Part Five: A Secret Exposed
Chapter Nine: Rocky paths
The park was virtually empty as snow continued to pile up on the ground. On a bench beneath a tree, that provided minimal shelter from the biting wind and falling flakes, sat Kari Kamiya. She had no idea how she had gotten here or exactly where here was. The park near her school she had surmised when asked by her boyfriend. After running out of the classroom, she'd headed straight for the exit. Once outside, she'd started to walk and not looked back. How long it had taken her to reach the park, she did not know. However, at some point, either while walking or after she'd sat down, she'd put her headphones on and started listening to music. It had helped to calm her down.
Kari took in a deep breath of cold air, which caught in her chest, as she listened to the soothing notes of Hergest Ridge. She did not recall putting the album on. Tai would be here soon, she told herself. Tai would come and make everything better.
"That's a lie, little Kari," a voice hissed from the dark depths of her mind, "and you know it. Tai can't fix this problem."
"Shut up!" Kari yelled inside her own head, a hint of desperation in her voice. "I don't need to listen to you."
"No, but you will. You know full well that not even big brother can fix this. The Gatomon's out of the bag now, whether you want it to be or not."
The voice was right and she knew it. Not only did TK and the rest of her friends now know about her relationship with Tai, but most likely her whole class. TK had hardly kept his voice down when confronting her. A fresh wave of panic crashed over her. What were they going to do? No doubt by the end of the day, all of their friends would know.
"And you think you can handle mom and dad finding out," the voice hissed. "You ran away when only one of your friends confronted you. You're pathetic."
She had no response to this. