#time saver

As Takeru, Hikari and their partners helped wrapping everything up, Jyou pulled Koushirou to the side carefully, only half-pretending to take a good look at the paperwork.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”, he whispered to his younger friend, still overly cautious due to the whole situation being fairly unclear. And Koushirou couldn’t even blame him; glancing over the “information sheet” Jyou was holding – it wasn’t even an official document, as they had brought her in without enrolling her –, they really didn’t know anything yet.

It surely wasn’t the first time they had helped a new Chosen Child that had gotten lost one way or another – but in this case, they hadn’t even been able to clearly identify this girl yet. No ID, no access to her phone – as Takeru had so nonchalantly figured out.

“We can’t leave her here and neither Takeru-kun nor Hikari-san should carry that responsibility”, Koushirou tried to reason, both to himself as well as to the frowning Jyou. There was a certain risk to it, he was aware. But there was also something else he couldn’t put into words – but it made him want to take full responsibility himself. “Tentomon and I will take care of everything.”

“And then what, you’ll pull another allnighter in the office?” Jyou gave him a stern look – which was at least followed by a crooked smile. “I at least have a valid reason to have bad sleeping habits… You shouldn’t worry your mother so much, you know.”

That was another aspect he had to take into consideration – even though being reminded of it made his stomach drop a little.

“I promised her to come visit once Taichi-san returned from his travels. It’s not been particularly easy to juggle the moving recently, but I am aware that she’s wanting to support us as much as possible.”

Ever since Taichi had encouraged Koushirou to move out from his parents’ home, he had been dealing with a sense of guilt. Of course he was already supporting them financially either way – but dealing  with his company, the idea of living with someone he had basically been having a long-distance-relationship with for the past few years, organizing the Chosen Children network and everything in between… Sometimes made him feel like a neglectful son.

“And I do not intend to make things harder for her and my father… Which is exactly why I’d refuse to show up in the middle of the night. They would be even more worried if I got there with…”

Koushirou looked over to the girl – Hotaru –, who was now talking to the ever-smiling Hikari, showing a somewhat bashful expression. This was definitely nothing he could have calculated before.

“I understand”, Jyou said gently, patting his shoulder. “But don’t pull a Taichi and think you have to do all this by yourself.”

He smiled wearily. Through the years – and especially since he had become a doctor n training – Jyou had definitely turned into some kind of supportive mother hen for him as well as for the others. Koushirou had learned that being anything other than direct was no use – they both shared the habit of overworking after all, so keeping each other in check had also become a strange yet comforting ritual. And Koushirou was actually thankful for that – as it helped him to become more open about his intentions as well.

“I promise to be more reasonable in the future, Jyou-san.”

“We’ll see about that!” He patted Koushirou’s shoulder again, this time with emphasis – and a mischievous grin. “Taichi has quite an influence on you.”

“That”, Koushirou grinned back – not any less confident, because at this point, there was really no way to deny it, “Is barely a new discovery though.”

“Just… Be careful, okay?”

Koushirou glanced over once more. In the end, this was just the equivalent of solving another riddle, another mystery – and even if he had to do it carefully, he would make sure to collect all the necessary puzzle pieces. No matter what.

“I will.”

~

Parting ways and making their way back to the office building in the middle of the night – on Kabuterimon’s back none the less – still felt somewhat surreal. Koushirou was sure he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Whenever they had gone on late-night missions, he was usually the one to navigate the others, either from home or from the office space. In recent times, their group had been significantly smaller in terms of being combat-ready, but even then, he was rarely among those that had to fight physically – although he was almost sure Tentomon would have loved being part of the squad.

The last time he could remember was when Taichi had come back after finishing one of his exams – so it had just been the two of them. Back then, they had actually traveled back to the office together as well – but it had not been 3 AM. Thankfully, this time of night allowed for his partner – despite his size – to merge almost perfectly with the darkness surrounding them, causing the least amount of noise possible.

“Thank you for having me”, Hotaru broke through the silence eventually before they finally reached their destination. “I’m not… Taking this for granted.”

