Act 1: Beating Heart
Segment 3: A Glorious Arms Race
Chapter 3-7: Shock to the System
Takaharu diverted briefly. "Hey, guys, by the way," he said, taking them towards a side road, "check out this place."
Yuuka blinked. The brief nap had gotten some energy back into her. "It smells really good. Oh!" She'd been intending to stop by the waffle place but never had time for it, until now. "I forgot this place existed!"
"Really?" asked Ryuta. "Thought you'd already been." She shook her head. "Well then, I guess I'll pay for these."
"Wha-" complained Takaharu, but Ryuta wagged his finger, grinning.
"Shush."
"Hey, get one with fruit!" Asuka said.
"Anyone else?"
"Don't forget about the Digimon, guys," Yuuka replied. "And the other four!"
"Should I get one for Aki and Izumi, too?"
"Uh… yeah, I guess," replied Takaharu. Ryuta slipped into the line while the other three stood around. "Yuuka, what have you done to him?" he whispered.
She beamed. "Nothing."
"Are you sure this is the Ryuta we knew back in September?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean he's a totally different person!" Takaharu hissed. Asuka snickered. She knew, because Yuuka texted her about some behind-the-scenes things, of course. "Just look at him! He's like – I dunno, like an older brother, I guess."
Yuuka held her hands behind her back. "Takaharu, he's always been like that. I think he's just irritated by you sometimes."
"What about me is so irritating?!"
"Well, you do grab him when he's not looking, and he doesn't like being touched without permission." Takaharu was about to complain, but no, she wasn't wrong. He did it because Ryuta jumping in his chair was eternally funny.
"And I'm guessing you have all the permission to touch him wherever he wants."
"Gross!" Yuuka punched Takaharu in the shoulder.
"Aaahh…" he gasped. He'd already forgotten. She was much stronger than she looked. He rubbed his shoulder to dull the pain. "I deserve that, don't I."
"Don't you get on my nerves, too." She held up a fist.
"Okay! Okay! God, that stings." Yep. He could see why the two of them were together.
Ryuta came back with bags of boxes. "Yuuka, are you threatening Takaharu with violence?"
She smirked at him. "Yes."
"Excellent." Asuka collapsed on the pavement and gasped for air. Ryuta held as straight of a face as he possibly could.
Yuuka giggled. "Come on, Satsuki and Kazuhiko are probably waiting for us." She helped Asuka back up to her feet.
Takaharu was despondent. "Sheesh. Yuuka, do you want to tell Ryuta what you did earlier?"
"Hm? Oh, that." She shivered. "I had to! They were giant! Anyway, this spider came running at me, so I grabbed it and threw it away."
"How big are we talking about?"
"I dunno, maybe the size of a dog. I wasn't paying attention. And then it exploded, so it made all the other ones explode." Yuuka seemed very matter of fact about it. Ryuta and Asuka stared at her. "What?"
"I guess it hasn't sunk in for any of us yet," Asuka remarked.
"What do you mean?"
"It's over! That was it!"
"Really?!"
Asuka sniffed. "Okay, it had to be, right? It was the big one, anyway, and right under the university." Nobody else seemed convinced. "Okay, I'll see if I can get Rei to find out if the project is halted after this."
They arrived at Takaharu's apartment. Aki was waiting outside at ground level. "Oh, I'm dead now," Takaharu gulped. "She normally only does this when I'm about to get told."
Ryuta shrugged. "Trust me, I think this is going to be nothing."
"How would you know?"
"I just would."
"Heeey! Mrs. Segawa!" Asuka jumped and waved. Aki waved back.
As they approached, she jogged forward and embraced Takaharu. "Oh my god, you're fine. Satsuki and Kazuhiko got here before and said you were coming back, but you were a bit late, so I got worried."
"Late? Oh, shoot, right, we stopped for waffles. Oops."
Aki looked Takaharu all over. "Are you all okay? No injuries? Nothing?"
Asuka shrugged. "We all seem okay," she remarked. "I think."
"I'm so glad to hear that! Asuka, I visited your parents."
"Ehhh?!"
"They told me everything." Takaharu bolted upright. "It's…" Aki seemed unsure. "I don't know if I approve. But you did what you had to. You were protected, right?"
"Yeah, of course. Thanks to the Digimon. I don't know where we'd be without them," Takaharu laughed, still nervous.
