Act 2: Secrets of the Skies

Segment 1: Frosh Days

Chapter 1-7: A Sister of Her Own

Yuuka tapped at her phone. "Ryuta, you weren't kidding. Your connection is terrible," she complained. It wasn't her Internet connection, right? Nope. She and Ryuta had texted back and forth, but this was the first time he said his Internet had been good enough to have a proper video call. He had warned her in advance that it was still going to be a tough experience. He wasn't joking.

The video feed was grainy and pixelated. "I …o… an't… much… out it," came the reply. She was pretty sure she could count the squares.

"Are you on your university's WiFi?"

"…es. It…ery …sy."

"Why don't you use mobile data?"

There was something that sounded like a laugh of amusement, if it wasn't cut and compressed into a weird static burst. "n't… ex… si… anadiandatacostsaredoyou." The rest of the sentence all got squeezed together and sped up. At least the video feed was clearer. It was still grainy, but she could at least make out his eyes. Amedramon's head was resting on his shoulder as it had pulled itself up over his chair.

"What did you say?"

"You have no idea how expensive Canadian data fees are, do you?"

"How bad could it be?"

"The cheapest plan I could get with a few gigab… of data was 6000 yen per month."

"Per month?!" Yuuka exclaimed.

"…lcome to Canada."

"How – why?!"

Ryuta just laughed and added, "Goods and services tax adds thirteen percent."

Yuuka cringed. "How do people live with this?"

"They just accept it. It's sad."

Amedramon spoke up. "Yuuka, are you visiting Haru regularly?" Haru didn't have a phone, of course, and Ryuta frequently gave the excuse that he was too busy with study to call his parents regularly. His parents had complained about it a few times to her, whenever she visited them. She knew the actual reason, of course. It was happening right now, and it was painful to listen to.

"I am. Falcomon, too."

"How is college?"

Yuuka sighed. "It's a little too easy, honestly, but I'd rather see it out now that I've started it. I'm going to go study professional pastry arts after this."

"In Japan?" Ryuta asked.

"It makes the most sense, I think."

Ryuta nodded. Japan had its own way of making desserts. In truth, he missed it. Vancouver had plenty of things like it, but it was expensive. They could charge the premium, after all, for something considered more exotic.

"So, how is university in British Columbia?"

He reached a hand up to Amedramon's chin and itched it. Amedramon flicked its tongue out, like it so often did when he did this. She could hear its happy grunting over the phone. "It… n… too… d…"

The feed was back to being about forty pixels, give or take thirty-nine. Yuuka pulled a face of disappointment. Would the call even survive this time?

The app went back to the messaging page and apologized for the dropped call. Well, that was the end of that, she figured.

• • • • • • •

The Boy

I finally made a good-looking éclair!
photo
( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )
October 28 19:05

(￣﹃￣)
October 29 00:22

Call?
10:46

Call began at 10:47 and ended at 10:57

We'll chat later?
10:57

OK
10:57

• • • • • • •

She glumly set her phone down. This was frustrating to deal with, but that was how it was. Falcomon padded over to her room. "Did I miss it?"

"The call got disconnected." She set her phone down and slumped a bit in her chair. "His WiFi is as bad as he claimed."

"Awh…" Falcomon was a busy Digimon today, what with product orders arriving delayed. There was no rest for the new inventory manager.

"I'm sure we can call them another day." Yuuka got up and got dressed. She could just drop by the Koyama family early. Haru wouldn't mind at all. Falcomon hopped into Yuuka's phone as she walked down the stairs and slipped on her shoes. Her mother was still in the back of the bakery, sliding out racks of shokupan.

"Yuuka, are you heading out?"

"Yep."

"Here, I packed these up already." Mariko handed Yuuka a bag of buns. "Haru made a fuss last time they came about them not picking up the custard buns, so I put one in there. Also, what you do think of these?" She pointed to a tray of tarts. They were pale-yellow with little burnt tops. Yuuka recognized those; they were some of the first things she had practiced making some time last year.

"Oh! You started making them too!"

"Yes! Pastel de nata seemed simple enough, so I tried it myself. It wasn't too hard. There's a few in the bag as well," she replied.

"Thanks mom!"

"If they offer, have lunch with them, okay? I don't want Haru to feel lonely."

Yuuka nodded. Bag of buns in hand, she departed the bakery, letting the soft fragrance of bread waft out onto the street for a few moments, and turned north. The walk to their apartment was familiar by now, and well-practiced. The security guard was once again distracted by something and gave her a passing nod as she walked by. She'd become familiar enough to the guards anyway.

She decided to take the stairs this time. She needed to keep in shape, after all. The experiments she made usually didn't go on sale because they were not in saleable condition, and they didn't feel like throwing them out afterward, so it had been a lot of pastry in her diet lately. The shifts in the konbini were all that were staving off the weight.

