Hirokazu and Kenta were dead. Ruki didn't know what to feel. In truth, she felt nothing but numbness and white noise, and her lack of feeling, on a completely unrelated note, had often gotten her into trouble. Her paternal grandmother passed away when she was five years old, her grandmother, who had showered her with affection and gifts, and "white noise" was the only thing she heard at her funeral. She did not weep, and that caused all sorts of unpleasantness with her relatives. Did Ruki love her grandmother? She thought so; more than she did her mother anyway. She should care more. After all, she was apoplectic when Leomon died, and she'd barely known him back then; their meeting had been so recent.
She wept once when her father left. That day in the park, she recalled in disgust. She ran after him like a little fool, but he wouldn't come back. After that, Ruki needed no one. But as it so often happens, if you need no one, then naturally no one needs you, no one but those biologically hardwired to need you anyway, ie. her mother. But even Makino Rumiko didn't have much need of Ruki; she was plenty happy with that vapid, superficial career of hers. Her boyfriends were all she needed, and she tried many times to get Ruki to call them "father", then "uncle", then she gave up, as she could not get Ruki to acknowledge them at all.
If everyone is "no one" to you, then you're "no one" to everyone: it's perfectly reciprocal, and it's pointless to pretend you're strong, important and independent when you have no friends and no family. Reciprocity is the fabric of social existence. At school, girls only noted her existence as the daughter of Makino Rumiko the supermodel. In Digimon circles, she was the "Digimon Queen", famed for her brutal and aggressive style of play. No one cared for what was inside Makino Ruki, and surreptitiously, one day she woke up to find there was nothing left of Makino Ruki. She had become something less than human.
But less is more, and so Ruki transcended humanity. She was now a machine, free from human cares and superior in every way. The whole world existed to validate her superiority. Even Renamon. Renamon needed her. She did not want her, that much was clear. If Renamon could evolve without Ruki, she wouldn't seek her out in the first place. It was a new frontier. Ruki was at the top of her class, the best in her age group at the Digimon card game and an expert violinist. She didn't think she was particularly good at any of these endeavors, but more and more she'd come to learn that the rest of the world was spectacularly horrible. Truth be told, she was disgusted by any standard of achievement lower than her own. She needed something bigger, more challenging, to prove her abilities. Her best always became her minimum acceptable standard.
But who was she kidding? She needed Renamon as well. She needed someone to obey her without question and grovel at her. If nothing else, she needed Renamon to show her she mattered, even if on a purely practical level. It felt good to be needed in this capacity by one of the Digital World's best fighters; it told her she was capable, the most competent Tamer in the world. It was neat and convenient, this mutual need. That persisted until they met Takato and Jenrya. Then things became complicated: Renamon wanted her, or in other words, wanted her in an emotional capacity. She was no longer a walking evolution trigger to the fox, but a partner, a friend, even. For someone who had existed for years as a merciless fighting machine, she sure changed her tune fast. Ruki was nonplussed by her partner- no, avatar's new attitude. She just couldn't get used to it. She had become more human than Ruki even though she was a Digimon. She'd turned into one of them, the lower beings who let emotions confound everything.
One day, however, Kyuubimon happened and the rest, as they say, was history. Ruki saw something in herself that day that shouldn't exist, and it wasn't until Harpymon did she figure out what it was. Her ideal relationship of mutual benefits with Renamon had not existed for a long time by that point, yet her subconscious had fought the change tooth and nail. The change had probably happened to both of them at around the same time, yet Renamon saw it and didn't question it. Instead she wanted to know what it meant, to Ruki's horror and contempt. Maybe everything was so new to her she decided one new experience wasn't that much. But emotions were old news to Ruki, and she had sworn off it long ago like a recovering alcoholic.
When she lost Renamon the day D-Reaper was defeated, she took it the hardest of all of them. It was like someone had ripped the carpet out from under her and she saw only void; she literally didn't know how to face the future without Renamon, the first to understand her, even before her own mother, her oldest (nary a year) and closest confidante. Ruki didn't have much of an emotional past, and now even that was taken from her. For years she avoided all contact with "Digimon" because it was too jarring for her. She had nothing to do with it aside from carrying her deck and D-Ark around with her like a talisman. She needed to be ready, she thought, even if she would never see Renamon again. In an odd way it brought her comfort to live like this. Her friends saw her pain, ached for her, but could do nothing.
