Chapter 7

In the end, the in-person meet up was arranged for Saturday, with Junpei and Tomoki both saying they would attend. Kouji's refusal wasn't a surprise, but Izumi had cautioned that she might be too busy for anything other than playing Project Frontier.

Takuya leaned against the statue of Hatchikou outside of Shibuya station watching the Saturday morning crowds go by.

I hope they get here soon, he thought. At least I know what Tomoki and Junpei look like this time.

He had tried to get Shinya in on this meeting, since Shinya and Tomoki were nearly the same age, but the brat had instead gone off playing with his own circle, like he always did. Any attempt to get Shinya in on his team practices usually ended up with Shinya declaring his brother to be "lame" and then de-evolved into bickering.

I'm not that embarrassing to hang around, am I?

"Takuya!"

Of course, Tomoki was the first to arrive. The younger boy looked like he was in a good mood.

"Tomoki! How're you doing?"

"Great! I just won this off a UFO catcher!" The younger boy held up a fairly large Agumon plushie. "They have Project Frontier plushies now, and I've been practicing my aim with those skee ball machines."

"Huh, that's really neat."

"Any idea where Junpei and Izumi are?"

Takuya scanned the crowd moving past them. "I'm not seeing Junpei yet. And Izumi said she might not make it in-person."

"Oh." Tomoki looked disappointed for one moment. "But even if she can't make it, she'll still be on Project Frontier, right?"

"I think so!"

…

Junpei Shibayama walked in the crowd flowing off of the train, his heavy backpack slowing him down a bit.

Why can't Professor Furukawa stick to one kind of math for homework?He thought ruefully. That physics book keeps jabbing me in the back, and they're all so heavy!

If he had any say in the matter, the extracurricular homework from his tutor, and the books he needed for it, would be left at home, but the only way he could persuade his parents to let him meet the others was by telling them that he was going to find a nice place to study.

He could see the statue of Hatchikou up ahead, and Takuya and Tomoki waiting. It felt almost normal to have actual people waiting for him…

"Junpei!" Tomoki called cheerfully.

"Hello." Junpei shuffled his backpack so that his physics book wasn't jabbing himself in the back all the time. "Is Izumi coming?"

Takuya and Tomoki looked at one another.

"She was still a 'maybe' this morning," Takuya said.

Junpei frowned. "Did she give a phone number to either of you? Because we'd have to get to a computer to access Frontierchat and I don't have one."

"I just checked before I came here, there was nothing from her."

"Okay, I don't know about you but I'd like to get off my feet. There's a bench over there by where we can sit down."

"What have you got in there?" Tomoki asked, eyeing Junpei's bulging backpack.

"Homework."

"Must be some homework," Takuya remarked.

Junpei winced as his physics book poked him again.

"Okay, we're here to discuss teambuilding and strategy for the tournament," Takuya announced as he led the other two boys to the bench. Junpei took off his backpack and dropped it on the bench with a solid thump and a sigh of relief before sitting down next to it.

"We need to know what our strengths and weaknesses are, and what we can do to improve them," Takuya continued. "I'll start with me. My strengths are that I've got very good attack stats, I'm good at sprinting and a good leader."

Is he kidding?Junpei had to stifle a snort of laughter at that last one.

"And you've got quite a few weaknesses," he said out loud. "Most of your special attacks are melee, so you need to be in close. Your ranged attacks need work. You're also stubborn. impulsive, fall for feints way too easily, and tend to ignore anything outside of your plans."

"Well, that's why we're here," Takuya said stiffly.

"Shouldn't we be writing this down?" Tomoki asked.

Junpei sighed, opened his backpack, and pulled out a pen and the pad of scrap paper he used for homework.

"Okay..." He began to write all of the advantages and disadvantages he and Takuya had just discussed. "You should pick one flaw to work on this week to improve yourself."

"I will, don't worry about it. So, Tomoki. His strengths are that Penmon's a ranged-AOE fighter with an advantage in water and ice environments. He can also slide on the ice he uses. His aim's pretty good and he can freeze opponents if he gets lucky."

"Disadvantages: He's a newbie." Junpei wrote that down. "The last time he tried melee combat, he froze up, which isn't good in a full battle. And Penmon's slow when he's off the ice. Tomoki needs to learn how to be a more effective player and he needs to learn how to take a hit without freezing up or flinching. You got any input on this, Tomoki?"

"Um, I have a question, Junpei."

"What is it?"

"What's...tri-go-no-me-try?"

Junpei's head snapped around so hard that he almost got whiplash. Tomoki was looking at the top book in his backpack.

