2. The Daimon Family
It was kind of amazing to see Chika already older than the age he used to be before he left for the Digital World. And in Chika's case, she was already prepping for high school exams and other things that Masaru had the uh... fortune to not have to bother with.
After lunch, all four of the Daimons hung around in the living area. The TV in the background provided white noise with some random variety show, but it didn't detract attention from the Daimons as they sat down together, with Masaru at the focal center.
"How's school for you these days, Chika?"
"Pretty good."
"Chika's in the top 5% of her class and should be fine to go to most any high school she wants," his father chimed in. Not even bragging, just stating facts.
"I still haven't decided which one to go to..."
Masaru let his mouth hang for a moment before speaking again. "Top 5%... Do you spend all your free time studying or something?"
"I'm pretty sure it's just average amounts of studying? No cram school or anything either..."
"..." He had suspicions even six years ago when she was a wee little kid, but this confirmed it. All the brains from the Daimon genetics went to the sister.
Fortunately, she changed topics before he could dwell on it any longer. "Oh yeah, you gotta see Ikuto while you're here too! He lives in the neighborhood now."
"Whoa, he does? How's he doing?"
"He's fine! ...For the most part. It's so funny, his voice changed a whole ton in just the recent year. No longer the squeaky kid... and he can speak proper full sentences now. I drilled all the grammar into him."
Chika smirked in Masaru's direction, and Masaru couldn't stop the corner of his lip from twitching. Masaru remembered an occasional streak of Chika putting on a smug attitude six years ago. The intensity of that streak seemed to have elevated to new heights after all this time...
From what Suguru explained, the Noguchis had moved into the same neighborhood a few years back once there was vacancy, in order to help Suguru in his research once again, and to give their children the city experience as they grew up. It was what Ikuto wanted too, after all. Apparently, the boy who mostly grew up in the wilderness of the Digital World wanted to 'finally get out of the boondocks' and see what big city life was all about.
Man, Ikuto... he could barely imagine how the guy was doing now...
Funny. He remembered Tohma mentioning once that it was like Masaru and his father had switched places between the Digital World and human world. The same could be said for Ikuto and himself as well. But considering the obvious age differences and other circumstances, surely Ikuto must've had to go through the most change out of everyone. Ikuto hardly knew anything about the human world before he suddenly started living with his human parents and even having a little sister.
"If he's in the neighborhood, I guess I'll go check up on him tomorrow... And if he's around."
"He should be. I can take you!" Chika chimed in to seal the deal. She pulled out something from her cardigan pocket...
Masaru raised his eyebrows at the sight. "You've got one of those too? I just got one."
She was tapping the device with one hand with utmost familiarity. "A cell phone? Yeah, everyone's getting them these days. A lot of my friends just got theirs recently too. We're not allowed to bring them to school though..."
"So what're you doing?"
"I'm texting Ikuto." Some short beep boops later, and Chika quickly finished with a smile, putting the phone back in her cardigan pocket. "He says we can hang out tomorrow for lunch!"
"Dang, that was instant."
"That's the beauty of it!"
After catching Masaru up with some more context of how things were back in the real world, the father Daimon brought up his urge to hear Masaru's stories from the Digital World. There were so many stories to cover, Masaru easily spent the entire afternoon on them. At some point, Chika brought her text books over to the living area to study while she listened. Sayuri wandered into the kitchen and brought out snacks and refreshments once in a while, and the stories would just keep coming.
The young fighter went through as many stories as he could remember, starting with his run-ins with Hippogriffomon (he showed off his scar briefly, but his entire family just made light work of it as he expected), the development of Digicon Valley, his journey to the Southern Islands...
The Southern Islands in particular had Suguru's attention at peak. Masaru tried to explain his experiences there with the Digimon, but it was difficult to contain with just words. The best he could come up with was saying that most of the Digimon there looked different from usual... There were other Greymon on the islands, but they were completely different from his GeoGreymon or even the regular Greymon that was within the Digivice database. The same went with a lot of other Digimon he was familiar with like Tyrannomon, Garurumon... A lot of them were spikier, or had more radical colors, slimmer or fatter bodies, things like that.
"That sounds something like the Galápagos Islands of the Digital World. It must house tons of different species variations never seen anywhere else. Oh man... I've gotta check that out myself one of these days. A new goal!" Suguru said with sparkling eyes.
