That's Why I'm Here Right Now
Summary: This is how I imagine a prologue for Digimon Adventure Tri would play out coming from the perspective of a Taiora fan. I'm sticking to the canon of Sorato though, sorry to disappoint.
Contains a minor original character I'd imagine Taichi having a budding romance with.
I met you.
This world has chosen the reality and the future which shouldn't have been chosen.
"Hikari, just what is your brother's problem?"
"Don't you think it's a bit late to be asking that?"
"And just what is that supposed to mean?"
"We've all noticed it, you two drifting apart these past two years. We all thought you'd get upset about it right away, but don't tell me you're just now noticing it Sora?"
Those words hurt. Of course she noticed, how could she not? Taichi was her best friend for all these years, but now he barely says a word to her. He's not particularly cold towards her, they just can't seem to strike up a conversation as casually and naturally as they used to.
"So you asked to come over to talk about him, huh? Have you talked to Yamato about it? Those two are so close now, after all." Hikari raises an eyebrow.
"Sorry for intruding." Sora's head drops below her shoulders for a bit, "Every time I try to ask Yamato about it all he does is play dumb. He gets that nervous look on his face like he's hiding something. Seriously, that boyfriend of mine." Sora clenches her fists, "It's been three years since we started dating, and he still hides things from me!"
Hikari has a curious look on her face as she watches Sora get flustered. Sora takes notice of this.
"What?"
"Well, I had my doubts when this all went down three years ago, but now I definitely see that it was obvious to everyone except for you." Hikari giggles after leaving her vague comment open to interpretation.
"Again, I don't get it. Seriously, could you just be upfront about it?"
Sora glares at Hikari intently. Hikari replies with a look that seems to say "Are you sure you want to know?" This only serves to strengthen Sora's resolve, as she continues the stare down with no intention of backing off. After about half a minute, Hikari relents. She takes a deep breath and says the most ridiculous thing Sora has ever heard in her life.
"Well, not like it matters at this point. Taichi obviously has no intentions of ever telling you this. But, he's had feelings for you for years." Sora bursts in to laughter, obviously not taking Hikari seriously.
Hikari pauses for a moment before she decides to continue, "You two seemed to really get along that you were almost a lovey-dovey couple from the beginning. Everyone thought that you two needed to just make it official already. Until three years ago that is."
"Wait, you're being serious, aren't you?"
Sora notices Hikari's eyebrow twitch and her face starting to scrunch up. Sora takes in a deep breath and tries to process all of the information that was laid bare to her. The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. It made sense, but she couldn't accept it.
"What a stupid reason to keep his distance from me."
"Well, from what you told me, you haven't exactly been putting up the effort to maintain your friendship with him either." Sora could hear a hint of venom in her words, "Besides, what has happened to make you so all bent out of shape about it now? Like I said, it's a bit late to be noticing this now."
Sora thinks for a moment, "I guess a lot of things have been building up over the years, and I'm just now ready to pop from the pressure of it all." Sora stares at the floor of Hikari's room dejectedly. "He's so much closer to Yamato now than he is with me. I can't help but feel like I've been replaced. Not to mention the transfer student in our class."
"Yui Okabe right?" Before Sora gets a chance to question her she continues, "Taichi has mentioned her a couple of times."
"Did he mention that they laugh and joke around together like we used to?" Sora says bitterly.
"My, is someone jealous?" Hikari giggles a bit.
"Of course I am! I just feel like I've been completely replaced! He sits behind me in class, every day. I have to hear him talk about his soccer games with her like he used to talk to me about them! He makes fun of her the way he used to make fun of me. He laughs with her the way he used to laugh with me… I just..." She mutters this next part, "Miss my best friend."
"Why don't you try talking to him?"
"If it were that easy, I would have done it already." Sora sighs once more, "Every time I try to talk to him he just smiles like he always does and I lose my nerve to confront him about it."
Hikari jumps a bit in surprise when there is a knock at the door. Not her bedroom door, but the door to the apartment itself. She stands up to go see who is at the door, and is surprised to see the new transfer student they had just been talking about standing there when she opens it.
