Chapter 124: Don't Become a Loser
The line between Digimon and humans...
Sora stared blankly at the rippling surface of the hot spring, her mind tangled in the complexities of that very thought. Just as she was spiraling into another layer of overthinking, Mimi's cheerful voice drifted through the rising steam, cutting right to the chase.
"Sora, you're totally overthinking it!" Mimi giggled, splashing a little water. "Kari said it perfectly! As long as there is love, there are absolutely no obstacles!"
Sora blinked, momentarily speechless. She stared at the younger girl, who was currently flashing a bright, playful thumbs-up through the mist. Before Sora could even formulate a response to that bold declaration, Mimi was already moving on.
"Besides, isn't Mizu from that ancient eastern country?" Mimi leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with uncontainable gossip. "I've actually read up on quite a few romantic legends from over there." She began ticking them off on her wet fingers. "For example, there are stories about a human falling in love with a fox spirit, a human marrying a white snake, and even a human romancing a ghost!"
As Mimi enthusiastically listed off the bizarre cross-species romances she had memorized, she suddenly paused. A lightbulb seemed to go off in her head. Her gaze slowly slid sideways, locking directly onto Belle.
"Wait a second, speaking of which..."
Startled by the sudden, intense focus, the blonde girl instinctively shrank back, her shoulders dipping into the warm water. But Mimi wasn't letting her escape. The brunette proactively closed the distance, leaning in until they were practically nose-to-nose.
"Belle," Mimi began, her voice dropping into a dramatic, conspiratorial whisper. "When you were little, you were a fox, right?"
"A fox?" Belle blinked her large eyes, thoroughly bewildered by the sudden shift in topic. "I'm not a fox... My In-Training form was Nyaromon." She tilted her head, answering with absolute innocent honesty. "Though, I guess my special move back then was called 'Fox Tail'."
"A cat... but your special move was Fox Tail, huh?" Mimi frowned, her nose scrunching up as she tried to process the biological contradiction. Under Belle's curious gaze, the gears in Mimi's head turned for exactly three seconds before she completely abandoned the effort. She waved a hand dismissively. "Whatever! Anyway, it's all the same thing. Cats, foxes, whatever!"
"No... um, actually, foxes are canines and cats are felines," Sora interjected from the sidelines. Watching Mimi act so confidently incorrect was simply too much for her common sense to handle.
However, as if she had fully anticipated the correction, Mimi just clicked her tongue and wagged a wet index finger at the older girl.
"You're looking at this all wrong, Sora."
"Felines, canines, whatever. There is absolutely no need to be so strictly scientific when it comes to Digimon." Mimi placed her hands on her hips, splashing the water slightly. "After all, I bet you never could have predicted back at the start that Yokomon—who literally looks like a walking radish—would Digivolve into a bird like Biyomon, right?"
"Eh? Me?" Biyomon, who had been happily snuggling against Sora's shoulder in the shallows, perked up. The pink bird tilted her head, blinking her round eyes curiously at the mention of her name.
Meeting Biyomon's innocent gaze, Sora opened her mouth to argue, then slowly closed it. She really didn't know how to refute that logic. Fine. Plants evolving into giant pink birds. When it came to the Digital World, trying to apply middle-school biology was a losing battle.
Just as Sora sighed and decided to accept this absurd reality, Mimi's voice struck again, perfectly timed to shatter the brief silence.
"So, different species or whatever? Completely not a problem!" Mimi declared triumphantly, throwing her arms wide. "As long as they're cute, nothing else matters! I'm pretty sure that exact sentiment is recorded in those ancient eastern ghost stories anyway!"
Sora stared at her. 'I highly doubt classic literature says that...'
Mimi's sheer, overwhelming confidence had effectively bulldozed the conversation, bringing the topic to a definitive, if utterly nonsensical, end.
However, just as the girls settled into the warm water, a familiar, high-pitched voice drifted over the surface. No one had even noticed when the small fairy had arrived.