"One of these days..." Masaru repeated. "And in a way that makes it so you don't have to leave the family too long, right?"
"Hey, who knows. We're trying to reach a point where Sayuri, Chika, and everyone else can come all together. Heck, even Mrs. Noguchi is starting to open up to going to the Digital World again some day."
"Ikuto's mom? Ah yeah, I remember..."
Even before leaving for the Digital World, Masaru was plenty aware that his cravings for danger and adventure were on the excessive side compared to others. Back when Piyomon showed up at their house, his concern for Chika with the possibility of her joining DATS displayed this awareness. He didn't run his long expeditions in the Digital World without concern for his family as well.
He understood how important family was above all else. He fully understood the feelings of Ikuto's mother back when she was sobbing, lamenting the thought of losing her son once again.
He still remembered the distressed look on the face of Ikuto's mother from many years ago, during that strange incident when a Digimon took over an entire house, holding her hostage. So even someone as sensitive as her, as someone who already knew what potentially happens in the Digital World, still had the courage to venture once again into the world that took away her son for ten years...
At the same time he understood these familial ties, his pride as a man and his thirst for adventure still drove him ahead.
"That's the goal, Dad. We'll make it happen."
Suguru nodded in full approval just in time for Sayuri to show up with a plate of freshly cut apples and a small basket of mandarins.
"Is Agu-chan still doing well? Is he eating enough?" she asked as she sat down next to Suguru.
"Oh he eats... eats too much, as usual. I don't get how he can eat so much but nothing really changes about him?"
"Consumed food is digitally converted in the Digital World rather than digested normally, Masaru," Suguru cut in with the facts as he dug into the apple slices. "I'm sure he's expending plenty of energy when he fights and evolves to validate how much he eats."
Masaru joined in. "Ah, right... I think I heard someone explain that to me before. But he ate soooo much while he was here, too. That doesn't get converted digitally here, does it?"
"Digimon still use the bathroom in both worlds, if I remember correctly. Even BanchouLeomon did."
"Hmm, yeah."
"And yes, their excrement still turns into digital energy even in this world. While I haven't witnessed that happening myself, this is information that DATS had documented back in the day."
"You saying DATS studied Digimon poop?"
"Of course. It's all for science. Don't you find it funny that Digimon know how to use toilets even though they aren't human?"
"Now that I think of it, Agumon's had more trouble in the dumpster than I ever have..."
"Masaru-niichan, can you stop talking about that kind of stuff already? It's so gross..." Chika gave him a judging look from across the table where she was studying.
"Hey, Dad was the one who first brought up digestion and all that."
"Masaru-niichan..."
"Well, whatever. It's good you mentioned Agumon, anyway. He's finally starting to take his own stand on things after all these years being with me almost 24/7. He's even gonna run his own battle royale in the coliseum while I'm gone."
"It's truly like you raised a younger brother," Sayuri said with one of her trademark smiles.
"Mmhmm. He's my pride and joy!"
"That's what someone would say for their son, not their little bro," Chika said smugly. "To be fair though, Agumon's the youngest of the DATS Digimon, so I can see why it took so long for him to start acting independently. It's like he's finally doing his first solo errand."
"I know the other DATS Digimon are doing their own thing these days too, but I wouldn't say he's just doing his first solo errand... that's like an elementary school kid thing, isn't it?"
"Well, just look at him compared to the other DATS Digimon! Lalamon has an entire idol career going, Gaomon is playing the cool wandering ranger, and I hear that even Miki-san and Megumi-san's PawnChessmon have been doing a lot behind the scenes in the Digital World as well."
"How come you know so much about these DATS things, Chika?"
"Dad and Tohma work together a lot, right? So I hear things from Dad sometimes. The other ex-DATS people taught me a lot, too. A lot of them work for our local police department now. And I wanna get a government job dealing with the Digital World when I can. Anything that lets me see Piyomon again!"
"Oh..."
Masaru still remembered worrying his head off about the possibility of Chika being forced to join DATS back when Piyomon was in the human world. To think that she would want to do something similar on her own accord, now that she was older... Even with the Digital World still closed off to everyone, save for Tohma and himself...
"You coming back makes huge implications for my future career, Masaru-niichan. So let that make you feel important or whatever if you want, but just so you know... You won't be the only human in the Digital World soon enough, I can guarantee that!"
