Chapter 5: Whistle
Hikari was staring up at the dark blue sky from the Digital World. She didn't think she would be so shaken up with the fact Nyaramon was with her whistle after she was rebooted. Her gaze fell on the object now wrapped around her hand, just like her partner's.
"So is this yours?" Nyaramon asked with curiosity without taking her eyes away from it.
"It is." Hikari nodded. "I got it when I was a child. Do you wanna hear about it?"
"Yes."
"Alright." She sat down and placed her partner on her lap.
Hikari couldn't stop staring at the silver whistle on Taichi's P.E. teacher. It was a simple whistle, but there was something about it that kept her from looking away from it.
From then on, she started watching all soccer games she could on TV so she could see the referees using their own whistles. She didn't really care about the match itself at all.
"It's a good game, don't you think?" Taichi asked her.
"What?"
"You're not paying attention to the game, are you?"
"I'm paying attention to the referee."
"The referee?" He asked rather surprised and shocked.
"Yes. What's this silver thing on his neck?"
"The whistle?"
"It's pretty cool, isn't it?"
"Are you paying more attention to it than to the game?"
"Somehow I can't stop looking at it, I don't know why."
"Strange."
.
Four-year old Hikari and Yuuko were on their way to the mall to buy a birthday present for one of her cousins and she came across a whistle in one of the bottom shelves at the kids' store.
"Mom, can I have one of these?"
"You want a whistle?" Yuuko asked with surprise.
"Yes."
"There are some dolls not far from here. Do you want to see them?"
"No." Hikari said firmly and shook her head negatively. "I want this whistle."
"Alright, then. Choose one."
"Thank you." The girl smiled and picked the brightest whistle.
Yuuko was beginning to regret to let Hikari buy a whistle because she was blowing on it everywhere pretty much all day.
"Hikari, can you put that away for a while? The sound is getting annoying."
"Mom, it's so cool! See." The girl blew on it one more time.
"It's too loud, darling. Besides, your brother is studying and this noise can make him lose his concentration."
"I'm sorry." She shoved it in her pocket for a few minutes. But she was so addicted to it that the whistle was back to her mouth.
"Hikari."
"I'll stop, I promise."
.
Hikari stood in her toes and tried to look over the balcony as much as she could. The streets of Hikarigaoka were still damaged from the fight between the two Digimon. She made a promise to herself she wouldn't ever take the whistle off her neck again, unless it was extremely necessary. She was hoping she'd see Koromon or whatever he had become again; she really missed him.
"Hikari?" Yuuko walked into the bathroom she shared with Taichi. "What are you doing? We are leaving."
"I don't want to go, mommy."
"It's dangerous to stay here, sweetie."
"I know, but he can come back."
"Who?"
"Koromon. He was here a couple of days ago."
"Is that one of your invisible friends again?"
"No, he is real."
"We have to go, Hikari." Yuuko grabbed her hand and started pulling her out of the bedroom.
"I can't go, mom." Hikari tried to resist, but her mother was much stronger. "He can come back."
"No one is coming back, darling. It's not safe for us here anymore."
"But mom…"
"I'm sorry, Hikari."
Defeated, she pulled her whistle out of her neck and curled it around her hand.
.
Taichi, Sora and Koushiro were playing soccer in a court on their apartment complex that summer day. Hikari was sitting on the ground leaning against the rail watching them playing.
"Hey, Hikari. Come play with us." Taichi said.
"I'd rather stay here and watch you play."
"Oh come on, sister. We need another player."
"I can play with you, Hikari." Sora offered. "We can do it girls x boys."
"Yes, that would be so cool!"
"Thanks, but I'll just watch this time. But hey…" Hikari looked down at the whistle around her neck. "I can be the referee if you let me."
"That would be awesome!" The red haired girl said excitedly. "We can play one on one and take turns."
"Cool, let's do it."
Hikari stood up and joined the small group on the court. Being able to use her whistle made her so happy and useful that she barely saw the time go by. When she realized, it was almost sunset.
"Wow, that was so much fun." She said while looking up at the orange colored sky above her. "We should do it again tomorrow."
"Don't give your brother any ideas." Sora teased and laughed. "He might agree to this."
"Hey, you know I'm right here, don't you?"
"I couldn't forget it even if I tried." She stuck her tongue at him playfully.
The sun was back in the Digital World, as well as the green trees and grass and colorful flowers. The last enemy was finally defeated and it was time for the children to say goodbye to their partners and return to Japan.
"Hikari." Tailmon spoke beside Hikari with teary eyes.
"Yes?"
"I want you to know I had so much fun with you, even if we joined the group much later."
"It was really fun. I enjoyed it too."
"And I'm gonna remember you for the rest of my life."
"Me too." She turned around to look at her partner. "I'm sorry I couldn't be with you sooner, along everyone else."
"That's okay. You're here now. Even if we didn't get to meet in the beginning, our meeting was still special and I'm thankful for that."
"So am I. I wish we could spend more time together at this moment, but…" Hikari pulled her whistle away from her neck and stared at it. "I want you to have this."
"What? You're giving me your whistle?"
"That's right." The girl put it on Tailmon's neck. "You look great with it."
"T-Thank you." The cat Digimon blushed a little. "I promise I'll take really good care of it."
"I know you will." Hikari smiled gently. "I think it's time to say goodbye."
"Goodbye, Hikari. I'll never forget you."
"See you soon, Tailmon."
"Huh? Soon?"
"Yeah, we will see each other again very soon."
"You really think so?"
"I do." She insisted.
"Okay, then. I'll see you soon. Take care."
"You too."
.
