Chapter 9
Monday morning started off normally for Izumi Di Sciullo. Waking up, checking her Project Frontier mail, then getting into her school uniform for Shirotori Primary Academy. Enduring the classes with the teachers who were convinced that she knew nothing of Japan, even though she'd been traveling back and forth between Japan and Italy since she was old enough to board a plane, pretendng to smile nicely at the other students who pretended to smile back. After all, any infractions, both real or imagined, would look bad on their parents and their country of origin.
Such was the life of an ambassador's daughter.
Once school was done, Izumi could go home and change out of her uniform and take her hair out of those painful braids.
Once she got out of the house, Izumi Di Sciullo ended and Izumi Orimoto began.
Izumi had no guilt about using her mother's maiden name rather than her more famous father's surname. Di Sciullo was always noticed quickly and singled the person out as a foreigner. Orimoto was an ordinary Japanese surname and blended in. Besides, it wasn't like her parents followed her around; that was Angelo's job.
When she was ready, she stepped out of the house and to Angelo waiting to help her into the car. As Angelo pulled the car out of the driveway, she mentally reviewed her agenda. She had PM'ed Kouji the night before with her little proposal which the Strabimon player had been open to. Well, "open" in a loose sense, his exact words had been "if you want to spend money on my brother, I won't stop you."
I'll get Kouichi a Digivice and a subscription to Project Frontier, she thought. Then he won't feel left out anymore. He'll be able to bond with Kouji, Tomoki gets another newbie to train with, I can concentrate more on my own training instead of his, and I can try and find out more about Kouji to help us work together for the tournament. It's a win-win situation, as the English speakers would say.
Granted, the plan had its risks, namely revealing her face to fellow Project Frontier players. Izumi sighed.
If there was a way for me to do this without revealing my face, this would be a lot easier.
It wasn't that showing her face would make any difference in the way the others treated her; the boys on her team had already accepted her as one of them, and would probably to judge her by how she played rather than the differently shaped eyes and skin that was a slightly different color than the average Japanese person's.
But there was always a lingering doubt going through Izumi's brain whenever she interacted with her teammates. The fear that any of her fellow players and friends from Project Frontier seeing her would instantly reject her because she'd inherited her grandfather's Italian looks.
And then there was her parents. Izumi's parents hadn't directly told her not to play Project Frontier, but Salvatore Di Sciullo's disdain for the game was very clear.
"They'll fry their brains on that monstrosity," he had said to her mother as they had watched a TV segment on the game. "That new virtual reality technology needs more testing. How do we know it's not affecting its players? It's addicting, like a drug! The government needs to stop it!"
Salvatore had said that completely ignorant that his daughter had been playing Project Frontier for a month at that point. If he found out, he would likely forbid her to play, no doubt for her "safety," or to keep her away from any "bad influence kids." For the sake of her continuing to play, he would remain unaware that she played. He didn't need to know that his precious daughter blew off steam battling people online in that "monstrosity". And she enjoyed it, too! It was refreshing to see people so loud and blunt compared to her normal unoffensive diplomatic life. She wouldn't admit it, but she enjoyed seeing Takuya and Kouji arguing the day before, like siblings. While the boys on her team weren't exactly her best friends in the game, they were at least fun to play with.
And the first ones she would encounter in real life.
"We're nearly there," Angelo said.
Angelo knew she played Project Frontier, of course. As her bodyguard, he went in with her every day. But Angelo Ricci had been observant enough to know how much she enjoyed playing, so it had been easy to persuade him not to tell her father. Whenever asked, Angelo always just said she'd been at the arcade with friends. Which was not even a lie.
"Grazie, Angelo."
Izumi pushed her blonde hair up into a loose bun and then covered it with her large sun hat. Next were the shades she'd picked up in Rome to cover up the her eyes, and the face-covering medical mask, as if she had a cold. Then it was waiting for Angelo to open the car door and follow her into the stadium. She looked around and saw a familiar face sitting at one of the tables in the lounge area, short-cropped black hair visible under a blue baseball hat.
Hello, Kouji, she thought. Wait, didn't Kouji have longer hair yesterday?
Is that his brother?