She hadn’t looked at Koushirou ever since they had left the hospital – not even now that Kabuterimon had evolved back to Tentomon, standing with them in front of the building elevator.

“It’s our pleasure!”, Tentomon replied upon leading her out of the elevator first as they entered the 7th floor of the office, walking straight to Koushirou’s main office. Koushirou followed, but left enough space behind them, watching closely. “Please make yourself at home here, we also have snacks and drinks stored in case you’re needing something.”

The ladybug Digimon joyfully jumped to one of the closets to fish a pillow and blanket out of it, leaving Hotaru enough room to see all the utensils inside. It really didn’t seem to fit into the rest of the neat office space, but instead seemed like a messy emergency storage room providing shelter to at six to eight people at least, if necessary.

“Always the sweetheart”, Hotaru commented with a gentle tone, still carrying Hibismon in her arms – and it caught Tentomon off guard.

“Come again?”, Tentomon asked, genuinely unsure as to whether he had heard correctly, whereas Hotaru just… Blushed immensely.

“Oh, I just... You’re very sweet! I mean, in general! You were so kind to me earlier too!”

Both bugs stared at her with curious eyes, trying to understand the sudden outburst – and Tentomon just scratched the back of his head with his claw.

“Awwwww, such flattery!”

Having watched the scene unfold and despite it all, Koushirou still couldn’t shake the thought that they had decided on doing the right thing.

“I hope the couch will be comfortable enough”, he finally raised his voice himself, taking out another blanket from the closet. “We have more blankets and pillows in the closet if you require any more. It’s not unusual to turn this space into a sleepover-fort, even if I’m not particularly proud of that habit...”

He didn’t know why he had felt the need to explain all that. She didn’t seem surprised by what he had just said, he didn’t exactly owe her an explanation – and yet, this was the first time since their eyes had met in the hospital room that she was looking directly at him.

Once again, frozen in place.

“Are you okay?”, Tentomon asked, one claw reaching out for her, but she just shook her head.

“A-ah, yes, yes, I’m just tired!”

Whether it actually had been smart to release her out of the hospital just yet, Koushirou wasn’t able to tell however, but she still seemed incredibly disoriented.

“Understandably so”, he just agreed, hoping that a few hours of sleep would help her to clear things up – and to get actual answers out of her. If there was one thing he had learned – the hard way – through the years, it was that overly tired or stressed people were not capable of giving appropriate responses. Mimi – quite literally – had hit him over the head more than once and was constantly texting him to get more than three hours of sleep a night regularly. “Take your time getting ready, there are several washing rooms in the building. We do not have showers, but any other necessities should be there, so don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.”

Hotaru’s tension finally seemed to decrease a little as she dared to take a step closer towards Koushirou, who had just continued to ramble matter-of-factly.

“May I say, it’s very kind of you to host your friends here on a regular basis”, she said – and this time, it was his turn to be caught off guard. The softness of her voice was such a drastic change from how much she had shrieked earlier.

“It just became natural over the course of the years”, he kept explaining without hesitation. Again, she absolutely didn’t seem to find any of what she was witnessing odd in the slightest…

“It does have practical use!” An actual smile formed on Hotaru’s lips. “It’s better to be prepared in all kinds of emergencies, so there’s actually no reason not to be proud of it.”

“That… Is an interesting view point”, Koushirou just uttered, genuinely surprised by how logical it was and weirded out by the fact that he had never thought about it that way. “As I said, if you need anything else, please let me know.”

Even now, her smile didn’t vanish.

“… Thank you for trusting me.”

Just like before, Koushirou couldn’t help it. Something in his gut was telling him that there was just… No immediate danger at hand. Inviting a stranger surely was unusual, it was weird, even if she was potentially hiding something and despite everything they had gone through in the past decade…

“The past has taught us to be cautious in certain situations, so… Please don’t take Jyou-san’s or Takeru-kun’s statements as personal attacks. We will talk about everything tomorrow, now please make sure to rest.”

