Author's Note: Hey there! I've been away from FFN for a week so here's my update. I don't own digimon. Please read and review! Thank you! :D

Chapter 3: Odd Invitations

The next day, a chestnut-haired young man was sitting in front of a computer and editing something in his computer. Eventually, as he was looking around, Henry saw his friend editing something in his computer. He was intrigued with what the latter was doing.

"Takato?" Henry called the chestnut-haired young man. "What are you doing?"

Then the chestnut-haired young man, now identified as Takato Matsuki, looked at Henry and smiled at him.

"I'm doing an invitation for a reunion of the Shinjuku High!" Takato answered proudly and showed it to his friend. "I'm just adding some finishing touches."

Henry seemed to be intrigued with what his friend had just did.

A reunion… Why? Henry thought and began to clear his throat. "But why are you doing that?"

Takato laughed heartily. "You know Ma'am Asaji, right?" he asked. "She wanted to organize a reunion with our batch! She even told me that our class was the greatest of all people who attended our school. She also wanted to see Ryo as well!"

"And why do you think that Ma'am Asaji preferred our graduating class?" Henry asked with a teasing tone. "Was it because of you and your limelight romances with Jeri?"

Takato dismissed the idea. "Pshhh! It's not because of me, you know? She wanted to see her favorite batch! The batch that had everyone under the sun!" he declared. "But who was the Takato Matsuki who can gather everyone in just a minute?"

Henry only let out an amused laugh as he saw his friend trying his best to construct an invitation for a reunion.

"Well, anyway… Good luck to you, Takato!" Henry said and noticed that something was wrong. "Anyway, where's Ryo?"

Takato laughed once again. Henry took this as a sign that the spiky-haired young man went flirting with other ladies in the department.

"You know it, Henry! He's been girl-hopping here in the department!" Takato winked.

Henry only shrugged. What's new if he heard Ryo visiting ladies all over in the office?

"Should have known," Henry remarked. "Oh well… What am I going to expect if he continued doing that, anyway?"

"You won't believe it, Henry!" Takato answered and smirked. "He already had many clients at the computer technology and stuff!"

"That's good," Henry commented as he stroked his chin. "At least he's doing his job very well."

"I think he's doing the girl-hopping because he missed Alice so much," Takato concluded as he made the finishing touches in the invitation. "It seemed that he had a crush on Alice but he's a coward enough to tell her about it. And until now, he's still a chicken."

Henry laughed at that point. He remembered the former timid blonde who used to be their classmate when they were in high school. Before they graduated, Alice had changed for the better. She gained a bit of her confidence when she became friends with Rika and Jeri. But after they graduated, Alice had been accepted into an American university so she studied there. There was still no definite date on her comeback yet she was answering to some calls and mails.

"Oh yeah?" Henry teased. "What about you and your hide-and-seek relationship with Jeri? If I were you, I would have told her about my secret feelings for her!"

Takato suddenly felt embarrassed. "Don't you start too, Henry!" he added. "It's bad enough that I haven't got the guts to ask Jeri out just because she's busy with her job."

Henry decided to ride with Takato's embarrassment for now.

"Okay…" Henry answered as he went back to Takato's cubicle. "So when are you going to start sending all the invitations?"

Takato suddenly felt proud of himself. "Right now, Henry!" he added. "With just one click, all the mails that I gathered across the globe will receive my special announcement!"

Henry began to wonder if the invitation would reach his ex-girlfriend. Well, he did not consider Rika as his ex-girlfriend because they did not split up. She just disappeared from his life just like that. With that, he often thought about her because he never saw her during the past six years.

"Would that reach her?" Henry asked, implying the "her" as Rika.

Takato looked at his friend with sympathy. The topic about Rika was a very sensitive and a touchy topic for Henry.

"I hope so. She had been missing for the past few years but I still tried sending to her mail. It seemed working but I don't have any replies," Takato answered and pointed to their graduation picture.

Henry suddenly drove his attention to the graduation picture that was in their yearbook. He flipped the other pages and saw that the next page showed Rika wearing a black cap and gown. While she did not wear much makeup on her face, she still looked beautiful.

Oh, Rika… If only you know how much I still love you… Henry thought wistfully as he saw the beautiful face of his beloved girl.

