Act 2: Secrets of the Skies

Segment 2: Calm After the Storm

Chapter 2-1: Laying Foundations

Monodramon bumped Kazuhiko's shoulder. "Hey." No response. Monodramon nudged him again. "Hey! Sleepyhead!"

Kazuhiko burbled and seemed to move a bit.

Monodramon sighed. Whenever Kazuhiko was on break, his sleep schedule ceased any semblance of sense. It was almost noon now. Besides not being allowed outside of his room, it was hungry, the sun was up, London was cold, and Kazuhiko was still sleeping!

Monodramon huffed and leaned back, and then rammed its forehead into Kazuhiko's torso.

"Ahhh! Damn it…" Kazuhiko cried out and curled into a ball.

"You're awake."

"Why…" Kazuhiko groaned while clutching his abdominals. His trembling fingers reached for his glasses up on his bedframe. He slipped the frames onto his face and squinted around for his phone. Just four minutes to noon. He sighed. He'd promised he would fix his late sleeping and waking at some point, but that was going nowhere.

Monodramon sighed and sat in the chair. "You said you'd stop sleeping so late."

"I know, I know…" Kazuhiko admitted, "I just, well, I… I get all caught up in gaming, heheh." He hissed as he sat up on his bed and checked his phone's notifications from overnight. Social media, emails, a text from his bank, two messages.

Monodramon groaned. "That's not a defence." Kazuhiko always promised he'd fix his habit of gaming late at night, but he never did. Even when it pestered him to put down his handheld console, he'd just wave it off and ask for a few more minutes until the clock ticked into the next day, and often longer than that too.

Kazuhiko flicked through some more notifications. "Huh, looks like they sent some pictures."

• • • • • • •

Sumida Tamers

Segawa Takaharu
[photo]
I'm just saving this for memories
Look at that marbling haha
02:18

Ishida Yuuka
You're going to make Kazuhiko feel bad
02:20

Segawa Takaharu
[video: Satsuki]
Kazuhiko, your girl is incredible
02:45

Nagatomo Asuka
so organized
I'm jealous ww
02:47

Ishida Yuuka
You basically don't even clean up your own room…
02:48

Nagatomo Asuka
i do!
…sometimes
02:49

Tokuda Satsuki
Finally finished
[photo: plates of food]
Kazuhiko when you come back… you know what we're doing
02:55

Segawa Takaharu
[photo: group photo]
Miss you bud! Let's do this again when you come back in summer!
03:10

• • • • • • •

3 am? Kazuhiko scratched his cheek and tried to calculate with his morning brain fog what time it would have been over there. About noon? Of the 27th? Probably. In that case, he'd gone to bed just before it started. Now that it was noon in the UK, it would be nine in the evening there.

"That does look incredible," he muttered with a sad smile. It had been his choice not to return for the winter, after all. Things just so happened to line up this time. "Oh well. Next summer it is." He yawned and stretched, then set his phone down. Monodramon looked up impatiently as he plodded to the washroom to refresh himself, then grabbed his phone.

Monodramon flicked through the messages and photos they had sent. It had been very lonely being the only Digimon here, in the UK, and unable to meet anyone new or do much more than sit on Kazuhiko's shoulders while he walked through a park. It sighed wistfully and pored over the lunch photos from Japan, wishing sorely that it could be there.

"Ah… Amedramon and the others look so happy…" Monodramon set the phone back down and flopped on Kazuhiko's bed. "Ugh, why does London have to be so miserable and grey?" it asked the air as it stared out the windows. A train rumbled past on its way out of the heart of the city.

Kazuhiko grumbled in disbelief. Wasn't Christmas supposed to have been two days ago? Why was everything still closed? "There's gotta be something, man," he muttered to himself as he flicked around on his phone. He tapped at another potential location. Also closed. The cafés nearby? Also closed. The cheap chicken place down the street was also closed.

"Let me look!" Monodramon yelled. It wasn't just its belly that was depleted, it was also its patience. It reached for the phone in Kazuhiko's hands.

He swung it above his head. "Dude, calm down!"

"I'm as calm as I'm going to get today!" Monodramon hopped up and down to try to reach, and realizing it wasn't tall enough, climbed up on his bed, only for Kazuhiko to stand up.

"Seriously! Just let me look for a few more minutes!"

Monodramon roared and sat back down with arms crossed. It stared sullenly out the window as Kazuhiko returned to tapping around aimlessly. Even the Vietnamese place up Walworth was closed. What terrible timing.

There was a knock at the door. Who could possibly be knocking right now? "Monodramon, stay out of sight." The purple Digimon eyed him angrily, considering just staying in full view, but figured it didn't have the energy to deal with the fallout if it was spotted. It hopped into his phone.

Kazuhiko went to get the door. "Uh, something the matter guys?" His dormmates looked ready to go out.

