Another two years passed and Christmas was once again back in Odaiba. Everyone was buying presents and finalising the Christmas decorations in their homes.
Taichi Kamiya was laying on his bed, listening to music by the band with a little cult following; Knife of Day.
As he listened to the lyrics being sung by the lead singer, his best friend Yamato Ishida, he realised what the lyrics were about. Or at least, who they were about.
Granted, there were still many people who could be described as a 'bright, fiery star', but he knew that Yamato could only be talking about Koushiro.
Since his Secret Santa party two years ago, Yamato and Koushiro had become an item. They had taken it slow to start, but eventually, Yamato announced at one of his concerts that he had written a song for Koushiro.
Despite a few broken hearts from fan-girls, the song was a hit.
Today, since it was getting harder for everyone to get together, everyone was meeting at a restaurant for a meal.
Taichi was partly glad, partly disappointed that only he, Sora, Mimi, Takeru and Hikari could definitely make the meal. Daisuke, Miyako, Iori and Ken couldn't make it. Yamato and Koushiro would be trying to make the meal, but there was a good chance they would be late and Jyou had an interview for a position at a good hospital and everyone had told him 'If you miss the interview because of this meal, we're going to feed you to VenomMyotismon', to which he took the obvious hint.
Taichi and Hikari were sitting at the table, waiting for Takeru, Mimi and Sora. Taichi sighed and rested his head in his hand, nibbling on a breadstick.
Hikari looked at her brother, knowing that this meal was important to him. She knew he'd never say anything to her, but he valued the friendships between the Digidestined. He was even feeling guilty that he wasn't as invested in Daisuke's group of Digidestined as his sister was. Mainly Daisuke himself, Miyako, Iori and Ken.
Hikari sneakily took her phone out and sent a group text to Sora, Mimi, Takeru and Koushiro asking if they knew how long they were going to be.
She got instant responses from Mimi and Sora, saying they were ten minutes away. Takeru didn't reply as he walked through the door, making Taichi sit up slightly.
Koushiro had replied that Yamato was singing his encore performance. But they were getting a ride from Yamato's dad straight after to get there as soon as possible.
But as it turned out, Yamato and Koushiro couldn't make it due to backed up traffic and screaming fangirls.
Taichi was happy that three of them had made it to the lunch, but he wished that Yamato, Koushiro and Jyou had been there.
Taichi walked in silence with Hikari back to the apartment. As soon as they were in, he headed straight to his room and locked the door.
Hikari just stared at the door, concern filling her for her brother.
Taichi was laid down on his bed, headphones in his MP3, listening to his 'Mood Lift' playlist. He was making himself cry with sad music to make him feel better.
That was when he reflected on life so far.
First, there was Jyou Kido. Bearer of the Crest of Reliability.
When he first entered the Digital World, he walked around with every allergy under the sun and handled each situation with caution. Now, anyone could turn to him for advice and he would help to the best of his abilities. Living up to his crest. He was even trying to be a doctor to help others.
Next, Sora Takenouchi, bearer of Love.
His oldest friend was showing some talent in fashion designing, and was always willing to give an honest heartfelt opinion. She was truly the 'loving mother' of the group of friends.
Mimi Tachikawa, the bearer of Sincerity was always a sweet girl. Initially, she was very selfish. She rarely helped others on her own judgment. But being in the Digital World has changed her dramatically. Now, she was willing to help anyone in trouble in any way she could.
Unless it was any Numemon or Sukamon asking her out on a date.
There was no change in his sister, Hikari, the bearer of Light. The calm voice in any argument. She was also the willing ear for people who just wanted to vent out any problems they had. The only problem was that she never voluntarily vented out her own frustrations unless she was forced to.
Then, there was Takeru Takaishi, the holder of the Crest of Hope. He was the younger brother of Yamato Ishida.
He was always the baby of the group until Hikari joined later. He had to grow up slightly quicker than everyone else when Angemon sacrificed himself to defeat Devimon and since that day, he was always determined to defeat any forces of pure evil when they appeared.
Taichi blinked away tears that were creeping to his eyes as he began to think about Yamato and Koushiro.