Ruki resumed being achievement-obsessed as a way to keep her mind off her loss, and her stint in the orchestra took over her life. Slowly but surely, she reverted back to her old outlook: that emotions were dangerous. Look at what happened when she trusted in them again! Her old way of life was better, easier, if not necessarily happy, but who needs happiness anyway? Like drugs, it only needed to be experienced once, she rationalized. When she came across a digital gate on her way to orchestra practice, she reacted like a stamp collector who'd encountered an extremely rare piece on sale yet knew he could not afford it. But if he did not do it now, he would miss it forever, but if he did it, he would lose a hefty portion of his savings. Like a good stamp collector, Ruki knew she shouldn't, that it might undo everything she had been working for, but the excitement and longing induced by the gate was too great. She leapt through with her violin in tow to remind her every minute thereafter that she had sorely disappointed the orchestra director. She might even be replaced, for all she knew. Stupid emotions. At least her superstitious talisman-carrying behavior had come to some good.
Hirokazu and Kenta were dead. Maybe her lack of feeling was an indication that she did feel something after all, like that time with her grandmother. Maybe she needed to feel nothing in order to overlook how rudely she had treated them over the years, and now she could never make it up to them. Ruki closed her eyes and willed these thoughts away. You're a horrible person. But even horrible people have to mind their asses. You have exigent issues right now. Guardromon was also dead among many others, she'd discovered along her travels, and many of the dead children were Digimon-obsessed; they were probably Tamers. What was going on? For all the world there seemed to be a purge of some sort. But of whom? Of us. It was obvious. Someone wanted Tamers and their partners dead. But why? She didn't know. But what she did know was that Renamon, Jenrya and Takato were in immediate danger of being purged, and that did not leave her the luxury of thinking too hard on what everything else that had happened might mean. She had to act, and act fast.
The Grankuwagamon burst out of his cage and dove straight for Kouji. Trying to contain his panic, he frantically pushed open the only door he had available to him and was confronted with a black void. He gasped and stepped back onto the platform, barely catching himself in time.
"Go on, Kouji! Jump in!" He heard a juvenile voice behind him. Though it belonged to a child, the wisdom in her voice was irresistible. He spun around to find Plotmon at his feet, regarding him with her all-knowing eyes.
"But-!" Kouji blurted out.
"Don't worry, Kouji. You'll fall forever and never hit the ground, but Grankuwagamon can't get to you there." Plotmon explained to him. Kouji breathed heavily, his chest heaving and his mind wheeling.
"Certain death or empty immortality..."
"Humanity has been striving toward empty immortality since the dawn of time. You're the first human to be given such a choice. Now choose, Minamoto Kouji. Will you live or will you die?"
"I can't!"
"You must. Here he comes." With that, Plotmon faded into thin air and death came for him. He staggered backwards and felt the ground vanish from under his feet. If there was ever any nobility in death, it didn't occur to him as doom approached. The will to live always wins out in the end. His biology willed it. What Kouji wanted was irrelevant. As he plummeted toward infinity, he opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. Clang. The abyss vibrated. Clang clang clang. The world was going mad, and the sound would not stop. Then he felt a violent tug and opened his eyes to a neon blue globe.
Jerking awake, he panted from exhaustion. Pluck, pluck, pluck, he heard, then he saw Makino plucking her violin.
"I apologize if I woke you up." She said mechanically, acknowledging him. He looked around him and saw the other two teenagers and the three digimon sleeping soundly.
Why was she awake? But of course. Her friends were dead. He would be awake too, if that happened to him. He ought to say something- anything, like Kouichi would. It's basic human decency, his brother would say. He didn't need any of it himself, but he's long since learned not to universalize his experience. He was, as he had discovered, rather unusual. It's expected. It's right. She was probably anticipating something right now and judging him in hundreds of ways every passing second of silence. Then why can't he do it? Yes, she was rude too, but as his brother (curse him!) said, sometimes it's not about always being right. Do it, Kouji! Force those words through your mouth!
"I'm sorry about your friends." He blurted out. "I had been callous."
"You don't have to do this." She said nonchalantly.
"Do what?"
"Act like one of them." She pointed at the sleeping forms of Izumi and Kouichi. "We both know you have no social graces. Besides, I don't need sympathy."
