What A Brother Knows (Digimon Frontier)

Yutaka didn't know why, but Tommy had changed dramatically over the past few days. Gone was the little brat who depended on their parents for everything. Now Tommy was a new boy, helping out around the house, trying to figure out his homework on his own before asking for help, and he never ever whined any more.

Maybe it had to do with Tommy's new friends. A few days ago, he started hanging out with some older kids, and Yutaka decided the change in his brother was due to their influence.

"I met them on the train," Tommy explained, and that sufficed for their parents, but Yutaka wanted to know more. There had to be more to the story then that simple phrase said. So one day, when Tommy went to the park to visit them, Yutaka told his parents he was going out, and followed him.

He was careful not to let on that he was there, walking a ways behind him and taking alternate routes when he could.

Finally he was at the park. Tommy had already found his friends, and they were moving to a wooded area. Quickly, Yutaka hid in the bushes. From there he could hear the kids talking.

"--weird to be back in our world already," the girl said. "And to be living an ordinary life; I still haven't gotten used to being just Zoe again." The others nodded in agreement.

"It's lonely without having Kumamon with me," Tommy said. Kumamon? What was that?

The stories the children told were wild. Stories of another world filled with fantastic beasts, friends and foes alike. And Tommy, little baby Tommy who was so dependent, had stood on his own and helped to save it.

Yutaka couldn't help but feel a swell of pride.