"Hey, come up! The others want to see you!" They walked back into the apartment. It was a bit tight in the elevator, but the squeeze wasn't too bad.
Izumi greeted them at the door. "Oh hey guys!" she beamed. "Yikes, Takaharu, you look tired."
He groaned and collapsed into a chair, completely missing Kazuhiko and Satsuki on the way. "I'm gonna nap, I swear." The other three seemed just as close to exhaustion. Ryuta set down the boxes and motioned at them wordlessly.
"Damn. What happened in there?" Satsuki asked, pulling out a sugar-dusted waffle. "Did Ryuta put you through personal training or something?"
"No, it was just… a lot. A lot of enemies and running. Lomamon?"
"Mmmh…" came the tired response. "Home?" it sleepily asked.
"Yep." Takaharu yawned. Izumi passed around cans of coffee and bottles of tea to keep people alert. He cracked open a can and gulped. The day wasn't even hot, but it was refreshing anyway. Lomamon popped out of his phone, sniffed, and suddenly came to life. It hopped up into his lap and reached out to grab a waffle. "You really do just live to eat, don't you, bud?" Takaharu remarked.
"Hey! Okay. Maybe that's true," it admitted, chewing on the soft dough.
Asuka reached for a smaller box, one containing fruit topping, and grabbed a fork as well. "Hey Izumi, you want to split this?"
"Sure!" Izumi grabbed a knife.
Ryuta sank into a chair. He swore when his eyelids were closed that he could see the damn abnormal jaguars and wolves. Nothing was supposed to have that many rows of teeth. Or eyes. Just great. Sleeping was going to be a fun experience tonight. "Ryuta, are you okay?" Aki asked. Of all people…
He grunted and sat back upright. "I'll try to be sane."
"I heard… and I saw. Kazuhiko took some photos from that time in the mall. Was it more of the same?"
Ryuta snorted. He wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure if he should. Not right now, when people were enjoying themselves. It didn't make sense to do that. "Sort of."
"Hey, don't keep this a secret!" Kazuhiko leaned on Ryuta's chair.
"You should really tell us," Satsuki added.
Yuuka shook her head. "Please, let's just wait."
"Oh, not you too, now, Yuuka," Satsuki complained. Yuuka insisted. "Fine." She continued munching on a waffle.
Amedramon curled up on the sofa, a waffle in its maw. Monodramon sat next to it. "You get beat up?" it asked. Amedramon shook its head. It growled in response and said, muffled through the pastry, "Loth of hearth."
"Eh?"
It gripped the waffle in its paws and ripped off a piece, then swallowed. "Lots of hearts."
Monodramon blinked. "Wait, more than one?"
"I lost count." Gabumon and Monodramon stared at each other. This was shocking. "I know. It's bad. But it should be over now."
"Thank the gods it's over," Hawkmon agreed, having split a waffle with Falcomon. It took a sip of water. It glanced over at Falcomon's cup. "Wha – since when?"
Falcomon slurped. "It's just coffee, Hawkmon."
"It's black coffee!"
"What's wrong with that, Hawkmon?" Amedramon asked. It was, in fact, also drinking black coffee.
"Ehh, it makes my head spin," it admitted.
"Oh, that's unfortunate," Amedramon replied. Hawkmon nodded.
"Same, actually," said Gabumon. "But green tea is fine."
Lomamon walked over holding a cup of its own. "You want to try this? Takaharu and Izumi called it a Wayne Gretzky."
"A what?" Hawkmon was confused by the name.
"Well, I didn't like black coffee, so he put in a lot of milk and sugar. It's great! It tastes like coffee cake!"
"Uh… Ryuta? What's up?" asked Amedramon. Ryuta was squinting from across the room.
"Takaharu," he asked, "did you really, really show Lomamon what a Wayne Gretzky is?"
"I guessed at it, I don't know how much milk and sugar is actually in one of those things," Takaharu admitted.
Ryuta scowled and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then. Don't blame me if Lomamon goes flying off the walls."
Takaharu shrugged. "It could drink an entire bottle of maple syrup in a day if it wanted to, it does basically nothing to its system."
Hawkmon took a whiff. It still smelled like strong coffee. "I think I'll pass."
