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detectiveichijouji · 8 months

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Case 21 - Piyomon's call for help

[AO3 version]

Ken’s birthday is a fun date for all six… Because somehow it just overlaps with Halloween funsies, and Mimi always manages to throw a party on the date. But it’s a combo-party because she also likes to remind everyone how important Ken is in their lives. (Yes, they did not forget it despite getting always mixed up with Halloween talk in general)

But… There was a time Ken was afraid of the festivities just being ruined by himself.

“Ken… Why… Why did you do that?!”

And it was right after a big reveal.

“How… How dare you! You gotta be kidding me!!”

“Daisuke, I…”

“HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU DON’T LIKE PUMPKIN PIE!?”

Ken blinked, Uh what--

“You should’ve said it before! We will bake you something different this time! Do you like chocolate? Like, white or dark or milk? I think Mimi-san and I don’t mind baking it--”

“It’s… It’s not the pie it’s… Nevermind.”

“Ken-kun is strange today…” Miyako commented with the others. They nodded.

The group was at the same café they met Michi previously - Digi-Café Truffle. So far only Takeru understood the strange behavior. Because Ken still had not enough proof to accuse a certain person about something…

“Daisuke-kun’s taking too seriously about Ichijouji-kun’s tastes” Takeru laughed nervously.

“I’m saying that--” suddenly, his phone rang, “Just a sec,” and he took it from his pocket and answered the call, “Heeello?”

The others tried to not get interested in that call (might respect Daisuke’s privacy!!) for a moment, until…

“Ah, Noel! What, you want to meet me right now? Oh I see, yeah I’ll be right there, dude.”

Ken and the group just looked at Daisuke, and then to themselves -- Noel wants to talk about something with Daisuke, perhaps?? But Ken thought it would be a bad idea. A bad, bad idea to remind Daisuke to not trust the suspicious French boy right now.

Daisuke hung up and put the phone back in his pocket, “Sorry, I have to go.”

“?? Huh?”

“Seems like Noel found a digimon looking for me. Might be a trap, but I’m more concerned about Noel being in real danger.”

“Daisuke…” Miyako squinted her eyes, “Doesn’t he have a digimon partner now?”

“I know but… I’d have gone even if it wasn’t him, and you can’t stop me,” he grabbed V-mon (gently) by the waist and carried it under his arm.

“MY CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ NOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!!” they heard V-mon’s voice echoing until the doppler effect ended.

“Oh I have to go too,” Ken said minutes later, and then took Wormmon from the next table, where he was sitting with the other digimon, “Let’s go, Wormmon.”

“R-right!” and Wormmon used Ken’s arm as a bridge to climb to the boy’s back. Then, they left.

“... I’m sure Ichijouji-san went after Daisuke-san,” Iori said, pokefaced.“Huh…” Miyako looked through the window, watching Ken take the same direction Daisuke took, “Yeah, that’s right…”

Turns out Noel definitely had bumped into a digimon looking for Daisuke. It was the Chinatown’s chef Digitamon. Why was he looking for Daisuke though??

“Daisuke, is it?” Digitamamon glanced at the boy and V-mon, with a serious and determined gaze, “I want to ask you a favor.”

“Uhh… Sure?” Daisuke blinked.

“I want you to work for me.”

“W-WHAT!?” the boy and V-mon gasped.

“I heard from the digimon you’re good at cooking, so I’d like to have you as my employee.”

“S-sorry, I know you’re not the same Digitamamon who caused a ton of trouble for Joe-senpai and Yamato-san but…”

“Oh him? He was taunted by the money. I never cared about the cash, I always cared about the art of cooking.”

“I guess… You’re not like the other egg, huh… But I heard he changed, so maybe he wasn’t that bad…”

“W-well… I’ll be going…” Noel bowed his head, “Excusez-moi…”

“... Noel,” Daisuke glanced at him. The other looked back and he could see Daisuke was kinda serious. The pressure of that stare was almost smashing poor Noel’s soul.

“Y-yes…?”

“You didn’t eat the stuff I cooked for the festival!!” He pouted. Was Daisuke upset about that??

“O-oh…” he sighed relieved, “M-maybe… Maybe next time…?”

“Really, Hikari-chan and Takeru gave me a little help… But I wanted my friends to try it out… And thanks to that nasty Impmon none of them did!”

“A-ah… R-right…”

Noel walks away… only to ‘casually (?)’ meet with Ken. He gulped in silence, somehow Ken’s presence made him feel intimidated. Like if he was in front of someone important, like a…

“I-Ichijouji-san…?” Noel dared to talk to him though, “Are you looking for Motomiya-san--”

“... No, I was just passing by” Ken smiled, but that smile was a warning. A deadly warning that now Ken is after him, “I’ll talk to Daisuke later.”

“O-okay then…” he kept walking.

“Ah, one more thing, Noel.”

He stopped, sweating cold.

“I saw you with a fragment once… Maybe you would like to hand it to me?”

“A-a fragment…??” the boy looked back, “I would have given it to Motomiya-san if I had one…” he said, trying to keep cool.

“Oh? Well then… It must have been a mistake,” he smiled again, and that smile was another red flag. Abort abort abort…!!

“C-can I go now…?”

“Sure, but know one little thing, Noel Leblanc” then that smile turned into a deadly glare, one which had the reminiscing of the Digimon Kaiser-- “If you dare to hurt Daisuke…”

“I… I won’t…” the younger boy gulped. Then he ran away, far far away from Ken.

“... I guess he’s not a bad person, Ken-chan” Wormmon blinked.

“... Ken, did you stalk me here!?”

Oh shoot--

“Daisuke?” he looked at the other, “No I was just passing by--”

“Dude. Cut it out” Daisuke squinted his eyes, “You came after me because of Noel, right? Are you jealous or something?!”

“J-Jealous?!” Ken gasped.

“Look, we’re friends no matter what you say or do, but I don’t need you stalkin’ me.”

“Daisuke, I…”

“If there’s anything you wanna say then say it to my face! I can’t read your mind, ok?!”

“... Daisuke.”

“What?”

“Noel Leblanc has a fragment, I saw him later that day when we faced Hikari-san’s second cousin.”

“Noel… had one?” He looked at Ken with widened eyes, “You must be kidding! Noel wouldn’t do that!!”

“Do you know anything about him though? You know me for six years, wouldn’t you believe me…?!”

“I didn’t know you back then and I even had given you a second chance… Because you were showing that you had learned the lesson! So what matters if I know him for a few months or six years!?”

“Daisuke, please.”

“I… I trust you, Ken. But you shouldn’t stalk me thinking that Noel will suddenly turn into a dangerous digimon and kill me. He won’t, he’s a good guy. I sense it.”

“Well, Daisuke-san’s gut feeling never was wrong,” Wormmon commented.

“Daisuke’s good at spotting shady people” V-mon shrugged, “He didn’t notice Ken was the Kaiser before because Ken knew how to use his public face against him.”

“... That’s what I fear” Ken frowned, he didn’t want Daisuke to be angry right now - -especially today -- “That he’s just good at manipulating people with his public face…”

“If he turns out to not be who we thought he was… We will stop him, for everyone’s sake. And for his own sake too” Daisuke smiled, then he put a hand on Ken’s shoulder, “So don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it…

Noel had hid behind a building, he didn’t feel like his life was in danger like this before. The heart was racing and his bangs were dripping sweat.

“Did he… Did he know…??” Noel muttered, fixing his bangs and showing his green eyes, “Was I too careless, indiscreet??”

“... Heh,” He regained his posture and smiled, “As expected from you, détective amateur. But I won’t give in that easily.”

“Ok so… Why is Ken-kun so concerned about Daisuke meeting that kid?” Miyako raised an eyebrow.

“He saw Noel with a Digimental fragment” Patamon spoke, “And then he and Wormmon went to talk to us about this and… About Arsenemon.”

“Hm?” Hawkmon and Iori mused, interested in that information. Miyako, Hikari, Tailmon and Armadimon just looked at Takeru and Patamon.

“Yeah, he… He came to ask me about Arsène Lupin,” Takeru explained, “The most known phantom thief in literature.”

“And why would he ask about that, dagya?”

“Because he suspects that Noel-kun is related to the author, Maurice Leblanc,” Takeru continued, “And possibly to Arsenemon himself.”

“Hmm…” Iori was thoughtful.

“Oh, that makes sense…” Hikari commented, “Maybe he’s a descendant of Leblanc?”

“Possibly,” the other boy nodded, “I’ve been reading a little French literature to train my French. It’s not good yet, but it’s a good start. Grandpa and Catherine are kinda helping online.”

“Hoho…” Miyako smirked, “Someone’s having a date with that French Chosen Child~”

“Haha, as if!!” he laughed cheerfully, “Catherine is just a friend, and I think she has a boyfriend already.”

