A Cryptic Addendum [Curls]

The events that had transpired last night were clearer on Katherine’s head.

… Not a lot clearer though. Alcohol can do that to some people after all huh?

Katherine knew this place all too well. She had lived here for a short amount of time, even! And even if things weren’t a lot calmer now regarding her last ventures, Amelie and she had decided it had been a while without them hanging.

As usual, the Spaniard was up quite early. However, entering the kitchen would reveal her friend had gotten a lot done already!

“Morning.” She showed an honest smile while greeting Amelie.

“This brings back some memories.” The green-eyed giggled right after issuing this sentence, tilting her head while she looked at a diligently working Frenchwoman! The scenery when she woke up that morning to find Amelie doing breakfast at Liquid’s hut had not been too different, had it? “It’s a good thing I have already tasted the chef’s meals, so I probably won't be filing any complaints this morning.” Probably being a keyword? She hoped it was more than obvious she was joking. Amelie's food was great!

The Spaniard walked up to the table, looking at all of the pastries and extending her hand to lift one of the cups of coffee that rested on said surface. It wouldn’t hurt to start having hers right away, right? It was a good thing Amelie was not a fan of coffee, so she knew which of these cups were for her and Jazz.

“Do you need any help?” Katherine approached Amelie and rested her back against one of the counters, looking at the kitchen’s layout while she sipped some of the hot beverage.

It wouldn’t take long before a sleepy Lopmon walked inside the kitchen, rubbing her eyes with the back of her fist. “It’s too early for me.” She confessed while letting out a yawn. It was true Katherine’s digimon had a habit of sleeping a couple of hours more than her tamer. Knowing Amelie though, the Spaniard had made a case for her to wake up early, so they could have breakfast together like the group of friends they were!

“This looks very cute, Shisei.” Jazz noted while hopping on one of the chairs. She glanced at the cups over the table, trying to figure out how to get herself up there to grab one without making a mess. Then, she looked at Katherine. This would be a lot easier if she activated her holosuit right?

It was no secret for anyone that Jazz liked being in her digimon form better, though.

Katherine approached the table again, took Jazz’s cup, and handed it to her.

What could the day have in store for this trio?

“I did!” With a quite playful tilt of her head, Katherine went to answer Amelie’s question. “How did you sleep? You sure got up early.”

While listening to her friend talk, the Spaniard couldn’t help but remember that morning again. That had been quite an adventure! Probably the biggest she and Jazz had had back then. Although they had gotten involved in many others (and more complex ones, at that) endeavors along with Amelie, there was just something special about that time. The time they met.

“We talk to Liquid sometimes. He hasn’t changed at all.” Which was either good or terrible news for Amelie. “But he's working hard, I can tell you.” Not much more could be said about the candle, anyways! Not like the duo had had a lot of time to chat with him.

Once breakfast started, things went a bit quieter. If Katherine had learned anything was that this meant it was a great meal! Both the Lopmon and the Spaniard seemed to be enjoying it a lot.

“This is very good! I can tell why Asher picked you, Shisei.” Jazz noted while munching on those pastries.

Katherine, on her side, went to sip more of that coffee while her eyes trailed towards Amelie while the Frenchwoman spoke. Although some could say the mentioning of this cave, in particular, could throw the girl off, the truth was that, when they talked about the race, this was a topic that recurrently showed up inside her head. It was a mystery that had gone without solving and… that was something neither the girl or the bunny could let go easily.

Jazz herself also looked at Amelie, her brown eyes going to Katherine for a moment while she waited for her tamer to answer. The events that had transpired inside that cave not only had been completely inexplicable, they had also triggered the Lopmon’s first evolution into adult form.

No point in even doubting what Amelie was talking about. If she said cave, Katherine was pretty sure of what it was. “How?” She asked honestly while putting the mug on the table. “Jazz destroyed the whole thing after turning into Cho-Hakkaimon.” Considering Amelie hadn’t been there, the fact that she was still interested in the mysterious events Katherine had described went to show this was something she at least considered important solving. Considering the details it involved, maybe the blue-eyed knew there was someone or something related to that cave that just knew too much about her.

“We did open up a portal and went back to the site but…” Well, logically… “... There was nothing there. Or at least we couldn’t find anything. Just debris and rocks.”

To that, Jazz decided to add something important. “We’re not even sure the place we went back to was what remained of the cave. It was very foggy on that island the day of the race, so we can't quite tell where the cave was located. We couldn't see anything."

And she was right. The way things had happened? It didn’t matter how curious Katherine and Jazz were, it was extremely hard to even retrace their steps to get to the spot the cave occupied before being destroyed.

