Part Three - Playtime

"He's not so bad, you know. The Kaiser, I mean."

That was the weirdest sentence she had ever heard. But then, it was coming from a ghost with messy purple hair, and that was strange enough. Still, she didn't change her facial expression even once. Hikari was good at putting on a brave face, even when it might seem stupid to someone else.

"He's not great," continues the ghost. "But he's helping my little brother out and that's enough for me right now."

Still no answer, but then, she can't really answer with Daisuke in the room. Which was fair, he wouldn't want her to.

"Mostly he's a stupid kid, just like me. Just like you. He lost something and he doesn't really know how to get it back, or even if he can. "You know how it is right?"

She did. She knew very well. But she said nothing because Daisuke was here.

"Going to play quiet while your friend's out here? That's fine. I can wait a long time."

And he did. The cat was watching him too, even if Daisuke's digimon was sleeping through it. Maybe that digimon just didn't remember. It was for the best then. Ryo was very much gone.

She studied with Daisuke until he left. He wasn't unobservant. He saw the way her eyes would flick towards Osamu but wouldn't see him. Maybe he thought she was looking at the clock. But the clock was far away.

But he let it go. Maybe people didn't push the child of light as much as they should have. Oh well.

Once she returned to her room, she looked Osamu in the eye and said, with surprising firmness for such a quiet girl. "Who are you?"

"Ichijouji Osamu," he says. "And you're Yagami Hikari, the Chosen Child of Light?"

She nodded. She didn't seem surprised that he knew. Then again, the Chosen were famous to the digital world and its denizens. "You're related to Daisuke-kun's new rival in soccer aren't you?"

"Ken? Yeah I'm his brother."

"And he's not the Kaiser, is he?" Hikari's voice was steady, much like the cat on her bed.

"No, but he's working with him."

"Why?"

Osamu wanted to say that he told her already, but being mysterious and vague was this girl's way of doing things to keep herself safe. It wasn't for fun or anything like that. "To bring me back to life. I got into an accident. I got caught in the digital world in the process. You know, what happens when a person who isn't chosen yet tries to interfere with one who is. He blames himself."

Hikari was eleven years old and haunted by the horrors of fighting monsters and near death. She didn't say "that's not right" or "I don't understand". She simply closed her eyes for a moment and breathed slowly to keep her temper. She closed her eyes to compartmentalize the sound of bats running to eat her down to her bones. She closed her eyes to remember hundreds of gross, suffering poop monsters being eviscerated because they took a single moment to be brave and kind instead of running away and living.

"I'm sorry that happened to you both, to all of you," she said eventually, voice solemn, eyes still closed. "But that doesn't mean there can't be consequences to their actions."

"I know." He had to accept that fact, that was just life. "There have to be consequences, but I want them to be alive to have those consequences."

"We don't intend for it to go that way."

"You may not be able to stop them. At least not by yourself."

"Mm."

He could tell she didn't believe that. And neither would her friends. Which was fair enough.

"Do you think they'll kill to get what they want?"

"I don't think they'll consider not to. Because they don't want to understand what you already know."

Ken and the Kaiser did suffer from "it looks like a game and I can do what I want in it, so it is a game" disease. People did that in real life all of the time.

Hikari brushed her cat's fur. "How did you get caught in the digital world?"

"I stole his digivice and locked it away." He shrugged. "The digital world wants who can save it, who will take care of it. If we get in the way, it needs to be stopped so we can, unget in the way. That's my hypothesis anyway. Do you think it's true?"

"That sounds too much like destiny for my taste," Hikari replied.

Osamu laughed. "You're a chosen one. You love destiny when it loves you back."

"Destiny made me a liar to everyone around me for a solid four years then," she said, rising to her feet. "I'll try to help you and your brother and everyone else, but please don't try to manipulate me into feeling guilty. The digital world is ugly and beautiful just like earth. The only difference is who can get in. You can love it either way."

"That's an optimistic way of seeing that place."

"Only because you're not an optimist."

The third time he met Ichijouji Ken, Daisuke was running for his life once more. It was not a fun run. It was not a happy run.

It was on the soccer field, and he was getting his butt handed to him.

For someone who was injured, Ken could hecking run.

He was careful about it, not pushing himself too far, but he managed to stride well to block Daisuke whenever he tried to pass the ball, and could cut in better than most. It was hard to believe he was an elementary school student.

That said, it did explain how he could be so calm in a digital world full of monsters that likely hated his guts now. If he could handle a bunch of kids at their worst while injured, they were probably fucked.

Still, Daisuke was not a quitter. The next move he did, he sidestepped and kicked the shot back. His teammate swiped past, making Ken pause and Daisuke laughed.

Ken to his surprise, laughed back, watching the goal get through. He moved to go past Daisuke, not even breaking stride.

Then he paused, grinning a bit too cheerfully. "It's a shame that we're not on the same side. I think you and I would be great friends."

It was a line straight out of every comic Daisuke had ever read but it stung a bit. Maybe it was because Ken was fun and didn't look down on him.

"Why can't we be?" he asked instead.

Ken shrugged. "That's not how these games work."

Daisuke's stomach dropped to his knees as Ken went to get a drink.