“... If true, this could mean Noel-san is connected with Arsenemon” Iori mused, “Is it why Ichijouji-san went after Daisuke-san?”

“Yeah, I think so” Takeru replied with a nod, “Maybe he thinks Noel-kun is approaching Daisuke-kun to keep spying on us.”

“Ah, so that’s why he doesn’t want to properly accuse Noel-san without proof,” Hawkmon concluded.

“Hmm…” Tailmon was recapping all the events until now. To her, Noel didn’t seem like a real dangerous individual.

“Sora-saaan, the double-party is tonight, you should try to drag Yamato-san and Taichi-san with you!”

“H-huh?! M-me?? That’s true we all have been busy recently, but…”

“ Pleeeeeeeease?~ Sometimes you guys need to have a little fun!! Besides, it’s Halloween! And Ichijouji-kun’s birthday!”

“Sora, I want to go!!”

“?? You too, Piyomon??”

“It will be in the Digital World, the Gekomons allowed me to host it at their castle! It will be fun~”

“Mimi-chan I… I understand you’re doing this, but… Why are you hosting a party…?”

“I think everyone is still tense from the last time we gathered, so… I thought it could be good…?”

“I appreciate your attempts to cheer us up. Maybe I can try to convince Yamato… And Taichi…”

“? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… Nothing… Anyway, I need to go. Talk to you later.”

Sora hung up the phone and looked at Piyomon, frowning.

“Huh, what’s wrong Sora?” Piyomon asked. Did she say something wrong?

“It’s… nothing. I know Mimi-chan wants to cheer everyone up after everything happened to us days ago, but… I don’t know. We can’t do meetings like these.”

“... You mean, going out and having fun with them?”

“Yes, I think… It’s a little awkward when we just gather at certain occasions and most of them are about fighting some evil digimon.”

“But, you’re friends with them, right?”

“Oh I didn’t mean we aren’t! But we’re not that close like I thought we were…”

“Does that bug you?” Piyomon frowned.

“...”

“Then you shouldn’t force yourself, tell Mimi this is still not the right moment to gather everyone again, I’m sure she will understand.”

“But she’s doing it to cheer us up, including Daisuke-kun and the others…”

Suddenly, someone rang the doorbell. Sora blinked, and then went to open the door. She opened the door and saw the eyepatched Impmon there.

“Yo,”

“A digimon??” she blinked.

“Sora… Is everything okay?” Piyomon asked, from Sora’s room. She didn’t hear any response, so she got up from the desk chair and walked towards the entrance.

She found Sora lying on the floor.

“SORA!!” Piyomon screeched, and approached the woman. She didn’t know what happened and the door was still open. Piyomon then peeked outside, to find that same Impmon running away. She then returned inside, and tried to wake Sora up.

But the girl was still asleep. Breathing, at least. She was still alive, but…!! Wait, there’s something in Sora’s hand…

“Huh…? Isn’t one of those Digimental shards mentioned by Koushiro and the others?”

Piyomon was about to touch it, but she remembered what they had said about those. It’s wicked and drives people insane. Could it mean…??

Suddenly, Sora opened her eyes. Piyomon was relieved, until she noticed something off. No, that’s not good… Sora might be…!!

“Sora…?”

“...” Sora got up and ran away. Piyomon panicked even more and grabbed Sora’s phone and sent a message to the 02 group.

Everyone… Please… Help me…!!

Ken was upset. He didn’t mean to get into a verbal fight with Daisuke (though they solved it peacefully!!), or rather scare Noel away (though he only wanted to warn the boy to not mess with Daisuke!!). He was on the balcony watching the landscape, his birthday seemed a little gloomy right now… His parents were at work, but said they would celebrate with him later, once he was back from the party with his friends.

“Ken-chan?” Wormmon called him.

“... Do… Do you think I was jealous, Wormmon?”

“About Daisuke-san and Noel?” Wormmon blinked, “Um… I don’t, but it sounded quite like jealousy…”

“... Y-yeah, maybe…”

“You’re worried about someone hurting your friend, and that’s okay.”

“I don’t want anyone to hurt Daisuke ever again… I… I hurt him in the past, I hurt them all actually… And now we’re friends… They befriended me, who didn’t deserve them.”

“But you changed and that’s why they befriended you!” Wormmon reminded him, “Daisuke-san and the others saved you and me from that loneliness. I think we earned their trust and friendship.”