Monodramon also took a sniff. "Hey, it smells like a cappuccino but… not foamy. Kazuhiko, what's a Wayne Gretzky?"
"I have no idea," he replied. "Isn't Wayne Gretzky a person's name?" he asked Takaharu.
"Yeah, a famous hockey player."
Kazuhiko blinked and stared at him. His gaze shifted to Ryuta. "Oohhhh… I get it." He snickered. "Ice hockey. Right."
"Wait, Ryuta?" asked Takaharu. "Weren't you around for when Vancouver did… things? You know, set fires?"
"Oh, the riot? Uh…" he trailed off. "Honestly, I don't remember. I don't think so."
Satsuki was mid-sip of water when she paused. "A riot about ice hockey?" She shook her head. "I thought fans here were intense, but that's a different level." She drank her water. "So that's where dragon boy gets it from." She grinned. Yuuka sputtered on her coffee.
Ryuta grunted. "Satsuki? Have you ever heard about the goose ritual?"
"Uh… what?"
Takaharu grinned. He knew how the joke went. "The sacred goose ritual."
"Those big brown, black, and white things? Canada geese?"
"Do you know why Canadians are so polite and nice?"
"No…"
Ryuta set his can of coffee down. "Every blood moon, our communities gather to sacrifice seven geese to the Moose God. All of our negative energy flows into them, so it takes it all away from us. Otherwise, the bitter cold turns us all into monsters."
"T-this isn't real, right?" asked Yuuka.
"Yuuka, it's been more than ten years for Takaharu and seven for me."
"Uh… guys, please…" She was sat right in between them. Kazuhiko was pretty sure this wasn't real, but it was funny nevertheless. Even Asuka seemed to believe in it. Satsuki tried to not laugh.
Ryuta suddenly placed his hands on the table and roared. Yuuka screamed and leaned into Takaharu, who growled. She whiplashed back into Ryuta's arms. "I was kidding! It's all made up!" Ryuta confessed.
"Ryuta, you-" She pinched his cheek. "Shithead!" His shoulders shook.
There was intense laughing behind them. Izumi and Aki were both collapsed, heads down on the kitchen countertop. "I can't – I can't believe you fell for that, Yuuka!" Izumi struggled to say between gasps for air.
Waffle finished, Amedramon stretched and laid its head back down. Gabumon fiddled with a disposable fork. "I guess we're all back to normal."
"Oh, right," said Takaharu, "can we bother Rei and Makoto to go find out if the experiment was shut down? It should be if what we did really has terminated it."
Satsuki nodded. "Makoto can always ask, I think. He is applying, after all."
Asuka groaned and rolled over. It was an ungodly hour for her. Midnight, her phone said. Hawkmon was snoozing away peacefully. How could it sleep so peacefully? It went through the same horrific experience as her. Digimon were still so weird sometimes. She unlocked her phone and started tapping. She was sure some other people were still up.
• • • • • • •
Takaharu
hey you awake
00:02
Yeah
I see shit when I close my eyes
00:04
fuck
me too
00:04
this sucks 😣😖
00:04
rei's asking tmrw morn
00:05
hope she finds something
00:05
• • • • • • •
She put her phone down. She didn't want to talk about the issue anymore. The shadows on the ceiling moved in unsettling ways. A car passed outside, kicking up dust as it passed.
She grimaced and sat upright on her bed. Rei was in the top bunk, as she did when she visited and slept over. Even though Waseda wasn't too far away from them – maybe a forty-minute commute – she'd chosen instead to rent with friends in Shinjuku, all of whom applied from elsewhere in the country. Rei had said it was because she wanted to feel like a grown-up. At first Asuka had been bitter about it, but she had come recently to understand why she wanted to live alone. Independence felt good, sometimes. But Asuka felt closely drawn to her parents. Travel for sport was already a lot.
She sighed and thumbed through her pre-contract discussions. Starting in July she would be officially signed during the summer transfer window, and would be playing in Japan's league. She wanted to travel – she had an offer, in fact, from Portland – but the thought of leaving her parents alone made her feel guilty. Plus, it wasn't like in Portland she would have a lot of friends, and Satsuki would be a whole state away. She had looked it up afterwards, when Satsuki had said she was going to UCLA for sure. California was big. America was big. They'd never be in commuting distance, and she would be travelling all over the country. Travel for sports in Japan was bad enough. America just looked painful to traverse. All those flights… no, she was better off here.
