Act 1: Beating Heart

Segment 1: Come From Away Chapter

1-7: Give It!

Takaharu put both hands on Asuka's desk and leaned forward. Asuka beamed. "I take it you saw the picture I sent."

"What the hell is the meaning of this?!"

Asuka laughed. "Hey, it showed up on my balcony!"

Takaharu was astounded. "You – okay, seriously – you gotta be kidding me." He spun around, bewildered. It had to be a fake photo. "So Rei is just that good at editing photos, eh?"

Asuka continued to laugh. "Rei had nothing to do with this!"

Takaharu was unconvinced. "There is absolutely no way that a Hawkmon just showed up on your balcony and nobody else has seen a Digimon!" he exclaimed, gesticulating wildly.

Yuuka put a hand on his shoulder. "Takaharu, please, chill."

Takaharu unlocked his phone and scrolled to the photo. "You tell me, Yuuka, is this real or not?"

"Takaharu," Yuuka sighed, "how am I supposed to know? I was only reminded about Digimon when you brought it up in May."

"Ah, fine, I'll go ask someone else. Kazuhiko! Great timing! Check this out. Asuka sent me this photo yesterday and I swear it's fake."

Kazuhiko adjusted his glasses. "Uh… I, uh…" He stared at Takaharu's phone. Hawkmon? It was possible, but he didn't want to admit Monodramon existed either. And if both Asuka and himself had stumbled upon Digimon… then who else had? Clearly not Takaharu, since he was still sure the photo was edited. "It looks kinda off to me."

"See?!"

Asuka cackled. "Do you three have time after school? I can show you it in person if you'd like."

"Oh, I sure would!" Takaharu shoved his phone back in his pocket.

Kazuhiko shook his head. "Sorry, I have to help my parents out with some stuff today, and then the photoshoot is tomorrow, so I have to prepare for that too."

"Yuuka?"

She shook her head, her shoulder-length hair swaying back and forth. "Mom's not feeling great today, so I have to take over the shop in the afternoon for her."

"Ah, guess it'll just be Takaharu then."

The commotion had gotten Satsuki's attention. "Are we all gathered around Asuka's desk for a summoning ritual?"

"Satsuki, please." Yuuka gave Satsuki a disapproving look.

"You know, they say ghosts are the spirits of people who have unfinished business on Earth. I bet there's some in this classroom right now," Satsuki continued. Yuuka hated horror films and talk of ghosts or that sort, and she was spooked easily.

"I'm pretty sure th-"

Takaharu picked up for Satsuki. "Maybe Hawkmon in that photo is just a ghost too! Maybe Digimon just appear like ghosts in the Real World!"

"I don't want to hear abou-"

"Do you ever wonder why sometimes your computer randomly restarts or crashes? Maybe it's just a Kera-"

Yuuka glared at Takaharu. "Stop."

Satsuki had walked right behind Yuuka, her long hair flipped up and over her face. Kazuhiko looked up and tried not to laugh. Asuka told Yuuka, "Yuuka, don't look behind you."

She turned around and screamed, "Nooo! Please! Go away!" and stumbled backward into Ryuta's chest. She screamed in fear again.

Ryuta blinked, catching her by the waist. The other four looked over, wondering what was happening. Ryuta murmured, "What the hell are you all doing?"

Satsuki flipped her hair back in place. Asuka exclaimed, "It's too easy to scare Yuuka, seriously!"

"Why…?"

Takaharu sat on the edge of his desk. "Hey, Ryuta, you sure your hands should be there?"

They were still pressed to Yuuka's sides. "S-sorry." Ryuta put his hands back in his pockets. He seemed a bit red in the face.

Yuuka was equally red. She tried to make eye contact with him, but he wouldn't stop staring out the window.

"Ooooh," taunted Kazuhiko, "it begins!"

"What?" both of them asked in unison.

"You gotta know what we mean, both of you!" giggled Asuka.

Kazuhiko grinned. "Ryuta, I heard you were looking for a girlfrie-"

Ryuta was indignant. "Don't go putting words in my mouth!"

Takaharu wouldn't stop. "Ah, I bet he's secretly got a love journal, I just know it," he taunted. "Maybe that's why he's so quiet. What does he write in there? 'Today Yuuka walked by me. She had a lovely scent. I have to find out what that perfume is.'"

"Takaharu," Yuuka said flatly, arms crossed, "I don't use perfume."

Takaharu continued his teasing. "'Perhaps she would like to see a play together? Or a movie? Does she appreciate modern art?'"

Ryuta rolled his eyes, made a sound of disgust, and stalked back to his desk. Takaharu and Kazuhiko stared at each other, both of them about ready to explode with laughter. Yuuka shook her head and walked back to her own desk as well. "Not cool, guys," she admonished.

