenthused at the idea of taking the train— it was, they decided, far too close to an elevator box—they took the next best option.
Two minutes later, a very windswept Jenrya stumbled out of Rapidmon's arms onto the dock, groaning. "Remember what I said about going slower next time?"
"Oh, you're no fun Jen." The massive creature landed next to him. Jenrya winced as the ground shook, willing the tower of storage containers in front of them not to fall over. "It's just some Betamon, right? I'm gonna get smaller, don't want to scare them…" In a quick flash of light, Terriermon appeared next to him. "Where are these suckers anyway?"
"Beats me…" Jenrya glanced around. For a place where a bunch of digimon were apparently attacking some shipping crates, it was weirdly quiet and the digital fog had already started to dissipate. Terriermon insisted he didn't see them from the air either; honestly, they were going fast enough that Jenrya probably wouldn't have noticed even if the entire dock was on fire.
Still, searching for some confused Child-levels was a million times better than helping with Janyuu's 'experiment', and the two were in good spirits as they searched through the maze of freight. Eventually, they found a low box to sit on and stopped for a break.
Noticing Jenrya frowning at his digivice, Terriermon hopped over. "Is your D-Ark broken or what? Why won't it tell us where the Betamon are?"
"It just says they're here. Not very helpful." Next to his smartphone, the thing looked almost antiquated. Sure, it had some new programs installed; a communicator, an analog clock, Tetris… the most significant was probably Janyuu's newest invention, though. The Box Cutter allowed them to create rips into the Digital World, just big enough to send off a few Wild Ones and call it a day.
Suddenly, Terriermon perked up. "Hold on, I hear something…" He shuffled in a circle, one way then the other, ears held up like helicopter blades. "Yep. There's a digimon nearby."
"About time…"
Sure enough, a small Betamon was cowering just around the corner. When they came into view, its eyes widened and it took a step back. Jenrya crouched down, showing his hands in an 'I mean no harm' gesture. "Hey, buddy. What are you doing here? Are you lost?"
The digimon glanced nervously up at the shipping container behind them, then at Terriermon. The rabbit glared back. "What're you lookin' at?"
"Ah, Terriermon…" Jenrya turned back to the Betamon. Its orange fin was shaking. "Please don't be scared. Are you here with anyone else? We just want to help you get home—"
"ELECTRIC SHOT!"
The fright next to Terriermon exploded into bits of metal and glass. Jenrya jumped at the Betamon, shielding it with his body until the dust settled. "Dammit. Terriermon!"
"Yeah, yeah, on it." Terriermon leapt into the air and spat out a series of green fireballs at the new Betamon which had appeared behind them. "Blazing Fire!"
The Betamon tumbled to the side, but in an instant two more scrambled besides it, and then two more, and then more and more
"Mama!" The little digimon squealed, wiggling out from under Jenrya and running to the back of the group.
He breathed a sigh of relief—the little guy was back with his family. He stood up and took a step towards the digimon, palms up. "Okay, nice to meet you guys. I'm Jenrya and this is Terriermon. How about we help you all get home?"
The Betamon glanced at each other. The big one at the front, who must have been their leader, narrowed his big red eyes. What happened next flashed by in an instant— the ground exploded with a bang and broken wood flew everywhere, Terriermon cursed loudly, Jenrya landed hard on the ground, his D-Ark flew to the side and skittered across the dock before falling through a crack and, to his horror, disappearing into the water below them.
"JEN! COME ON, EVOLVE ME!"
"Be quiet!" a Betamon hissed— as the dust settled, Jenrya saw that his partner was pinned to the dock by half a dozen digimon.
"Dammit, uh, give me a second…" He racked his brain for some way to retrieve the lost digivice and came up blank. Diplomacy it is…
"Hey! Let's all calm down, okay?" Jenrya shouted in the most authoritative voice he could muster.
"HAH! Jen, you sound like you swallowed a fish!"
What does that even… "Oh, shut it, Terriermon!" He glared at the lead Betamon. "Could you please let go of my partner? We really don't want to fight!"
The Betamon took a menacing step forward— well, as menacing as you can get when you're a very large, very sharp frog. "Don't lie to me. We know what you're here for, and you're not going to get a single one of us. I won't let it happen again." Its eyes glinted, and the rest of the group stepped forward as well. "BETA SLUGGER!"
