…
I felt my breath catch in my throat as my eyes met the familiar tired look in Mom's yellow eyes. It was as if the world had stopped for a moment, or rather as if my mind was racing a mile a minute.
And even so, my first instinct was to throw myself into Mom's arms.
"No-woah!"
A small, hoarse but surprised cry reached my ears as I hugged her tightly.
A knot formed in my stomach.
"I'm home," I muttered almost inaudibly, feeling a mixture of intense emotions fluttering constantly in my chest.
There was a surprised pause before I felt her wrap her arms around me, returning my hug with warmth. "Welcome back."
When those words reached my ears, it was as if everything finally settled into place. I looked up to see Mom's blurry expression; her usual loving and mischievous expression quickly turned to concern as she crouched down to my height and ran her hands over my cheeks in small circles that brushed my eyes.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong?"
At first I didn't know what she meant, but then I felt my cheeks were quite a bit wetter than usual. And that's when I realized... I was crying.
I frowned as I tried to quickly wipe away my tears, only to be stopped by familiar hands.
"Oh, you must have been scared, right?"
I remembered how the Goburimon devastated Tunomon Village for fun, how Ogremon almost killed Gabumon and Herrismon, how Etemon beat us up in the middle of the desert before kidnapping us, how the same monkey made us believe he killed one of my best friends. I remembered the loathing and disgust, the abomination of flesh, bone, metal, and rot that was Raremon. I remembered my panic when I stood before Vamdemon's Commanders, and then my terror when I felt the dark presence of that vampire whispering in my ears.
"Yes..." I whispered with a dry mouth as my breathing became more difficult by the moment, and suddenly I was wrapped once again in Mom's warm arms.
We stood hugging for a moment that felt both eternal and very short at the same time.
"I guess anyone would be scared if they were almost buried under the snow in the middle of nowhere," Mom said in the tone I knew she used when she talked to herself.
"...Wh- Oh..."
At that moment, I realized that... we were talking about different things.
A deep sense of embarrassment rose to my cheeks. I could feel Pusurimon's confusion, but I simply dismissed him by saying it didn't matter.
"Y-Yes, I... I don't think I want to go camping again anytime soon." I let out a nervous laugh as I pulled away from Mom, reluctantly breaking the hug and wiping my face with my shirt. "So... can I come over?"
"Ummmm, let me think about it for a moment." She put a finger to her lips as a thoughtful expression settled on her face for a few moments. "I know."
She held out her hand to me with a smile like a demon's, or a politician's.
"The fee is one bowl of fried rice soup with miso." Mom nodded to herself, as if she had discovered a new element on the periodic table.
I stared at her for a moment before returning her gaze with a blank look. "...for real?"
"For real real," she replied with her characteristic smile that could well be the sun incarnate.
I sighed audibly as I shook hands with the demon of gluttony. "Fineee."
She simply let out a giggle, which I quickly ignored as I walked past her. However, a gentle tap on the head made me freeze for a moment. I looked back with a frown.
"What was that for?" I asked with confusion and definitely not a pout.
"Don't sigh so loudly, young man. You'll scare all the girls away if you keep that up, you know?" she said with a serious expression on her face, but I could see the sparkle of mockery in her eyes.
I grumbled to myself as I entered my home and immediately collapsed onto the old sofa, almost sinking into its comfort.
'Oh, God...' The softness of the sofa and the smell of home almost made me cry again on the spot.
'I'll finally be able to sleep in my own bed!
The thought brought a happy smile to my face.
Only to be interrupted by a familiar cough.
"So..." Mom crossed her arms as she looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Are you going to tell me, or do I have to call a detective?"
I stared at her, my mind blank.
I blinked twice before tilting my head in confusion.
"About what?"
Mom just stared at me as if I had grown a second head, and pointed her finger at... right, Pusurimon.
"O-Oh," I exclaimed slowly, as if I had just realized it while trying to bury my nerves. "Well, it's a stuffed animal that the teachers gave us when—"
"Lil Sun, you know it's not right to lie to your mother, right? Even though I live and die working, I'm still your mother, and therefore, I know you better than you know yourself," she replied, rolling her eyes and placing her hands on her hips. That wasn't a good sign. "And I want to believe that I raised you well enough to know that you would never steal or take something without permission, so tell me, where did that thing come from?"
As I racked my brain trying to think of an excuse or lie, I felt Pusurimon's excitement fill my head for a moment. Before I realized what he was planning, it was too late.
The silver hedgehog, which until a moment ago hadn't moved an inch, suddenly took a big leap from the sofa to the table.
"Hi! I'm Pusurimon! You must be Noah's mom, right? You look a little alike! But you're much taller! And you have those things on your chest too! What are they?"
Mom's eyes widened as she stared in complete bewilderment at the little silver hedgehog, who was now looking at her with a big smile and wiggling his little tail from side to side.
I groaned in embarrassment as I slapped my face. "Dude..."
"D-Did he just talk?" Mom asked in confusion as she pointed her finger at the little silver hedgehog. "I... I didn't go crazy, did I?"
"Yes, I can talk!" the hedgehog confirmed, jumping up so high that he almost hit the ceiling.
"...Shit." Mom's eyes seemed to light up with stars as she took Pusurimon in her hands and held him up like a cat. "My son has his own Doraemon!"
She exclaimed in amazement, causing me to let out a bewildered cry at such a ridiculous statement.
"Make me rich so I never have to work!"
"He doesn't... do that," I replied uncomfortably.
"Oh."
'Why do you sound so disappointed?!'
And that's how Mom found out about Digimon.
It was a strange conversation, to say the least.
I felt a little bad about having to hide some of the more... unpleasant details of the Digital World, but I didn't want to worry her. I didn't know if it was because she was tired or just going with the flow, but she took it surprisingly well.