"Yeah! You didn't respond to texts! We were going to get a late lunch at that Chinese place literally at the corner, since it's the only thing open in the entire area," replied a local brown-haired guy. Kazuhiko vaguely remembered his name as Marcus. He was clearly from somewhere in England, but as to exactly where, he'd never said.

"Oh!" Kazuhiko had been eyeing it himself. It was awkward going alone, though, to a place like that, or at least he felt that way. Though if he went with friends, it might mean Monodramon would have to suffer for another hour or two. What a dilemma. "Uh, yeah… well, about that…"

"Hey, Kazuhiko," someone replied from the rear and out of sight, "it's the perfect opportunity!" Kazuhiko perked up. That sounded like his classmate Isabel. She jumped up to get in his view and waved.

"Oh hey, Isabel! I, uh, sure! Sure, I'll go." He flicked off his room's lights and locked the door behind him as the rest of the group kept moving. When they slipped into the stairwell, he got his phone out and whispered, "Sorry, Monodramon, but it'll be a bit longer." The only response was a pained grunt.

Kazuhiko rushed to keep up with the others who were already walking out of the dorm building and onto the street. Isabel turned to wait from him. Her hair had been done into black curls. "Still half asleep?" she joked.

"Uh! Ah, no! Kind of," Kazuhiko fumbled.

"Well, I'm sure some strong Chinese tea will get you awake in no time," she replied. The group of six made the short walk around the corner to the pair of red doors. Kazuhiko had passed these frequently on his way to and from the university campus, but he'd never been inside until now. It was relatively refined, matching the décor of the status and the doors.

A waiter bowed to them and took them to a small circular table, where Isabel and Kazuhiko sat next to each other. On Kazuhiko's other side was someone he faintly recognized. Was he also a classmate? "Uh, sorry, I don't think I ever got your name."

The blonde-haired man made an amused smile and offered his hand. "Mikhail. But you can just call me Mike. You know we're classmates, right?"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah! I guess we're just on opposite ends of the lecture hall all the time. I've seen you around, though!"

The one Chinese person in the group – that person named Marcus – chatted with the waiter while Kazuhiko processed the thought that this person was someone he'd seen before. Was he really a classmate? He figured he'd just never paid attention.

Kazuhiko shook Mikhail's hand. "Kazuhiko."

"That sounds incredibly Japanese. Hey, Isabel, aren't you fluent in it?"

"Me?" she asked. "I mean, kind of. I can stumble through it."

"Really? I've never heard you use it," Kazuhiko remarked.

"It's out of practice. I used to trek the world with my parents since they were diplomats, but we've settled here ever since a few years ago."

A waitress came to the table with a teapot. Marcus poured out tea for everyone at the table, then for himself. Kazuhiko took a whiff. It was definitely much darker and more herbal than the sencha or matcha he was used to. He took a sip. "Huh, that's not too bitter, actually." He set his teacup back down. "So, what are you up to, Mike?"

He shrugged. "I remembered I hadn't ever actually finished some shows from when I was a kid, so I'm rewatching them."

Kazuhiko raised an eyebrow. Mikhail seemed a bit embarrassed about it. "What is it?"

"Uh, I mean, it's kind of childish, but… I'm sure you've heard of Digimon, right?"

Kazuhiko cracked a wide grin. "Of course," he replied, "I'm kind of obsessed with Digimon, actually."

"Hah!" Mikhail slapped his thigh. "I heard there was a card game too, what's that all about?"

"They restarted the whole game! It's great, I should show you after!"

Gabumon yawned and stretched out on a chair at the dining table. Makoto was busy working on something again, and Satsuki was cleaning up the pots she'd used. It was much simpler than the lunch she'd made earlier that day, but she had made curry sauce from scratch, and it was a vast improvement over the packages they used to use.

A sound at the door caught its attention. "We're back!" Gaku exclaimed. "And off for the next week, thank goodness." The partly balding man seemed more exhausted than usual.

"Welcome back," Gabumon replied. Gaku rubbed its furred head as he passed by.

"Is someone running the place while you're on break?" Satsuki asked.

"Yep! As always," Gaku replied. He dropped his bag in the apartment's main bedroom and retrieved his work clothes from it, then threw them straight into the washing machine. "Etsuko, you can go bathe first." He made his way to the fridge. "Makoto, where's your coaster?!"

"Agh! Sorry!" Makoto quickly shuffled a cork coaster underneath his glass of water.

Gaku pulled out a can of lager from the fridge and cracked it open. He took a long draught of it and set it back down. "Ahh, that's better." He rubbed his wrinkling forehead with the back of a hand. "Damn crazies with way too much jewelry complained in the middle of the dining hall and made us comp a whole meal for four. So frustrating." He squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and took another long gulp of beer.

"Again?" Makoto asked over his shoulder.

"Again!" Gaku grumbled. "I swear they're the same people from a few months ago, too. I bet they do this wherever they go."

Satsuki smirked. "Bad time to suggest I work part-time, I guess."

Gaku cracked an eye open to stare at her. "You serious?"