Sure enough as she rounded the wall that split the lounge off from the desk area, she could see the actual Kouji sitting across from his brother.
Commozione! They really are twins! What was the brother's name again? Kotetsu? Kouta? Kouichi, that was it.
"Hello!" she said cheerfully. Both brothers looked up at her appearance, Kouji with a huge scowl, Kouichi with nervous eyes that darted everywhere except her face.
"I take it you're Izumi?" Kouji asked, then his scowl deepened as he saw Angelo behind her.
"Yup, and this is my uncle."
"Yes, I am her uncle," Angelo said in Italian with a straight face as he waved at the boys. "And I am also not getting paid enough for this."
Izumi flinched. Angelo loved to play up his foreign status, usually by making sarcastic comments in his native language or pretending he didn't understand Japanese. Truthfully, he was fairly fluent in it, he just thought it was funny to watch people react to him. And there had been that one time when they had stumbled across someone who really did speak Italian...
"Stop it!" Izumi growled. The last thing she wanted was for her team to find out about her background.
"So, is there any color Digivice you want, Kouichi?" She asked.
"Y-you...don't have to do this, Izumi," Kouichi stuttered in a soft voice as he continued to avoid eye contact. "It's a lot of money and..."
"I know. I want to do this." Izumi said, hiding a far more genuine smile behind her mask than she would have for any of her classmates. "I know Kouji would have got you one, but I wanted to do something nice. Besides, Tomoki will be happy to have you around."
There was, of course, another reason and she could see it in his eyes as he finally looked at her. The fear that he would be left out again, warring with cautious hope for acceptance.
Yes, she definitely knew all about that.
"But I'm fine..." Kouichi's soft protest died quickly as she gently grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.
"C'mon, let's see what color Digivices they have here!"
"Digivices?"
"Like this." Izumi pulled her Digivice out of her pocket. She held it up, showing the purple casing with green highlights. "They hold your data, like which Digimon you use and your battle stats."
Kouji pulled out his own white and blue Digivice and handed it to his brother, who looked at it curiously.
"The big button on the side shows which Digimon you have. That button there is 'confirm,' that one's 'back,' and that one scrolls through stats," he said as Kouichi pressed a couple of buttons, then handed it back.
"So, what's your favorite color, Kouichi?" Izumi asked.
His hands brushed against his blue and yellow jacket self-consciously. "Blue."
"That's a nice color. Okay, let's go find a blue Digivice." She gently nudged the boy's shoulder and pointed to the desk. Stadiums were made to do two things: To enable games to play Project Frontier, and to sell subscriptions, Digivices, and other merchandise.
"Hello," Izumi said to the person working there. "I'd like to buy a Digivice for my friend, and a one-year subscription."
She heard Kouji's sharp gasp behind her. Of course he probably assumed that she'd want to do the shortest subscription, one month.
"Izumi, are you sure you want to do a whole year?" Kouji put his thoughts to words. Kouichi looked slightly baffled, as if trying to figure out the significance of that development.
"I am. A month is too quick." She turned back to the employee. "And what color Digivices do you have? Do you have any blue ones?"
"As a matter of fact," the lady said, "We have blue and green, blue and purple, blue and yellow, and blue and black."
"I'll...I'll just take the blue and purple," Kouichi mumbled.
"Okay, that and a one-year sub comes to 10,500 yen."
Kouichi's face went pale at the price, and he could only open and close his mouth as he tried to work out an objection. Izumi just smiled and dug out her purse.
"Here you go."
"Too much!" Kouichi didn't quite whimper as they left the desk. "That was too much!"
"Worth it," Izumi retorted. "And you're welcome."
"Th-thanks." The word was so quiet she could barely hear it, but it was sincere.
"There's a computer over here for creating your account and getting registered," she continued. "You can do it on any computer, but the one here's easier."
"You need a username," Kouji said as Kouichi put in all the relevant information. "Is there anything you had in mind?"
"Didn't know I needed one."
"Well, what do you like?" Izumi asked.
"...Books."
"How about 'ReaderK'?" She suggested. "Is that one taken?"
"It's not," Kouji tapped a few keys on the keyboard. "Do you want that one?"
"I—guess?"
Kouji nodded and clicked the mouse.