She scrolled through her other messages, hoping to distract herself and become tired enough to just skip straight to sleep. It wasn't working. She winced and set her phone back down. Did she dare slip out? A night walk might be better than lying there. Under other circumstances she would have, but the shadows playing on the ceiling unsettled her. She rolled out of bed and wrote a quick note. Hawkmon could handle itself. And if there was another abnormal Junction out there… she didn't want to deal with it. Not right now. Not for a while. There was no reason to wake it.
Rei roused. "Asuka, you up?"
"Yeah."
Rei leaned over. "You okay?"
"Not really." There was a concerned groan. "I need a walk to clear my head."
A pause, then the sound of the mattress shifting. "You didn't say what happened earlier."
"I… don't really want to think about it right now."
A yawn. "Okay. Stay safe." Asuka finished the note, left it on the table, and quietly slipped her shoes on. She tiptoed away from the door and then descended the stairs.
A car passed outside. The residental areas of the city at night were quite quiet, at least. Tokyo Skytree's lights danced silently in the distance. She kept walking. There were still some things open – konbinis, the night buses, some izakayas, other restaurants. Tokyo never truly slept. She wondered who else was awake. Yuuka might not be, but Takaharu was definitely still up, and probably Ryuta too.
She pulled out her phone again.
• • • • • • •
Yuuka~
hey you awake
00:09
Yeah
Can't sleep
00:10
where you at
00:10
heh
Ryuta's rooftop
It's cozy up here
00:11
"rooftop"
of course it is~
00:11
omg.
00:11
wwww
00:11
[photo]
00:12
yo that's sick
takaharu? the others?
00:11
On their way
Come! It's great
[address]
00:12
• • • • • • •
It was a bit of a walk, but better than hanging around doing nothing. She had actually napped during the day after all that. Maybe that was why she was having trouble falling asleep. Maybe the others were in the same boat.
His apartment building was tall and towered above a number of other buildings in the area. She figured his family must have intentionally picked this spot to get a view of Skytree from the rooftop. The security guard was surprised that someone was coming in at this hour, but he was gracious enough to let her in when Ryuta messaged about it.
Satsuki and Takaharu were up there already with Yuuka and Ryuta, who had occupied the bench. Looks like Kazuhiko was late again. "Is Hawkmon with you?" Takaharu asked. She shook her head. "Ah, same, I left Lomamon sleeping. Didn't want to wake it."
"Gabumon?" Satsuki shook her head.
"Only Amedramon was awake," Yuuka replied. It looked up with its bright violet eyes and blinked, head resting on its paws. "Amedramon, sometimes…"
"Sometimes?"
"You really do act like a dog."
It stuck its tongue out. Yuuka snickered. She couldn't keep her mirth in. It was too much.
"Why are you so frickin' cute, hrmm, Amedramon?" Ryuta reached and itched it behind the head.
"I'm not cute," it whined, but nobody cared to listen. "Nnnnh."
"You are so cute, you know," Ryuta continued. Amedramon got up and plopped itself in his lap. It nuzzled his shoulder.
Asuka sat on the edge of a brick planter next to the bench. "Lucky you, you get two people to cuddle."
He snorted. "I know."
"Do you get jealous of Amedramon, Yuuka?" Asuka teased.
"Why would I?" she asked.
"I dunno, sometimes I feel like Ryuta loves Amedramon more than you." Ryuta squinted at her, along with Amedramon. Asuka choked up with giggles. "You two look hilarious together. Ryuta, it's your hair."
"What about my hair?"
"It reminds me of Amedramon's horn, I guess."
"Huh?" He turned to the others. "Does it really?"
"Yep." "It really does." "Ryuta, sometimes I wonder if you go out of your way to make yourself look like a dragon."
"I don't, I swear," he insisted.
"Well," Takaharu grunted, rubbing his shoulder, "you do act like one when you're angry." It was still sore from getting beat up a bit by Plasmids, and by Yuuka.
"Okay, that might be true."
Yuuka huffed. "About that. You really need to go punching enemies a bit less."
"Oh, the Plasmids? Hey, it worked."
"What if it doesn't the next time? You could lose a hand!"
"I pick my battles carefully, don't worry." He grinned. "You don't look convinced."
