Act 1: Beating Heart

Segment 2: New Year, New Life

Chapter 2-6: The Strand

The winter break ended all too quickly for them. Even though Kazuhiko, Satsuki, and Ryuta were not really thinking about domestic exams, they still had to keep their marks up – after all, they would be used for applications. Yuuka, Takaharu, and Asuka were not spared from it either, as they did have to think about entrance exams, and they were all coming in the next three months.

Falcomon was a bit saddened by it. "I see it's back to the usual," it remarked as Yuuka got dressed for school again.

She nodded, equally as disappointed. "It is," she replied. "I did miss a lot of my classmates, but I wish we had more free time. And we haven't even gotten around to showing you around the west side, like Shibuya and Shinjuku!" she complained. "When are we going to have the time for that?" She straightened her shirt collar. "Probably not until after all this is over, like the end of March."

"Three months again?"

"I know, it's bothering me too." She sighed. "At least Mariko and Nagisa are okay with you helping out at home."

It nodded. Her parents had gotten used to it being around and working on things in the home, as well as in the back rooms, where it couldn't be seen by customers or by the other staff, though they were always concerned about the possibility that someone would find out. Regardless, her mother really appreciated the extra set of hands, even if it required them to rethink how they laid out boxes and access to items.

"Okay, let's go!" Yuuka said, picking up her bag. Falcomon beamed into her phone.

On her walk to school, she came across Kazuhiko, who gave her a cheery wave. "How are things going?" he asked.

"As well as they can," she replied. "And you?"

"Ugh! I'm so nervous!"

"What happened? Nothing bad, I hope."

"There's another round of interviews for admissions and there are number of them there that I was excited for, so I'm trying my best not to panic!"

Monodramon complained from his phone, "All he's been doing the last week is modelling and drawing. I just wanted to get out of the apartment."

"Y-yeah, sorry about that," he apologized. "I was issued some challenges for two of the interviews, so I didn't have much time for anything else. My parents have been doing their best, but they have their own things to deal with too."

"Kazuhiko, you'll be fine. You know we all believe in you," Yuuka reassured him.

"I know that, it's just…" he trailed off. He sighed. "I can't get it off my mind. I just want to get that offer letter tomorrow!"

"Patience, Kazu." It was the familiar voice of Satsuki behind them.

"Oh hey, Satsuki. Oh, and Ryuta! That's unusual," Kazuhiko remarked.

Ryuta straightened his fauxhawk. "It was Amedramon's idea."

"Well, who else would it be?" remarked Satsuki. "The dragon that drags you everywhere."

"It was either get dragged everywhere or get my face chewed off, so here I am."

"Ryuta! That – that sounds horrible!" implored Yuuka. "Amedramon, you didn't actually say that to him, right?"

He smirked. "Oh, no, it did. I'm sure it would do so, gently and lovingly. Right, Amedramon?" There was no response. "Amedramon?" His face grew worried. He'd been referred to Makoto and Rei, and the three of them were pooling their spare time to build something that would allow them to see their Partners in their phones, but it was in progress still, so it didn't work yet.

"Ryuta…" started Satsuki. Worry was etched on her face as she stared at Ryuta's smartphone screen.

"Amedramon, are you in there?" he demanded. Yuuka flinched and gave Kazuhiko a look. He was equally as disturbed; they'd never seen Ryuta this troubled before.

"Ryuta, turn left."

"Amedramon, you should have said something! Why do we need to turn left? That's not the direction of school!"

"I feel something," came the response. Amedramon did not sound happy about it.

"Another Digimon?" Ryuta and the others craned their necks. "It doesn't look like there's anything there."

"No. It feels like the thing I sensed before I got sent into this world."

The four humans looked at each other with a mix of curiosity and concern. A portal between Worlds? Again? Satsuki whispered, "Why now?"

"I have no idea," admitted Ryuta. "Amedramon, do you know anything else about it?"

"No. Just that… it doesn't seem the same."

Ryuta said to the other three, "You guys go on, I'll check this out."

"Ryuta, we're going together," said Satsuki.

"But-" he started to retort. The other three started walking in the direction Amedramon had told them to go. "Ahh! Fine." He followed after them.

"Falcomon, do you sense anything?" Yuuka asked. "Or anyone else?"

