Act 2: Secrets of the Skies
Segment 2: Calm After the Storm
Chapter 2-5: Dexmon is Gone
Yuuka slipped into a comfortable sweater and jeans. Falcomon called out from the kitchen. "Yuuka, you ready to leave?"
"Yep!" She turned off her bedroom's lights and closed the door behind her. Falcomon was hovering in the air not far from Nagisa, who was reading a monthly magazine as he always did on Sundays.
"You sure Mariko and I can't come?" he jokingly asked as Yuuka went to retrieve a white box from the fridge.
"They only invited me."
"Not even the other Tamers?" Nagisa sipped coffee from a mug.
"Nope." She carefully pulled out the box with both hands and supported it from the bottom, then shut the fridge door. "Just me alone."
"Hm." He took another sip. "It's understandable." He flipped to the next page. "I read about your friend, by the way, this morning. The one with red hair."
"Asuka?"
"Yes, her. Very impressive season she's having. Hopefully she'll make it to the national team."
Yuuka clutched the box to her body gently. "She's trying to downplay it a lot. I'm sure she can do it, though."
"One step at a time, I suppose." He picked up the mug again. "How old is Haru now?"
"Ten."
He nodded. "So halfway to adulthood. Actually, not anymore, I think. They lowered it recently. Or they're still talking about it." He pushed up his reading glasses. "Regardless, I shouldn't keep you hanging around. Enjoy the celebration!"
"Thanks dad, I will!" Yuuka turned with the box in hand as Falcomon disappeared into her phone. The shop and bakery were relatively quiet for a Sunday. A repeat customer glanced her head up and smiled. "Good morning," Yuuka replied on her way out. She got a quick glance at the bakery. Mariko was as busy as ever with her hair tied up and out of the way. She slipped out of the doorway and into the February chill. Fortunately, the wind was calm.
She passed by the security desk. "Hm? Is there really nobody here?" She looked around. The screens, phone, and chair still appeared to be there, but they were all seemingly off. "Odd." She glanced ahead of her. "Ah… I see." So they had modernized and decided there was no need anymore for the security guard, or they were merely working reduced hours. She approached the security panel and tapped in the Koyama residence.
"Hi! It's me!" That was all they needed to unlock the elevator access. She punched in the floor and hummed a tune as it took her up. Haru was already standing in the doorway by the time she arrived.
"Yuuka!" Haru exclaimed. This time her hair seemed to be done into a ponytail. It seemed she didn't mind this one. "Oh? What's that?"
"It's a cake," she replied as she entered the apartment. "Houjicha, sweet apple, hazelnut. Good morning!"
Kanae looked up the dining table. She appeared to be texting somebody. "Wow. That's a bit larger than I expected."
"Is it? Oops."
"No matter. Ah! Just Falcomon." The flash of light shocked the mid-forties-aged woman.
"Sorry!" Falcomon apologized for spooking Kanae. "I'm very used to doing this around the others. Where's Hideaki?"
"Getting takeout."
Yuuka set the cake into the fridge. It was neatly organized. "This happens every week?"
"Yes, why?"
"No, just curious." She didn't want to comment about how frequent it seemed to be, despite Kanae being a homemaker. It was, at least for her, a bit unusual how frequent it was. Perhaps Mariko was just that proficient at cooking that it hadn't been necessary. "Did Ryuta say anything?"
"Oh, not much. Just a quick chat. He said he was busy this weekend and had a number of exams upcoming after his day off tomorrow." She looked sadly out a window. "It seems that's the case all the time." Yuuka pressed her lips together and said nothing. It might have been a lie. He hadn't told her about his schedule or his exams in the slightest. He preferred not to talk about those things anyway. "But I heard from Sora that he's working with Rei and Makoto on some kind of application."
Yuuka shared a glance with Falcomon. "They're still thinking about it?" Falcomon asked.
"I guess so," Yuuka replied. Falcomon settled into an armchair. Haru started singing a recognizable song from her bedroom about being a big dreamer. Yuuka's lips curled slightly. "Hey, Falcomon? I'm reminded. Do you ever … think about returning?"
Falcomon looked up at her, then at Kanae, and then stared back down at the rug. "Not much at all now, to be honest. I… I'm not sure I want to go back."
"Really? But… it's not like you can walk about the human world easily."
"I know. But it's comfortable. It's all I could ask for." It looked up at Yuuka. "It's all I really wanted out of life." It let out a sad sigh. "But I know what you're thinking. What about the others? I'm not so sure they're so keen on staying here." It accepted a mug of hot genmaicha tea from Kanae. "At least I feel like I have a purpose and a reason to be here."
"I know what you mean." Yuuka sat in the armchair next to Falcomon and checked her phone. Hideaki was likely arriving in a few minutes. "I'm glad you find it comfortable at least. But I know for sure Gabumon is a bit uncomfortable with it all. What about the others?"
Falcomon shook its head. "All I know is that Hawkmon is okay with it as well. It never really minded doing odd jobs here and there. I… well, I… I never told you what Sunrise was like, did I?"
"No, you never have." Yuuka crossed her legs. This could be interesting. "How do Digimon live?"
"Most of us live in towns and cities now. I'm told it wasn't the case even just hundreds of years ago. If anyone knows why things changed, then they haven't told me. But there are still some Digimon that forage off the land for food."
"You told me there was a currency system."
"Everyone used to have their own currency, but then It formed out of some reason. It seems Yggdrasill just enabled it all of a sudden, for everyone." Falcomon shrugged. "All of the private currencies were banned after that."
Yuuka tucked her lips in. "Hmm." It was a shame. It seemed even Falcomon was unaware of a lot about the world it inhabited. She contemplated the thought. It was understandable. After all, there was plenty she didn't know about their own. She could barely manage high school physics, after all. She couldn't criticize Falcomon for not knowing something.
"But Sunrise Block is the main city of Abiāto Sector, which… I think is the same as a prefecture here? Or so what I've picked up so far seems to indicate. The Digital World is divided into Realms or Kan, and those into Sectors or Zai, and then further into Blocks or Pon. Abiāto is the second-largest zai in Raikose-kan, the Realm of a Thousand Voices."
"Is a Realm a country?"
The bird Digimon shook its head. "I don't think so. It does have governance, but they're all accountable to a Royal Knight and the Deva in the end anyway. It's more just a council of elders, I guess. But that doesn't stop Digimon from disagreeing with each other. The Deva step in before things get out of hand, usually. But I've heard of some violence between Digimon in Teragu-ino." It sniffed. "Don't tell the others this, but frankly, the northerners are a bit less civil."
Her head spun. Royal Knight? Deva? Neither term brought anything to mind. She was sure if either of Takaharu or Kazuhiko were there, they would understand. "I assume Sunrise is a very important city, then."