Asuka shrugged. "It's just a bit of teasing, come on."

Kazuhiko agreed. "He can take it, obviously."

"Takaharu! Are you in a rush?" He was rushing to fill up his backpack.

Takaharu kept filling his bag as he said, "Yeah, I forgot, Izumi has a game she wanted me to attend today. I'll drop by some other day, yeah?"

"Mmm, maybe Hawkmon will disappear by then," she replied.

"I… I don't believe that," Takaharu complained, "but you better make sure it stays, okay? Aagh!" He nearly dropped his pencilcase onto the floor, though he caught it with his legs. It went into the bag. "If you let it fly away, you know I'll never believe you."

"Obviously."

Takaharu slung his backpack over one shoulder. "Did you show Rei?"

"You know, I was thinking of just waiting until she comes to visit, but I guess I should send it to her too."

"I wonder how she'll react." Takaharu looked around. Most of the students were still milling about in the classroom. "Hey," he whispered, approaching her. "You think anyone else has seen a Digimon yet?"

"It doesn't seem like it," replied Asuka. "If they had, I figured people would talk about it too."

Takaharu nodded. "It's weird… if they really do exist, then surely there's got to have been some way of getting to this world for them. Why only the one?"

Asuka looked around herself. "Hey, what if… you know how you wanted to start a card game group? Do you think you might be able to find out from that?"

"Possibly. Actually, about tha-"

"Invite me! I figure I should learn more about Digimon now that Hawkmon is living with me anyway," Asuka beamed.

"Yeah, of course." Takaharu's phone buzzed. "Ah, right – gotta go! Later!"

Asuka was a bit disappointed. She did want to get his reaction because it would have been hilarious to see. Oh well. Who else should know?

While she pondered it over, she spotted out of the corner of her eye Ryuta and Yuuka walking out of the classroom together. A mischievous grin grew across her face. "Oh, so there is something between you two," she said to herself.

Satsuki waved her hand in front of Asuka's face. "Dreaming about playing in the Women's World Cup already, I see."

Asuka hopped and shivered. She missed her chance to stalk the two of them. It would have to wait. "Ahh! Satsuki, geez, you really can sneak up on people."

"Do I need to do the hair thing again?"

"Please don't. Anyway, do you have maybe twenty minutes? Come to my place. I got something to show you."

Satsuki seemed skeptical. "This is sudden. Are you asking me out?"

"I – well – okay – uh," stuttered Asuka. A hot flash ran over her. "N-No! It's the thing I sent Takaharu a picture of yesterday!"

"You seem a bit flustered."

"Yeah, I am! And you're making me that way!"

Satsuki laughed. "Okay, I have some time to kill. What did you send Takaharu yesterday?"

Asuka snickered. "You'll see. It's great!"

As the two of them walked to Asuka's apartment, she brought up that she'd seen Ryuta and Yuuka walking out of the classroom together. "So clearly, today sparked something in them, because they've never been close before, but…! It had to have started something!"

Satsuki looked amused. "Did it really? Yuuka's locker is near mine. Maybe… maybe I'll just stay hidden for a bit, and see what happens."

"Report back to me if you see anything. Right around the corner!" Asuka turned a corner, heading down a quieter residential road. "Ah… I hope my mom hasn't seen Hawkmon yet."

"Your mom still cleans your room for you, I guess?"

"Yeah, she does. I try to get her to let me take care of it myself, but she's adamant. I need to focus on my practice and all that, so she says." Asuka made a noise of annoyance. "How many times do I have to tell her I'm not a kid anymore?!" They walked into an apartment's lobby and ascended several flights of stairs.

Asuka unlocked the Nagatomo residence's door. "I'm home! And Satsuki is- oh, she's out. Perfect!" Asuka's mother was probably shopping for groceries again.

"Asuka, who is this?" asked Hawkmon, emerging from her bedroom.

"A friend. Meet Satsuki!"

Hawkmon looked up. Satsuki seemed a lot more serious-faced than Asuka, and was also a good deal taller. "Well met," it said, bowing.

"Ah… hi." Satsuki bowed slightly. "I… Hawkmon, right?"

Hawkmon scratched its chin. "So another human that knows my species name? Asuka, exactly how common are these stories of Digimon amongst humans?"

"Ah, heh heh, about that…" Asuka seemed a bit nervous. "They're everywhere. You're even one of the famous ones!"

Hawkmon was bewildered. What reason would there be for a Hawkmon to have garnered fame? "What do you mean by that?" it asked.

"So, there's this animated series called Digimon Adventure…"

"Uh huh."

"And a Hawkmon is one of the Digimon that ends up living with a human," Asuka added. "And there's, like, Dark Towers and Armor evolutions and… wait, do you know about any of this?"