“Mhmh”, Hotaru nodded along, still keeping eye-contact, letting it linger for a few more seconds – up until Tentomon grabbed her hand…

“I’ll show her the bathroom and be back in a second.”

“Thank you, let’s go, Hibismon.”

… Leaving Koushirou behind with that weird, oddly familiar feeling in his gut.

~

“Tentomon?”

Even if he had wanted to, Koushirou had only ever managed to nap for short periods of time. He was perfectly aware that neither Mimi nor Jyou nor Taichi or anyone else would have been pleased with that behaviour. But with a girl sleeping on his office couch – which, under any other circumstances, probably would have been considered problematic –, arms wrapped around her bug Digimon partner and a thousand questions in his mind, he simply wouldn’t have been able to sleep. Hotaru, however, as far as he could tell from the other side of the room, had fallen asleep mere seconds after laying down.

Completely and utterly exhausted. And weirdly comfortable.

“Mhh?”, Tentomon mumbled sleepily, nuzzling into Koushirou’s side on the other couch.

“Have you sensed something strange about her before?”

“I would not exactly call it ‘strange’, but…”, Tentomon yawned, slowly but steadily finding his way back into an awake state. Just like the girl, his partner had a much easier time letting his guard down. “Hotaru-han has a very peculiar smell about herself.”

“A peculiar smell?”

“Yes, it is very familiar, and it’s not even just that…” Once more, he scratched the back of his head as if what he was saying was thoroughly embarrassing. “I’m not sure if my mind is playing tricks on me, and it may all be just a big coincidence, but not trusting her would feel entirely wrong, even if I… Have troubles putting it into words. It’s a bit silly, isn’t it?”

Koushirou couldn’t help but to smile softly. With all their contrasts and differences, they really were soulmates after all. So he had sensed it too…

“… No, I feel similarly. I would have asked her to stay with us myself if you hadn’t.”

“Oh, how come?”

Maybe Jyou had been correct to assume that Taichi had too much of an influence on him – because he usually wasn’t basing his judgement on what his gut was telling him. Plus, he was almost certain Taichi would have handled all this the exact same way.

Upon hearing that revelation, every person – and mon – in the room had gone silent, staring at the girl in the hospital bed with different variations of surprise. Thanks to his steady media presence in the past years due to his company and “Digimon related PR work”, Koushirou’s name wasn’t exactly unknown to the public. However, it was still unusual for a, presumably, middle school aged girl to get in touch first.

Hikari could still remember the steps Koushirou and Taichi had discussed for one of the latter’s internship speeches; whenever a new person would get partnered with a Digimon in Japan, Koushirou’s network – supported by Gennai’s connections – would be able to locate it first. The program was by no means finalized yet, since there were still too many factors they couldn’t properly take into account yet – and least that was what Hikari had gathered. Children usually had to be found by them first, as they obviously didn’t know how the process worked. But Koushirou had also talked about getting contacted personally by young adults who had formed partnerships, asking for guidance.

Nevertheless, even with the increasing presence of social media, it usually took Gennai’s meddling first and foremost for younger people to “get initiated” into the existing group. This case was truly strange.

“Wait, wait, wait, can we slow down for a second?” Jyou was the first to find his voice again, not daring to take another step towards the bed, since the little bug Digimon already seemed back on the fence again. “The last time a young woman appeared out of nowhere and wanted to talk to Koushirou, the outcome wasn’t actually the best…”

“Jyou-san, don’t be rude!”, Hikari cut in, giving him a scolding look. Even if she herself couldn’t help but make a mental note to talk to Taichi about whether he had been in touch with Menoa in the last months. Right now, she knew there were different priorities though, so she moved towards the bed, facing the girl with a gentle smile. “I do agree that we should slow down and talk for a bit. May you tell us your name first? And of course it’d be unfair if we didn’t introduce ourselves first. The man in the white coat is a doctor in-training here at the hospital we are at, Kidou Jyou-san. He’s with his partner, Gomamon.”

Jyou bowed in response, smiling awkwardly as well, whereas Gomamon just chirped a happy “Hi!”