Maybe too well.
And that's what worried me.
I knew better than anyone how good Mom was at hiding things, putting on a poker face and nodding calmly, even if she was a mess inside.
But I knew there was no point in having a serious discussion with her right now....
Or maybe it's just fatigue talking.
Anyway, it's my turn to cook this time.
***
Ring~ Ring~
"Ugh..."
Ring~ Ring~
"I'm coming... I'm coming..." I muttered wearily as I forced myself out of my comfortable and nostalgic bed. I hadn't realized how tired I was yesterday, so much so that as soon as I touched my bed, I passed out. Although, thinking back, I had trained with Mimi, fought the Vamdemon Commanders twice, and returned to our world.
Everything still seems so... unreal. Especially in that narrow window of time.
I never liked it when manga or video games had thousands of shocking events happening one after another in a single day. I always thought it was unrealistic for all that to happen in such a short time, but now that I'm in that situation, it just seems like a bad joke.
Rubbing my messy hair, I left the room and headed down the hallway to the kitchen. Our apartment wasn't much; it had three rooms, one for Mom, one for me, and an extra one for guests that served more as a closet at this point. The living room and kitchen were shared, which made it seem like there was less space than there actually was. Oh, and the living room also connected to the balcony where the washing machine was.
I knew it wasn't much compared to other apartments, but it was my home and it was cozy in its own way.
Mom seemed to have left for work because the living room light was on.
I grimaced slightly at that, but shook my head and picked up the landline phone in the kitchen.
Ring~ Ri-
Before I could even say anything, I was interrupted by a loud voice.
"Noah! God, thank goodness you answered the phone!" Joe's agitated voice echoes throughout my skull, completely shattering my sleep and waking me up instantly. Not to mention rupturing my eardrum in the process.
"Thanks, Joe," I thought with my eyes closed and a vein throbbing in my temple.
"Joe?" I muttered irritably as I moved the phone away from my ear. "What's going on? It's still early—"
"Turn on the TV and tune in to Fuji TV's news channel!"
"Why—"
"Hurry!" The urgency in Joe's voice made me raise an eyebrow as I absentmindedly grabbed the TV remote and turned on the TV. The small, old TV took a few seconds to fully power up, going from a black-and-white filter to the corresponding colors.
Quickly, I flipped through the channels until I came across the news on FujiTV.
I watched the program in confusion, not understanding what was happening for a moment.
"I have a message for all humans in this particular place, or rather, for a particular group of humans."
My eyes widened as a sinking feeling stirred in my gut.
There, standing as if nothing had happened, was an unusually tall humanoid, pompously dressed in a dark blue outfit that stood out strongly against the red color of the inside of his black cape. His large black boots had a skull on his left boot and a familiar bat-like symbol on his right boot. His black gloves covered his supernatural hands, which could easily have been twice the size of my head. His face was hidden beneath a reddish mask that somehow reminded me of a cowboy.
And finally, sharp, pure blue eyes that stared at the camera with nothing but hatred.
Those eyes were all I needed to know who he was.
The Vampire King and General of the Soldiers Nightmare.
Vamdemon.
That alone made me grip the TV remote tightly.
But it was his surroundings that made me frown with horror and discomfort on both counts.
Human bodies were scattered all over the place, crawling on the floor like worms as they prostrated themselves like faithful believers; some piling on top of each other in order to be closer to Vamdemon, or rather, to Vamdemon's feet. It seemed as if they weren't even worthy of touching his boots.
Most of them let out unintelligible moans and stutters, as if they couldn't even form words on their own. Some cried with regret, while others seemed to be on some kind of astral journey.
"Chosen Children, the time has come for my last dance, my last grand scene in this whole absurd theater."
The Vampire King's voice brought me back to reality, meeting his gaze again, filled with pure hatred. I could almost feel that hatred creeping under my skin, making my hair stand on end.
"Tonight, when the moon reaches its highest point, I will be present at the top of this very building, waiting for you for our first and last confrontation. All the pieces are in place; no matter what you do from now on, no matter how hard you fight, no matter how many miracles you have at your disposal or how many aces up your sleeve you have."
Vamdemon's voice resonated with cold confidence as he allowed himself a slight smile for the camera. I frowned as I watched the edges begin to blur and become static, as if the colors were inverted for a fraction of a second before returning to normal.
Vamdemon's expression changed to a solemn, almost sad, but extremely determined one.
"I carry on my back the will of my brothers and sisters who fell in battle. I carry on my shoulders the faith of my subordinates. I carry on my soul my own hope for a better world for all of us. And I carry in my spirit a promise that I have sworn to fulfill, no matter what."
There was a tense pause as the Vampire King stared at the bodies crawling beneath him, as if they were nothing more than a mere plague. He let out a snort before turning back to the camera with a cold stare.
"If night turns to day and I have not yet sighted your presence, I will slaughter every Human in the city. One. By. One."
I felt my bones freeze at that statement.
And as if he could see my reaction through the screen, Vamdemon's smile turned cynical before becoming deadly serious. I could see the fire of his will burning in his eyes.
"So prove to me that you are worthy of the Emblems, prove to me if you have the courage to face me, prove to me the friendship that binds you, prove to me the love that drives you, prove to me the sincerity in your actions, the knowledge that guides you, the miracles you create, the hope that sustains you, the purity that distinguishes you, the destiny that calls you, and the light of your souls."
Suddenly, static filled the TV screen.
And a whisper, almost indistinguishable through the static, but so cold it could freeze hell itself, reached my ears.
"Show me what you're made of... Chosen Children."
The TV screen went black for a moment.
And the recording started again.
...
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