"Now we synchronize your account with your Digivice," he said. "We attach it to this charger cord on the computer and it'll finish setting you up."
"I'm just going to find a regular cubicle and log in, Kouichi," Izumi said. "When you're on you can ask Kouji to look me up so we can play together. Tomoki might be online, too."
The shorter-haired twin acknowledged her words with a nod and a soft "Okay."
Angelo followed her back to the desk as she requested a cubicle and then she sat in the VR chair and strapped on the gloves. Angelo took his customary seat in one of the visitors' chairs and pulled out his pocket Japanese-Italian dictionary to study while she played.
[ Synchronizing complete. Welcome, Izumi Orimoto ]
Once Angelo and the rest of the real world disappeared into the starting arena, she activated the menu. Takuya and Tomoki were both on, and she quickly hit the button to request an invite. Then the arena melted into a lovely beach surrounded by seemingly infinite water. Palm trees swayed in a slight breeze that tugged at Tinkermon's clothing. Takuya was sitting on a ledge on the beach with his feet dangling in the water, watching Tomoki as the younger boy swam around in the ocean.
"Hey, Izumi!" Takuya said as she walked up to him.
"Don't you have soccer practice?"
"Nope. They're spraying for insects today."
"Oh."
"Izumi!" Tomoki called from the water. "Did you get Kouichi a Digivice?"
"I sure did! I'm hoping that he and Kouji will show up. Kouji's helping him sign up and log on right now. In fact, I should send them an invite."
"Great!"
"So, what are you two doing?" She asked.
"Well, I figured that Tomoki's a penguin, he might enjoy swimming." Takuya shrugged. "So I set up the Paradise Island environment and told him to knock himself out."
"Yeah," Tomoki came wading out of the water. "And I got a new attack! It's called Frozen Stream, and it's got more range than Ice Prism. Have you tried swimming, Izumi? It's a lot of fun!"
"I prefer flying." Izumi took off at a slow hover to sit next to Takuya. "I might join you later, though."
"Sure!" Tomoki turned and dipped back into the water.
"He's really having fun with this," Izumi remarked as Tomoki's figure quickly vanished in the depths.
"He's come a long way." Takuya watched the younger boy swimming with fraternal pride. "So, how long have you been playing Project Frontier?"
"Just under a year."
Takuya stared at her in surprise. "Wait, the game's only been out for a year!"
"I know. I joined before it got big." Izumi dipped her feet into the water. "What about you?"
"Just over six months ago. The soccer season was ending and I needed something to do."
"Are you on a local team or do you play in school?"
"I play in school. My dad's my team's coach, too. Me and my brother both play, but my dad says that I'm one of the best he's seen. In fact, he says I could go professional if I stick to it."
"Professional? Like AC Milan or Roma?" Izumi tried to visualize Takuya playing among the players she'd seen in Italy.
"Aren't those European teams?"
Izumi made a face. She hadn't meant to give that away.
"My family has friends in Italy and I went to visit them." It wasn't a lie; she had been visiting her Di Sciullo grandparents and their friends when she'd seen Roma in action. "I saw some games while I was there."
"Did you get to see any games here in Japan?"
"No, my family's been too busy." Busy with negotiations, communications, state dinners, and diplomatic stuff. She wished that she didn't have to deal with any of it.
"Oh. Maybe you can go with my family. We go and see Yokohama F. Marinos at least once every year."
"Are you a fan?"
"Well, they won the Japanese League Cup a couple of years ago."
"That would be wonderful," Izumi admitted. "I've always wanted to see what soccer is like in Japan—"
[ Incoming Players ]
Two more figures materialized not too far from them. One was Kouji's Strabimon. The other one looked a bit like a metallic robotic dragon with a beaklike snout, glowing red eyes, and spiny metal wings instead of arms. Kouichi was visible inside of it, eyes wide as he took in the scene.
He got a Jazamon, Izumi thought. I think Kouichi's in for some fun.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" She said. "I don't know if Kouji explained environments to you, this one's called Paradise Island. It's built mainly for Water-types, but it's very popular with flying Digimon."
"I know," Kouji said. "I would have suggested it if it wasn't already on. Okay, Kouichi, you can fly now."