He took in a big breath and sighed out, a slight sob escaping his lips. He turned to his side and moved his pillow so he was still laying on it, but also hugging it.
He ignored his phone for the first two calls, but then just turned it onto silent. He didn't want his phone off because everyone would come around to talk. But if he just left his phone on, then they would assume he was working on something and not want to be disturbed.
Unless Hikari had told everyone about him locking himself in his room.
An hour later, and Yamato, Koushiro, Sora, Mimi, Jyou and Takeru were in the living room with Hikari, all sharing their worry about Taichi.
Taichi heard that everyone had shown up, concerned for him. Sora, Mimi and Takeru had noticed that Taichi seemed more depressed than he let on.
Despite that they had no idea how to help him or what to do now, they all decided that they would stick around to help him any way they could.
That night when Taichi woke up after his unexpected nap, his pillow was soaked with tears. His memory of his dream only confirmed this since all he felt was loneliness and isolation. Everyone else was happy and he just sunk away into the background.
Seeing the time was eleven at night, he assumed that everyone else had gone home and Hikari was asleep in her room. He looked to his door and decided to get a small drink of water before going back to bed for a proper nights sleep.
He slowly unlocked his door and opened it. He walked into the kitchen, got a glass and turned on the tap.
Once he placed the empty glass in the sink for whoever was up first to clean, which was most likely Hikari, he sighed and wiped away yet another tear.
He hated feeling like this vulnerable person, but when he was alone, he could actually be himself.
Just as he reached his bedroom door, he heard a shuffling noise. He turned his head and saw seven pairs of tired eyes looking at him from various places in the living room.
He couldn't believe them. They had their own lives and places to be. But they stayed. He just turned around and walked into his bedroom.
Disappointed faces soon brightened slightly when Taichi came back out with a dry pillow and a blanket.
He dropped them in the centre of the room and curled up. He forced a smile across his lips as he was starting to realise that even though he was alone, his friends would drop everything to see if he was alright.
But it still meant nothing since Hikari probably asked them to stay the night anyway.
But he was still touched that they were wanting to stay just for him.
He accepted them as friends and was happy around them, but he was just seeing everything as a hollow feeling. Even his friendship with Agumon.
He smiled thinking about the yellow dinosaur but Agumon was made to be his partner. Any feeling of friendship could very well be artificial.
He just wished he could escape for a while. He opened his eyes.
That's it. He looked around, seeing everyone else had fallen asleep quickly. He quietly went to his bedroom and packed a small suitcase full of clothes and other essentials. He quickly wrote out a note on a piece of paper and left it by Hikari's head.
He placed a soft kiss to her forehead and made any last preparations before turning on his computer and programming the Digital Gate to place him in the middle of a forest in an area of the Digital World that his group of Digidestined had never been to before.
He knew the gate program reset to the local area of the Digital World after ten minutes of doing nothing. He cleared the gate's history and made sure that they wouldn't find which gate he had used.
He took a last look at his sister and friends before he aimed his Digivice at the computer. He heard his name said as he felt the pull of the gate, seeing Hikari and Koushiro running towards him.
When he found himself in the Digital World, he had no choice but to unplug the receiver so they wouldn't be able to follow him.
He picked up his suitcase and began to quickly pace away to begin his solitary life, away from any human life and his trusted Digimon partner.
He realised that no matter where he went, Koushiro would track him with his Digivice signal. It pained him to do it, but he turned back the way he came. He put his Digivice in his right arm and pulled it back. With all his strength, he threw the Digivice as far as he could and turned his back and carried on walking. No plan in mind and obviously, no destination to go to.
All Koushiro and the others found, was an unplugged gate receiver and a wet Digivice from night-rainfall.
Hikari turned her head to the trees, passing off a noise as some tree-dwelling Digimon. She climbed aboard Garudamon's claws with the others, taking Agumon into a hug, trying to soothe the rookie level Digimon.
Garudamon's figure disappeared from view quickly, letting the figure watching from the shadows sigh in relief, knowing that they wouldn't be looking here again.
"Goodbye." Taichi whispered.