Act 1: Beating Heart

Segment 2: New Year, New Life

Chapter 2-1: The Cracks in the Walls

"Shhh! Falcomon, quickly!" There was the sound of something crashing below. Yuuka figured there might be an incident, or her mother was hurrying upstairs, or both.

Yuuka ushered Falcomon into her closet. A call came from the hallway. "Yuuka, sorry, can you come down?"

"Give me a sec!" she yelled back. "Ah, Falcomon, sorry – I might be a while. Stay here, okay?" She reopened the closet door. As long as the bedroom was closed, it should be relatively safe.

"Okay!" Falcomon looked around as Yuuka hurried away. If it needed to hide, it could duck onto the balcony, but they might get suspicious about the open balcony door or close it. "Hm…" It looked about. The closet? Ah, they might check there, though. Plus, it wasn't sure if it opened from the inside. It had heard of that before. The bed? Nope, it would just be a big lump there.

The used clothes? Ah… that seemed inappropriate. Hopefully it didn't come to that.

"Mom, what's the matter? Oh, my." A shelf was tilted downward. There was no glass, but there were bags and bottles and boxes strewn all over the floor.

"Someone bumped a shelf down the aisle and I guess it knocked something loose all the way over here." Mariko started picking up some of the items. The customer was still apologizing profusely to the cashier, though they were trying their best to assure them it wasn't a big deal.

"I'll take care of it. Let's pack these away and see what's not too beat up." Yuuka started picking through the items. It looked like the shelf's screw holes had been rusted away. How was that possible? Had something been corroding it all this time? They may have never been replaced, so perhaps it was just unfortunate. They could just rerack the shelf a hole lower.

"Ms. Ishida!" came a voice from behind her. It was probably Takaharu. "Whoa, what happened?"

"Ah, Takaharu! Nothing to worry about, a shelf just came loose."

"Oh! Let me help!" He joined in before anyone could say anything. "Hey, Yuuka!"

"Ah, good afternoon." She filled her hands with as much as could take. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"I don't have to, but I want to."

Yuuka passed him by and whispered, "Is Lomamon with you?"

Takaharu shook his head. "No, it's staying at home right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Izumi's watching over it."

"What? You let your family know?"

"Haha… I didn't have a choice about it, but it was fine."

"Oh, lucky you then. One sec." She dropped off her collection of items at a side table to be sorted later and went back for more. Takaharu did the same. Yuuka looked around. Her mother was out of earshot, still.

"What about Falcomon?"

"Upstairs."

Takaharu stared. "Your mom went upstairs."

"Ah!" Yuuka stared in the direction of the open door. "Well, Falcomon should be in my room. I hope it's fine."

"Well, if you hear a scream from up there, I guess you have some explaining to do."

Yuuka picked up another bundle of items. "I'm not looking forward to it, honestly." She dropped it off too. Admittedly, with Takaharu, this was much faster. "You came to buy something? There are closer konbinis than ours. Unless you wanted to see me in person."

"Right… I was just in the area and needed a drink."

"Oh."

"But, also, I should ask. How is Ryuta?"

Yuuka raised an eyebrow. "I don't talk to him that much, you know."

Takaharu seemed disappointed. "I see."

"Something happen between you two?"

Takaharu shook his head. "Nothing happened between us. I'm more concerned about his family. That time he texted me about his sister…"

Yuuka started sorting some of the items. The bottles all looked okay, but the collapsed shelf had landed on the bags of chips and crackers. Most of them wouldn't be fit for sale at full price, but they could just discount them aggressively. They might still break even on them, and it wouldn't be a waste. Hey, maybe it would get people to shop more, too, she thought.

"I get the feeling there's something deeply not right at his home."

Yuuka blinked. "You want to investigate? I don't know if he'll take that well."

"Someone's gotta." Yuuka was not moved. "Okay, look, here's when I asked him about joining the card game club. I don't know what to make of this."