Yuuka reached up her hands and put them on Ryuta's ears. "Imagine I was holding a slice of bread in each hand. Do you know what that makes you?"
"Tell me."
"An idiot sandwich," Yuuka remarked.
Satsuki snorted. "Delicious."
Ryuta stroked Amedramon's wings absentmindedly. "You know, I only do it because Vanadramon needs cover."
"Vanadramon is pretty big, you know!"
"And prone to getting climbed on. That's why I sit up there. Then the Plasmids went after me, so I had to do something about it," Ryuta insisted.
"You're not helping your case." Yuuka folded her arms.
"A case? Are we discussing law at midnight?" Kazuhiko was late, as per usual.
"Ryuta's a criminal," Asuka stated.
"What?!" Kazuhiko shrank back.
"His crime is-"
"I did nothing wrong!" Ryuta interrupted.
Kazuhiko relaxed. "Oh, this is just us ganging up on Ryuta again," he replied.
"Thank you, someone gets it," Ryuta huffed.
"It's fun, you know," Kazuhiko said, sitting down next to Satsuki.
"Why me?"
Takaharu snorted. "You've been so quiet in class for so long, I guess we're all just letting out all the things we wanted to say at some point, and more." Ryuta grunted and took a drink from a water bottle. Takaharu pulled his coat tighter. It was a bit windy. "So… we're all still awake, at midnight."
"That's what the spring break is for, right? These kinds of nights," Satsuki sighed. The lights of Tokyo – Sumida and beyond – danced near and far. "Even better, we don't even have anything to do between high school and university."
Takaharu nodded. "It's been really relaxing."
"If I didn't have Monodramon around, honestly, I'm not sure what I'd be doing right now," added Kazuhiko. "And to think I have another, what, four, five months of this?"
"So you're in?" asked Asuka.
"Yeah, University of the Arts London."
"Huh."
"It's new, but it's dedicated to the arts. It was going to be that or Nottingham, and I wanted to be in the big city. I guess it's just more familiar that way. How about you, Asuka? Did you pick a club to sign with?"
"Not yet, but I dedicated to stay in Japan."
"Easier to stay at home?"
"Yeah, Rei wants to go abroad one day soon, and I'd feel bad if my parents couldn't see either of us easily." She shrugged. "Soccer is soccer. I'm still getting callups to the U-20 squad so I think I have a good chance of making the senior team."
"Hey, good luck! Isn't the next Olympics in 2024?"
"Yeah, we've been training for that and the World Cup."
"Didn't you make the reserve list last time?"
"Mmhm. Not sure I'll get the callup to play, but…" she shrugged. "You don't always get what you want in soccer. There will always be the World Cup."
"True."
The six of them returned to silence, other than the sound of Amedramon snorting and nuzzling Ryuta's chest. A late flight passed overhead on its way to land at Narita, lights flashing.
"Hey. Did your Partners evolve earlier?" asked Kazuhiko.
Satsuki inhaled. "Kazuhiko…"
"I want to know."
There was another prolonged silence. Ryuta finally replied. "They all did."
"I thought they would."
"Kazu, it's not a race," Takaharu murmured, patting him on the back.
He shook his head. "I know that. Monodramon put some sense into me today." He sighed. "If another opportunity comes up, we'll be ready."
"If, eh? You think that's the end of it for good?"
Kazuhiko shifted. "You know I want to know what happened earlier today, but it seems it's keeping you all up." Takaharu grimaced. "See?"
Yuuka fluffed her hair. "I think we should talk about it though."
"Oh?"
"Not easy to let go of it if you don't tell anyone."
"Heh, true." He'd just had that experience today. "So… how bad was it?"
Yuuka let out a breath. "I'm wondering if it really happened." She sat up. "There were multiple hearts in there."
"Oh, shit."
"We had to get rid of all of them. It wasn't easy, as you can imagine, but… it wasn't just that. It was more than just Plasmids." Yuuka rubbed her eyes. "These egg sacs dangling from the walls…"
Kazuhiko cringed. This sounded like those parts of a video game that were intended to make your skin crawl. "That's what all this Plasmid stuff became?"
"Yeah."
"What came out?"
Yuuka shook her head. "Giant centipedes and spiders. Genuinely disgusting."
"Oh, god, ew." Kazuhiko gagged.
Asuka glanced at Ryuta. "Really?" she asked.