“This is Takaishi Takeru-kun and his partner, Patamon. My name is Yagami Hikari, my partner here is Tailmon. The four of us found you lying on the ground after Takeru-kun saw a lightning strike and we just want to figure out what happened, so we can try our best to help you.”

While talking, Hikari had observed each and every of the girl’s reaction and her calm voice at least seemed to have helped to keep her attention on herself. She didn’t appear as directionless anymore, not as timid, but – and this was the weirdest part – avoided eye contact with Takeru…

Her glance was resting on Hikari herself instead, who had eventually sat down on the edge of the bed, mustering the younger girl very closely; despite her eyes being so dark, her expression was open and softened even more once Hikari had ended her speech. It was actually pretty similar to how a lot of her care children in kindergarten reacted to her whenever she was talking eye-to-eye with them and Hikari always brightened up herself whenever she felt like she had reached through to them. It wasn’t always easy, not all children were ready or capable of letting her in when they had problems after all. Sometimes talking and reasoning didn’t help, no matter how hard she tried. But just like with some Digimon, Hikari’s sense of empathy didn’t allow her to give up on them.

And in this case, she could sense a connection, a similarity. Whatever she had gone through, Hikari’s words must have resonated with her. Not only that; Tentomon had joined Hikari at the corner of the bed, looking up to the girl. Which seemed to have soothed her even more.

“Oh, and this is Tentomon. You may have heard of him already if you know about Izumi Koushirou-san too?”

“Pleasure to meet you!” Putting his claws onto the sheets to get better access, he just waited for her to respond – whereas the girl didn’t move for a good while, simply returning the gaze as if to analyze his entire being.

“The pleasure’s on my side”, she eventually said softly, accompanied by the hint of a smile – and without hesitating, she reached out for the red ladybug, patting his head. It almost felt like she simply had a natural affinity for bugs, Hikari mused to herself.

“My name is Hotaru and…” She abruptly pulled her hand back, as if she had gotten an electrical shock. Judging by the increasing redness of her cheeks, Hikari sensed that she got nervous again. As contrasting as her behaviour was, Hikari couldn’t help but to keep smiling at her – even if the blush was cute, complementing the colour of her maroon hair, she wanted to make sure she could feel safe with them.

“I came here because I have obtained information about a dangerous bug in the network, so… After doing some research about the Chosen Children residing in this area around Odaiba, I wanted to discuss the possible fixes with Izumi-san. I know he’ll be capable of finding it, so we may prevent quite some damage. That is… All I can tell you.”

Another moment of silence followed. Just a low “Huh…” sound by Tentomon broke through the quiet of the room. Maybe there really was a thing about bugs…

“… See, I’d say that sounds very familiar. Including the loss of consciousness.”

“Jyou-san!”, Hikari scolded him again – but couldn’t help but wonder about it all as well. Hotaru knowing about the term “Chosen Children” probably should not have been very surprising at this point either, but she simply appeared to be… Shockingly informed.

“I’m telling the truth!”, Hotaru raised her voice, sitting up a little more in bed while the bug Digimon clung to her arm. “I have no memories of a lightning strike or whatever it may have been, all I know is that the bug needs to be eliminated or terrible things could happen!”

“Hotaru-chan?” Hikari was still maintaining her kind demeanour, trying her best to keep the situation peaceful. So she peeked over to the little bug. “Is this Digimon your partner?”

“Hibismon…? Yes, she is.”

As if she had waited for the call, the Digimon jumped back into Hotaru’s arms.

“So you know who we are and you’re a Chosen Child yourself…?”, Takeru asked this time, after having remained quiet for a while. Hearing that, Hikari turned towards him. They had gone through a similar routine with Rui three years ago and at this point, it had become quite a pattern. The main difference back then was – that Rui hadn’t known any of them, including Koushirou. Despite all that, Takeru simply faced Hotaru with a stern look. “Where do you come from, since you said you got here after doing research?”