“Y-yeah, but… Sometimes I fear losing everything again. Maybe Daisuke was right and I acted out of jealousy… Maybe Noel isn’t a bad person… Maybe he’s not trying to hurt Daisuke or us…”

“I see… But they’re our friends, so maybe we shouldn’t worry about it.”

“You’re right… Daisuke and the others didn’t abandon me until now, so they won’t.”

Ken’s phone rang, and he went back inside his room. Wormmon crawled back and stood in front of him as he answered the call.

“Hello…?”

“Ken, we need your investigative instincts!” it was Daisuke, and it sounded like he was in a hurry?? “Sora-san ran away from home, and Piyomon sent messages to everyone asking to find her!”

“S-Sora… Sora-san??” Ken’s eyes widened, “W-where are you?”

“Uhh, trying at the spots she usually attends to, like…”

“Ah, I understood it. I’ll be there in a moment.”

“W-wait, Miyako sent a message by the D-Terminal. A Chosen Child had spotted her!! She’s in the Rainbow Bridge area!!”

“Got it. See you there.”

“What’s wrong…?” Wormmon asked, noticing Ken’s facial expression changed from shock to a serious determined gaze the moment he hung up the phone.

“Sora-san is missing.”

“W-what!?”

Why was Sora running away…? She wasn’t sure either, something in her heart bugged her. She didn’t want to be a burden, or hurt anyone’s feelings… She was just drained and wanted a break from everything.

Ken and the others arrived in time, with Piyomon next to Daisuke and Hikari. Yamato also came, because he needed to help her (once again) -- But can he reach Sora’s heart, which was corrupted by those feelings?

“Sora!!” Piyomon and Yamato screamed, trying to approach her, but then… Someone attacked them. They stepped back, and then noticed that eyepatched Impmon again.

“You…!!” Daisuke gritted his teeth, “What have you done to Sora-san!?”

“Oh nothing…” Impmon scoffed, “Well, why don’t you come here and save her?”

“If you lay one finger on her…” Yamato stared at him.

“I won’t, but on the other side… She will.”

“I won’t let you force Sora to use that on herself!!” Piyomon flew into Sora’s direction and tried to slap the fragment on the floor, but doing so made her and Sora fuse into a terrifying digimon bird -- Ornismon -- GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--!!

“PIYOMON, SORA(-SAN)” they all screamed together.

“This… this is not good!” Miyako babbled, panicking already, “We… We need to know where the fragment is and remove it--!!”

Gabumon looked at them, concerned. He definitely could feel a shiny object at the top of Ornismon. Then, he called the group and Yamato, “Everyone, look…!”

“It’s on the surface!!” Ken commented.

“We have no time to waste, Ken!” Daisuke glanced at his Jogress partner with his D-3 in hands. Ken nodded in agreement.

Why is this happening…? Why is this happening on my birthday…?

Imperialdramon Fighter Mode came from the flash of lights forming a DNA pattern, and he faced Ornismon. More from the other 2 pairs of Jogress lights came Silphymon and Shakkoumon. They tried to approach Ornismon, but the digimon attacked the Jogress trio. Yamato was petrified with what happened…

Sora… My beloved Sora…

The despair caused by that scene was delightful for Impmon!! Oh So delicious hatred and rage! What a beautiful combo! It was when an explosive Calling Card reached his face and exploded. It was him… Arsenemon.

This was the first time Yamato was in front of him -- the low blonde ponytail tied with a blue ribbon and looking like a real cat tail… with this flair cape floating in the wind… He was there to steal the scene again. To be everyone’s cherished hero.

“Hey, you didn’t send a Calling Card, you idiot!” Daisuke snapped, “Don’t come into our battle without gettin’ invited!”

“Ah? So that’s why you’re miffed, monsieur Motomiya?” he snapped his fingers and then a calling card popped in front of Daisuke’s eyes, “Here, can I beg your pardon?”

Bonsoir, mes amies~ I’m here to steal Takenouchi Sora’s wicked fragment and undo the forced fusion-evolution~

“Y-you can’t be sending the friggin Calling Card like this dude!!? Also, it’s not even nighttime!!”

“Pardon, my biological clock says otherwise.”

“Instead of you two bickering about rules, can SOMEONE HELP MY GIRLFRIEND!?”

“Keep her busy” Arsenemon said nonchalantly, “I will take the Shard--”

“You won’t.” Ken said with a firm tone of voice. Everyone (but the digimon fighting) looked at him.

“Excuse me?”