Oh no, if he finds out...

"It's my math homework," he said in a voice that he hoped would shut down any conversation. "Do you have any questions about Project Frontier?"

"Wow, look at the size of that book!" Takuya ignored Junpei's futile attempt to stop him as he pulled the trigonometry book out. "Advanced trigonometry? This thing weighs a ton!"

"Give me that!" Junpei snapped as he snatched the book out of Takuya's hands.

"...Physics for math majors..." Tomoki read out the title of that infernal physics book. Junpei felt himself grow cold.

Too late!

The other two boys were doing the first stage of the inevitable reaction, looking at the books, then at Junpei like they had never seen him before. Wondering what a sixth grader was doing with college textbooks as they made the logical conclusion. Next it would be the questions, the first one always being "How old are you?"And upon hearing that he was only twelve, it would either be some variant of "So you're a genius?Can you solve this random math question?"Or "You're a genius, could you do my math homework?" And then nobody would look at him the same. He'd never be Junpei, he'd just be the math whiz-kid prodigy genius that his parents, Professor Furukawa, and everyone else who knew that one fact saw.

He would never just be Junpei.

"No wonder you're always busy," Takuya said. Junpei felt nausea growing in his stomach. Any moment now they would start asking the questions. Takuya turned to Tomoki.

"Tomoki, do you have any questions about Project Frontier and what you need to work on this week?"

Both Tomoki and Junpei stared at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"I mean, it's your Digimon, and your choice." Takuya awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe we could try melee sparring one-on-one, or you could try working on evasion. I mean, you won't have to worry about getting hit if you dodge everything."

Tomoki gave Junpei one last nervous glance before answering.

"I'll try the one-on-one. For now. If I freeze up again, I can always try learning evasion."

"O-okay, guess I'm next." Junpei decided not to think about why Takuya wasn't acting like everyone else. "Let's see...I've got a decent mix of ranged and AOE attacks, but I only have one good melee. I'm a decent player, I can fly, and I know how to make ricochet shots."

"What's that?" Tomoki asked.

"I can bounce projectiles off of hard surfaces, like making angled shots. Disadvantages...like I said, I only have one good melee attack, and my ranged attacks don't have a lot of range. I tend to take too long analyzing situations sometimes, and I don't like fighting Thunder-type Digimon. I'll focus on improving my reaction time this week. I guess next is Izumi."

"But she's not here!" Tomoki protested.

...

None of the boys noticed the girl standing behind a nearby lamp post within ear shot. Her braided blond hair was mostly hidden by a sun hat and her face obscured by a large pair of sunglasses. A man in his upper twenties sat next to her on a nearby bench.

They're talking about me!She thought.

"Dovreste andare," her companion said. "You should go."

"I can't!" Izumi whispered harshly in the same language. "I don't want anyone to know I play!"

The man shrugged. "So what? It's not like any of those boys know your parents. Nor do they go to your school. If you don't want them to see you, then why come out here?"

The truth was that Izumi didn't know exactly why she had come to the meet-up. It wasn't like she couldn't see her teammates on Project Frontier. Yet, there was a certain presence in physically meeting face to face that the game couldn't duplicate.

But if I go and meet them, there's a chance they may know someone from my school, Izumi rationalized. And the kids in my school love to gossip.If someone told my father that I play...

No, better to stay anonymous in the game than taking the chance that her parents might find out.

"Andiamo," she finally said, tearing herself away from the sight of her team. "Let's go."

...

"I think Izumi'd know best what she needs to work on," Junpei looked down at his notepad. "But from the little I've seen of her fighting style, Tinkermon's more melee than most wind-types, because of that harpoon of hers. Maybe she could try working on that a bit? I mean, like learning sword-fighting stuff?"

"Kouji might be able to help her with that," Tomoki remarked.

It took Junpei a moment to remember that Kouji was the one person on his team that he hadn't met yet.

"Right. Do you know anything about his fighting style?"

Tomoki thought for a minute. "Well, he's a martial artist so he's very good at melee attacks, but I haven't seen him use any other attacks yet."

A melee-based Light Digimon.That's something I'd like to see in action, Junpei thought. Out loud, he said "Light-type Digimon are all about healing moves and usually show up in team play. Fighting-wise, this Kouji's probably great close-up, but not so good when it comes to ranged fighting. I'm guessing neither of you know his move set?"

"He's got Licht Nagel, but that's all I've seen," Takuya grumbled. "And I don't think Kouji's ever been on a team before, let alone played on one. That's one thing he needs to work on."