"Yeah. You didn't see any?" Yuuka inquired.
"Ryuta… what were those things exactly?" Asuka asked. She had been too preoccupied at the time with finding an escape route to notice.
He shrugged. "Really messed up animals." He grunted and shifted in his seat. "If they didn't have so many eyes and mouths then I think it's possible someone would have mistaken them for normal animals with black fur."
"That realistic?" Kazuhiko frowned. "Plasmids were just kind of weird. But you're saying these things were things you might just see outside?"
"Yep." Ryuta glanced at Satsuki. "Makoto said the professor was working on an ecosystem simulation, right?"
She nodded. "I don't really know how that would work though," she replied.
He rubbed his tongue across his teeth, thinking about possibilities. He did not like where this was going. Even if they had forced this program to shut down…
Satsuki and Kazuhiko blinked. "I want to say I'm happy I missed this," said Satsuki, "but I wish I was there."
"Don't worry about it. It worked out," Yuuka replied.
"So… I guess you're all just, uh, haunted a bit," supposed Kazuhiko. Takaharu muttered an agreement. Yuuka nodded and stared at the ground.
"I don't know how long it will take for us to recover, but it might be a while," she admitted. She had Falcomon, of course, but… being around humans always felt more assuring. This was a lot better than being alone in her bedroom. She glanced at Amedramon. It was asleep in Ryuta's lap, tongue sticking out of its mouth. He was staring into the distance, and his eyes were flicking from side to side. Clearly he was thinking about something, still.
"Ryuta. Hey."
"Hm?" His head flicked up. "What is it?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"N-nothing." Yuuka squeezed his knee. "I know. Force of habit." He shook his head. "I can't help but wonder… if the professor's research is about many-nucleotide life forms, why did it end up reflecting things we know so well?" He sighed. "Is it because they started with things they knew? Maybe. But it doesn't explain much else. Why manifest as hearts? What is the purpose of them, anyway? And can these lifeforms escape?" He shook his head. There were too many possibilities.
"More importantly," he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket, "do you remember the electronics store?"
"What about it?"
"Why did these work?" He shook his phone around. "What's so special about them?"
Yuuka pulled out her own phone, as if staring at its case would reveal some kind of hidden secret. There was nothing to be found. "Oh. Huh. I hadn't thought about that."
Ryuta shook his head and turned his head downward. He stroked Amedramon's neck. "There's just too many questions to answer, and not a single answer in sight."
"Ryuta, you'll find out one day, I'm sure. Right now, I just think you need to worry about something else."
"Like what?"
"Are we all going to stay up until dawn comes?"
The Tamers glanced amongst themselves. Nobody really seemed willing to do that, but they were having a hard time falling asleep – at least, four of them were. But they couldn't stay. The Digimon and their families would expect them to be there.
Takaharu grunted and got up. "It's been nice, but… I think I had better be there tomorrow morning. Mother is already on edge enough as it is. And Dad was not too pleased about it either."
"Hey, Takaharu, I can walk home with you, if you want," Asuka offered.
"Yeah… that would be nice, thanks. The shadows on the street are freaking me out a bit." Takaharu waved. "Ryuta, you come up here a lot, huh?" Ryuta nodded. Takaharu waved. "It's nice and relaxed. Anyway, later." The two of them disappeared into a stairwell.
Kazuhiko turned to Satsuki. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah, let's go. Thanks for letting us up here, Ryuta," Satsuki murmured.
"No problem." They also disappeared into the stairwell, leaving just Yuuka, Ryuta, and Amedramon. He stared upward at Tokyo Skytree.
Yuuka shuffled closer to him. "Remind you of anything?"
"Me? Not really. There is a tower in Vancouver, but it's not very tall and impressive. Not like this. If anything, it's the mountains that remind me of British Columbia more."
"So… you'd rather you lived out there instead?"
"Mostly. But… well, if I did, I wouldn't be here, with Amedramon, and you, so it doesn't matter." Amedramon shifted in his lap, apparently still sound asleep. "I'd rather have this than a more peaceful life out there in the towns."
She pondered asking him about it. That reaction, that time. It was so extreme. She hadn't talked to his parents again since, or even seen them. But it weighed on her mind.
"I hope you don't mind me asking about this."
"This could be a lot of topics," he sighed, "but ask anyway."