The times really were changing.
After dinner, they were back in the living room again, only this time Suguru did most of the talking.
He had plenty of his own stories to tell. He stated upfront that Sayuri and Chika had heard all of them over the years already, but nonetheless they both stuck around to hear the stories once again, and to witness Masaru's reactions to them. The father Daimon started recounting tales of traveling with BanchouLeomon in the Digital World, splitting notes with Masaru about his various observations.
Chika shrugged at the end of an exciting story about BanchouLeomon versus a gang of Digimon that tried to threaten the Royal Knights. "Dad... he hasn't published his book on these yet. He's been working on it for soooo long, ever since he got back..."
"He's writing a book?" Masaru said with eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh that's right, I should show it to you."
Suguru brought out a massive manuscript of sorts, organized with dividers and all the works. Masaru thought it was a dictionary at first. "It's written, but there are a lot of reasons why it hasn't been published yet. It's coming though... soon."
He started skimming through the pages full of texts, diagrams, and sketches of Digimon and the Digital World, and Masaru couldn't help but be awed.
"I've read through it all," Chika stated, "It's really funny how he left out all the details about him literally becoming BanchouLeomon, but you can't tell the difference at all. I mean, if Dad can punch the ground to make an entire lake come out of it, as a HUMAN, then everything else he did as BanchouLeomon sounded just like more of that. Who's actually going to believe in all of this regardless of BanchouLeomon's involvement? He even has the gall to keep mentioning BanchouLeomon in his stories, but he wrote it like they were acting separately instead of as one being."
"The perks of having your own daughter as a beta reader..." Suguru said behind chuckles. "Anyway, Masaru, I'm not expecting you to read through this whole thing. But if there's anything you see that catches your attention and you want me to expand on, let me know. I'll add you to the online doc for my notes so you can access it from your phone whenever you want."
"Online doc, wha...?"
"Here, I'll show you how to use it. Just don't show it to anyone who wasn't already involved in DATS, if you catch my drift... The usual confidentiality."
"Yeah, sure..."
Suguru fiddled with Masaru's phone and gave his son the run-down of how it all worked.
"Oh and FYI, this doc is just the notes. It's nothing like how the book is being written. The book is honestly just a bunch of fluff to get people warmed up to the idea of the Digital World existing at all. Except... That's what makes it so hard for me to write. I have a tendency to ramble on in tangents, and that doesn't help the original intent for persuasion..."
After the incident with Belphemon and their battle against Yggdrasil, it was obviously impossible to keep the Digital World's existence under wraps. The situation fell completely out of the National Confidentiality Ministry's hands, and it took months of working with various government entities and... media outlets to finally get to a point where people went on with their lives without constantly prying into the status of a certain world that they had no simple access to.
Suguru described how their old DATS Chief, Yushima Hiroshi, with his mysterious ways, managed to keep all the DATS members out of the public eye. In one fell swoop, the old man converted/merged all of Yokohama DATS's frontal force into the local police department (PD), and he made a bit of a show by 'retiring' from the PD Chief position and handing it over to Satsuma Rentarou, their old DATS Captain. Despite being retired, even now, the old man was still occasionally showing up in his fisherman vest at Suguru's workplace, with all the other ex-DATS scientists.
Suguru himself lucked out in terms of having to deal with the public, as his occupation even before entering the Digital World was shrouded in obscurity, and the media never caught on that he was involved with the entire Digimon fiasco in the first place. Also thanks to Yushima, he was able to resume his career work in Digital World research almost as if he hadn't disappeared for ten years to begin with.
The story of the whole fiasco sent Chika into a small fit of giggles as she mentioned all of the manga and anime that sprouted up in recent years that were obviously inspired from the existence of a parallel world. "Although instead of a parallel world, the main character is usually getting sent to some generic fantasy world or such. There's too many of them now! I'm not into any of them though, 'cause reading them just makes me miss Piyomon..."
"You coming home for the first time after all these years is the start of the conclusion for this book, Masaru," the father chimed in.
"What do you mean by that?"
"After all the ramblings, after all is said and done... You're here now. With a new set of stories, with your own personal experiences. Naturally, I'm not going to delve into YOUR stories in my book... But you'll be featured within the ending remarks... The final impression... Or in another perspective, the first impression of a new beginning. If you're okay with that, of course."
