Juri found peace in the sounds of rushing water by the waterfall fountain. Not a lot of people came here so Juri had front seat–Well, bench–whenever she had the time to visit this place.
When the D-Reaper disappeared, so did the Digimon. The only thing left was their memory, and this place held the most important one.
"Leomon," Juri whispered her partner's name, staring at the fountain. The bread in her hand remained uneaten as she again walked down memory lane.
She knew that Leomon was never coming back. She had also long forgiven Impmon and was moving on from her grudge. And she had simply nodded in acceptance when Culumon too was taken away from her.
But it still hurt.
In the end, she was powerless to change anything. Powerless against Impmon Beelzemon. Powerless against the D-Reaper. Powerless against the adults.
A faint but very out of tune singing brought her out of her musing.
The source was a teenager about high school age. Their eyes met and Juri saw recognition dawning on his face. It took her another second to see the resemblance to Lee-kun and blink in realization.
Her hands curled into fists for a split second, but she carefully covered it by picking up a piece of bread from the paper bag on her laps. A decade worth of experience being a "behaved child" reflected on her face in the form of a cheery smile as she bit onto the bread.
Lee-kun's brother sent a smile back and approached her, but she was quicker.
"Oh no!" She bolted up as if having just remembered something important, in doing so surprising the teenager and halting him from coming any closer. She silently thanked her friends for always forgetting their homework. They were a good reference on how to fake a panic. It was a shame she dropped the bread though.
She picked it back up, littering being bad and all, and also to avoid looking at Lee-kun's brother's eyes.
"Sorry, I have to go! I just remembered I have to meet someone!" She quickly said and turned around, making sure she was heading in the opposite direction he came from.
Juri only saw him waving goodbye at her with a frown. Once he was out of sight, she broke from a jog into a run, her nails cutting into her palms.
When Culumon and the rest were sucked back into the Digital World, she could do nothing but stand there crying their names.
Lee Janyuu, Lee-kun's father. He was the one who took the Digimon away from them. Even from his children.
Juri was far from being a petty girl, but that didn't mean she wasn't angry. She understood why the man did it, she understood why they had to seal the new portal they found at Guilmon's place. But it no less dealt another blow to her already battered heart, leaving her to barely collect its pieces.
Lee-kun was quick to forgive his father, and Juri would too in time. But she was only 11.
So many things happened in such a short time, all crushing her soul one way or another, taking every last bit of happiness she had in her life. What normal 11 year olds could smile through that.
She couldn't bear looking at Lee-kun or his family. Not yet. Especially not after she almost beat him up for defending his father. They weren't in good terms right now.
The rational part of her mind told her it was only natural a child would defend their parents, and it wasn't fair either to treat Lee-kun as if he was at fault when he suffered as well. But she was just... tired.
Juri looked at her faint reflection on her D-Ark's screen, black and white static endlessly dancing on it.
What must she do to stop the world from taking everything from her?