Act 1: Beating Heart

Segment 1: Come From Away

Chapter 1-2: A Monster of Legends

The door of the Tokuda residence opened, squeaking as it did when it was opened fully. "Agh, right. I promised the parents I would fix that myself," muttered Makoto, looking up from his laptop. His third-year university assignments were practically all he had time for, but he enjoyed the challenge. The light of his laptop reflected in his glasses. "Hey, sis."

"Working at the table again? You know it bothers Mom when you don't use a coaster for your mug," commented Satsuki. She pulled her shoes off as she stepped up past the foyer's ledge and made her way to her bedroom.

Makoto's dark eyes glinted with childish glee as he pushed his thick-rimmed glasses up. "You got disqualified from basketball?"

She checked herself in a mirror as she dropped her bag by her bedframe. The roots were growing back black, so she would need another re-dye. "Game just finished a bit early." It was true enough; the basketball club at her high school was ramping back to full speed after the summer break.

"Oh, so they just decided not to play because your height showed up. Don't they hand out points for that? Must be pretty easy for you." Makoto had a mischievous grin all over his face.

Satsuki snorted and laughed. Both of them were shockingly tall in comparison to most Japanese people, or even most people in general. That was especially true of her. Her long and elegant frame often received envious comments from classmates and others around her, and occasionally questions about her heritage. "Okay, I wasn't expecting that one," she replied, and batted his shoulder.

Makoto laughed. He'd been preparing that one for a while. Just as his sister opened the fridge he warned her, "We're out of Calpis. Figured you would want to know." He sipped the last of it from his mug.

"Ahh, you – grr! Fine. I should've got one from the vending machine on my way here." Makoto tried not to choke with laughter on his drink as Satsuki sighed and put her shoes back on. "You want anything from the konbini?"

"Right, Dad and Mom said to pick up dinner for tonight. They'll be late again. Man, sometimes I wish they'd make that quality food at home more often," Makoto sighed, dreaming about the seared tuna on their parents' restaurant menu.

Satsuki agreed. "But I guess we can't expect them to do all the same work at home, right? Anyway, katsu don?"

"Yeah, and shibazuke, we're running low."

"Okay, I'll be back soon." The door squeaked again as Satsuki stepped out into the setting sun, making Makoto cringe.

"That's going on my to-do list, right now," he mumbled, tapping away at his phone.

Satsuki closed and locked the door behind her and made her way down to the ground floor of the apartment building. A bicycle bell rang out as the rider cycled by in warning. Now that September had arrived, she had noticed the sun was setting earlier. She started down the quiet residential road with a bit of longing for that summer. Unlike her peers, she had to concern herself now on her grades and marks and studying. She aimed to go elsewhere to study university, after all.

She waved at some approaching young teens, clearly also attending the same high school by their uniform, although they might have been in junior high. It hardly mattered – their school combined both junior and senior high into one school anyway. "Satsuki!" one of them yelled out and waved with both hands. She recognized him from basketball, so he must have been in senior high. "Hey! How's final year?"

She sighed. "It's still kind of hard to believe, y'know? Graduating in April and all that. I think I'm actually going to miss it. Hey, appreciate the easy life while you can, yeah?" she warned them with a smile. "The tests are no joke, seriously."

"Man, we should never grow up," they moaned.

"Maybe, but then how'd you afford your next PlayStation?"

The teenage boy seemed to have an idea, but his friend nudged him. "Your mom wasn't happy when you asked for it on the first day it came out, you know."

"Ah… yeah, I forgot, I wanted to move out one day too," he groaned. "Why does being an adult have to be so complicated?"

Satsuki asked with a wry smile, "You sure it's not just complicated for you?"

The teen blinked while his friends laughed. "H-h-hey!" he complained. "Sure, math and finances are hard, but – but that's not my fault!" One of his friends leaned against him and said, "Maybe you should put down the controller then."

The kid seemed uncomfortable. "Yeah, but I have to make sure I don't miss an event; it's not my fault they keep releasing weekly boss battles!"

