Act 2: Secrets of the Skies
Segment 1: Frosh Days
Chapter 1-4: What is a Dramon to Do?
Monodramon bonked its head against Kazuhiko's desk repeatedly. "Oi, cut it out!" Kazuhiko exclaimed. "I'm trying to focus." Kazuhiko resumed tapping at his tablet's keyboard as he reviewed his notes from lectures.
The purple Dramon groaned and flopped onto Kazuhiko's bed. The space was incredibly cramped. Far too cramped. It was nowhere near enough space. Sure, the people Kazuhiko was meeting in the lounge or in class were interesting, but that didn't mean it got a chance to do anything! It just wanted to get out. Walk downstairs. Play some games with the other humans. Kazuhiko had been taught some table game with a stick and a bunch of balls and pockets recently, and they called it pool. It wasn't anything like the pool Takaharu talked about, but… human games and human names.
It looked fun. If it just… snuck out… It tiptoed towards the door. Just a few more steps. Four. Three. Two. One. It put a paw on the door handle. Kazuhiko hadn't noticed. It turned the handle.
"Hey!" Kazuhiko yelled angrily. "Get back here!"
"But –"
"You know what happened when you did that at home last year. I don't want everyone in this dorm to find out!" Monodramon made a noise of annoyance and flopped down on the floor. Kazuhiko sighed. It was only two weeks in, but already Monodramon was showing signs of restlessness. He couldn't just keep Monodramon penned in, but there was no way he could be seen out there at all with Monodramon around.
There had to be something he could do, something to get its energy out. He wondered what Gabumon's life was like. Why didn't he just ask? It was late at night anyway on a Saturday. Satsuki should have no classes either. He picked up his phone and started a video call with her. The call went on for a while, then eventually got picked up.
"Kazu! What's up?" Satsuki replied. She seemed to be outside and on a run as her ponytail, and the camera view, shook back and forth.
"Not much, just studying."
"Still studying?" she panted. "Tell me… you've gotten out to see London the last week."
"Yeah, we did, just for a class tour."
"Class tour?" Satsuki seemed amused. "Kazu, you've got to be… less boring than that."
"Hey, I got a lot to study for-"
"So do I!" Satsuki turned her phone down. Gabumon was running alongside her.
"What?!"
Satsuki laughed. "What about it? Gabumon… have we had any trouble lately?"
"Nope! Though I have to admit, Kazuhiko, Los Angeles is really… what would you call it, Satsuki?"
"It's suburban. There are houses… and yards… everywhere. I know," she huffed as she came to a stop at an intersection, "London is a lot more cramped, so maybe you can't just go on a run like this, but… come on Kazuhiko, surely there's something you can do." Her chest rose and fell as she checked for vehicles, even though it was a quiet street.
"Monodramon is, like, the size of a small child though," he complained.
"So is Gabumon! Look, is this so weird? Hey, Gabumon, one sec." She knelt down and Gabumon hopped onto her shoulders. "You know I did this recently, right? One person asked, maybe? I don't think you're going to find as many Digimon fans over there just like over here, you know. And if they ask, you can always just say they're an exotic animal or something and kind of touchy."
"Touchy?"
"That one person tried to touch Gabumon, so it just showed its teeth and they walked away. I bet Monodramon could easily do that."
Kazuhiko nodded. "I see."
"No excuses, yeah? Who cares if people think you're a bit strange?"
"Right!"
"I need to finish my run, Kazu. I'll talk to you later!"
"Okay, bye!" He hung up and whirled around in his chair. Monodramon looked on with expectation. "Monodramon?" He looked out the window. It was dark and a bit damp, and very late on a Saturday. Knowing Londoners, they would all be at home or in the pub. Perhaps now would be the right time. The IWM was closed, but the park was still open. "Let's head outside."
"Right now?"
"It's dark and I'm sure everyone is either getting drunk off their ass or in bed. There's no better time than late at night to see London! Come on!" He shrugged on his jacket.
"Should I hop in your phone, or…"
"You can come out once we have an opening. I'll use the back trail next to the trains. Nobody should be there right now."
"Alright, let's do this!" Monodramon disappeared into Kazuhiko's phone. Kazuhiko grabbed his wallet and key card and hurried down the stairs. The park was just a quick fifteen-minute walk away and he just needed to pass by Elephant and Castle Station.
He turned around and into the laneway. There was indeed nobody there – the café was closed and there were no other businesses open. "Alright, safe to come out."
Monodramon hopped out and sniffed. "Kazuhiko, this place smells like… so much."
"Yeah, London's a pretty old-fashioned city. Hey, Monodramon?"
"I know, I know." It jumped up onto Kazuhiko's back.
"Ahh… why are you so heavy?"
"Am I really that heavy?!"
Kazuhiko grunted as Monodramon got up onto his shoulders. "I guess this will be my strength training, huh?" They made their way past the A3 and around the back of some townhomes to dodge the busier streets. Busy, perhaps, but still quiet relative to the day. The foot path was empty as well. They wound their way between home after home. It seemed like most of these were mid-century builds from when the city was expanding quickly. Signs of change were all around them in the form of tall condominiums, though, giving the beige brick more interest in the form of concrete and glass.
