Mundane Shopping for a Magical 'Mon (Hana)

Weston continued to stare at the selection of premade meals on offer, his mind at work figuring out which ones looked the more appetizing to his craving at the time. He had learned the hard way that nice-looking dishes don't always result in a similar quality for the flavor. He knew a demon-like Digimon once that could make amazing looking food that tasted worse than just simply eating a piece of cardboard. And this was a grocery store he'd never been to before, so he couldn't be sure that he'd be satisfied with just about anything.

He was definitely overthinking this, but good luck getting Weston to admit it.

As Weston was lost in his thoughts (and probably holding up some sort of line) he was brought back to reality by the female voice. Turning around, he would come face-to-face with a student, a junior high student most likely. She shared some features as Weston, mostly the black hair and glasses. She looked like a younger version of one of his students, Rebecca Story, only with bangs, glasses and green eyes.

The young girl asked if Weston was looking for something in particular, which was a normal question considering how he was just kind of staring at the selection for a while. Weston rubbed the back of his head. "I suppose you could say that. I'm trying to pick out a meal for myself but I'm not experienced in Japanese cuisine, so I cannot decide which one I want the most. And I truly don't want a sandwich or bento box tonight, as I've had them for the past several nights."

Weston would have to be careful, as he was very prone to slipping up and revealing his secret right now...

"Tonkatsu, huh?" Weston repeated, looking for that item among the selection. Sure enough, there was indeed some premade tonkatsu ready for sale. "Ah, here it is," Weston exclaimed joyfully, taking the package and placing it inside of his shopping basket. "Thank you very much, young lady. I very much appreciate the assistance."

Then suddenly a peculiar beeping sound was heard. It sounded kind of like an old school cell phone's ring tone. Weston looked around his immediate vicinity, wondering if he even heard a noise at all or if it was just in his head. "Did... did you hear that, miss?"

Then the beeping went off two more times. It was definitely not in his head anymore, and this time Weston actually figured out what exact sound that was: it was the exact same sound that his D-Terminal would make whenever he got a message. His smartphone had no such ringtone as the one he just heard, and he doubted that kids these days had phones that didn't at least have a touch screen.

This girl had to have a Digivice on her.

Weston politely looked at the young girl, who was clearly trying to pretend that there was no beeping sound at all. "If I am correct about this, then this is just an unexpected coincidence. If I am wrong, there's no harm in letting one person know, right?" He took off his glasses, his eyes very briefly shimmering a bright yellow color. "My human alias is Weston Sparkwood. My real name, however... is Wisemon."

The disguised Digimon chuckled as he put his glasses back on, his eyes returning back to the holosuit's normal color. "You were doing fairly well until the Digivice started beeping. It's only because my D-Terminal makes a similar sound that I was able to piece it together. Otherwise I would've mistaken it for your phone, or one of those virtual pets that humans seem to really enjoy."

The young Tamer would then pull out her Digivice, a D-3 model specifically, and proceeded to show it to Weston. There he saw two sprites: one of a Hagurumon and one of a sleeping Keramon, meaning that she wasn't just a Tamer, but a twin Tamer. Weston didn't get to read the previous text, but he did read what Hagurumon said when he came face to face with Weston.

The Wisemon gave a slight chuckle. "You may want to tell your partners that trying to reach out to you in public isn't such a good idea," he would jest, amused by the whole ordeal. The girl introduced herself as Hana Hoshidate, with the Hagurumon and Keramon named Data and Rush respectively. "Data and Rush... very catchy names! I would love to show you my true form but it would look very... bizarre to any passers by, would it not?"

"So, tell me... how long have you been a Tamer, may I ask? I may not have a partner myself but I know enough about the Digital World and Digimon to inform new Tamers about aspects they may need to know, if you're interested."

So they were only partnered for a couple of months it seems, but they had met an Angemon and his son who explained the Digital World to them, so they seemed to be knowledgeable on that front. "Hm, I see. Still, I know more about Digimon and our world's history if you ever need assistance. In the day I teach world literature at the Shibuya Academy. By the looks of it, I'd assume you're in... seventh grade at the school?" Probably a real confidence booster for Hana right there.

Hana explained that her Digimon didn't have holosuits, so she disguises them as virtual pets in public. A very smart move, most humans pay no mind to those with virtual pets. She claimed the only reason she brought them to the supermarket was so she didn't forget anything on her list. Before Weston could ask though, Hana came to that question herself: why DIDN'T she just write it down?

Weston couldn't contain his laughter at this revelation. He turned his head away and chuckled greatly, this situation was very humorous for him! "Humans can truly be hilarious at times, I cannot help but laugh!" Once he calmed down he would hand Hana a completely blank notepad. "You may want to keep this on you, just in case."

If Hana was paying attention, she'd probably notice how that notepad just magically appeared in his hands. Digimon can do some fancy stuff, but not many can just do straight up magic. What other wonderous secrets did this guy have...?

Weston's eyes widened as a bead of sweat dropped from his head, completely caught off guard by Hana's sudden rage. The young lady loudly corrected that she was actually fifteen years old and in ninth grade, going into high school next year. Weston would then start bowing repeatedly, ashamed by his abhorrent mistake. "I-I am so sorry, ma'am, I truly did not know!"

Hana's sudden rage did gain a couple of strange looks overall, but thanks to Data the girl calmed down relatively quickly, leaving those observing to just carry on with their days. Hana expressed how she was sick of people constantly thinking that she was younger than she actually was. "I can understand how that might be frustrating. It was wrong of me to assume, Hana."

The situation dissipated even faster after that when Weston handed Hana the notepad. Naturally, she was confused about where it came from. And Weston was more than happy to tell her. "Ohoh, I see... you haven't come across Digimon who can use magic yet. Well, I am one of the many Digimon in the Digital World with access to the mythic arts of our world. While I cannot do full attacks in my holosuit, I found that I am free to do much simpler magic spells without my form glitching. That notepad was actually just merely sitting at my house, I simply teleported it over here. Simple as that!"

Ah, so Hana gets comments like that often it seemed. Comments about how she looks younger than she actually was. Weston felt a little bit better that he wasn't the only one to make that mistake, but he still felt a bit shitty about it. Maybe it was because he made an assumption about someone before knowing them, something he tries not to do on a regular basis. After all, he was from the Dark Area of the Digital World yet he considered himself to be at least decent.

"Still, I apologize for making such an assumption," Weston told the young girl. "This is a good learning experience, at least. I will try harder to not assume such things in the future."

Problems rose once again when Weston shared that he possessed the power of magic with Hana. Her brain seemed to be completely fried trying to process the information. So much so that... she completely collapsed, fainting on the spot.

"..."

Weston was absolutely speechless. This was not the outcome that he was expecting. Without thinking (and before anyone could see) she scooped up Hana in her arms, as well as grabbing her Digivice, and deactivating his holosuit in order to use his teleport ability...

---

Once Hana would eventually wake up, she'd find herself laying down on a beige sofa in a very strange house. It was a pretty dark house, the walls surrounding Hana and her Digimon ranged from burgundy to plain brown, bookcases resting against the walls as well. It sort of looked like an old school library...

Sitting in a dark green chair opposite of the couch would be presumably Wisemon, a humanoid Digimon wearing a cream-colored hood and red robes. He was simply reading from a book (that was of course levitating above Weston's hand) when Hana would wake up. "I hope you are doing well, Hana," he would say as he put down the book, looking right at the Tamer. "I am making a whole series of mistakes today it seems."