Hawkmon blinked. "Armor evolutions I have heard of, though the Digimentals are supposedly mythological. I've never seen one myself, nor have I seen an Armor evolution. Other than Magnamon, obviously."

"Huh. So I guess they are far off the mark." Asuka was puzzled.

"Uh, Asuka?" said Satsuki.

"Mm?"

Satsuki exhaled. "I, uh, need to admit something myself."

"Oh?"

Satsuki took out her phone and flipped to an image. "Hawkmon, you recognize this, right?"

Hawkmon gazed at the little screen. "Yes, that's a Gabumon."

Asuka was taken aback. "Oh – wait a second! You…"

"You're not the only one," Satsuki laughed.

"No waaaaay!"

Satsuki nodded. "I figured you should know since Hawkmon is here. I wonder if the two of them know each other?"

Hawkmon shrugged. "Probably not. I didn't remember being around any Gabumon for several years. Still," it said, "it would be nice to talk to other Digimon. And to be able to explore for a while."

"Ah… about that," Asuka started. "Satsuki, do you have any ideas?"

"On how we can get the Digimon to move around without being seen in public? No, unfortunately." Satsuki pursed her lips. "Unless…" She stared at the phone still in her hands.

Asuka stared at Satsuki's phone too. A flash of recognition crossed her face. "I remember that," she said, pulling out her own phone. "Well, wouldn't hurt to try. Hey, Hawkmon? Do you think you could… jump into this phone?"

"You mean could I jump on your phone? That sounds like property destruction."

"No, like in. As in maybe there's a space inside you can reside in. Maybe. You are a Digital Monster after all," Asuka said.

Hawkmon was skeptical. "How am I supposed to go about doing that?"

The two of them stared at each other, unsure of what to do next. Asuka shrugged. "Okay, well, maybe we just risk it then. What's the worst that could happen?"

Lomamon kicked an empty metal tube around. Food was easy enough to thieve or beg for, but it was getting real annoying and kind of depressing. What kind of life was this? The Human World sucked. Every time it tried to say something, they all said something about "tanuki". What the hell was a "tanuki"? It just wanted to be called Lomamon.

"Aaah, I can't take it anymore!" it yelled, punting the can down the alleyway. The can kept rolling and rolling and rolling, right out to the sidewalk. It sat itself down and put its head in its hands.

There was a faint muttering of "… that can come from?" Ah shit, Lomamon realized, there's another human here. Just great.

There was another voice, higher-pitched. "Did it come out of that alleyway?"

The lower-pitched voice said, "I don't think I see anything."

No, you didn't see anything, Lomamon wanted to yell. Go away.

The lower-pitched voice again. "I'm gonna check."

"What if it's injured? Ah, that would be bad. Maybe it's another stray cat."

"Tailmon number two?"

Wait, Tailmon? Lomamon thought to itself. What did these humans know?

The light streaming into the alleyway was blocked out by two human shapes that approached Lomamon. It looked up.

Takaharu squinted. "Is that… a raccoon? In Japan? But it has blue and grey fur. It didn't fall in some paint, right?"

Not with the raccoon comments again. "Hey, I'm not a raccoon!" Lomamon yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you stupid humans-"

Izumi clutched her brother. "It's gotta be a Digimon!"

"Lomamon's the name, and don't you forget it!"

Takaharu snorted. "Lomamon? And a Digimon that looks a lot like a raccoon?"

"Oh, for-"

"Hey, I didn't say you were a raccoon, I just said you looked like one!" Takaharu marvelled. "Izumi, you think… you think it has any relationship to, you know…"

"Uh… it's a long shot, but it would be quite a coincidence if it did," she remarked.

"Hey, Lomamon?"

It had its arms crossed, impatient. "What do you want?"

"Do you know what your evolutions are called?"

Lomamon made a noise of shock. "Uh… heh, heh heh, I gotta admit, I… don't know." Truthfully, it hadn't even seen any other Lomamon before.

"Well, that's unfortunate. But hey, Lomamon," Takaharu said, "how about you come with us?"

Lomamon looked away, indignant. Just because it was out on the streets didn't mean it needed to accept the humans' offer. Unless, of course… "Only if you have that sweet syrup. What was it called? Ugh. Maple?"

Takaharu burst out laughing. "This is too funny," he commented. Izumi could barely hold in her laughter too.

"What's so funny about what I said?!"

"Ah, nothing! Nothing at all! We have maple syrup. You wanna come?"

