Act 1: Beating Heart
Segment 1: Come From Away
Chapter 1-10: Brother, Sister
Ryuta put in a pair of wired earbuds. There was a microphone installed part way through the wire. He held it to his mouth as he walked away from Yuuka's family store and pulled his phone out. He wished he could see Amedramon in his phone, but he could figure out something later. Maybe he could throw together a quick mobile app over the next few months. "Amedramon. Are you awake?"
"Yep!" came the reply in his ears.
"My apologies. I wanted you to see everything, but… I couldn't find much free time." Admittedly, his back hurt a little. So this was how Yuuka managed to hold everything in her bag; she moved all this stuff around every day. And yet somehow she still seemed so … small? No. She was probably just fit.
"It's fine. I learned a lot just listening to people talk." Amedramon seemed fascinated by humankind, even just normal daily interactions. "I'd heard a lot about how humans live. I didn't think there would be so many!"
"Yeah, when I said Tokyo was big, I meant it. I haven't even seen everything there is to see here, and I've lived here for maybe six, seven years." He looked both ways, then crossed a street. It would have been busier if it weren't so late at night. Ryuta was willing to bet, though, his own father would still be even later. He continued walking under the night lights. A late night delivery truck passed him. These nighttime walks always seemed nicer than the day. "Amedramon, what did you think of my school?"
"Ah! I wanted to see them in person too. All of it! I guess that's not possible, though. Mmh…"
"No… I don't want to cause a ruckus there." He sighed. He was torn up about it. He figured the others should know that Digimon existed, but he also didn't want to tell them, because he didn't want to be badgered by the endless barrage of questioning. He was sure Takaharu, Kazuhiko, and Asuka would be unable to stop themselves, and he didn't have the energy for that.
"Ryuta? By the way, what did they mean by it this morning?"
Oh, good. Even Amedramon was asking about it. He feigned ignorance. "What do you mean?"
"They were saying something about a journal." Amedramon was completely innocent, huh? Ryuta thought to himself. "I know some Digimon that kept a journal, but they seemed to be talking about something different."
Ryuta pressed his lips together and scowled. Someone across the street took a glance at him and averted their gaze. "I wouldn't worry about what menial things they discuss."
Amedramon didn't reply for a while. "Okay," came the disappointed response.
Was that too harsh? "Hey Amedramon, I know you haven't eaten anything since breakfast, bu-"
"Mmm! No, I'll be fine. I've learned to skip meals."
"Are you sure?" Ryuta worried. He didn't want his new Dramon friend to have to suffer on his watch. "We're almost home, but… I have the feeling it will be a while before you can come back out."
"That's fine. I can wait."
"Okay." The elevator ride up to his apartment's floor was silent other than the whirring of motors. He stopped in front of the apartment, his door hovering over the handle. He inhaled deeply to prepare himself, unlocked the door, and stepped into the doorway.
There was the sound of a bowl being washed. The dining table was cleared already. Haru was in her room. The TV was on, but muted. His mother, Kanae, was washing dishes. Her face was dark and she was cross. He had been expecting that reaction. It had been multiple days that he'd been out this late and missed dinner. "Where were you?" she yelled. "This is the fifth day in a row!"
"Helping a friend."
The water tap thudded shut. "With what?!" She was no less angry. "And Haru has been crying all day! She thinks you already flew!" The bowl went in the drying rack.
Ryuta sighed. Why did he say anything? He should have kept his mouth shut about his plans and just disappeared. "Her mother was ill. I filled in for her."
"What does someone else's family matter to you? You have your own family to think about!"
Haru burst out of her room and squeezed Ryuta by the waist. Her eyes were still red from crying. "Where did you go, Ryuta? Why didn't you tell us?" Haru squeezed harder. "I missed you! Don't leave me like that again!"
Ryuta held back his own tears. He could handle his parents' fury. He was used to it. But watching Haru cry always broke something in him. He cradled her head in his arms. "I'm sorry, I should have said something. I'll be home tomorrow all day after school, okay?"
Haru sniffed. "Can we play some games together?"
"Of course." He cringed internally. Wasn't he supposed to have learned not to pick up his own father's habits?
Haru gave him a pout. "Do you promise you'll be back tomorrow after school?"
"Obviously." He walked as best he could to his room with an elementary schooler still clinging to him and dropped off his bag. "Haru…"
"Fine." She finally let go of him but continued to follow him around, giving him a chance to breathe. He walked back to the kitchen. Today had been unusually warm and muggy, like it was still the height of summer, even though the autumn equinox had passed that weekend. Heavy rain was sure to come tomorrow. He hadn't bothered to check the weather forecast.
Kanae had cooled off a bit but still seemed frustrated. "Ryuta, tell me what you were doing today."
Ryuta poured himself a mug of cold water. "A classmate of mine was being asked to cover for her mother's work, but… I volunteered to take over so she could study."
"I still don't get it. You have your own grades to focus on. What does she matter to you?" Kanae's brow was still clenched. "Are you dating her? It's too early for that."
