Digimon Frontier: A Hidden Passage

Chapter 1: All Aboard

"It's up to you now. Which one will you choose?"

The young girl stared at her phone, her brows scrunched up in confusion. Up until now, this thing and the mysterious voice coming from it had been giving her very specific instructions. Take this train, transfer to that train, but now it was her turn to decide what she would do. The roles had been reversed in a way. After following orders so direct, this seemed to have come out of nowhere. I might as well go along with this, she thought to herself.

The whole underground station was congested with other kids as if this was a well known station. However, no marks for this particular floor were marked on the elevator. It was almost as if this underground station didn't even exist... yet here it was. The number of other children made the girl feel very packed into the space even though there was enough area around her to let her move freely. Keep it together, Hideko, she tried to reassure herself. It's almost over... at least I hope it is.

The light cast a glare over her glasses as she made her way over to the closest train, trying her darndest to avoid eye contact with anyone and everyone. A cascade of deep red hair billowed about Hideko as she ran, fading into a brilliant wheat color at the ends. Behind her lenses, a pair of emerald green orbs flashed with both fear and excitement. If one didn't know her well enough, one would think that this girl came from nature itself based on her appearance.

As she boarded the train, the eleven year-old could feel a bunch of eyes watching her. Hideko felt a rush of fear run through her at the thought of people staring at her and her ears. Almost instinctively, she pulled her hat down, trying her best to cover them. Hurtful words of others from ages past echoed in her mind; slanderous words that slashed her down to almost nothing and all about something the red-head couldn't control. Shutting her eyes, she ran into the car, her breath coming out shallow.

"One hundred," she recited. "Ninety-seven." It was supposed to help her get through a bout of anxiety, but it was not helping. With each number, all Hideko saw in her mind was her no-good cousin. The scene was so clear in her brain that she might have been living through it all over again. There he was, towering over her, his crystal blue eyes showing nothing but disdain towards her. Red-hot tears poured down her freckled cheeks at the thought of him. She knew she was right to cut him out of her life, but that would never erase the damage he had done.

The train started moving and Hideko was off to wherever her destiny was taking her. The dark of the tunnel slightly filled her with dread. The unknown is something that humans truly fear. It's not the dark itself that children are afraid of, but rather what might be looking in it. The monsters under the bed; the boogeyman in the closet. The dark will warp our perception, causing us to see things that aren't really there. Fortunately for Hideko, she hasn't been scared of the dark since she was six.

In less than a minute, she thought she heard someone entering her train car, but tried to ignore it. Her pale arms wrapped around her knees as the stranger approached, her breath hitching in her throat. "You okay?" Said a voice that Hideko recognized as a boy's. Looking up at the other kid, a rush of embarrassment flooded over her. It was obvious by her tear-stained face that she'd been crying and the last thing she wanted was for anyone to worry about her.

"I..."she mumbled out, gathering her words together. "I'm... fine. I just... want to be left alone, at least for now." Though her voice was soft, the boy seemed to hear her and quickly received the message. As he was about to leave, Hideko looked up simply out of curiosity - those goggles that he was wearing where what caught her eye the most.

"Well, I'm Takuya," he said. "If you want to, come find me when you're feeling better." With this, he left for the next car, leaving Hideko with her thoughts. Did he notice my ears? I don't think he did, but maybe...