Lomamon ran over and clutched Takaharu's leg. "Of course, of course, of course, ahh, just let me at that sweet stuff… oh, it was so good…"

The rest of the walk over, Lomamon didn't let go of Takaharu's leg. It was a bit uncomfortable; Lomamon was about the size of a young kid, so by the time Takaharu managed to get up the stairs, his leg was burning with effort. "Hey, mom, dad, we, uh…"

"Don't tell me you brought another cat home." Aki did not seem impressed that there was another animal with them.

"Well, it's not a cat. It – Lomamon!"

"Where is it?!" Lomamon took off on its own, digging through cabinet door after door for the maple syrup. "You promised me there was-"

Shunpei looked up from the TV program, confused. "What's going on? Wait, is that a walking raccoon?"

Lomamon was angry. "How many times are you humans going to call me a raccoon?!"

Aki and Shunpei stared as Izumi struggled to restrain Lomamon from getting in the cleaning fluid cabinet as Takaharu fumbled for the maple syrup bottle. "Here, here, right here!" Takaharu shouted, holding the bottle in his hands. The plastic jug was maybe a quarter of the size of Lomamon, and probably as big as its head.

Lomamon snatched the bottle and started gulping, making noises of happiness. "Mmm! Mmm, mm, mmm!" The four humans watched, dazed and bewildered, as Lomamon downed who knows how much maple syrup in one sitting. "Ahh!" Satisfied, it wiped a dribble of syrup off its snout and collapsed on the kitchen floor. "That was so good," it mumbled, already drifting into a sugar-induced sleep. "Don't bother… waking me…"

A snore came from it just seconds later.

Shunpei blinked, still unsure of what had just transpired in the last three minutes.

"Uh…" Takaharu chuckled, "I take it I'm in trouble again."

"What… where… Takaharu," Aki started, putting her hands on her hips. "Be honest."

"Okay."

"Are… are Digimon real?"

Takaharu breathed deeply. "I guess they are?" He looked at the snoozing Lomamon. It seemed more than pleased with itself. "I didn't believe so until today, to be honest." They continued to stare at the snoring Lomamon. "Asuka sent me a photo of a Hawkmon and I thought it was edited, but maybe… just maybe, it is real too."

Shunpei sighed and went back to his TV program. "I guess it can stay too. Just… we're going to rack up a bill, aren't we?" He grunted and shifted on the couch. "Maybe this will be the reason for me to cut back on that stuff."

Tailmon, the cat, was none too pleased with the intruder. She was perched up on top of her play post, staring down at Lomamon with slitted eyes. "Sorry, Tailmon, but you gotta share some space now," apologized Takaharu, scratching her behind the ears. "I know it's weird, but be a good cat, okay?"

Tailmon closed its eyes and laid its head down. Takaharu figured she got the message. Speaking of messages, his phone had just vibrated.

• • • • • • •

Asuka

Yooooooooooooo!
[photo]
wwwwww
18:02

• • • • • • •

Takaharu almost fumbled his phone in surprise. Was that Satsuki and a Gabumon with Asuka and Hawkmon?! He blinked and looked again.

Izumi looked up from her textbook. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, it's happening."

Izumi was confused. "What's happening?"

"Heh! Check this out," he said, and showed Asuka's photo to Izumi.

Izumi's jaw dropped. "So – so there's three of them now?"

"Yup!"

Aki asked over her shoulder as she stirred a pot, "Three what?"

"Three Digimon!"

Aki blinked. "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"

"This is one hundred percent a good-" Takaharu started, but then he thought better of it. If they did exist, and the Digital World did exist, travel between the two worlds should not be easy. At least, every other Digimon media said so. "Actually, maybe this isn't such a good thing. Damn, I would ask Lomamon what's going on in the Digital World, but…"

They had lifted Lomamon to the couch, where it could sleep a bit more comfortably, though Shunpei was clearly still a bit iffy about it and was giving it looks.

Izumi was of the same mind. "No, it can't be good. They're not supposed to be here, after all."

"No," agreed Takaharu, "and if we've seen three of them in just a few days… then there's probably more on the way."

"Ahh!" Shunpei yelled. Lomamon still had its eyes closed but was walking around. "Is it sleepwalking?!"

Lomamon mumbled, "…chocolate…melon bread…yes, I want more…", and bumped into a wall. It seemed to not notice as it turned around and continued walking.

Izumi covered her face with her hands. "How much human food has it gotten into…"

Lomamon grabbed Takaharu's leg. "Mmm… maple… waffles…"

"I'm not a maple tree, you idiot," Takaharu muttered. Lomamon didn't seem to care.

Aki sighed. How did her kids keep coming home with weirder and weirder animals? They kept Tailmon because it was cat, but they had managed two lizards, a guinea pig, somehow found an American robin in Tokyo, and a tortoise. And now this? She gave her head a shake. At least Lomamon was capable of speech. Maybe it could take care of itself.