Hikari sighed with relief. She had defeated another enemy, alongside Takeru and their four friends that were part of the second generation of Chosen Children. Young Gennai had given Tailmon the ring she had lost when she was attacked by a Unimon and she couldn't be happier with it.
"Hikari, there's something I need to show you."
"What is it?"
"It's hidden inside a tree." Tailmon jumped from her lap and looked towards Hikari before running off. "Follow me."
"Don't run so fast, Tailmon." Hikari stormed out after her partner.
About ten minutes later, Tailmon stopped inside the forest and looked around to make sure she was at the right place. Hikari took some seconds to get where she was.
"Tailmon, what are you doing?"
"It must be somewhere over here."
"What?"
"Your whistle. I made sure it was in a safe place, so no Digimon would find and steal it."
Hikari was completely surprised. She hadn't thought about her whistle for years, and couldn't believe her partner still kept it.
"I found it!" Tailmon shoved her claw into an open spot at the bottom of a tree and pulled the whistle out. "I knew no one would find it here."
"You kept it all this time." Hikari grabbed it and stared at it. "I haven't thought about it in three years. Wow."
"I want you to have it back."
"What?"
"Now that the portal will remain open, we can see each other whenever we want to."
"But Tailmon…" She tried to push the whistle back into her partner's claw, but Tailmon retreated it. ""Please, I want you to stay with it."
"Hikari."
"Besides, I already have my camera. I can't have two things hanging around my neck."
"Alright." The Digimon was defeated and put the whistle on her neck.
"That's where I found it." Nyaramon looked up at Hikari after the girl had finished telling the story.
"She must have put it back at some point to keep it safe and avoid drawing attention of other Digimon." Hikari couldn't help but smile at the thought Tokomon was the one blowing it when they found their partners after the reboot. She wondered if the other six Digimon were also enchanted by it.
"Do you want it back?"
"No, you can keep it. I don't think it will get lost anyway."
"If it belongs to your partner, why does it feel familiar to me?"
Hikari swallowed hard after hearing her partner's question. She was already having a hard time coping with the fact Nyaramon would never remember what they had gone through in their first two adventures and now was caught off guard with her inquiry. Still, she still felt hopeful with it. Maybe they could reverse their memory loss. "Maybe it has a familiar smell or something."
"That's right." Nyaramon smelled her whistle. "It has your scent."
"You really think so?"
"I do."
"Come on." Hikari stroked her partner's head and stood up. "It's getting late, we should go to sleep."
.
Hikari decided to take a look at some old boxes in her storage room that Saturday morning. She wasn't able to go through all the stuff she had bought from her house when she moved in with Katsuo. She thought it would be the best opportunity, since he had gone out with Yamazaki and wouldn't be returning until lunch time.
"Hikari, what are you doing?" Tailmon walked into the room and found her sitting down with a lot of things spread around her.
"I still had to go through these boxes and see what was inside them." Hikari looked at Tailmon momentarily and then focused on her task again.
"Are you looking for something specific?"
"No, I'm just going through them. Maybe some of these things I will keep and some I'll throw away, I don't…" She stopped talking abruptly and grabbed a pink cord from the box. "My old whistle."
"Were you looking for it?"
"No, I ran into it by accident. It must have gotten lost while I was packing and then I completely forgot about it."
"So what are you going to do with it now?"
"I have an idea." Hikari curled her fingers around the whistle. "But it will be a while to put into action though."
"Why? What are you going to do?"
"You'll find very out soon."
.
Hikari opened her wardrobe to pick up a sweater when she spotted a small box in the back of the shelf. She picked it up and immediately came across her whistle. It immediately struck her what Tailmon wanted to do when she tried to give it back to her years ago. Or she suspected she did.
"Tailmon, can you come here for a second?"
"What's wrong, Hikari?"
"Nothing, I just need to ask you something."
"Okay." Tailmon jumped on the bed and sat down beside her partner. "What do you want to ask?"
"When you tried to give me my whistle back years ago, was it because you already wanted me to give it to my future child?"
"That's right."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Because you probably would try to talk me out of it. It was a big part of your life when you were younger, and it makes sense to pass it to your son."
And in Hikari's mind, not only it did make sense, but it was the most right choice. It was her intention too, but at some point she had forgotten about it. So she held the small box tight and went to find her son.
"Yamazaki, where are you?"
"I'm in my bedroom, mom. Why?"
"There's something I need to give to you." She sat on the edge of his car-shaped bed and handed him the box.
"What is it?"
"Open it."
And so he did. Yamazaki grabbed the silver whistle and held it in his hand, letting the pink cord fall down within his fingers. He stared at it with curiosity before looking at his mother. "It's a whistle."
"Yes, but not just any whistle. I've got this one since I was four. It's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, though I had stopped using it many years ago. I had it with me during my first adventure in the Digital World and then I gave it to Tailmon, so she wouldn't forget me."
"That's a cool story, mommy." The child was still confused. "But I don't understand what it has to do with me."
"I want you to have it now."
"What?"
"Maybe you will enjoy it as much as I did." Hikari grabbed his hands and smiled softly. "But if you don't want to have it, it's okay too."
"I want to have it."
"Alright. You can wear it when we go to the Digital World together for the first time soon."
"Sure." Yamazaki put it over his head and let it fall on his neck.
"It looks great on you. Did I ever tell you how I got it?"
"I don't think so."
"You never told me about this either." Tailmon walked into the bedroom and climbed on the bed. She sat down on the empty space of the bed and looked at her partner's back.
"I didn't?"
"Not that I remember."
"Well, I was about four and Taichi had this P.E. teacher and she always carried a silver whistle on her neck and…"
Both Yamazaki and Tailmon paid full attention to the story and Hikari was happy and relieved to know her partner wouldn't forget it this time.