"What did Kanae mean when she said, 'not this again'?" Ryuta made a noise and turned away. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
He propped his head on his hand, his elbow balanced on the bench's armrest. "I figured you would ask some day. Amedramon bothers me about it too, from time to time."
"It does?"
"It worries about me as much as you do."
"You're lucky, then," she replied, "Falcomon is nice to me and all, but… I don't know, I remember back in December that you and Amedramon were already super close. Why is that?"
Ryuta inhaled sharply. "I haven't even told Amedramon, what I'm going to tell you. And I don't think I want to tell it this at all." He shifted his legs. The dragon was starting to get kind of heavy. "You know that I grew up in Burnaby. Well, it turns out there's not a lot of Japanese people there. Or in Canada, in general. That's why I was surprised to find out that Takaharu was from Toronto. Sure, there are some Japanese people in the Vancouver area, but… it's still not a lot." He paused for a bit. "Anyway, that's besides the point. The point is that I struggled in school."
"Really? You don't seem like it."
"Not with academics." He tapped a finger against his cheekbone. "I was bullied, then, for being different."
Yuuka frowned. "Isn't Canada supposed to be known for being multicultural?"
"Doesn't matter. Children are nasty sometimes." He absentmindedly stroked the back of Amedramon's head. It made a soft rumbling sound. "And since I was already a quiet kid, I didn't have a lot of friends."
"I see."
"Honestly, I didn't have any."
"What?!"
He shrugged. "You know them, my parents. When I came home, they never bothered to ask if I got along with the other kids, or if I was making friends. They didn't care about that stuff then. I'm not sure they even do now. All they wanted to see were my grades." He snorted. "I spent most of my free time staying away from anyone else. Nobody seemed to care about me, either."
"You would have been in elementary school!"
"It didn't matter."
"Oh my god, Ryuta." Her shoulders slumped. His distaste for his parents was making sense.
"Then we moved here in time for me to get into junior high. The timing of the school year was awkward, but my parents moved back part way through my elementary school. They were more than happy to know that I just slid right back into Japanese school despite being some months behind and from a different school system."
"Wouldn't you have been learning English the whole time? I guess that's why you're pretty much fluent, then."
"Yep. I was put in Japanese classes after school… every day. On top of all the other tutoring." He smirked. "I remember I complained once about not having any free time." His bit his lip. "Kanae slapped me right across the face." Before Yuuka could ask, he continued, "And if you think Hideaki was any better, he approved of it. He said it would preserve my ethnicity."
"Just for using English?"
"Just once. I never did it in front of them again. Frankly, I didn't talk to them much anyway. Why would I bother?" he laughed. "Not after that."
Yuuka stared into the night sky. She had thought there were things he was keeping silent about, but she didn't realize it was all of this. He had no friends in elementary school? Perhaps that was why he seemed socially stilted. "But when you came here…"
"I got by. I eventually did make a friend, in junior high. Anzai Kouji." He shook his head. "You might remember him. The mixed guy."
"Tennis club?" she asked. Ryuta nodded. "Well, at least you could hang out with someone."
"Kanae and Hideaki didn't let me."
Yuuka shook her head. "Excuse me, what?"
"They forbade me from meeting other people unless it was for school, so I'd rarely have a reason."
"Why?!"
He shrugged. "Do you remember when we were in grade eight, that some of the senior kids in the tennis club got caught in a drug scandal?" She nodded. "That's why she said 'not this again'."
"You had nothing to do with it!"
"They didn't care." He sniffed. "They didn't want any bad influences tainting their perfect child. So I thought if I showed them I could outperform in class that I could get those privileges back. And I did, eventually."
"Oh… I remember, you came top of class sometimes in junior high. Even grade ten."
He nodded. "I thought at some point, if I could sustain that until school was over, then I would earn their trust and respect. It wore me out, so I stopped. It was either stop or lose my sanity."
Yuuka sighed and leaned on his shoulder. This was much worse than she had thought. No wonder he wanted to leave them as quickly as he could.
"Then… Kouji had to move back to Canada, before grade eleven."
"Toronto?"
"Yeah. His parents divorced." Ryuta took a moment to answer. "His mother was Canadian and never picked up Japanese citizenship. Then they split custody of the kids. His older sister stayed here. I don't know where she is now. She's probably graduated university or college."