“This… This is a little bit more complicated…”

In this moment, the hospital room door got opened quietly – and if Hikari had perceived Hotaru to be tense and nervous before, she absolutely had not expected the young girl to just completely freeze up upon seeing Koushirou – similarly and yet way more intense than how she reacted to Tentomon approaching her. Round eyes, stiffed up, tense shoulders and – which surprised Hikari the most – lips that were pressed together so tightly that it looked almost painful. Seeing this, she suppressed the urge to sit down on the bed to simply wrap her arms around her…

“Sorry, it took a little longer…”, Koushirou apologized as he closed the door behind him, blissfully unaware of why everyone looked rather puzzled. “Taichi-san will be on his way here as soon as he can. I already told him roughly what happened and he insisted on taking the earliest train back home.”

He took a look around – and even he must have noticed Hotaru making a small gasping sound as he had mentioned Taichi’s name –, but as he opened his mouth to say something, Takeru let out a laugh.

“Diplomat life really isn’t easy, huh?”

Hikari adored Takeru’s laughter – it had the ability to light up an entire room and that superpower was definitely necessary right now. Even if she couldn’t suppress a small pout as reaction to his words.

“He wasn’t even on diplomat duty, he was doing a language training to improve his English skills and he once again didn’t message us regularly…”

“Still, he wanted to come here as quickly as possible, since the training also ended early today, but he initially didn’t plan on coming back before tomorrow evening”, Koushirou added, giving Hikari a sympathetic nod. They were, unfortunately, used to Taichi not replying back in time if he wasn’t constantly reminded of giving them a life sign – it was a fate they both had to deal with, so at least she didn’t feel as ‘left behind’ on her own. However, Koushirou didn’t seem to intend to dwell on the issue any longer and shifted to Hotaru, who – once again – flinched on the spot. “So, what did you talk about in my absence?”

This time, she at least tried to say something, but before she could open her mouth to reply, it was Jyou’s turn to interrupt – which, just like Takeru’s ‘distraction’ before, appeared to be just the right move at the right time:

“Maybe we should continue all of this tomorrow, Hotaru-kun? It’s been a long day and you all haven’t slept at all yet, so how about we talk tomorrow, mh? Do you want to stay here in the hospital for the night? That’s probably the most reasonable option, just to make sure you won’t faint again.”

Exchanging a short glance with her Digimon partner, she seemed to contemplate the offer she had just been given. Fumbling with the blanket for a few seconds, she eventually took a deep breath and returned Jyou’s gaze, explaining as calmly as possible:

“I don’t want to cause you any inconvenience, Kidou-san. Aren’t you out of capacity and will get in trouble if you let me stay…?”

Once again, her words caught them all off guard and Jyou simply stared at her.

“Well, err… Yeah, kinda, but how do you know about-“

“We could also take her to the office, Koushirou-han?”, Tentomon chimed in, pulling everybody’s attention towards himself – and making Hikari chuckle. He really could be a protective mother hen when somebody had gained his trust. Apparently, head pats were very effective at achieving that. “That way we can watch over her in case anything happens and nobody else has to get alarmed!”

“Tentomon…”

Hotaru’s big eyes had returned – and widened even more when Koushirou agreed without much reservations:

“That’s an option, yes. How do you feel about staying with us for the night – Hotaru-san, was it? We intended to stay the night there in any case, so this shouldn’t be an issue.”

Taking her previous reactions into account, Hikari was almost sure that she would have denied this offer as well, seeming rather cautious, despite the urgency to talk to Koushirou before. And yet, she hadn’t expected her to smile as serenely as that – or the low “Should have known…” Hotaru muttered to herself before saying:

“I didn’t think it was necessary yet”, Jyou stated quietly, a grim expression on his face while their small group gathered around the hospital bed. “But maybe I really need to ask my dad for us to have our own Digimon station here at some point, so we won’t alarm any other patients…”

