I don't own digimon.

Story 79

Elephant in the room

Sometimes, the rate at which the world works is slow. Agonizingly slow. Even with the power of say, a time shift, there are still things that ironically take quite a bit of time.

So one can imagine the sheer surprise that the various employees of Izumi Solutions found in their inboxes this fateful morning.

"What do you mean I'm being laid off?!" Daniella announced as she stared at her laptop screen one more time to confirm she had read it right. Even within the padded walls of her cubicle, her fury could not be contained. The nerve of the founder to just lay off everyone without a warning. One would think that he would be required to give them at least a two weeks notice as negotiated by their union, but that was asking too much here from Mr Izumi. So here she was, pulling down what little she had in her office ahead of handing over her laptop. Thankfully a company computer and not her personal one, it didn't lessen the blow. No, it just made it even clearer what was going on here.

"Well, I guess there could be worse fates." the tech worker muttered as her attention shifted to a cardboard box. The only one she could find in the rush for everyone to pack up their stuff and delete all evidence that they were even in this building to begin with. How that would change the fact that their founder was identified for being directly responsible for one of the largest acts of mass murder in recent memory. The damage had already been done. Destroying stuff was only going to serve to show that they were actively aware of what they've done and in turn, land a good chunk of them in prison for likely life as accessories for this crime. Not Mr Izumi. No, he would get off sco-

"Daniella, is something the matter?" a voice called out and Daniella spun around. Sitting at the entrance to her sanctum was a strange pink mammal digimon with long ears. Slowly entering, Daniella took care to seat the box down and command her full attention on her partner. Quite possibly the worst time to show up, that was perhaps why they did. Just the nature of her partner.

"Yes. I'm out of a job because the person at the top made an oopsie of the highest caliber, Bitmon." Daniella explained and watched her partner's head shift slightly to the left. Even dumbed down, it went over their head. Part of the tech worker was kicking herself for not being clearer in that regard. At the same time, this was a complicated issue that was not helped in the slightest by the events from a couple days ago. Then there were the rumors of a large gathering of powerful chosen/digidestined and digimon to discuss their response. No telling what such a meeting would entail, let alone what would come out of it. Her only hope was that one of the people would make a statement and the world would go on with its life, rebuilding from the destruction wrought by all the evil digimon. Hopefully, Bitmon had nothing to do with that. Or if they had, they would be willing to be honest enough to her to give the full story.

"How bad of an oopsie are we talking about here?" Bitmon inquired, Daniella staring down at the felt of her swivel chair. Definitely could've phrased that better to avoid the elephant in the room. Oh well. It was going to come up eventually. Better to get it over with now rather than

"An oopsie that could have easily killed humanity had it not been contained. Even then, quite a number of people lost their lives because of it." Daniella explained, tears rolling down her face. What had gotten into her? She wasn't the sort to cry, but this felt different. The tech work had been one of the 'fortunate' ones, getting through the Eosmon mess by way of her office's tornado shelter. Very much not designed for the number of staff that used this place, it had been a tight squeeze. Somehow they made it work.

For now, Daniella shoved that thought away.

"Now imagine that a key detail about said mistake had been purposely left out. A detail that had the power to change the entire narrative and result in possible financial ruin for the person who made the mistake." Daniella continued and felt Bitmon get up into her lap. Waiting a moment for her partner to get comfortable, she gave them a pet. Bitmon accepted the gesture. "A couple years pass and the mistake comes out, bringing with it the possible fall of the person's company. Rather than admit the wrongdoing, they much rather burn everything down and feign ignorance. Like the fucking coward they are! Koushiro Izumi, I hope you rot in hell!"

Shaking her fist at the air, Daniella took in some air. Feeling Bitmon shift about, she pulled her partner in for a hug.

"Koushiro Izumi? The Koushiro Izumi?" Bitmon inquired and was met with a look from their partner. Word of the deeds of the 'chosen children' were just part of the usual talk of digimon. Not so much the humans these days, but instead their partners. Celebrities in their own right, that didn't change the rumors that came with that status.