"It's fine with me, Dad." Masaru took a moment before saying his next words. "More like... Were you always this talkative?"
"I think working with a certain someone of high intellect and vigorous youth for these past years has influenced the way I converse at times, sure."
Masaru blinked a few times as he vaguely understood the point. "Dad, you don't mean..."
Suguru suddenly laughed. "I'm still my own person in the end, silly. We all are. Tohma is his own person, and so are you. And I'm proud of you, Masaru."
Suguru's final remark came just as suddenly, and he excused himself to take a bathroom break.
Masaru was still a bit flabbergasted, but he made sure to show his appreciation anyway. "Thanks, Dad."
Once the sun finished setting, an old familiar pattern commenced of his mother filling the first floor bathtub with steaming hot water for the family to take turns using for their shower time. Back in those days, Chika would always go first followed by Masaru, although Masaru did take first dibs back when Ikuto was staying over. Tonight... Chika still went first.
And she gave Masaru such an awful scowl of sorts when he nearly barged in, thinking it was his turn since he still remembered the old timing of it, when in actuality she was still getting dressed. It turned out Chika was taking a lot longer than he remembered her taking to finish up...
Well, she was a teenager now. He suddenly remembered all the girls in his school around the time were uhhh... hyper sensitive to all sorts of 'private' matters. It re-dawned on him that Chika was that age as well. Reasons he stayed away whenever he could...
"Masaru-niichan, you idiot! I'll tell you when I'm done!"
At least it was a short incident, as Chika was already back to her peppy self when she came out dressed to tell Masaru she was done. Without further ado, Masaru took his turn to wash up.
Back in the Digital World, he didn't even need to take showers or baths since the midnight refresh would take care of that necessity, but he'd still use the shower in his Digicon Valley room just for the feel of it. He liked showers. He liked the feel of hot water beating down his back, running down his skin on cold days. It was a therapeutic exercise of sorts.
His room remained in almost the exact same condition as he had left it, save for a couple boxes of books planted in one corner... his father said he hadn't gotten the time to process which books he wanted to keep versus donate in those boxes.
The things he originally wanted to bring to the Digital World, like his favorite manga and baseball, were still there on his desk. Looking at them now, he was glad he didn't bring them after all. Everything he had brought into the Digital World had either ended up getting wrecked or getting digitized to fit into his Digivice (following that one update that was done over-the-air). Even his backpack was just another piece of equipment stored digitally in his Digivice. Tohma mentioned he could realize the items in his Digivice back into the Real World, but he didn't feel up to doing that just yet.
The rest of the Daimons had settled into their rooms for the night, and suddenly Masaru found himself amidst the silence of his own room, with no one else around. It was actually the first time in years since he'd been alone in his room. Oddly enough, it made him remember years back in junior high school when he was doing a considerable effort of studying at his desk... Which consisted of barely reaching double digits in minutes before he'd fall asleep, face planted against the pages of his school books.
Some of his school books were still on his desk. He barely even recognized them; their contents were just so far out of his head for him to even remember what the covers looked like. He might as well have been seeing them for the first time again.
'Well, not like anything I learned in school has actually helped me in the Digital World...'
He consciously tried to think of a time when his schooling had actually mattered, at least beyond basic reading, writing, speech, and the like... He gave up after a few minutes (with some mind wandering), when the device he had left at his bedside rang. The new Digivice... The phone. The screen showed Tohma's name.
Tohma called him at 9 pm, exactly on the hour. After some fidgeting with the screen and trying to figure out how to actually respond to the call, Masaru brought the thin block up to his ear with a "Hello?"
"Hello. Good to see you were able to pick up."
"Ah... mm."
It was the first time he'd ever gotten a phone call from Tohma. He'd heard him through the DATS headpiece intercom years ago, but something was different when there wasn't a particular sense of urgency in this form of communication. Very... Different...
There were no more DATS missions here. There was no immediate world-threatening crisis demanding their attention, either. Just the two of them, in private... in each other's thoughts.
Masaru flopped down onto his bed, taking short notice of how nicely he sunk in the mattress he used to use nightly.
"How'd your first day back home go?"
"It was fine... My family's great all the same, and it's really nice seeing them all again. We talked with each other allllll day. And hey, I'll be seeing Ikuto tomorrow."
