Day 6: Café

Chapter 6: Salt and Pepper

New York City welcomed Mimi with arms wide open. It was bright, loud, colorful, brash—just as Mimi remembered it.

She remembered being so afraid when her family first moved here. The streets looked dirty and the people seemed rude. Everyone spoke a language she could hardly understand. She was no longer the most popular girl in school. She had to start all over in making friends. Mimi had always been an unusual little girl, so loud and confident. Those traits made her unusual in the United States too, but there she was a loud girl with a bad accent. Little American girl Mimi couldn't help but feel more self-conscious.

Perhaps worst of all, little American girl Mimi was still reeling from her adventure in the Digital World, and she had lost her companions who could understand that part of her life, like Sora, Koushiro…and Jyou.

But things got better. She learned the new subway system. She decided that her new favorite foods were falafel and enchiladas. And even though many Americans found her odd or off-putting, there were also many people who were attracted to her confident personality, just like in Japan. Mimi even met new children who were becoming partners with digimon.

Mimi never thought that her new American friends were replacing her Japanese ones; she simply thought that her heart was expanding to include more people.

Mimi had to think like that. Surely her heart was big enough for two countries (and one parallel digital dimension).

The day Mimi returned to New York was windy. She kept one hand on her wide-brimmed hat and one hand on her suitcase, where Palmon was riding. As soon as she stepped into the street in her high-heeled shoes, the wind hit her at full force and seemed to carry all the sounds of the city in it—the cars honking, the people chatting, the dogs howling and the jazz bands playing—it made Mimi burst out laughing in joy. She felt so gloriously independent.

She and Palmon lived in a miniscule apartment with three other girls and two other digimon, and Mimi hit it off with them right away. They all spoke different languages besides English. Every month they went to see Broadway plays together. Mimi always chose to see musicals. She memorized the lyrics to Wicked and West Side Story.

Mimi liked college. She liked that she could sleep in. Most of her teachers were nice. One was mean, but she and her roommate bonded over complaining about him, so it worked out. Her nicest teacher encouraged her to apply for an internship at a local television station, and soon Mimi was working behind the scenes on the weather report, helping to deliver important meteorological news to New York City's citizens every Tuesday and Friday. So at least on those two days, Mimi knew whether it would rain or not.

Mimi was an optimistic person, but it wasn't always fun, games, and ice skating in the Rockefeller Center. Actually, it was often hard to live in a foreign country where everyone spoke English, in spite of all her years of experience.

There were some nights when all she wanted to do was curl up in her bed with Palmon and cry over her photographs of her old friends, her old family, and her old boyfriend.

It was hard to schedule phone calls because of the time difference. It was especially difficult to talk to Jyou, who had thrown himself into his studies since Mimi had left.

Mimi sat in a tiny café booth with Palmon and stared at her cell phone on the table. Jyou had not yet responded to her voice mail, and staring at her phone wasn't making it ring.

"He's being super annoying," Palmon observed.

"I think he said he had a math test coming up. An important one," Mimi defended him.

"You have tests TOO, Mimi! You're in college TOO!"

"Jyou's tests are harder…"

"You have it hard TOO!" Palmon insisted.

Mimi sighed and put the cellphone back in her bag. She stared out the window of Hibiki's café. The glass window had pretty Japanese calligraphy painted in red, coloring her view of the busy city street.

Mimi visited Hibiki's café for breakfast every day. For all that she loved exploring the city, it was nice to start her morning in this place with its familiar tastes and smells. But Mimi kept it simple. Every morning, she ordered coffee and eggs.

Mimi always put salt and pepper on her eggs.

Palmon nudged Mimi when the waiter arrived. Mimi recognized him as Sean Sato, whom she and Palmon had dubbed "Mr. Gorgeous Butt" behind his back. Mimi smiled at him and tossed back her hair, which was currently blue.

"Hello Sean," she said.

"Good morning, Mimi," Sean began. "And Palmon."

"Good morning Sean!" Palmon responded. She and Mimi always liked humans who respected digimon.

"Will it be just eggs again for the both of you?" he asked.

"Yes please," Mimi responded.

"Sunny side up?"

"You know me." Mimi leaned back in her chair.

Sean's eyes lingered on the woman's bare shoulders. He grinned. "Of course! You're our most predictable customer."

Mimi suddenly scowled. "I'm not predictable!"

"We're exciting, dangerous women!" Palmon added.

"Ah, sorry!" Sean blushed and apologized quickly. "Nothing wrong with eating eggs for breakfast!"

Mimi thought it was endearing how flustered he looked. "Shall we forgive him, Palmon?"

Palmon squinted at him. "Okay. But only if the eggs taste good."

"That's fair!" Mimi quipped.

"They will taste perfect. I promise," Sean assured them, and left their table.

He returned with their drinks and their eggs shortly thereafter. Mimi neatly brushed back her long blue hair and put salt and pepper on her eggs, like always. They tasted predictable, familiar, and mature.

When Sean gave her the check at the end of the meal, Mimi already had the exact change out to pay the bill. But then she noticed that there was something different about the check. Beneath the total price, Sean had scrawled…

"That's his phone number!" Palmon whispered loudly.

Mimi nodded, not sure what to say.

"Can we make friends with him?" Palmon smiled toothily.

Mimi hesitated.

"I think you'd really like a Japanese friend!" Palmon added. She worried about Mimi a lot.

Mimi smiled lovingly at her digimon partner and patted her flowery head. "The only person I really, really, really need is you, Palmon."

"No you need MORE friends!" Palmon insisted, ruining the sentimental moment. "You're an extrovert, Mimi! I know what that is! You need LOTS of people!"

Mimi couldn't help but laugh. She paid the bill. She picked up the receipt and Palmon and put them both in her bag. As she was stepping out of the door, she looked behind her and caught Sean's eye as he was cleaning a coffee mug. She blew him a kiss.