"Yes. He bought out the company I was working with and merged it with his own a bit after the mess with that white eldritch monstrosity. The only time I ever saw him was at a meeting with the founder of the company. He seemed… smart yet, more than ready to get going again. Like he was on the spectrum. Probably the farthest from accidentally committing an act of genocide on the entire world." Daniella explained and Bitmon froze. Staring off into space, a part of them didn't like where this conversation was going. But, it was likely that their partner had quite a bit of emotions bottled up. Definitely best to have her let it all out. Maybe once she did, then their conversations could instead be dominated by other things. Yes, that was for the best. At least, the mammal digimon saw it like that. Whether or not this amount of venting was healthy in the long run remained to be seen. "Perhaps the signs were always there. I just… I don't know. But the least he could do is own up to this mistake. Not burn everything that he worked up in the hopes that it would all go away."

Bitmon nodded, doing their best to get comfortable without forcing their partner to move their legs. Easier said than done with how antsy Daniella was.

"Is there anything that I can do for you to ease the pain and frustration you're feeling right now?" Bitmon inquired, feeling Daniella's gaze fall onto him. The tech worker let out a sigh and did her best to compose her thoughts. Where to begin here? On one hand, having someone to help pack her box would help a lot. At the same time, she also needed a ton of emotional support in the face of having to tell everyone that she just lost her job and needed to figure out what the heck she was supposed to do now.

"I just need you to stay with me and support me." Daniella remarked as she set what looked to be a picture frame in her cardboard box. Proudly displaying what looked to be a younger Daniella, Bitmon was right beside her. Hard to believe how fast time flies. Whether you are having fun or not, it doesn't matter. The world keeps moving. You can try to fight it, but all that accomplishes is nothing good. Better to work with it.

"Of course." Bitmon answered and took a moment to look at the picture. They looked so cute here. They still looked cute now, but it was clear that Daniella had very much changed. That picture had been taken during a birthday party. Which one exactly, Bitmon couldn't say for certain. Likely whichever one that came before they were forced back to the digital world. Yeah, that sounded right. Shifting their focus back too Daniella, the mammal digimon watched her grab what looked to be books off her desk. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly was your job?"

Daniella let out a sigh. She didn't blame her partner for wanting to know. They hadn't seen each other in quite a number of years, after all. Wanting to fill in the gaps was a perfectly understandable feeling to have here.

"I wrote technical documents. Think, the user manual for a program. Except it's digital and/or online." Daniella explained and met Bitmon's gaze. Getting a nod from Bitmon, she breathed a sigh of relief. For once, she hadn't needed to explain something twice. "As of late, we were about to drop a new version of our D-Phone. And no, I don't exactly know what the 'D' stands for."

Bitmon held in a chuckle.

"If I have to take a guess, it's probably 'Digital'." Bitmon suggested and watched his partner freeze. In retrospect, the answer probably should've come to her sooner. But in the face of everything that had been going on around her, there was never time to put that connection together.

"You're probably right." Daniella announced as her phone rang. Letting out a sigh, she scanned her desk for it. Eventually finding it near the back corner, the tech worker scooped it up with ease. Then it was just a matter of actually answering the call. "Hello? Oh. Hi mom."

Bitmon raised one of their ears. Happy as they were to know that Daniella's mother hadn't been hurt and/or killed in either the mess with Ordinemon or Eosmon, that didn't make this call out of the blue any less scarier. What purpose could she have for calling their partner now of all times? While her daughter had just been laid off, she

"Sí, estoy bien. Un poco frustrado por perder mi j- No, no he mirado las noticias. Lo haré una vez que termine esta llamada, ¿de acuerdo? Yo también te amo, adiós. (Yes, I'm alright. A little frustrated about losing my j- No, I have not checked the news. I will once this call is over, okay? Love you too, bye.)" Daniella responded and hung up. Bringing the phone down, a sigh escaped her lips. Taking a moment to compose herself, it still wasn't enough to get rid of the feelings that were threatening to bubble forth here.