Ryuta had lifted the cup halfway to his mouth when he paused. First he was too insular and needed to make more friends. Then it was that he needed to be home more to study more. Then it was that he needed to be home for Haru. After that, he had to stop sitting around at home during summer break and see some people, but immediately after school started, it was back to staying at home and studying. Why couldn't any of this criticism be consistent? His chest tightened with anger. He so badly wanted to take this cup and throw it across the room, but Haru was watching, and it wasn't like that would make anything better.
"I'm not." His finger twitched on the porcelain.
Kanae finished her tea, rinsed her cup out, and put in the drying rack. "You know what? Forget it. Do what you want. Don't expect me to help you if you struggle in school." She walked away and went back to the couch and turned up the TV. The TV had been playing nightly shows this whole time, but the sound of it just irritated Ryuta. The sound of everything – the air conditioning, the fridge, some car revving outside – it made him want to scream.
He dreaded tomorrow.
"Ryuta?" asked Haru innocently. "Was she okay?"
He blinked. He wasn't expecting Haru to ask about it as well. "Who do you mean?"
"Your classmate's mom."
Ryuta blinked. He had been so caught up in moving stock around and answering questions that he'd never thought to ask about Mariko. That, and it seemed a bit too private. "Ah… I never found out. I didn't think it was my place to ask."
"Oh. Can you tell your classmate I hope she's okay?" Haru smiled innocently.
"Yeah, of course." At least Haru was turning out the exact opposite of her mother.
"Haru," said Kanae over her shoulder, "let Ryuta study."
"Okay," replied Haru. She retreated to her room, just about ready for bed anyway. The door closed shut behind her.
Ryuta was about to do the same when he heard his mother sigh, a long, drawn-out one, the kind that lets out secrets. "Ryuta…", Kanae started, "please don't learn to be your father. He does this, too. He goes out and says he's fine and ends up working so late that none of us see him until the sun's long gone down." She turned to him. "I know you want to go back to Vancouver. I get it, it's… it's just that you saw Haru today." Kanae seemed to be holding back tears. "I don't know what we're going to do when you leave."
What had gotten into her? Why all this now? His mother never was this open and honest. Was it because she had to confront the fact that her son was grown up and about to leave for a place half the world away? Maybe it was. Ryuta didn't even know how to respond to that. Kanae turned back to her TV program, uncertain of what to say next. She checked her phone. It was almost one hour to midnight, and there was no indication that Hideaki would be back any time soon.
Ryuta decided not to push it any more and returned to his bedroom, and clicked the door behind him. "Hey Amedramon, it's safe now."
The white dragon was so large, it occupied maybe half of the available floor space. It looked at him with shining purple eyes. "Ryuta? Are you okay?"
Ryuta collapsed into his chair, eyes squeezed shut. He didn't want to answer that. "Ah!" He sat up straight and reached for his bag. The meals he had bought were still in there. Amedramon had overheard some people talking about yakisoba pan and it wanted to try one, but it also got curious about a box of katsu curry, since Ryuta had explained that Japanese curry was sweet and mild, and it wanted to know the difference.
"One sec, I'll get utensils." Ryuta popped back out of his bedroom to grab utensils. The TV had been turned off and Kanae had disappeared into the primary bedroom, but there was no indication of Hideaki's work shoes. He sighed. Was he really just making all the same mistakes as his parents – both of them? Why couldn't he be better than that?
He slipped into his bedroom with forks, a dinner knife, and a plate in hand. Amedramon waited patiently as he laid out the box of curry, unwrapped the bun, and cut it half. Amedramon sat on its haunches and grabbed the bun. It looked it over and sniffed it. It may have been on the shelf since earlier that afternoon, but it had been wrapped so tight that the black pepper was still strong. Ryuta watched in awe as it ate. Shouldn't a dragon have reptile-like jaws? And yet its jawbone seemed far too mobile, like they had lateral motion, like a mammal. Snakes could do that too, but they unhinged their jaws. This was different. What if it was able to use a straw? That would be weird. It had incomplete cheeks, but at this point…
What was he thinking? Dragons were supposed to be mythical beasts. They could have whatever properties they wanted. Amedramon blinked at him, aware that he was staring. "You're not going to eat?" it asked.
"Uh, I got distracted."
"Hee." Amedramon grinned. Its eyes squinted shut when it did. "By me? Of course. Who wouldn't?" Ryuta wanted so badly to squish its maw. It was more cute than he thought it would be at first. It nudged his arm with its snout. "Come on, you were worried about me, now I should worry about you. Go eat."
A smile cracked Ryuta's face. He picked up his fork.
Amedramon finished off the last of the noodle-stuffed bread and grabbed a fork. The sauce was much thicker but smelled a lot less pungent. It gave the plate a lick. Ryuta wasn't joking; the sauce was rich, but mild. Still, it was enjoyable, for a different reason. The fried meat alongside it was perfect in the sweet sauce. It looked over at Ryuta. He was eating with great deliberation, but it didn't seem like he was enjoying anything.
It worried. What exactly was on his mind? And what was up with him and his family? Surely not all human families were like this.