"It is, and home to tens of thousands of Digimon. I think the last census put it at just over 360,000. In comparison to here, to Tokyo, it's hardly anything. But it was important all the same. Our Sector's governors were also its protectors, and we called them the Skyraisers, because they kept Sunrise aloft and kept it safe. Though, if you want the name that we'd actually use for them, it would be Zuyokoiezo." Yuuka raised an eyebrow. "It literally just means those who raise the sky," Falcomon explained.
She nodded. "A floating city…"
"It's a set of floating islands joined to the mainland by bridges. There are some settlements on the ground, but the capital and all those important buildings are floating. It's been that way before all Digimon remember, though I'm sure a few Digimon like the Royal Knights or the Sovereigns know the history. The art of energy funnelling is just passed on from one generation to the next. Supposedly, for hundreds, if not thousands of years, even during the Lost Era."
Yuuka stared in amazement. "How…"
Falcomon stared back with its glittering yellow eyes. "Is that so strange?"
"Well…" Lost Era? There was so much they didn't know. Falcomon suddenly seemed a whole different being to her. It appeared so much like a bird, and Yuuka realized then that she wasn't talking to a bird that happened to be intelligent. She was talking to a person who happened to be feathered. It was an uncomfortable realization. Her skin crawled. Just how deep did their society go? It seemed so complex that it rivalled human ones.
"It's the Digital World after all. It doesn't need to obey physics here."
"Right."
It sighed and stared out the window. "Now that we're talking about it, I do wonder how they're doing. When I came here, there was an intense battle going on. A Dark Digimon invasion on a scale nobody has ever seen." It tapped its digits on the armchair's fabric. "By the time we had received a courier's message from the Awa-kan capital, Kusudakenos-pon, that they needed reinforcements, Sunrise was being invaded as well. I heard in the chaos from one of the Skyraisers, just before the battle, that there was rumour that every major Kan was under attack. I'm not sure about the others, but…"
"But?"
"I don't think we ever saw a single Royal Knight. It must have been a truly global crisis if they couldn't pay attention to us." It shook its head. "I just hope the city is safe."
They sat in silence without realizing Haru was overhearing everything. Suddenly the now-ten-year-old asked, "Falcomon, what does Sunrise mean?"
"Ah! You were listening!" Falcomon jumped in its chair, as did Yuuka. "It literally means 'smell the fragrance of spring', but 'sun' is just a term for all the smells that plants make during spring, and 'rise' just means 'to smell'".
Haru grinned with her sketchbook in hand. "That's a nice name."
Falcomon nodded. "Ironically, though, Sunrise itself didn't grow much plant life, and it was surrounded by forest. Honestly, I'm not sure why it was named that way."
Yuuka uncrossed her legs and stood up as Hideaki opened the apartment door. "Perhaps it used to be known for flowerbeds?"
"Perhaps."
"I'm back! Haru, a little help," Hideaki announced.
"Right!" She bounded over and took the white takeout bags from his hands, then brought them to the table. She began untying the tight knots.
"Mr. Hideaki, good morning," Yuuka said from the armchair.
"Yuuka! It's been a while." Yuuka tried not to stare rudely at his scalp. It seemed his hair was quickly changing to white. At least, what hair remained. She wasn't sure if it was from the stress of his job or genetics.
"It has." She rose along with Falcomon to walk to the table. "What did you get?"
"Well, Haru was saying she wanted to try something more suitable for adults, but…" he started as he eyed the bags of food warily, "she also kept saying she wanted to try what, well…"
Haru coughed as she inhaled something. "Ow, my eyes." Yuuka's head snapped to attention. She had cracked open a small plastic cup of angry red sauce and given it a hefty whiff.
"She insisted on doing what her brother does, so we got Thai. True Thai. All the spice is on the side, of course, but…"
"I'll be fine, dad!" Haru rebutted. Yuuka and Falcomon glanced at the sauce, then at each other. It was no neon orange habanero sauce, but they were sure it was just as bad. They both shook their heads. Neither of them were of any mind to give it a try.
Kanae placed plates and bowls on the table. "Haru, please be careful with that. Do you need milk?"
"No, mom!"
Hideaki fetched a tablet from the primary bedroom. "But before we eat," he said, "what about a quick call?" He tapped on it a few times and let it ring. "Ryuta?"
The video feed was more crisp than usual. "Yeah?" came the familiar voice. His father propped up the tablet and turned it to face everyone else. "Oh, right. Haru, happy tenth birthday. Sorry I can't be there."
"Thanks Ryuta! Hey, where are you right now?"
"Outside, just walking through the marsh next to the university." He panned the view around. It truly was a marsh, still frosted with a light dusting of snow. The only thing in view were trees and a wooden path.
"Ryuta," chided Kanae, "your data plan is expensive."
"Relax, mom. It's fine. I don't even use it much outside anyway. I have some data allowance left."
"He'll be alright," Hideaki added. "But still, this seems very remote. It's dark, Ryuta."
He produced a flashlight. "One step ahead of you. And it's not remote. I haven't even left the university territory, technically."
Hideaki scratched his forehead. "Well, as long as you stay on the path and have your phone with you."
"Where's Amedramon?" asked Haru. Ryuta pointed his camera down at the white dragon trudging alongside him. It looked up and grinned. "Ah! Hi, Amedramon!"
"Hi, Haru! Happy birthday!"
The tablet screen showed Ryuta's face again. His hair was spiked up as always. "By the way, Yuuka, how is Mariko?"
"Mom? She's fine. Working hard, as always." Yuuka blinked. Not even a lick of concern for Kanae and Hideaki? They were sitting right there. Then again, they probably talked more often. It made some sense.
"And Falcomon?"
"I'm doing just fine," it replied.
"Good to hear. Hey, Haru, remember to keep in touch with your friends, okay?"
"I got it." Yuuka tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile. It was a bit rich coming from him.
"Anyway, I know you all miss seeing me in person, but it won't be that long. Just a few more months, okay? Enjoy your birthday, Haru. We'll celebrate properly when I'm back."
Hawkmon stretched out on Asuka's bed. "Finally," it groaned. "All tidy again. Oh, Asuka, one day… you really need to learn how to pick up good habits." It looked about the bedroom. The sheets were straightened, the windows dusted and cleaned, her desk dusted and wiped, clothes folded. Footsteps came from the hallway. "Agh-" Hawkmon put its hands over its beak and looked around. Asuka was still out at training, but it chosen to stay behind and clean up for her since otherwise she never did.
It looked about, then tiptoed over to her closet and opened the door just in case it needed to hide. Her bedroom door was unlocked as usual, in the event that someone needed to enter. The handle turned. It slipped into the tight closet and held its breath as best as it could, then tried to slide the closet doors shut.
Maria peered in. "What…? I swear I heard talking. Asuka?" she called out. "No, she went to practice anyway," she muttered to herself. She pushed the door open fully and walked in as best as she could with a boot. Her knee had been tweaked slightly by a rough landing, but it wasn't too terrible. Maybe she would be back in training in a few months. "Anyone here?"
Hawkmon resisted the temptation to crack the closet door open a bit. Its beak tingled. It clenched. Now was not a good time…!
