Save The Date (N-Not That It's A Date Or Anything!) [Maia]

Okay, good. Without Kuu knowing what he wanted to eat, at least Elliot wouldn't have to spend his entire allowance just feeding him. When the waiter came by, Elliot ordered one of the sample platter options. Maybe a large, diverse number of potential foods would allow Kuu to come to a consensus of what he liked best. Besides, sample platters were often big enough for at least three people. With Kuu and Elliot's combined appetites, it would easily be enough!

"You're right. I mean, a lot of it is stupid, dangerous things, but you're right," Isaac admitted. From the perspective of a vacation to Japan, this trip was wasted in a pretty big way. From the perspective of a vacation to Monster Island? Not so much. He had to admit, there were as many good, fun moments in the chaos as there were harrowing ones. He got to meet a lot of people, help even more people, and get into some majorly big adrenaline rushes. He even learned a thing or two about self defense. If punks tried to mess with him or Elliot when they returned to California, he would feel way better about trying to teach them a thing or two. No longer would he be limited to frantically swinging an art book at Gintama's goons. Still, it was a sobering reminder that there really wasn't an option to turn back from this abnormality in his life. Even when he left Japan it would forever follow him around, touching him more deeply than he had ever envisioned. Impmon and Yasyamon would only be the click of a button away.

Then Maia's next two statements snapped Isaac right out of his daydreaming. He considered what she had said before, but he sort of swept them underneath his mental rug. Part of him figured that, somehow, he'd just end up meeting Alicia, and meeting Maia. That was just the way things were, or at least the way that they had ought to be. It almost didn't register that without the Digital World, his potential circumstances for meeting them would drastically shrink in amount. Would he have even seen them before the trip? Whereas he was imagining all of the days he could spend with Maia when they didn't have such deadly pressures weighing them down, he hadn't even considered the alternative of never knowing the girl. Suddenly, this normal trip to Japan was sounding far less appealing. "I don't think so," he finally concluded, a bit more vibrancy filling his previously hollowed voice. "How could I ever regret the trip that lead to me meeting you? I'd gladly accept just one day like this sandwiched between 13 days of chaos. I just hope with all of the panic of the Digital World, I didn't forget to leave time for the people I care about." He couldn't help but smile, relieved that Maia seemed to know exactly the right things to say.

His last statement went unanswered. Isaac wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. Maybe his guilt over getting too swept up for the people he cared about was silly. After, Elliot was with him practically every day, and the two had never bonded more than they did now. On the other hand, maybe his worry was too accurate and Maia simply had no way of answering it. Would it even be possible to give both worlds a fair, equal amount of time? Everyone else in on the secret would at least be able to join him in splitting up that burden, but those stuck solely to the human world might have received less attention simply by necessity. At least the status quo would reassert itself when he returned to Cakifornia, right?

"Yep. Gonna take a while to get used to not seeing you all the time," Isaac added. These days it was a major part of his routine. Eat, sleep, talk to Maia, repeat. When they couldn't be physically together, their phones were exchanging texts more often than not. Thanks to timezones, even the latter was going to be a more tricky proposition. That didn't stop Isaac from planning on talking to her still, though. He'd just either need to sleep later or wake up earlier. Working out some way of keeping regular contact with her was going to be his top priority on the way back home. It'd likely bite into his sleep schedule something major, but it was a small price to pay compared to leaving Maia so soon after he met her.

Then the texts came out, and Isaac's eyes widened in shock. Were all of those from today? Were half of those from this hour alone? The boy had no clue if this was a good sign or not, but he found himself giving a slight nervous laugh as he looked into Maia's phone. "Either she's really excited about me, or I'm dead," he deduced, at best half-joking. Still, he couldn't help but feel curious about how much Maia had mentioned him to his parents. He mentioned her fairly often, especially when "hanging with Maia" became his euphemism for the Digital World. Often his mother seemed too much in a daze to even ask more about her, another thing he found weird about her behavior this trip.

Oh well, no time to dwell on that. Especially when the waiters were coming soon. Isaac picked up his menu, hoping to at least get some idea about what he was ordering.

Isaac paled a little at that second part. Showing off mom's texts seemed to be more teasing than anything, but the word dad came with an actual warning. "Guessing I'm not gonna be allowed to show my face around your house, am I?" he asked. It was somewhat rhetorical in nature. There would be awkward dad staredowns in the best case scenario, shotguns pointed at his face in the worst. It certainly didn't help that Isaac had a bad distrust for older men. If things got cold, it was very likely they would end up glacial. He didn't want poor Maia to have to deal with that!

However, interrupting his internal monologue, he noticed just who was responsible for letting the parents know who he was. "Wait, your parents know about Kuu? They know about Digimon?" Isaac asked, somewhat shocked. His mom was still completely in the dark. Terrence didn't have a clue either, unless Isaac decided to lurk in a shadowy corner and give him a good startle one day. Ah, revenge fantasies. What problem didn't they solve?

It made sense that Maia didn't talk too much about her whereabouts. It wasn't like he did either. They were at a rather personal age, and it probably didn't help that she seemed somewhat quiet at times as well. In a way, it made Isaac feel all the luckier that the two of them were able to come out of their shells and enjoy such a great day with each other. His mother was normally really nosy, but the strange mood that she seemed to be in recently was doing a wonderful job at helping Isaac keep secrets. If it wasn't for how worried it made him, he would have felt really fortunate about this new situation.