“She’s right. Maybe we were in the wrong spot? In any case, we haven’t had much time to investigate, with all we’ve gone through. Moreover, considering the scarce amount of clues we have, we wouldn’t even know where to start looking.”

Being productive was good! And a window to be productive today was about to be opened by Amelie. Of course, if she was putting this on the table, it was likely she felt Katherine and Jazz were not going to reject the opportunity. And that was good because they probably weren’t!

Before that, there was an important topic to address!

… Not really. However, it would be unfair for Katherine to not point the next thing!

“I mean, you’re quite a tease, you know?” The green-eyed noted while their breakfast continued.“I think you being picked on by someone else, in this case, Callum, is only fair, after you pick on people like me so much!” Playfully, the Spaniard puffed her cheeks, right before taking another bite.

Jazz? She giggled. “She’s not wrong.” The bunny added, right before going on with her breakfast.

In any case! Beyond that little comment, there wasn’t a lot to discuss around that particular subject. Instead, the whole cave matter was perfectly worth being looked on! Just as mentioned, a loose end that could be tied!

“I completely agree with that.” The fact that she had conducted an investigation as well as she could (not that she could do it too well considering the way the situation developed), didn’t mean she believed the case was closed! There was still a lot to discover. “Especially if you feel we might find something there. I would love it if you’re right.” She really would!

“I think there are definitely plenty of things happening there we couldn’t see or find when… that face-off happened.” Jazz noted while sipping on her coffee. “I’m totally up for checking it out. Kath and I are always up for finding answers and… who knows, maybe knowing the truth about that would help us face future or current challenges.”

To her digimon partner’s words, and just as Jazz expected, Katherine nodded. They were quite similar when it came to this stuff!

“It’s been a while since we went on an adventure with Shisei.” The Lopmon added. “… Even if our last one was quite messy.”

Hopefully, things wouldn’t be that dangerous this time.

Letting her chin rest over her hand, Katherine shifted her eyes towards Amelie. “If I remember correctly, the island was named Joy Island. It was part of the Binary Archipelago and… I remember it being very foggy. I think the people doing the race were the ones who added the fog, since it wasn’t there when we went back.” That was probably good! It was easier to see things if it wasn’t foggy. “I definitely agree going back there should be step number one.”

Well, that was settled!

But… for now, more coffee and breakfast.

Considering they had already traced their plan and established their main goal for the day, it couldn’t hurt to discuss a couple of menial stuff before getting started. Going back to the unclosed Asher topic was not a bad idea, especially if Amy had left a question in the air.

“I think he’s pretty nice! Neither of you is a bad person, and, although I’m way closer to you, neither Jazz nor I have had any bad experiences with him.” That being said… “… Not that I think that you would get yourself a rude boyfriend. You’re usually not super patient with actually annoying people.” If anything, Katherine knew her best friend was not the kind to stick around someone who she didn’t consider enjoyable. Amelie usually didn’t hesitate in letting people go if they weren’t bringing anything positive into her life. And that was probably a good thing to do for everyone.

About the question? “Well… As you know, we had the chance to meet again after the beach. He helped me with some very important stuff.” The green-eyed noted. “And he has never told me I should call him by his first name.”

By this point, Amelie probably knew what was coming! “You know Kath won’t call anyone by their first name unless they ask her to. Like Shisei or Akemi did.” Jazz explained before going for another bite.

“Y-Yes.” The Spaniard nodded. Her respect code for people in Japan was something she had taken a while to get used to and was not letting go unless she was forced to. “I think it’s a good last name. I don’t think it’s weird. But there’s not much I can do about it. ” And, in all honesty? She appreciated Asher being one of the few that was not forcing her to get out of that zone! She had taken a while to learn people in Japan had to be called by their last names and now suddenly everyone wanted to be called by their first names. Why was it so hard for everyone to merge with the culture they were a part of!?

That was probably a more complicated subject, anyways.

It was definitely more fun to talk about adventures! “It has. I’m actually surprised we have let this mystery unsolved for so long, so I really hope we can give it the proper closure.”

While their breakfast time approached its end, the group would discuss their overall expectations for the venture. “Right. Jazz and I went through the island while you and Liquid went around it.” Katherine timidly placed a digit on her chin while remembering that day. “The plan was for us to get a flag and meet you on the other side.” For a moment, her head went back to that exciting race.

“We ended up stealing the flag from some Agumons.” Jazz noted. “I wonder if the cave was some kind of test established by the race and we could have done something in specific to get the flag from there.” Having finished her breakfast, the Lopmon debated about the goal behind that strange event.