Maria looked around. "Wow. She's extremely neat and tidy in her own bedroom." She looked up at the poster of the Japanese women's national team putty-tacked to the wall, then over at the backpack resting against the bedframe. Even her desk was neatly organized and arranged. "Shame she's not like this in the living area," she sighed.
Hawkmon's beak opened slightly. This was an absolutely terrible, improper, poorly timed, unfortunate condition…
"Guess I just heard something odd." She turned around and stepped her way out of the bedroom, then shut the door behind her and started down the stairs carefully.
Hawkmon held in its sneeze as best it could.
Maria's head whipped around. "What the fuck?!" she exclaimed.
Hawkmon froze. It had been heard.
Maria paused at the top of the stairs and stared at the now-closed door. Surely there had to be something there. "H-hello?" Her voice was shaky and uncertain. "S-someone? Someone t-t-there?" She and the two other ladies had started watching a new animated series by Asuka's suggestion, which she'd received from a friend of hers, apparently somebody who had come to the Chiba games a few times. Takahashi? Taka… something. She shook her head and turned back, then walked as quietly as she could to the door. "This had better not be an actual ghost, I swear. Or worse."
She put her hand on the door handle. Her hand trembled. "Ghosts don't exist. Ghosts don't exist. It's all fiction. It's all…" She shoved the door open. "Fiction!" she yelled.
The room was as neat and tidy as it had been before. Now it was suspiciously tidy. Asuka was never this organized. Somebody had to have done it. But who? She walked into the middle of the room. There was no weird breeze, no ketchup on the ceiling, no translucent apparitions, not even a Vital Bracelet on the desk. The poster was as it was. The laptop was untouched, closed, and turned off. The lights were normal.
Maria pondered poking around some more. There was clearly an intruder in their house, but not only was she in no condition to deal with one, she also didn't want to go digging through Asuka's belongings. Though, just one look… Asuka would never know.
She glanced around. The only decent hiding place would be the closet. She placed her fingertips in the metal groove and slid the door open, then looked down.
"… A stuffed animal? Why in here?" She stared at the bird-like object. "Hey. Wait a minute. Isn't this… Hawkmon?" It had been just last week that they'd watched that episode. There was the headband feather and all. She extended a finger and poked it on the beak. "Oh my god, that feels so real." She placed a palm on its head. "Too real. It's got feathers and all…"
Hawkmon tried not to give even the slightest hint of movement. How long was Maria going to stand there and probe at its body? It needed to breathe!
"Asuka, what the hell do you have in your room? Is this really a Digimon? Do you even know?" Maria wondered to herself. Just at that moment, a yell came from downstairs.
"Maria!" It was Ji-min. "We're back!"
"Oh! Hey!" Maria gave the eagle-like thing one last wary glance and padded out of Asuka's bedroom and shut the door. "Yo, I think I heard something up here."
Ji-min froze and stared at Asuka, who stared back. Asuka was wide-eyed. "W-what?!"
"I don't know. It sounded like a sneeze?"
Asuka cracked a nervous grin. "… Uh, Hologram Ghosts are real?"
"Ah, no!" Ji-min yelled. "Please don't be!" She recoiled with training bag still slung over her shoulder.
Asuka started up the stairs as Ji-min settled herself down and sat on the sofa. "L-let me check! Maria, where was this coming from?"
"Your room, I think."
Asuka halted. She knew, then. It could only be one person. "I-I'll take a look!" She bolted up the stairs and zipped past Maria, then slammed her bedroom door shut behind her. "It's fine!" she yelled. "Nothing is up here!"
Maria squinted suspiciously at the door. "Okay, then." She continued walking down the stairs. She was sure she'd heard something, and that bird thing was too realistic.
Asuka shoved her training bag to the floor and collapsed on her bed. "Hawkmon. It's clear," she whispered.
Hawkmon heaved a massive breath in and out, then hopped out of her closet. "Praise be the Four Holy Beasts…" it muttered.
"You good?"
It nodded. "I merely sneezed while hiding. It was poor timing."
She nodded and exhaled. "That was close."
"Indeed."
Asuka looked around. "By the way, thanks for cleaning up."
"You're very welcome, Asuka. Though… perhaps you should consider picking up a habit or two here and there," it suggested. Asuka groaned.
"Oi!" There was a yell from downstairs. It was Ji-min. "Asuka! Get your birthday butt down here!"
"Ah – coming!" She got back up off her bed. "Hawkmon, I'll try to sneak a slice of cake up afterwards."
"Oh, that's – well, only if it's not too much effort! I don't want to attract any more susp-"
"Shh, it's fine. I'll make sure of it." She zipped out of her bedroom as quickly as she'd entered it.
Hawkmon blinked and sat against her bedframe, then sighed. It was going to be spotted, some day. Then what? Hopefully the other girls would take it in good stride.
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WE League: Kobe unseated once again! A recap of Week 18 action
NNK Sports | Published 2022.02.28 14:17
A change in leadership has taken place again as INAC Kobe Leonessa were made to pay for yet more defensive sloppiness by none other than one of the teams chasing them in the standings. JEF United Chiba exacted sweet revenge for their 0-1 home loss by travelling west and inflicting a painful 1-3 result on the former league leaders, although the Lady Dogs did not escape from their valiant excursion without a loss of their own. Following a quick Kobe goal in the 4' by forward FUKUDA Konomi following a lackadaisical giveaway, influential and pacey winger KOBAYASHI Tori went down to a quadriceps injury during a sudden turn of direction early in the game, allowing for substitute NAGATOMO Asuka to play nearly a full game of soccer. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, as the youngster in her first season promptly pinned the Kobe lines back and allowed for Chiba to find more of their usual space in midfield and behind enemy lines. Indeed, Asuka would make her presence felt with a sweet cutback cross to the head of NAKANO Kanna (21'), followed by a goal of her own (39') with help from midfielder YAMAZAKI Ritsuko, who has filled in for injured Maria CRUZ. Kobe seemed just as willing to cede the ball in the second half, with both sides able to lash shots at each other throughout the game, though Kobe appeared wasteful in front of net and managing only 8% of shots on target out of all shots. Midfielder UETO Mioko would intercept a poor play out of the back by Kobe and promptly fire her shot off the inside of the upright and into the back of the net (68') for the final goal of the night.
However, keen-minded readers will note that JEF United Chiba could not possibly be in first place with that result; although tied on points with Kobe, they are still 3 short in goal differential. The current crownholders are ascendant Tokyo Verdy Beleza, who with a tidy and professional 2-0 victory over AC Nagano Parceiro, are now one point ahead of the former league leaders. Goals were provided by influential Canadian Annabelle-Margerite OUTREMONT, who set up both MIYAGAHARA Kyo (48') and SAKAKIBARA Yoshimi (60'), who was filling in for German international Karin Elsa ZIMMERMAN due to a case of influenza.
