It was hot and humid within Takeru Takaishi's s small, studio apartment. This would not have been so evident if the window had been in one piece. The air conditioner hummed in a valiant effort to improve conditions for the suited police officers but it was destined to fail.
Wiping his brow, the smaller of the two men took in the room —its broken glass and all. Other uniformed officers had already swept the area, taken pictures, and collected evidence samples. He and his partner were the last to leave, lingering just a bit longer to ponder while their subordinates started digging into Takeru Takaishi's life.
"The kid put up a fight." The simple desk was toppled over and covered in shards. A handful were stained red. Not enough blood to assume a serious injury, but the kid and perhaps the desk had surely slammed into the window by a forceful assailant. Otherwise, the room was a mess of scattered books and stationary. At one point, there had been a busted laptop on the ground but that had already been collected and sent to the technical division to recover.
"Athletic and over six feet tall, Mr. Takaishi would not have been an easy target."
"No, not at all. Valuables left behind and an apartment on the third floor, everything says this was personal."
"Professors, family, friends…they all say he was well-liked. The worst thing I heard anyone say was that he was stubborn—stubbornly optimistic mind you."
"Fsh," the officer signed, "I'd give my left knee for that to be the worst thing someone said about me."
"Agreed."
"Neighbors said that he was quiet. Rarely had people over. No lover to speak of. Just a hard working, boring kid."
"But, someone obviously didn't like Mr. Takaishi. You can't look at the evidence in this room and deny it."
"Indeed, someone had it out for him. There has to be more to Takeru Takaishi than meets the eye."
I've made inquires to Gennai. Aside from everyday disputes, the digital world is the same as it was when we left. I'm sorry to say it, but whatever happened to Tk is human in design.
Izzy's post to DigiPlace was not inspiring. If there was a link to the digital world they'd at least be able to do something. As it was, no one had any control. The police continued their investigation and everyone else was forced to wait.
Being unable to contribute, did not mean that the digidestineds continued their lives unblinkingly. Quite the contrary. They all spent sufficient time stewing in worry and pausing their own routines to reminisce. If any one of them had gone missing they would do the same, but the fact that it was Tk make it perhaps a dash worse.
To the older generation, Tk was the innocent but brave little boy whom everyone wanted to protect. To the younger generation, Tk was the kind but firm voice of reason. To all, he was untouchable, unmovable. He was a rock of support that had abruptly fallen out from under them.
"Izzy, can you check the dark ocean?" Kari asked nervously. She and Tai visited Izzy's home following his uninspiring post to DigiPlace. They wanted more details, but Izzy had none to give.
"I can't," Izzy answered apologetically. He closed his laptop and rested his red curls on the back of his chair. He was tired of typing; he had been typing for too long without promising results. "Ken and I are collaborating but I don't know if anything will come of it. The gates are closed. All of them."
"Kar, is there anything that makes you think it's the dark ocean?" Tai looked uncomfortable sitting. He was too anxious for stillness but he had no any better options at the moment. Even a grueling soccer practice earlier in the day had not lessened his energy.
"No," Kari looked at her shoes, "it's more like a lack of anything. No human would ever want to hurt Tk and Gennai says it's not the digital world. Therefore, it could be a Dark Ocean problem."
"I respectfully disagree." Izzy folded his arms and starred at the ceiling, "Tk is the only one who has been able to enter and leave the dark ocean of his own will and without a gate. If the pattern holds, if he was pulled in to the dark ocean he'd find his own way out."
"That's true," Kari said quietly. "But what if Tk faltered? What if he had a moment of doubt and couldn't pull himself out? He could be trapped there. Ken could open a —
"Point taken and I understand more than you could possibly imagine,"Izzy sighed. It was a deep, exasperating sigh that did little to hide his tumultuous emotions. "As I said, Ken and I are collaborating on many things. More specifically, we've been postulating about the Dark Ocean for nearly a decade. Yes, Ken opened a gate to the Dark Ocean once, and maybe he could do it again, but once there we aren't sure he could perform the reverse. If the pattern holds, darkness and indecision would consume him. He could not recover from it. So, whether there are answers to be learned or not, we couldn't return with them."
Izzy look truly pained when he next looked a Kari. For a moment, he was that young boy doubting his self worth as he delivered unwelcome news.
