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“Ah, Ruki-san.” He says, a relaxed posture with a hint of familiarity. The woman in question looks at him, a bit annoyed.
“Ruki-san?” Right beside him, Yagami asks, a bit surprised. None of them have heard her being called by her first name, he realizes, which is probably the reason for the reaction. The others mirror his surprise - except Mochizuki.
“Oh, Himi-sensei?! You know Makino-san?” Taichikawa asks while approaching them. The bubblyness of her voice is a delight to hear. “Oh, oh! Don’t you tell me… are you two dating?!”
The way she asks sounds so genuine and excited that it catches him too off-guard, and he can’t help but laugh at it.
“Dating?! Oh, no…” He says after his laughter stops. “Ruki-san is a bit too old to be on my league.” He says, a smile on his face.
Her reaction is instantaneous. Her face looks red, almost like these old cartoons, and her looks is far more annoyed then before.
Truth be told, Ruki doesn’t look her age at all. She might never admit, but she definetely holds proudness of that. Seeing people think she might be no older then thirty - when she’s actually over fourty - always seems to bring her some kind of satisfaction. So, hearing such coment - that she’s “too old” - might’ve hurt her a hit.
Not that Tomoki knew that, obviously.
Instead of saying actually saying something about his comment, however, she just lefts out a huff.
“Let’s just get this over with.” She says as she leaves. The others just look at them, confused by the interaction. Tomoki laughs again - and, though the others didn’t realize, with Chackmon’s laughter seeping through.
Perhaps going to a onsen wasn’t the best idea for someone like them, but it’s not like it’s that hard to pretend. Besides, he didn’t want to stop these children from having a moment of peace, at a place they choose, simply because of the way his body works.
So, he goes to the onsen with the rest of them, despite better judgement.
They ask him about the infection and the organization, and he explains what he can - which is nearly nothing, anyway. He says that he’s not that high positioned at the organization to know the specifics, which is technically true, but it’s not the full reason. It’s not like they need to know it, though.
He tries to stay there as much as he could, ignoring how uncomfortable it is to feel the heat on his skin. Inside, Chackmon scoffs and Blizzarmon roars at the feeling - and he needs a lot of concentration to supress the urge to make the water ice cold - he certaintly doesn’t want to cause everyone go through a thermal shock.
After some time, the creepling feeling of a headache comes to him. He curses under his breath, surprised and annoyed that his body couldn’t handle such a short time in the onsen.
He excuses himself, leaving to the changing area before anyone can question about it.
Tomoki is quiet as he leave the place, his supperior accompaning him as he did so. The silence unerves Ruki, and she can’t help but wonder if it has to do with his (their?)…situation.
“Are you okay?” She ends up asking after some thought. He looks up, surprised by the question. “You’ve been weirdly quiet since we left, is something bothering you?” She tries to keep formality, but worry is still in her voice.
He shows a small, kind, smile at the question. “Ah, yeah… it’s just a headache. I guess i was affected by the heat more strongly then i thought.” He says and puts a hand on his head, as to demonstrate what he just explained.
She narrows her eyes at him, unsure if that’s the full truth, but she feels like he won’t say much further then that. She huffs. “Well, if you couldn’t handle it, then you didn’t really need to come.”
A smirk appears in the man’s face. “Ah, there’s no need to put this cold persona, Ruki-san. I know you care about me.” He teases.
Incredulously, she looks at him. “You-“
He laughs at it.
Well, at least he seems better.
When the Ogremon shows up, it’s late and they didn’t expect for another digimon to show up so soon. The digidestined had just came home and didn’t need bothering, so they tried to use the military.
Needless to say, it didn’t work.
The wild Ogremon attempted to attack Tomoki and Ruki, approaching them slowly, and by instinct he tries to protect her - only for a sharp pain to shot through his head, causing him to fall into the ground.
“Tomoki!” He hears Ruki calls, but he has a hard time concetrating at anything.
A loud throb reverberates on throught his mind, mixed with violent thoughts he can’t even describe. It’s overwhelming and he can’t find himself to move. He doesn’t know where they came from - are they his? are they from the Ogremon? but Ogremons aren’t related to any of the atributes of Ice, how could Tomoki have any connection to it? - but he’s afraid of them. Afraid in a way they haven’t been in years.
Then another digimon shows up, bringing the Ogremon back into the portal that soons closes, and the throbing vanishes.
He finally looks up, seeing Ruki stand beside him. She looks shook, her eyes darting at the direction of the portal, though he’s not really sure why.
The headache wouldn’t go away.
At first he thought it was caused by the execive heat exposure from the onsen, so naturally all he needed was some time at home, under the coldest temperatures he could adjust the hause heating on, and the pain would soon go away, right?