"Dude, Satsuki's right. You're hopeless. How are you ever going to impress your elders now? She's going to call you out during a game again, I know it."

The teen was aghast. "Gah… and she's so good at it too. Every one of them is a deep cut," he moaned.

Satsuki shrugged. "I blame my brother. He's a bad influence. I learned it all from him."

"He seems like a hilarious guy. Hey, ah, we gotta run! See ya!" The younger kids continued on their way, laughing and cajoling with each other.

Grinning, she continued on her way to the konbini nearby, greeting a neighbour hanging some clothes out to dry on the balcony. The breeze was still a little too warm to be cooling, but it was welcome, nonetheless. A train rumbled in the distance as a wind chime's bright clinking floated through the air, filling the quiet residential area with light music.

"Good evening!" greeted the cashier as the doors opened. The air conditioning was a nice change of temperature.

"Good evening," she replied, looking up and down at the konbini's shelves. Ah, but it was tempting; they had curry flavoured chips in stock again. But she shouldn't. She really shouldn't.

Of course, it went in the basket.

She moved straight on to the pre-packaged meals, looking around for something that would catch her interest. The shibazuke and katsu don for Makoto went in the basket, but she had a hard time determining which one she wanted most.

"Choice is hard, right?" It was the familiar voice of Nagatomo Asuka, classmate and amateur footballer, who always seemed comically small next to her. The bright red streak of hair, though, would have been noticeable from anywhere. She had a bursting basket full of fruit, sport drinks, and a bunch of packaged meals. It seemed she was already back on a training regiment and sticking to it closely.

"Are you preparing for the apocalypse or something?"

Asuka laughed nervously. "I keep forgetting to make sure I have enough recovery stuff on hand, so I just buy it all when I remember."

"Ah, right. You're angling for professional status. Any news lately?"

Asuka put a hand on her hip. "So, about that…" she started, a proud smile gracing her boyish face.

Satsuki raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Oh?"

"Well, I have some calls to do trials. My agent is pretty excited, and so am I. I'm not expecting a signing, but it's nice to know I'm on their radar."

Satsuki's face brightened, and she replied, "This is very exciting!"

Asuka grinned and wagged a finger. "Now, now, it's just trials, so it might not come to anything. But yeah, I'm glad at least I'm getting a chance to show them something."

"In any case, congrats! Oh yeah, how's Rei?"

Asuka laughed. "Busy with school, same as always. Engineering is intimidating. I look at all her assignments and stare at them."

Satsuki nodded and replied, "Yeah, me too. Makoto likes to talk over his studies with me but…" She shrugged, palms open. "Goes right over my head."

"Glad I'm not alone then." Asuka flicked a bit of her hair back. The bright red hair flashed like a leaf in the wind. "Hey, before I go, did you catch Kazuhiko this morning? He had something to say to you." Satsuki shook her head. "Ah, maybe tomorrow then. See ya!" Asuka waved and made her way to the cashier.

Satsuki blinked. Kazuhiko? The dreamer kid? He was pretty cute, but he didn't seem like her type. "Still," she said to herself, "maybe he's worth a shot." She turned back to the refrigerated shelves. "Oh?" She spied a few boxes of Cantonese fried noodles. The store owners did spend some time in Hong Kong, after all. She figured it she might as well pick up something a bit more special if they were going to buy dinner anyway.

A few fruits and a big bottle of Calpis went in the basket too, and she headed for the cashier. "Satsuki, how are the parents?" the cashier asked as he punched in the prepared meals' prices.

"Busier than ever. They've been trying their best to help me out, after all."

The cashier, who was also one of the two owners, seemed a bit nostalgic. "Right, you're graduating this year. Ah… I remember when my kids went off on their own." He scanned another item. "What are you studying?"

"I wanted to go to culinary school, but…" Satsuki trailed off. "I figured that might just have been because my parents keep encouraging me to do it. So maybe chemistry instead."