Yuuka arrived at the apartment and rang the doorbell. Kanae answered it. "Yuuka! Good morning!" She swung open the gate door as well. "Come in!"

"Good morning, Kanae."

"How is college?"

Yuuka shrugged and placed the bag of baked goods on the countertop. "It's alright, I guess. It's common sense stuff to me, honestly. Falcomon also takes cares of the business anyway, so me learning these things feels like a duplication of effort."

"It's good to have backup just in case, though," replied Kanae. Hideaki was out working on this Saturday morning. It still happens, Yuuka realized. She should have known. The banks were brutal for this. An abrupt and aggressive hug from behind interrupted her thoughts.

"Yuuuukaaaa! Good morning!" Haru had her hair done into pigtails today, but she was also wearing a sweater that was very clearly not hers. It was one that Ryuta had left behind.

"Haru, why are you wearing your brother's clothes?" Yuuka asked.

Haru crossed her arms. The cuffs of the sleeves flopped about. "They're comfy. Falcomoooon!" She gave the feathered Digimon a tight hug.

"Hi, how have you been?"

"I missed you! I've been okay. School is so boring though. Look, I drew you!" Haru ventured back into her room to grab her sketchbook. Falcomon followed after her.

Yuuka noticed Kanae's expression. Was it wistfulness? Amusement? "Kanae, something on your mind?"

Kanae shook her head to clear her thoughts and returned to a pile of laundry she was folding. "It's… I don't know." The sound of joyful giggling emanated from the girl's room. "Yuuka, perhaps you'll understand this some day, but some children really do grow up in predictable ways."

"Oh?" Yuuka glanced in the direction of Haru's room. "Something about Haru?"

Kanae set down a folded sheet. "She's going to be just like her brother when she gets older. I can tell." She picked up a shirt that was clearly Hideaki's and folded it neatly as well. "They both doodled a lot in school, they're both very stubborn, they both … they're both obsessed with – Haru, I spent the whole morning fixing your hair!"

Yuuka hid a smile. She knew Haru wasn't the one who wanted her hair done up that way.

"Mom, they're annoying!" Oh dear, Yuuka thought to herself. Kanae was right. This was going to be a dramatic family for a long time yet. "Yuuka, come see this, I drew them," Haru beamed. "Look! Falcomon, Monodramon, Lomamon, Amedramon, Gabumon, and Hawkmon!"

Yuuka looked the pages of Haru's scrapbook up and down. It seemed like the most attention had been paid to Amedramon. Haru flipped it to the next page. "And Rhodramon!" There was an impressive amount of detail in that, for a nine-year-old.

Kanae added, "They're also both obsessed with dragons."

"Because they're cool, mom!" Haru flipped to the next page. Her mother wasn't lying. There were indeed a lot of dragons there. "Everyone at school thinks they're cool too!"

"Haru, these are very detailed. You're paying attention in class, right?" Yuuka asked.

Haru was indignant. "I can't believe you're just like mother."

"They are excellent drawings, though, Haru. Is that what you want to do when you grow up?"

"I sure will!"

Kanae had a look of disagreement but said nothing. Yuuka replied, "Then if you put your all into it, I'm sure you can do it."

A turning of a door key interrupted them. "I'm back! Oh, Yuuka, you came early," Hideaki remarked as he walked in and removed his shoes. "How are your parents?"

"The same as always."

Hideaki noticed the bag resting on the countertop and made a beeline for it. He untied the bag and flicked through the bagged buns. "Oh?" He lifted a white paper box out and popped it open. "Are these egg tarts, Yuuka?"

"Pastel, yes."

"I'll have to try one afterwards," he replied as he put the box back into the bag of bread and pastry. "Yuuka, these," he pulled one out, "I remember these!" They had a browned, cookie-like top.

Yuuka nodded. She had been browsing around for ideas and stumbled across a video by a Hong Konger living in Nagasaki. "I found it online, so I thought we should give it a try. You've seen them before, too?"

"Ah, back in Vancouver. There were a lot more Hong Kong immigrants there then. I remember seeing these when I'd visit my brother and cousin. Are they selling?"

"They are, just people are a little confused about them. I think a lot of people were expecting them to be hard and crunchy like melon pan." Mariko had needed to explain the difference on more than one occasion. They probably would keep them as a limited time item. It wasn't worth the confusion.

Haru had put her sketchbook back in her room and walked out, still wearing Ryuta's sweater. Hideaki snorted and guided her back to her bedroom and said, "Haru, you can't wear that, that's not yours."

"But I like it."

"Then we can try to find another one for you, but that's your brother's sweater."

"And he's not here to wear it, so I can!" Haru crossed her arms again to prevent Hideaki from tugging the sweater off.

