(Untitled)

[mrmew_tamer]

Who: Shiki, ??? [Partner so Mr. Mew!]
What: Mental healing.
When: April 22, 2009, evening
Where: Tetha, Wizardmon and Sorcermon's One Stop Shop of Magical Convenience

Comments

[mrmew_tamer]

As they neared their destination, Eri pointed ahead. "Oh, look, Atsuko and the others are already here!"

So they were. "Here" was 104, the biggest shopping center in all of Shibuya. It had all the latest trends, pins, clothes - if it was in, 104 had it. Thus, Shiki had everything there. She had to keep up with the trends, after all.

They headed towards a gaggle of girls, eyes glued to their cell phones and mouths going a mile a minute. They seemed to be engaged in several different conversations at once. Until Shiki walked over, that is. Their eyes snapped up to her and they exchanged friendly smiles, complimenting her on her hair, clothes, and general "radiance" today. Nothing new, she inwardly boasted.

"Now that everyone’s here, let’s get going!" Atsuko, a tall, fake-tanned girl proclaimed. "Those clothes won’t buy themselves!"

Something seemed off again, though. Shiki nearly swatted at the annoying buzz by her head and couldn’t help herself as she asked, "What about Ai and Mina? Aren’t they joining us?"

Some of the girls, Eri included, exchanged odd looks, but her best friend came to her rescue. "Shiki... We stopped hanging out with them, remember? That Ai girl said your hair looked bad and you told them to find a new group. ...Remember?"

"...Well, of course I remember! I was just testing you!" The other girls visibly relaxed and everything sunk back into its usual rhythm.

Now that was odd. Why did she keep wondering weird things?

[mrmew_tamer]

The day dragged on, and Shiki saw that the group she was with - her friends, right? - had the habit of talking about others behind their backs. For example, a cheerful tanned girl named Nao - a real sweetie, Shiki thought - walked past with her boyfriend Sota. Atsuko had personally said how nice she looked today, complimenting her sense of style. Nao just gave a sugar-sweet smile and returned the compliment. As soon as the two turned the corner, Atsuko’s expression turned nasty, her mouth screwed into a wicked sneer and her eyes dancing with fire.

"Did you see her hair? And those clothes? Wouldn’t be caught dead."

And the other girls all agreed, guffawing and laughing. Shiki was, at first, appalled. She hid her shock quickly and glanced at Eri - it seemed even her best friend joined in this ritual, but Shiki didn’t miss the uncertain look in her friend’s eyes. She’d never seen that before. It was so unnerving.

What was worse?

As the day went on, a nagging little voice in Shiki’s ear kept telling her to make those comments - it was how life went, after all. Right?

[mrmew_tamer]

By the time the girls had left the department store, the sun had started to set and the sky was painted reds and purples - Shiki found it beautiful. While the other girls started to walk on, she stayed outside the doors of the complex for a moment more, savoring the evening air. So simple…but she liked things big and flashy, didn’t she?

"Beat! Beat, come back!"

A surprisingly familiar voice pulled Shiki out of her momentary distraction - and she saw a broad-shouldered boy in a skull cap billow past her, skateboard in his hands. He nearly knocked her over, but something made it okay - like with Neku but not.

"I had it, yo!" The boy turned momentarily, shouting back at the familiar voice, the one that was still lost in the crowd.

A small figure fought through the crowd - a young girl in a matching cap - and put a face to the voice. Somehow, Shiki knew this girl. Rhyme! "Beat, please! Just come home. I’m sure mom and dad didn’t mean i-"

"Don’ pull tha’!" The boy - Beat - replied in a growl. "They made themselves real clear, Rhyme. I ain’t goin’ back there ‘nymore. Nothin’ there for me."

Rhyme started after him as he began to walk - no, run - away again. "But Beat -!"

And then Atsuko and a few of Shiki’s other "friends" stepped in front of her.

[mrmew_tamer]

Rhyme balled up her firsts and glared volumes at the tall her. "Get out of the way, I have to go after him."

Leaning down with a vicious smirk, Atsuko replied, "No way. Your oaf of a brother just knocked into our dear Shiki. Since he’s too thick to come back and apologize like a real man, you’re going to do it for him. All nice and slow."

Shiki watched this with wide eyes. No, no, not Rhyme. She stepped forward, reached over an arm to place on Atsuko’s shoulder, tell her to let it go - but Rhyme just leaned around the girl in her way and, with eyes full of fire, growled, "I’m sorry Shiki. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do it again."

It felt like swallowing acid. The hatred in Rhyme’s eyes. She didn’t want this.

The young girl tried to push Atsuko aside now - to go after her brother - but a manicure hand gripped her shoulder. "Oh no! You’ve got to say it sincere." She sneered. “Little girls need to learn their manners, especially if they have nothing else going for them."

The other girls laughed - a cold, robotic laugh. Shiki searched them for Eri - the only one who wasn’t laughing. But she didn’t do anything, either. She just stood there, watching while biting her lip. But Eri’s supposed to be the confident one! She’s supposed to stand up to the bullies and help out!