"Hello, I'm Yui Okabe. is Taichi here? We were supposed to study together." She seems timid for some odd reason, but Hikari invites her in.
"I'm Taichi's little sister, Hikari! Nice to meet you." They greet each other for the first time, exchanging pleasantries.
"Taichi is still at soccer practice, putting in some extra training, but come in!" Hikari smiles brightly at her guest. "Oh, my parents aren't home and truth is I have a friend over so I'd feel bad about leaving you alone in the living room so come to my room!"
Sora is still sitting on the floor the same way Hikari left her, and is visibly shocked when she sees her come back with Yui in tow.
"Takenouchi? What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing! Oh, and you can call me Sora." Before Yui has a chance to respond Sora explains, "I'm friends with Hikari."
"You're my brother's friend too, you know." Hikari interjects.
"He hasn't been acting like it very much lately."
"Oh give him more credit, he's still been there for you when you needed him these past couple years."
Sora gets embarrassed that she's being reprimanded by a girl three years younger than her. What's worse is that it's in front of a classmate of hers. It's true that the few times she had needed Taichi to be there for her, he had been. Whenever she had a fight with her mother, and Yamato wasn't around to comfort her, Taichi would do something to cheer her up, albeit without saying very much to her. Whether it was just bringing her some sweets, or sitting next to her and listening while she vented for a bit.
"Ah, he did mention how you two used to be close." Yui surprises Sora with her knowledge on the subject.
"He's talked about me?"
"A few times, just when he was helping me get familiar with everyone in our class."
The atmosphere became a bit awkward and tense. Surprisingly again, Yui decides to break the silence.
"To answer your question from earlier, we were supposed to study together, but that idiot is late," her words break the silence and Hikari's room quickly fills with laughter.
"He does love that soccer ball. He started to get scouted last year by some universities after all, I've never seen him so determined. Although, it's just like him to be late for a study date because he can't bring himself to tear himself away from that damn ball." Hikari is sure to emphasize the words "study date" in an attempt to tease the newcomer. She has the outward appearance of being innocent, but on the inside she's actually a sly fox.
"I wouldn't say it's a date..." Yui fidgets at her spot on the floor, falling for Hikari's trap hook, line, and sinker.
Sora can't help but laugh at this spectacle, "Hikari you can be so mean sometimes," she says this, but can't help but join in on the fun, "But I'm warning you, if you're not more open about it he'll never understand. You have to just put it all out there to get it through his thick skull!" Sora laughs even harder as Yui continues to become more and more visibly flustered.
All of a sudden they hear the slamming of the door.
"I'm home!" Taichi notices the extra pair of shoes at the door not belonging to his parents. "Hikari, I'm going to take a shower then I'll make dinner! Ask your friends if they're going to stay over!" Taichi yells through the closed door of Hikari's room.
"Crap, I was planning on leaving before he got back." Sora starts to panic, "I'll just leave when he gets in the shower."
"But, isn't this a good time to try and talk to him? You'll never fix your friendship if you keep running away," Sora looks away in embarrassment. Being reprimanded by someone younger than you never feels good.
"I can't help it, I don't know what I should say to him!"
"You're telling me to be honest with him when you can't even be?" Yui interjects playfully.
"You have a point there..." the three girls burst in to laughter once more. However, a certain sound catches their attention.
"Is that…?"
"No way..."
Sora and Yui are in disbelief of what they're hearing. An angelic male voice along with the sound of running water. The voice was full of emotion and passion. Hikari laughs at the sound of her brother singing in the shower.
"I can't believe he doesn't know that it's so easy to hear him when he does that." Sora and Yui shoot Hikari questioning looks, "He always sings in the shower. He's been doing it for years. He's actually gotten pretty good at singing. My parents and I never told him that we could hear him, we thought he'd die of embarrassment."
Sora couldn't believe what she was hearing is Taichi's singing voice. It sounded so beautiful, but the song was so sad. She looks over at Yui's face to see it redden more and more. Yui was clearly happy to have found even more positive qualities in her little crush.