• • • • • • •

Koyama Ryuta

Hey, how is the Digimon stuff
08:22

It's kind of neat. Thanks for sending
09:17

You still looking to join the club?
Invitation's always open
09:35

Sorry, I can't.
Haru is clinging to me
10:04

Isn't your sister in elementary school?
Thought that was normal
11:05

I guess?
11:17

Anyway… Kanae isn't going to let me stay late any time soon
If you were wondering what's going on
11:31

Dude?
11:32

It's complicated
11:35

You ok?
11:36

• • • • • • •

Yuuka's brows had narrowed staring at Takaharu's phone. "Who's Kanae?"

"His mother."

Yuuka gave him a look. "Takaharu, we're all in high school."

"I know! That's why this is so weird. Like, let the man breathe." Takaharu put his phone away, and then looked around, wondering if anyone could hear them. "I want to talk to him in person, for a while. I need to find some reason for him to get out of his apartment. Just for a day. I want to pick his brain open and see what's in there. He never did that with you?"

"Like I said… I always think when it comes to these things, you're the best at them."

"Yuuka, I don't think that's always true."

"You want me to do it? Uh… I guess," she wondered. She wasn't really that great at this. "When do you think I should?"

"I don't know. Saturday afternoon? Next week Sunday? One of those days." He glanced at his phone. "Good god. How is it almost December already?"

"Yeah… it's passed by fast. I feel like all I've been doing is study."

"Me too. Sheesh, where did the time go?" He put his phone back in his pocket. "Anyway, I said I'd be home in, like, thirty minutes, and I'm a little bit late for that. See ya! Oh, and good luck with this shelf."

"Thanks for the help, Takaharu."

"No problem! And tell me how it goes."

"Ah… right." Yuuka waved goodbye to Takaharu, who picked up a few bottles of soda and cold tea on his way out. Talk to Ryuta? She cringed. Not that she was afraid of him, unlike Kazuhiko, or bothered by his vibe, like Satsuki or Asuka, but… she just didn't want to.

She sighed. Maybe Takaharu was right.

Mariko came back downstairs. "Oh! Yuuka, that was fast. Ah, Takaharu helped out, didn't he. Goodness, you know a lot of great kids in school."

"Mom… what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying you should keep an eye out for some of them. They might make good husbands, you know."

"Mom!" Yuuka yelled. She got self-conscious after that and looked around. Fortunately, nobody seemed to care. She whispered, "I feel like it's a little early to be thinking about that."

Her mother giggled. "That's what I thought when I was your age."

"You met Father when you were seventeen?"

"Fifteen."

"What?!"

"I knew him for earlier than that, but we started dating then. We married almost right after we both turned twenty."

"You never told me about this! Anyway, whatever. I'll… ah, I'll think about it when I can." Yuuka hurried back upstairs. Her bedroom door was open.

What?

She ran towards it. "Falcomon!" she hissed. Where did it go? "Falcomon, where – aaah!" She screamed as a black head poked out of her used clothes. "Why are you in there?!"

"Sorry! Your mother came in looking for something so I had to hide!"

"Why there?!"

"Your closet was cramped and I couldn't shut the door myself."

Yuuka exhaled. "I guess."

"Yuuka? Are you okay up there?" came a yell from the stairs.

"I'm fine!" She sighed and fell into her chair. "Ryuta, huh…" She browsed through her phone. The two of them hadn't messaged each other since he pitched in to help her out back in September. It seemed like at least Takaharu maintained contact with him. Why her?

"Falcomon," she said, "what do you think about seeing another one of my classmates?"

"Oh? Do they have a Digimon with them?"

"No, they don't." Yuuka stared at her phone. "Hang on… I don't know. Maybe… maybe he does." It would be right in line with his character to have been this whole time and have never told them anything. Maybe she should talk, even if just to find out if he did. After all, it was possible he didn't know about their Digimon Partners either.