"I'm sorry, Kari. It's off the table."
Kari wanted to yell as Izzy. She wanted to call Ken and tell him that he had to try. If there was only a sliver of a chance Tk was in the Dark Ocean it was worth trying. But, common sense took hold and she lowered her head. She trusted Izzy and Ken knew better than her about these things, she trusted they cared about Tk as much as she did.
"I hate feeling so powerless. I hate feeling so guilty."
Tai pulled his sister in for a hug while Izzy promptly ignored her weeping. Not for pity, but because he understood her shame.
"Izzy, c'mon I'm begging you."
The redhead folded his arms and looking disapprovingly at the blonde across from him. Truly, if he only focused on Tk's wide crystal blue eyes, the man had hardly aged from when they'd first met.
"Tk, we can't. The gates are sealed, you know this."
"You can't tell me that you and Ken and Yolie haven't found a way around them. I know you still talk to Gennai."
"Only when it's prudent. He is beyond busy."
A dog barked nearby and Tk became distracted as he smiled at the shaggy tan pup walking its owner outside the cafe. Izzy hoped that that would mean their discussion on the Digital World had ended. Alas, Tk was back on mark in seconds.
"Please, Izzy, Patamon is my best friend."
"As was Tentomon to me."
"Yes, but he is…" Tk trailed off and did not finish his thought. His eyes were no longer those of a child but of a man. Still youthful but falling hard.
"This isn't about Patamon is it?"
"No, no I suppose it isn't." Tk signed and resigned himself to be honest. He was talking to Izzy who, of all their digidestined friends, was least likely to judge or gossip.
"Matt and I fought. He wants me to make a career in Basketball. I want to immerse myself in books. He doesn't get it, but I need fantasy and adventure in my life even if it's secondhand. I did my premium 'aging up' with fantasy and adventure. Everything I am, I owe to it."
"I look at him and you," Tk gave a sheepish nod in Izzy's direction, "and everyone else moving on with their lives and am in awe. How do you do it? How can you move on? I'm supposed to be starting college in a few months, but I'm a child clinging to the past. I'm clinging to Patamon, I'm clinging to hope."
Izzy did not pause very long to consider Tk's words. It would take him two years to rekindled the memory and realize he hadn't truly listened.
"You're scared, I get it, University is a big change. But, you have to move on Tk. We aren't digidestineds anymore. You aren't an adventurer, you aren't a champion of hope. You're just an eighteen year old moving away from home."
Tk gave a smile. Not the genuine smile he wore as a kid, but the mask he was learning to adopt.
"Always the pragmatist aren't you, Izzy?"
"If I could go back in time, I would not have said that to you." Izzy remised as he walked through the park. It was nearing midnight and Tai and Kari had departed hours ago. He hadn't stopped trying to put the pieces of Tk's disappearance to rest. He hadn't stopped thinking about Tk's hacked hard-drive and what it contained.
He had not intended to look. His only aim was to wipe the hard-drive of references to the Digital World. Alas, he found them. He saw the hundreds of unsent emails to their friends. To him.
Of course, Izzy read them! They very well could have contained clues to Tk's whereabouts. Plus, the emails were addressed to him so it was hardly immoral. Or, at least that is what Izzy told himself when he first found them. The logic did not stand as he riffled through those directed to Kari, to Matt, to Davis…to them all. Every email could be boiled down to the same narrative, longing and loneliness.
It took all Izzy's willpower not to delete the emails. He wanted to bury his shame, to forget the side of Tk he had uncovered. But, Izzy knew better. He had his own code to uphold and interfering in a police investigation, at least more than deleting a few classified Digimon references, was where he drew the line.
Izzy didn't mention the unsent emails to the Kamiya siblings. He wasn't sure either of them would be able to keep it a secret from the other digidestineds or worse, unintentional incriminate themselves to the police. Izzy, himself, had already been questioned once by a pair of officers over the phone. Having seen the emails, Izzy easily followed their indirect interrogation of Tk's mental wellbeing.
"If I could go back in time, Tk, I would tell you that we'll always be digidestineds. I would tell you that we'll always be friends. I would tell you to continue being a champion for optimism because the world will be stronger for it."
"Most of all, I would tell you that without you we're all a bit helpless…and hopeless."