They year pressed on growing older and older. Ruki was somewhat uncooperative when it came to examining her college to be and the teachers within. Eventually, she relented, but she never cared for it. She was an adult now with a dangerous, but lucrative job, however niche. Still she was give into the requests of her family and finally do as she was asked. Almost immediately after she would spend the following days ignoring the situation as best she could via friends and her boyfriend. This day in particular she was hanging out with her lover and one of her closest friends at a popular local cafe for that reason. Takato seemed particularly down between a mix of overwork and an exceptionally nasty customer his family bakery had recently dealt with. Her other best friend in comparison looked great. Jenrya seemed particularly pleased. Today was day off of work. He had no work stress, no college appointments nor family family errands worrying him in recent memory. His friends came to notice his attitude being more positive than usual. Ruki would drop the complaints of her daily live to take her boyfriend's side. Between her and Jenrya, he would soon cheer up. That was the Takato they knew. It wasn't too far ago that the couple noticed something pleasantly familiar from their half-Chinese friend. Just a few months ago, the young man was more anxiety-ridden over educational woes than any of his friends. He couldn't be more different from that man now even if he hadn't performed well in his past exams. They had seen small, familiar traits in the man for the past few months and today they seemed to shine brigther. He was in good shape, but was that really it? He had as much current stress as any of them, especially with where his high scores took him. His job didn't pay well and he was quick to complain about that when prompted. This time, the two were quick to draw their conclusions than with Renamon. Takato wanted to take things slowly when asking his friend certain questions. Ruki was anything but subtle or slow. "So, Lee?" "Huh?" Jernya looked back to see his female friend shoot him a rare big smile. "What's her name?" Jenrya was a smart young man but felt quite stupid when processing her question. He was also confused by the loud slap from Takato as he brought his hand to his face and groaned. "Um, hey Takato?" Ruki's smile turned into a pout. "Who do you think, dumbass? The lucky lady." Jernya blinked and remained in the dark. "The who?" Takato groaned and finally spoke up. "She means she thinks you have a girlfriend." That's when Jenrya's look of confusion turned into concern. Then came the denial. He was only finally inching to possibly explain his mystery lover to Terriermon, and still had not yet done so. He was anything but ready to tell the two of them. So came the excuses and denial. Ruki seemed displeased. She may have been shorter than him, but she was tougher and he he not been one of her closest friends, he knew he'd of learned that the hard way. She didn't want this. They were friends and he was the first to know of their relationship. She wouldn't put up with this from him. It reminded her of Renamon's situation. She seemed more and more comfortable talking about who she was with, but still wouldn't reveal his identity to her yet. "Not again." She groaned out loud. "Um, again?" Jenrya said nervously. "First Renamon, now you." "R-Renamon!?" Jenrya gulped and dropped his drink. The man was uneasy, but why? Ruki was highly annoyed, but helped him with his mess. She even paid for him to get a replacement drink. Still, she stared at him more eagle-eyed than ever. Takato wanted to speak out in his friend's favour, but found himself unable to. A mix of Ruki's intimidation factor and his own curiosity made it too hard for him to. Ruki crossed her arms. "Whatever, we're all adults here. You know about us so why not tell me who's with you?" "I never even said I was with someone." Her blue-haired friend protested. The talk between the three became more casual after that. No matter how aggravated Ruki was, they were still friends and he would still say something when he was ready. The only notable other thing said among the three was learning of Renamon's own "recent" romantic developments. This was the first genuine confirmation Takato had. It was also the first time Jenrya had heard of the sitaution via Ruki. The couple noticed and odd red-faced tension in their friend when her name was mentioned. "Hey man, you okay?" Takato asked. "Y-yeah, fine. Just tired." "You just chugged a drink and a half worth of caffeine, Lee." Ruki bluntly responded. The two didn't pressure him and merely made mental notes of his odd response to Ruki's partner. "Good for Renamon..." Jenrya said, "you...go girl..." Ruki shrugged. Her mind and Takato's had a few theories but none of them close to the truth. "S'matter, you jealous?" Ruki throw out those words as a meaningless tease, a piece of harmless banter between friends. It did not have the response she suggested. "N-no, I'm not! I mean...good for her. I'm sure she's got someone great and..." A split-second idea formed when Jenrya's eyes casually crossed his phone. Hastily he picked up and looked at the time. "Oh no! I uh, gotta go! Sis needs me to pick her up. Good to see you two, later." In a brief moment Jenrya leapt from his chair to offer the two each a hug. The two had not time to respond let alone return the hug because he was soon gone. His two friends sat their utterly baffled. "What...is up with him?" Said his concerned male friend. "The fuck has gotten into him?" The red-haired woman replied. "What the hell's he even picking up his sister from, its not a school day?" Takato shrugged. "I don't know maybe lessons or something? I don't get why he got so jumpy when you mentioned Renamon." Ruki sighed. "Neither do I and I'm her partner." The two tossed around theories as they continued enjoying each other's company. They reminded themselves that the mystery parties each had developed a deeper friendship with the other. Yet they were still far from discovering the truth. Each even made a casual joke or two about them possibly being the mystery lover to the other without a single hint of how true that really was. The with the last joke, they laughed it all off and put the thoughts of their strange friends behind them.