"I must say, you little brats aren't very old, yet you're awfully keen on these kinds of adult topics, pi!"
Piximon hovered just above the hot spring, her translucent wings buzzing softly. She held a tiny, thimble-sized wine glass in her hand, gently swirling the liquid inside with an expression of absolute leisure. "Although I don't really want to lecture you all too much..." She took a delicate sip. "The Digital World isn't exactly a gentle vacation resort where you have the luxury to sit around talking about love and romance, pi."
She lowered the glass, her large eyes glinting. "At least, not right now, pi."
"No, no, no, Piximon!" Mimi wagged her finger again, completely unfazed by the Ultimate-level Digimon's warning. Under the fairy's flat stare, Mimi suddenly seemed to ignite with passionate energy, her brown eyes shining through the steam. "Don't you think that's exactly why it's even more necessary to talk about it? So we don't leave any regrets!"
She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, staring up at the artificial sky. "After all, that's exactly how it happens in the movies! Feelings that aren't expressed in time always end up becoming tragic, lifelong regrets for both people!"
"But..." Sora watched Mimi dramatically rise halfway out of the hot spring, her own smile becoming incredibly strained. "According to my understanding of movies... compared to unexpressed feelings, isn't it way more common for someone to say a line like, 'I'll get married as soon as I go back home after this war is over'—and then they immediately get blown up and never come back?"
The effect was instantaneous. Mimi froze solid, looking as though she had been struck by a petrification spell. The passionate, romantic aura burning around her vanished with an audible pop.
For a long, heavy moment, the only sound was the trickling of the hot spring. Then, Mimi stiffly turned her head. Her eyes locked onto Sora. Without a single word of warning, she lunged across the water, launching a full-body surprise attack.
"Sora! Are you completely allergic to romance?!" Mimi wailed, splashing water everywhere as she tackled the older girl. "Give me back my pure, girlish heart! You ruined the mood!"
"Eh!? Wait, Mimi, stop messing around! The rocks are slippery, be careful not to fall!" Even while dealing with Mimi's aggressive tickling and splashing, Sora desperately tried to maintain her mature, responsible persona, helplessly attempting to push the giggling girl away.
Her warnings had absolutely zero effect.
"Sora, I shall punish you in the name of love and romance!" Mimi declared, splashing a handful of warm water right into Sora's face.
"And I'm telling you, this has absolutely nothing to do with romance!" Sora sputtered, finally breaking her responsible facade to splash back.
Hovering nearby, Piximon watched the two girls erupt into a full-blown water fight. The fairy sighed, shaking her round pink body. "What a bunch of noisy little brats, pi."
Despite her exasperated tone, a faint, fond smile tugged at the corners of Piximon's mouth.
'How long has it been?' she wondered silently. It had been far too long since she had felt such a genuinely lively, relaxed atmosphere in this war-torn world. Although she usually preferred the strict peace and quiet of her hidden training grounds, having a little noisy chaos once in a while wasn't so bad.
Piximon chuckled softly to herself, taking another slow sip from her tiny glass.
Lowering the rim, Piximon shifted her gaze. Her eyes landed on Belle. The blonde girl was sitting quietly near the edge of the rocks, the water lapping at her collarbones. Her delicate face was scrunched up in a deep, conflicted mix of confusion and intense contemplation.
"What's got your gears turning so hard, pi?"
"Piximon?!"
Startled by the sudden voice right next to her ear, Belle's body jerked violently, sending a wave of water sloshing over the stones. She clutched her chest, looking at the hovering fairy with deep distress. "Geez, please don't sneak up on me like that..."
"You're the one who dropped your guard completely, pi." Piximon rolled her large eyes, thoroughly unimpressed. "You are clearly an Ultimate-level Digimon now. Why is your situational awareness worse than a freshly hatched In-Training baby, pi?"