In that moment Jenrya acted on complete instinct, swatting at the incoming fin so it veered to the side and tore into a shipping crate. Before he could even get his bearings, two more attacks shot towards him:
"BETA SLUGGER!"
"CUTTER FIN!"
The first one he managed to swipe away, but he cried out in pain as the second attack sliced down his flank. Suddenly furious, he lunged back at the group and let out an earsplitting roar:
"RAHHHHHHHHHGHHHHHH!"
The Betamon shrieked and scrambled backward, tumbling over each other. In the confusion, Terriermon burst free with a triumphant 'hah!' and glided to Jenrya's side. "How do you like it now, suckers?"
After some resistance, the leader Betamon finally let himself be shoved forward. Rather than look at them, he turned his gaze to the ground. "Ah, yes, umm… my apologies, Mister Grizzmon sir, we didn't realize it was you…"
Grizzmon… Jenrya grunted in confusion and looked down. Ah. Yep, those were paws.
Terriermon caught on quicker. "Umm… yes! And you should be sorry! Right, Mister Grizzmon?" He glared at Jenrya expectantly.
/Uhh, yep! That's me! Grizzmon?/
The lead Betamon frowned. "Mister Grizzmon, you sound different…"
/Ah, yes, well, you know. Allergies and all that./ Jenrya tried to clear his throat but it came out as more of a gargle.
Seeing the Betamon's frown only grow deeper, Terriermon hopped forward so they were face to face. "Would you really dare speak to the great Mister Grizzmon in such a way? He should have your heads for this." Another pointed glance at Jenrya.
/Uh… yes! I am angry. Grrrrr./ After a moment, he added in a real "GRRRRR" for emphasis.
Seeing the Betamon cower back again, Terriermon continued on. "Well, I'm sure all would be forgiven if you would allow us to send you back to the Digital World. How does that sound? You all go home and Mister Grizzmon doesn't eat you and all that."
Jenrya growled again to hammer the point home. He was starting to like this. That is, until he remembered one small issue. Shoot.
/Terriermon,/ he hissed, directing the thought-speech at his partner only, /my digivice fell into the water! We need to get it to open the stupid portal!/
Terriermon twitched, almost imperceptibly, then pointed at a Betamon off to the side. "You there! We have a job for you."
Twenty minutes later, the D-Ark was back on dry land and Terriermon finished patching up the digital rip, Betamon safely home. Jenrya, who had been on 'Mister Grizzmon' duty the whole time, let out a sigh of relief and fell back onto his haunches. /Well, that was new…/
"I'm kinda liking this whole good cop-bad cop thing we've got going," Terriermon said, waddling over on his stumpy legs. He slapped the digivice down in front of Jenrya. "Still can't believe you're the bad cop, though. Shall we get going?"
/Yep./ Jenrya shifted back to human, the wet dock suddenly cold underneath his bare feet. Bare feet…
He looked around at the tattered remains of his clothes scattered across the ground. "Oh my god…"
It took him a second, but when Terriermon realized what'd happened he burst into laughter. "HAH! You are SO in for it now!"
"I really liked that shirt…" Jenrya sadly picked through the scraps of cloth for his glasses; they were okay, at least. "Looks like we're taking the Rapidmon express again."
Ruki
Unlike her younger self, Ruki didn't actually hate shopping. Around the time when they all became Tamers, she didn't have a great relationship with her mother. It made sense—she was young and angry, and her mom was still figuring out how to raise a kid, and they both could have tried harder to actually communicate. What it came down to was that her mom liked shopping, therefore she didn't like shopping.
Juri, however, did like shopping, and she also happened to be Ruki's best friend. Somehow, this meant that she was now Juri's de-facto shopping buddy.
"Oh wow, that looks really good!"
Juri frowned at herself in the mirror and did a half turn. "Ah, I dunno… you don't think it's too cutesy?"
Ruki raised an eyebrow. "I mean, sure, if I were wearing it maybe. But Juri, you like cutesy stuff. If you like it, it's not too cutesy."