The day was still young and as previously predicted, Ruki wouldn't be home for some time. After offering great thanks to Seiko for fixing a hole in one of her arm warmer gloves, Renamon departed from the home. She finally had the chance to move her legs and again and really needed it.

Moving into the nearby city and slipping around from shadow to shadow, the bustling city was never a boring place. It was always so loud, too loud for her often, but always full of things to see. The simple things she would see all managed to interest her for brief moments. On one street, there was a child beaming with excitement over the new plush she had been given. Her next stop had her bare witness to a couple bickering. From the shadows of a nearby restaurant she would be greeted by a feral cat, whom she gave a fair amount of pets to. Her day was starting off plain. It didn't bother her. Then came unexpected excitement. Her nose picked up something pleasantly familiar from a mild distance away. It was him, she knew his scent better than any. She couldn't hear anything in a noisy place like this, but she could smell just were he was. He seemed to be moving rather quickly as if possibly distressed. So off in his direction she went. She wasted no time seeking him out. When she first laid eyes on him that day he was next to a public drink machine panting. Snatching out a bottle of water he downed the drink as quickly as he could. He didn't even think, he just drank. The movement of the sun created a thick shadow from where he stood. That was when she made herself known. "Something wrong?" She asked. The man jerked his head to see her appear within the large shadows cast by the machine and himself. "Oh, Renamon. Good...to see you." "Tell me what's wrong." She asked. He signed before looking at the machine again. A few button punches and money later and she was gifted a drink of her own. "Why don't we talk about this some place private over drinks? Its on me." She laughed. "Always the sweet one without fail. Why not the park?" "Huh. Yeah, Renamon, that sounds like a good idea. It ain't even far from here."

A bit of a walk and some time later brought the two back to one of their favourite areas in the Human World, The Digital World, or any other. It was the same park of them had good memories of. Perhaps for Renamon and Jenrya more so these days. They sat at the bottom of a true just out of view of any potential onlookers. Jenrya looked so relaxed compared to earlier, but she still had to know what was bothering her. Perhaps it was time they share the stress over his recent news.

Takato now knew as well as Ruki that Renamon had a mystery lover. Now his two best friends speculated the same thing about Jenrya. The two pondered for a little while. She'd already admitted part of her secret to her partner. The truth would come out eventually. Jenrya sighed and put a his hand on her part. "You, know what? I don't care. This has been great so far. How longs it been? Most of the year? Who knows? It's been a good year for me I know that and a lot of it is thanks to you." Renamon smiled. She said nothing at first but felt her heart leap a bit. "I couldn't have asked for anyone better." She replied. "Still," Jenrya said bringing his free hand to his chin to ponder, "I dunno if its a good time to say something or not. How about you?" "Jen, no, Jiangliang-kun, I have no idea. I didn't even know how relationships work until earlier this year and still learning." "Greattttt...", the man groaned as he leaned on her, "guess we're both dumb and up the creek without a paddle." His groan turned to laughter. It was accompanied by her own. The two stayed by the side of the other for what must have been hours. When they finally left each-other's embrace near sundown to head home, there was only one worry on the minds of them both. How soon was too soon? How would the others react? Poorly? One question after another all derived from the same idea of telling others would occasionally plague their thoughts. Yet the sheer joy and comfort the two got from one another was greater than any potential anxiety related to it. The others would eventually come around. The two knew it.