The singing stops, and so does the sound of running water, but Sora can't stop thinking about that voice. Yui and Hikari continue chatting and getting to know each other.
"Come in!" Hikari responds to a knocking on her door.
"Hikari are your fr-" he freezes in his tracks for a second, shocked to see Sora and Yui sitting her Hikari's room with her. Although, he recovers pretty quickly, "Hey Sora, hey Yui." When he greets Yui he seems to remember something, "Crap! Sorry, Yui! I got caught up in training so much that I lost track of time. We can study after dinner, I'll get right on it!"
"Taichi." Sora stands up and looks him straight in the eye.
"Uhh… yeah?" Taichi nervously chuckles.
"Yamato is looking for another singer to help out his band. Can you help him out?" Taichi's face starts to redden and opens and closes his mouth not being able to find words to say.
"You heard that?" He hangs his head, his secret out in the open. Sora says nothing in response, but continues to look at him pleadingly.
"You know that's impossible, I'm so busy with soccer after all. I wouldn't be able to commit much time to helping him out." Taichi looks away from her gaze as if he felt he would give in if he were to look in to her eyes any more.
"It'd just be on occasion, you don't need to make a huge time commitment at all!"
"I'm not even that good, Yamato is a way better singer than I am." Taichi crosses his arms in defiance to stand his ground.
"You're still pretty good, you'd definitely be able to help Yamato out a lot! Besides, why don't we let Yamato be the judge of that, I'm sure he'd love to have you help out." Sora continues to plead.
Hikari and Yui look at each other for a moment, having no idea what to do. Hikari thinks to herself for a minute and gets an interesting idea.
"We should go to karaoke."
"Hah?"
Taichi turns to the source of that ridiculous suggestion. It was none other than his little sister.
"You, Sora, Yamato, Yui, and I should go to karaoke! I'll bring Takeru too!" Hikari beams.
"Great idea Hikari! It'll be like a group date!" Sora hugs Hikari excitedly.
"G-group date?" Taichi is taken aback.
He looks at Yui who only smiles in return. He then looks at Sora, who is asking him with those pleading eyes of hers. Finally, he turns to Hikari with her little sister charm turned up to the max.
"Fine, there's no way I can deny my little sister when she's looking at me like that anyway." Taichi concedes with a sigh.
It's Saturday. The day they all planned to meet for a karoke group date. Sora told Yamato about how she heard Taichi singing in the shower and he couldn't help but laugh at the thought.
"Yamato!" Sora opens the door and gives her boyfriend a hug.
"Hey Sora, ready to go?" Sora nods with a smile and closes the door behind her.
There was still a couple of hours before they needed to meet up with the others for karaoke. So Sora and Yamato decide to stop by a cafe to talk, as they haven't had time for each other very much this week.
"I still can't see that guy singing." Yamato chuckles, "But if you say he was talented, then I believe you." He notices Sora staring out the window thoughtfully, "What's wrong? It's not like you to space out very much."
"Well, when I went to talk to Hikari, she told me a lot of things," her boyfriend looks at her intently, urging her to go on, "Apparently, Taichi has been harboring feelings for me all these years. And that's why he's kept his distance. Did you know that?"
Yamato begins to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Sora pouts as Yamato begins his story.
"Yamato, I need to talk to you if you have some time."
"What's up Taichi? You never stop by the music room. I always have time for a friend." He chuckles for a bit, but stops when he notices Taichi's serious demeanor. "Seriously, what's going on?"
"I'm fully expecting you to take this the wrong way." Taichi closes his eyes for a second and opens them with a resolve in his eyes that has been absent since they saved the world. "But, as your friend I need to be honest with you. I'm in love with Sora and I have been for years."
Yamato furrows his brow in anger, "What did you ju-"
"Let me finish, please. I have no plans to interfere with your relationship," his resolve does not falter, "in fact, I support you two wholeheartedly, but..." Taichi hesitates a little bit…
"But what?"
