Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Note: Pijon is the original (Japanese) name for Pidgeotto.
The
Way of the Children
Chapter
Two:
An
Overcrowded Restaurant
(Ari Matsuda; Shinjida Elementary, West Shinjuku, Tokyo; September 30th; 3:00 PM)
Ari didn't hear Shion's guess. All she could do was stare, bewildered, at the strange device. What was it? And why had it come from a bucket of all things? And yet, she knew what it was; she's seen her father's D-Arc long enough to know what the thing in her hand was, despite the difference in appearance.
"It's a digivice, isn't it?" Seiichi's voice broke into the silence that had come over them.
Ari found her voice. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"Then does that mean…" Seiichi trailed off; Shion answered his unspoken question.
"Tamers? Probably." The silver-haired boy frowned at his device and turned it over in his hands. His eyebrows scrunched together. "What is this?" he demanded.
Ari flipped her own device over. Her expression reformed into the same one Shion was wearing. In the center of the gray back of the device was a maroon symbol: two featherlike objects crossing near the ends of their tips and a simple flame in between both. The entire insignia was outlined in gold.
She felt a breath on her neck and turned to see Shion frowning over her shoulder. Before she could demand exactly why he was doing that and just whyhe was so close—although she really didn't mind for some reason, but she wasn't going to tell him that—he said, "It's not the same."
Ari blinked. "Huh?"
"It's not the same," repeated Shion. "The symbol." He held out his own device, bottom up, as a way of explanation.
The design was nearly the same. Instead of being maroon, it was dark silver, still outlined in gold. And instead of a flame, it was a diamond.
Kaori joined them—closely followed by Seiichi—her eyebrows knitted together. She stuck out her own device. "Neither is mine." Seiichi took his out for inspection as well, and they all stared at each others'.
Kaori's was blue, outlined in gold, and had the rising crest of a wave in the center. Seiichi's was a bright yellow, the gold outline somehow still visible, and was in the shape of a thunderbolt.
They went on staring until Ari finally said, "We'd better get back to cleaning. Besides, we have a reunion tonight."
They all groaned.
(Satsumi Lee; Itadakimasu, West Shinjuku, Tokyo; September 30th; 3:29 PM)
Fifteen-year-old Satsumi Lee entered the empty restaurant of Itadakimasu. His father looked up and smiled in greeting as he scrubbed at a varnished table. "Hey," thirty-nine year old Jenrya Lee said. "How was school?"
"Boring," said Satsumi, tossing his bag near the door. "Same thing again." He headed over to the computer behind the counter. "I need to use this for Programming."
Jenrya nodded. "Go right ahead." He finished wiping the table's surface and headed into the kitchen, removing his white smock and pulling on a purple sweater. "Ryou tinkered with the air conditioning today and broke it," he called. "It's going to get cold."
Satsumi grunted and zipped up his heavy dark green jacket. As he waited for the computer to open the program he needed, he tied the shoelaces on his silver boots, covered by his black jeans.
His mother was thirty-eight-year-old Kaho Hidaka, red-haired and bright blue eyes. Satsumi hated her. She had left Jenrya nine years ago, leaving him brokenhearted in return. She never said why; one day they had woken up and she was gone. Almost a week later, she filed for divorce.
Once she visited their family again. She had remarried and was inviting Satsumi, Minako, and Aya to live with her and her new husband. To Jenrya she said nothing. They all refused and never saw her again.
The program opened and he bent over it, intent on his work. He became so immersed that he didn't notice people trickling in, chatting to each other. Satsumi only looked up when he heard, "Ari, guess what?"
Satsumi's gray eyes blinked and he groaned, running a hand through his red, red hair. There was no mistaking the hyper, high-pitched voice of Yuko Matsuda. He glanced up and saw her enter, swinging her hands as she talked animatedly with her sister, Ayame—or as she preferred, Ari—Matsuda.
With them were Mitsuru Matsuda, Seiichi Shiota, Shion Akiyama, Kaori Yamamoto, Kazuo Akiyama, and the unmistakable purple hair of Kioshi Minami. The sixteen-year-old wasn't wearing Naisho's required uniform—black slacks, white dress shirt, and lavender blazer and tie—and was instead wearing his customary outfit: a white shirt, black jeans, a black trench coat, brown leather boots, and a silver dog tag.
