Digimon Re: Integrate Vol. 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I had read all sorts of horror stories online about awful cafeteria food. As a rule, school food was nasty, and, according to the internet, college food was no exception.

I never knew anything about that, though. From where I was standing—or sitting—cafeteria food wasn't half bad. Not gourmet, by any means, but pretty good.

[ i w a n t t o t r y s o me ] read a line in the notepad app on my smartphone.

[ That's gonna be hard to arrange since you're in my phone ] I wrote on the line beneath it.

[ n o f a i r ]

Jyarimon flapped his wings to signify exasperation.

[ Sorry, dude ] I wrote before taking a too-big bite out of my hamburger. [ The day you're able to eat them, I'll buy you all the hamburgers you want. ]

[ p o u t ]

[ Pout? ]

[ y o u c a n t s e e m e p o u t i n g s o i m t e l l i n g y o u ]

[ That's mature. ]

[ p o u t . ]

I chuckled as the tiny red sprite flapped its appendages in a tantrum.

[ y o u r e l a u g h i n g ! ? ]

[ Of course not. I just choked on my food a little, that's all. ]

[ l i a r ! ]

After what happened last night, I was glad to see that Jyarimon was back to his usual, energetic self. Seeing him so deflated and exhausted, I had worried that he wouldn't recover, if that term could even apply to a program. If some kind of change had occurred within Jyarimon's data, it stood to reason that the change would be permanent. Despite my concerns, though, Jyarimon was back to bouncing around my desktop and demanding to play after a good night's rest. I still wasn't sure whether or not it made sense to worry about a program—probably a virus, at that. Still, I had to admit I was relieved.

I was nearly halfway through my burger when I felt a tap on my right shoulder.

"Hmmff?" I mumbled in the middle of taking a bite. I turned, burger still in my mouth. "Mmmmgh!?" I choked when I saw who had tapped my shoulder.

"Excuse me," said a slender, fair-skinned girl with perfectly-straightened, chestnut-colored hair held out of her face by a silver hair clip. "I don't mean to bother you during your meal, but..."

I threw my sandwich onto the plate in front of me and swallowed with a loud gulp. "No, it's no trouble at all," I said, shaking my head vigorously.

The girl batted thick eyelashes over crystal-blue eyes. "You're sure?"

"Sure I am! But, uhm...what is that you want from me? Urk—! I mean...that came out wrong. Can I...help you with something?"

"Actually, there is something. But, firstly..." The girl's cheeks turned red, and she turned her face away, covering her mouth with her hand. "I don't know how you're doing that without touching your phone, but could you stop writing those embarrassing things?"

"Embarrassing...huh?" I picked up my phone and looked at it. The sound I made when I saw the screen went a little something like "Uwegh!?"

[ s h e s p r e t t y ! ] went the first line. [ d o e s s h e l i k e y o u ? ] went another. [ t e l l h e r s h e s p r e t t y ! ] said the last line.

"That's...! Th-That's not...!" I stuttered, looking for the right words. "That's something else! Totally unrelated!"

"Oh," the girl said. She turned back to me, unabashed. "My apologies."