Chapter 126: I Can't Do Anything...
The low murmurs of conversation drifting from the pitched tents gradually faded into the night, replaced by the soft, rhythmic cadence of steady breathing. Sleep had finally claimed the exhausted children.
By the crackling bonfire, Izzy remained wide awake. The glow of his laptop screen painted his face in pale blue light as his fingers danced quietly across the keyboard. Tentomon rested close by his side, a silent and steadfast guardian.
Across the dancing flames, Piximon perched atop a weathered tree stump, her large eyes quietly observing the red-haired boy.
The small fairy Digimon could easily read the heavy tension rolling off the boy's shoulders. Izzy clearly had a burning question locked behind his lips, yet he swallowed the words every time he glanced toward the sleeping camp. He was waiting. He needed absolute certainty that the others were deeply asleep, ensuring whatever secret he harbored would remain strictly between the two of them.
A spark of genuine curiosity flickered within Piximon.
Despite her interest, she made no move to break the silence. In any negotiation, the one who spoke first surrendered the high ground. Let the human child come to her. He was the one seeking answers, after all. It was a calculating mindset that contrasted sharply with her round, pink, and utterly harmless exterior.
The crackle of a collapsing log sent a shower of orange sparks into the night sky. Izzy stopped typing. He closed the laptop with a soft click, his gaze lifting to meet the fairy's eyes. He seemed to sense that the time was right.
"Teacher Piximon..." His voice was barely a whisper, yet it carried a heavy, decisive weight. "May I ask you a question?"
"A question? How interesting, pi! I was wondering how long you were going to hold that in, pi!"
She maintained her usual cheerful verbal tic, yet the underlying cadence of her voice carried the measured maturity of a seasoned mentor.
"You do not need to worry about waking the others. Ask whatever weighs on your mind." Meeting Izzy's intense stare, Piximon casually twirled her spear, the Fairy Tale, between her tiny hands. "I have already established a soundproof barrier around our perimeter, pi! Not a single word of our conversation will reach anyone else's ears, pi!"
"Is that so... that is a huge help."
Izzy let out a long, shaky breath. He did not waste time dancing around the subject. His hands curled into tight fists atop his knees as he looked straight at the fairy.
"Teacher Piximon, I need to know about Mizuki." He paused, his throat bobbing as he forced the final words out. "Is he still alive?"
Piximon's wings stopped fluttering. A brief, sharp frown marred her round face, though she quickly smoothed her expression back into a mask of calm detachment.
"Straight to the point, pi?" She floated a few inches higher, studying the boy with renewed interest. "I assumed someone with your naturally cautious and reserved personality would beat around the bush a bit more, pi..."
"However..."
Piximon leaned forward, catching Izzy's reflection in her large, dark eyes. The boy, usually so timid and prone to overthinking, now possessed a gaze of pure, unyielding steel. His brows were drawn together in a fierce scowl of determination. He was not going to back down. He would sit by this fire until the sun rose if it meant extracting the truth from her.
"I see, pi." Piximon nodded slowly, a faint smile touching her lips. "A seemingly fragile exterior hiding a heart that burns as hot as the blazing sun, pi? You rarely show this kind of stubbornness, but that is simply because the stakes have never involved someone this important to you, pi."
A glint of playful teasing flashed in the fairy's eyes as she twirled her spear again. "Do you really care for that Mizuki boy so deeply, pi?"
"Piximon... that is not funny."
Under normal circumstances, Izzy would have flushed bright red, stammering over his words at the teasing implication. Tonight, however, there was no room for embarrassment. A friend's life hung in the balance, and the sheer gravity of the situation stripped away his usual awkwardness. He stared her down, his expression completely devoid of humor.
Recognizing the absolute gravity in his eyes, Piximon stopped smiling. The playful demeanor vanished entirely.
"Alright, Izzy. I apologize for the teasing, pi." She lowered her spear, her tone dropping an octave into something ancient and commanding. "I will give you the answer you seek. But before I do..."
"May I ask you a question?"
As the final syllable left her lips, a blinding pillar of pure white light erupted from Piximon's small frame. The data of digivolution surged through the clearing, illuminating the surrounding trees in a brilliant, divine glow.
The small fairy silhouette stretched and shifted within the light. When the radiance shattered into a shower of digital feathers, a stunning, angelic figure stood in her place.
Venusmon.
"Facing you in my Mega level form is my way of showing you the utmost respect," Venusmon spoke, her voice now a melodic, echoing harmony that commanded the very air around them. She offered Izzy a solemn nod. "Now, back to the matter at hand."
"Izzy, what exactly does it mean to be alive, in your opinion?"
"What... counts as being alive?"
The philosophical weight of the question caught Izzy off guard. He subconsciously furrowed his brow, his analytical mind immediately dissecting the query.
"If we go strictly by biological definitions, the continuation of vital signs and physical life functions means being alive..."
"But you know better than that." Venusmon shook her head gently. Her stunning features, illuminated by the flickering orange glow of the campfire, carried a deep, sorrowful wisdom. "I want to hear more than just a textbook definition from you."
Izzy pressed his lips into a thin line. He looked down at the dirt, taking a long, deep breath as he searched past his logic and into his heart.
"...Beyond the physical body, if there is anything else that defines being alive..." He looked back up, his voice steadying. "That would be the continuation of the spirit. The memories retained in the minds of those left behind. As long as those traces of existence have not vanished from the world, then a person can indeed be said to still be alive."
Alive. Living on in the hearts of others.
A warm look of genuine appreciation softened Venusmon's divine features.
"You understand it perfectly, do you not?" she murmured, her voice wrapping around him like a comforting embrace. "Izzy, when determining whether someone is truly alive, we do not always need to be constrained by the limitations of a physical form."
"Of course, I am not implying that physical survival lacks importance, but our perspective should not be chained solely to flesh and blood. As long as the spirit of that cherished person continues to burn brightly in the hearts of his friends, he has never truly left you."
Venusmon paused, the heavy atmosphere shifting as she adopted a gentler, far more relaxed tone.
"Besides, he has not actually departed yet, has he? Although only his spirit remains, he is indeed here. Right beside you. You can see him. You can touch him."
"In other words... it is exactly as I feared."
Izzy murmured, a deeply bitter smile twisting his lips.
Venusmon had not given him a blunt confirmation, but her philosophical detour was all the answer he needed. The physical body was gone.
At this moment, despite spending hours mentally preparing himself for this exact conclusion, the reality of it struck him like a physical blow. A sudden, overwhelming wave of weakness washed over his limbs, causing him to sway dangerously toward the dirt.
"Izzy!" Tentomon cried out in alarm, quickly scuttling forward to brace his heavy carapace against the boy's back, keeping him upright.
"I am fine... Tentomon. Thank you."
Watching the boy look as though his very soul had been drained away, Venusmon tilted her head, a flicker of genuine confusion crossing her face.
"Do you not understand? Although that boy's physical body may indeed have perished, he is currently still very much alive in this world."
"No, Venusmon... that is not what I meant."
Izzy shook his head slowly, struggling to catch his breath and force his spiraling emotions back under control.
"I am just... I am just terrified." He looked up at the Mega Digimon, his eyes shining with unshed tears. "I do not know if Mizuki can truly face this cruel truth. If he cannot get past this hurdle, how am I supposed to help him?"
Izzy's voice cracked. He raised his trembling hand, curling his fingers into a tight fist before slamming it viciously into the hard dirt beside his knee.
"Damn it... He helped us so much. He bled for us. But now that he is the one who desperately needs help, I..."
He ground his teeth together, his jaw locking as a deep sense of uselessness threatened to choke him.
"I cannot do anything..."
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