Takeru and Hikari had brought the unconscious girl to the hospital Jyou was working at. Fortunately, he was staffed on the night shift and despite limited capacities in the facility, he could at least ensure to bring her to a secluded section – which was simultaneously Gomamon’s hiding spot. When gate hopping was possible on a regular basis, it had been easy for the Digimon to switch between the Digital and the real world, but nowadays, they were more reliant on luck rather than strategy. Especially since Jyou had more or less started to contemplate the possibility of taking care of wounded Digimon as well. While his studies had primarily focused on human medicine, he was also used to taking care of their wounded partner Digimon after battles. Even though he was sure his father would not be amused by more creatures lingering around, thanks to his routine – and the information Koushirou’s analyzer provided –, the idea of becoming an actual Digimon doctor one day didn’t appear as farfetched anymore…

Speaking of Koushirou’s input – he had followed Takeru’s and Hikari’s call as well and was now eying the girl curiously, all the while all their Digimon watched her from the edge of the bed.

“Mh, I believe that would be a good investment for the future… Although we don’t know if this girl was actually attacked by a Digimon”, Koushirou mused out loud, one hand resting on his chin. He hadn’t even changed out of his work attire and stood there in his usual “white shirt and tie” attire, just like Takeru had suspected. “Or why exactly the lightning strike took place presumably where you two found her.”

Hikari nodded in response as she was also seated close to the bed. “She at least had her Digimon partner by her side! You were protecting her, isn’t that right?”

With a gentle smile, she turned to the small orange bug that was also resting on top of the bed, causing them to nudge closer to their partner. Hikari had been in close contact to Digimon ever since their little rescue mission and they seemed more comfortable responding to her by now.

“Mhmh… I’m… I’m Hibismon”, they replied shyly, but when Hikari extended her hand towards them, they tapped against it. Tentomon and Gomamon had also attempted to make conversation with them before and, in his usual blunt way, the latter seemed almost disappointed that there had been no opponent to face this time…

“We can ask her as soon as she is awake and stable again.” Jyou still seemed rather tense, but visibly tried to keep a collected demeanour before he turned to Koushirou and Takeru. “But we should let her rest for now. Luckily, it looks like she is just asleep and doesn’t have any visible wounds or bruises.”

“That is a relief…”, Patamon sighed and Hibismon also let out a sound of exhaustion – which was only interrupted by the sound of a vibrating phone.

“Ah, excuse me”, Koushirou stammered, taking a quick look at the aforementioned phone and was already on his way to rush out of the room. “Taichi-san is calling me back.”

“Oh, so he was awake after all?” Without even trying to hide her pout as she mumbled to herself, Hikari crossed her arms, making Tailmon chuckle quietly. She had been keen to keep the others informed on their flight here and since her brother had not responded to even her private messages before, she was sure his lights had gone out long ago. Hikari and Koushirou were already used to this, it was nearly impossible to get him to respond to messages in a timely manner whenever he was “away” these days – or, like in this case, at an English training at the Language Learning Center at Institute of Technology in Osaka.

While Hikari explained this to Jyou as well, Takeru was lost in thought. Seated closer to the door, his thoughts kept rushing, thinking back to the moment he had carried the girl to Angewomon's arms. He was not entirely sure what age she was; despite how easily he could have lifted her, the clothes she was wearing left him puzzled. They did remind him of a high school uniform – white blouse, bordeaux coloured tie, matching skirt and thigh highs –, but he hadn't seen any teenager wear it around their area before. As an “author in training” as he called himself, he spent a lot of time observing people in public, but this attire was completely unfamiliar to him. Plus, she still appeared to be too young to be in high school... One possibility was that she had come from an entirely different district, a faraway area. But that brought up way more questions than it answered. Why had she come here? How did she travel, had her Digimon partner been capable to evolve further, fly, even teleport? Furthermore...

Takeru's mind drifted back to the phone that had fallen out of her jacket... A dark blue college jacket he could not have mustered before. But after Hikari had carefully removed it from her alongside the tie to put it neatly into his lap for safe-keeping, he could not help but notice the orange patch in shape or a star she must have sewn onto the left arm herself. It felt just as eerily familiar as the logo on the back of the phone...

“Hikari-chan? Jyou-san?” He eventually broke his silence and both turned around to him, obviously surprised by the whispery tone. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“What’s the matter, you look troubled?”