Kazuhiko wasn't so sure about the contrast, but the new buildings were a great deal more interesting than these townhomes. He bypassed a small square garden and entered the park. Monodramon said, "Hey, look, tennis courts."
"Hm? Oh, they are." The courts gave way to an expansive grass field and monuments related to the IWM nearby. Kazuhiko wasn't quite sure what to make of them, really. He had heard the IWM was here, but not what it really looked like. It was odd to see a peace garden right next to disused artillery cannons mounted in a concrete block with shells embedded in the ground next to it. The juxtaposition was a bizarre and seemingly self-defeating choice. He wouldn't have done that.
"What are those?" Monodramon was pointing at the artillery cannons.
"Uh…" Kazuhiko wasn't sure how to explain this. After all, Japan wasn't big on such public displays of armaments like this, unlike Europe. "They're weapons, I guess, or they were. They've been taken down and mounted here for show."
"Oh. Weapons? What for? The human world doesn't seem like it's that dangerous." That was an even harder question to answer. Silence settled over them for a while as a dog barked in the distance.
"Sometimes, humans get very agitated with each other. So agitated that they'd be willing to go to war with each other, for years." The silence returned. "What about Digimon?"
Monodramon sniffed. "Not usually. Sometimes we get into scuffles or disagreements, but…" It eyed the shells plastered to the ground. Kazuhiko was sure they were just models, but it was unsettling to look at. "Nothing that would go on for years. Just days. The Royal Knights make sure of that, plus the Four Holy Beasts and the Deva."
"The Royal Knights, Holy Beasts, and Deva, huh?" Kazuhiko whispered. "Monodramon, have you ever wondered… is it possible for them to do the wrong thing?"
Monodramon seemed to be stunned into shock for a moment. "Wrong thing? They… they can't, that's just what they're for."
Kazuhiko turned to the peace garden. "Monodramon, nobody is perfect. I don't think all of them would be either." Monodramon didn't seem convinced.
Amedramon stretched out on Ryuta's bed. His room was just about as small – if not smaller – than the one back in Tokyo, but the bed was larger. It was the only place it could comfortably fit. It tapped at his phone while he stared at an assignment. The phone buzzed. "Hm?"
• • • • • • •
Kanae
Hi how are you
September 28 05:19
Fine
September 28 08:58
How are your classes
You have time to talk?
September 28 17:19
Maybe
September 28 18:20
Call started 18:23 and ended 19:50
Hi how are you
Haru misses you
September 29 18:01
I miss her too
September 29 18:30
How are your exams
September 29 18:01
Nothing too difficult
September 29 18:30
Time to talk?
September 29 18:31
Not tonight
September 29 19:00
Your father said today is a holiday, since when?
I don't remember one
00:06
• • • • • • •
"Hey, Ryuta, is today a day off?"
He glanced up at his laptop's calendar. "It is."
"Oh. Your mother was asking."
There was an annoyed grunt from the chair. "Again? I told her two days ago, now. Last time we called."
"I guess she didn't remember."
He sighed and dropped his pen onto his book of calculus exercises. "Why am I up this late doing this?" He rubbed his eyes and groaned.
Amedramon set the phone down carefully. Its fingers were flexible, but it could still easily poke the phone with a claw and scratch it badly. "She messages frequently, it seems."
"Every day. Asks for a call every day, too. I bet she'll do it again later." He picked his pen back up only to cross out a few lines of calculus expressions. Clearly, his line of thought on this proof was leading in circles. Perhaps he did need to go to bed. "I just never told you about it."
The white dragon slunk off his bed and rested its chin on his thigh. "She's worried," it remarked as it stared up at him.
"Of course. Worrying is all she does." Ryuta rested his eyes and put a hand at the base of Amedramon's horns. "It's distracting. I don't have the time to talk for an hour every day. She keeps trying to make it longer too."
"Ryuta…"
"You've never dealt with this before, have you? Digimon don't have parents."
"No, but we still have caretakers. The little ones can't fend for themselves or find their own food. They're as helpless as any other human children," Amedramon pointed out. Ryuta rubbed one of Amedramon's horns as he pondered. None of the other Digimon had mentioned it. Perhaps they were all too old to bother thinking about it. After all, he only knew about Amedramon's age, and if Digimon could live for extended periods of time, there was no guarantee the others were of a similar age. "You didn't tell them about the house either."
He stared down the short hallway of his dorm at the door. "They don't need to know."
Amedramon tilted its head. "Why not? They seemed attached to it."
"That's exactly why they shouldn't know."
Amedramon frowned. "That doesn't make sense, Ryuta, and you know it."
He blinked at it. "It doesn't?" Amedramon opened its maw to retort. "Look, I don't think we need to talk about that anymore."
Amedramon huffed. "Fine." It eyed him as he sank back into deep thought. "You certainly enjoy keeping secrets." Ryuta shifted in his chair and said nothing in response. It shook his hand off its head and climbed up on his legs to put its snout right into his face.
They stared at each other for several seconds. The warm breath from Amedramon's nostrils made Ryuta blink. Finally, Ryuta broke the silence with, "What, you winged idiot?"
Amedramon flashed its teeth with a toothy grin. "They were right when they said you'd go back to being moody and grumpy."
"Hey!"
"It's true."