"Okay," Junpei wrote the words teamwork building on his paper. "That's all of us. Maybe we should go to a stadium and practice? Izumi might be on, Kouji too. Whose stadium is nearest to here? Mine's about ten minutes by train."

"Mine's three stops from here, but there's a five-minute walk," Tomoki remarked as Junpei put his notepad away and zipped up his backpack.

"I think yours is the closest, Tomoki," Takuya said. "Let's go!"

As the three boys walked back into the train station, Tomoki turned to Junpei.

"What is tri-go-nometry, Junpei? You didn't answer earlier."

I guess it can't be helped, Junpei thought before responding.

"It's basically the study of angles and ratios."

"That's like geometry, right? Like triangles and stuff."

"A little." Junpei struggled with phrasing it so that another kid could understand. "Trigonometry mostly deals in triangles, geometry is more generalized."

"How many different kinds of math are there?"

Junpei thought about it. "There's four major branches, but a lot of them are divided into little things, like trigonometry is part of geometry. My tutor's teaching me that, algebra, and physics right now."

"You have a tutor?" Tomoki asked.

"Yeah, I got too good for my teachers, so my parents arranged for a tutor to teach me on weekday afternoons. Professor Masashi Furukawa. He's a retired math teacher who taught at Tokyo University."

"Oh. Are you going to be a math professor when you grow up?"

Junpei winced. That was one of those questions that anyone who was aware of his skills asked. He pulled his hand out of his pocket with a compressible flower hidden in his palm.

"Actually, there are other things I can do besides math. Like this."

He released the flower, uncompressing it. To those who knew nothing about sleight-of-hand tricks, it looked like he'd pulled a flower out of nowhere.

"Whoa." Tomoki stared at the flower. Takuya noticed it, too.

"That's amazing! You can do magic?" The Flamon player asked.

"It's only a trick." Junpei didn't mention that he'd mainly picked those tricks up to distract people who were asking too many questions.

After getting their tickets, the boys stood on the platform waiting for the train.

"Do you think we'll see Kouji there?" Tomoki asked

"Probably," Takuya replied. "He's usually on all the time."

...

As it happened, Kouji wasn't at the stadium. At that point, he was on a train.

It had started, of course, with the mystery boy who looked eerily like Kouji. After getting home that night, the logical first step was for Kouji to ask his father if he knew anything. Kousei Minamoto's response had been to stiffen, then through gritted teeth tell him that that boy couldn't be related, that he must have just been a stranger who looked exactly like Kouji, and Kouji would be wise to drop the subject.

Kouji scowled at his reflection.

Dad definitely knows something.He almost looked like he'd seen a ghost, and he was so quick to tell me not to think about it anymore.But he's not telling me anything...

Whatever his father's connection to the boy was, it probably had something to do with Kouji's birth mother. Maybe the boy was a cousin on Kouji's mother's side.

He looked like he's my age, though.He probably doesn't remember Mom either, but maybe his parents knew her.

Kouji couldn't explain why he wanted to know about his late mother so badly; It wasn't healthy to have such a strong interest in someone who had died before he could remember. Kousei had been pretty tight-lipped about his first wife, preferring to deal with the present. Kouji could understand that, even if it didn't change his mind. Losing someone so young was already rough. Add in a son who was very curious about who his mother had been, and things got even harder to deal with.

Dad just wants me to forget about her.That's why he got married again, isn't it?

There was no sign of the boy on the train. No prickling feeling on the back of his neck.

Did I scare him away permanently?Or did I just lose him in the crowd?Kouji's frown deepened as the memory of that boy surfaced. We look so much alike, like twins...

The Kouji staring back at him through his reflection reminded himself of the blue eyes staring at him in shock that day, it also reminded him of the one picture of his mother that Kousei had been willing to let him have. She'd had his facial shape, the same cheeks, the same long black hair pulled into a ponytail...

I need to solve all this, Kouji thought resolutely. Dad had his chance to tell me what's going on, he blew it.If he won't answer me, then Uncle Keita will.

Keita Minamoto, Kouji's youngest uncle, was only about ten years older than him. He was currently in college at Tokyo Metropolitan University, studying architecture. He was also the most talkative of the extended Minamoto family, and always had time for Kouji when he wasn't in classes. Between Keita's busy schedule and the university's location in Minami, Kouji hadn't been able to talk to him in person until the weekend. And it was going to have to be in person; Kouji didn't want to do this anywhere where his father could find out. Keita had known Kouji's mother, maybe he knew her family, too.

