"Happy birthday, Rika."

She looked nice with her hair down.

"Thanks." She smiled.

Takato carefully set a plate down, on top of which was a large, Sakuyamon-themed cake.

"You have no idea how long it took to get this just right." He grinned at Rika. "But I did it."

I was halfway-tempted to tease him, but...

Nah, I'd let him get away with this one.

Guilmon stared at it, examining it.

I also couldn't help but notice that Renamon herself was continuously glancing at it.

"Can we eat it now, Takatomon?"

Takato chuckled. "Not yet, Guilmon. Besides, Rika gets the first slice."

It would be too easy, really.

There was no surprise Parasimon invasion.

I made very, very sure of that.

Henry's birthday came next.

The cake was MegaGargomon-themed, something which brought a smile out from Henry, and a grin out from Terriermon.

Somewhat fittingly, the cake was larger than the one he had made for Rika- which was simply because there were more people attending Henry's birthday, and Takato didn't want anybody to feel left out.

Rika, after seeing the cake, gave a few considering glances between Takato, Henry, the cake, and herself.

Takato didn't notice when she went over to his mother and, very quietly, asked when Takato's birthday was.

Rika, unlike Takato, didn't know how to make cakes.

Still, she was resourceful.

And she definitely wasn't above asking for help.

Help that Yoshie and Seiko were quite pleased to give. I suspected Rumiko would have also been eager to help, if not for the minor fact that she knew even less about cooking than her daughter.

Still, it took a fair amount of effort to keep Takato distracted. Rika recruited Henry, Kazu, and Kenta to that end, telling them to keep him away from his house while they got prepared.

Takato had the biggest grin on his face when Rika brought out the cake.

And no small blush, either. Something which was also present on Rika's cheeks.

I was really tempted to tease her about it.

But, really, it was just too easy.

Jeri's birthday comes up next month.

This time, Takato showed Rika and Henry the processes of making a cake- something which I found quite amusing.

Takato ended up doing most of the work, while I pitched in every now and then.

It took me a while to place the shape, honestly.

But I do find it interesting that the cake is SaberLeomon-themed.

Henry volunteers to bring it in.

Naruto's birthday is a quiet affair.

As is Sakura's and Sasuke's.

Neither the first or the last really... do birthdays. To them, it's just the one day a year that the other won't complain when they inevitably pig out on their favourite foods.

Two and a half years passed slowly.

My search for the Keyhole of the Elemental Nations continues to prove fruitless.

The Elemental Nations didn't change.

Neither did Madoka's World.

But the Tamer's Dimension?

Oh ho~

"Hello Guilmon, Renamon."

"Hi~" The dinosaur hummed.

"Greetings." Renamon nodded.

A few customers glanced out way, but most simply looked away.

"Not hanging around Rika?"

"I've had my fill of Soap Opera for the day." She noted.

"They still have no idea."

"The only two that don't know are those two."

It was interesting how a world could change.

Very much so.

And it was very, very interesting seeing it.

"It must give you a fit."

Yamaki glanced at me. "What does?"

"All these Digimon wandering around." I elaborated.

"No particularly." He took a sip of his coffee. "Our mission has changed to only getting rid of the troublesome ones."

"Good morning, Drich." Gorou greeted.

"Good morning." I nodded at him. "I take it that you don't get many in this area?"

"Oh, we get plenty." He scoffed. "And every single one of them is an idiot. They come here looking to start some trouble and they meet dozens of others who prefer the peace and quiet."

"They usually get taken out so fast that Terriermon doesn't even have time to get to them." Janyu stopped next to us. "He's been complaining about that a lot."

"Given the... 'pwincess pwetty pwants' treatment that Suzie gives him, I can't blame him."

"I wasn't expecting this."

"Hmm?"

Gorou gestured out over the city. "This. There are dozens of Digimon out in Tokyo. Thousands, all over the world."

"Shinjuku has the highest concentration." I noted.

"Yep. Guilmon, Renamon, Terriermon, Impmon, Dobermon, Leomon, Andromon, and MarineAngemon, and that's just in this prefecture."

"There's more than just those ones."

"Oh, I know." He nodded. "Those are just the ones that have partners."

"And that's the important difference?"

"Exactly!" He grinned. "Partners! That's what I wasn't expecting- the beneficial symbiosis between Humans and Digimon."

He straightened up -looking so much better after months and months of recovery- and started gesticulating wildly. "The Human gains a companion, a protector, and, as the bond progresses, a number of physical bonuses. The Digimon also gains a companion, and that very same companion allows them to reach the next level much more easily than if they were going alone."

He settled down. "More than half of the Digimon that come to this world eventually take a partner, following the examples of other Human-Digimon pairs. When I- when we first started out, none of us ever knew that it would come to this."

"How is that going, anyway?" I asked.

He slumped. "Touch and go, really. There was a lot of goodwill generated when that video of Megidramon, Sakuyamon, MegaGargomon, and yourself got out onto the net. To everybody, the D-Reaper is a monster, and seeing those three fighting against it... well." He sighed. "Hypnos has been capitalizing on that as best they can, trying to push public perception in favour of Digimon."

"And?"

"It's worked fairly well, here in Japan." He admitted. "As you probably guessed by the way that Guilmon stays out in plain sight at the Matsuki Bakery."

"Two hundred and eighty-seven percent extra sales ever since he started." I stated.

Gorou grinned. "Well, that's one way to boost sales I suppose." He shook his head. "But that's just here in Japan. World-wide opinion varies much more. Nobody seems to give a damn in Australia, not even after those singing Seadramon showed up-"

"Singing Seadramon?" Hold up, what?

"Oh yeah." He smirked. "That happened. A pair of Seadramon Bio-emerged in Sydney while the Opera House was hosting a performance, and when it was put on hold because, you know, giant sea dragons, the Seadramon began to sing the Phantom of the Opera. They were pretty good, too. It's still at the top of the charts."

Well I'll be damned.

"Excuse me for a moment, I have to see this for myself."

He wasn't kidding.

He wasn't kidding at all.

Naruto rose to his full height, grinning.

"Ah, it's good to be home."

"Welcome back, brat."