Chapter Ninety-Five: The Visiting Beast Tamer

“Rika, you really do not have to work yourself this hard. Those simulated battles based on card data are really just...” Feng Xue looked at Rika, who had done nothing since coming home days ago but run battle calculations day and night, not even going out to wander the streets anymore—well, no, not to wander; to look for Digimon—and could not help but advise her.

“I said we’d keep winning forever!” Rika flipped open a chart and began checking the parameter list. Using Digimon cards was not as simple as stacking numbers together; some cards produced a one-plus-one-equals-more-than-two effect when paired properly, and such combinations were called “combos” or “chains.”

“Come on, come on, rest is important too. Leave the fighting to me! Rika’s on support duty, and if you doze off when support is needed, that’ll be a real problem! Go to sleep already—unless you’re trying to become some kind of immortal hermit?” Feng Xue felt that Rika had clearly been shaken by the danger she had faced before, and that this was already a case of overcorrection.

Unfortunately, Rika did not understand the joke, and Feng Xue was left with the frustrating sense that there was nowhere to vent.

Then, all at once, a faint stirring moved through Feng Xue’s heart.

“Here they come!”

The instant he spoke, Rika swept the cards on the table into her card case.

Yet what appeared at the far end of the alley was only a red dinosaur.

“Impmon?” the boy following behind, Takato, said in surprise.

“Guilmon knew right away that Impmon was here!” Guilmon replied.

Judging by his tone, had he come here looking for him?

But when had Takato ever had the nerve to fight?

And if not for a fight, then could he have come for Rika?

At that thought, Feng Xue suddenly felt as though he had stumbled into some jealous rival’s scene, and his gaze immediately sharpened.

Takato seemed to sense the killing intent as well, and waved his hands in panic. “We didn’t come here to fight!”

“Digital monsters are attracted to one another. They were born for battle in the first place!” Rika’s voice drifted in from the mouth of the alley. Compared with Digimon, human children were still a bit slow.

“You really want to fight that badly?”

“Then why would a cowardly tamer who’s afraid even to fight come looking for me? I heard on the way here that a boy wearing goggles and carrying a dinosaur was asking around for me everywhere!”

At Rika’s words, Feng Xue’s eyes grew even sharper. So he really was here for Rika? He vaguely remembered that Takato was supposed to have a crush on the black-haired beauty at his school, Juri, though not in a bad way, of course; it was just that this kid could honestly be said to have the darkest portrayal of any Digimon protagonist across the generations.

“By the way, could you stop wandering around with Guilmon? How shameless.”

“Shameless?”

While Feng Xue was busy overthinking everything, the two tamers’ eyes met, and the atmosphere instantly became like the standoff before a Digimon battle.

Sharp yet strangely dull, Guilmon clearly sensed the unusual tension and suddenly asked, “Takato, are we going to fight?”

“Fight?” Takato pointed at himself, then immediately flailed his hands in alarm. “No, no, we’re not here to argue!”

Then he turned to Rika. “You’re Rika Makino, right? I’m Takato, Matsuda Takato...”

“What is it? Don’t tell me you have a crush on me, or you came here to confess?” Rika said something so shocking that even Feng Xue paused.

Before Takato could deny it, a crisp crack suddenly rang out beside them.

Looking over, they saw that Feng Xue had actually torn a chunk out of the concrete wall with his bare hands.

“I just used too much force and lost control. You two carry on...” Feng Xue gave a sheepish laugh, only to fail to notice the amused look on Rika’s face.

“No, that’s not it...” Takato finally got his denial out, but after Feng Xue had interrupted him, it no longer sounded very convincing.

“Forget it. Anyway, come to my place,” Rika said, apparently feeling it was not very appropriate to keep them blocked in the alley, and in the end she invited the boy and the monster home.

“Spill it. What is it?” Rika sat cross-legged on the floor with casual confidence. The boyish pose only made her seem more free and easy. One had to admit it was a world that ran on appearances.

“Oh, um, I think I saw you in a dream before!” The moment Takato said it, he felt a chill slide down the back of his neck, as though if he said anything else he should not, his head would be cut off on the spot. He hurriedly added, “Don’t get me wrong, I mean, it’s not like I’m in love with you or anything...”

“You really are just a child who does not even understand a joke...” Rika suddenly delivered the line with all the old-fashioned severity of an elder, and for a moment she looked strikingly like her grandmother. No wonder they were family.

“Aren’t you in fifth grade too...?”

Takato’s complaint had not even finished before Rika cut him off rudely.

“Enough already! You cannot just casually tell someone you saw them in a dream. Do you have any idea how creepy that sounds?”

“Sorry, that is not what I meant. I just had something I wanted to ask you...”

Takato seemed to be having a particularly unlucky day, because his words were interrupted once again.

“Rika-chan? Are you back?” It was Rika’s grandmother. Humans really were not made for being spoken of; the moment she was mentioned, she appeared.

But Feng Xue’s first reaction upon hearing that voice was not to keep watching the drama. Instead, he immediately grabbed Guilmon, covered its mouth, and forced it into a dead corner.

Guilmon struggled with surprising force. Even Feng Xue could only barely hold him down after activating his blood-pulse form.

After that came a round of polite small talk between Grandma and Takato, but Feng Xue had no intention of listening. Just keeping Guilmon subdued had already drained him completely.

The strength of dragon-type Digimon really was terrifying.

When the paper door finally slid shut, Feng Xue let out a breath at last, and also released Guilmon, who had been held down so tightly.

“Rika-chan... um... Rika-chan, do you know why Impmon and the others came from the Digital World to this world?” Takato asked cautiously, only to feel a nameless killing intent wandering back and forth across several of his vital points. Had he said something wrong?

“Why are you asking that?” Rika did not seem to notice the intent at all, and answered with mild indifference.

“Could they suddenly turn back into data again?” Takato immediately remembered the purpose of his visit, and the killing intent was tossed to the back of his mind in an instant. Was that courage, or just utter obliviousness?

“Digimon are data in the first place! Isn’t that only natural?” Rika said matter-of-factly. Through her exchanges with Feng Xue, her understanding of Digimon had long surpassed what a mere kid like Takato, who only knew how to play card games because he liked them, could compare with. In fact, when it came to knowledge of Digimon, perhaps only the members of the Wild Research Group could match Rika.

“How could that be? Wouldn’t that be too lonely?” Takato murmured in disappointment. Rika, as if sensing something, glanced toward Feng Xue.

Noticing her gaze, Feng Xue immediately understood and said coolly, “Relax. I will not become a memory.”

“The... thank you. Ever since I had that dream, I’ve wanted to talk to you...” Takato said with disappointment, finally preparing to leave. Guilmon, however, seemed utterly unaware of anything and kept up its cheerful nature, waving a claw in farewell.

“Wait!” Rika suddenly spoke, and Feng Xue’s heart tightened. He thought, If you keep them here, I am not cooking.

“Next time you call me Rika-chan, I’ll kick you.”

In that instant, Takato suddenly felt that the star of impending doom hanging above his head had finally vanished.