Belle pouted, sinking a little lower into the water. "But... I was literally an In-Training Digimon not that long ago..."
Piximon stared at her. "...Forget it." Looking at Belle's genuinely innocent, aggrieved expression, the fairy waved her little hand, deciding not to press the issue of combat readiness in a hot spring.
"Let's talk about what was just buzzing around in that head of yours, pi!" Piximon zipped around to float directly in front of Belle's face. "How exactly do you view that kid, Mizuki? Pi."
"Mizu?" Belle blinked, the answer coming instantly to her lips. "Of course, he's a very important partner!"
"Just an important partner? Pi?" Piximon raised an invisible eyebrow.
Watching the utter blankness wash over Belle's face, the fairy suddenly understood exactly why that loudmouth Mimi had been trying to force this specific conversation earlier. The blonde Digimon was hopelessly dense.
"Of course he—" Belle started to reply confidently, but the words suddenly caught in her throat.
Facing Piximon's piercing, knowing gaze, she found herself unable to finish the sentence. Was he just an important partner?
Deep down, in the very core of her data, Belle knew that wasn't the whole truth. But if they were more than just partners, what exactly was their relationship? She vaguely felt the shape of something else, something deeper and warmer, but she lacked the vocabulary to define it. Her mental and emotional maturity was still catching up to her rapid physical digivolutions. She was, in many ways, still too young to understand the complexities of the human heart.
Seeing the gears grinding to a painful halt in Belle's head, Piximon took pity on her and offered a timely hint.
"Bonds and relationships come in many different forms, pi," the fairy explained, gesturing with her tiny wine glass. "For example, there's the strict teacher-student dynamic between you brats and me. There's the protective sibling relationship between that little girl Kari and that reckless brat Tai. Or, perhaps, there's the nurturing mother-daughter relationship, exactly like Sora and Biyomon, pi!"
"Piximon, I am actually going to get angry if you keep saying things like that."
The moment the words left the fairy's mouth, a dark aura flared up a few feet away. Sora, who had finally managed to escape Mimi's splashing and was currently helping Biyomon wash her pink feathers, shot a look of pure resentment across the water.
"I am an eleven-year-old elementary school student," Sora stated, enunciating every single syllable. "I am not a single mother raising a child." She huffed, crossing her arms. "Biyomon is not my daughter. She is my partner."
To prove her point, Sora looked down and offered a deliberate, affectionate wink to the pink bird. "Isn't that right, Biyomon?"
Unfortunately, Biyomon completely failed to read the room. The bird tilted her head, her large blue eyes blinking with dazed, innocent cuteness. "But... Sora really does act just like a mom..."
Silence reigned for exactly one second.
Then, Mimi and Palmon, who were soaking nearby, completely lost their composure, bursting into fits of hysterical laughter. Even Kari, sitting quietly on the steps, had to cover her mouth to hide a bright, amused smile.
The result was instantaneous and terrifying. Sora's face darkened, a shadow falling over her eyes as an unprecedentedly gloomy aura radiated from her small frame.
"Bi~yo~mon..." Sora's voice was sickly sweet, dripping with a terrifyingly calm menace. "I think you and I really need to have a little talk."
"But, Sora, your face looks really scary right now..." the bird squeaked, suddenly realizing her fatal error.
Ignoring the bird's protests, Sora scooped Biyomon up and dragged her toward the other side of the hot spring, looking like a strict parent about to discipline a wayward toddler.
Tuning out the comedic violence happening across the water, Belle returned to her internal crisis.
Piximon's examples echoed in her mind. 'Teacher and student?' It was true that she had learned an incredible amount from Mizu. Even her advanced techniques for manipulating and rewriting data had been painstakingly taught to her under his direct guidance.
So, was their bond that of a teacher and a student?
Belle tilted her head, a wet strand of blonde hair sticking to her cheek. Perhaps there was a small element of that, but looking at the whole picture, it felt far too formal. It didn't fit.