"What?" Ari sounded as if she'd rather be anywhere else. Seiichi glanced around the room and went off to join Isao and Iwao Kitagawa, who were at a table nearby. Kaori peeled out from the group and went to help her mother unload boxes. Shion and Kioshi glared at each other before stalking off to arm wrestle.
"'Suru-niichan got himself a girlfriend!" Yuko chirped. Ari's eyebrows lifted and her brother Mitsuru, just behind her, flushed with embarrassment. "Her name's Nishio Ikada. Her friends call her Nishi, but 'Suru-niichan calls her Ishio-chan. Righht?" She nudged her brother.
"Yeah, yeah," Mitsuru mumbled, quickening his pace.
Satsumi shook his head and returned to his work. He personally didn't know how Yuko's siblings could stand her. To him, she was just another preppy fool who had nothing better to do than gossip.
(Seiichi Shiota; Itadakimasu, West Shinjuku, Tokyo; September 30th; 3:45 PM)
Seiichi had been surprised when Kioshi pulled up in his car, telling them to get in and that he was taking them to the restaurant. The sixteen-year-old had insisted that Ari sat up front—calling her "Ayame" instead of "Ari" as he always did—claiming that she was the most responsible.
Then he ignored the rest of them until they got there, occasionally asking Ari questions, causing her to blush. The only amusing part was when Shion gritted his teeth every time Ari's cheeks turned red.
What Seiichi found weirdest of all was that Kioshi showed animosity towards Shion as well. Every sentence they said to each other—there wasn't many—was through tense voices.
When they had arrived, Yuko, Mitsuru, and Kazuo had been there to greet them, Kazuo towering over them all like a giant. Yuko had been chatting with her sister and Seiichi had broken apart from the group—which was already splitting up—to join Isao and Iwao Kitagawa, both of whom were wearing Kamon Junior High's uniform: white vests and shirts, baby blue ties, and blue slacks, along with bright red tennis shoes. Their parents were thirty-nine year old Kenta Kitagawa and thirty-eight year old Sachiko Kitagawa.
Isao and Iwao were thirteen-year-old twins with identical ginger hair and dark, fathomless brown eyes. The only way to tell the two apart was by studying their cheekbones; Isao's were higher and sharper. Both were shy, Isao more than Iwao, and if Seiichi didn't know them any better, he would have found them intimidating.
They were bent over a whiteboard, playing the simplest of games; Isao would draw a Pokemon and Iwao would try to guess before Isao was done. If he did, a point was added to his score. If he didn't, nothing would happen. Then they would switch. So far, Isao was winning, 23-1.
"Why are you losing so much?" Seiichi had asked when he first saw the score.
"Because he stinks at drawing," Iwao had complained. "Hey—you want to join? I bet I can guess what you're trying to draw better than any of Isao's pictures."
As he sat there, watching Isao attempting to draw something with wings, Seiichi reflected that Iwao was probably right. Isao did stink at drawing whereas Iwao excelled at it.
"Done," Isao announced, sitting back. "Looks like neither of you got a point."
Iwao bent over to study the picture. "What is that?"
"It's Pijon," Isao said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "See?" He pointed at the blob of lines. "That's its crest." He moved to the rounded rectangular objects. "Those are its feet." His finger tapped the wings, and finally a triangle. "And the wings and tail."
"What?" Iwao stared at what was supposed to be Pijon. "Are you kidding me?"
"No."
"You have to be. You seriously cannot stink this back at drawing, can you? You took art lessons for three years!"
"And it paid off!"
"No it didn't! Well, maybe it did. Otherwise, this Pijon of yours would just be a cloud of something."
"Well, why don't you draw it, then?"
"I will!"
Seiichi snorted and shook his head as Iwao wiped the Pijon away and began sketching out a new one, one that looked almost exactly like the real one. Iwao threw down the dry erase marker. "There."
Isao looked at it. "It looks the same."
Iwao stared at him. "You have got to be kidding me."
Seiichi laughed. "You two are crazy," he said. "Hey, where's Kazuki?"
"He's should be coming soon," Iwao answered, wiping off his picture. "He had trumpet lessons or something like that. The little squirt's getting better every day. Unlike Isao here."
"Mine looked exactly like yours!" Isao protested. "You're just blind!"
"Am not!"
Seiichi rolled his eyes and turned towards the door as more people entered, Kazuki Kitagawa—who also went to Shinjida Elementary, but was in a different class—among them. The ten-year-old's light blue hair was spiked slightly, framing his tanned face and getting in the way of his brown eyes. He wore a white polo shirt with tan cargo shorts, gray tennis shoes, and a lime green wristband.