Meanwhile, at some part in Shinjuku, Rika was checking some emails in her office when she noticed the email that was sent to her by a familiar sender. It read "From Takato Matsuki".

Takato? Rika thought in her mind as she clicked for the inbox in order for her to see what was inside.

When she saw a bright blue picture of an invitation with red balloons on it, she was stunned because of what she saw.

"You are cordially invited to the Shinjuku High School Reunion. Please reserve to Takato Matsuki ASAP!"

And added to it were the following information.

WHAT: High School Reunion

WHERE: Shinjuku Royal Hotel

WHEN: April 26, ****

ATTIRE: Casual or Smart Casual

A reunion! Rika thought and suddenly became intrigued with it. But why just now?

She eventually sighed. She wanted to go just because she missed her friends. When she died and miraculously survived, she distanced herself from the tamers. Even if they were sending her some emails, she never answered to them because of the fact that she hid herself weeks after their high school graduation. She hid from her friends and especially Henry. She did not know how she would face them and explain what happened to her.

What am I gonna do? Rika thought. The idea seemed to be tempting me but I'm just afraid of what they would think of me.

With this, she decided to swallow her pride and call the number located on the bottom of the picture. She heard ringing for a few seconds until there was a click in the other line.

"Hello. Good afternoon," Rika began. "May I speak to Takato Matsuki?"

Takato laughed in the other line since he did not know to whom he was talking to. "Speaking! And you are…"

Rika took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth.

"I'm… I'm Rika… Rika Nonaka…" she said casually.

Meanwhile, inside his office, Takato's shock was an understatement. It was literally something that he did not totally expect.

"I'm Rika… Rika Nonaka…" the voice from the other line spoke.

Shit… Is this real? I'm talking to Rika already? Takato thought and by instinct, he first looked at Henry's cubicle. Unfortunately, he was not there due to an emergency meeting.

"Okay…" he paused and thought of something to say. "So, hey, Rika! How's life?"

Rika was surprised when Takato mentioned the word "life". "I'm good. I almost thought that you had forgotten about me, Gogglehead."

Takato did not know what to say. He was totally surprised by Rika answering to him.

"No!" Takato denied. "I'm just speechless when you actually called me. Anyway, why did you call?"

"Ha-ha! As if I would totally call you," Rika replied with a snort. "But back to your question, what's with you and why did you send an invitation about a reunion?"

Takato smacked his head. Now he was sure that she had read the mail that he had sent her.

"You know Miss Asaji, right?" Takato asked. "Well, she delegated me into sending invitations for a reunion in order to gather us all. She wanted to see all of us. The batch that had everything under the sun!"

"Oh really?" Rika asked surreptitiously. "Or is it just a ploy for you to see Jeri?"

"Oh come on, Rika! Don't start me with that!" Takato answered with a shy voice. He felt embarrassed with Rika also knowing his secret.

"Oh goodness, Takato… You're already twenty-five and still you haven't made a move on Jeri!" Rika answered with a snort.

"I know… I know… Hey! Wait a minute!" Takato said as he noticed the similarity between Rika and Henry's teasing. "You and Henry said the same thing about me!"

Rika felt her heart race in anticipation as she heard Henry's name. A part of her wanted to ask Takato about Henry but she was engulfed in the possibility that Henry did not want to hear from her again after her sudden disappearance years ago.

"Uh… Sorry about that," Takato answered as he realized what he just said.

"No… No… It's okay," Rika answered. "What about Henry?"

"Well… He's still Henry… But you have to go to the reunion so you could see how much he had changed," Takato remarked.

"Oh… Don't spoil me about some nitty gritty, Gogglehead. I am going and please don't tell anybody about this. I wanna surprise them," Rika said to Takato in order for him to stop blabbing things about her friends.

"Okay…" Takato answered. "I'll see you sometime."

"Alright…" Rika answered dully. "Bye."

When she had hung up, Rika suddenly thought of Henry. When Takato mentioned the word "change", she eventually thought of some factors.

Married? Gained weight? Rika thought. Nah. That can't be those. I wonder what change he underwent. Sex change? Definitely no!