It didn’t.
Well, okay, the cold didn’t end it, but it did make things more bearable. After all, being closer to his domain - even if it’s by a strech in his case - will always make things more easy for him (them).
But the worst part of the whole thing wasn’t the pain, no.
It was the fact that those feelings - those same violent instincts from when Ogremon had showed up - got just as worse as the pain.
And a thought of what it could be creeps through his mind.
But it can’t be, can it?
It’s three in the morning and he can’t find himself to sleep.
His head throbs and the violent thoughts reverberate through his whole body. They keep telling him to leave this place and fight the first thing he can find.
And he’s afraid. They can’t be his own, they just can’t. He has never been this violent. Not even Blizzarmon has been this violent, and god knows how he could be violent. He doesn’t know where they come from, and it terrifies him.
With his phone on his hand and a fist in his other, he attempts to call the others. He tried Takuya the first, of course, followed by Izumi, but neither of them answered. He doesn’t know what time it is in Italy right now, but he’s half-sure that it’s not that late. They should’ve probably answer, right? And Kouji also doesn’t answer, but okay, he’s, like, in Peru right now? He’s not really sure, Kouji has this hability to always be somewhere that Tomoki never even thought about visiting before and he also lost track of what places the man visited and which he didn’t. So he tried calling Kouichi to make sure, but he also didn’t answer.
He doesn’t want to admit, but after four out of five attempts not working, he started to panick.
The phone dials forever - it can only be seconds, he’s aware of that, but tell that to his headache - and he expects for it to end in voicemail again, but, instead, someone actually picks it up.
“Tommy?”
He hears Junpei’s voice at the other side. He sounds sleepy, which is to be expected, but, besides that, he sounds normal. Fine. Like there is no throbing pain in his head and voices telling him to kill everyone on his way.
“Tomoki?” He hears the other call him again, worry now clear in his voice.
“A-ah… hey, JP.” He manages to say after some effort. His hand shakes and the air around him gets cold, but he tries to ignore.
“Uh… are you okay? You sound a bit, well, not good...?”
“Ah, yeah. It’s just a headache.” He fastly answers. “Tell me, JP, have you heard anything about the others? I tried calling them but they didn’t answer and I… I got worried.”
There’s a pause. “Ah, I see…” Junpei’s voice is calm and reasurring, which helps Tomoki a bit. “Well, I’m pretty sure there’s no need to be worried, Tommy. I mean, it’s three in the morning right now, Zoe and Taky are probably occupied doing whatever new thing they came up with, and you know Kouji - he never answers us unless it’s Kouichi or Takuya.” He jokes. Typical JP, always happy, always trying to bright up the mood.
It works.
He stopped shaking and the air around him feels more stable.
“I see… and you? Are you okay? Nothing, uh, weird, going on?” He decides to ask. It’s what he intended to find out with this call, in the first place.
“Uh, no…? Why, something is up?” He asks, the worry back in his voice. “Wait, does it have anything to do with the wild digimon that showed up in the news?”
Tomoki panicks again. “No! Uh.. thanks for answering! Bye!” He says in a rush and he ends the call. Definitely not suspicious and worring.
But, suddendly, the prospect of explaining what is happening to him is way too hard, way too painful - considering if Tomoki’s suspicions are correct.
And he really hopes he’s wrong.
The day of the festival is just worse. He is outside, because he has to monitor the children - they are in the most danger here. They are the priority.
He tries to focus on what is happening, but it’s hard. It’s been really hard to focus on anything, in fact, ever since he woke up. Like a premonition. As if today was going to be really, really bad.
When the distortion opens, he feels it. He doesn’t even needs to look at the devices with the readings, because he knows where it is. Because he could hear it. Because it was calling, for him.
He runs to the place, but he finds someone in his way. Ruki. She holds him. She looks worried and her hands are tight in his shoulders. She stares at him with her violet eyes, and it makes him think for a moment. She asks what’s wrong, and he answers.
“A distortion opened at the back of the school.”
Her eyes widen. They run.
The children are already there, desperate. Three digimon are inside the distortion, fighting to get the Meicoomon. She had been been abducted to inside the portal, but it closed and and Koushiro Izumi is trying to figure out a way of opening it while the others surround him.
The two try to approach the group, but, before doing so, the sight of the distortion - an opening to some kind of pocket dimension, and a man inside it with Meicoomon - makes Tomoki falter.
The pain gets worse. The thoughts get louder. It is calling him, and he wants, no, needs to go.
He fights against the urge to jump into the fight, and he falls into the ground. Ruki holds him, worried. She asks what is happening, but he doesn’t have the mind to think of anything but whatever it is that calls for him.
It tells him that he should just let go. Use his powers and attack them.