“We don’t know what you want with those pieces,” and now Ken stared at him, “Therefore we will have it.”

“... Fair,” he shrugged. “You can have it” and then he glanced at Ornismon with a sad face, “Pauvre de toi, my lady. We will bring you back to your senses, mademoiselle Sora & Piyomon… Et toi, Impmon… I will make you pay.”

“Huh why does this sounds familia--” Another explosive calling card hit Impmon, and then it exploded in their face, sending them away from the battlefield like a rocket “--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

“Familiar?” Ken raised an eyebrow. But he thought this would be a waste of time, then he glanced at the Jogress digimon trio, “Now, guys!!”

Shakkoumon was absorbing the dazzling beam shot by Ornismon all the time and getting really tired of doing it. Imperialdramon tried to hold Ornismon without hurting her, and Silphymon was trying desperately to approach and remove the shiny ceramic piece from Ornismon’s head.

“... You can’t fight her with brute force,” Arsenemon said, and then looked at Yamato, “You fight hatred with… Love.”

Yes, Ornismon was made of hatred, something the opposite of Sora’s fondness. She was deep down inside that form, possibly of self-hatred for some reason. It was when Yamato Warp-evolved Gabumon into MetalGarurumon and ran towards the monster. He threw himself from MetalGarurumon’s back onto Ornismon’s head. And hugged it.

“Sora… Please… stop. Fight it… You’re stronger than that… I… I love you. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…!”

“That’s too dangerous!!” Miyako gasped, and then the kids tried to do something, Daisuke stretched his arm in front of them.

“Wait,” the goggle boy said. And they waited, just like he asked them.

Ornismon stopped attacking, and there were tears running down her face. Silphymon took advantage of it to remove the shard, forcing both Sora and Piyomon unto the fusion and turn back to normal. Sora was asleep, but in Yamato’s arms, falling from a high height… But the three (yes, Piyomon too) were caught by Imperialdramon’s hands and put down on the floor, gently. MetalGarurumon and the other digimon devolved back to their child forms.Case closed, right…? But someone was also watching them from a distance, a human wearing a tokusatsu-like helmet… Arsenemon noticed that person’s presence, and went after them.

Once explained to Mimi and everyone what happened, They decided to cancel the party. Ken felt upset about how that Impmon ruined a good thing supposed to happen that day. Sora was now sick, and Koushiro had to send an alert to the others about them being targeted by that Impmon.

Sigh, now they’re targeting our seniors -- Ken thought, sitting on the bench at the park. Daisuke and the others were around, and they kinda approached him with… a box of cake.

“??”

“Hey, dude, it’s your birthday too. Cheer up,” Daisuke smiled.

“How can… N-nevermind.”

“We all baked this for ya, at least eat it.” V-mon snorted.

“O-oh… Thanks…”

“... About that fight we had…” Daisuke started, looking at Ken opening the box and picking a slice and eating it, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to accuse you of being jealous of me and Noel.”

“... Maybe Noel isn’t a bad person,” he said, giving a slice to Wormmon. The others also grabbed a slice and started eating it, “I think he might be… related to Arsenemon somehow. But Arsenemon is an odd specimen.”

“Hm?”

“Whaddayamean?” V-mon said, his mouth full of cake.

“The digimon are digital creatures who also absorb data from our world. It’s possible that Arsenemon is a digimon born from the digital recordings about the phantom thief genre, including its origins.”

“Oooh…!!”

“He might be… A digimon created by Noel Leblanc, like how Oikawa-san created Arukenimon and Mummymon… Or me when I made Chimeramon. And Noel might be a distant relative of Maurice Leblanc, Arsène Lupin’s creator.”

“Hmm…??” Daisuke blinked, “You mean, some great-great-great-grandson or something else??”

“Yeah.”

“I know we’re bugged with what happened today, but… How about we go out and go to the arcade?” Takeru suggested with a smile “So we can relax and enjoy Ichijouji-kun’s birthday.”

“I want to go trick-or-treating!!” V-mon said, cheerfully.

“Me too!” Patamon and Armadimon added with a grin.

“That’s a good idea, I suppose” Ken smiled at them, “And I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me and Wormmon.”

“Hey no sweat!” Daisuke chuckled, “We’re your friends after all.” A little away from them, Noel watched the group. He knew those six had an unbreakable bond… And maybe they wouldn’t be that mad at each other for certain decisions. But what was he planning to do…?

#young prince detective ichijouji ken #02 team digimon case files

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