Episode 20: Filling; Flames; Flight

Kurohi stumbled into the sun-lit kitchen and found Erika sitting down to some aspirin and a tall glass of water. She looked terrible; like a cavewoman who had been dragged through a swamp, hosed off, and set out into the sun to dry.

"You okay?"

Her voice came out low and hoarse. "My head is killing me." She popped what looked like three aspirin into her mouth. "How much did I drink last night?"

Kurohi walked over to the recycling bin and picked it up. "I count eight cans, which means you kept drinking after I went to bed."

She rubbed her forehead vigorously with her palms. "Nope. Don't remember."

"Seriously? Do you have any idea how much you pissed me off yesterday?"

"No, sorry. What did I say?"She looked genuinely concerned.

"Ah, don't worry about it. It was just the beer talking." He started massaging her shoulders. "You gonna be okay to go to work?"

"Mmm. A few more minutes of that and I'll be right as rain again." She fidgeted around to direct his hands. "Have I ever told you how happy I am to have you here?"

Kurohi was glad she couldn't see how complicated his expression was. "Yea." Part of him was glad she didn't remember yesterday; that they could continue as if that hadn't happened. But the other part of him that kept him up hours after going to bed analyzing the situation was sad. It kept telling him that he should have said yes, or that he should have said something about his own feelings. But nooooo, he had to go and have a hissy fit and storm off.

"Feeling better?"

"Yea, thanks." She gently brushed his hand off her shoulder and stood up. "Alright, I'm going to get dressed."

"I'm gonna make myself a lunch then."

"'S'ok, I already did." She pointed to two boxes next to the fridge. "Make sure you're ready to go, too." She closed the door behind her.

Kurohi kept staring at the lunches. If she's had a headache all morning, then when exactly did she make them?

Linkmon didn't know whether to laugh or not at the sight before him. GiraffaKuwarus was crammed into the booth across from him, diligently perusing the cafe's menu.

"You recommend anything?"

"I don't have a sense of taste."

"Well, neither do I."

Nobody else seemed to notice that the blue bug was not actually a Digimon. Considering how he was up to his neck with DIGIrus related work, he often forgot that their existence was not widely known.

"So does that mean DIGIrus can't taste what they eat?"

GiraffaKuwarus looked over the top of his menu. "I suppose. I don't remember everything from when I was a child, just bits and pieces. Like ones where I get my face blasted."

"I'm not sorry about that. You were trying to eat me."

"I'm not sorry about that, either. I didn't have a developed AI yet."

A red Monitamon approached their table. "Are you ready to order, sir?"

"Yea, I'll have a hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, and three orders of roasted corn."

It turned its attention to Linkmon. "And for you, sir?"

"Just a water, thank you."

"Coming right up!" It disappeared in a puff of smoke, presumably to the 'kitchen' where they made the food.

"You're not going to eat anything?"

"I'm not a big fan of the idea of 'fake food'."

"Hey, digital food has its nutritional values to it."

"Is that why you target Digimon?" A sudden memory flashed into Linkmon's mind. "We once encountered a DIGIrus that had been eating nothing but random bits of data. After it evolved it didn't appear to have the ability to talk."

"Yea, we've got a couple of guys like that. Data like that can help us gain knowledge, but without a sophisticated AI, we can't do anything with it."

"And Digimon have that sophisticated AI?"

"Only thing out there that does."

Another puff of smoke interrupted their conversation. Two Monitamon carrying GiraffaKuwarus' orders appeared from it. "Here is your order, sir!"

They set the plates down before disappearing again.

GiraffaKuwarus began to hungrily dig into his food.

Linkmon could not help but feel a little sick watching him.

The Monitamon took away their plates. More specifically GiraffaKuwarus' plates, as Linkmon would have lost any apatite he could have possibly have after the bizarre act of un-nature he just witnessed.

The bug was picking at his teeth with a toothpick. "Any more questions for me, then?"

Linkmon brought himself back to the task at hand. "Yes, a few. Back to the matter of AIs, why do you not evolve after eating a single Digimon, then?"

"Hey, I'm the first to admit that eating is not the greatest way to absorb data. A lot of that data becomes fragmented and damaged during that process, or so I'm told."

"Then why not find some other way more adeptly-"

"Tried it. Well, not personally, but I've heard the reports. The reason taking a complete personality out of a Digimon doesn't work is because it's a complete personality. I heard they only got it right once, and the guy went mad and tried to kill everyone in the room. Boss really didn't want that happening again. I think they've tried copying guys, too, but unlike things in the other world, twins are, like, completely exact here, so there's just a bunch of weirdness that comes with it."

"So the reason you're you is because of all the different pieces of personalities you took in in order to evolve." Saying this reminded Linkmon somewhat of his own origins.

"Something like that, yea."

"How do you evolve, then?"

GiraffaKuwarus shrugged. "Can't right say that I know. Digimon can do it, so we can, too, I guess."

"Doesn't explain the DIGIrus I mentioned earlier that evolved after eating random data."

"Look, like I said, I don't know. Maybe it's our diet, maybe it's the Digital World, hell, maybe there's actually a God out there and he said 'you can do this too'."

"So you're saying we've got some Yggdrasil governing our every action, determining our fates? I find that laughable."

GiraffaKuwarus looked puzzled. "What the hell is an igrazil?"

There was a sticky note on top of his food.

Kurohi had just settled down to eat with Shibumi and Iruka, as per usual, when he opened his lunchbox to discover a pale blue sticky note placed inside on top of his rice.

"Hey, guys, I just remembered I got a thing I have to do, and it can't wait, so I'm gonna go take care of that, I'll see you later." He picked up the note and walked to the elevator, completely disregarding the lunch that the note had come with.

The other two just stared at him, not saying anything until the sliding doors had closed behind him.

"What was that about?"

Shibumi shrugged and began picking at some of the food Kurohi had left behind.

The elevator had never felt as slow as it did that day. Kurohi wasn't really thinking, or if he was it was about what he should be thinking about, which is a very confusing internal discussion in itself. After an eternity of jostling and creaking, the doors inched open revealing his floor. Without trying to seem like he was in a hurry, he marched past his deck and to the door that led to Erika's office. He knocked.

"Who is it?"

"It's Furijin Kurohi." He used his full name. Bad start. He was nervous, he couldn't help it. "I have something important I'd like to discuss with you."

"Come in."

He opened the door slowly, not sure what to expect. The back of Erika's chair was facing him, obscuring her from view. He closed the door behind him.

"Isn't it supposed to be your lunch break?"

"Yea..." There was a very awkward silence that was driving Kurohi mental. "You're a really good actor, you know?" The silence lingered. "I was wondering how you managed to make lunches with a hangover like that." She didn't say anything. Kurohi stepped forward, and her chair skidded a few inches closer to the wall.

"Are you five?"

"Shut up!"

"I'm trying to have an adult conversation here. Can you at least look at me?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because if I see you I'll know your answer."

He stepped forward before she could slide away and spun her chair around. She was bright red from ear-to-ear. She made no attempt to hide her embarrassment, but would not look him in the eyes. Kurohi could not help but think how cute she looked when she was blushing. He placed his hands on the arms of her chair, so she couldn't get away. Their faces were inches from each other.

"I like you."

Her eyes lit up, but she did not move.

"But I don't want to be with you if you don't feel the same. Such as you only want to be with me to avoid you mom."

"Yea I...picked up on that."

"Is that the only reason you want to be with me?"

"Of course not. I just wanted to run the idea by you, to see how you'd react. I didn't think it'd end up like it did."

"I'm sorry about that. I was feeling on edge, and I overreacted."

"It's fine." She looked at him for the first time. "I think you've more than made up for it."

"Sorry I couldn't have been more help."

Linkmon and GiraffaKuwarus were leaving the diner. Linkmon was very glad to be off his tail and about again.

"You needn't worry about it. I have less questions and more answers than when I entered this place."

"What're you going to do now?"

Linkmon shrugged. "I think I'll continue with the idea of deleting children and chasing off adults. Do you have any qualms with that?"

"Not really. I think the boss might actually be a little happy about that, knowing his lackeys'd be safe. Although he might step up the game, if he knew that, too."

"Are you going to tell him?"

The beetle made a funny sound that Linkmon swore he'd have needed lips to pull off. "Are you kidding? Hate that guy. I think he's a prick. Let him worry his cape off." GiraffaKuwarus scratched the back of his head. "I'll probably tell my friends, thou. Don't want them getting into more trouble than they have to."

"I think that's fine."

"I'm gonna go then. You know how to reach me if you need anything, right?"

Linkmon gave him a nod.

The bug flew off without another word. Once he was out of sight, Linkmon set off for home, too. He had much to discuss with Kurohi.