“I’ve thought about that, but… How did they know so much about us? The things those two said made me feel whoever was playing with us knew a lot about Amelie and me.” It was then when Katherine dropped a rather interesting piece of info that, although Jazz already knew, hadn’t been broadly discussed. “As a matter of fact, I remember the fake Amelie calling her evolved form Heraldmon… a name that the real Amy didn’t even know at that time. That is actually how I learned the name of that form. ”

“W-What?” Jazz blinked twice.

So the fake Amelie knew more stuff than the real Amelie? How was that possible? As expected, just getting the tip of your feet into the complex lake of mysteries this event represented could make your head hurt!

Now that their meal was over, both menial and important things kept being discussed. As the topic about Asher’s last name escalated, Katherine choked for a second with her own coffee. “I-I don’t remember that being the case. He actually told me his last name after you rudely introduced him by his first name.” She explained nervously. Although she wasn’t lying, the fact she seemed a tiny bit fretted about this didn’t help her case. “So… Callum told me his last name in order to make me feel more comfortable with the way I called him.” Quick nods accompanied that. “Maybe you forgot.” Yes! That is totally how it happened. And she would go back to having her coffee now.

Jazz? She giggled again. “I mean, she’s not lying but…”

The conversation wouldn’t be able to progress a lot further, since Amelie had a meme to show. The image was met with silence, while Jazz looked at it for a tad longer. “… I….” The Spaniard was legitimately in a bit of a loss for words at first. “… I didn’t even know the English word for that.” She honestly noted. “When I think about Callus I just think about a place in Spain my dad used to visit a lot because of work. So… I might try to erase this thing you just showed to me from my brain, for the sake of keeping the thought of that word and Asher’s last name without feeling sick.” Yes. She would most certainly do that.

“I don’t…”

“No questions about this. I will explain later.”

That was for the better probably.

It seemed that the Spaniard had brought an interesting topic to the table, regarding the reach of fake Amelie’s knowledge. “I have also considered she made up that name at the moment just to trick us. For some reason, I feel she didn’t. But a hunch like that is not something we can rely on in a serious investigation.” And she knew that clearly. “If she wasn’t lying, then there’s definitely some type of connection, I would say.”

Her arms folded, Jazz tried to remember more about that encounter while the two humans talked.

“Based on our previous encounter… I would say taking things slowly is the right way. I am almost certain they wanted something from us, and we didn’t do the right thing by fighting them or… destroying the cave.” Katherine’s green eyes trailed towards Jazz, without her actually moving her head to look at her partner.

Jazz eyes widened, feeling the judge over her. She scoffed before looking somewhere else.

“It was probably an inconvenience Jazz evolved into one of the most chaotic creatures I’ve ever seen in that exact moment.” Katherine admitted. “Then again, she was nervous and desperate to help me.” In conclusion! “So yes, I think taking things slow and gaining time by talking to them while we study the situation and discover what do they want from us might be the right thing to do.”

“They did act very… weirdly, didn’t they?” Jazz noted, having remembered this after thinking long and hard.

Yes. There was something else about the way fake Amelie acted that Katherine hadn’t mentioned until that moment but… was it worth it? Well… it couldn’t hurt to bring that up, right?

Katherine issued a long sigh before tackling this topic. “Yes. There was something else about fake Amelie and fake Katherine.” She added. “They not only seemed older than our current versions…they…” How to put it? “… they acted like they had some type of relationship.” And she remembered that quite well! “A romantic one, I mean.”

In case it wasn't clear... "... I have no idea why."

Considering the conversation seemed to be far from reaching its end, Katherine had decided to stand up and refill her cup of coffee.

Even if Amelie had only superficially tackled the topic about her and Akemi, that seemed to have been enough to drain all of the energy away from the Spaniard. Having sat down again, she glanced at her cup of coffee and let out a long sigh, her chin resting on her right palm and her index finger tapping her own cheek. “We’re okay, I guess. We’re friends, as we’ve always been.” Then, her eyes trailed off towards her backpack resting on the couch in the living room. Another sigh.

Boy, talk about trying to focus again after this.

About thinking Callus and Callús are similar? “I mean, I can, and I will. That’s what I think of when I hear that word, and I can tell you is definitely better than reminiscing the thing you just showed me in any way.” I mean, that was a bit harsh, but also true. You can’t tell others how to think! I mean, you can, but… that’s probably not going to end well most of the time.

“Even finding out which of our enemies were capable of doing that would be interesting.” Jazz noted, timidly placing her hand over the lower part of her mouth. Then, the bunny’s eyes went up to look at Amelie while she received head pats from the blue-eyed. “Thank you, Shisei.” She duly noted. “But I can’t say I agree. I’m not proud of the messes I caused as a Cho-Hakkaimon. We have come to accept each other, take responsibility for what we have done, and embrace the fact we’re the same digimon but…” Shaking her head slowly, the bunny closed her eyes. “… that doesn’t mean I can’t point I could have done things better, even if thinking about that won’t help now. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t beat myself about it, but reducing everything to the fact I protected Jasso is just too complacent for me.”