Rhyme struggled against Atsuko. "I apologized, now let go!" There were tears in her eyes. Rhyme crying...that never happened.

Her head was spinning. Spinning like crazy. What was going on...?

"Shikiii?"

[mrmew_tamer]

Shiki’s head snapped around to see someone - something - standing next to her. It was a little black stuffed cat, somehow able to stand all on its - no, his - own - and speak, even though it had no movable mouth. What was more, he seemed more than a little worse for wear: His right arm sagged, visibly ripped at the top stitches; his left eye was hanging down his face; his color was faded, distorted. She recognized him. "Mr. Mew...?" She only just breathed out his name.

"...This isn’t what you want, is it, Shiki?" He mumbled softly. Somehow…no one else seemed to notice him. "To forget about what makes you you?"

Shiki shook her head. "I’m not- this isn’t what I-!" She swallowed. "I want Atsuko to stop!" She realized she’d said that out loud only a moment later.

A hand landed on her shoulder and she turned her attention away from the phantom of her past to see - surprisingly - Neku. It seemed they’d drawn a crowd. Rhyme was still struggling against Atsuko and no one - no one was doing anything.

But Neku. He turned up just when she needed him, didn’t he? He’d do something. She knew him. She didn’t say anything - just looked at him with pleading eyes.

"...Do you want me to stop her?"

Somehow that question didn’t satisfy her. Shaking slightly, she just about yelled, "I want you to do it because you want to!" Everything had stopped now. Everyone was looking at her. It seemed, in fact, that even Beat - who’d been walking quite slow, perhaps - had turned to watch the scene. "I want you to care!" She turned around to Beat. "And I want you to fight for something!" And then to Eri. "And you to have your confidence back!" And what was left? "And...!"

She shook, crying now. "I don’t want things to go back to they way they used to be...or...I don’t want to ignore all the bad things! I don’t want to…to forget what makes me me!" Somehow, Mr. Mew smiled.

Shiki looked up now. Everyone else seemed so far away. "I made a world without any troubles. Without the Game, even. A world where I didn’t have to struggle because I didn’t want to feel pain." She blinked, letting a few more tears fall. "But I need that. We...we all need that."

[mrmew_tamer]

Silence. And then.

"What the hell are you talking about, Shiki?" Atsuko’s screwed up face turned to her now. "Are you high or something?"

Drawing up all her confidence, she replied, "No. I’ve just woken up." She shoved the shocked girl aside, put a hand on Rhyme’s shoulder and pulled her out of the crowd. The skull-capped girl seemed shocked - amazed, even. Shiki gave her a little push. "Go on. You go where you belong. And I’ll go where I belong too." As Rhyme ran towards her brother, Shiki turned back to Neku - and slipped a hand in his with a cheerful smile. "I don’t want you to change. I like things the way they are - the way they were." And then to Eri. "And you! Stop being…stop being me! When I start to do stupid things like become vain and shallow, you’ll tell me!" She actually laughed. "My mind is really messed up, isn’t it...!"

With a sigh, realizing everyone was looking at her like she was positively crazy now, she looked down at Mr. Mew. "Okay. Okay, I’m ready now."

And then Mr. Mew’s raggedy body shined and he became a small puppy-like creature - a Black Plotmon. He swaggered up to her and she let go of Neku’s hand, bending down to him. Everything else faded away - the people, the buildings, the world.

[mrmew_tamer]

"...I created all that because I was afraid of what happened during the time I lost...didn’t I?" Shiki asked the little Digimon with a wistful look, eyes small and watery.

She hadn’t wanted to think about all that had changed, so she tried to - in her mind - change it for the "better" - or make it so things were as they should’ve been. But the world didn’t work like that.

"...Let’s go home, okay?"

Mr. Mew shut his eyes and smiled, giving a happy little, "Yip!"

And then there was a bright light.

And suddenly…something didn’t feel missing anymore.

[Finished]

[mrmew_tamer]

Shiki opened her eyes to see her room in Wizardmon and Sorcermon's shop, Mr. Mew on her lap.

She blinked.

"...What the hell just happened?"

Honestly, that was all she could think of to say. But she knew whatever it was...it gave her back the missing piece of her life.

Re: [Finished]

[dive_npc]

"... You found a bit of yourself."

Those words came from Wisemon, who was sitting on his book, and looking... rather surprised.

"... And you helped me find a bit of myself as well. For a servant of Yggdrasil's empathy... I have not been playing my part very well."

He turned and began to float off.

"From now on... I will go where I am needed. Thank you, child..."

And he was gone.

Re: [Finished]

[mrmew_tamer]

Shiki stared after him, feeling like she'd missed something.

But she didn't care. She had what mattered now. With a wide grin, she hugged Mr. Mew and started tickling him. While he giggled, she cooed, "What d'you think we go back to the Hinata Inn? Huh? Huh?"

She was happy.