"No, nothing." "Nope." "Me neither. Hey, do you think Amedramon's related to the Royal Knights?" Monodramon asked.

"What?!" Gabumon was incredulous. "I really doubt that. The Royal Knights are so many levels of power above us."

"Monodramon," Amedramon replied to Monodramon, "not in the slightest."

Monodramon tried to defend itself. "You had the ability to sense whatever that was, so I figured maybe you were. I dunno. You did pick up on us from a distance, too, and I know the Royal Knights have better senses than the rest of us."

"True, but that doesn't make me anything close to them."

Kazuhiko stopped suddenly. "Guys?" he motioned at a wall. "What… what's going on here?"

The four of them stared. There was a splotch of concrete wall that did not seem quite normal. It seemed to have something like oil shimmer running across it. Kazuhiko looked around. "Looks like nobody's around. Monodramon, take a look at this."

Monodramon hopped out of Kazuhiko's phone. "Oh!" it exclaimed. "Now I can sense this from up close! Amedramon was right, it feels kind of like that portal we all fell through. Right, guys?"

The other Digimon emerged from their Tamers' phones. "Yeah," Gabumon remarked, "it definitely feels familiar. But something's off."

Amedramon looked it up and down, as if reading something. "Falcomon?"

It nodded. "It doesn't go anywhere."

Satsuki and Yuuka looked at each other, then at their Partners. "What do you mean it doesn't go anywhere? It's a portal between Worlds, right?" Satsuki asked.

"Maybe the normal ones would, but not this one. I don't know why."

"Hey," Kazuhiko asked, "how can you guys tell?"

Monodramon replied, "All of these digital things give off a signature. This is just one of them. That's why we can all sense each other and differentiate each other, like how I can tell other Monodramon apart from each other. Same with this… portal? So if it doesn't go anywhere, why is it here?"

Ryuta flicked his watch. "I don't know if we have time to investigate this, guys. We'll be late if we do."

"But Ryuta," Amedramon complained, "what if it's dangerous? Like if something comes out?"

Ryuta raised his head and opened his mouth as if to reply, but exhaled and scratched his head instead. "I… you're right," he said. "But I also don't want us to disappear on Asuka and Takaharu, either."

"That would be bad," agreed Gabumon and Satsuki. "How much does everyone have after this? I know I'm free in the afternoon."

"Nothing from me, either," said Kazuhiko.

"Unless mother asks for something, I'm free too," said Yuuka.

Ryuta pinched his nose bridge and scowled. "I'm supposed to be helping out with a club event after school, and I think Takaharu has swim meet as well. Asuka… I don't know, I've never checked. She might have practice."

"Gah, this is annoying," muttered Kazuhiko. The four stood around, unsure if they should accept being late or risk leaving it.

"If it goes nowhere," remarked Satsuki after several seconds of deliberation, "it should be safe to leave alone? Even if we don't know why it's there."

Amedramon growled, staring at the shimmering wall. It was uneasy about this, and so were the other Digimon. "I hope you're right," it replied, disappearing into Ryuta's phone. The Tamers started back on their normal path to school, a bit distracted and disturbed. Kazuhiko made sure to note the location of the shimmer in case they forgot.

"I'll see if I can excuse myself from the club early. Maybe make up something about needing to pick up Haru from school," Ryuta said as they walked away from the site.

"Ryuta," Yuuka replied, "it's not good to lie."

"And what would you have me do, tell people that there's a mysterious oil shimmer on a wall that needs checking out?"

Yuuka gave him a look, and then looked down. "I guess there's not much other option, huh?"

Kazuhiko shrugged. "Look, sometimes you just need to, you know? Not everyone needs to know the truth."

The four of them made it up to the morning classroom. Asuka and Takaharu were already there. "Oh hey, guys!" Takaharu cheerily waved. "You came in a group? Hey, Kazu, you look like you've seen something."

"U-uh, about that," he started.

"You see ghosts again?"

"No! I hope not, anyway." He looked around. If they were alone, they could explain further, but there were pretty much every single classmate they had in here, and a lot of them were in earshot. "The other three know, but we have to group up after class."

"Urgently?"

"Yes."

Takaharu frowned. "What happened?"

Kazuhiko looked at Ryuta. "Amedramon and the others picked up on something they didn't like. We can explain later."

