Chapter 10: First of All, I Am Not a Girl!
Rustle, rustle.
Leaves crunched underfoot, accompanied by the rhythmic swaying of dense tropical ferns brushing against clothes. The children trudged through the humid rainforest of File Island. The frantic, lungs-burning desperation of their earlier escape had finally faded, replaced by the heavy, sticky heat of the jungle. Now that the immediate threat of giant pincers snapping at their heels was gone, they could finally take a proper breath and absorb their bizarre surroundings.
Seizing the lull in tension, Mizuki fell into step beside the group. A faint, easygoing smile touched his lips.
"Hmm. Where should we start?" he mused aloud, his voice light enough to cut through the lingering anxiety. "Oh, that's right. I almost forgot our manners. Let's introduce ourselves first."
He turned his head. The spiky-haired silhouette of Yagami Taichi reflected in his pale, light pink eyes.
"My name is Mizuki, and my age... is probably right around yours."
Taichi blinked, clearly a bit caught off guard by Mizuki's striking, almost ethereal appearance, but his natural outgoing demeanor quickly took over. "I'm Yagami Taichi, though I guess I already yelled that out earlier." He gestured down to the small girl clinging to his side. "And this is my younger sister, Yagami Kari."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Kari stepped forward just a fraction of an inch and offered a very polite, obedient bow to Mizuki. The moment the greeting was finished, she immediately shrank back, her small hands instinctively gripping the fabric of Taichi's shirt as she pressed herself against him again.
Watching the display, Mizuki held back a quiet sigh. Sure enough, the legendary brother complex was already in full force at this age.
Not that it mattered to him. Despite being a reincarnator dropped into a fantastical world, Mizuki possessed absolutely zero interest in playing the role of a harem-seeking protagonist trying to conquer every female in sight. Besides, Kari was literally a child. The very thought was absurd.
Following Taichi's gesturing hand, Mizuki shifted his gaze to the next person in line.
"This is Izumi Izzy," Taichi declared, clapping a hand on the smaller boy's shoulder. "Don't let his small stature fool you, Izzy is incredibly capable."
"The 'small stature' part was completely unnecessary, Taichi," Izzy muttered. He adjusted his laptop strap, trying to project an air of helpless exasperation, but the faint upward twitch of his lips betrayed his delight at the older boy's praise.
Mizuki watched the exchange with mild amusement. Whether it was just his imagination playing tricks on him or not, he could swear that the moment Taichi and Izzy shared that friendly banter, Kari's grip on her brother's arm tightened just a fraction more.
'This social circle is already a messy web,' Mizuki thought to himself, a dry, trollish melody playing in his head.
One by one, the rest of the group followed suit, offering their own brief introductions. It matched Mizuki's memories perfectly. Aside from the unexplained early presence of Yagami Kari, the roster remained exactly the same.
Takenouchi Sora. Joe Kido. Tachikawa Mimi. Takaishi Takeru.
And... Ishida Matt.
"..."
Mizuki met the blonde boy's eyes. Again, he wondered if he was just overthinking things, but Matt's stare felt heavy. Beneath the expected layers of caution and vigilance toward a stranger, there was a distinct, prickly edge of displeasure directed straight at him.
Mizuki blinked, genuinely confused. He fully admitted that in his past life, he had never been particularly fond of Matt's tendency to fracture the team's unity. But he was a rational person. He wasn't about to project the flaws of an anime character onto the living, breathing kid standing right in front of him. He had treated everyone with the same polite distance. So, theoretically, he hadn't done a single thing to offend this guy yet. Right?
He mentally shrugged off the hostility. It wasn't worth the headache right now.
He decided to refocus his attention on Taichi. It was simply much easier and far more comfortable to converse with someone who wore their cheerful heart on their sleeve.
But before Mizuki could get a word out, a voice piped up from behind him.
"Um... May I ask a question?"
Mizuki paused and turned. Tachikawa Mimi was staring at him, her oversized pink hat tilted back.
"Why did your little cat turn into... such a scary big sister?" she asked, pointing a hesitant finger.
Mizuki glanced over his shoulder at the towering, leather-clad figure of LadyDevimon, who was currently radiating a dark, intimidating aura that kept the other Digimon at a healthy distance. He turned back to Mimi.
"Because she evolved."
He looked around at the circle of children. "Digimon. Since you all arrived in this world and met your partners, you should have at least a basic understanding of what they are, right?"
Mimi blinked slowly. Beside her, Palmon tilted her leafy head at the exact same angle, perfectly synchronizing their expressions of utter blankness.
Mizuki couldn't help but tilt his own head in response. "Alright. If you don't mind me being a bit long-winded, I will give you the short version."
The children gathered closer, their eyes wide with expectation. Mizuki cleared his throat softly, his tone shifting into something calm and instructional.
"Digimon, as you can see around you, are mysterious lifeforms composed entirely of network data. Within their lifespans, they are generally categorized into several distinct evolutionary stages." He raised a hand, ticking the levels off on his slender fingers. "They begin at the Fresh stage, then move to In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and finally, Mega."
He lowered his hand. "When a Digimon accumulates enough data, their core rewrites itself, allowing them to evolve into the next, more powerful stage. That is exactly why your respective partners changed forms to protect you earlier, and it is the same reason my BlackGatomon transformed."
Mizuki paused, letting the information settle before snapping his fingers with a crisp, echoing click. "Think of it like gathering experience points to level up your character in a video game. Does that make sense?"