Saturday was completed with a visit by mid-table Nojima Stella Kanagawa at bottom-ranked Omiya Ardija Ventus, who did no favours in rescuing themselves as they dropped their decision 0-2 in front of a disappointed fanbase. The side now boasts the worst GD in the league as well as the lowest offensive output at only 9 goals so far, now only enough for a goal every two games. The poor performance on both ends of the pitch has so far been excused as "the injury bug" – and with at least five players injured throughout most of the season, one can understand why. Nevertheless, goalscorer and substitute KOJIMA Toko will be pleased to have made her mark as the twenty-year-old scores her first two goals in the WE League (58', 82'), and both midfielders KIM Hae-il and ISHIKAWA Suzuko will be happy to add to their assist tally as Kanagawa look forward to the next season.
MyNavi Sendai and Albirex Niigata played out a hard-fought and scrappy 1-2 game as they and Kangawa jockey for the table's midpoint. The game was book-ended with Niigata goals and contained three ejections, one of them being a Sendai bench member, for excessive complaints to the fourth official. Both AKASAKA Mina of Sendai and KON Shio were sent off for studs-up challenges. Niigata centre-back SHIKATA Kikue scored off a glanced header past the palms of home-side keeper HARADA Toyo early in the match off Niigata's first corner of the game (7'), while Sendai responded in kind by ITODANI Yuria not long after (19'). Niigata recovered the lead right at the beginning of stoppage time following a clumsy challenge leading to a set piece. The ball into the box was fumbled about until it eventually landed at the opportunistic feet of YAMADA Mayo (90').
However, the fourth team in the mix for pole position also continued to challenge for the top as Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina posted a thorough 3-0 home victory against minnows Chifure AS Elfen. The visitors were thoroughly outclassed from the starting whistle; only the heroics of goalkeeper ITSUNO Keiki kept the score less embarrassing with eight saves. Midfielder Janine COOPER cut in from the right wing and faked her shot, then laid the ball off to awaiting KOBAYASHI Ran for an easy swing (21'). Then, captain ASAYAMA Manami found the rebound after a shot by Ran bounced off the crossbar; her shot cannoned into the top corner from 24 yards (29'). Finally, forward MAEDA Kasumi pressed a sleeping Chifure back line into coughing up the ball in their own half and fired past an outstretched Keiki for an easy third (74').
Despite taking a WE Action Day this weekend, Urawa Red Diamonds still cannot be counted out of the running, although now being five points behind the pace with only four weeks to go, they will need plenty of things to go their way.
BEL: 31 (8-7-2) | +11 (33-22)
LEO: 30 (9-3-4) | +13 (32-19)
JEF: 30 (8-6-3) | +10 (24-14)
REG: 29 (8-5-3) | +11 (26-15)
RED: 26 (6-8-2) | +5 (25-20)
STE: 20 (5-5-6) | -1 (19-20)
ALB: 19 (4-7-5) | -3 (18-21)
PAR: 17 (4-5-7) | -11 (11-22)
MYN: 13 (2-7-8) | -8 (14-22)
ELF: 13 (3-4-9) | -12 (14-26)
VEN: 11 (2-5-10) | -15 (9-24)
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Kazuhiko sipped the last of a can of ginger soda and sniffed. He was a bit behind on his assignment, if only because he was feeling under the weather. He and Monodramon had been rained on a few times and it seemed the unusual living environment was getting to him. Tokyo could be cold to be sure, but not quite this wet at the same time.
Mikhail rubbed his shoulders and looked over. "Hey, Kazu."
"Hmm?" The light of the computer screen reflected in his glasses.
"You've been at this for hours." The blonde-haired student yawned and rubbed his eyes. Isabel, had already gone home for the night. "It's best we start thinking about heading back." He glanced at his phone. "Just about midnight again. Any longer and we'll have to take the long way home." Mikhail seemed just about ready to sleep if he sat down himself.
Kazuhiko blinked dumbly. Had it really been that long, again? His computer's clock agreed with his classmate. "Ah… I was supposed to get back earlier too," he groaned. Monodramon would not be happy with that, but his spring term was coming to an end, and his design assignments were coming due. He only had a few weeks left, after all. He grumbled, "Whatever. I'll get back to it tomorrow." He sniffled again, saved his work, and logged off from the school computer. His bag seemed far heavier than that morning. He shrugged it on with some effort and covered a yawn of his own.
The two left the Central Saint Martens library. The grand hall was devoid of life, although some rooms clearly still had a few students in them working just as late into the night. Kazuhiko sniffed again as the two stepped out of the campus and made their way to King's Cross. Mikhail looked over and asked, "Are you ill?"
"I hope not."
"Mm… you sound ill."
Kazuhiko sniffed again. "I don't know. Maybe I am."
"You should probably get some cold medicine, at least. It might help you focus."
"Eh…"
"Why not?"
Another sniff. "Meds make me feel a bit weird all the time. I'm not sure, maybe it's something that runs in the family."
Mikhail raised an eyebrow but said nothing else about it. The walk to the Tube station was punctuated with sniffles. They ducked into a modern brightly-lit tunnel to get to the subway. A few others passed with jackets in hand or over shoulders and umbrellas folded away.
Kazuhiko eyed a few people that passed them in a hurry, then swung his backpack off and rummaged inside it. "Crap."
"Hm?"
"I left my umbrella in the dorm."
"Well," Mikhail suggested, "if it rains, just use your backpack."
Meanwhile, Monodramon stretched out on the unmade bed. London was still so chilly. It could hardly believe how others had been complaining about the upcoming summer. How could just a cold and wet place turn into a dry shrubland in just a few months? Kazuhiko seemed just as confused about it all.
Worse still, he seemed to have become fully distracted by school now. He hardly spent time talking to Takaharu online or playing that card game that had so many Digimon portraits on it. It had thumbed through his collection multiple times. He hardly even spent any time in his dorm room. Kazuhiko had made a fuss in the month prior about how it was being too annoying for him to do his assignments and study in his room, so he'd just left his tablet in the dorm and went back outside. It wasn't its fault that it had complained so much that his labs and assignments were so boring, but this definitely shouldn't have been the solution.
It sighed. "Two more years…" Monodramon wailed. It pounded the mattress with its fists. "Ahh, why me?!" it complained. The tablet buzzed. Kazuhiko had set up a separate account on it just for the dragon Digimon so it could communicate with the other Tamers without having to go through his account contents. It was better than not being able to talk at all.
"Oi," Monodramon grunted. It was Gabumon.
"Hey, Monodramon. Uh… you seem out of sorts." Gabumon was clearly sitting in the Tokuda residence as both Satsuki and Makoto were visible in the rear. Satsuki was making preparations for something while Makoto was busy typing something and frowning at his laptop.
"Ugh."
Gabumon's red eyes narrowed. "Something the matter?"
"Everything." Monodramon curled up on Kazuhiko's bed. "This place sucks."
"I see." Gabumon looked up at Satsuki, who had a look of concern. "I guess the UK isn't a nice place to be?"