"Another Digimon?" asked Asuka.

Ryuta shook his head. "We don't know, but it might be related to how they got here."

Takaharu blinked and glanced at Asuka, who was equally disturbed. "I can excuse myself from swim meet today. I'm not in competitive, so it's not a huge deal."

"Good. Asuka?"

"I've got nothing today, they gave us a day off practice."

Ryuta nodded. "Try not to think about it too much today, eh? Even though we just talked about it."

Takaharu nodded, but he, like the others, was bothered by it. Exactly what had they meant?

The six of them had split up after classes ended, as they were all in different classes. Ryuta was in a computer science class, while Yuuka and Satsuki were both in chemistry; Kazuhiko was in a course on graphic design and communication, while Takaharu and Asuka were in biology.

By the time Yuuka and Satsuki wrapped up with their lab, Asuka and Takaharu were already waiting at the school gate. "Hey, sorry we're late," Satsuki apologized. "Clean up was a bit messier than we thought it would be."

"Oh? How bad was it?"

"We had too much leftover reagent," Yuuka said, "so neutralizing it all took longer than we had planned for."

"It also got a bit, uh, exciting," Satsuki said with a half-smile, "though we weren't the only one who found out."

Takaharu raised an eyebrow. "Exciting? Chemistry and 'exciting' don't sound like things that should go together."

"We were fine, but somebody else forgot that they shouldn't be leaving lids on hot things with a reaction." Takaharu mouthed an "oh". He understood.

Asuka was confused. "What happened?" Takaharu motioned for an explosion with his hands. "Oh no!"

"It didn't explode, but the lid did go flying around the fume hood," Satsuki remarked. "Kazuhiko and Ryuta aren't done yet?"

"Kazuhiko just messaged our group chat, he's coming. I think Ryuta is probably still sorting out his excuse," replied Yuuka. "What if he takes too long?"

"Let's not leave him behind," said Takaharu. "That was the plan, anyway. Nobody's heard anything about that spot, right? No breaking news?"

Asuka shook her head. "Not a single notification. It seems like nobody's noticed yet. Where was this?"

Satsuki replied, "A little laneway, a narrow alley. I don't think anyone would walk through there without really intending to, and even then, they'd have a hard time seeing it." She looked around to see if Kazuhiko or Ryuta were coming. "And if they did see it, I don't think they'd care enough. They might just think it was painted weird."

Kazuhiko waved in the distance. "Sorry, got tangled up with Tsubasa on the way out! He really likes chatting. No Ryuta yet?"

"Nope."

"Thought I saw him walking out. Guess not," he said.

Takaharu folded his arms. "He's normally on time for things. Anyone know where he would be?"

"Third floor, south side, maybe. Are you going up there?" asked Yuuka.

"If I have to."

He did not have to. Ryuta jogged over, fixing his hair. "Sorry, everyone, they refused to let me go. Said I had to help with fixing the package repository."

"Did you?" asked Kazuhiko.

"Not quite, but I guess I made myself look as nervous as I could."

"Right, let's go, then, guys. Kazuhiko, you marked the spot on your maps app?"

"I did," he replied. "It's a good distance southwest of here, across the park. Monodramon, you don't sense anything, eh?"

"No," it replied, "nothing. Amedramon?"

Amedramon growled. "Weakly. Very weakly."

Ryuta suddenly stopped. "Amedramon, that's farther away from before."

"That's bad, isn't it?"

Ryuta cursed. "We should have fixed this when we had the chance!" He broke into a run suddenly.

"Hey, wait up!" yelled Takaharu. "C'mon, let's follow them!" The six of them dodged other pedestrians as they filtered over to the laneway where Amedramon had sensed the disturbance, and came to a stop in front of it.

"I hope nobody else has tried to poke around this thing," worried Yuuka.

"So, guys, exactly what are we looking at? It's doing this weird shimmer thing from time to time," commented Asuka. "It's not like someone painted acrylic on it, right?"

"No, it just looks like it," replied Kazuhiko. "But the Digimon said it felt like a portal, like the ones they came through to get here. It seems Amedramon is able to pick them up from farther away, but they all agree that it doesn't feel the same. They said it wouldn't go anywhere."

