Day 3 - Childhood/Growth: Morning In The Park
"Daddy! Yamato!" Takeru screamed and tried to reach them, but they kept on walking away from him. "No!"
"Takeru! Takeru!" A gentle voice called his name and he slowly opened his eyes.
"Huh?" He sat down and noticed he was sitting on his bed, in the dark. He took a few deep breaths to ease his breathing pace.
"Were you dreaming about them?" Natsuko asked softly and sat him on her lap.
"I miss them, mommy." His eyes got teary. "Won't they come back anymore?"
"I'm sorry, sweetie." She felt a lump on her throat and bit her lower lip not to cry. "They won't."
"Are me and Yamato bad children?"
"What are you talking about, Takeru? You aren't bad children at all. You are amazing ones."
"Then why can't we be together again?"
"It's complicated, son." Natsuko tried her best not to look at his sad blue eyes. "It didn't have anything to do with you and Yamato, I promise. It's about me and your father."
"You don't love him?"
"I should have known you'd ask me about this." A very subtly smile appeared on her lips and disappeared very fast. "Of course I love your father."
"Then why can't he stay here?"
"It's complicated, Takeru. I'll tell you when you grow up and is old enough to understand."
"I already am." He protested and wiped the tears from his eyes to prove his point.
"You're three years old." She couldn't help but giggle a little. "Are you feeling better now?"
Takeru looked at her and nodded. Natsuko then placed him back on his car-shaped bed and covered him with his blankets.
"Great, so try to go back to sleep. Mommy needs to wake up early to work and you have to go to the nursery school." She leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Good night, Takeru."
"Mommy."
"What is it, darling?" She looked at him over her shoulder and saw he was looking back at her.
"I'm scared, I can't sleep. Can you tell me a story?"
"Takeru, mommy needs to wake up in two hours and needs to sleep."
"Please, mommy." He begged.
"I can't today, I'm sorry." She turned on the faint yellow light from the lamp a little more. "Is it better now?"
"I don't want to sleep here tonight, mommy."
"Then where are you going to sleep?"
"With you." He grinned the way he knew always won her over.
"Alright." Natsuko walked to him and picked him up. "Just for tonight."
"Thanks." He hugged her tight. "I love you, mommy."
She couldn't help but smile listening to what he had just said. "I love you too, Takeru. Do you want to take Mr. Fluffy with you?"
"Yes." He stretched his little arms when she brought it towards him and hugged him tight.
Natsuko turned off the lamp light and closed the door from his bedroom, heading to her own one.

.

A few days had gone by since Angemon sacrificed himself to destroy Devimon. Takeru hasn't let go from his digitama ever since, hoping it would hatch anytime. He was sleeping cuddled with it and slowly opened his eyes when he noticed he didn't feel it next to him anymore.
"Hey! Come back here!" He quickly got up and ran to pick it up. "I can't lose you again."
He looked around and noticed everyone was still sleeping. He was so afraid of losing his digitama he was fully awake, so he decided to go outside the cave they were staying in even though he knew it could be dangerous.