Taichi musters up the rest of his courage, "I feel like if I wasn't honest with you, I would end up resenting you because of my feelings for her. I would become jealous, and our friendship would fall apart. You're both important to me, and I don't want that to happen."
Yamato closes the distance between them while Taichi braces himself for a hit to the face. Instead, he finds his friend's arms around him.
"You idiot… I'm not going to hit you. I'm happy you value our friendship so much." Yamato tightens his embrace.
"Hey, don't go falling for me now." Taichi chuckles.
As if a trigger had been pulled, Yamato sends his fist in to Taichi's gut. Taichi clutches his gut and struggles to regulate his breathing again.
"I thought you weren't going to hit me!"
"I changed my mind, asshole."
The laughter from these two friends could be heard up and down the hallway outside the room, further solidifying their friendship.
"He said all of that?" Sora's heart warms hearing that, but at the same time she can't help but feel frustrated. "Well then what about my friendship? Doesn't he care about that at all?" she clicks her tongue.
"He's talked to me about that too. He really does miss your friendship, he just doesn't know what to say anymore. He just needs some time, he'll come around. He always does, being our courageous leader and all." Yamato reaches across the table to touch her hand. "Put some trust in him, like we've always had. If it bothers you so much then talk to him."
Sora nods and smiles as she squeezes Yamato's hand.
"You've changed so much since we first met you."
"That's thanks to him."
"Yamato, you're as talented as always." Taichi flashes a grin and a thumbs up to his friend as he finishes a song, "Although that song didn't really seem your style. Aren't you in a rock band, not a pop band?"
"Hey, I wouldn't be able to call myself a musician if I didn't appreciate multiple genres of music!" Yamato retorts and tosses him the microphone, "It's your turn isn't it?"
"I don't know..." seeing Taichi be all nervous and unsure of himself was unnerving and out of character.
"Please, I want to hear you sing again." Yui urges him, to which he can only nod in response. He begins to search the catalog of songs over and over again, unable to make a decision.
"Why don't you just sing the song from the other day?" Sora suggests while flashing a smile.
Taichi says nothing, but complies and searches for the song in the catalog. "Kimi no Kioku huh..." He hears Yamato mutter. There's two versions of the instrumental listed here, one sung by Kawamura Yumi, and the other by Kita Shuuhei. The two different versions are very different in tone after all, which makes sense. He hovers over the Kita Shuuhei version and selects it.
Immediately the music starts and Taichi stands up and walks over near the screen with the microphone. He awaits his cue and begins.
Yamato's eyes open wide and he starts to pay close attention to Taichi's performance. Everyone else in the room has all eyes on Taichi, which makes him nervous, but he manages to brush it off. The bridge to the chorus starts and all of a sudden there was a temperature drop in the room. Taichi's voice sends chills down everybody's spines, and when the chorus begins they all thought their hearts would break. The same thoughts ran through their minds, that Taichi was harboring all of this misery in his heart, and his voice forced them to cross the boundary between sympathy and empathy. In that five and a half minutes they felt what he felt. They didn't think they could feel worse, but they were proven wrong once the voice solo started and led to the build up at the end.
"... I will never leave you." The instrumental fades out, and he looks around to see the captivated faces of his friends. His little sister shedding tears. "What are you guys looking at me like that for? It's just a song." He says this with his signature grin, but there's still a bit of heartbreak in his eyes that everyone can see.
"Seriously, you guys are depressing me, cut it out." He snarls a little bit.
"Taichi, that was amazing." Takeru mutters. Everyone in the room nods and grunts in agreement. No one ever thought that Taichi could be capable of such emotion and passion that deep.
He covers his face with his right hand, "How embarrassing..."
"You got some real talent, you sure you don't want to help me out?" Yamato asks.
"Oh? I'm flattered, but I don't think I'll be able to meet your expectations." Taichi perks up a bit.
"I'll be the one to decide that," Yamato throws him the mic he placed on the table earlier and picks up a mic of his own, "a duet." He says in response to the questioning look his friend gives him. Taichi only responds by raising his eyebrow further, "Come on, you're not going to be able to stay calm like that with this song."
