Frontiers Unexplored

17) Diamond of the Dark

"Chihiro?" 

Takuya wasn't focused on the rest of the group as Chihiro slowly pushed themselves to their feet, but he knew that voice belonged to Tomoki. The Warrior of Ice continued to speak as Chihiro stumbled to Takuya's side. "You mean... You mean your friend from Earth? You mentioned them before, but I didn't realize this was going to happen..." Tomoki went on. 

Chihiro shot Takuya a small, weary smile as they stood beside him. "It seems I've gained a reputation," they commented. They stumbled over their own feet, nearly crashing into the ground once again, but Takuya managed to stabilize them before such could happen. 

"I want an explanation of what's going on!" Neemon cried out, running up to Chihiro with distress overflowing from his voice. 

"What are you doing in the Digital World?" Takuya questioned, meeting Chihiro's eyes for the first time since they transformed back. Even as he was met with the face of his best friend, it didn't feel real. He didn't want to believe that Chihiro had been under Cherubimon's influence all that time, but he knew that it had to be true. There was too much evidence for him to ignore it no matter how much he wanted to. 

"I got a phone call, and it led me here," Chihiro replied. Their fingers moved towards their waistband, and they pulled a D-Tector away from their hip. The base of it was orange while the grips were brown. Takuya didn't know how he hadn't noticed that it was there before, but as soon as he caught sight of it, he couldn't tear his gaze away. 

"In other words, you're here for the same reasons the rest of us are," Junpei remarked. He gestured for the group to start walking, and after a moment of hesitation, the party's members began moving. Takuya wrapped an arm around Chihiro's torso while they hooked their own arm around his shoulders for the sake of balance. The fight had clearly done a number on their stamina, and Takuya couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt over what happened. 

"Start from the beginning," Koji said, his voice low and menacing. Even if he was used to the rest of the team, Chihiro was a different story, so he was going right back to his distant, somewhat unfriendly ways. It wasn't entirely surprising, but Takuya still found himself hating Koji's sudden shift of tone. 

Chihiro sighed and shook their head. The brim of their hat fell low over their eyes, shielding their face from everyone aside from Takuya. "I already told you. I got a phone call, and it told me to go to Shibuya's train station. I went in the elevator, hopped on a train, and wound up here," they replied. 

"But you were working for Cherubimon... Something else must have taken place," Bokomon declared. He was flicking through his book, undoubtedly curious about if its pages would have any information regarding Chihiro's shift from Cybelemon. The volume was likely devoid of answers, but he continued to examine it anyways. 

"It... It's a bit fuzzy after that, but I remember stepping off the train and into the Digital World ages ago. I was the only one let off the train for some reason. I was the only one in my train car, and all of the others were kept shut. I couldn't tell you why. Anyways, my phone changed shape, and as soon as I stepped off the Trailmon, everything went hazy. I heard Cherubimon's voice in my head, and he practically shoved the Spirit of Aeoelmon onto me. Afterwards, I transformed, and I've been like that ever since," Chihiro explained. 

"But... Shouldn't you have recognized Takuya?" Izumi questioned, concern written all over her face. "You two knew each other back on Earth, so I would have thought that you would recognize him..."

"Cherubimon gave me a virus that kept me from switching back to my regular self. My guess is that whatever he did then sealed away some of my memories. All I remembered was pain back then," Chihiro muttered, looking at the ground. "He was deliberate about what I was allowed to think about. I knew that Takuya existed, but I couldn't recognize him when we ran into each other on the battlefield. I remembered everything shitty about the past, but most positive memories were gone. It was definitely intentional for the sake of controlling me."