At that very moment, suddenly she was no longer interested in proofreading the papers in her desk for that period. That was what she thought.

I need a break… More than anything else… Rika thought as she lied on the desk and saw the heart-shaped pendant which was hanging on a stand that she bought two weeks ago. It was the heart-shaped pendant that Henry gave her during their senior prom.

On the night of their senior prom, Henry was waiting for Rika in her house when he heard Mrs. Nonaka running down the stairs.

"Hello, Mrs. Nonaka!" Henry greeted as he saw his girlfriend's mother.

Mrs. Nonaka smiled brightly as she saw Henry. "Oh, hello, Henry! Rika will be down in a minute or two!"

Henry nodded. He became excited to see what Rika looked like.

Moments later, Rika went down the stairs while wearing her purple sleeveless dress that extended two inches below the knee and her hair was tied in a soft bun. Her face was not loaded with makeup but she had a pink blush on her cheeks and red lips. Henry's jaw dropped as he saw how beautiful Rika looked today.

"Hi…" Rika said sheepishly, somehow feeling awkward with what she looked. She eventually went downstairs

"Hey…" Henry said, still struck by the fair and beautiful young maiden in front of him.

When Rika arrived at the foot of the stairs, she suddenly looked at herself from head to toe.

"I look horrible," Rika mumbled as she shifted awkwardly with her heels.

"No, you're not," Henry answered with a smile. "You look beautiful."

Then Mrs. Nonaka showed up with a camera in her hand.

"Okay, you two!" she called the young couple. "Look here."

Rika and Henry then turned to face Mrs. Nonaka and smiled. It was unorthodox for Rika to smile but she only got coaxed by her mother as well.

"You two look absolutely wonderful! No wonder why I wanted you two to get married someday!" Mrs. Nonaka remarked as she took a picture of the two.

Henry and Rika eventually blushed at the woman's comment.

"Okay…" Mrs. Nonaka concluded. "You better go now, you two! You might get late!"

Eventually, the two recovered as they heard the signal that they should get out of the house already.

"Okay, Mom…" Rika said as she held Henry's arm. "We're going to leave now!"

When they got out of the house, Rika began to apologize to Henry profusely.

"Sorry about Mom making a comment about the two of us…" Rika said, trying to remove any form of awkwardness in the situation.

Henry made a light-hearted laugh. "It's okay. Anyway, I have a surprise for you."

"What is that?" Rika asked in curiosity.

Then he fidgeted something from his pocket and removed his hand. When he opened his hand, it revealed an exquisite silver and heart-shaped pendant.

"Wow…" Rika was almost speechless.

"I know…" Henry answered and smiled. He eventually attached the pendant on Rika's neck.

Rika looked at her neck and saw the small pendant. She looked at Henry in awe.

"Thanks…" she replied.

"You're welcome." Henry smiled. "Now let's go."

With this, the blue-haired teen gave his left hand in order for her to hold it as they walked together.

Eventually, Rika's mind returned to reality. She felt sorry at herself for throwing beautiful memories away.

That's it… That must be the reason why I couldn't let go of anything… Rika thought as the memories from the past kept on haunting her. I need to see him once and for all. Even if we couldn't get back together, at least I told him what had happened to me.

With this, she shook her head and tried to think of different thoughts once again. She took the paper from the desk and began to scan for possible errors. And yes, she did spot one. She recognized the handwriting which belonged to Mimi Tachikawa and began to laugh.

"Mimi… Mimi… Mimi…" Rika remarked while stifling her laughter. "Such poor writing!"

At that moment, Mimi showed up in Rika's cubicle and began to pout.

"Hey! I don't write poorly!" she countered.

Rika made a victorious smirk. "Oh really? Then why was your grammar saying 'I is the one'?"

Mimi turned white as she heard that. "What?!" she exclaimed. "I is the one?! Fuck!"

Then Rika returned the paper to her officemate as she pointed the errors behind it.

"Oh goodness! I must be drunk when I wrote this!" Mimi exclaimed in horror as she noticed the error.

"Even if you're not drunk, you always sucked at English," Rika pointed out with a devious grin. "Here's your paper anyway."

"Thank you so much, Miss Editor!" Mimi answered with a laugh as she realized the fruit of her mistakes. "Gosh! I do suck at everything!"

