Act 1: Beating Heart
Segment 4: Breakup
Chapter 4-2: The Allotted Time
Haru grumped. "It's not fair! I have so much schoolwork and you have none!" She crossed her arms.
Ryuta held in a laugh and sat next to her. "Haru, it's because I don't have to go to school until September."
"I don't want homework either!"
"You just want to draw Rhodramon again, don't you?"
Rhodramon, for its part, was sitting on the couch, with one leg over the other. Ryuta looked up. It was odd seeing his Partner Digimon walking around so human-like all of a sudden, but Rhodramon admitted it rather preferred this. It was just hard to maintain for a long time without getting hungry, but even so, it seemed like it was learning to hold its Ultimate form for longer.
"Why can't I have a Partner too?"
Ryuta didn't know how to answer that, but Kanae apparently did. As she walked past with a basket of clothes, she replied, "Haru, maybe when you grow older, a Digimon will appear for you too."
"But mom-"
"Perhaps Digimon only appear to people who are mature enough to handle them," she replied. "You'll need to get smarter and wiser first, Haru. And that's what schoolwork is for."
She pouted. "Fiiiine."
Kanae tapped Ryuta on the shoulder and said, "Ryuta, the holiday week is coming up. Was there anywhere you wanted to go?"
He blinked. This was new. "Anywhere… at all?"
"Your father said we should travel somewhere in Japan before you leave, and he managed to take the 30th of April off, as well as the rest of the week after. We have the whole week and a few days."
"Uh… I haven't thought about it. It's only a week from now, too."
"Well, if anything comes to mind, just let me know." She walked to the laundry machine with the basket. Ryuta stared at her. Things had calmed down ever since Yuuka had visited in March, but this was different levels of calm. "Oh, and he's booked a week off as well in July, if that makes it easier."
And Hideaki never took vacation days so aggressively like that. "Rhodramon, is there anywhere you want to see?"
From the other side of the apartment, the dragon replied, "Osaka seems fun." It bit down on a quartz crystal and crunched on it. "Too soon for next week?"
Kanae didn't even need to look up. "The trains and planes will be packed full. Maybe it makes more sense to stay here, and we can go in the summer. How does that sound?"
"I can wait. Ryuta?"
"Yeah, July is fine." He stared at Rhodramon, who just grinned and shrugged.
Yuuka stared at her phone, lying on her chest. She had just bid Asuka farewell earlier that day, when she stopped by with Rei, Bunzo, and Sora on their way to the train station. Rei had been helping her sister with all of her bags.
She turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling. The weather was warming again, but it felt strange. For her, the classes had resumed as normal. Even though now she found herself at college taking courses on small business economics and entrepreneurship, and planned to further her study by attending a patisserie school in Tokyo, watching her friends leave one by one was an odd feeling. She knew they weren't abandoning her, but her mind itched. She already missed seeing Takaharu's face from time to time. The best she would get would be video calls, but she didn't want to bother him too much. He had a lot to study for – four years of academics and another two years of practice.
Falcomon walked into her bedroom, having just done some work opening boxes up and doing some of the financials itself. It had surprised the Ishida family with how quickly it had learned to interpret human arithmetic symbols, and since it was so organized – more organized than any of them, since Nagisa was out often and Mariko had too much on her hands – they quickly entrusted the accounting to it. It saved them from having to pay for software, at least.
"Are you okay?" Falcomon asked. "You've been lying there for a while."
"I'm not." Her arms flopped to her sides, still with the phone in one hand. "I hate it. They're all leaving."
Falcomon climbed onto her bed and sat down in front of her. "Yuuka, it can't be helped. They have their own lives too. You'll see them all soon enough again." She just groaned in response. "You know I'm in the same position as you. It's going to be a long time before we see Lomamon, and Asuka and Hawkmon will be here only when she has the time for it. But Yuuka, you still have a few more months. We should try to see the others too before they fly out."
"I have classes! And they don't." She was actually a bit jealous of the fact that Kazuhiko, Satsuki, and Ryuta were mostly just waiting around and enjoying a very long holiday.
"You still have weekends, though. What about next week?"
"I guess so."
Falcomon wasn't convinced this was the end of it. "Yuuka, I find it odd."
"What's odd?"
"You want to be independent so much, yet you keep worrying about what the others are doing and if they're okay. They'll be fine. Trust them."
Yuuka poked her head up. Falcomon stared back at her. She put her head back down. "It's not that I'm worried for their wellbeing, I just…"
"You are. You always do. That's why you always try to be there when they need someone to talk to."
She groaned and went back to her phone. The time wasn't ticking any faster at all. Falcomon was right, and she knew it. She just didn't want to admit it.
"Makoto?" asked Etsuko. They had taken Golden Week off, like so many other businesses. It was a rare chance to catch up with their kids, Satsuki and Makoto, though the two of them were so mature that they hardly felt like they had to anymore. Except today, something seemed to be gnawing at Makoto. "Are you alright? Is final year stressful?"
He put down his glasses on the dinner table and rubbed his eyes. "It's not any more stressful than the first three years, honestly."
"So, then…"
"I told you I applied to get into a graduate's program at Waseda, right?" Etsuko nodded. "The professor I wanted to work for is apparently not returning in a few years."
"Well, couldn't you just follow him to his new school?"
"He doesn't know himself." Makoto shrugged.
"Oh! Strange."
Satsuki shot him a look of concern, which she shared with Gabumon. Gabumon asked, "Does this have anything to do with us?"
"You mean how you went into their backup data centre and trashed their data? I couldn't possibly see how that's related." He sighed.
Gabumon slunk down the chair. "Now I feel bad."
"It's unfortunate, but we had to," Satsuki replied. "If it was growing that quickly, then by the next day, it probably would have turned into something visible on the street. Who knows what would have happened by then?"
"I know, but… I just don't like seeing someone suffer for something they had nothing to do with." Gabumon sipped a bottle of green tea. "Makoto, does that mean you're not going to apply for a position with this professor anymore?"
Makoto took a while to respond. He stared at the email. "No, I still will. He seems like the nicest person in the faculty. And if he moves, I guess I'll go with him."
"What if he moves out of Japan? He might not get his contract renewed anywhere around here after the incident," Satsuki reminded him.
Makoto turned to his parents. "Mom, Dad, what if I went abroad as well?"
Gaku was apparently trying to come up with menu ideas. Still mentally at work. "Go ahead, son. I did it. Satsuki's doing it. It's fun!" He put down his notebook and pen. "You get to learn and see completely different ways of living. Maybe even learn another language."
"So how's that French coming?"
"Hey now, it's not like I practice it anymore!" Gaku turned back to his notebook. "Don't worry too much about us, Makoto. We'll be fine on our own."
Makoto wasn't sure, still. If Satsuki was going to be gone for the next several years – and there wasn't even a guarantee she was going to return – it seemed to him rather unfair that both of them were leaving, especially after his parents had taken on so much to get both of them into school. He still worked a day every week to make up for it a bit and had loans of his own.
Still, the opportunity was too tempting to give up.
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Date: 2021-04-30 13:40
From: Makoto Tokuda
To: Brian Mackenzie
Subject: RE: Graduate Applications
Hello Prof. Mackenzie,
I got your last email about the status of your future time at the university. It's very unfortunate, and I hope dearly that you can secure a new contract very soon.
Despite that, please know that I'm still interested in joining your research group as a graduate student. Let me know if there needs to be any changes to the forms I sent last week.
Best,
Makoto 徳田 誠
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