Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

51) History's Intermission

Meiko didn't think that sleeping had ever felt quite so good. 

The group's return from the Dark Ocean was ultimately met with congratulations from the previous generation of Chosen Children. Of course, that was cut short when Maki winced and shook her head at the sight of her overwhelmingly exhausted juniors, and she simply shook her head before sending them off in the direction of the door to head back home and get some sleep. The Dark Ocean mission hadn't lasted anywhere near as long as some of them were expecting, but they were still beyond tired after how it had all ended. 

Meiko had fallen asleep as soon as she got back home, pretending to not see the strange glances that her parents were giving her. She had told them all that she could about the situation at hand, and while they hadn't openly pushed her on the matter, Meiko knew that it was just a matter of time before they finally started to ask her questions. Her exhaustion had been apparent enough that she was able to worm her way out of initial inquiries when she went off to her room to sleep, and from there, all of her other worries fell away. 

Life was simple when she was asleep, truth be told. Meiko wound up resting for longer consecutively than she ever had up to that point. She was asleep for almost eighteen full hours before she finally managed to rouse herself from slumber to go off and take care of the rest of her business regarding coming home. Meicoomon was back to her regular form after being tired from the fight with Dagomon, so if one didn't squint too hard, it was easy to pretend that life had gone back to the way that it should have been for Meiko Mochizuki. 

Of course, that involved people pretending that Meiko's parents weren't still shooting her strange glances. Her father wasn't home much, but he had been taking more time off his job at the data bureau as of late just to keep an eye on her out of a need born of his own paranoia. It was strange for Meiko, and she found it so peculiar that she couldn't help but look over in his direction each time that she was sure that he wasn't watching her first. It was a strange game of silent tag that they were playing with her father trying to figure out what had happened that she hadn't started to tell them about yet as Meiko attempted to see what it was that Satoshi thought of the whole operation. It was complicated, and Meiko decided rather early on that she didn't want to be caught in this complex game of back and forth for any longer than she absolutely had to be. 

Everything came to a grinding halt a few days after the Dark Ocean encounter drew to a close though. Meiko had been going about her regular morning routine, starting off by brushing her teeth, when her phone began to buzz from its place on her bed. Meicoomon, who was sleeping a bit later than usual as a way of celebrating their victory in the Dark Ocean, peeked one eye open in curiosity. "You have a text," Meicoomon explained. 

Meiko spit out the remnants of her toothpaste after she was finished with the job in question, and she made her way over to the bed to scoop up her phone. She frowned as she examined the screen, realizing quickly that the message was from none other than Mimi. It was a text to the group chat of the Chosen Children saying that they were going to have to get together to celebrate all that they had done the next day since tomorrow--August first--was apparently a special day. 

Meiko frowned at the phrasing. Was August first at all special? She hadn't ever gotten that impression, truth be told, though she supposed that it was probably something relating to the Chosen Children that she hadn't yet come to comprehend. There were many things about the dynamics within the group that she didn't understand yet, so the more that she thought about it, the more such an explanation made sense. 

Before Meiko had the chance to potentially embarrass herself by asking what it was that made August first so special, a private message from Mimi came through to her. Meiko opened it up quickly as she sat down on her bed, still wrapped in a towel from her morning shower. Her damp hair fell over her shoulders, and Meicoomon peered over her arm to see what the message said: