楽しいことや悲しみことなど
Tanoshii koto ya kanashimi koto nado
Fun Things, Sad Things, and Such
By: Jaha Canon （ジャハカノン）
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.
Yes, this is the chapter in which I introduce Ryou to the story.
Thank you to SoratoFan and Azure Rose for their reviews.
SoratoFan- You sound like KoumiLoccness, who reviewed my first chapter. Are you the same person?
Azure Rose- Well, since you asked. This story is more like a bunch of small clips of things that happened with this group of friends. One chapter doesn't necessarily lead right into the next. I guess this is more like a bunch of small related stories rather than one big story about one event. Get what I am saying?
Now back to the regularly scheduled programming…
Chapter 3: 新しいな友達だ！
(A New Friend)
October 1999: Two months after The Chosen returned home from the Digital World-
On this fine autumn day, Osamu only had one question: When will it finally end?
His ears perked up when his mother called that Koushirou had arrived at the Ichijouji residence. On an ordinary visit, Osamu would wait in his room for Koushirou. Osamu was never really much for such formalities as going to the front door to greet a guest.
But today was different. He jumped up, ran out of his room, met Koushirou in the apartment doorway and dragged him outside.
"What's wrong?" Koushirou asked.
"Ken has a friend over" Osamu stated.
This was a pleasant surprise for Koushirou. Although Ken had many friends in his class, actual visits from his friends were a rare occurrence. Koushirou had been over at the Ichijouji apartment before when Ken had a classmate over, Osamu spent the entire time glaring at the poor kid. It wasn't anything personal, Osamu had a tendency to glare at everyone- Ken's classmate just was not one of those people who knew that. Ken was also very shy, so he would rarely invite anyone over in the first place.
Koushirou waited for Osamu say more. Osamu just stared at him like he was supposed to understand exactly what was wrong with this guest.
"What's wrong with that?" Koushirou asked. "You usually have no problem with Ken's friends."
Osamu glared. "You'll see."
The two boys walked back into the apartment and over to the brother's room. Through the door, they could hear Ken and someone else playing a video game. When Osamu hesitated, Koushirou opened the door.
"Konnichiwa Ken-kun. Ii tenki?" (Hello Ken, good weather today?) Koushirou greeted as he walked in the room. He was startled to see that Ken's new friend looked the same age as himself and Osamu.
"Un! Koushirou-san, kochira Akiyama Ryou-san." (Yes! Koushirou, this is Ryou Akiyama) Ken replied after pressing pause on his remote. "Ryou-san, kochira Osamu-niichan no tomodachi Izumi Koushirou-san." (Ryou, this is Osamu's friend Koushirou Izumi.)
Koushirou smiled and bowed politely. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" (Translates directly to: "Please think well of me", but translators usually turn it into "Nice to meet you."
Ryou grinned and returned the bow. "Hajimemashite!" (Nice to meet you)
Osamu stood in the doorway watching Koushirou with his usual polite formalities. He knew that Koushirou noticed Ryou's gigantic grin. That grin was a definite sign that this guy wasn't going to easily let Osamu get his way in an argument. Koushirou couldn't begin to guess what Ryou might have said to Osamu to affirm his suspicions. Koushirou looked at the blue haired scowl in the doorway, he could definitely see the signs of a bruised ego.
Ken and Ryou had already turned back to their game. The two of them were locked in a fierce Super Smash Brother's fight. Ryou had chosen Yoshi for his character and Ken chose Link. The fight quickly ended with Ken the winner.
"Ah well, you win some you lose some!" Ryou said cheerfully.
Ken turned to his brother and Koushirou, "You guys want to play?" he asked.
"I'll pass…" Osamu grumbled as he picked up a book and plopped onto his bed to read it.
"Sure." Koushirou said. He sat between the friends on the floor.
"Be careful," Ken told Ryou, "Koushirou is really good at this."
"Great!" Ryou said, "He's on my team!"
"What! Why are we in teams?" Ken asked alarmed. "I won't stand a chance against the both of you!" He spun around to face his brother. "Osamu-niichan! Tasukete!" (Help me!)
Osamu groaned, but actually he was glad he had a chance to get back at Ryou. Going up against Koushirou would be a problem because they were equally matched in this game. Osamu selected Wario and Koushirou chose Kirby.
It was perhaps halfway into the battle when Ryou's character opened a Pokeball and was unimpressed by the contents. "Pokemon should evolve more. I mean, what's this 'never change back' business?"
Ken froze and shot a glare towards Ryou, who immediately realized the mistake he made. Ken looked at Koushirou. Koushirou had figured it out.
Osamu and Ken knew about Koushirou's adventures in the Digital World. Two months ago, when the fog bank isolated Odaiba from the rest of Tokyo, the brothers were curious and concerned, so they tried to see if they could get to Odaiba. They only made it in time to see a gigantic rainbow carry off eight children- one of which was distinctly a red head.
Koushirou visited their apartment days later. He seemed tired, but he tried to act like he always had. This only lasted until both of the Ichijouji children cornered him and wouldn't leave him alone until he told them all about it. They knew about the Digital world, the Digimon, and especially Tentomon.
A month later, Ken told Ryou about Koushirou's journey when they first started traveling around the Digital World. Ryou was very curious to find out about a member of the Chosen children main team.
Koushirou was about to break the silence after Ryou's careless remark, but Osamu beat him to it.
"YOU WENT BACK INTO THE COMPUTER!" he yelled at Ken. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO BACK THERE!" He walked over to a drawer and opened it. He searched around and found nothing.
"It's right here." Ken said meekly as he pulled a Digivice out of his pocket. Osamu grabbed it from him.
"You knew that Ken-kun was a Chosen Child and didn't tell me?" Koushirou asked, shocked that his friend kept this from him.