'Then, is it family?'
Siblings? Mother and—she coughed mentally, correcting herself—Father and daughter?
Belle chewed on her lower lip. The gentle, protective way Mizuki took care of her, the way he always placed himself between her and danger, definitely felt like the actions of a fiercely devoted older brother. Sometimes, with his constant worrying and head-patting, he even acted a bit like a father.
But that still felt wrong.
Actually, it wasn't just that it felt different. It was more that Belle's very core was violently, subconsciously resisting those labels.
She didn't want him to be her brother. The very idea of being just a 'little sister'to him left a sour, hollow feeling in her chest. What she craved was something much, much, much more intimate. Something entirely inseparable. A bond where they stood as absolute equals, side by side, belonging only to each other.'So... if it's not siblings... is it father and daughter?!'
The sheer absurdity of the thought caused her internal system to short-circuit. Acting purely on instinct, Belle slammed her fist into the surface of the hot spring, sending a massive wave of water crashing against the rocks.
"That's not it at all!!!" she shrieked, her voice echoing off the stone walls.
The sudden, violent outburst brought the entire hot spring to a dead halt. Across the water, the girls froze mid-splash, turning to stare at her.
Feeling the heavy weight of their collective gazes—a mix of shock, curiosity, and deep concern—Belle froze. The realization of what she had just screamed out loud crashed over her. In a matter of seconds, a furious, burning blush spread from her collarbones all the way to the tips of her ears.
"Sor... sorry..." she squeaked out weakly.
Utterly mortified, the blonde girl slowly slid down the smooth rock, letting her face sink beneath the surface of the water until only her eyes were visible. A steady stream of embarrassed bubbles rose to the surface.
Hovering just inches away, Piximon seemed to perfectly deduce the exact train of thought that had led to the outburst. The fairy covered her mouth, her tiny shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
"I must say, Belle, you silly little brat," Piximon teased, her eyes gleaming with wicked amusement. "You didn't happen to just entertain the thought of calling that kid Mizuki 'Daddy', did you? Pi?"
Splash!
Belle shot up from the water as if a million volts of electricity had just surged through the pool. She frantically waved her wet hands in front of her face, her mouth opening and closing as she desperately tried to formulate a denial. But her vocal cords completely betrayed her. Instead of words, only a series of high-pitched, panicked whimpers—sounding exactly like a cornered kitten—escaped her lips.
Watching the girl's absolute emotional meltdown, Piximon laughed out loud, pointing a tiny finger at Belle's glowing red cheeks.
"It is literally written all over your face, pi!" The fairy giggled, taking another sip of wine. "I have to say, girl, you have a terrifyingly rich imagination, pi!"
"Ugh... whose fault do you think that is..." Belle whined, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Unable to withstand the fairy's merciless teasing, she limply sank back down onto her submerged rock, hugging her knees to her chest.
Watching the girl pout so miserably, Piximon finally took pity on her. The fairy's laughter subsided, and her expression smoothly transitioned back into that of a serious, ancient mentor.
"Alright, alright, let's get back to the main topic, pi." Piximon tapped the rim of her glass. "You've clearly been overthinking this until your data hurts. But if I'm not mistaken... none of those relationships I listed are the ones you actually want with him, right? Pi."
Facing the fairy's gentle, probing inquiry, Belle didn't try to argue. She just rested her chin on her knees and offered a small, quiet nod.
Piximon hovered in silence for a moment, her large eyes studying the downcast girl. The fairy couldn't help but shake her head, muttering under her breath. "Truly, a little devil with dangerously big ideas..."
"Huh?" Belle blinked, barely catching the whisper.
"Nothing, pi! Just lamenting the foolishness of youth!" Piximon waved her free hand dismissively. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what kind of relationship you're actually looking for, pi."
Hearing that, Belle's head snapped up. Her golden eyes widened, shining with a sudden, desperate anticipation. She opened her mouth, ready to beg for the answer that had been eluding her all night.
