Narumi Akira could be said to know Homeostasis well—yet also not know it at all.
It wasn't that his left brain and right brain were fighting.
It was that Homeostasis' own setting had too many places where the "canon" fought itself.
In the anime continuity, Homeostasis represents the Digital World's will toward coordination and stability. It has no body and no fixed form, so it can only support and cultivate agents—intervening indirectly in the Digital World's evolution to keep things stable.
In the manga continuity, Homeostasis becomes something else entirely: after the World Tree is overthrown, it emerges as a new "host computer," capable of directly interfering with the Digital World—yet choosing instead to raise the Archangels as managers, like a hands-off boss who delegates everything.
Those two versions already differ wildly.
But compared to the "game version" of Homeostasis, they were still almost conservative.
Because in the setting of the game Digimon World: Next Order—no, in Digimon Story: Time Stranger—
Homeostasis doesn't just "absorb" the above two versions; it expands into something even higher-dimensional.
It gives form to the Digital World's three great host systems—Yggdrasill, Homeros, and Kunlun—creates a time-space theater to facilitate communication, hands all administrative authority to those hosts, and only steps in when a crisis arises that even the hosts cannot resolve—solving it at minimal cost, like a supreme existence that refuses to waste effort.
With that kind of description, how could it even be the same "Homeostasis" as the earlier versions?
Otherwise, how could Apocalymon elbow Homeostasis into a crash? How could Yggdrasill keep undermining it?
Was Homeostasis secretly an M—someone who just likes incompetent administrators?
In any case, regardless of whether the Homeostasis in Adventure's worldline and the "Time Stranger" version are the same entity, Akira could be sure of one thing:
Homeostasis doesn't like to intervene directly.
So Akira's plan was simple.
First, see whether Homeostasis would choose him. If it did, then he'd follow the normal adventure route—receive his partner Digimon, stick with the group, and clear the Adventure TV storyline: Devimon, Myotismon, the Dark Masters, Apocalymon.
After that, he could just hand the movie plots to Taichi and his "fusion materials" and call it a day.
As for the lingering malice of Myotismon that leads into the 02 plotline…
Whether it became Negamon's snack, or whether he used it to "raise bandits to stabilize borders" would depend on whether Homeostasis tried something like Last Evolution—that disgusting "DigiDestined lose their初心 and their partner Digimon disappears" kind of unloading-the-mule-after-it-plows behavior.
And if Homeostasis didn't choose him…
"Everyone—the snow stopped!" Taichi's voice cut through Akira's thoughts.
The DigiDestined kids poured out of the snow shelter, immediately captivated by the beautiful scene outside.
Akira stepped out too and looked up.
Snow in August—and in the sky above, even a brilliant aurora shimmered. It was mysterious and romantic enough to move anyone's heart.
Akira knew what it really was: extreme climate effects caused by the Earth's magnetic field going haywire.
And he also knew what it meant:
It was the omen that Homeostasis was about to deliver the Holy Plans—and send the chosen children to the Digital World.
"Negamon," Akira asked quietly, "how many Holy Plans did Homeostasis send?"
Seven.
"Only seven…" Akira murmured.
He didn't know whether to call it the moment his suspended hope finally died—or the moment the childhood filter that once bound him finally broke.
He let out a long breath, oddly relieved.
"Looks like… I really wasn't chosen."
Even if there are only seven Holy Plans, that does not mean there is no chance for you.
Perhaps sensing Akira's complicated emotions, Negamon's tone lost some of its "machine-like" quality.
You still have a chance.
"Forget it." Akira shook his head. "What I want is my own Holy Plan and my own crest—not something I can share by borrowing someone else's."
Then… what will you do?
Akira didn't answer immediately. Instead, he asked:
"Is what I asked for finished?"
The moment his words fell, the Darkness Xros Loader released a faint glow. The light gathered in Akira's palm and took shape—
a small orange hair clip.
As requested, I have produced this time-space beacon with teleportation capability.
As long as the holder carries it, even if they are exiled into the void beyond the firewall, the Darkness Xros Loader can locate them.
If the holder faces a life-threatening situation, it will enter emergency mode—forming a protective barrier that even Mega-level Digimon would find difficult to break—and teleport the holder to your side.
"Good." Akira praised it, satisfied. "Thanks for the trouble, Negamon."
This is my responsibility, Negamon replied. Who will you give it to?
Akira didn't answer directly.
He looked toward his childhood friend not far away.
The next instant—
Mimi noticed his gaze. She cut off her conversation with Sora and jogged over, smiling.
"A-Xiao, what is it?"
"Nothing." Akira smiled. "I just thought you looked especially cute today, so I wanted to give you something."
"I-I'm cute every day. Why are you only saying it today…?" Mimi blushed faintly, then asked in a small voice, "Did you do something bad and you're trying to bribe me?"
"No such thing." Akira held up the hair clip in front of her, smiling. "So—do you want it or not?"
"Of course I do." Mimi didn't even look at the clip. She simply closed her eyes and said, "Put it on for me."
Akira didn't say more. He gently brushed through her long hair and clipped the ornament in place. Half-jokingly, he added:
"You'd better wear it properly. It can protect you from harm."
"What is that—like a talisman?" Mimi complained, but the smile on her face refused to hide. "Fine. I'll keep it with me."
After fastening it, Akira smiled. "Sora's waiting for you. Go back."
"I knooow, Grandpa A-Xiao~" Mimi teased, and—perhaps because they were close enough now—she'd learned to joke like that. Smiling, she returned to her best friend.
After watching Mimi rejoin the DigiDestined group, Akira slipped back into the snow shelter without drawing attention.
"Beacon's set. Next we wait for the DigiDestined to enter the Digital World." Akira confirmed with Negamon. "How stealthy is the time-space beacon?"
As long as emergency mode is not activated, it cannot be detected by Digimon below Mega level, Negamon replied. Not even Homeostasis' agents.
"Good," Akira said. "That makes her safer."
The partner Digimon prepared by Homeostasis for the DigiDestined necessarily include 'savior functions.' Negamon sounded puzzled. I understand you want to protect her, but is it necessary to prepare something like this for her?
"I know I'm not one of the chosen," Akira said. "I don't need to force myself into that circle to protect them…"
"But Mimi is different."
"She's my childhood friend." His voice softened just slightly. "She's the girl who'll make me a bento."
Akira guided Negamon with a rhetorical question:
"A girl that good… isn't any amount of protection worth it?"
…I understand.
Sensing the feeling in Akira that wasn't spoken aloud yet was impossible to miss—so vivid it might as well have been visible—
the Digimon that fed on negative emotions felt something stir inside it for no clear reason.
Is this… the emotion that can make Digimon stronger?
The emotion that can even call down miracles?
And then, quietly—almost like a wish it didn't dare say out loud—
Negamon thought:
…If I became human… could I have feelings like these too?
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