Staring at the gentle-mannered, exquisitely featured young man explaining the mechanics of their bizarre reality, the children exchanged quick, enlightened glances.
"Understood!" they chorused in unison.
The brief lecture did wonders for the group's morale. Taichi and the others quickly realized that despite the terrifying, oppressive presence of LadyDevimon looming nearby, Mizuki himself was incredibly easygoing and approachable. The thick tension that had gripped them since the cliff collapsed was finally beginning to dissipate.
Following Taichi and Mimi's lead, the third person to actively approach Mizuki was Takaishi Takeru.
Tied with Kari as the youngest member of the group, Takeru's natural, lively curiosity bounced back the moment he felt safe. He trotted up to Mizuki, his eyes sparkling with absolute awe.
"Big Sister Mizuki, can I ask you a question too?" Takeru asked, his voice dripping with childish expectation. "How did you do that super amazing thing back there? You actually kicked that giant bug monster away with just one strike!"
Big Sister...
The words hit Mizuki like a physical blow. His foot caught on an exposed tree root, and he pitched forward, nearly face-planting straight into the jungle dirt.
He managed to catch his balance at the very last second, his arms windmilling slightly before he righted himself. He stood frozen for a moment, staring blankly ahead.
'It seems my hair is a bit too long,' he thought dryly.
Between his extended stay in the hospital ward leaving him without a proper haircut, and the severe albinism that stripped all pigment from his skin and hair, he supposed being mistaken for a pretty girl wasn't entirely illogical.
Mizuki released a long, heavy sigh. He looked down at the expectant blonde boy and offered a helpless, strained smile.
"First of all, Takaishi Takeru. I am not a 'Big Sister'." He pointed a thumb at his own chest. "I am a boy. Just like you."
Takeru's jaw dropped.
"Secondly," Mizuki continued, ignoring the collective shock rippling through the group, "I am not nearly as amazing as you think I am. I simply understand the anatomy of a Kuwagamon. I knew exactly where its weak points were, and I struck them. That is all."
"Eh?!"
The children gasped in unison, their eyes widening to comical proportions. Mizuki felt their gazes boring into him—some intensely inquiring, others burning with sheer curiosity. He reached up, rubbing the back of his neck, seriously debating whether he needed to find a sharp rock to hack off his long white hair the moment they set up camp.
Takeru, completely unsatisfied with such a humble, perfunctory answer, opened his mouth to rapid-fire another dozen questions. Before he could get a single syllable out, a hand clamped down on his shoulder and yanked him backward.
"Brother?" Takeru blinked, looking up.
Matt stood there, his face set in a stern, uncompromising scowl. "That is enough, Takeru. Can't you see you are bothering him?"
Matt's grip on his brother's shoulder was firm. "It is incredibly rude to act so overly familiar with someone you have only just met."
Properly chastised, Takeru drooped. He turned back to Mizuki, bowing his head. "Okay. I'm sorry, Big Sister Mizuki—oh, no! I mean, Big Brother Mizuki."
Mizuki waved a hand dismissively, his expression softening. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." He genuinely didn't care about the slip-up.
"Speaking of which, Mizuki," Mimi chimed in, stepping forward to fill the silence. She tilted her head, studying his face. "Your name doesn't really sound like it's from our country, does it?"
Mizuki arched an eyebrow.
"From the pronunciation, it sounds like it might be from Yanxia—or China, rather?" she guessed.
"China?" Taichi's eyes lit up, his gaze sweeping over Mizuki with renewed, intense curiosity. "Whoa! If you're from there, then the fact that you're so insanely capable totally makes sense! I heard everyone over there has mastered super powerful kung fu!"
Mizuki stared at the goggle-wearing boy. 'Hey, hey... what kind of ridiculous, outdated stereotype is that?'
"Speaking of which, is there even a surname like that over there?" Taichi pressed.
"To be precise," Mizuki corrected gently, "the character for my original surname was different. It traced its roots back to the descendants of Fuxi. While people carrying that specific ancient surname are incredibly rare nowadays, they do still exist."
He wasn't entirely surprised that Mimi knew enough to guess his origins. Given her wealthy family background and frequent international travels, she was bound to have a broader worldly perspective than the average kid.
"However," Mizuki continued, his voice dropping into a softer, more reflective cadence, "I changed the character of my name. The reason is quite simple. I just wanted a name that represented sunshine. I wanted my future to be filled with hope."
A quiet stillness settled over the group. The children looked at the pale boy, catching the faint, melancholic shadow that flickered behind his light pink eyes. It was the look of someone who carried a heavy, painful story.
Taichi, driven by his blunt curiosity, opened his mouth to ask exactly what that story was.
A hand shot out, grabbing Taichi's arm. Izzy stepped forward, cutting him off before he could speak.
"Taichi, that is enough," Izzy warned, his voice low but firm. "It would be rude to pry any further."
Izzy's sharp mind had already pieced the clues together. Between Mizuki's fragile, hospital-pale appearance, his snow-white hair, and the heavy implications behind wanting a future 'filled with hope,' Izzy deduced that the older boy's past was likely fraught with suffering. He wasn't going to let Taichi blunder into those open wounds.
"Ah—" Taichi blinked, the realization dawning on him. He snapped his mouth shut and rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks flushing with awkward guilt. "Oh. Right."
Seeing the sudden spike of tension, Mizuki merely offered a soft, reassuring smile. His demeanor was like a gentle spring breeze, effortlessly brushing away the heavy, awkward atmosphere that had threatened to suffocate the group.
After all, everything was in the past now, wasn't it?
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