“… It’s just… Really strange”, Takeru began and Hikari carried her chair over to him to be closer and all their Digimon decided to listen in on them as well, forming a little “prayer circle”. Hibismon was the only one who stayed on top of the bed as Takeru elaborated: “I’ve found her phone and it does look like it has Koushirou-san’s company logo on it, doesn’t it?”

Hearing that, Jyou and Hikari exchanged a skeptical look before leaning closer to compare both Takeru’s and the girl’s phone he was holding out to them. It was a tiny bit bigger and thinner than his own, covered by a lavender coloured frame. The logo Takeru had been referring to was engraved on the back side and vaguely resembled the letters “K” and “I” in sharp, angular shapes. It was not exactly the same, but still noteworthy.

“Yeah, now that you say it…?” Jyou squinted his eyes and tilted his head a little as he knelt in front of Takeru – alleviating the back pain from bowing down a little. “It does look similar to the Izumi Corporation logo somehow…”

“He hasn’t distributed it to anywhere or to anyone outside of our group, has he?”

“Koushirou-han said as long as he isn’t satisfied with its capabilities, he wouldn’t let it get out of the inner circle, yes”, Tentomon chimed in and Takeru nodded along, as if to confirm his own theories. He was onto something here and it got him weirdly excited.

“It looks different enough of course, more advanced and I haven’t managed to turn it on so far.”

“Takeru-kun!”

He had almost waited for Hikari to be upset with him for this, but he did not anticipate that much of a scolding tone. It immediately brought him back down a little.

“I am not intending to invade her privacy or anything like that, I just thought maybe it’d give us another clue…”, he directed it at her personally, trying to soothe her again. It did seem to reach through to her and both of them turned around to the bed at the same time. “How did this get into her hands? I mean… If you look at her more closely… Doesn’t she remind you of-”

“Hotaru!”

Hibismon’s – unexpectedly loud – voice cut through his monologue, making the entire group jump up. The girl had woken up and was shifting into a sitting position. In order to avoid the blinding lights, she kept her eyes half closed, still seeming a little disoriented.

“Mghhhh… Hibismon…”, she groaned, sounding incredibly hoarse, letting her head fall into one of her hands. “I feel dizzy…”

“Oh, you’re awake! That’s great!”, Patamon couldn’t help but cheer out loud while flying towards the bed, earning a “Shhhhh!” from Tentomon and Tailmon simultaneously. Alerted by that, he flew right back into Takeru’s arms and whispered a little “Sorry…”, to which Takeru simply had to laugh.

“It’s okay, I get it, I feel the same”, he giggled – which triggered a reaction he had not expected in the slightest.

The girl’s head had shot up immediately, widened, pitch black eyes stared at him in complete awe.

“Takeru-sa-mpfh!” She hadn’t even finished saying his name before she pressed her right hand against her lips to stop herself.

For a few seconds, everything had gone completely quiet, shock was written in different nuances and shades on everybody’s faces in the room – until Gomamon just squealed a confused “Say what???” out loud.

Takeru's mind began to do somersaults again, the excitement returned, blood rushing and heart pounding. He knew he had been onto something, this was the exact kind of mystery they had been missing in their lives recently – and he was more than ready to solve it.

“I-I… Err… Ugh, this is not ideal…”, the girl mumbled, burying her head in her hands again and this time it was Jyou’s turn to walk towards her.

“Do you have a headache?”

Before he could even reach her though, Hibismon jumped up again, taking an attacking stance.

“Leave her alone!”, the Digimon hissed – to which Gomamon almost felt ready to jump himself, but Jyou held him back with both arms.

“Please calm down, no fighting in here! I was really just worried! How do you feel?”

“I’m… I’m okay, really, you do not need to worry about me – and please don’t be mad at Hibismon”, she apologized before pulling her partner protectively into her arms. Takeru simply couldn’t overlook how bashful she seemed. Her eyes were roaming through the room, not exactly aimlessly, but it was obvious that she had a hard time adjusting to where she was. “Thank you for bringing me here, I just…”

Breathing in and out deeply, she straightened up and with a lot more gathered composure she declared: “I need to talk to Izumi-san as soon as possible.”