"It's cold and wet and lonely here. It's too crowded, so Kazuhiko says, so I'm not allowed to go outside, but there's nothing left to do then! And then he's too busy with all his assignments and projects." It threw its clawed hands into the air. "I don't understand a single thing. And he doesn't like bringing me outside, because he says we get stared at all the time." It sniffed. "And he's not wrong. We do get stared at all the time."
Gabumon looked to the side. It was a tough predicament. Even though Los Angeles had plenty of people living there, they were all spread out. At least, at times, they had the privilege of having a much larger room all to themselves. That wasn't true of Kazuhiko's room. The dorm was even smaller than the Shimizu apartment. And if Kazuhiko was too busy with schoolwork, then... "Hey, by the way, have you been talking to him much?"
"No! He just comes home, showers, goes straight to bed, wakes up, and says he's out for class." It leaned against the wall. "I'd rather be back there in Tokyo, honestly."
Satsuki popped into frame. She had walked over from the kitchen still wearing her apron. "Are the two of you okay? Have you gotten into a fight or something?"
"No, nothing like that. Just… we don't really see eye-to-eye, you know? I don't get it. I hoped we would be able to over time, but… maybe this is my fault. I just can't wrap my head around all this art and architecture stuff he does." It shook its head sadly. "I can't think of much that we share in common."
"It's not your fault, Monodramon," chided Gabumon. "It's just unfortunate things turned out that way. But hopefully when he's done, he'll have more time."
Monodramon grunted. "I'm not so sure." It stared at the disused Vital Bracelet on the desk, as well as the DiM card holder pushed up against the wall. "He hasn't used this thing in three weeks." It went and grabbed the bracelet and showed it to the camera.
"Oh, that bracelet thing? Odd. He must have forgotten about it. He was obsessed with it for a while," Satsuki replied.
Monodramon stared out the window. "I feel like he's forgotten about me, honestly." A train went by bearing some kind of London livery. Monodramon hadn't cared to find out. "I want to go back to you guys."
Gabumon and Satsuki both opened their mouths to say something, then looked at each other, then thought better of it. It was for Kazuhiko to figure out for himself.
Monodramon sniffed. "We went biking around Diver City. Saw that big Gundam statue. That was nice. Those were good times." It looked up as the dorm room opened suddenly. Kazuhiko sighed, dropped his backpack against the wall, and draped his jacket over it. Both were clearly still wet from the rain that had started several minutes ago.
"I'm back," he sighed and sniffed.
"Kazuhiko, hey." Satsuki waved as Monodramon turned the tablet to him. He had already partially stripped his shirt off but draped it back down. "How are you? It's been a while."
"Has it?" he asked. "Oh shit, it really has been." He tapped through his phone. The last message he'd sent to her was back in mid-February. A few weeks had passed with nary a word from him. "Sorry about that."
Gabumon hopped off the couch with the tablet as Satsuki returned to the kitchen to attend to a boiling pot of water. She continued talking. "Whatever, you're busy. It's fine."
"It's not."
She sighed. "I'm not torn up about it, but I do wish you were a bit more attentive, you know?" She opened the lid of the wok of shallow water and added eggs in a steamer basket, then closed it and set a timer. "Anyway. How is school going?"
He yawned and blinked. Just keeping his eyes open was starting to become a challenge. "It's… it's going."
Gabumon chortled. "That's not much of an answer."
"It's fine, I think."
"But you seem pretty busy."
"Oh. Uh… Assignments. A lot of them. They're complicated."
While the eggs were steaming, Satsuki was slicing a few fruits. She arranged them as artistically as she could on three small plates while a few slices of toast were warming up in a toaster oven. "Are you sick? You sound sick."
Kazuhiko gave a short laugh. "Guess I can't hide it, huh? I think I am."
"Well, it is March. But did you get rained on?"
"Uh…" he paused. "N-no."
"You did."
"Okay, I did. Multiple times."
Satsuki did not look impressed. "That explains a lot." She poured hot water over a pot of tea leaves and glanced at the timer to note the time so she could count down two minutes. "You should be more careful."
"Mmhm. I know." He yawned again.
Satsuki waved. "Anyway, I know it's late over there. It's, like, almost one in the morning or something? Get some sleep. And talk more!"
Gabumon paced to the kitchen table with the tablet and sat across from Makoto. "You two should try to get along a bit better, okay?" Kazuhiko nodded tiredly. Monodramon eyed him. He would likely forget soon enough. "See you both!"
As soon as the call ended, Kazuhiko stripped off his shirt and flicked it onto a pile of used clothes that was lying against a wall, then dropped his pants next to the same pile, and slipped into the shower. Monodramon sighed and set the tablet back down, then curled up on the sheets.
Chris swung the club room door open. "Lauraaaa!"
Laura's black-haired head shot up. "Hey Chris. Oh! Oh-ho-ho! Who's this I see?" She got up from the table. "Is that a certain guy named after a mythical beast?" Ryuta let out a quick burst of mirth and averted his gaze. "Come on, dude, it's just a club. Surely you've been in one."
"Of course I have."
"Well, then, why so serious?" She had a wide grin from cheek to cheek. "Hey, let me show you around."
"All of these people?!" the fauxhawk-crowned student complained. He counted at least seventy pairs of eyes. "That's a bit m-"
"Hey! Everyone!" The room fell silent. Ryuta cursed to himself. This was the worst way to get introduced. "This guy is Koyama Ryuta, you know, that guy. Come on, introduce yourself."
He shuffled his feet. "Uh… hi. Yeah." Laura elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow! What else am I supposed to say?!"
"Mmhm, yes, this guy is the guy that Chris has been talking up as a Digimon Trading Card Game expert!" There were a few oohs, ahhs, and more than a few sarcastic stares and eyerolls. "And now he's here to prove it!"
"Chris!" he hissed. "What did you say to these people?"
The black student cackled. "Nothing."
"Clearly it was something!"
"Hey, I told them the truth!"
Ryuta grunted with disgust. "Whatever."
Laura was not done. "Ryuta, did you bring your decks as we asked?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Right!" She clapped her hands together. "My friends, welcome! To UBC's inaugural DCG championship!" She tapped around on the laptop that was hooked up to a projector. Ryuta turned to give it a look and slapped his hand to his forehead. There was a tournament bracket with sixty-four people, and his name was on it.
"Laura, I didn't ask for th-"
"Shush, you!" She had a mischievous look in her eyes. "I'm sure you'll do just fine." She patted him on the back and sauntered off. "Chris, James, and I will keep your records. Please don't lie when you report! Okay?" A round of "okay" went around the room. "Have fun everyone!"
Ryuta squeezed his eyes shut. This was not supposed to be how he was spending his night tonight. Chris had said, "oh, just a little event about Digimon. I'm sure you'll like it." Bullshit.
James rubbed his meaty hands on Ryuta's shoulders. "Hey, bro, you good?"
"No."
"Chris got ya good, eh?"