The outfit in question, a light blue dress with tiny yellow and white flowers, was definitely cute. It had puffy sleeves, a bow in the back, buttons… pretty much everything Ruki wouldn't be caught dead in. So of course on Juri it looked amazing. Though she eventually got her friend to admit the dress was adorable, they still left the store empty-handed. Hypnos paid pretty well for an after-school job, but they were still high school students on high school student budgets.
Juri and Ruki were both quite stingy, in fact; Juri because her family owned a restaurant and had struggled over the years, and Ruki because it was apparently just in her nature. 'Stingy to a fault', Renamon said; a few months back, Juri and Takato even dragged her to a store and forced her to buy new shoes. Her old ones had holes in the bottoms and every time it rained her feet got soggy. In her defense, she did really like them.
All in all, this just meant that when Ruki and Juri went 'shopping', it was really more of 'window shopping': something to do while they hung out.
They opted to walk home instead of take the train; cherry blossoms had just started blooming, after all, and their sweet aroma filled the air.
Once they reached the quiet neighborhood streets, Juri peaked into her bag. "Culumon's still sleeping, can you believe it?" Sure enough, the little white digimon was snoring peacefully in between the folds of her scarf. "I swear he's been up to something at night; he always comes home hyper and covered in mud but won't tell me what he's working on. As soon as I give him a bath, he falls right asleep…"
"Huh. Maybe he's digging a hole or something. I really liked doing that when I was five."
"Yeah, maybe…" Juri stopped walking and looked out over the river. In the water below, pink petals drifted by like fallen snow. "I guess I could give him a shovel to play with—or at least a big spoon."
They stood for a moment in silence, enjoying the quiet and the stream's gentle trickle. The sun was getting low in the sky and Ruki couldn't help but yawn.
"Staying up late?"
"Oh. Yeah, I guess…" When Ruki turned to her Juri, she saw that her friend was still staring out over the water.
"Just like Culumon."
"Ah. Umm…" Ruki paused. Juri was still looking over the water but her eyes were distant. This happened to the girl sometimes; she would get lost in her thoughts or memories, far away. It was really bad in the years after the D-Reaper, but Ruki knew the other Tamer was working on it. "Hey, are you okay?"
Receiving no response, Ruki frowned. "Juri!"
"Ah!" The brown-haired girl blinked, then turned back with a forced smile. "Oh, you know, just peachy…"
Ruki placed a firm hand on her shoulder and forced their eyes to meet. "Come on, Juri. I know something's up. You don't have to tell me if you don't want but… please try to avoid bottling it up. We both know that's not good for anyone."
Juri sighed but couldn't prevent a small smile from forming. "Maybe there's an itty bitty something…"
"Knew it!" Ruki grinned. From the girl's expression it couldn't be that bad, which was a relief. "Let me guess: Something at school? At the restaurant? Something to do with Takato?"
"Ah, yeah. Well, the Takato thing."
Ruki grabbed her hands. "Juri, I swear to god if he did something to you I will—"
"Ah, no! No, he's fine. Wonderful and sweet as ever. Perfect, really." She frowned. "Why do you always jump to that anyway?"
"So what, he's flying circles around your head or something?"
Juri fiddled with the hem of her dress. "No, not that either. Not really. It's just… well, he has been flying a lot. You know?"
Ah. Juri wasn't wrong—Takato had been flying a lot, so much so that Guilmon was starting to feel left out. But then again, if she suddenly had wings she'd probably be flying a lot too. Instead, she'd been spending a few nights a week prowling around Shinjuku and bounding over rooftops. It was pretty fun but did result in some daytime yawning.
When she said as much, Juri looked out again. "None of this feels right. I mean, we all wake up one morning and can suddenly turn into a random animal? And our families too? Why us?"
Ruki shrugged. "I know Jenrya's parents are on an experiment kick trying to figure it out but… my best guess is its cause we're Tamers. Why not?" When Juri opened her mouth to protest, Ruki hardened her gaze: "—and DON'T tell me you're not a Tamer, because I swear to god I will walk away right now."
There was a sound in Juri's backpack and a little white head poked out. "Hi there Ruki! What're you guys up to?"
Juri laughed. "Hey, little guy! Good morning! Well, more like good evening really."
