Wrote this a few days ago in honor of the 11th Odaiba Memorial.
Disclaimer: Do not own anything related to this series except for good memories.
Rinkai Line
Tai can tell immediately that she wasn't expecting a call. Not from him.
"Do you wanna go to Yokohama today?" He can feel the way Sora pulls away from the receiver, and adds quickly—"As friends."
For a few moments that only makes it worse, because now he's acknowledged the possibility that it might have been a date. And although she probably turned the radio volume down when she answered the phone, in this awkward silence he can still make out the familiar chords to 'I Turn Around.' He wonders if she has the song playing on repeat. She remains silent for a few seconds longer, but Tai can already sense that she's warming up to his idea.
"The tennis team has a training session today," she says weakly.
"You can skip one. And besides, it's summer, right?"
oOo
Even though he's the one who invited her, he still manages to arrive late. When he gets off at the Tsurumi station, she's sitting on a bench pushing random buttons on her phone pretending to not be bored.
"Nice hair clip," he says.
"Thanks," she answers, brushing her fingertips against it, as if to make sure it's not trying to jump off her head.
"I told you you'd look good with one."
She scrunches up her lips in a fake scowl, but there's a laugh in the back of her throat when she answers. "There's really no need to bring that up."
She stands and they head toward the station entrance.
"I really am sorry about that, though," she says as they walk across the platform. Two children race past while their mother shouts for them to wait. A drunk man pounds against the glass of a vending machine. "You know, I made it all the way up to your door?"
"Huh?"
"That time with Diaboromon. I was about to ring the doorbell, too."
"But you didn't."
"No."
A tone chimes out and then a voice announces that the Haneda Airport train is leaving platform 4B. The two of them stop to watch the sluggish lurch of the machinery coming to life, then sliding away and finally disappearing, leaving just a spiral of wind to whip across everyone still waiting for their own ride.
oOo
Tai leads the way once they make it out of the station.
Sora lets out a nervous giggle. "I can't believe I just told you about that."
Tai laughs. "It's no big deal."
She hums a little. "I don't know. Sometimes I think about it. If I hadn't been so stubborn, I probably would have gotten to see Biyomon again."
Yeah, you would have, his brain says. But he keeps his mouth shut. He's gotten better with that.
"So," she says, changing her tone out for something more chipper, "where are we going?"
A grin splits his face and with a flourish he flings out his arm to point out in the distance.
"...The park?"
"No, I'm pointing to that building, Sora, the building!"
Sora shades her eyes as she squints in the direction. "Those apartments? Are we visiting someone?"
Tai scowls. "Guh. Never mind. You'll see when we get there."
oOo
"I didn't bring the right outfit for this. You should've told me we were coming here."
He takes the comment about her clothes as an excuse to look at the hem of her tennis skirt. The indoor ski slope is not too crowded today, but there are still a significant amount of people. The two of then stand at the edge of a small ramp; a herd of snowboarders clunk by, leaving a trail of melting of ice crystals. 'Rakuen Baby' echoes in the chilly air, along with the hum of the snow cannon and the shouts of people having a good time. He steps forward toward the edge of the platform.
"We're not here to go skiing."
He can feel her puzzled stare on his back, but the realization sinks in. He knows he doesn't have to explain for her.
"You came to see the snow," she says.
He leans over the railing and grabs as much powder as he can. It's barely half a handful, not to mention filthy. Enough people have been riding the slopes today that most of it has already been packed down to hard ice.
"You don't always get to see snow in the middle of summer," he says. "Not real snow, anyway," he adds, dropping the half-melted ice in his palm.
"No," Sora agrees, stepping up to join him beside the railing. "That's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing."
Tai is used to filling the air with conversation, meaningful or not. Any kind of chatter is more interesting than nothing. And he wants to say so many things right now, things about Kari growing up too fast, about the soccer game that was on last night. About how lonely he feels without their friends. But this time he just stays quiet.
oOo
After leaving the Snova, they decide to ride back together to Odaiba.
"They must have a lot of stories to tell us by now," he thinks out loud, as they zip along the Rinkai Line.
"Because of the way time flows over there, right?"
"Yeah—" And he's about to laugh because he just remembered something Agumon did last time when they were taking the train from Hikarigaoka, except suddenly his eyes start to well up, and there's a weird little wiggle in his stomach, and he swallows and can't say anything. He doesn't want to feel like this in public, not with so many other people in the car, but then Sora touches her fingers to his wrist and the choke in his throat gets to the point that he can't even breathe.
He manages to pull himself together when the train makes the stop at Tennozu Isle. A few people shuffle out the doors, changing places with new passengers stepping on. Tai feels the bodies shifting aroud behind him, but concentrates on his blurry reflection in the window. He opens his mouth and lets in a short sighing breath.
Next stop, Tokyo Teleport. Next stop, Tokyo Teleport.
"That's us," Sora says quietly.
And neither of them can look at one another's face, but they both know they are remembering the same thing. It's the dull ache of an old wound. Another time they took a train back to Odaiba, and felt only half there.
.end
(A/N): Just trying to raise a little nostalgia.
Some caveats and extra details: The indoor ski slope that they go to in this fic is the Snova in Shin-Yokohama. When they get off at the Tsurumi train stop, they're technically a forty minute walk away from the building, which makes it a little strange that they walk the entire way and don't take a cab or a bus or something, but let's just suspend disbelief a little. And also to be clear, the Rinkai Line is the train line that goes to Odaiba, and the closest stop is the Tokyo Teleport Station (don't ask me why it's called that).
Hope everyone had a great Odaiba Memorial! The summer memory is a never-ending adventure.