"Is something the matter?" Bitmon inquired and jumped over to the desk. Landing gracefully, their attention returned to Daniella.

"There's something on the news related to Izumi Solutions." Daniella explained, bringing with it the sound of footsteps. Turning to her cubicle's entrance, what looked to be her co-workers were heading for the break room. Considering that they all no longer had a job, did this have something to do with the news story? Most likely. All the more reason to find out here. "Bitmon, do you want to come with me to the break room?"

Bitmon perked up. They had only expected to be taken to Daniella's car once she was done picking up their stuff. While the news story was bound to suck, them being there would likely make up for it.

"I would love that." Bitmon answered and felt their entire body get lifted up. Getting set on Daniella's shoulder, the mammal digimon took care to not accidentally dig into their partner's top. The last thing Daniella needed right now was replacing a top before having to go back into the job market once more.

Shoving that thought away for now, Bitmon took the opportunity to examine their surroundings. As office environments went, this one was honestly pretty generic. White walls were just out of reach, matched only by the just as generic carpet. While likely bought on the cheap to replace whatever had once been there, it didn't change the fact that it looked almost out of place. Was someone attempting to hide something here? It wasn't out of the realm of possibilities. Especially considering the information they had on Koushiro.

"So is this the original office or have modifications been made since you started working here?" Bitmon inquired and felt Daniella shift about. Looking to see what she did, Bitmon was met with their partner's free hand holding up her chin. Deep in thought, was the answer not as clean cut as one would expect it to be? Quite possible. Nor did they blame their partner for not knowing the answer to their question. More food for thought than anything concrete, any answer they got would be satisfactory.

"If something had changed, it would be news to me. The only real thing of note in this place is a tornado shelter." Daniella explained and Bitmon raised an eyebrow. A part of the mammal digimon kind of wanted to see that. At the same time, that sounded like something only used as a last resort. Considering that this situation didn't come anywhere close to that, they could look past it here. Perhaps Daniella could take them to a museum that had one.

"Wait. The place you work in has tornadoes come through the area from time-to-time?" Bitmon inquired as Daniella slowed her pace. The break room was now within reach, bringing with it a massive crowd of people trying their best to give everyone enough space to move around without accidentally crushing someone in the process.

"Yeah. They're quite scary. Is there something similar in the digital world?" Daniella inquired as she took the opportunity to squeeze her way inside. Taking care not to disturb anyone here, she and Bitmon took the time to examine their surroundings. Done up much the same as the office proper, the only real differences were the plain counters and cupboards matched up with just as plain of a table and chairs. On said table was that of a projector. Projecting the news currently, that took the form of a woman standing in front of some building in Japan of all places. In the background, one could make out various other reporters and camera crews.

"For the viewers just coming in, an arrest warrant for Koushiro Izumi has been issued in relation to the Eosmon Kidnapping. This will be the second arrest in the case, the first being that of Menoa Belluci…" the reporter explained, Daniella not completely certain what to make of this. On one hand, thank fuck for that. On the other hand, this also likely meant that he was still on the loose, free to fuck people over with even less regard than he had before. Would their former boss use them as scapegoats? Entirely possible. It was only a matter of time before he was

"Are you going to be okay, Daniella?" Bitmon inquired and Daniella shook her head. She was the farthest one could get from being alright. Yet, she needed to be strong. Whatever happened, happened. There was no way to directly influence things in such a way that this storm would ignore her. Instead, she would have to weather through it and figure it out from here. Yeah. That sounded quite good…

.

Meanwhile at the DA03 headquarters, things weren't going as smooth. Mostly on account of a certain someone's arrest warrant going out and being announced to the entire world. By no means subtle, it was quite honestly the easiest way to tell Mr Izumi to get fucked.

"Leave it to life to throw one more bombshell before the big meeting," Pins muttered as he looked over the list of those invited. Damn near every major player over the years was invited, along with a couple others that I don't quite recognize. Color me intrigued…

Harlequin's Note:

Fuck Koushiro.