Then the menu came, Isaac squinting hard to read the fancily-printed items. Why did he have to go to a place with such illegibly nice handwriting? Still, he tried to keep a cool head as he looked over the menu, not letting his confusion show in his face. It'd be just another day or so of this, and then it would be back to reading nice, plain English. He could do it! Unfortunately, what he couldn't do was pick an item. The items that he could read all sounded really delicious and had big, ominous price numbers floating next to them. "I dunno. It all sounds good to me," he said, trying to buy himself a little bit of time.

"You say that like I'd have a problem seeing you more," Isaac joked. Sure, her dad sounding so dadly about the situation made him worried, but he wouldn't mind going back to meet the family at all. The fact that he was leaving before that kind of milestone moment almost made Isaac a little sad, although the fact that he wouldn't be killed and mounted over Maia's fireplace was very reassuring. Okay, so some of these fictions were major hyperbole, but he figured with how great Maia was her dad would have become an expert boyfriend slayer by now. Still, it was interesting to Isaac how much of her life she kept compartmentalized. Dad got to know about Digimon. Mom inadvertently got to know about boys. In Isaac's family everyone shared everything, or at least pretended to until the secrets being mounted behind their backs collapsed like a house of cards that slowly drove the family apart.

Fun thoughts!

He found himself blushing at the girl's smirk. She could see right through him, couldn't she? This was one of those times where he knew, instead of saving face, it was best to just shut up and accept that she was right. He followed the trail of her finger, noticing that she pointed out one of the sample trays. He didn't want to seem overly indecisive, even if he typically was, but it did seem like it would be the best of the available options. "Sounds like a plan to me. What kind of places have you been to around here?" he asked.

Isaac couldn't help but grinning a little at Maia bringing up the grocery store again. Sure, she got lost, but if she didn't Isaac would've never ended up meeting her. Who knew all it took to bring these two together was for both of them to make the most foolish decisions possible? "Hey, you could've fooled me," Isaac said, reassuringly. "Today you've been strutting around like you run the place. Hell, I didn't have a clue where I was going in that arcade and you helped turn it into a really amazing trip." Getting lost wasn't really part of Isaac's routine. It was more like wandering around constantly and not really caring where he ended up as a result. The same went for making plans, whether casual or life-threatening. Sometimes that improvisation paid off big time. Other times, it lead to him trying to sneak home while stuck in Digimon form and hiding beneath a trash can. Not all of them could be winners.

The cheer in his eyes became a bit downcast as Maia brought up the cool places, though. "Not really," he admitted, trying not to let the small tinge of sadness in his voice show too much. "Day one was mostly just moving in and getting acclimated. Day two we did a bit of sight-seeing, went to a museum, and it was pretty nice. Then day three Gintama flung Elliot into a river and we got chased around by a killer tank, and from there this vacation's been more like a trip to the Digital World." Thankfully, he did a surprisingly good job at keeping his tone light, and even when it faltered the approach of the waiter gave him a chance to get his mind off of the question. "We would like the sampler platter, please. Thank you very much!" With that done, and the knowledge that food would soon be on the way, Isaac turned to Maia.

"You know, I've still got a few days left to this vacation. Maybe if we have the time, we could do a little bit of sightseeing together," he offered. She didn't get out much. His whole vacation got robbed. It'd be a great chance to catch up on lost time!

A look of concern flashed into Isaac's eyes as Maia gave her suggestion. "I dunno. It's weird," he said, his voice slow as a pensive tone slowly began weighing it down. "I mean, I've been trying. Maybe not as much as I should, but I've still tried. It's just that she's been really strange lately." He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. It was all so much harder to put this into words instead of running over it several times in his head.

"She's been really distant and stressed out this whole vacation. It's like she's the one trapped in another world. Whenever she's not with her friend, she's got all this paperwork, and all these phone calls. I've tried asking her about it, but she always just waves me off. I don't think she's even noticed how often Elliot and I have been gone for. It's like we're not even there." His tone remained even through the whole spiel, no real sign of any emotion. Sadness? Bitterness? Relief, even? None at all. Just a pure presentation of facts so strange that Isaac was still twisting his mind around to try and grasp them.

He tried to lighten it up afterwards, forcing a small smile. "Besides, I see her every day. I'd rather spend as much time as I can with you before we're sent so far apart," he added. Considering the strange tone of voice he had earlier, it sounded less than reassuring despite Isaac's best efforts. Thankfully, Maia brought up another conversation topic, and one that Isaac was more than happy to distract himself with so he wouldn't have to keep thinking about his many missed opportunities here in Japan.

"I'm not sure. There are probably a lot of statues and monuments that we could check out," he said, shrugging. He barely had time to look at his itinerary before the trip, let alone during the trip. As far as planning went, he was stuck in kind of a dead end. "The park looks really nice around this time of year, and after all this chaos some alone time would be great. If I wasn't so sure your dad wants me dead, I wouldn't mind going to your place again. Honestly, I'm not the best with planning. I like going with the flow and seeing where life takes me. I bet we could find all kinds of great stuff just wandering around Shibuya."