"For fuck's sake." He shot daggers at Chris, who was now sitting at the table at the front of the room like a true umpire. The only response was an equally mischievous grin. Laura shooed Ryuta away. "Yeah, yeah, I get it! Fine."
Ryuta marched over to the awaiting chair. His opponent shook hands. "Hey! I'm Adrian."
"Ryuta." He looked Adrian over. He was clearly Asian, more than likely Chinese given that it was Vancouver. Still, no accent in the slightest. Well, that was a lie. Everyone had an accent, Ryuta figured. Just that Adrian had a Canadian accent. "So."
"You know, Chris and Laura were really hyping you up," Adrian laughed as he pulled out a deck.
"I'm sure they were." Ryuta thumbed through his three decks. Without knowing anything about Adrian, it was hard to tell what to use. His best all-around deck? The one he'd blitzed Takaharu and Kazuhiko twice with? Or the experimental one? It was a hard choice. He could blitz the other two only because he knew they followed the meta-game to its very last detail and just hoped for the best.
Adrian remarked, "I'm not going to lie, though, I don't really take this seriously. I just signed up for fun."
Ryuta nodded. That settled it. He took out his all-around deck of mostly blue cards. It was competitive in most cases. Unless Adrian was lying, of course. He gave the Chinese university student a thorough look-over.
Adrian bit his lip. "You good?"
Ryuta glanced back down at his stash of cards. "Yeah, just needed some time to think."
"O-okay."
Laura came over put her hands on the back of Adrian's chair. "Hey, Ryuta, take it easy on the newbs, okay?" She promptly sauntered off to make sure other players weren't cheating.
"Got it." Ryuta slid the deck of cards onto the playmat. Adrian fumbled with his cards and laid down his security pile. Ryuta finished shuffling his deck and assembled the field of play.
"Oh, hey, you have a counter?" Adrian asked. Ryuta pulled out a small dragon statue from his bag. "Ah! Ha, I guess I should have known."
"It was a gift from a friend," he replied. It had indeed been a Christmas gift from Satsuki as a joke about his name. He placed it right on the zero mark and drew his hand. Adrian drew his. Ryuta took a quarter out of his pocket. "Heads, I start." The coin spun in the air. He caught it with the same hand and placed it on the table. Tails.
"Ahh, the pressure! Mm." Adrian stared at his hand, then looked down at the hatchery. "Oh, right." He turned over the first card. Ryuta inhaled. A yellow card? It was likely to be a yellow deck then. He squinted and grimaced. Right. The English version. People were going to have an incredibly difficult time reading his cards. "Uhh, uhh, give me a sec."
Ryuta eyed the scoring table where Chris and James were sitting. Laura was still buzzing around the room. She seemed to be a very active and outgoing person. All the better to excuse himself if she ever asked again.
"Here! I-in active mode. Let's see… I, oh, I should have played that on the in-training one. My bad…"
"It's fine, you can just move it over."
"Thanks!" Adrian fixed the placement of the Level 3 card to be an evolution card. "So, zero memory, and then…" He placed down another Level 3 card into the open field. "There, that's all."
Ryuta moved the memory counter two steps in his favour, then drew. He ran his fingers up his hair, then played with a lock of it. It was not a great initial draw, but if Adrian was truly only fooling around, then it would hardly matter. A Level 3 went to the hatchery, then a Level 4 went to the table. He was fine with handing over the memory to Adrian.
Adrian drew and scrunched his face up, then moved the Level 3 in his hatchery to the open field. "Uh… I guess?" Adrian put down a Level 4 card on top of the newly promoted Digimon. Ryuta blinked with surprise.
"You sure?" The card colours were completely different. First they'd been yellow, now they were yellow-blue. It was a possible mix, but a haphazard mix nonetheless. The mixed decks were generally not the best unless handled with care.
"It's all I got, man." Adrian ended his turn early.
It did not take long for Adrian's security pile to be whittled down to zero. Ryuta hadn't even sweated during the game. His initial Level 3 and 4 were evolved fully to Level 6. He tapped the Level 6 Digimon in his field of play. "Feel like blocking it?"
Adrian shook his head. "Not at all." He sighed. "Sheesh! I was outclassed."
"You're a collector first and foremost. I guess it makes some sense." Ryuta tidied up his field and slid the deck back into his case.
"Yeah, but I wasn't expecting to get blown out of the water like that," the student replied. "Oh well. Good game."
"Good game."
Laura passed by. "Done already? Damn, Ryuta, I told you to go easy on the newbs!" she joked.
"I…" He threw his hands up in defence.
"It's fine, whatever. They expect a lashing," she quipped as she made her way to the table. She wasn't wrong. His name was the fifth to advance a round. It might have been faster if Adrian hadn't fumbled so much. Not long after, the next name came up. Charles.
Charles was a portly guy with an impressive blonde beard. Ryuta dipped his head as he took his seat. Charles shifted in his chair. "Hey."
"Hey."
"You don't really sound all that Japanese, honestly."
Ryuta looked up from his cases of decks. "I grew up here for a while."
"Ooh. I see. Very cool. Where?"
"Burnaby." He picked out the blitzing deck. Charles very much seemed like someone who would follow the metagame.
Charles laid out his field of play. "Ah, I grew up way out in the interior."
Ryuta's head snapped up. "Really? Exactly where, around the Okanagan?"
"Yep! Kelowna. Glad I moved out, honestly."
Ryuta nodded. "Glad to be back myself." He drew. "You feel like going first?"
Charles shrugged. "Sure, why not." As usual, a Digi-Egg card flipped over. So it was a red deck. Ryuta hid a smile. If Charles had been reading a particular set of translated metagames from Japan, then…
It did not take long, either. The final table was three security cards to none. Ryuta tidied up his cards. "You followed the metagame," he remarked.
"Wow. You can tell?" asked Charles.
Ryuta grinned. "I've seen it before. I planned specifically against it. That's what this deck was made to do."
Charles shook his head. "Man, I thought Laura was lying, but no. Hey, you go on ahead. It's your win after all."
Ryuta rose from his chair and walked over to the desk where Laura was sitting. She looked up. "How are you doing?"
"I won."
"Good boy," she quipped as she typed his name into the next bracket. He narrowed his eyes at her. She merely smiled back.
"Next thing you know," Chris added, "she'll be tying a collar arou-" Laura slapped Chris with some venom across the shoulder and gave him a death stare.
"I'll go take a brief break, if you don't mind." Ryuta didn't wait for a response. The atmosphere outside the club room was far quieter and to his liking. He sighed and leaned against a wall.
James walked back from the washroom. "Just taking a breather?"
"Yeah." Ryuta glanced at the thin chain around his neck. "Is that a sharktooth necklace?"
"It is," he sheepishly replied. "My older sister got it for me after her trip back from Australia. I'd never buy something like this for myself."
"I see. I thought you lived there briefly or something."
"Yeah, I know, I know," James laughed. "I've got a whole 'surfer dude' vibe," he continued, waving his hands to put mockery around the surfer dude part. "It's a little bit annoying."
"But do you actually surf?"