He'd be able to narrow down who the mystery boy was.

...

There was no sign of Kouji at the Project Frontier place. This wasn't like him; normally, Kouji headed right out to play the game when he wasn't at home.

The boy slumped against the back of his seat, an out-of-the-way bench in a park across the street from the game building. It was far enough away that anyone sitting on it was hard to see from the building, but one could see individuals entering or exiting, especially someone familiar.

I shouldn't be here, he thought. Kouji saw me, he'll probably try to find me again...

He shouldn't have been following Kouji around for so long. He should have gone straight home after helping Tomoki that day. Or even better, he should've ignored what his grandmother had told him and lived out his life normally. But if he hadn't, what would have happened to Tomoki?

A sudden bout of laughter pulled him out of his thoughts. Three boys were walking up the sidewalk to the Project Frontier place. He recognized Tomoki instantly, the smile on his face a positive change from their last encounter. He felt a quiet smile appearing on his own face in response.

No, he had no regrets about helping the younger boy.

One of the other kids was the boy who'd talked to Kouji about being on the same team in a Project Frontier tournament, and the same boy who'd accompanied Tomoki to the stadium that time, presumably Takuya. The third boy was nobody he knew. He guessed that the boys were all Kouji's teammates.

I don't see Kouji with them...

Maybe Kouji was just late? He held to that thought as the minutes passed, but there was still no sign of him.

Maybe he's sick?

Well, there was no point in staying if Kouji wasn't going to show up. The boy closed the book he'd been pretending to read, stood up, and turned in the direction of the subway to home.

...

"So, what brings you all the way out here?" Keita leaned back in his desk chair, the one moveable thing in the cramped room. Dorm rooms tended to not have much seating space, and Kouji had elected to sit on his uncle's bed rather than the floor.

"What do you know about my mother's family?" Kouji asked.

Keita didn't quite tense up like his father had, but he seemed a lot less relaxed than he had been. He brushed a hand over his close-cropped black hair before responding.

"Not a lot. Your mom didn't have a big family. I only met your grandmother at their wedding, and when you were born."

"I saw a boy the other day. He looked almost exactly like me, and when I asked Dad about it, he told me to just drop it."

This time Keita did stiffen and was no longer looking at him. "You should. I think it's Kousei's business, not yours."

"Uncle Keita, I need answers, and Dad's not giving them. Please. Just tell me who he is."

Keita hesitated visibly.

"Don't tell your father I said anything."

...

The boy walked through the parking lot amid patched-up potholes and tar-covered cracks and into his apartment. The first thing that greeted him as he opened the door was that old picture of the three of them, back when it was three of them, before his grandmother had started getting sick. His heart ached as he keenly felt her missing presence.

He didn't see any shoes next to the door.

Mom must be working late again, he thought as he braced himself for another night of his mother overworking. His eyes flitted up to his mother's smiling image. She looked so much like him...

Like Kouji.

...

"Your dad didn't tell you the truth," Keita said. "Your mom's still alive, or at least I hope she is. They got a divorce when you were two."

Kouji's eyes widened. What?

It couldn't be true, could it? Uncle Keita was just pranking him. After all the years of Kousei telling him to leave the past in the past and to just forget his mother, all the classmates and teachers thinking it was odd to be so curious about a dead person, she was still alive?Kouji felt rage boiling in the pit of his stomach. Sure, Japanese divorces were supposed to be complete severances, and it was not only easy but culturally normal to pretend that Kouji's mother was dead rather than having Kouji find out about it and risking a scandal by going to see her, but nobody had considered Kouji's feeling in the deal.

"Kousei told you she was dead; I think it was because he was trying to make it as clean a break as possible, but he was heartbroken over it and trying not to show it. He was especially heartbroken over losing Kouichi. He still is."

Kouichi?!

Kouji felt the blood draining from his head as he recalled his mirror image staring right back at him.

I have a brother?

Keita got up and walked over to a shelf, reached into one of his books, and pulled out a photograph. He handed it to Kouji. It was of a younger Keita seated on what Kouji recognized as his grandparents' old couch, with a black-haired, blue-eyed toddler sitting on each side.

"Kouichi is your twin brother," Keita said. "He's five minutes older than you. Your name was originally written as 'second light' to go with his 'first light.' Your father changed the kanji to 'prosperous happiness' so you wouldn't ask questions."

It should have been impossible, all of it, but it was right there in Keita's picture. And in the boy—no, Kouichi's eyes that day.

Kouichi…

...

"I'm home," Kouichi Kimura mumbled to the empty apartment.