Chapter Text
Crowds of people mingle together, their incomprehensible chatter merging into nothing but static noise as men with suits talked on the phone, women with children no younger than toddler age were scrambling to check bags, tickets, and the like, teenagers were gathered about near the vending machines, wearing graphic tees and drinking soda, and then there was them, the outlier of the masses, a trio of teens from a world unseen that have infiltrated the crowd, stuck together like glue while she bent over onto one of the brick pillars, tongue sticking out of her mouth while her fingers gripped at the pen in her hand, trying her best to finish writing down a set of numbers onto a pink envelope.
Next to her, her teammates stand, the crowd none the wiser to the way they leisurely hold onto their large satchels big enough to fit canvases and art easels. Two kids rush past, bumping into them as they giggle and squeal, but even that does nothing to deter her teammates from appearing as composed as possible—well, as composed as they could be while trapped at one of the outdoor train stations in a large crowd of unsuspecting people. She supposes, however, that it helped that Yukina was occupied in checking, rechecking, and rechecking again, their luggage, tickets, and making sure their communicators functioned properly while Kouki, on the other hand, seemed lost in thought, flicking through a pamphlet that he'd nabbed from the informations booth.
With summer still clinging to them stubbornly (oh, how she wished September could come sooner), he's gotten his hair up in a messy bun, much like her and Yukina, bangs pinned away from his eye for once, showing a nasty scar going from the top of his eyebrow down to his cheek but that was nothing compared to the burn that took up the space where his eye was, not exactly touching his eyebrow but still having some of the hair singed off. Perpetually stuck in a forever squinting motion, the burned eye doesn't move much as Kouki reads the pamphlet in his hands and Hitomi can't help but wonder if the scar hurts, or if Kouki's gotten so used to it, he barely remembered it was there to begin with.
Then again, if that were the case, he probably wouldn't be wearing his star shaped pink sunglasses over his eyes while they waited for the train.
"Hitomi-chan," Yukina's calling of her name pulls her from her thoughts. "Are you done with your letter? The train's coming soon."
And, if she strained her ears to hear beyond the chatter of the people around them, there indeed was the blaring horn and screeching metal of the train against the rails, making her jerk as she hurriedly stuffs her pen and envelope into her pocket. "Ah, yes! I'm done! Super sorry for having to do this while on a bounty…" she trails off, voice getting smaller, "but I can't skip out on sending letters to my mom so—"
"It's alright," Yukina interuppts, "I'd do the same in your position, and I'm sure Kouki would do too."
At the sound of his name, Kouki only acknowledges them, and Yukina's words, with a hum as the train stops in front of them, the doors whooshing open. Cold air spills out, and Hitomi sighs, nearly melting in bliss as the passengers from the previous ride shuffle out and Yukina leads the way inside. Out of the stuffy hot air, Hitomi can't help but breathe in the air conditioned one of the train with a content hum, looking around as Yukina takes them to the near back where almost no one sits—something about zombie apocalypse movies instilling a primal fear of getting killed all the way at the end which, for them, was perfect as Morphomon pops out of her satchel to stretch out his wings, spinning around and flying in front of the air conditioner.
Everyone else scrambles out as well, Terriermon stretching out on the table, sighing happily as cool air circled around him, and Pulsemon sitting at the other booth with Kouki, whose got his elbow propped up on the counter, still reading the pamphlet while Morphomon giggles like a madman. "Finally!" He crows, wings flapping. "Fresh! Cold! Air! Is the outside normally this hot?! How come no one has melted into a puddle of goo?!" He spins, squinting at her and Yukina whose once more checking their tickets, but has already pulled a book out and set it on the table.
"Global warming," she says, not looking up as she speaks, "climate change was a thing in the past, people were all up in arms about it and how it'd affect the world years later and after the Vanishing Incident, it's been fluctuating a ton. I figure people are working to combat what they've destroyed in the past by starting with Antarctica and using electrical cars rather than gas fueled ones, amongst other things."
Morphomon coos, settling onto the table and folding his wings around himself like a cloak. "I hope we get a mission in Antarctica!" He chirps, making Terriermon snort.
"That's far too cold for you, Morphomon."
The butterfly huffs, his ears twitching, and Hitomi snickers at their antics before, out of the corner of her eyes, she spots Kouki with his head on the table—specifically buried into his arms—with Pulsemon reading the pamphlet instead. Her brows furrow at the sight but before she can slide out from the booth to see what the matter was, Morphomon's excited voice echoes as he flies over, snatching the pamphlet away from the digimon. "Woah! Strawberries! Are we going to a place full of em?!"
Pulsemon squawks, jumping to his feet. "Hey! Give that back! Morphomon!" He swipes a claw into the air, but Morphomon dodges with a cackle, only to shriek when Hitomi reaches up to grab onto him, yanking him back into her arms. She plucks the pamphlet from his little paws, only catching a glimpse of the front detailing a town's prized winning farm before Pulsemon quickly snatches it from her. "Don't touch my stuff, you stupid bug!" He bares his teeth, and Morphomon sticks his tongue out, blowing a raspberry as Pulsemon mimics him before huffing and crawling over the table to sit on Kouki's other side.
"Coward!" Morphomon huffs, only to squeak when Hitomi pinches his cheek. "Ow! Why'd you do that for?!"
Her mouth curls into a frown as she squints at the boy in front of her. "Don't provoke Pulsemon," she chides her Digimon, wondering if this was what it was like to have younger siblings, "he doesn't seem to be in the mood, Morphomon. Come on, I got you a tablet you can play to pass the time?" As she speaks, she turns back to the booth she'd been sitting in, digging through her satchel before pulling out a simple purple bordered object with a singular glass screen in the center. Right hand glowing white, the tablet lights up, and Morphomon eagerly grabs at it, ears twitching as he navigates to the movie player icon and starts browsing through the available shows to watch.
Across from her, Yukina has picked up her book, already reading while Terriermon slept on the table, his chest rising and falling as the train doors close with a whoosh and it starts to move, passing the crowd of people which have dwindled only slightly, the large trees with their leaves fluttering to the ground, and then, out into the blinding sun that Hitomi has to shut her eyes for, squinting them open after a second to see the bright blue sky and drifting clouds out the train window.