"Listen, Koushirou-kun! I know you like that place but my brother is not going to be chased by giant monsters! Not while I am around!" Osamu proclaimed.
Ryou stood and faced Osamu, "He has a Digimon, you know. Wormmon won't let anything happen to Ken-kun."
Osamu rolled his eyes. "I don't know this Wormmon, so why should I trust it?"
Koushirou was baffled. "So you two are both chosen children?"
Ryou smiled at Koushirou, "Yes, not quite as active as your team, but we fight some bad Digimon now and then."
"I will not permit Ken to go back there again!" Osamu said fiercely.
"Well, he is my only team member and I need his help if I ever expect to defeat Milleniumon!" Ryou said with finality.
Koushirou stepped in and took the Digivice from Osamu, "I agree with Ryou-san." he said, "If the Digital World is in danger than by any means anyone who can should go and protect it."
Osamu threw up his arms, "Why is it our business if some computer world is in danger? You sound like a bunch of computer game obsessed fools!"
"You know what happened last time, Osamu-kun. The Digimon were in our world causing real damage. You can't look at the damage they did and call them fictional." Koushirou said.
"Well, there are not here now." Osamu said "And Ken isn't going to see them either."
Osamu didn't mind Ryou's glare, but Koushirou's annoyance was new to him. The redhead handed the Digivice to Ken.
"….I should probably head back home." Koushirou said. He smiled half heartedly at the other three and picked up his laptop. "See you later!" he said as he left the room.
"Wait up!" Ryou called after him. "I want to talk!" The brunette chased after Koushirou.
After the two guests left, Osamu grabbed the Digivice from Ken again and put it back in the drawer. No words were exchanged between the two brothers. Just cold silence.
"That was a surprise." Koushirou remarked to the boy walking with him.
"Sorry about that, I didn't mean for you to find out that way." Ryou replied sighing. "Ken-kun didn't want Osamu-kun to find out at all."
Koushirou was somewhat surprised to hear Ryou refer to Osamu informally.
"Ken-kun's Digimon is… Wormmon, right?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Has Wormmon evolved yet?" Koushirou asked.
Ryou grinned. "Yeah, he evolves to Stingmon."
"A giant bug, right?"
"How'd you know?"
Koushirou didn't reply, but instead smiled at the thought.
"There is one thing I don't understand." Koushirou said.
Ryou had expected this from the Chosen Child of Knowledge. "Yeah?"
"Why weren't you and Ken summoned to the Digital world with the rest of us? And how come no evil Digimon came after you two like Vamdemon (Myotismon) came after one of my teammates?"
"I can only really answer this for myself." Ryou replied, "You see, I'm not a regular Chosen child. While you guys were given crests based on your traits, I was given a different mission. I am the Chosen Child of Portals. While you guys specialize in the most trouble prone world, the Digital World, I travel around different planes of existence and take care of troubles where ever they come up. It was really only supposed to be Ken going after Milleniumon, but he couldn't handle it on his own, so I came to help."
"Chosen Child of Portals…" Koushirou repeated, impressed.
"Eh…" Ryou said shrugging "it sounds cooler than it is."
(A/N: I decided that Ryou should be the Chosen Child of Portals because of the fact that he is also in the Tamers season.)
"You have family here in this world, right?" Koushirou asked.
"Yeah, I also have a family in one other world too, along with a whole different past." Ryou answered "but in all of the other worlds, I'm just a traveler."
Koushirou nodded, absorbing the information.
"Anyway, with that said…" Ryou said. He quickly opened a portal, grabbed Koushirou's arm, and pulled him through.
Koushirou reoriented himself and looked around, "We're in Odaiba!"
"…there is really no reason to take the train when you can use a portal." Ryo finished.
"That's sure convenient." Koushirou commented.
"It's not anything too great. Sometimes the portals work better than other times. Sometimes I can transport myself to the Digital world with no problem but I can't even open a portal to the nearest bus station to my house. Sometimes I can go to random world where I don't have a human form, but I can't go to my other home world…. It's kind of unpredictable."
"…I see." Koushirou said, slightly confused.
"I'd like it if you didn't tell your team members about me," Ryou requested. "For one thing, my job requires me to have very little bonds in a particular world… and for another thing- I really don't want to be a taxi service for nine kids."
Koushirou agreed reluctantly. "I probably shouldn't mention Ken-kun either. I don't think Osamu-kun is going to let Ken-kun come over the bridge any time soon."
"Arg… I'm glad I'm an only child." Ryou commented.
"He's being a concerned sibling… the best way he knows how anyway." Koushirou said in Osamu's defense.
"It's all right, I don't hate the guy. He's just… unreasonable."
"Yeah… that's Osamu-kun." Koushirou said shrugging. "But, we're friends."
"I'll see you later, Koushirou-kun!" Ryou said.
Koushirou was surprised at first to hear "-kun" at the end of his name, but then he realized that the conversation they were having was a little more than a formal one.
"Un. See you, Ryou-kun!" Koushirou replied waving.
"Oh yeah!" Ryou remembered, "and about Ken, I suppose the reason why evil Digimon never went after Ken is probably because they didn't know about his crest of Kindness either like you guys did. That's just my guess anyway."
"That's a good theory." Koushirou responded, thinking it over.
"And that's a good compliment coming from the Chosen child of Knowledge!" Ryou exclaimed.
Koushirou smiled back. "I'll see you later!"
The red head turned and began walking the rest of the way back to his apartment. All of the while, sorting new information in his head.
The Chosen Children of Kindness and Portals.
Chapter 2-end.
So… once again I made one chapter much bigger than the previous one. Hehe… I really should stop that, shouldn't I? I guess there's really no harm, but it's generally good to be consistent. Speaking of consistency:
じゃあ～ またね！
Jaa Matane!