"Oh, good. Send him my regards, if you would. I haven't gotten a chance to see him for... likely a whole year at this point..."
"Was his voice still a squeaky chipmunk's when you last saw him?"
"Hmm, if you mean if his voice had changed at all... no, I don't remember such a thing."
"Hah, yeah. Chika says it just happened in the recent year. Guess I'll find out soon enough."
"I see... A late bloomer, if I had to label it. I'll have to find out the next time I see him."
"You could come with me. Are you busy tomorrow?"
"I am, unfortunately..."
"Baww. Maybe later in the week? When I'm at your place?"
"...We can certainly try. Do be aware that there's a lot of red tape we need to work through together when you're with me. That, along with working out more details for the future of the Digital Gate, your role in maintaining the balance of..."
Tohma's voice was always calming to him, but hearing it through the phone was sweet serenity... Tohma's speech mannerisms had gotten a hint softer in general over the years, and Masaru was all there for it.
Masaru felt a wave of ease gently wash over him as Tohma spoke to him through the phone, and he pressed his ear a bit closer as he settled further onto the bed. Closer to the speaker, to the source of the sound, to hear him more...
He was glad no one else was there to see how flushed his face probably was.
Tohma was in full rambling mode, but he quieted down as soon as Masaru cut in.
"Say... I didn't get a chance to ask them, but..."
A question came to mind, but honestly it was a thought he didn't realize all throughout the day since he'd been caught up with... catching up with the family. It was an important question, though...
"Does my family know? About... us?"
There was a brief pause before Tohma answered. "...Your father knows. I left it up to him whether he wanted to tell the rest of your family. He said he would, though I don't know when or if he actually did."
"Mm..."
"If the rest of your family is anything like him, which I'm sure they are... They're truly only concerned for your happiness. And that's all there is to it... for them."
"Right..." Masaru briefly thought back on his interactions with his father earlier that day, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. Either way, he couldn't settle with keeping the matter vague with the rest of his family. "Guess I'll have to ask them myself at some point... somehow."
Tohma grunted gently in response. In a moment's passing, curiosity started to build in Masaru's mind.
"So... how did you let Dad know? When? Where?"
"Whoa there... It was only a few weeks ago. I formally invited him over to my residence for a one-on-one lunch, outside of work hours. I had a lot to discuss with him regarding progress on Digital Gate technology. Since I was also working on inviting you back home, I told him my plans for that and... it came to me that it was the appropriate time to tell him."
There was something incredulous about the way Tohma said the last part... but he had a more pressing question in mind.
"And what about your family, Tohma?"
"... It's a work in progress."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'll have to tell you about it later in the week, when you're with me. Don't worry about it for now."
Masaru left his mouth open for a while, about to say something, but in the end, he couldn't bring himself to say it. Tohma obviously had something planned, and it would be easier to get it out of him in person, when they were together later in the week... Just as Tohma had mentioned. At least he could hold some expectations this way...
"Okay. I'm holding you to that."
"Absolutely. Don't forget to charge your phone, Masaru."
"Mm?"
"This is the reason why I'm calling you in the first place, if you don't remember already."
"Ah... Ah yeah, right. I do remember..."
"I'll talk to you again tomorrow night. You must be tired after all the catching up you've been doing for your first day back."
"I'm fine? All I did was stay here all day and chat around with my parents and Chika. And it's probably just more of that tomorrow with Ikuto."
"Just keep pacing yourself. There's a lot more to catch up with than just the people you're already familiar with. A lot more..."
"Is that a challenge? I'll take on anything that comes my way, you know that already."
"I do... I best let you off now; I still have work to do."
"Work, still? This late? And you're telling ME to pace myself?"
"Your concern touches my heart, it does..." Tohma's voice trailed off, but not long enough for Masaru to butt in about it. "I love you, Masaru."
Masaru's breath halted. It caught him off guard, and he was once again glad there was no one physically there with him.
Hearing it so close to him, for only his ears... For a brief moment, he longed to be there with Tohma, to hold him in his arms and mutter his affection back at him, and all that corny jazz.
The time would come, but not for a couple nights more.
Until then, even though Masaru was still a complete newbie to this cell phone biz, he still knew what to say at a time like this.
"Idiot. I love you too, Tohma. Talk to you later... goodnight."
"Goodnight."