"A bit, I guess. I've been out to Tofino a few times. It's fun, but not my thing." Ryuta nodded. "Hey, you sure you're okay? Are you enjoying yourself?"
Ryuta made a face of annoyance. "I wish I'd just been told up front about what this was going to be. I wasn't expecting so many spectators."
"I'll tell them after that it wasn't appropriate." Ryuta flicked his eyes up to James' face. He was serious about it.
"Thanks." He grunted as he lifted himself back to a standing position. "Better get back at it." He stepped back into the boisterous club room. The bracket was missing one more name, but his match up was already lined up.
Ryuta pushed his hair up. Danny was proving to be pretty decent at the game. Still, he had four security cards to three in his favour with tempo, although his opponent had promoted three chains of evolution instead of two. Losing tempo now would lose him the game. He had decided to pull out the experimental deck. It was worth a shot anyway. He'd never mixed deck colours quite this aggressively, but it seemed like a weird and cool idea. It wasn't even a properly assembled deck. He'd just themed the whole thing around Dragon's Roar Digimon because it would be funny if someone noticed. Plus, he'd picked up a booster pack on a whim and cracked it open just to find a special new card sitting at the top.
His opponent, Danny, tapped one of his three Level 5 stacks. "Security attack." Ryuta flipped the card over. "Ooh!" He didn't even need to read the katakana. It was an unmistakeable form.
Ryuta allowed a slight grin as the surrounding crowd pushed in tighter. "Level 6, Alphamon. Black." The fact that it had ended up in his security pile and now on the field so early likely meant that Danny was done for. He looked at his own hand.
"Level 6? Shit." Danny folded his hand and leaned back, then stared at the shiny card. He shook his head. "What kind of deck did you put together, man?"
Ryuta shrugged. "I just thought about it while dicking around with card effects."
"Yeah, I figured." Danny was still in disbelief. "Well, there goes that one." He moved the attacking Digimon to the trash. The Alphamon stayed in the field of play. "And I think there goes the game."
Ryuta drew another card and suddenly burst out in maniacal laughter. A few people behind him muttered, "What the hell is that…" "That thing looks demonic." "Ghostly, even." "De…ku…su…mon?"
Danny twitched. "Uh, what?"
Ryuta looked at the table. Danny only had two level 5 stacks in comparison to his own Level 5 and 6, plus now the Level 6 Alphamon. But it could get so much more brutal than that. In playing his Level 5, Danny had handed him four memory. This would take six, which would immediately end his turn, but because of the card effects, it didn't matter. Danny had three Tamers in play. The memory cost was literally zero. If it could be negative, it would have recovered nine memory.
"So, uh, Level 7."
"Ah fuck."
"Dexmon."
"De – wha?!" Ryuta played the ominous purple-black card on top of Alphamon. Danny groaned. "This just looks like trouble."
Ryuta read out the effects of Dexmon. "I reduce the memory cost by three for each Tamer or Digimon you have in open play."
"Welp." Danny shrugged. The memory marker did not budge one spot.
"On play, when evolving, I de-evolve all of your Digimon."
A shock went around the crowd. "All of them?" "Hey, who at Bandai thought this was a good idea…" "That seems kind of unfair." "Maybe we should ban this card later, haha."
Danny sighed and pulled the Level 5 cards off his stacks, leaving him with just two Level 4 cards.
"Then I delete all of your Digimon that are Level 4 or lower."
Danny nearly fell out of his chair. "Man, really?" A wave of laughter and pained groans went around the assembled crowd.
Ryuta chuckled. "To be honest, I don't think it's a balanced card either, but it exists, so I used it." He grinned. "I'm having fun, at least."
Danny sat back into his chair and shook his head as he moved all his Digimon cards to the trash. "Okay. Well, then, at least the Deletion effect on some of these let me move cards around." He looked through his stack of trash cards and picked out a few, then moved them back to his hand. "What am I doing? It's totally useless." He threw his hand down. "You're just going to ping off my security deck anyway. It's three deep."
"I mean, you never know…"
Ryuta passed out of kindness so that at least Danny could try playing out of his tight situation. It seemed hopeless to continue, but Danny drew anyway. The draw was hopeless.
He played down a Level 6, not minding that the memory counter zipped all the way from 3 for him to 9 for Ryuta. "Security check." Danny sighed with relief. At least it was a Tamer card. Now it was two cards to three, but he was likely done for next round anyway.
"So Dexmon can't de-evolve anything."
"Thank fuck."
"But it does, at the end of your turn, delete the Digimon with the lowest play cost."
Danny groaned and heaved a sigh. The one Digimon he'd just put down moved straight back to the trash.
"Sheesh," came a voice from behind Ryuta. Another voice: "did he plan this?" "I think it's just luck. But that card…" "Hey, Ryuta, tell us how you made this deck afterward!"
Ryuta waved it away. "I got extra lucky with booster packs, that's all."
"Hey, did you notice? They're all Dragon's Roar cards." "Oh my god, they are." "Heh, I guess this is the meme deck, huh?"
Danny stood up. "God, I'm done," he chuckled. Chris collapsed in a fit of conniptions and clutched his torso. Laura stared at Ryuta.
"What did I do?"
"Exactly what I asked you to," Laura replied with a smile. "We're going to ban that Dexmon card permanently, I think."
"Good. I agree." Ryuta stacked his deck back into its case and flicked his watch. "Dinner time. I'm feeling it." He also had to make sure Amedramon ate. He checked his phone. Amedramon was grinning from ear to ear. It had heard everything.
As much as Ryuta had enjoyed putting the anime club's pretenders for the throne in their place, he was much happier to be loose from the room. The air was stuffy and having all those people crowd around him was not something he enjoyed. He slipped out quietly as the conversation continued and headed for the building's cafeteria.
He pulled trays of food from a fridge and headed straight for a cashier. He had no desire to wait in the hot food lines. Chris caught him as he made his way back to the elevators. "Yo! That was fuckin' sick, dude! Dexmon is so broken!"
"I know," he murmured. "I'm taking it out after that."
"Serious?"
"It's too much."
"Aw… Danny's face was great."
"Besides, Laura was going to ban it anyway."
"I absolutely am banning that card! But it was great. Thanks for showing up." Laura put her arms around both of them. "Hey, you heading upstairs already with all that food?"
"I – uh, yeah." Ryuta looked straight ahead. Chris flashed a knowing smile at him.
She frowned. "I hope that wasn't too many people for you."
"It kinda was." The elevator dinged as the doors opened. She followed them inside with her own takeout box.
"I shouldn't have lied, should I?" She sighed and gave him a long stare up and down.
"A heads-up would have been appreciated." He stared back. Laura had never eyed him quite this much. He hoped she wasn't about to ask him out. That would be yet more awkwardness he didn't have the energy to handle. "W-what?"
"Nothing." The doors opened at the eighth floor. All three of them emerged. "Just needed something from Chris. I left it in his room."
