🙼🙼 FIRE STARTER

Tsuki flinched at the sigh. He knew he was being picky! But he had a good reason- one he still wasn’t sure if he could inform Takeru about. For starters, this place was probably the worst place to reveal his secret. And secondly, the thing itself might scare Takeru off. 

Sinking his face into his scarf a little, Tsuki sauntered over to the racks. 

Maybe he should just pick anything that isn’t black and call it a day? 

“Hmmm…”

But the temptation to pick black-.

Takeru hung back, deciding to give Tsuki a little space in hopes that’d help make this decision his own -- even if it was probably a good thing Tsuki hadn’t looked back either. The dull, unimpressed expression Takeru was trying his best not to show wasn’t exactly well hidden as he’d watched on. 

Not that Takeru had ever really enjoyed clothes shopping anyway, but who knew picking something that wasn’t black that Tsuki felt like he’d enjoy would be such a chore.

“Hmmm… I guess that’s true. I could still probably use one when Winter hits though…”

Tsuki grabbed his fringe thoughtfully. This would be much easier if he had actually told Takeru the cause of his fragility. Now he probably sounded incredibly picky and difficult.

“I don’t really want a short sleeve,” Because his scars were still visible despite being pretty faint, “And I’d prefer something that’s baggy… Do you think they’d have something like that here?”

“Okay, so no short sleeves, and nothing too small wither. I guess we can still work with that-”

Tsuki was being incredibly picky, but Takeru would’ve been lying to himself if he’d said he hadn’t expected it either. Tsuki’s taste in clothes was already pretty narrow as it was, but they were here to fix that-- or at least, try to fix that anyway.

Even if they had to actually find something Tsuki would at least agree to try on first; as long as it wasn’t something black or white.

“Sorry,” Moonphaser was quick to apologise, “Crescent can get a bit too excited.”

Not that he could really blame the A.I this time. After all, it had been a while since they last got their lead. Playmaker seemed like a reliable source of information to go to. 

After much struggling, Crescent would eventually give up, sinking back into the duel disk and appearing as his eyeball form. Looking not so pleased. But at least he was quiet!

“Uh, good question. The latter is probably best, since I don’t really have the time to hang in my tent anymore.”

“Then sending you his contact info it is! Knowing him, he probably would’ve been too busy to stop by your tent anyway. I mean, unless you tricked him into showing up out of the blue somehow.” Soulburner would follow the retort up with an amused laugh before he lifted the arm with his duel disk attached and poked on the small screen.

“I guess this way, you can just send him an email saying you wanna meet up or something-”

Well, if Soulburner could remember how to get to the contacts list on his duel disk exactly, that was. Flame had showed him once before, but in everything he’d been through since, recalling which menus to flip through just to make it there seemed easier said than done -- but at least Moonphaser would get to witness Soulburner aiming the most confused expression down at his wrist as he gave a puppy-like head tilt toward the device.

Little did Takeru know, Tsuki was easily swayed because it was Takeru he was talking to!

Stepping into the shop, Tsuki would look almost lost. It’s not like he could pick out a lot of clothes and it wasn’t because he was picky! The clothing had to be long sleeved and it had to be puffy enough to cover up the space rock in his chest.

“Hmmmmmmmmmm…”

A long hum. Until eventually, he’d lay his eyes on some turtlenecks.

“Do you think I’d look good one of those?” 

“Won’t something like that be kinda hot though...?”

And for once, Takeru wasn’t talking about Tsuki looking cute in an outfit either -- he really had meant that the turtleneck Tsuki had pointed out looked too warm and uncomfortable for this time of year. Takeru might’ve been a serial hoodie wearer, but at least he could always slip a hoodie off at a moment’s notice.

“That sounds like a plan.”

It might be a hassle, but it meant more time with Takeru and Tsuki was never opposed to that. So grabbing a hold of Takeru’s arm in an affectionate manner, Tsuki pointed his finger skyward.

“Awwrighty, lead the way!”

Swooon~

So it’d been that easy, huh?

Takeru would have to remember that -- just offer Tsuki a compromise and he could be pretty easy to sway, even if Takeru was pretty sure Tsuki wouldn’t have been so excited if he’d known Takeru wasn’t looking for style as much as much as he was just a color. 

Thankfully though, they’d only have to walk a few blocks up the street before another shop with a little more variety in clothing came into view.

Blink.

“I …don’t see what’s wrong with black and white… But I guess I should try on some colours.”

Takeru said pink looked good on him earlier, right? 

Tsuki gave his fringe a contemplative tug. It was a bit out of his comfort zone. He felt like wearing anything other than black or white would make him stand out. 

“I would’ve asked if you knew any other places but you’re not that familiar with Den City yet, are you?”

It was fairly big. Tsuki lived here all his life and still didn’t know all the places.

“Nope! But if you trust me to not get you too lost, then we could always take a look around the places I do know.”

Though, if Tsuki knew Takeru like he thought he did, then he’d know that’d mean the sections of the city closest to Takeru’s typical route to school. Still though, Den City was pretty big. Surely they could find a clothing shop to look around in somewhere near their school.

Even if they had to venture inside one of Den City’s ten thousand department stores.

Tsuki blinked. Of course he picked up on the tone! But he didn’t see anything wrong with the monochrome aesthetic that this shop seemed to have. He’d step back though, and give a contemplative stare.

“Mm, well, do you have any better ideas?”

He didn’t mean to sound sassy, but Tsuki genuinely didn’t know where to start!