There’s a even bigger commotion around the distortion, but he’s not sure why. He feels Ruki’s hands leting go of him.
Fight.
But-
He feels something. Something familiar. Comforting. His element. His soul. His spirit.
Ice. Not just cold, but Ice.
Coming from inside the distortion, a big digimon covered in white fur and a hammer in hand just digivolved, and it’s name is Vikemon. Although he’s not just Ice, Tomoki feels his element present in the digimon and, for a moment, he can actually concetrate.
Ruki stands right beside him, clearly worried, and she’s not holding him anymore. Actually, she seems to have to have retreated a bit, which makes him confused.
Then he realises the thin layer of ice covering the ground around Tomoki, and the ice cold air around his body.
Did they just… lost control?
He gets up with certain difficulty, and then looks over the group. Looking at the distortion, he sees that two of the digimon inside of it just went through evolution - including Vikemon - and are fighting against what seems to be none other then Imperialdramon. There is another person too, someone he haven’t met yet - he was probably Kido Jyou, the only other digidestined he hasn’t met yet.
He walks to the group, still uneasy, with Ruki accompaning him, wary expression in her face. He decides to not say anything about what just happened, though, not now.
He also doesn’t pay attention to the odd looks a certain blonde gives him, because he needs to pay atention to the fight that is going on.
The person - a familiar silhouette, but he can’t quite put his finger on it - inside doesn’t seen to be doing much, but they holds Meicoomon, which means they’re the main target there. It takes a joint attack of all of them, but the Imperialdramon - they need to investigate how that’s possible - is deffeated by the other digimon.
The mysterious man lets go of the cat digimon and, just like that, the distortion opens and all of them leave the distortion.
They all cheer, Ruki lets a sigh of relief, and each of the humans get their respective partner - except for the kidnaped cat, who, for some reason, doesn’t let go of Leomon.
But something’s wrong.
He can’t explain why, but something on the back of his head tells him it just can’t be.
It was all too easy.
In a moment, a sharp pain shot through his head. It’s like a premonition, and he understands what is going on. Before he can warn anyone, though, it happens.
Meicoomon suddendly attacks Leomon, who dies, and she vanishes into the distortion.
The walk is awkward. There is a tension in the air, so strong it feels tangible. He’s mentaly preparing for the moment Ruki asks him about it, but he doesn’t know if it’s even possible to be ready.
She stops. He stops, too. She faces him, her face serious and her eyes worried.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
He sighs.
“The children and their digimon are the priority. I didn’t want to… get in their way.” And I was also afraid of it being true, he wants to say, but can’t find himself to admit.
“Get in their way? Himi Tomoki, I saw the glitches around your body and the way you lost control of your powers. These are the signs that you are infected. With the same infection these digimon that have been atacking our world have! It’s not like you have some kind of cold that you can just ignore and wait until it goes away!” Ruki lectures, exasperated, and he feels regret bubbling in his stomach. He takes his gaze away from her.
“That doesn’t matter at this point.” He says. She looks baffled at him, but before she can say something he keeps going. “And I also think it made me understand why Meicoomn was the target of the attacks.”
She looks at him, furrowed eyebrows and worried eyes. “And that is…?”
He looks up, facing her again, serious expression on his face.
“She’s the cause of the infection.”
He hasn’t showed up at the school anymore. The organization is the only place that he goes to, ouside of his home, and he tries to keep any human interaction at minimun.
It’s hard, though.
Ishida comes to him and Ruki, just a few days later, looking for answers. The boy kept giving him odd looks, but Tomoki ignored it. He knows what it meant, but he didn’t want to go through the process of explaining it at all.
They let him read the classified files and Ruki tries to explain the best she can. He probably came expecting some kind of reasurance, but given the situation, the boy just left even more worried and confused. He could relate.
The headache stopped getting worse, but it still is there. Throbbing, taunting them. A constant reminder that he might cause problems that no human should be able to.
He also tries his best to keep his mind occupied. He very quickly found out that every time he spaces out, even for a bit, things around him start to freeze and the air becomes cold like a winter day.
He didn’t had such hard time controling his powers since he was eight.
Part of him tells the that he should just leave. Retreat to a far away place, were their soul - their spirit - can be free and they’ll be protected from all hardships and pains.
He knows it doesn’t work like this, but sometimes he like to imagine it does.
A deeper part of him - the one that once shared a body with all his companions - tells him something is going on with Zoe.
So, at four in the afternoon, he calls her.
Turns out both her and Takuya are in the hospital.
During a morning walk between the two, Takuya lost control of his power - his fire - and, in an attempt of avoinding any accident, she tried to dissipate it with her wind. Except she also lost control, and instead of sttoping the fire, it spread.
