This one-shot is supposed to take place after the first Digimon Adventure Tri movie. Also, there are spoilers to the Digimon Adventure Movie from 1999.
~X X X~
"Onii-chan! Wake up, onii-chan!"
Taichi opened his eyes slowly and tried to focus on the looming figure. His younger sister was looking at him with a bemused expression.
"Onii-chan, look at the time." She pointed at the clock on his desk. "You're running late again and you don't even have club today."
"I'm not a morning person, okay?" He sat on the bed and rubbed his eyes. "Now get out, I've gotta dress," he demanded, feigning annoyance.
"I don't mind watching," she retorted with a mischievous smile.
"Hikari!"
"I'm kidding~" She stuck her tongue out at him.
"Just get out!"
He threw a pillow at her as she left the room laughing.
His sister didn't usually tease him like this but he'd been down since the incident with Alphamon and he supposed this was her way to try cheer him up. He knew the Chosen Children were the only ones who could fight the infected Digimon, but was fighting the right thing to do? Was it even the only choice they had? Once again he was feeling the weight of it all and how powerless he was to change things.
~X X X~
Fifteen minutes later he was making his way out of the building with his new bike in tow. Kuwagamon had destroyed the old one a few days ago, one more annoyance he really didn't want to think about.
He was starting to feel depressed all over again when something caught his attention. Mochizuki Meiko—his new neighbor and classmate—was rushing out of the building. She was on her way to the train station, he guessed.
"You're going to be late anyway."
She jumped a little when she heard him and turned around looking scared out of her wits. Yep, Meiko was really shy.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."
"Y-Yagami-san. Good Morning." She bowed politely.
"Morning." He took a step towards her. "Seems you're running late too."
"Y-yes. I overslept." She looked down as her cheeks colored slightly. She was kinda weird like that, getting embarrassed for the smallest thing.
"I get it." He smiled at her. "It happens to me all the time."
The little bit of encouragement seemed to do the trick as she looked up at him with a faint smile.
"C'mon, I'll take you." He nodded at his bike.
"W-what? No I-"
"You'll be late commuting by train now, you know?" He grinned and patted the backseat. "C'mon."
After a moment of hesitation Meiko hopped on behind him.
~X X X~
"So, how do you like Odaiba?" Taichi asked trying to break the ice.
"I-I'm not sure. Everything is so lively here. It's nice but... a bit overwhelming I guess."
"Odaiba must feel kinda crazy compared to Tottori, right?"
"Yes, but I do like it. Besides..."
"Besides what?"
"I'm... I'm really glad I got to meet everyone here," she said shyly. "You're all so nice and even fought to protect Mei-chan. I couldn't be more grateful."
Taichi felt a pang of regret. He remembered how he'd refused to help her at first. He probably wouldn't have saved her at all if Yamato hadn't snapped him out.
"A-are you okay, Yagami-san?"
"... Yeah. I'm fine." He sounded totally unconvincing. "It's just, I think I owe you an apology."
"Why?"
Taichi noticed the bridge coming. They were close to the school now.
"You know I... I was hesitating. I didn't know if fighting was the right thing to do. I didn't know what to do and froze up. And you could have gotten hurt. Because of me." He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe this is just an excuse. Maybe I'm just a coward."
Meiko stayed quiet for a moment and Taichi was sure she hated him. But then she put a hand on his back and he was surprised how warm and comforting it felt.
"This may sound weird but... W-well, just listen to me, okay?" she said without taking her hand off his back. Taichi was puzzled but he waited for her to keep going. "I wasn't born in Tottori. I moved there when I was six. Before that I was living in Hikarigaoka."
Hikarigaoka? That rang a bell in Taichi's mind. Was this just a coincidence?
"B-back then my parents where about to split up. Their relationship wasn't going well and my father was going to be transferred to Tottori. I was too young to understand what was going on but I could tell my mother didn't want to go with him. I was really scared. I-I didn't know what to do." Her voice cracked a bit.
"You don't have to talk about it if you-"
"It's okay. I want to tell you," she said, now sounding a little more self-assured, "because the one who saved me back then was you."
Now he was officially confused. He knew Meiko for all two weeks. How the heck had he saved her?
"A few days before my dad left for Tottori," she pressed on, "there was a terrorist attack in Hikarigaoka. Only, it wasn't a terrorist attack at all..."
Taichi knew the story all too well. Better than anyone else actually. "Yeah, it wasn't. Two digimon fought each other that night. It was like something out of a Godzilla movie. But how do you know about that?"
"I lived in an apartment complex nearby. I saw the whole thing from my window. I'll never forget it. There was a kid there, fighting to protect someone that was precious to him. Watching him gave me courage. It made me feel I shouldn't just stay in my room crying all day. That I should fight to protect what was important to me, just like he did. Just like you did. Next day I talked to my parents and told them how I felt. I thought it was hopeless to be honest. But everything worked out somehow and they stayed together."
"... Look I... I didn't do anything. I just... was there."
"And that changed my life," Meiko retorted, "so don't ever say you're a coward."
Taichi sighed. He didn't know how to respond to that.
~X X X~
Taichi parked his bike and looked at Meiko. He had tried to apologize but ended up been comforted by her. And to think he'd once been the fearless leader of the Chosen Children. Well, he wasn't that guy anymore, but he wasn't a coward either. At least that's what Meiko had said. And as strange as it might seem he found that he believed it.
He came back from his revery to realize he was staring at her. Meiko turned crimson red but this time rather than weird he thought she was kind of cute.
Yeah, she was cute he decided.