A nostalgic smirk was drawn on Katherine’s face. She looked at Amelie for a moment and just issued a slight shrug before sipping on her coffee again. It had been a while since the Frenchwoman and Jazz had a one on one talk, and the Lopmon’s way of thinking had definitely mutated as a result of everything she had been through since then.

Even Katherine’s emotions at that time felt distant for the Spaniard. Her green eyes went to the roof and just stared at it for a second or two. “Very embarrassed, I’d say.” She giggled. “While it was very awkward, I don’t think it was particularly traumatizing. Now that I think about it, if all of it had been a façade set by one of our adversaries, they would have probably made our fakes interact in a different way, something that threw us off a lot more.”

That actually made sense for Jazz! “So you say that, while it was weird, you and Shisei being a couple was not even near to the most shocking or unsetting stuff they could have shown you, which leads you to think maybe it wasn’t a tactic deployed by another participant. That’s definitely a logical conclusion.”

Just like the Akemi and the Callús topics, the subject about Jazz’s assessment of her past performances didn’t seem to have a lot more to squeeze out of it. The Lopmon nodded slowly as the Frenchwoman spoke. “That is also right.” She noted with a smirk. For the bunny, it was nice to see Shisei worrying about her, making sure she wasn’t being too hard on herself, even if that was a common trait on both Katherine and the Lopmon, one of the many they shared.

At first, Katherine was a bit confused regarding what had triggered Amy’s laughter. It was when the blue-eyed pointed it out herself that the Spaniard laughed too. “That does sound super rude…” Katherine noted, delicately putting a hand over her mouth while she giggled. “I don’t mean it like that.” She then explained. “It’s just that… at the time, I had a bit of a rough time accepting the fact girls could like girls.” What was coming was an interesting piece of info, something that could help Amelie understand a lot more about her friend, assuming she didn’t know!

“I was raised in a super conservative family. My parents haven’t been very permissive and I haven’t had many friends, so… while I had been all over the world, I hadn’t explored it. I only really got out of home when all of this digimon thing started, so I had these… ideas of how girls liking girls or guys liking guys was not something normal, or something like that…” She explained. “… All of that is gone now, but… I think I just had trouble accepting that at the moment.”

After that piece of insight, the green-eyed continued. “Even then, I don’t think it was especially weird. I believe a part of me already accepted what I liked and what I didn’t like, even if my past beliefs said otherwise.” Anyways! They were probably dwelling too much into that sort of things!

About it being a trap ready to get whoever entered the cave, though? “That could be the case, but…” Jazz interjected. “… it doesn’t explain how did they know things about your forms, Shisei.” A pause. “… Ugh. I wish I could remember more of the things they said.”

“Considering how it tackles something I had trouble accepting at the time…” That being the fact a girl-and-girl relationship could exist. “… And the info they handled, it could be something specifically aimed at us or, at me, to throw me off. But… yes, that doesn’t explain how did they know what they knew.”

A final outlook was brought to the table by Jazz. One that would shake things up quite heavily!

“They were older versions of you two so... I’m thinking… could this have been deployed by a digimon capable of seeing the future? Maybe even taking knowledge from it?”

“… That is almost like assuming what we saw were actually future versions of ourselves!”

“Or the future versions of you two at the time…”

“Like… a prediction?”

“Maybe? Of course, things changed along the way thanks to the influence of other people like Asher or Akemi but… what if, had no one interfered, you two would have ended up like that? What if that’s what the cave predicted based on how things were at the time?”

“W-What!?”

Katherine scooted her chair backward, her eyes wide open. She was having trouble gulping down her coffee, even! What was Jazz insinuating!?

“W-W-Well… that would explain the info they had but…”

“I’m just saying.” The bunny shrugged. “Some believe in the concept ‘true love’ and how there’s someone destined to be with you that’s just waiting for you to find them. But… what if any decisions you take can actually change the person you’ll end up having a relationship with?”

The Spaniard blinked twice before looking at Amelie. “But… Amy doesn’t like girls.”

“What if she could have, had things occurred differently?”

An interesting theory, the one posited by the Lopmon!

“In any case, I don’t know if we will get anywhere by theorizing. We’re done here so… maybe we should head there once we’re done here.”

“… Right.” Katherine nodded before picking up the plates and cups. Hard to get back to reality after such a heavy theory! She would try, though. “I’ll wash the dishes.” She noted. “Thank you for the breakfast, Amy. It was very good.” The curly-haired girl showed an honest smile to her best friend.