Kazuki paused to set down his trumpet case and, catching sight of Seiichi, waved. Seiichi nodded in return. Kazuki turned to someone behind him and pointed. A flash of brown hair shot by him and Seiichi was nearly tackled out of his seat by Riiko.
The seven-year-old was wearing an orange shirt with a yellow sun in the middle, brown shorts, black sandals, and a bright pink cap. "Hey, Sei-niichan!" she squealed.
"Hey," Seiichi laughed. "How are you?"
"Great! Yuudai-san came to pick me up today; he said that you were staying behind. Only I had to wait for Kazuki's lesson to finish." Riiko pouted playfully, but washed it away with another grin. "What about you?"
"Fine. Ari and Shion were assigned cleanup duty because they started arguing in class, though." Seiichi shrugged. "So Kaori and I stayed behind to make sure they didn't mess up the classroom."
"Did you have fun?"
Seiichi frowned. "I think so…"
Riiko grinned again. "Great! Hey, there's Reiko! See you, Sei-niichan!" She rushed off, straight into the arms of green-eyed Reiko Itou, daughter of forty-three year old Shinji Itou and forty-three year old Jaarin Itou. The fiery-headed eight-year-old, wearing a pink shirt, white shorts, purple tennis shoes, and a light blue jacket around her waist, shrieked as the two began bouncing up and down excitedly.
Reiko's brother, fifteen-year-old Tadao Itou, watched them, his lips quirked in amusement. He himself had on Oita High's uniform: navy blue blazer, white dress shirt, black dress shoes, a black tie and black slacks. Unlike his sister, he had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.
Tadao's cousin, as well as Kaori's and Yuudai's, was next to him, her head turned towards Kioshi with whom she was talking with. Miyuki Lee was fifteen years old and had auburn hair and unreadable light brown eyes. She, like Tadao, was dressed in Oita High's uniform: navy blue blazer, white dress shirt, black dress shoes, and a black tie and black skirt. Her parents were forty-three year old Rinchei Lee and forty-two year old Kaede Lee.
Seiichi stood up from the table and took a good look at the now filled restaurant. Kenta was trying to shove a package of noodles at Jenrya, his wife Sachiko laughing behind him. Her long ginger hair was bound up in a bun, and her warm brown eyes were leaking tears as she doubled up.
Sitting at a table nearby, lost in their own world, were thirty-seven-year-old Hiro and thirty-six-year-old Ai Ogawa. Hiro had reddish-ginger hair and brown eyes that were always twinkling with mischief. His sons, Hsiao and Hisashi were behind them at a window, feeding their baby sister, three-year-old Sakura Ogawa.
Hsiao and Hisashi were twelve-year-old twins with carroty-red hair and amber brown eyes. Unlike Isao and Iwao, they were easier to tell apart. Hsiao's hair was cropped short while Hisashi had long, messy shoulder-length hair. Hsiao was busy tinkering with what looked to be a Sasuke action figure that kept banging two cymbals together.
Three-year-old Sakura had a ginger hair and brown eyes, the exact replica of her father. She giggled as Sasuke brought the cymbals together again.
Seiichi rolled his eyes as he got up to go join Kaori who was chatting with Satsumi's sisters, Minako and Aya Lee. Minako was thirteen years old dark blue hair and gray eyes; her sister, Aya, had dark blue hair and wild blue eyes. They both turned as Seiichi approached. "Satsumi's looking for you," Kaori said, jerking her head. "Can't figure out something."
"Then shouldn't he be asking you?" Seiichi raised an eyebrow. "You do know more about computers than me."
Kaori flushed slightly. "Maybe so, but he asked for you."
"I'll go with you," Aya said. "I feel like talking to Sa-niichan anyway."
Seiichi shrugged and they went. Satsumi was still pouring over the computer he had been using when Seiichi had walked in. Ari and Shion were behind him, bickering about soda and popcorn.
"Soda's better!" Shion snapped. "People drink it all the time during movies!"
"They eat popcorn too," Ari argued back. "Don't you see them munching on them? Oh, wait, I forgot—you can't see!"
"At least I have common sense!" Shion bawled. "Which is how I know that people like soda at movies better than popcorn!"
Satsumi, who Seiichi could see was getting tenser and tenser, slammed the table the computer was on, whirled around and screamed, "It doesn't matter! How could you two fight about something as dumb as that?!"