Culumon expanded his ears in excitement and hopped up onto Juri's head. "Wow, evening! That's the best time of day! Well, along with all the others at least…"
Luckily, Juri had the foresight to pack a snack for the little digimon. As he munched away, the two continued their walk in silence for a while.
"What's it like?"
"Hmm?" Ruki looked both ways for cars and beckoned Juri across the street. "What's what like?"
"Being, you know… a cat."
"I mean, it's pretty cool. Everything smells and sounds and looks a lot better and the entire world is basically your jungle gym…"
"Ah. Cool."
"Juri…" Ruki glanced at her friend and saw that distant, wistful look again. "I'm really glad you told me and I hear you that it's painful and I can't even begin to understand what it's like… I just wonder this is actually a gift in disguise? Something good, rather than—"
"A cruel joke?" Juri said softly. "Yeah…"
Soon, they reached the intersection where they had to part ways towards their respective homes. Just as the brown-haired Tamer started to turn the corner, Ruki called after her. "Hey! I'm probably gonna go hang out in the park later. You should join me."
Juri paused, then turned her head away and continued out of sight.
Renamon appeared at Ruki's side. "You seem to have a talent for convincing your friends to stay up all night."
"Maybe I'm just good at getting people to let loose. Everyone worries too much these days."
The fox digimon smirked. "Who knows, maybe you'll start saying 'moumentai' too…"
"HEY!" Ruki punched Renamon and grinned. "Too far. If you weren't my partner I'd be ripping your head off right now. You know that right?"
"Of course, Ruki," Renamon said before turning around and walking briskly in the direction of home. Ruki jogged to catch up with her. "I'm sure you'd try."
Jenrya
"Jen, would you please sit still!?"
/Umm, how much longer is this gonna be?/ Jenrya squeaked, snout twitching. /Can't you just take a picture or something?/
Takato groaned and continued to sketch furiously. "We already talked about this! A photograph doesn't capture the depth and contour of real figure drawing, plus you offered! Anyway, do we really want a digital record of, umm…" He gestured up at Jenrya.
/You make it sound like it's scandalous or something…/ Jenrya grumbled. It wasn't scandalous. More so… weird? Surreal? He was sitting on his haunches in Takato's room, lifted up to almost full height with his head brushing the ceiling, holding a very tiny teacup in one massive paw and an equally tiny plate of cookies in the other. He didn't usually like shortbread cookies but boy did these smell good, and was that a hint of molasses?
The position itself wasn't actually that bad. Sure, he was terrified he'd crush the teacup into a million pieces at any second, but that was Takato's problem and not his. No, the bad part was dealing with the overpowering desire to scratch his back paw. This happened sometimes, when he was getting an x-ray or at the dentist; told to 'STAY STILL', something or other just had to choose that exact moment to get really itchy, or uncomfortable, or whatever. Apparently, this applied to bears too.
"Hey, this is looking really good!" Takato grinned, leaning back against the bed. "What do you think?"
Jenrya tried to look at the drawing without moving his head, which proved to be impossible. /Can you at least point it this way?/
Takato just continued to consider the illustration with a pleased expression.
/TAKATO!/
"Ah! Sorry! You can move now." The Tamer gave him an apologetic look.
/Oh thank god,/ Jenrya sighed, immediately wiggling his back paw. With that taken care of, he carefully placed the teacup aside and lowered back down. /So can I eat these now?/
Nodding, Takato scooted over to Jenrya and flipped the drawing tablet to face him. "Not bad, right? I was gonna put you in a meadow or something but I actually like the bedroom. It makes it a little less predictable. You're not gonna finish those?"
Jenrya paused, setting the half-eaten cookies down. /No, no, I am! I just think I'll appreciate them more as a human. Bears don't have great taste buds./
"Oh, huh. Just save one for Guilmon, OK?"
The illustration on Takato's tablet was, of course, very good. He'd been experimenting with a new style recently: some surreal blend of anatomical illustration and those old French comics they found at Ruki's house. Jenrya initially thought the "bear-with-teacup-and-cookies" premise was a bit too precious, but now he was starting to see how it could work.