Kouichi nodded and started flapping his wings. He rose slowly at first, but then somehow set off Jazamon's rocket feet ability. He suddenly shot up around a hundred feet in the air before he slowed to a hover. Izumi took off to join him.
"Pretty cool, huh?" She asked as she arrived at his level.
"Kouji didn't want me to fly in the starting arena," he said. "There wasn't any room. I can see why."
"Jazamon's a Metal-type. He's built like a jet engine, so he goes real fast, especially in a dive. His highest stats are in speed."
Kouichi looked at her for a moment, then a huge sweet smile broke over his face. He turned and dove, streaking through the air like a crazy one-dragon roller coaster, shrieking in delight and laughing all the way.
Thank goodness these cubicles are sound-proof, Izumi thought. This was definitely worth the money.
Jazamon was far too fast for Tinkermon to keep up, so instead of trying she simply flew back down again.
"I thought of starting him out on the flight training course," Kouji remarked as she landed next to them. "But I figured he'd enjoy it more this way."
"He sure is," Takuya said as he watched Kouichi zip over a delighted Tomoki. "Makes me wish I had a flying Digimon."
The three of then watched Kouichi fly around for a couple of minutes. As they did, Izumi's eyes drifted over to Kouji. The aloof loner had an oddly sweet smile on his face. Not nearly as large as his brother's, but it gave Kouji a far softer look than his seemingly customary glare and scowl.
"Have you taught him about attacking yet?" She asked.
"Didn't get a chance to. He wanted to see Tomoki and to try flying, so I brought us here. Besides, Jazamon's mostly a ranged and dive attacker. It doesn't fit too well with my style."
"Hmm." Izumi turned her gaze back to the other twin. "Jazamon's skillset is closer to mine. Do you mind if I teach him the basics?"
"Go ahead."
"Well, I don't know about you guys," Takuya got up and stretched a bit. "But I'm in the mood for some training! Activate advanced training course!"
The training courses had different themes depending on the environment. The one for Paradise Island was built from hardened sand, with vines instead of ropes and the targets resting on logs.
"C'mon, Kouji. I'll race you again!"
"Give me a minute," Kouji said, his eyes still on his flying brother.
"Okay, but just a minute. I'd hate to have a head start!" Takuya jogged over to the course's starting point.
After he'd gone, Kouji turned to Izumi.
"I want to know about the man you were with," he said in a low tone. "He's not your uncle, is he?"
"Wh-what makes you sure he isn't my uncle? Because he is."
Kouji glared at her.
"I don't like being lied to. That man is a martial artist, I can see it in the way he moves. You're hiding your face all the time, he didn't speak any Japanese, and what 'uncle' would go into a single-player cubicle with his niece? He's not your uncle, he's a bodyguard."
Izumi was very thankful her Digimon was opaque, because she was breaking out into a sweat. In the end, she decided that the truth was the best option.
I can't hide myself forever, and he's already figured most of it out, she thought.
"Promise me you won't tell anyone, Kouji. Not even Kouichi."
"I won't tell anyone."
"My father's a top-level Italian ambassador. I never encountered anything bad in Italy or Japan, but my parents got paranoid once Papà got promoted and they brought over Angelo as my chauffeur and bodyguard."
"That explains it." Kouji said no more but turned and ran over to the impatient Takuya. Izumi watched him go, slightly amused by such a quick acceptance.
I've never had anyone just shrug it off like that, she thought. Anyone else would have been commenting on how good my Japanese is or treating me with kid gloves like the kids at school do. It must be a Kouji thing. I guess I should be glad that he's so standoffish. He hates everyone equally.
Well, maybe not everyone...
Kouichi swooped in to hover over her as Takuya and Kouji both got on to the starting point. His eyes were bright and the smile had grown even bigger, if possible.
"What are they doing?"
"Racing on the training course."
"Training course?"
"Yeah, it's kind of an obstacle course. It's designed to help us learn how to move in the game. In fact, there are a lot of different types, like for regular moving, for aiming practice, for flying Digimon, or for swimming Digimon. They all have three different levels, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. You can run them solo, or you can race your friends. That's what Takuya and Kouji are doing. Did you want to learn more about playing the game, or did you want to watch the race?"