“… Koushirou-san?”

‘I’ll be with you in a bit for back-up!’

Takeru couldn’t help but smile when he read that message. Hikari was usually one of the most responsible sleepers and more of a morning person than he was himself – but once she was on vacation, she frequently took the liberty to stay up longer. Thus, a part of him really cheered smugly over the fact that he had been right about that.

Riding on Angemon’s back as they soared through the nightly Odaiba gracefully – and as quietly as possible –, he looked around as cautiously as he could. The impact really didn’t seem that far away, but as his partner had reassured him, they were following a significant presence that hadn’t been there before. He could simply sense it.

‘Please stay on guard and inform us if anything unusual occurs.’

Koushirou had been the next to respond in the group chat – which was also not very surprising to Takeru. Even after all these years, even considering how busy he had been with his own company, promotional work for the Digital World and so on, he was still their main connector after all.

“It must have been around here somewhere…”, Angemon proclaimed, slowing down while Takeru’s eyes darted around feverishly. The fog had vanished, he couldn’t make out anything ‘unusual’ around them, until-

“Hotaru, please, wake up…”

They heard a faint voice coming from below, seeming somewhat stressed and tense.

“Let’s check it out”, Takeru whispered, having Angemon nod in response before they gently slid to the ground.

“W-who’s there?!”, the voice hissed, immediately sounding more aggressive and desperate, even if Takeru couldn’t immediately see where it was coming from. It took the appearance of a sudden light source for him to actually see that there was a Digimon crouching on the floor – a feline-like creature with delicate bug wings that had started to flow, signifying a threat. And it took another moment for Takeru to notice that the Digimon was hovering over a human body…

“Whoever you are, stay back!!!”, the Digimon growled and Takeru just nodded towards Angemon, causing him to evolve back into Patamon. They had both silently agreed that no fighting would be necessary here.

“Please don’t be afraid, we are not your enemies,” Takeru said softly, slowly walking towards them with raised hands. The Digimon still hissed at him until Patamon flew towards them as well. For some reason, their eyes widened in sheer surprise.

“T-that is… Impossible…!”

Takeru frowned at that statement, but decided to toss it away for now. Now that they were so close, they could recognize the body of a young girl, probably a teenager. However, Takeru could not tell what state she was in…

“Were you scared by the lightning? Is she your partner?”, Patamon asked and Takeru added: “May I check her pulse? I promise I will not harm her.”

Still visibly confused, the Digimon hesitated a bit longer – then they nodded slightly, taking a step back to let Takeru take a closer look. The girl looked awfully pale, but he could – thankfully – still sense a pulse. Strains of red, ruffled hair fell softly over her shoulders when he carefully lifted her slender body to cradle her in his arms.

“Will she be alright, Takeru-kun?”

They suddenly heard another voice and the three of them looked up – the strange Digimon in particular made a squeaking sound that was more endearing than Takeru would have expected. Hikari and Tailmon were standing beside them now, as they must have rushed to the spot as promised, watching them with worried eyes.

“We should probably inform Jyou-san and bring her to the hospital to be sure.”

“Is that okay with you?”, Hikari asked towards the startled Digimon, smiling gently. “Please don’t worry, we have a very capable friend who will look after your partner, okay?”

“Okay. Please take care of her…” The Digimon’s voice was laced with tears – and once they had finished their pleading, they started glowing again. Simultaneously, a device fell out of the bag of the girl’s jacket, which had begun to glow as well, and the Digimon reverted back to a previous level, taking the shape of a small, orange bug.

“We should get going then, do you think Angewomon can carry her?”, Takeru asked before kneeling down to grab the device as well, still holding the girl’s body to the best of his ability.

“Of course I can”, Tailmon made a snappy sound, but Takeru didn’t listen. He just stared at the phone in his hands with absolute shock. It was a design he hadn’t seen before, but something about it… Looked more than just familiar.