"Glad that you knew it, Mims, before you could ruin the reputation of the magazine," Rika answered back. "I'm gonna proofread Zoe's paper as well. I think you don't agree with each other's sentence patterns."

Mimi nodded. "Anyway, so much for proofreading, did you have coffee today?" she asked.

Rika snapped her fingers as she remembered the deal that she made with Mimi during the night that she stayed in her house. "Not yet. Like you said, you're gonna be the one who's treating me coffee, alright."

Mimi smacked her head in disgust. "Yeah! I don't forget that!" she added. "What do you want? The black one?"

"Yeah, the black one!" Rika answered as she returned to reading everything inside the sheets of paper.

"Okay!" Mimi answered and went off to get coffee. Rika bobbed her head as she saw this one.

Sometimes, it pays to be the superior to the writers, Rika thought with a devious grin once again. I even wondered what brought me to aspire to become an editor.

Meanwhile, inside Henry's office, the blue-haired young man was busy preparing his slides for the next presentation.

It sucks to be the company owner, Henry thought since he felt that he lost all of his ideas. Gosh.

Then he heard a knock on his door. It was Takato who was behind his door.

"Hey, Henry!" Takato greeted sheepishly.

"What is it, Takato?" Henry asked as he saw his friend who was smiling like a fool in front of him.

"You know about the presentation regarding the board, right?" Takato asked.

"Then what about it?" Henry asked.

"It's cancelled!" Takato answered jovially. "There'll be no presentation!"

Henry felt that something heavy was removed from his chest. He had been trying his best in crafting his presentation very precisely.

"Thank God," Henry said as he patted his forehead. "I ran out of ideas in my head!"

This gave Takato the opportunity to ask his friend to an all-guys beer party.

"So, now that everything's gone, you wanna have some drinks later tonight?" Takato suggested. "Tonight at six since today's a Friday?"

Henry thought for a moment. He felt that it would be best if he relaxed for a while. He had been working overtime for a couple of weeks so why not now?

"Yeah, sure!" Henry agreed. That would teach me on how to lessen my stress.

"And besides, Sir Henry, you have a debt with the five of us. You're going to treat us since you got promoted just recently!" Takato jested since Henry had been promoted and did not have treated them to somewhere else as well.

Henry let out an amused chuckle. "Okay. I will. Let's go to a bar that just opened up."

That night, Henry and Takato drove over to the bar so they could have some drinks. They had called Ryo, Kazu and Kenta so they could join the fun. When they arrived at the bar, Takato became disbelieved at what he saw.

"Whoa! Is this 'The Zone'? The most priced bar here?!" Takato exclaimed.

"You got it, my friend!" Henry confirmed as he pulled the sleek black convertible to a stop.

At that very moment, they also heard a car parking in front of them. When they turned to look at the sound created, they saw Ryo's blue convertible with Kazu and Kenta hopping out.

"Dudes!" Kazu called out. "What's up?"

"Hey, Kazu!" Takato answered back. "We're gonna have an all-guys beer party and it's Henry's treat because he got promoted!"

Eventually, Ryo also got out from his car and flashed a broad grin. "You don't say! I'm also going for a treat since I gained the profit as well!" he answered.

"Alright!" Henry answered, feeling relieved that Ryo would be sharing with him regarding the drinks.

"Oh boy!" Kazu answered as he tugged Kenta who just got beside him. "Friday night will be always this good!"

Henry and Ryo looked at one another and began to laugh. Then they walked towards the bar so they could find a seat for themselves. Takato and Kazu had found a seat nearest to the door since they considered the possibility of one person from them getting drunk and if that happened, they would not have a hard time in lifting that certain person.

"Let's sit here!" Takato urged as he sat down on the circular couch with Kazu and Kenta. Henry and Ryo followed suit.

A waiter went towards them with a pen and paper in his hand. He stood in front of the table where the young men had been sitting.

"What can I get all of you, Sir?" he asked as he prepared himself to write their orders.

"What do you want, guys?" Ryo asked. "Come on! Don't be shy! It's on me and Henry!"

The three looked at each other since they were only known for having beer and nothing else. Ryo sensed this and told the waiter about what they wanted to have.