Beside Seiichi, Aya clicked the roof of her mouth with her tongue distastefully. "He's not going to get Ari to like him that way," she sighed, shaking her head. "No matter how cool she is."
Seiichi frowned. "Satsumi likes Ari?"
"He hasn't realized it yet," Aya replied, folding her arms. "But he will and when he does…" She trailed off, looking blissful. "They're perfect for each other…."
Seiichi wasn't sure Shion would like that description. The silver-haired boy was currently yelling, "It's not stupid! The one who's dumb is you! If you need computer help, ask Kaori, not—oh, uh…hi, Seiichi…."
Seiichi nodded curtly as Ari stepped up to the computer Satsumi was using. "What're you trying to do?" she asked hoarsely.
"I'm trying to get this to show up, but it won't," Satsumi explained shortly. "A lot of good you could do, though—" He broke off as Ari clicked around. "How did you do that?"
Ari shrugged. "I took the same computer class Seiichi did last year." She turned to Shion. "That's why he asked for Seiichi."
Satsumi gave a wry smile. "Not bad, Matsuda, not bad…." He turned back to the computer as Shion glowered. Ari walked off, towards Kioshi, who was shuffling a deck of cards. Shion followed, scowling.
Aya clasped her hands together. "See?" she breathed. "Sa-niichan complimented her! He's beginning to realize his feelings!" She began muttering to herself. "Now, if only I could get them in the same place at the same time…."
"Whatever plan you're coming up with, Aya," Satsumi called, "stop it. It isn't going to work."
Aya's eyes gleamed. "Oh, yes it is," she promised underneath her breath. "Just you wait." She promptly ran off to where Ari had joined Kioshi in a card game with Shion hanging around in the back.
Seiichi snorted. "Funny sister you have there."
"The most unusual around," Satsumi replied. "Lucky me, eh?"
Seiichi leaned against the counter and looked around. Itadakimasu had turned into a mess of people. Mitsuru and Kazuo were busy racing around the restaurant with Guilmon and Renamon—who didn't look too happy about it—on their backs, respectively. Yuko was following them, a whistle in her mouth, calling penalties and warning others to get out of the way!
Takato was balanced precariously on a chair, posed like a ballerina, his mouth full of water, as Hirokazu stared at a stopwatch, presumably part of a dare. Juri was standing nearby, her face in her hands.
Ryou and Ruki were bringing out platters of food, Ryou twirling around and Ruki snapping at him to stop. Shuichi and Shuichon followed, grinning about something. Cyberdramon trudged behind them sullenly, looking as if he had gotten drafted, Calumon bouncing repeatedly on his head joyfully.
Yuudai was busy going around, yanking down the shades, cutting off the Digimon from the world's view. Kaori helped him, both of them joking about something. Lopmon hung off her neck, fixed in a staring contest with Terriermon, who was on Yuudai's head.
Jenrya was running after Minako and Tadao, who were playing soccer, dodging around tables and people. Rinchei was laughing at his younger brother's expense before his wife, Kaede, slapped him on the head and presumably told him to go help. He sulkily did.
Shinji, Tadao and Reiko's father, appeared out of the mob of people and ran alongside Minako and Tadao, yelling out tips and chiding them when one didn't kick the ball right. Jaarin emerged, grabbed his ear, and dragged him off to help carry the food dishes out.
Miyuki was perched on a stack of chairs, painting the entire restaurant and its inhabitants on a piece of parchment paper with a brush and ink.
By now Hiro and Ai had stopped talking and were watching as Makoto made faces at Sakura. The three-year-old giggled and made a grab at his nose. Makoto jerked back with a yell of surprise as his sister and her husband laughed.
Hsiao and Hisashi were busy smacking a balloon back and forth; Hsiao jumped over Impmon and the purple Digimon shouted something as he gave chase. Iwao leaped over Isao's shoulder and nabbed the balloon, laughing his head off as he ran away.
The other four roared something and chased after him, nearly colliding with Mitsuru, Guilmon shrieking happily on his back. Kazuo, huffing, almost crashed into Kazuki as he ran past him, playing his trumpet to the entire restaurant as he followed MarineAngemon around.
Seiichi laughed. "Nice atmosphere."
"You could say that," Satsumi said. Then, as an afterthought: "Wonder when we'll eat."
Yeah, I take forever. Sorry. And I am working on Chosen Empire. I just got stuck on a part again.