"And Kouji?" There was no response for a while. "Ryuta?" His cheeks were wet. "Ryuta…"
"They moved right after the end of March. He committed suicide that year's August." Yuuka froze. So this is why he didn't talk about it. Ryuta continued, "I remember texting him, thirteen, fourteen hours apart from each other. We had about a half hour to chat before we had to go to bed on either side. Then, I just stopped getting responses."
"And…"
He shook his head. "I never heard back after that. I wish I had known. I should have known."
"His mother? Father? Sister?"
Ryuta ran his thumb along Amedramon's horns. "I never found his mother's address, but I did get his father's. So, I sent him a short letter, and all I got back was a terse explanation and an apology. That's how I found out."
The rooftop garden went quiet, save for the sound of wind and a passing truck far below. The wind suddenly felt a lot colder than before.
"It will be two years, this year."
"I'm so sorry, Ryuta, I didn't think – I didn't think this was what had happened."
He wiped his face dry again. "Frankly, I'm glad I told someone." He sniffled. "Do you want to know why I try to spend so much time with Amedramon?"
"Why?"
He smirked. "It has a voice that sounds like his." Yuuka was stunned speechless. "I remember what he sounded like. Somehow, some way… Amedramon has his voice. It even acts like him sometimes. I mean, you saw it yourself." He stroked its head. It grumbled and snuggled up to him. "Sometimes I look at it and think the universe is playing a sick joke on me."
Yuuka stared at Amedramon. Could it really just be… Kouji's reincarnation? No.
"But it's seventeen years old, or so it says. Kouji would have been nineteen. So it's not all the same. Still, it was unsettling."
So it couldn't have been. It was just a weird coincidence.
Amedramon stirred. "Ryuta," it mumbled. It had been a very long time since she had heard Kouji, but now she realized why it seemed so familiar.
"Yeah?"
"The others are gone?"
"It's just you, Yuuka, and me."
"Is the sun up?"
"Not even close."
It sleepily blinked its violet eyes at them. "Ryuta, your face is wet."
"I know it is."
"Why?"
"I had a lot to talk about tonight."
"Mmmh… you should sleep." It yawned, baring rows of tiny fangs. "Or else you might have to carry me downstairs."
Ryuta sighed. "Guess it's time for me to go too. Yuuka… thank you for asking."
"Really? This brought up a lot of painful stuff for you." They slowly walked back to the stairwell.
"It's been therapeutic. I haven't told anyone before this. I guess I just needed to tell someone I could trust."
They quietly made their way back down. Despite the lateness, there were still people awake. They stopped in front of the Koyama apartment. "Ryuta?" Yuuka murmured.
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad you're here with us."
He smiled. "So am I." He waved and disappeared into the dark apartment with a sleepy dragon at his feet.
Yuuka pensively watched the door close. Just how broken was this kid inside, really? She had a feeling if she kept digging that she might not like what she found. She shook her head. Maybe she just shouldn't dig. But she couldn't let him go, still.
She turned away and slipped into the night streets. Her phone read that it was forty minutes past midnight. There was still some time to get some rest. She needed it.
"Ryuta." mumbled Amedramon, watching him slide into bed.
"What is it?"
"I heard everything." Ryuta froze. So it hadn't been sleeping at all. "I couldn't sleep. You didn't seem well."
It would do that. "Amedramon…"
"Sorry."
"No, it's fine. I… come up here."
"Hm? But you said there's no room up there."
"It's a tight squeeze," he admitted, "but I don't really care about that right now."
"Okay." It climbed up onto his mattress. He scooted over as much as he could, back pressed against the wall. It really was tight. A thin amount of light from a lamppost outside was the only illumination. Still, Amedramon's scales glittered. "I'm not too big, right?"
"No, you're fine." He sheltered Amedramon under the sheets. Amedramon snuggled up to Ryuta and laid its head down next to his head. Having its horns so close by was intimidating, but at this point, there were many more frightening things out there, and this was not one of them. It closed its eyes and seemed to go straight to sleep. He watched its chest rise and fall for a while.
He had lied again. He wasn't in the tennis club when a few students had been charged. He hadn't sent a letter to Kouji's father either. It wasn't the reason Kanae had gotten angry about him and Kouji, but he wasn't sure he was willing to tell anyone the truth yet.