"Fair enough." Kouji said, relieved. "Normally I'd tell you to count the stars-" He tried again to sound personable and approachable.
"But there are no stars here." She finished for him. "There are no stars in Tokyo either, so I don't know what you're on about."
Kouji did a double take and laughed out loud, while Makino managed a slight smile. Makino wasn't so bad as she'd initially appeared. Maybe, just maybe, they had something in common after all. He was all too glad to drop the act.
"But there are planets. Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Venus. Sometimes even Jupiter's moons, if the night is clear."
"Those aren't stars."
"Oh please. What's the difference between Vega and Venus from where we are? They're white points in the sky."
"But Vega and Venus can't be compared, and you know it." She said stubbornly.
"People have been doing that for centuries. Venus used to be called the morning star."
"They were mistaken."
"You could be mistaken too, if you choose."
"You're advocating lying to yourself."
"Everybody lies to themselves. You'll hardly be the first." The irony in his voice was heavy.
"You're full of it." Ruki was sarcastic but her eyes twinkled with mirth.
"Whatever floats your boat." Kouji replied, crossed his arms, then fell silent. He always had extraordinary difficulty with small talk. In any case, Ruki didn't seem interested in continuing their banter. Kouji noticed that she was eying him inquiringly.
"You can talk, you know." She didn't reply, perplexed at his statement.
"Only if you have something to say. If you have nothing, then you're not obliged to say anything. I'm certainly not implying that I want you to-" He did the socially appropriate thing again- his first impulse was to go back to sleep when the conversation died. He could never understand why he put people on the edge and always had to assure people that he wasn't out to judge them.
"Minamoto-kun, are you a Tamer?" She cut off his protestations, a smile tugging at her lips.
"I don't have that device of yours."
"Oh, the D-Ark? Then I suppose you're not. But Orimoto got one easily enough, so you're probably get a partner as well. Probably that Plotmon who follows you around."
"Is it typical to have two partners?" Kouji asked, gesturing to Terriermon and Impmon. But where the two Digimon slept, there were only two dents indicating their presence.
"Where did they go?"
"I should have told you earlier. Terriermon and Impmon are not my partners." Ruki proceeded to tell him about her friend Jenrya. About Impmon, Ruki seemed to be leaving things out but Kouji did not ask her to elaborate. It took a good fifteen minutes for her to explain the whole situation to him and by the end he was as alarmed as she was.
"So what you're saying is..."
"We're being hunted." Ruki finished. "Us, and our partners. That's why I had to send them away. If there's any way they can get to the Material World, then they must find it. I can't let the same thing happen to Jenrya and Takato."
"Then you have to stay with us. It would be unsafe otherwise."
"I suppose I'll have to, but only if you follow my lead." She replied. She took out her blue D-Ark and studied the screen, completely ignoring him. Kouji wasn't sure what to make of her attitude. One minute they were conversing happily, and then she turned into a stone wall. Even I'm not that bad, Kouji thought.
"I have no objections. I have no idea what the fuck we're doing here, so it's all the same to me." Ruki nodded, and for a while the only sound came from the sleeping digimon. She yawned and plopped down onto the ground.
"You should get some sleep." He finally suggested.
"Wait. You still haven't told me anything about your situation."
"Some other time. You haven't slept."
"Things never just happen. You have to be here for a reason."
"We'll live through the night." Kouji insisted.
"Whatever." Ruki lay down and turned the other way. Back to square one.
Note: I'm in a foreign country right now, and too occupied to do much writing. I've been writing this chapter for ages, but it didn't feel appropriate to move on with the story without detailing Ruki's reaction to her friends' deaths. Then one thing led to another and an idea came into my head and it turned to this delightfully awkward conversation between Ruki and Kouji, two extreme introverts. I also tried to characterize Kouji a little more. His problem is not emotional, but psychological and philosophical and I attempted to reflect that.
Not much happens in terms of plot, but I hope you enjoyed the exploration of psychological type interacting. I typed both Kouji and Ruki as INTJs in terms of MBTI. I tend to think Touma (Savers) and Yamato (Adventure) are INTJs as well. This anime does have a strange liking for strong introverted loners. There's one lone-wolf per season for a reason. If there were two you might get a situation like this. I've always had this fantasy of: What if the lone wolves met? Maybe they wouldn't feel so alone after all. And here is the result.
We'll check in with Takato, Jenrya and even Takuya and Junpei soon.