He sat by the lake and watched his reflection for a moment; the digitama still against his body.
"I wonder when you are going to hatch." Takeru lifted it up a little. "I can't wait to see what Patamon's baby form will be like. Will he still remember me?"
"Of course he will." Yamato's voice echoed behind him and he turned around, looking at his brother over his shoulder. "I'm sure he will never forget you."
"I don't understand why it had to happen." He said in a sad tone as he looked at his digitama again. "None of the others died when they evolved. Why only Angemon?"
"I wish I knew that." Yamato sighed and sat down beside him. "But you're going to see him again."
"I wanna go home, Yamato."
"I think our work here is done, so we might be going back soon."
"Tomorrow?"
"I don't know, Takeru. I have no idea how to get out of here. We're most likely have to figure it out on our own again, like everything else."
"I hate this, brother."
"I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do."
"Do you think mom and dad are looking for us on Earth?" Takeru looked up at the dark blue sky above them. "A lot of days had gone by since we arrived here."
"I don't know." Yamato looked up as well. "I believe so. The people at the summer camp must have contacted them by now."
"Mom is gonna be so worried. I wish there was a way to talk to her and let her know we're safe."
"Unfortunately we can't find any." He stood up. "Come on, let's go back. We need to sleep, we'll have a long day of walking tomorrow."
"I don't feel like sleeping, brother."
"Okay, but let's stay inside. It's too dangerous over here, a Digimon can show up and second and surprise us."
"Ugh." He winced at that thought and held his digitama tighter. "That would be terrible."
"Exactly." Yamato placed his hand on Takeru's upper back. "Let's go."
"Okay. Will you stay with me?"
"Of course." He couldn't help but smile. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."
"I won't. My digitama can get lost if I do. I need to take care of it."
"Alright then. We'll look after it together."
"You promise?" Takeru looked at him with hopeful eyes.
"I do." The older blond nodded with a large smile. "Maybe your digitama even hatches tonight."
"I hope so." He looked at the digitama in his hands.

.

Takeru couldn't bear to meet the rest of the Chosen Children yet. He hadn't left his house for days; he still didn't know how to them what was going on.. Until he was cornered down and had to.

He wasn't expecting to receive visitors that morning, so he was beyond surprised when the doorbell rang. He quickly got changed and ran to open the door before whoever was on the other side got tired and left. He was going to be alone will day, since Natsuko had a very important project to do at work and couldn't ditch it, though she really wanted to.

"Hikari?" He asked surprised when he opened the door and saw her across him. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to check on you. How are you doing?"
"I'm good." He bit his lower lip, trying his best not to say what he wanted and failed miserably. "You didn't have to check on me."
"Why not? I can tell something is up with you."
"Nothing is up."
"Please, I know you better than this. We've been friends for what, ten years now?"
"I guess I can't hide anything from you, huh?" He gave an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his hair.
"Not at all." Hikari bragged with a grin. "So you better start telling me."
"Alright, but you have to promise not to tell anyone."
"I promise. But it sounds serious, what is it?"
"I got into college."
"What?! Takeru, that's great! Congratulations!"
"Thank you. But there's more."
"More? What?"
"The college is in Kyoto."
"Are you serious? Kyoto? What are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure. I don't want to leave my mom alone. Yamato is so busy with his own graduation and barely has time to check on her."
"I understand that, but your mother is strong. She will be fine. Besides, you two can talk through video-calls whenever you want to."
"That's one of the advantages of technology. So you're saying I should take it?"
"Of course! It's a lifetime opportunity. You've worked so hard for this, why just let it go like that. I don't think that's what your mother would want you to do."
"You may be right."
"Have you told anyone else yet?"
"Not yet. You were the first one to know. I don't know how how they will react."
"They will be happy for you, of course."
"I don't know… I guess I'm just worried about leaving my mother on her own I ended up thinking this will be everyone else's reactions too."
"They won't." Hikari grabbed his phone lying on the table and handed it to him. "Call your father and Yamato and tell them. I'm sure they will be thrilled to hear about this great accomplishment in your life."
"Alright." He picked his phone from her hand and dialed their number. "Hey, dad? Yeah, yeah, everything's fine. I have something to tell you…"

.