"It's good practice."

"You mean,not like the last time when we just let you do your thing for a while."

"Yeah, truly part-time. Lunch hour, maybe."

"Are you sure?" Gaku scowled at his daughter. "It's a brutal workplace."

She shrugged. "I have to start somewhere, right? Better here and now than somewhere I've never been before."

Gaku sighed and took another gulp of the cold beer. "No, you're right. It's just that… you know, there are some real characters on staff." He stared Satsuki right into her dark brown eyes and a wry half-smile. "Not all of them, shall I say, are so easily convinced."

"Convinced? Of what?"

Gaku frowned and stared directly ahead. "You should be aware a few people think youngsters like you have no reason to be on staff." He tapped his can of beer with a finger a few times. "They said so to me the last time you were there." Before Satsuki could defend herself, he added, "I told them to fuck off, of course. I wasn't going to let them get away with that comment, especially not about you. But still." He took another sip and grunted. "If they say something idiotic, let me know. The general manager and I will see what we can do about it."

Satsuki rinsed the last plate and racked it to dry. "Sure thing."

"In the meantime, I'll see when I can get you scheduled." Gaku put his meaty hands on Makoto's shoulders. "Oi, kid, what the hell are you working on?" Gaku squinted at the code on the screen. He shook his head. "Ah, what am I doing, I can't read this stuff."

Makoto's shoulders shook as he laughed out loud. "It's just some projects for the end of year courses. He took a sip of his water. "I have to admit, it's hard to believe April is in just four months." He tapped a correction into his code and let it execute. It would take a few minutes to run, since the distributed cluster he was networked to was partially in maintenance over the winter. "I'm so tempted to stop caring, you know?"

Gaku squeezed Makoto's shoulders, which made him wince. "Yeah, kid, but it's not done until it's out the door, right?"

"Ow, yeah, I know."

"Mm. Then keep at it." Gaku took another chug of his beer. "Satsuki, any news on your admission?"

She nodded. "I have an interview in the new year."

Amedramon looked about. Somehow, some way, it had never been upstairs above the Ishida's businesses before. It was much less decorated than the Koyama apartment, and the furniture seemed basic and utilitarian. Nobody seemed to mind. Mariko was still downstairs even though most businesses took this time off. Her employees had been given a break, but she was still working. It laid its head back down and watched Falcomon tap on its laptop.

Yuuka checked a notification on her phone. She could barely believe it was now 2022. Time was starting to go faster and faster, it seemed. "Ryuta, how is your family?" she asked.

He looked out the window. There was a decent view of the street from here. A light dusting of snow had blown through. "I'm not sure what to think."

"Still?"

His fingers tapped the ceramic mug filled with coffee. It was still cooling down. "I had hoped I'd be able to be at peace after the last several months, but it's…" He went quiet and watched as cars pulled to the side to let an ambulance through. "Recovering from years of neglect has been harder than I anticipated."

Her head drooped. "I see." The sound of keyboard tapping continued. Falcomon was busy ensuring their inventory was in healthy condition when business picked back up in a few days. "I hoped for better, but I guess it's still not healthy."

He rubbed his temples with the heels of his hands. "They've corrected too far, from being absent to being too present. They'd pester me almost every day when I was over there, in Vancouver, about how I was feeling and if I was keeping up with you and all that." He made a noise of wry amusement. "I got what I wanted, and then I got more than that. Now it's too much attention. It's very annoying."

Yuuka stayed quiet. She was aware of how extreme their family could be, but she still wasn't sure how they went about their day-to-day. She only visited once a month or so, and of course, he wasn't around.

"Truthfully… I've grown to like being distant from them."

Her head went up. "So, you're staying in Vancouver? After your studies are done?"

Ryuta pressed his lips tightly and averted his gaze. "I'm not sure anymore. I want to give myself some distance from them, but I can't just leave this place behind anymore." He finally met eyes with Yuuka, sitting across from him. "Especially not you. I don't want to ask you to uproot yourself just for my sake."

Yuuka slid down in her chair a bit and loosely crossed her arms. She shook her head. "And I don't feel like leaving either. It's uncomfortable."

"Exactly. But if I stay here, then they'll always bug me for this and that. I…" He stopped speaking, shook his head, and took a sip of coffee. "I don't know what to do. You know how suffocating it can be to be in there, well, now that I've lived outside of my bedroom here, it's very apparent to me that I can't be there anymore."

"It brings back bad memories?"

"Very much so. I feel on edge just being in those walls." Amedramon looked up with concern and tried to read Ryuta's face. It was inscrutable as it so often seemed to be. He was well practiced with being unreadable, even after all this time. He caught it staring at him from across the dining area and softened his expression. Amedramon grinned with squinted eyes and returned to watching Falcomon work.

Yuuka reached out a hand on the table. "Ryuta." Ryuta looked down at her outstretched hand, then placed his hand into it. "We'll find our own way."

"Of course."