Hacker's Memory 241 HM

Section

Extra scenes

Area

Ikebukuro

Lines

98

AkaoAnd that's what happened.

Player...

Erika...

AkaoYes? What is it?

WormmonI think she's wondering what you were talking about.

AkaoArgh! What's that?! A monster?!

WormmonHow rude! I'm Erika's partner Digimon!

AkaoSorry. You startled me.

AkaoI heard you hackers use some unusual programs, but I never expected anything like this...

WormmonI'm Wormmon. Pleased to meet you!

WormmonErika's not much of a talker.

WormmonPlayer and I will talk to you instead.

AkaoFine by me.

WormmonAs much as we enjoyed listening to you reminisce, we still don't know anything about the case. Can you explain it in more detail?

AkaoYes, I'll give you as much information as I can.

AkaoWhat I'm about to tell you wasn't a hallucination. It really happened.

Player???

AkaoIt happened in EDEN.

Player!!!

AkaoI'm sure you look back fondly on your childhood and enjoy meeting up with your old friends, don't you?

Player...

AkaoOf course you do. But I've never been to a reunion.

AkaoI don't have pleasant memories of my elementary school, junior high school, or high school.

AkaoEven so, I had some really good friends in the first few years of elementary school.

Player...

AkaoWe all used to meet up after school.

AkaoThere were nine of us. Looking back now, we all had quite difficult upbringings.

AkaoThat's why we got along so well. Boy or girl, it didn't matter.

AkaoDuring summer vacation, we'd go to all sorts of places together... Parks, forests, alleyways...

AkaoI'd been thinking about those days a lot, but didn't think I'd ever see any of them again.

AkaoEven if I could remember their faces, I'd forgotten their names. We all used nicknames, you see.

AkaoYocchin, Satomin, Riku, Shoutan, Micchan, Tomochi, Yuki, Gomahei...

AkaoI was Kenchan, because my real name's Ken Akao.

AkaoBut I couldn't remember any of their real names. Maybe I never even knew their names.

AkaoThe only things I remembered were the general location of the club we used to go to and the years we went there.

AkaoMy nostalgia drove me to do some digging, and I found the name of the club.

AkaoIt has a social media community, and groups for different generations.

AkaoI joined up and found five of my friends. The six of us spent hours talking about old times.

AkaoOne of them still lives in the area. He managed to track down the other three, and invited them to join us.

AkaoAll nine of us were finally back together again.

AkaoChatting online wasn't enough, but we were all reluctant to meet up in the real world.

AkaoBut these are amazing times we live in.

AkaoNow we have a place where people like us can reunite.

AkaoThe EDEN cyberspace.

Player...!

AkaoWe decided to meet up again, but as our childhood selves, and play like we did back in those days.

WormmonHang on.

WormmonI thought people weren't allowed to use avatars that don't look like their real selves?

ErikaThat hasn't been made law yet, but it's in the EDEN terms of use.

AkaoI know we're breaking the rules...but...!

WormmonRelax. We're in no position to complain about you modifying your avatars. It's not as if we haven't broken a few rules in our time.

WormmonI assume that's why you've come to us instead of the police or Kamishiro?

AkaoThat's right. I hope you understand my situation.

AkaoMeeting up as children is the only way that has any meaning to me...to all of us.

AkaoI modified the avatars myself. I used to have a job doing something similar.

WormmonThen what? Tell us the rest of your story already.

AkaoIt was amazing! We met every weekend!

AkaoWe didn't talk about work or boring stuff like that!

AkaoWe just relived our childhood.

AkaoWe climbed trees, played hide-and-seek, pinball...

AkaoBecause it's cyberspace, we could recreate any place we wanted. We could visit places we always wanted to as children but couldn't.

AkaoThen we went back to our secret base...and the thing I mentioned earlier happened.

AkaoWe were playing a game where I had to guess who was standing behind me. They gave me lots of chances.

AkaoBut it was so strange!

AkaoI kept guessing until I'd said all eight of their names, but they still said I was wrong!

AkaoI thought they were teasing me, so I took the blindfold off.

AkaoWhen I turned around...the person there...

Akao...didn't have a face!

WormmonEeeeek!

ErikaWhy are you so frightened? You've heard this part already!

WormmonIt's the way he tells it! It's so scary!

WormmonAnd a person with no face! That's scary no matter how many times you hear about it. It must be a ghost! A cyberspace ghost!

ErikaSays the digital monster...

AkaoMay I continue?

AkaoIt had no eyes, no nose, no mouth... Nothing.

AkaoI'm ashamed to admit it, but it really shook me up, and I logged out without saying anything to the others.

Player...?

AkaoWhat happened? Who was it?

AkaoThat's all I want to know. I want you to find out.

AkaoPlease...will you help me?

WormmonWhat do you think? It sounds interesting.

ErikaYou took the case. You decide.

ErikaThen let's do it.

WormmonGreat!

WormmonWe'll take your case. Leave it to us!

AkaoThank you! I'll be waiting to hear from you.

WormmonWhat do you make of it, Player?

PlayerIt must be a ghost. It must be an EDEN bug.

ErikaWhy would there be a ghost in cyberspace? Don't talk nonsense.

ErikaRight. There's no such thing as ghosts. There has to be a logical explanation.

WormmonErika, you should be in charge of this investigation. Data analysis is your specialty.

ErikaI'll start by checking the recordings from when the client and his friends met in EDEN.

ErikaIt sounds like they met multiple times. I'll extract some of the footage.

WormmonHmm...

WormmonIt just looks like a bunch of kids playing.

Erika!!!

WormmonHave you noticed something?

ErikaI think I know what's going on here...

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