Natsuko sighed relieved when she walked into Takeru's new apartment in Kyoto for the first time. They would be bringing his things in the following days, but they wanted to see it empty beforehand in person.
"It looks great." She checked all the rooms. "Very spacious."
"It is." Takeru couldn't stop smiling about the big step he was going to take. He was excited, but also apprehensive and anxious. "I really like it. And it's close to college too."
"I still can't believe you're moving to another city." Yamato stated when he joined them at the door of the room his brother and their mother were looking at. "My little brother is so grown up."
"Oh please, don't be so melodramatic. I'll still be somewhat near."
"I know." He removed his hat and ruffled his hair playfully. "I'm very proud of you. I have no doubt you can pull this off."
"Thanks, Yamato." Takeru put his hat back on. "I'm so happy you liked it. I was very afraid mom wouldn't and I'd have to find another apartment."
"You never thought about living on the campus with a roommate?"
"Actually, I did. But I didn't want to risk living with someone who didn't take study seriously and only wanted to have fun."
"Yeah, that could be a problem."
"I prefer him living on his own too." Natsuko joined their conversation. "I wouldn't feel good knowing he was around bad companies. It doesn't mean I like the idea of him living alone. It can be very lonely."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Takaishi." Patamon said from Takeru's arms and looked at her with a cheerful expression. "I promise I'll keep him some company."
"I'm sure you will." She couldn't help but smile at him. "Thank you, Patamon."
"You're welcome." He looked up at his partner. "Takeru, I'm hungry."
"I am too." Takeru turned to his family. "Since we're all here, how about we order some pizza?"
"I'd love that, but we have to go back soon." Yamato looked at Natsuko. "Right?"
"Actually, I was thinking we could spend the night here. That way, Takeru can start getting used to being here."
"But we didn't bring anything to sleep on and there are no furniture yet, so…"
"We did. It's been on my mind since before we left Tokyo, so I grabbed four sleeping bags and brought them along."
"I guess we're staying then."
"Where's dad? He said he was going to the gas station, but it's been half an hour and he hasn't returned yet."
"You know your father. He probably became friends with someone there and is talking about life. I wouldn't be surprised if he was smoking outside."
"That's very likely." Yamato glanced at his brother. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to order a pizza. I'm looking at good places here."
"Are we eating in?"
"That was the plan… but I just realized we don't have anything here."
"Let's eat out. That way we can stroll around the city too."
"I like this idea."
"Alright then, it's settled. I'll call dad and see where he is. I found a good place we can go."
"Great."

.

"Takeru, wake up! Takeru!" Patamon started jumping on him, to wake him up.
"What is it, Patamon?" He mumbled, opening his eyes slightly and feeling his stomach a little sore from the impact.
"You said we were going to the park this morning."
"What time is it?"
The Digimon flew towards his chest of drawers and grabbed his phone. "It's 8:30."
"Okay." Takeru rubbed his eyes and sat up, then stretched his arms up. "We'll have a quick breakfast and then we can go."
"Why don't we have a picnic in the park, Takeru?"
"A picnic? That actually sounds a great idea, Patamon. Will you help me get everything we need?"
"Absolutely!" He grinned and then flew out his bedroom.

"I think right here is good, don't you?"
"I think so." Patamon looked up at him and flew off his arms and landed on the grass. "It's very beautiful."
"It really is." Takeru sat down and looked at the scenario with a large smile. "Spring in Japan is the most colorful one I've ever seen."
"I love it. It's so much prettier than the one in the Digital World." The Digimon laid on his back and stared at the sky briefly before turning to the young adult. "Hey, Takeru."
"Yeah?" Takeru followed him suit and placed his hands behind his head.
"You know what this reminds me of?"
"No, what is it?"
"The time when we were at the Village of the Beginnings."
"Oh." The boy looked at him. "You're right. It's been so long, I even forgot about it. But I'm curious to know why this park reminds you of there. They don't have anything in common."
"I don't know… maybe it's the energy. The cool breeze around us and that's gently moving the leaves on these trees. It was the same one there."
"You're right, they are similar." Takeru looked up at the light blue sky above him. "It's crazy that ten years have then."
"I know. Did you picture yourself here back then?"
"Here as in moving to another city to study?"
"Yeah."
"Not at all. I thought I'd be going to Tokyo University with most of the Chosen Children. But I'm glad life had its own plans for me."
"Me too."
"I'm thankful you're here with me. It would be more difficult to me if I was completely alone."
"But you would pull this off within time, I'm sure of it."
"I would." Takeru gave a warm smile.
"Takeru."
"What?"
"I'm really proud of the young boy you've become."
"Thank you, Patamon. That means a lot to me." He sat up and went through his bag. "Are you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"
"Sure." Patamon approached him and grabbed a few strawberries from a small plastic bowl.