"Anyway, I'll tell you when I'm done. I think my followers are gonna eat this one up." Takato clicked off the tablet screen and stood up, stretching. Jenrya rolled forward onto four paws and kicked out his hind legs one by one, accidentally knocking into the dresser in the process. /Ah, sorry. Do you need any more bear? If not, I'm gonna turn back and finish these cookies./
"Nah, you're good," Takato replied, flopping back on his bed and turning away.
With the smell of molasses becoming all too tempting, Jenrya shifted to human form. It was much easier now, almost like second nature—indeed, the sensation of fur rippling on and off his back even provided an odd feeling of comfort. With quite a bit of practice he'd also figured out how to shift with some bike shorts on, though the whole thing still felt like a private matter.
Once he was fully clothed and munching on cookies, the two sat in comfortable silence. The nice thing about knowing someone as well as he knew Takato was that they could just exist together—and they did, frequently. As far as Takato's parents were concerned Jenrya was basically their extra son, and he knew his parents felt the same about Takato.
Of course, this also lulled him into a false sense of security sometimes.
"Hey, do you like Ruki?"
Jenrya choked on a cookie. "Uh, well, she sucked at first but don't we all like her now?"
"Come on, you know that's not what I mean." Takato tossed down his phone and swung to the side of the bed. "Okay, this is gonna sound bad but I guess Terriermon was gossiping to Guilmon about you guys having some sort of 'sexual tension'." He frowned. "I had to explain to Guilmon what that meant, and before you ask, yes, it was terrible. Please don't tell me that was all for nothing!"
Seeing Jenrya's grimace, Takato plopped down on the floor and swung an arm around his shoulder. "Come on, Jen, it's fine! I just want to help if you're crushing hard on someone; god knows you helped me with Juri. I couldn't care less if it's Ruki or the Queen of England!"
Jenrya sighed, setting aside his laptop. "Okay, yeah, I think she's cute. But like, not just cute! Also smart and funny and kind, even if she tries to hide it…" he glanced at Takato, who was gaping at him with wide eyes. "Oh, stop it. I have the ability to like people too, you know!"
"I guess you do…" He grinned a stupid, lopsided grin. "It's just so cute! After you rejected Naomi and that other girl AND Shinji, Hirokazu thought maybe you just weren't attracted to people in general… but I always knew you'd be a hopeless romantic, just waiting for the right person." Takato sighed and leaned back. "Who would have thought it'd be Ruki…"
"Okay, I don't know about hopeless romantic…"
Takato stared, waiting for more, then—"So you WERE just waiting for the right person! HAH, I KNEW it!"
"Please tell me you remember Yuko! I have dated people before. Then again we were thirteen, so maybe it doesn't count…" Jenrya sighed. He'd never really thought of it as 'waiting for the right person' before. There just wasn't anyone he liked. "Is this weird? I mean, we've all been through so much together… isn't it like, you know, a breach of trust or something?"
The goggled Tamer shrugged. "Beats me. I don't think so, though; you can't control how you feel. Just don't be creepy and drop it if she says no."
If she says no… "Are you suggesting I ask her out?"
"Why not?" Takato said thoughtfully. "I was too afraid to ask Juri out, and talk about sexual tension—we spent three years as 'friends' crushing hard on each other until she got the courage to just ask me out herself. Better to just do it now and save yourself years of pining."
"We'll see." Jenrya frowned. To be honest, asking out Ruki sounded like a death wish. And even if she said yes… what would they actually do? See a movie? Fancy dinner? Hold hands? Were dates still a thing at all? Did he even want to go on a date with her?
And, most importantly: would Terriermon ever let him live it up?
Ruki
Juri did show up that night, but Ruki knew she would. What surprised her more was that, rather than the Juri she was used to, it was a massive lioness that slunk out of the shadows to meet her.
Ruki didn't even try to stop gaping. The creature was incredible: all muscle and sinew and raw power, held aloft on silent paws. It was calm— relaxed, even— as if it knew in its very being that no person, no animal, nothing could shake it. Nothing was a threat, not for the lion.
"Juri…" Ruki reached a tentative hand forward, eyes wide. Rather than meet her touch, however, the animal raised its lips to reveal dagger-sharp teeth. A low growling noise emerged from its throat and Ruki stumbled back in surprise. "Uh, Juri…?"
