"Are you busy?"

Pulling his reading glasses off, Andre twisted around in his chair to look at Mikami. She was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. The serious look on her face was worrisome.

"No. Do you need something?"

"I want to call Mr. Amachi to arrange for us to meet at the park."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is there a reason?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. Go ahead and call him. If he says yes, I'll drive you there."

"You're…going to let me go?"

"Yes. Whatever it is, you must think it's important to want to talk to him alone this late in the evening. Besides, he's a good friend of mine."

"Thank you."

She returned to her room and grabbed her phone, sitting down on the edge of her bed. Hesitating, she stared at the contacts list. Ever since her talk with Renamon, she had been debating what to do, but now that she was about to ask to talk with him, she was having second thoughts.

No, she thought. I have to know if I'm right.

She pressed the call button. A song played as she waited with the phone against her ear.

"This is Ryu Amachi," a voice said once the song stopped. "Who is this?"

"Good evening, Mr. Amachi. This is Mikami Waden."

"Ah, Mikami! It's good to hear from you after everything that's been going on lately. I was a bit worried," he admitted with a soft chuckle. "So, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you and I could meet at the park today."

"I would be delighted, but may I ask why?"

"There's something I want to talk to you about. It's important, so I'd rather not mention it over the phone."

"Well, if you think it's important enough to discuss in person, then I will see you there."

"Thank you, Mr. Amachi. I'll talk to you again soon."

Breathing a relieved sigh, Mikami hung up and let her muscles relax for a moment. At least she had gotten the call out of the way rather quickly.

She stood, slid the phone into her pocket, and headed out of the room. She stopped, looking down to see that Andre was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, holding her maroon jacket. Smiling, she walked down and grabbed the jacket from him.

"I'll take that to mean he agreed to it?"

"Yep."

With Mikami following behind Andre, the two exited the house and got into the car. Once they were buckled in, Andre started the car and pulled out of the driveway. Neither said a thing during the drive; Mikami was too focused on thinking over what she was going to say to hold a conversation. Beating around the bush would lead her nowhere with Ryu. The only way she was going to get any answers from him was to be upfront about what she wanted to know.

The car slid to a stop just outside of the park. Ryu was already waiting, hands shoved into his pockets. Mikami unbuckled.

"I'll be waiting here for you," Andre said. "Just don't take too long."

"You know you're not supposed to park here."

The man leaned towards her and winked. "I'm the sheriff."

"Yeah, yeah. Write yourself a ticket," she told him, smiling. She opened the door and stepped out. "This shouldn't take very long."

Nodding, he leaned back. Taking in a deep breath and then exhaling, Mikami approached the waiting man. Instead of stopping, she went past him, using her hand to motion him to follow. Confused yet curious, he did so. They made their way through the park to a small area of picnic tables. Mikami sat down, and Ryu sat across from her, leaning forward with one eyebrow cocked upwards.

"What was it you wanted to talk about?"

"A few days ago there was a monster attack here in the city."

Ryu's eyes narrowed by a small fraction.

"Daiki got hurt pretty badly during the fight. Bad enough that he had to go to the hospital," she said. "That's where things got a bit interesting. According to Renamon, a man named Ryu was the one that helped them."

At that point, Ryu was sitting straight.

"What I want to know is if it was you."

He closed his eyes. "…Yes, it was me."

"I thought so. When Renamon told me, I had a feeling I knew who it was." She sighed. "So you know about Digimon too."

"I do."

"How? Who else knows? Why do you know?"

Rubbing his eyes, Ryu let out a heavy sigh. "Where to begin? First off, I assume you already know that Andre knows."

"Yeah, but he never explained. The others asked their parents, but none of them answered any of their questions."

"Twenty-four years ago. Seems like just yesterday that it happened. The seven of us were called to the Digital World, just like you and your friends."

Mikami frowned. "Seven? I know about Andre, Mr. Damoto, Mr. Suerna, Nelia, and you. Who were the other two?"

"One of them was Zoya Shugasha. The other…was your mother, Cynthia."

"My…my mother went to the Digital World?" She asked, eyes wide. "Why were none of us told?"

Ryu shook his head. "We made a promise the day we came back that we'd never tell anyone about what happened to us. No one needed to know, and it was unlikely that anyone would believe us anyways. At least, not until recently. Before now, our world wasn't being threatened the way it is now. Things had stayed within the Digital World."

"Now all of Japan knows, if not most of the world."

"Well, I told you what you wanted to know. Let's keep this conversation between ourselves."

"But the others have a right to know."

"Their parents should be the ones to tell them," he replied. "As for me, there's a question I'd like to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"What do you plan to do once the portal reopens?"

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to go with my friends, no matter what."

"Even though you may be a hindrance to them?"

Mikami's eyebrows furrowed as she glared at Ryu. Slamming one hand down on the table, she stood. It was clear from the expression on her face that there were plenty of things that she wanted to say to him, but she kept her mouth closed and chose to turn away from him. He knew full well that what he had said had been a low blow, but judging from her reaction, it was a question that had to be asked. It was obvious she had never thought about it.

Mikami herself understood that. It didn't help her feel any less angry.

"Good night, Mr. Amachi."

She prepared to walk away until she realized something. "How did you know?"

"It wasn't hard to figure out. Just think about it, alright?"

She didn't give him an answer, walking away. When she made it back to the car, Andre turned to her with a concerned look.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm tired. Let's go home."

"Mikami, if you need to talk—"

"I've done enough talking today. Can we please just go home?"

Not a single word was spoken on the way back to their house. Once they were in the driveway, Andre turned the vehicle back off. Once inside, the two said their goodnights. After Mikami went to bed, Andre walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of water. Whatever Ryu and Mikami had talked about had upset her. He wouldn't pry, though, because he was certain it was something Mikami needed to work out for herself.