There was a commotion, no one died but some people got hurt, and the firefighters ended up stoping the fire in a hour.
So, the two ended up in the hospital. Takuya, because he fainted, and Zoe, because she got second-degree burns on her arms.
And, so, after three hours at the hospital, Tomoki called her.
“I-I never saw Takuya lost control like that before, he was… he looked wild . It scared me so much Tommy, and I… I…” She sobs. “And worse, I couldn’t even control myself ! I never had such a hard time with the wind in my life, I don’t… I don’t know what happened, Tommy. I really don’t…” She cries. “I’m just so confused.”
He has no option but to explain it all. It’s painfull.
He wants to meet Homeostasis face to face and give it a good punch in it’s face. To say the most obnouxious swearings ever said in all existence and make it feel every single one of them.
His fist hits the table, freezing the surface of it.
Were was it when this whole mess started? Were was it when Tomoki - and Blizzarmon and Chackmon - begged for it to say something, to explain anything, even if it was basic information, about what was happening? Were was it when the infection started to spread to beyond the common digimon?
No, obviously it only showed up now, now that things are broken beyond repair.
And what does it says to them all?
That it’s going to end the digiworld.
That the history, the adventures, that all of the evolution that world lived through, will all be gone. Like it never happened to begin with.
And the digimon will go with it.
He cries, cries like the time he was pushed by his bullies into a train that brought him away from his home and his family, cries like when all of the data of the digiworld was absorbed and it looked like Lucemon’s win was inevitable, cries like the time Kouichi died and he almost didn’t came back, cries like the time he realised he was a human and would never be able to be a digimon again - and before he realised that six months is way too long of a time for their connection to be truly gone.
His cries are interrupted, however, by the sound of his phone ring.
Ho looks at the name inscripted in it. It’s Junpei.
Tomoki, Junpei and Kouichi go meet in a bar. It is a traditional one, those that he only ever saw old people go to, and the owner is a brown-haired girl with similar colored eyes. Her look towards him seens understanding, as if she had seen too much of this world - or, better saying, of the worlds.
They’re here because Ruki said the girl - What was her name again? July? Jeri? Juri? - was her friend, back from her own adventure.
It’s only the three of them because two weren’t able to leave their country due to the medical restriction, and the other is still too far to come in time. They did speak on the phone, though, and they all seemed just as miserable as they are.
They all heard the message from it. And no one is ready to accept it, not really.
“I mean, I… I don’t even remember how it is to live like a total normal human, y’know? It’s just, it’s been so long and I don’t think I can even imagine how it is to live without the darkness of Löwemon or KaiserLeomon in my soul. Or with the darkness at all, if that makes sense.” Kouichi says drunkly, a bottle of sake front of him. Tomoki thinks he never saw the other drink, now that he thinks about it, which probably means something.
The shadows around Kouichi’s legs spread and curl like vines, as if they have their own life. They spread violently, and the phrase the man used to tell his friends - “shadows are just another window for the soul” - never seemed to make more sense then it does now.
“Yeah.” Tomoki says in agreement. “I also doubt I can think of a day were feeling cold isn’t just natural, like it is the most comfortable and just right way of feeling.” He adds.
“Well, I’ll definetely miss being able to listen to machines and their eletrical chatter. Or maybe not, you’d be surprised by the amount of gossip they can say for hours at end.” Junpei says, in a jokingly manner. The lights around him flicker, much to the other client’s confusion, but the three man pay no mind to it.
Tomoki smiles at his friend’s attempt to brighten up the mood, and Kouichi laughs like it’s the most hilarious thing he’s heard.
As the laught die down, they stay in silence, only the sounds of other clients fill the place. Both Kouchi and JP drink a more of their sake, while Tomoki just stares at his cup - the liquid was frozen upon his touch, anyway.
“But - tell me - and those children?” Their silence is interrupted by Kouichi, who looks at Tomoki, his dark blue eyes facing his own “You really don’t think they’ll be able to stop the reset before it, y’know, actually happens?”
Tomoki doesn’t answer, but the grim look on his face probably already gave away his response.
“Well, I thought it would be good to have some hope.” He sighs. “I did came back from the dead once.” Kouichi says in a casual manner, as if it wasn’t an impossible feat to listen. The shadows around him now reach his hands, but they seen calmer.
“Yeah, hope.” He answers.
The fight itself is a blur. He remembers screaming and chaos, consuming pain and violent thoughts, cold and ice. The fighting for both control and destruction inside their soul.
He wakes up in the hospital, Ruki beside him.
He wakes up like any other day. The sun shines any other day, and the city streets are full with people and cars and traind in a rush to work like any other day.
Except that today is not like any other day.
Because, in more than a decade and half of Tomoki’s life, the cold doesn’t feel comforting anymore.