Ryuta squinted at her. "Okay." They walked over to their dorms. He slipped into his bedroom before either of them could react.
Amedramon popped out and pranced around the bed. "Hey, look at you, champion!"
Ryuta grunted and shrugged his backpack to the floor. "Yeah, I guess." He placed the boxes of cold sushi and wraps on his desk, then cracked open a bottle of water and took a long draught from it. "Not doing that again."
"Come on. You enjoyed yourself," Amedramon complained as it lifted open a lid and rested its elbows on the table as it chewed on a chicken wrap.
"I guess. Just…" Amedramon kneed him in the calf. "Ow! Fine. I did enjoy myself."
"Better." Amedramon opened its maw to take another bite when a knock came at the door.
Ryuta groaned, "What terrible timing." He set his chopsticks down. "Chris? That you?" he yelled.
"Yeah, open up." He did not seem to be in a hurry.
"You're not the FBI."
"FBI, open up!" Chris banged harder on the door. Never mind. It seemed he was serious about it. Ryuta grunted and got up, then cracked the door open.
"What?"
"You have my USB? I might have left it in the lab after lecture yesterday."
Ryuta thought for a second. "Ah, right. I forgot to give it to you. One sec." He turned around and pulled up the case from his backpack, then looked up and froze. "Chris…" His door was wide open, but his classmate wasn't the one holding it that way.
"Ayo, she wouldn't stop botherin' me about it!" he claimed.
"Who told her?"
"Nobody! She was all like, 'he's definitely hiding something, I need to know what it is, I want to make sure he's okay' and she wouldn't stop followin' me around!" Laura, for her part, was staring with mouth agape. "Laura, y'wanna come in here before you go screaming down the hallway?"
She stayed rooted to the spot. Amedramon craned its neck to get a look. "Oh hey!" it exclaimed.
"Ahh!" she screamed and stepped back.
Ryuta sighed. This was escalating more than he wanted it to. "Guess not. Whatever." He handed the USB back to Chris. "Make sure she doesn't faint, eh?"
"Yezzir. Laura, you ain't seein' a ghost, you know." She was still staring intently at the white dragon behind Ryuta.
"W-w-what?!"
Amedramon shoved the half-eaten wrap in its maw and padded over to the doorway. "Herwo." It tilted its gold-horned head at her and squinted, then chewed on the wrap and swallowed.
Laura picked herself back to her feet and took a few uncertain steps toward the doorway. "Uh…"
"Bruh, I thought you were tryna keep Amedramon a secret," Chris remarked.
Ryuta shrugged. "Can't be helped this time. She was already standing right over your shoulder."
"Yeah, true."
Laura kneeled. Amedramon grinned at her. She reached out a hand gingerly, which Amedramon bumped with its snout. "What was its name?" she asked Ryuta.
"Why don't you ask it?"
"Uh…"
"Amedramon!" it replied.
"Amedramon, huh. Wait. Wait!" She stood straight up. "Wait! This-"
"Mmhm."
She was slack-jawed. "Digimon?" she asked with a high-pitched squeal.
"I am!" it responded.
"Oh. My. God." Laura reached down and patted its neck and wings. Ryuta sheepishly watched as Chris guarded the doorway.
"Hey, we should push in before someone walks by," Chris suggested.
"Oh! Right, sorry!" Laura scooted in just enough for Chris to slip inside and close the door. "Holy shit." Amedramon grunted with happiness as she rubbed its scaled chin. "Ryuta, how long has it been here?"
"Since I came here. Actually, it's been with me longer than that."
Laura stared up. "Where's your Digivice?"
"What?" Ryuta raised an eyebrow.
"Come on! You have to have one."
He shook his head. "Just my phone, Laura."
"Mmm, that's no fun." Amedramon nuzzled her hand. "And you're friendlier than I thought. But kinda pokey. What are these little bumps?"
Ryuta adjusted his watch. Now there were three. He hoped it would be only these three. If word got out any farther, the whole campus body would be breaking down his door. "I'm not sure, but they look like amethyst nodules, don't they?"
"They do. I guess that would make sense with the name, eh?" She stood up. "Ryuta, huh?"
"Yes, I know, my name. The joke keeps playing out. I know."
"Does it evolve?"
"Of course. I've seen it."
Laura made a noise somewhere between awe and admiration. "You've been on adventures? Oh my god. Why can't I… this is so unfair." Ryuta flicked his eyes over her shoulder to Chris, who just shrugged. "Who else? Where else are there Digimon?"
"Uh…"
"There's gotta be others out there!"
Ryuta bit his lip. "Look, that information is staying private."
"So there is someone, and you know them!"
"I do. Just… I'm not going to go exposing them."
She waved her hands. "No! That's not what I meant! I just…" She clasped her hands in front of her. "I'm just very jealous."
"I can tell."
"And I'm keeping my lips shut, of course."
Ryuta squinted at her. "Are you?"
She was genuinely horrified. "Of course! I'm not going to go spewing this all over campus! Even if people believed me, it's not something that can be shared!" Ryuta eyed her suspiciously. "I'm serious! Like actually, this time. For real. Please believe me." She did not have that mischievous smile this time.
"Alright then." He went back to his chair. He hadn't eaten anything since that morning, since he'd forgotten to grab lunch over finishing some assignments. Amedramon slipped out of Laura's hands and returned to the other half of the wrap.
She was still standing in the dorm. "By the way, Ryuta, you doing anything for the spring week?"
"Not particularly." He dipped a salmon nigiri into a plastic tub of soy sauce and then smeared it through a dab of wasabi, then popped it in his mouth and looked up at her expectantly.
"Want to come check out Richmond? James and Chris are coming." She grinned. "You haven't visited since September, right?" He shook his head. "It's not too far. We could hit a lot of stuff in one day!" Her eyes floated back over to Amedramon leaning against the table.
He swallowed. "Sure." He blinked at her. She was still fascinated by Amedramon, who was too busy munching on its dinner to notice. "Where and when, exactly?"
"Wednesday. My parents took me to a fancy dim sum place. There shouldn't be too many people, but it is a spring break for every school. We'll have to be either early or late, and I'm not sure I trust Chris to wake up on time."
"I'm right here!" Chris complained.
"And I'm right." She gave him a sharp smile.
"Pbbt." He blew a raspberry and slipped into his own room through the shared washroom.
"So then, we're meeting up at the bus exchange?" Ryuta asked.
Laura shook her head. "I got my driver's license done and over with real early. I can drive you all! Family's lending me an extra car anyway. I'll let you all know the day before, eh? Where to meet up and all that. I'll probably just pick you all up from somewhere around here. G'night!" She slipped out of Ryuta's dorm room. He sighed, shook his head, and picked up another piece of sushi.
Amedramon was already done eating. "That's three now."
"I know." Ryuta popped another piece of nigiri in his mouth. "Can't be helped. But I think she's fine."
"What about your other days off?"
"I still have exams to study for, but we should have some more free time. We haven't gone downtown in a while. Maybe we should walk around Science World."