Act 1: Beating Heart

Segment 3: A Glorious Arms Race

Chapter 3-5: Solemnly Swear

Monodramon poked Kazuhiko's thighs. He gasped and clutched them. "Monodramon, please, they're still really sore," he complained.

"Oh, sorry."

Kazuhiko flopped on the couch and stared at the ceiling. Monodramon stared at him intently. It was genuinely concerned. This wasn't just about the post-bike ride tiredness. He seemed mentally exhausted.

Plus, Gabumon was fine with taking a break from the fighting, but it wasn't. The other four were somewhere doing something probably quite dangerous, and it didn't like not participating. What if they needed help? There was no way to know. Their phones wouldn't get any signal, so it wasn't possible to communicate with them at this point.

It sighed and curled up in the armchair. Both Fujie and Hideki were out for work since they both ran a private interior design company together. Kazuhiko was streaming something from his laptop and watching idly.

"Monodramon?" Kazuhiko asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

He sighed. "Why am I so inferior?"

"Wha-" Monodramon raised its paw in confusion. Where was this coming from?

"Seriously!" Kazuhiko slapped the touchpad on his laptop, pausing the show, and buried his face in his hands. The only noise after was a light fan noise coming from the computer. Monodramon watched him intently. He lay there, still, quivering.

"How? Why? What are you talking about?" Monodramon had no idea. Inferior? How was Kazuhiko inferior? He was a smart kid. Everyone had the things they were good and bad at.

Kazuhiko sat upright. "Look, Takaharu is a great leader, Asuka is a professional footballer – okay, she will be soon, but that's beside the point – Satsuki is incredibly talented at everything and so is Ryuta, and Yuuka is just so personable and she just understands people and, like, Ryuta just gives off that vibe, you know, like he's so cool and collected and responsible, and Takaharu is-"

"Kazuhiko!" Monodramon yelled. He paused. "Stop!"

He threw his hands up. "All I have going for me is, like, digital art. Great. I can put shapes together on a screen and click some buttons and put some trees down. What a skill!" He clutched his thigh suddenly as it cramped up. "Grk - I can't even go on a bike ride anymore!"

Monodramon marched over and jumped up on the couch. From a standing position, it was able to look down at him while he sat. It crossed its arms. "And so you'll do it again next week."

Kazuhiko squinted. "What's your point?"

"My point is – how do you think Takaharu got to be the way that he is? Or Satsuki? Or Asuka?" Monodramon retorted. "They improve every day!"

Kazuhiko curled up into himself. "Yeah, and she's got the dedication for it because she loves doing it."

"I'm not talking about sports, Kazuhiko, I'm saying that they get better because they're dedicated to what they do and they want to be better every day. You remember Ryuta before the new year, right? He wasn't a very nice person to be around, but you saw what he was like with Amedramon. It made him realize his mistakes, and he wanted to improve, so he did."

Kazuhiko sighed and rubbed his eyes. He didn't want to cry in front of Monodramon.

"Kazuhiko," Monodramon said, sitting down, "your natural talents are all creative. Even I don't really understand it. But when I see you at work, you're genuinely happy, you know? Just because what you want to do takes you in a different direction than everyone else, it doesn't matter. You told me that you felt dumb in class because you weren't good at math. And? Whoever said you needed math to be happy?"

Kazuhiko scratched his shoulder. Nobody really did, but it was kind of an unwritten rule. "I think that's just what society expects from us."

"Ah, then fuck them!" Monodramon waved its arms about. Kazuhiko gave it a look. It rarely swore.

"Monodra-"

"Who cares what they think? Everyone deserves a good, happy life, don't they? That's what we all want, humans, Digimon, maybe even Takaharu's cat, I don't know!" Monodramon jumped off the couch and started pacing. Kazuhiko watched it, mildly amused. So it did this too? It continued, "Yeah, sure, so you haven't spent a lot of time staying physically fit. Does that mean you shouldn't ever start? No!" Monodramon gestured. "You can always start today! You did start today! You could start whatever you want to today!"

Kazuhiko was trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" it demanded.

"I… I don't know, I just didn't expect you to be my therapist." He sputtered and started laughing. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh-"

Monodramon clutched him by the shoulders. "You don't need to apologize for anything."

"Oh, okay, my bad."

"What did I just say?!"

"Right." Kazuhiko stared into Monodramon's amber eyes. They were shining with a kind of righteous anger. Of course it would. He was fully aware what it would eventually evolve to.

That is, if he could ever help it manage that. He saw, firsthand, both Gabumon and Amedramon evolve. But the two of them were so tightly joined to their Tamers that it made sense. That was how it worked, right? But he and Monodramon had always been so far apart. They both knew it. Heck, right now, Lomamon, Hawkmon, and Falcomon had probably done it too. He would be the last one. It was always him, last.

"Kazuhiko, I know what you're thinking," it accused.

"What am I thinking about?"

"You're wondering what it will take for me to evolve, aren't you? That you want me to get stronger because you want to keep up with the others?" Kazuhiko flinched.

Monodramon snorted. "You think I haven't noticed?" It was amused. He was really bad at hiding these things. Really, he confessed them all the time without noticing. "You keep talking about Satsuki and Ryuta like they're your role models. Kazuhiko, they can't be. They're too different."

"So then what am I supposed to do?!"

"Make your own way. If nobody else is doing what you're doing, then you go out on your own. You clear your own path. If you want to improve, you can't sit around and do nothing and watch everyone else and hope that they'll somehow be able to share their abilities with you."

"I…"

"You get me?"

When Kazuhiko had first met Monodramon, it was a classic Monodramon – punchy, firey, impatient. He wasn't sure what to make of it, really. He didn't think he would manage to get along with it – and for a while, he didn't. It constantly complained about being stuck in his room, and it kept trying to sneak out. He kept a close eye on it to stop it from doing that until it snuck out for good and he had to explain himself to his parents.

Granted, they had taken it better than he had expected. But still, it had been a nerve-wracking experience, and he didn't want to repeat it. Then he had to deal with the abnormal Junctions, and again, he got nervous. Everyone was kind enough to assure him and stick with him, but he still had trouble dealing with the beasts inside. Even Yuuka, who spooked so easily, had gotten over herself quickly. Maybe that was because she had Ryuta by her side, or Falcomon.

That didn't make her special, though, did it? Monodramon was here. It always stood by his side, too. So did Satsuki, and Gabumon.

He guessed maybe Monodramon had changed, too. Or maybe it was always this way, and being together for long enough had brought out its gentler side.

Maybe it just took pity on him because he looked so silly.

"Monodramon, I get it, but-"

"Nope!" Monodramon squished his cheeks to get him to stop.

Kazuhiko managed to get Monodramon's paws off his face. "But-"

"Kazuhiko, we're all nervous when it comes to those things. Satsuki was, Ryuta was, we all are. Even the other Digimon are. It's normal. You asked Satsuki once – what is she going to do after university? She said she was going to try to get into cosmetics, but she didn't know. Nobody knows. It's the future, Kazuhiko, and we can't know the future. By the time we do, it's not the future anymore, it's now."

Kazuhiko blinked. Even Monodramon was so much more mature than he was, even though it didn't seem that way.

"So, you solemnly swear to me, tomorrow you just improve a little bit, okay? Whatever it is you want to get better at. That's all anyone can ask."

Kazuhiko nodded.

"Good!"