"I...I think I'll learn more about playing. I can watch them race later."
"C'mon, let's go." Izumi took off and led the way to hover around twenty feet above the race course. Kouichi's flight was a bit more awkward now that he wasn't zipping around. She could also see Tomoki pop out of the water to watch from the sidelines, as Takuya and Kouji took off on their race. Izumi explained the various attacks to Kouichi. Jazamon's beginning three attacks consisted of a diving melee attack and two ranged lasers, the weaker of which had a chance to stun an opponent for five seconds. She had just finished walking him through target practice when the race finished, with Kouji winning. Then Takuya and Kouji started bickering loudly as they made their way back to the starting point, something about whether or not to have Tomoki shooting at them or not this time.
"Hey, Takuya," Tomoki yelled. "Maybe we can make it a contest? Instead of me shooting at both of you, maybe I can try only shooting at Kouji while Kouichi shoots at you?"
"Fine by me," Kouji said.
"That sounds like a great idea." Takuya looked up at the two flying Digimon. "Hey, Kouichi, you up for some target practice? You can try shooting at me as I run the course."
"Oh. I uh..."
"Well, you were learning how to attack, right?" Izumi asked. "This could be good practice for you. You remember which attacks are ranged, right? The ones with the blue triangle on your HUD."
"Yeah..."
"You should go for it," she told him as she flew up higher. "I'd better get out of the way."
"Activate race mode," Kouji leaned forward in anticipation. "Participants: Two."
[ Race Mode activated. Players get set ]
"This time I'm gonna win," Takuya said smugly.
[ Race begins in 3... ]
"I doubt it," Kouji retorted.
[ 2... ]
"You ready, Kouichi?" Tomoki asked.
[ 1... ]
"I...think so..."
[ Race Start! ]
...
It took multiple races before Kouichi had finally had enough. He was still laughing as the twins left the stadium.
"It's not that funny, you know," Kouji grumbled.
"You should have seen the look on your face when I picked you up in that last race!"
"And then threw me about fifty feet."
"What? I was trying to help. Tomoki's the one that cheated and made you slip by icing the ground."
"Yes, and I 'owe' him one for that," Kouji made a sour face. This only caused Kouichi to laugh harder. Kouji felt the corner of his mouth trying to quirk upwards as his brother's mirth was contagious.
"It's still not funny."
Of course Takuya hadn't seen it his way, either; He had cracked up laughing so badly that he'd barely even noticed when Kouji had stormed past him to win the final race. The Flamon user had also declared the fall caused by Tomoki shooting ice on the track to be awesome, and had been debating the merits of a sort of combination race/fight between two-person teams with Izumi as Kouji had logged out.
And after that last race, I think we're tied. Somehow, that truth hurt more than the indignity of slipping on ice, falling onto his backside, and then being picked up and hurled a few dozen feet.
"Are you going straight home?" Kouji asked when Kouichi's laughter finally faded.
"I—yeah. Mom should be getting home about now." His voice had an odd clipped tone, as if he was about to add something but decided against it.
Kouji paused at the reminder that his mother was still alive. He'd wanted to meet her for so long, now he had a golden opportunity.
"Would you mind if I went with you? I know we just met and it might be hard for you, but I'd like to meet Mom at some point."
Kouichi's eyes drifted to the ground and his delayed response was softer than normal. "I...I'm sorry, Kouji. I just don't think I'm ready for it yet."
"I understand. Then, should we meet up here again tomorrow?"
"Yeah." The smile returned to Kouichi's face. "That was fun! Especially being able to fly! I'll see you!"
As Kouichi ran off, Kouji felt the scowl return to his face. It was true, they had just met, but there was something that didn't feel right about Kouichi. The same perception he'd had the day before when Kouichi was talking about his mother. It wasn't something he could put into words, though.
He sighed. And I just met him. I need more time to get to know him before I make any judgements.
But I wish I knew what I'm missing.
..
Author's note: 10,500 yen is around eighty U. S. dollars.
This is the last chapter I'm crossposting, so there won't be any more for a while. I am nearly finished writing the next chapter, though, and have the one after it plotted out, so I should hopefully have them up before the summer ends and school starts up again. Thanks for reading!