“You mean besides trying to find something that’s not black or white?”

Because that was honestly the one thing Takeru would’ve hoped Tsuki would try to avoid here. They’d been talking about buying him new looking outfits; not different versions of the same ones he had! No matter how good Tsuki looked with them-

“Sure! I think I saw some clothes shops down towards where all the unique cafes are that seem really empty all the time. I’m pretty sure they sell hoodies.”

They were shops he would give a passing glance to, but he never had a reason or even the guts to step in. It was probably time to change that though!

So following the path, Tsuki would promptly lead the way until they’d eventually arrive at a shabby looking shop with trendy clothes lined up outside. It was quite the interesting contrast, Tsuki had to admit. Most of the items there were monochrome.

It’d be a clothing store that’d leave Takeru blinking at the outside. The items that scattered the display windows and spilled out onto the sidewalk seemed like a perfect match for Tsuki, but...weren’t they supposed to be looking for something that wasn’t so black or white?

“So, uh...this is really where you want to start?” Tsuki could probably pick up from his tone that Takeru was definitely skeptical, so he’d quickly cover that with a small shrug.

“I- I don’t glare!” That much… Right?

Slapping his cheeks in an attempt to loosen himself up though, Moonphaser sighed for the umpteenth time. The only reason why he looked like he was scowling all the time in Link VRAINS was because he was too tired to even try to look okay. 

“Hmph! I still don’t think we’re that alike- Playmaker and I… But I appreciate your support…” Grumble, grumble, “Thanks… I guess…”

“SU-WEET!!!! NOW ALL WE NEED IS SOME CONTACT INFO SO WE CAN ARRANGE A DAY AND TIME TO MEET UP WITH PLAYMAKER HIMSELF!”

Once more, Crescent would pop his head out of the duel disk, eagerly leaning towards Soulburner like a hungry dog on a leash.

“Hey, I said I’d let you meet up with him. I never said that I could make him spill of of his info that he’s collected on any of your buddies.”

And with that, Soulburner would take the lead this time in placing a gentle finger on the top of Crescent’s head and attempting to push the small glitch back inside Moonphaser’s duel disk. He always caused Tsuki so much distress whenever he was out and Soulburner knew that was the last thing they’d needed right now!

But keeping constantly pressure on Crescent with his hand, Soulburner would blink back up.

“I think so?”  

Or at least he hoped so. Honestly, not having his brother around the whole time was kinda refreshing. It was a nice feeling and Jin felt like he was allowed to act a little bit more like himself again. Not that Shoichi expected him to act different. It was just…. he didn’t want to worry his brother more than he already was doing so… it was better if the older one didn’t knew everything about him.

In the end Takeru considered the fries as failure. It probably wasn’t that surprising and part of Jin had already expected it when he had checked up on them again shortly before Takeru’s return. 

“Yeah I at least know that. But we also could order a pizza or something and spare Nii-san’s truck any other near death experiences?” 

“I mean, I’d say we are the takeout this time, but-” 

Now that idea had Takeru’s attention! If there was one thing he’d learned about Den City compared to his countryside hometown, it was that the takeout options here were so much better! He could definitely go for something quick like that instead!

“Saru Burger doesn’t deliver, do they? ‘Cause I don’t about you, but I could seriously go for some of their fries right now, too! Or maybe we can walk around and see who’s selling yakitori or something?”

“The desire to see a friend again isn’t bad in itself. It’s just acting on it that causes the issue.”

Flame turns his head away a fraction. He doesn’t want to see his old partner like that.

“I can only think that there is perhaps something wrong with my code since the data recovery. Yet I’ve found nothing when I examine it.

But every moment I cannot stop thinking that the next SOL or Hanoi or someone will pick up a trace of our data and be at the Cyberse World’s doors to destroy it once again. Or worse, they’ll get a hint of our existence and then target you, or Playmaker, or anyone else. I can’t stop thinking about it. It is constant.”

“If you can’t find anything wrong, then you’re just being you. Weren’t you always worrying about more than I ever did back when we were always pallin’ around together?”

His tone had sounded more light hearted, but it still wouldn’t mask just how worried Soulburner was for Flame either. He’d always thought a reunion like this would’ve been more happy, but here was one of his best friends -- doing more to try and push him away than them actually spending time catching up.

Was Flame really that overly cautious now? Maybe something had happened inside the ignis’ code.

“Oh!” He exclaimed. That was… An option. A pretty good but risky one. 

Giving his fringe a thoughtful tug, Tsuki hummed.

“I could do that… Mhm! Do you know any particular food that they like?”

Getting a specific answer would save Tsuki a lot of time and mental energy! He was already anxious about meeting them enough.

It was asking a lot of Tsuki was the only thing Takeru could think. He wasn’t the one going back home; Takeru was. Tsuki didn’t really have to get his grandparents anything -- or worry about coming off rude if he’d showed up with nothing, too.

But Takeru would pause to think. What did his grandparents really like?

“I think …the train station sells a few.”

So that means they could always grab something on the way there or pick something out a day beforehand.

“Otherwise, I guess we can always go and find something that Den City is well known for.”

Every city had something it was famous for, right? Whether it be a food or some kind of attraction… 

“I guess we could always have you make something to take back with me, too, right? I mean, my grandparents are kinda old fashioned like that. They’d probably enjoy something homemade.”

It wouldn’t really be much of a something to represent Den City from, but to Takeru, it was usually the thought that counted most. It was either that, or-