But before a single sound could leave her throat, Piximon ruthlessly shut her down.
"And I am absolutely not going to tell you."
Belle's jaw dropped.
"After all," Piximon continued, swirling her drink with a sagely air. "For matters of the heart, if you don't arrive at the answer with your own two feet, pi... then the answer has absolutely no meaning, pi."
Having delivered her wisdom, Piximon abruptly spun around in the air, her gaze locking onto a very specific target across the water.
"And that goes for you too, you sneaky little brat!" Piximon pointed her glass directly at Mimi, who had been subtly trying to edge closer to eavesdrop. "Don't even think about secretly whispering things you shouldn't!"
Mimi froze, caught red-handed.
"I understand your good intentions in wanting to help Belle figure things out, pi," Piximon lectured, her tone firm. "But trying to forcefully pull a seedling upward to make it grow faster will only rip out its roots. It's completely counterproductive, pi. For this little girl, it is simply too early to force the issue, pi."
Mimi, who had been practically vibrating with the urge to play matchmaker, deflated slightly. She looked past the fairy, her gaze softening as it landed on Belle's confused, innocent face.
After a long, quiet moment, the brunette finally understood the wisdom in the Ultimate Digimon's words.
"Alright," Mimi sighed, wading through the warm water until she reached the rocks. "Although I feel super regretful about leaving a romance unresolved, I guess that's all I can do for now."
Reaching out, Mimi gently placed her hand on top of Belle's wet blonde hair, affectionately stroking her head.
"Oh, Belle, Belle," Mimi murmured, her voice carrying a strange, maternal warmth. She leaned in, whispering a quiet chant under her breath. "Grow up quickly. Hurry up and grow up."
Under the rhythmic petting, Belle's expression quickly morphed back into a deeply aggrieved pout.
"Mmph... you guys are all so mean," she grumbled, swatting weakly at the water. "You're the ones who brought up the topic in the first place, but now you just want to act like a bunch of annoying riddle-makers..."
Seeing the genuine frustration in the Digimon's golden eyes, Mimi lost her desire to tease. Her smile turned soft and genuine as she knelt slightly in the water to meet Belle at eye level.
"I'm sorry, Belle. I really, really want to just tell you the answer," Mimi said gently. "But Piximon is right. For this kind of thing, it's so much better if you figure it out on your own."
She tapped Belle lightly on the nose. "Think about it carefully. The only reason I brought it up at all was because I hoped you could start mentally preparing yourself."
Mimi tilted her head, pondering her own words for a second. "Or rather... I wanted to plant a little seed in your heart."
"A seed?" Belle echoed, her brow furrowing in utter confusion.
"Consider it a friendly heads-up from a senior in romance!" Meeting Belle's bewildered gaze, Mimi flashed a bright, conspiratorial wink. "I just wanted to help the innocent, oblivious you realize a few important things early on."
She leaned back, a triumphant grin spreading across her face. "That way, when the time finally comes, you won't end up as one of those tragic, losing side-characters in the story!"
Having delivered her grand piece of advice, Mimi immediately dropped the serious atmosphere. She stretched her arms high above her head, returning to her usual, carefree self.
"Alright, that's enough heavy talk for one night!" she cheered, splashing backward into the deeper part of the pool. "Now, let's actually enjoy this hot spring properly! Ahhh~ The hot water is just absolute perfection."
"It certainly is, pi," Piximon agreed, hovering lazily overhead. "But don't get too relaxed. Don't forget, the second you wake up tomorrow morning, you're all going straight back to my hellish training regimen, pi!"
The relaxed atmosphere shattered instantly.
"PIXIMON!!!!" Mimi shrieked in horror, the reality of their brutal survival training crashing back down on her.
The fairy's bright, ringing laughter echoed through the steam, drifting up into the digital night sky. "Hahaha, pi!"
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