"Eh? How's that?"
"Cause I know you use this song to warm up for your soccer games." Yamato quipped as he selected a song.
Instantly the room fills with the sound of a guitar riff. Everyone looks at Taichi who was now grinning and ready to stand up to Yamato's challenge.
"Now this is more your style Yamato!"
After everyone has taken a few turns, they decide to take a break for drinks and snacks. However, their outing was stopped short when Taichi's phone starts to ring.
"Hello?"
"Taichi! We got trouble! Can you help me call the rest of the digidestined?"
"Calm down for a sec, Koushiro! What's going on?"
"The digital world is in trouble, I just got a call from Gennai!"
The speaker of Taichi's phone was so loud everyone could hear bits and pieces of what he was saying.
"... digital world? You don't mean..." Yui mutters.
"I've got Yamato, Sora, Hikari, and Takeru with me. We'll head to your place now! Sorry, Yui, can you make it home by yourself?"
"Wait. I thought I heard something about the digital world on the other side of the receiver." Yui stares down Taichi.
"You know about the digital world, Yui?" Sora and the others seem shocked by this fact.
"Yes, and you guys knowing about it must mean you're the same as me." She fiddles with the area around her neck as if searching for something with one hand, and reaches behind her back with the other.
"Same as you?"
What she pulls out is a small pendant that had the same shape as the crest of love and a digivice.
"Please, take me with you."
Taichi smiles in understanding and nods. "You must be worried about someone there too."
Yui nods in response, slightly blushing.
The eight plus Yui all gather in Koushiro's room around his laptop. There was barely time for any introductions. Everyone rushed there as fast as they could. Even Jo came back from university because of this emergency. One by one, they enter the digital world. First Jo goes in, then Mimi, Hikari, Takeru, and Koushirou, leaving Yamato, Sora, Yui, and Taichi outside for a moment. Yamato and Sora exchange looks for a second. Sora nods in nonverbal agreement. She knows what she has to do. Sensing the atmosphere, Yui heads in shortly followed by Yamato. Leaving Sora and Taichi in Koushiro's room.
"Taichi, I need to talk to you."
"Please, make it quick."
"I know about your feelings."
Taichi's eyes widen for a moment in shock, but he quickly collects himself.
"I don't like how distant we've been with each other. I miss my best friend, Taichi. I want us to be like how we used to be."
Taichi stands there for a moment. His silence torments her with every second that passes by. He breaks out of his trance, seemingly having resolved to do something. He stands in front of Koushiro's laptop and prepares to enter.
"Sora." He says her name for the first time in a long time, "I'm counting on you to be there in case I mess up again." He turns his head back to her and flashes a grin. He jumps in the portal without hearing her answer. He doesn't need to hear it, he already knows.
"Dummy, who else is going to clean up after your mistakes?"
With the pressure weighing down her chest lifting, she too jumps in.
They emerge out in a grassy plain, where their partners are waiting for them. They all embrace their partners with the exception of two. Taichi walks slowly towards Agumon and crouches down to see him eye to eye while Sora watches him from afar next to Biyomon.
With a determined smile on his face she hears him speak.
I met you.
This world has chosen the reality and the future which shouldn't have been chosen.
That's why I'm here right now.
A/N: I know, I hate myself too. Ever since I was a kid I always thought Tai and Sora should be together. In season 2 when Biyomon got kidnapped I just remember thinking that "Tai needs to help Sora" the whole time. I was very upset with the epilogue, but what can you do? I got inspired to write this after remembering about the Digimon Adventure Tri announcement video. So, I caught up with all of the news about it and watched the new preview trailer. That preview trailer is what sparked the inspiration.
Anyway, thanks for reading. If any of it feels rushed, it's because it kinda was. I had this vision for what I wanted it to be, but it ended up being a hassle. I wanted to get this idea out of my head ASAP, since I knew I'd regret not documenting the scenario that played out in my head once I forgot it. Perhaps I should have written it in first person instead and switched POV's for certain scenes.