The lioness took one step forward, then another, close to the ground, stalking her— until it sat back suddenly and stuck its tongue out. /HAH! Oh my gosh, I totally got you!/
"Umm, not funny!?" Ruki glared at Juri, trying to push her adrenaline back down. "What if you were an escaped zoo animal or something!?"
/Huh. I guess it wouldn't have ended as well./
Ruki stepped forward again and this time Juri met her hand with a purr. Her fur was bristly and strong, protecting wiry muscles bursting with potential energy. "Juri, you're…"
/Pretty cool, right? I was walking here to meet you and I passed by that part of the park where, umm… where I met Leomon. I usually avoid it, but for some reason my feet took me there./ The lioness inspected her paws. /Culumon already dashed off a few minutes earlier so I was alone; just me and all of that emptiness and quiet, where he was supposed to be but wasn't./ Her voice quivered. /I wished so hard to be close to him again, to be given even the smallest indication that he's still out there, somewhere, and… well, this happened./
Ruki scrutinized her friend. Even years later, the wounds that Leomon's death left behind were still raw. Losing her partner had torn something out of Juri: a part of her that could never be replaced. Yet the creature in front of her seemed relaxed, and self-assured, and… confident, even?
The lioness turned its head to the sky, whiskers twitching. /Leomon always told me I was strong. For the first time, I actually feel it. Likes he's here with me again./
They stood there in silence for a moment, and Ruki noticed her eyes were wet. When Juri asked her if she wanted to 'go do some cat things or whatever', she eagerly agreed.
After some hours of stalking through the park and joking around and, at Ruki's insistence, scaring a bunch of drunk teenagers, the two found themselves at the banks of the river. The moon was high and bright and the scent of cherry blossoms intoxicating, even more so now than in human form. Juri was still giggly from the excitement of prancing around as a lion all night and Ruki was overjoyed at how happy her friend seemed.
In true cat fashion, as soon as Ruki was relaxed Juri pounced. /Hey, what do you think of Jen?/
Ruki rolled over, stretching out her legs. /Jenrya? He's cool. He's the team mom./
/Okay, obviously, but what besides that?/
She considered this. /I mean, I've been stuck with him and the rest of you since we were twelve. Jenrya's just Jenrya; you know, reliable, risk adverse, likes computers, hangs out with Terriermon… actually, there's something. His partner's an asshole./
/Ugh, Ruki!/ Juri pawed at her. /I can't tell if you're avoiding my question or if you're actually oblivious! Look, I'm pretty sure Jen has a huge crush on you./
That comment made her pause. It didn't not make sense. /He does send, like, essay texts to me. The kind where you can tell he rewrote it a bunch of times./
/Ah./ Juri winced. /Yeah, I sort of did that to Takato back in the day… when you like someone, every interaction with them feels super special so you try really hard not to mess it up./
/It was annoying at first but now I just think it's sort of cute./ She actually liked receiving those stupid texts; recently she'd even found herself smiling whenever a notification popped up from Jenrya. If that was all because he liked her… /Oh my god. I can't believe I made him strip the other day./
Juri snorted. /You WHAT!?/
/Okay, it's not as bad as it sounds! He was like you, didn't want to shift into his animal, so I just teased him a bunch until he did./
/And you say Terriermon's the asshole…/
/Yeah, yeah, point taken. In my defense, it did work./
Juri scooted closer and caught her eye. /I'm not gonna tell you to go after him or anything, don't worry. I just thought you should know: you can make a choice on your own./
Honestly, Ruki didn't quite know what to think of it. Jenrya had never really felt like an option before; not just because they'd saved the world together, but also because he'd seemed above it all… dating, teenage hormones, the like. Just what you'd expect from a good team mom. He did date that girl for like six months in the eighth grade, so she just assumed he got it out of his system then.
Eventually, Juri insisted she had to get to sleep and they headed back to the area where she'd hid her clothes. The other Tamer had also, apparently, figured out the whole 'shifting with underwear' thing and agreed it wasn't very hard. Ruki couldn't help but wonder if the boys were just bad at it. Once Juri was dressed and ready to go, she paused and caught Ruki's eyes. "You were right. This definitely beats shopping."
It wasn't until they were safely home and Ruki was once again cursing the fact that she'd stayed up all night again that Renamon told her Juri smelled like digimon.