"A portal that goes nowhere? Weird indeed." Asuka picked up a pebble. "So if it's a portal, then… Hup!" She hucked the pebble at the shimmering wall. It disappeared.

Kazuhiko gulped. "Okay, so it's true."

"You seem nervous," Takaharu remarked.

"I-I am, a bit," he laughed. "This – this could be bad."

Monodramon popped out of his phone. "But we still have to find out why it's here. It's been open like this for hours. The ones we went through closed in seconds!"

"You're saying something is holding it open intentionally? Monodramon, that sounds even worse."

"What if we're not supposed to find out?" asked Yuuka, retreating a bit. She brushed up against Satsuki.

"We may not be supposed to find out, but this isn't supposed to be here," replied Satsuki, giving Yuuka some support. "And besides, the Digimon are here with us. If nothing's come through in the last few hours, how bad could it be?"

"R-Right."

"So?" Takaharu raised an eyebrow. "We go in?"

"W-wait, there's got to be something we can figure out-" started Kazuhiko, but Amedramon was impatient.

Ryuta followed it into the portal. "Amedramon, just a second!" The two of them disappeared into it. Lomamon ran off as well. "Let's go, we can't leave them alone!" Takaharu followed it. "Righto!"

"Guess we shouldn't be the last ones in," said Satsuki to Gabumon. "Come on, everyone!" The rest of them cautiously made their way in.

They found Ryuta, Amedramon, Takaharu, and Lomamon standing in front of something. All around them was a faint blue-white glow. They seemed to be walking on something resembling a pathway that was made out of glass. "Guys?" said Takaharu. "Come look at this."

The others approached. "What is this?" asked Falcomon.

Amedramon shook its head. "I don't know. The signature coming off it… doesn't feel like it came from the Digital World at all."

"I don't even have a beginning of a clue as to what it would be," added Hawkmon. "Anyone else have ideas?" Gabumon, Lomamon, and Monodramon shook their heads.

The thin strand of black fibre, stretching from a gap in the floor to well above their heads, was smooth and glossy. It resembled a stretched elastic band with how it seemed to vibrate ever so slightly.

Monodramon reached out a paw, which Kazuhiko pushed down. "What if it's dangerous?" he pleaded. "We don't know what this is!"

"Well, whatever it is, I think it's what's keeping this portal open!"

"And you said it doesn't go anywhere?"

"Nope!"

Kazuhiko looked at the others for ideas. They shrugged. Takaharu replied, "We don't have much other choice, do we? We can't leave it here. What if it develops? Amedramon already picked up on it from further away. How much farther was it?"

"Maybe ten metres or so?" replied Ryuta, unsure. It was hard to tell since they were approaching it from the other side.

"Then we can't let this stay here. What if it grows too large?"

Monodramon raised its paw again. "Well, I don't hear any objections, so – hyah!" With one stroke it severed the strand, which suddenly snapped back and dissolved into blobs of goo. The space began to darken. "I think-" Everyone yelped in surprise as the space they were standing in seemed to rush backward. The twelve of them were ejected back into the Human World. "-that did it. Huh, it really did," Monodramon said.

"I'm just happy to still be alive after that," dryly commented Lomamon.

"Did you see what happened when it got cut? It was like it turned to a liquid," remarked Gabumon.

"I know, it was bizarre."

Falcomon was not pleased with this turn of events. "These don't feel very nice," it remarked. "And if it's not something from the Digital World…"

"There's no way," Ryuta commented. "Not a single human besides us should know that these portals are possible, let alone make one." Nobody was going to disagree. They stood around awkwardly, wondering what to do next. Ryuta leaned against the wall. "I can see if there's something online going around." He looked skyward. "If it's a portal in the Human World, then… it must be related to something digital. Some kind of experiment or program… something gone wrong, maybe."

Asuka looked at Satsuki. "Hey, Satsuki, do you think there's an off chance Makoto would know something?"

"It's really unlikely, but it couldn't hurt to ask."

"Okay, I'll ask Rei too."

Kazuhiko ruffled his hair in frustration. It was already messy, so it hardly made a difference. "I really don't like how this felt. This is bad, and it's bad timing, for all of us."

Takaharu agreed. "Hopefully it doesn't get worse over the next few months. We're all distracted enough as it is."