"Five bottles of beer," Ryo answered.

The waiter nodded. "Coming right up, Sir!" he said and turned to walk away.

Now that they were waiting for their orders, the five men began to talk about trivial matters such as work and family life.

"Gosh! I can't believe you organized a reunion, Takato!" Kazu answered.

"Me too," Kenta answered. "What's behind it, anyway?"

"Miss Asaji's been forcing me to gather the class we graduated," Takato explained.

Just as Ryo could answer back, he heard his phone ringing. It registered an unknown number.

"Uhm… Excuse me, guys but I'm gonna answer this call," Ryo said politely as he stood up from the seat.

"Go ahead, Ryo," Henry answered good-naturedly.

Ryo eventually went towards the door so he could answer the call noiselessly. When he was already outside, he answered it already.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Baby Boy!" the caller said deviously.

Ryo's heart raced in anticipation. He was being called by his nickname and only a certain person would call him that.

"Alice?" Ryo asked while trying to keep his elation.

"Who else would be calling you Baby Boy, Dum-Dum?" the caller laughed.

"Right," Ryo answered sheepishly. "How's life and how did you know my number?"

"I'm good. I took it from Takato when he sent me the invitation about the reunion. I can't wait for it and I'm already polishing my plans to return to Japan!" Alice answered.

"Me too. I can't wait to see you too!" Ryo answered with a smile on his face.

Ryo was the first to graduate among the tamers so when he left to study in England, he lost contact with the tamers especially to Alice. Just as he was studying there, realization came upon him that he had feelings for Alice already.

"Is that sarcasm I hear?" Alice asked with a laugh. "Or just because you're happy to see me just because I'm one of your Barbie doll collections anyway?"

"No. I meant it. I'm really happy to see you," Ryo answered. "It's kinda lonesome here without you."

"You've got Henry, Takato, Kazu and Kenta! Why else would you be feeling alone?" Alice exclaimed.

"I don't know. I just don't have a girl to date with. That's all," Ryo explained.

"Aww! Poor Ryo. I have a piece of advice for you. Don't let the head located below your belt take over, alright?" Alice sneered. "Anyway, just you wait. I'll be home in a couple of days!"

"Thanks, Alice! See you!" Ryo answered as he laughed at Alice's advice. With this, he returned inside.

Inside the bar, the four men sat down and their beer was served already. Ryo had just arrived in time as well.

"Hey, Ryo!" Kazu hollered and offered his friend a drink. "Let's drink up!"

"Yeah, sure!" Ryo answered as he sat down. He saw that Kenta was already drinking.

At that moment, music was playing on the speaker. Henry was surprised that the bar could also play a sentimental song. However, it struck him that the title was "Officially Missing You" by Tamia.

~ All I hear is raindrops
Falling on the rooftop
Oh baby tell me why'd you have to go
Cause this pain I feel
It won't go away
And today I'm officially missing you
I thought that from this heartache
I could escape
But I fronted long enough to know
There ain't no way
And today
I'm officially missing you

Oh can't nobody do it like you
Said every little thing you do
Hey baby say it stays on my mind
And I, I'm officially

All I do is lay around
Two years full of tears
From looking at your face on the wall
Just a week ago you were my baby
Now I don't even know you at all
I don't know you at all
Well I wish that you would call me right now
So that I could get through to you somehow
But I guess it's safe to say baby safe to say
That I'm officially missing you ~

And I'm officially missing you, Henry thought as the center of his mind right now was a beautiful, auburn-haired young woman.

Meanwhile, inside Rika's house, there was a song that was played in her phone. When Rika figured out the title, she realized that the song had been matching her mood as well.

~ Well I thought I could just get over you baby
But I see that's something I just can't do
From the way you would hold me
To the sweet things you told me
I just can't find a way
To let go of you ~

"Oh, Henry… I'm really sorry…" Rika mumbled as she realized that she could not get over the memories that she had been reminiscing in her office. She definitely could not move on because she left him hanging.

~ It's official
You know that I'm missing you
Yeah yes
All I hear is raindrops
And I'm officially missing you~

"And I'm officially missing you," Rika sang the last part of the song with feelings.