"I'm outside your place."
The moment Akira finished speaking, a man burst out the door—wearing a wrinkled, sloppy suit, dark circles hanging under his eyes like bruises. His pallid face was lit with raw excitement.
He looked so unkempt that even if no one recognized him, they'd still peg him as a suspicious character on sight.
Conveniently enough… he was a villain.
A misguided, pitiable one.
His name was Yukio Oikawa—a man so obsessed with the Digital World it bordered on madness, and the first "potential hazard" Akira had decided to contain.
Akira didn't feel much disgust toward Oikawa. After all, the chaos Oikawa caused in Digimon Adventure 02 was, at its core, the result of being provoked and contaminated by Myotismon's lingering malice.
Speaking of Oikawa just made Akira want to complain again about how ridiculous the Digimon world could be.
Because the humans in this franchise looked like ordinary modern people…
…and yet, it was also a breeding ground for cheats and monsters.
Even if you ignored the absolute out-of-category freaks like the Daimon father-and-son pair, every generation of Digimon had its share of computer prodigies and elite hackers. Sometimes you'd even get deranged scientists who "built their own dad."
A concentrated collection of extraordinary weirdos—each one insane in their own way.
Oikawa wasn't particularly outstanding among these "transcendent beings," but he still had feats on record: hand-writing pieces of Digimon source code, even using his own genes as source code to create a Digimon.
Sure, Myotismon's influence was part of it—
but Oikawa was still real talent.
That was why Akira had sought him out now: partly to keep him under supervision, and partly to leverage his abilities in preparation for the disasters that were inevitably coming.
But before any of that, there was a higher priority:
stabilize the mental state of this dangerously unhinged Digimon fan, so he could work efficiently.
So Akira decided to assign him a Digimon "supervisor"—
and, while he was at it, draw him a nice, fat pie in the sky… a grand blueprint to light a fire under him.
"Akira-kun, you really found proof the Digital World exists?!" Oikawa blurted out the moment they met.
"Show me—show me what the proof looks like!"
Halfway through, he suddenly apologized like an overexcited, over-sensitive kid.
"I'm not saying I don't believe you. I just… I just want to see proof that the Digital World exists. Please forgive me."
"It's fine, it's fine." Akira smiled, deliberately gentle. "Finding the Digital World is absolutely something worth getting excited over."
"By the way—Oikawa-kun, aren't you going to invite me inside?"
"Ah…" Oikawa froze, then hurriedly stepped aside, embarrassment surfacing. "Sorry. I can't believe I left you standing outside."
Once Akira entered, Oikawa rushed to pour him a glass of cola and laughed awkwardly.
"Sorry, this is all I have at home."
"Thanks." Akira downed the cola without hesitation, then sighed on purpose. "Cola after being away for a month… that hits the spot."
"A month?" Oikawa blinked, puzzled. "If I remember right, Akira-kun, you were at my place drinking cola just yesterday."
"Don't remind me." Seeing the hook set, Akira kept complaining smoothly. "Time flows differently between the Digital World and the human world. One day over there is only one minute here—so I've been gone a whole month. I even got a haircut over there."
"Huh?! That's incredible!" Oikawa's eyes lit up, excitement rising. "Then if we researched Digimon over there, wouldn't it be thousands of times faster than here? That's amazing!"
"If you actually went to the Digital World, do you really think you'd still have the mind to do research?" Akira asked dryly.
He pulled out the black Digivice and called:
"Come out, Gearmon."
A small mechanical Digimon shaped like a gear appeared before Oikawa. Under Oikawa's stunned gaze, it nodded politely to Akira.
"A-Xiao, what is it?"
"This is my friend, Yukio Oikawa." Akira introduced warmly. "He loves the Digital World, but he's never been there. So I'd like you to help me prove that the Digital World exists."
"I understand." Gearmon nodded, then asked Oikawa, "Mr. Yukio Oikawa, what would I need to do for you to believe the Digital World is real?"
Oikawa didn't answer.
Because the moment a living Digimon spoke to him—
his tears answered for him.
"…Thank goodness… thank goodness…" Oikawa's throat tightened, and his voice broke. "Hiroki… Digimon really exist… our dream was real…"
"Mr. Yukio Oikawa?" Gearmon asked, genuinely baffled. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." Oikawa smiled through tears. "Gearmon… your existence is proof enough. You're the proof the Digital World exists!"
"I see…" Gearmon still didn't quite understand Oikawa's feelings, but it reported to Akira anyway. "A-Xiao, does this mean I've completed the task?"
"Of course." Akira nodded, then continued, "Oikawa is also an excellent Digital World researcher. Can you help him study the Digital World?"
Gearmon glanced at Oikawa.
Oikawa immediately sat up straight like a student called on by a teacher, his eyes full of nervous anticipation.
"Mr. Yukio Oikawa looks kind of… silly, but not like a bad person," Gearmon concluded. "If it's only for a few days, I can help."
"Yes!" Oikawa practically bounced on the spot, then bowed toward Akira in excitement. "A-Xiao—thank you for making my dream come true!"
If Gearmon could make him jump this high, what would happen if he saw something like a Terriermon-tier mascot?
He'd probably take flight.
Watching Oikawa's excitement, Akira complained internally—while also confirming what mattered:
Oikawa's mental state had stabilized. In the short term, the risk of him going off the deep end again had dropped.
Once that was confirmed, Akira continued feeding him the dream:
"Your partner Digimon is still waiting for you in the Digital World." He smiled. "So work hard, okay?"
"Mm!" Oikawa nodded repeatedly, then swore with solemn intensity, "Even if it costs me my life, I'll help you, Narumi-kun!"
"I'm not some black-hearted capitalist." Akira laughed. "Why would I ever assign you a task that requires you to die to complete it~?"
After the joke, Akira immediately gave him the mission.
"The summer camp I'm going to tomorrow might get… complicated. I need you to stay on standby outside with your car. Can you do it?"
Oikawa straightened his posture and answered like a soldier.
"Mission understood!"
"Good! That's the spirit!" Akira clapped approvingly, then turned to Gearmon.
"Remember to wake Yukio Oikawa up at 8 a.m., okay~?"
"I understand." Gearmon flexed its mechanical hands. "I'll wake him up on time."
After assigning Oikawa's work, Akira returned home.
Since he'd just slept and needed to flip his internal clock, he turned on his computer and chatted online with another faraway, equally unhinged Digimon obsessive—Menoa in America—making sure her mental state stayed stable as well.
When the first morning sunlight appeared, Akira shut the computer down and carefully cleaned himself up.
"Ding-dong—"
As the doorbell rang, a crisp, sweet female voice came through the intercom outside.
"Hiii, is A-Xiao awake? It's Mimi! I brought you breakfast~"
Akira knew.
That unforgettable summer…
had finally begun.
[Image: The Unforgettable Summer]
-------
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