Yuuka held back a laugh. Ryuta had commented once before that Amedramon was like a second sibling. Now she could see why.

Kanae hefted the pile of folded laundry and got up to place it in a closet. As she did, she asked Yuuka, "Are you having lunch with us? We can always order takeout if it's easier for Falcomon."

"Uh, sure. Falcomon?"

Falcomon was already sitting in an armchair. "I'm fine with that."

Yuuka sighed with contentment and stretched. It wasn't always easy to find a truly authentic Chinese restaurant around Sumida, never mind just Narihira, but Ryuta's parents had managed it. There was plenty of food left over, which was likely to be lunch for them over the next few days.

"How was it?" asked Kanae.

Yuuka noticed then that both Ryuta and Haru looked much closer to their mother than their father. "I was surprised, I didn't realize there were so many different Chinese cuisines." The restaurant they had ordered from was, according to Hideaki, Shanghainese. Yuuka had never seen much like it, though some things were familiar. "I liked the hot soy soup."

Hideaki nodded and grinned. "It's always on our order list."

Haru tugged on Yuuka's sleeve. "Yuuka, can I show you something?"

"What?"

"Come!" Haru got up abruptly and hurried to her bedroom, then stood in the doorway as if to beckon her.

"Alright." Yuuka got up and followed her while Kanae cleared the table, leaving Hideaki and Falcomon sitting there.

The two stared awkwardly at each other. It was sure he was much more familiar with Amedramon, though it had also heard about his reaction some months ago. It was all in the past, but… it wasn't so sure.

"I…" he started. "Um." Falcomon blinked. "About…" Hideaki trailed off, then looked out the window. Falcomon turned around. Nothing there. It turned back to the table. Hideaki was staring around the remaining bowls until Kanae took them away as well. The sound of running water interrupted Hideaki before he could continue saying anything.

"Something on your mind?" it asked. It seemed he was only good with formal conversations.

"Uh… well… hm." Hideaki scratched the back of his hand and inhaled sharply, as if about to speak. Again, nothing came forth.

Behind the closed door of Haru's bedroom, there was a faint giggling. It got Falcomon's attention. "How is Haru, by the way?" Falcomon asked.

"She's getting by. She's adjusting, I think, to not having her brother here all the time," Hideaki shrugged. "I'm not too sure."

"Not too sure?"

Hideaki rubbed his forehead. "It's hard for me to know. Work is…" The apartment fell silent.

"I thought you had managed to take more time off work."

Hideaki shook his head. "Only temporarily. Just to see Ryuta some more before he left. Everything got busier after that."

"So then… Kanae watches Haru, I guess?"

He nodded. Kanae replied over her shoulder, "Haru still concerns me a bit. Her grades declined sharply after he flew. She couldn't talk about anything else other than the two of them for a month afterward." She racked some washed bowls and plates. "She's recovered since, but…"

"Trust me," said Falcomon, "grades will stop mattering quickly enough." It took a sip of tea. "I know from experience."

Hideaki and Kanae frowned at it in surprise. "Digimon… have school?" Kanae asked.

Falcomon nodded. "I believe out of the six of us here in the Human World, I have the most education, in fact. Enough that I can help manage the Ishida businesses."

Hideaki blinked and sat back in his chair, then glanced over at his wife, who was just as stunned. "I hadn't heard about any of this."

"Amedramon never attended a formal school, so it couldn't have told you, if it ever brought the subject up." Falcomon took another sip of tea. It truly was good tea, warming and fragrant without bitterness. "Sunrise, the city I grew up in, was the main city in Abiāto Sector, so it had a full professional school. I spent over ten years there." Falcomon smiled. "You both seem in complete disbelief."

"I – I am," admitted Hideaki. "Ten years? That almost sounds like mandatory school length here."

"Ten years is mandatory? Hm. Maybe the Digital World should do the same some day."

"But ten years is enough to pick up a profession?"

"We learn quickly, all of us Digimon," remarked Falcomon. "Still, some are more talented than others."

"And you…"

"Accounting, same as I'm doing now. Hawkmon was drafted into the city guard, but it did odd jobs here and there, so it told me, like delivering post or managing the guard's pay."

The Koyamas had already been shook by the mention of accounting. "There's a currency in the Digital World?" Hideaki wondered out loud.

"Of course, there is! The Digital World might still be a bit untamed in many places, but we have a functional civilization. Really, as soon as I met Yuuka, I started to fit in just fine here. I only wish I could be out in public more, but maybe some day things will change."

Haru emerged from her bedroom with Yuuka. "Dad," she implored, a board game in her hands. Hideaki glanced over at Kanae. Normally they would require her homework to be finished first and a piano practice session completed. Kanae just smiled and nodded this time.

"Okay, Haru."

"Yay!"