"Chemistry? Hmm, the entrance exams are pretty difficult for that too."

"Well, I might not be taking those. I need to study now for the American exams."

The cashier paused, mouth agape. "You're – you're going abroad?"

Satsuki smiled. "I always wanted to see more of the world," she explained, "and California appealed to me."

"Wow. Good luck and study hard then!"

"Yeah, of course."

Satsuki paid for the bag of goods, waved a farewell, and made her exit from the store. It was going to be tough studying in the USA; her parents had dedicated all of their savings to help her pay for tuition. Still, she couldn't get the palm trees off her mind. The warm breeze didn't help at all. She daydreamed about the sunny beaches and the Los Angeles cityscape as she made her way home, and opened the gate to the low-rise apartment, and froze in shock. The bag of food slipped out of her hands, but she caught it just in time.

"What…?" escaped her lips. What was that horned thing sitting at the base of the stairs? It couldn't be. They weren't supposed to be real. And yet… Satsuki closed and rubbed her eyes. Maybe she dreamed the whole of today. Or perhaps she just got a bit lost in her daydream. "There's no way," she muttered. She reopened her eyes. It was still there, curled up, awake because of her presence. It looked up at her with innocent red eyes and shivered. She knelt down to be at eye level with it. Maybe it was afraid because it was so much shorter than she was? It blinked at her a few times, hugging its tail.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked. It quivered. A truck passed by. It shivered and whimpered again. "Did you get hit by a truck?"

"I… No, but I almost did. Is that what those are? What are they for?"

"They're for moving things around. Hey, you seem lost."

"Yeah, I guess… I guess I am lost." It sniffed the air, trying to get a sense of her vibe. "This place is the Human World, right?"

Satsuki smiled and reached out a hand. It had to be real. "Yeah, it is. Here, I'll keep you safe for tonight. Then we can figure out what to do next."

"Safe for tonight… that would be nice." Gabumon grasped Satsuki's hand carefully, still unsure of the offer. "Are all humans as tall as you?"

She laughed. Even a Digimon could tell she was special with that. "No, most humans are a bit shorter."

"About my height?"

"Okay, not that short." They ascended the stairs up to the Tokuda apartment. Makoto… maybe Makoto should know too. But not her parents. Not yet, at least. Satsuki opened the door. "Hey Makoto, I'm ba-"

"You get lost somewhere out there? Took ya long eno- whoa." Makoto blinked, mouth open. He and Gabumon stared at each other for a moment. Makoto removed his glasses, blinked, and then cleaned them, as if somehow that would fix what he was seeing. "Satsuki, since when…?"

"Since five minutes ago."

Gabumon asked, "Is this okay? Should I leave?"

"It's fine, Makoto's just a bit surprised. I think we all are," Satsuki murmured, closing the door behind them. "Makoto, let's not tell the parents."

"No, of course not. Of course not. I… geez. Uh. Hi. Gabumon, right?"

Gabumon made a noise of surprise. "Huh? How do you know?"

Makoto stifled his mirth. "Humans have a bunch of stories about Digimon. I guess we never thought they would be true though. I wonder just how much of them are true then…" he leaned back and muttered to himself.

Satsuki laid out the packaged boxes of food for herself and her brother. "Ah, yeah… Gabumon, are you hungry?"

Gabumon approached with little unsure steps and sat at the kitchen table. "It's been a while since I ate. I guess I am," it said. Gabumon picked a banana Satsuki had just purchased. "Anything works, really. Mmm… this tastes familiar. Except I thought this would be round and blue. Interesting!" Makoto and Satsuki watched Gabumon with intense stares as it ate, crunching on the banana. With its mouth full, it asked, "Am I doing this wrong?"

"I guess there's always another way to eat a banana," Satsuki commented.

"Was I not supposed to bite it like that?" It kept crunching on the banana, peel and all.

Makoto giggled as the loud cracking sounds continued. "Maybe I should try chewing through a banana peel next time."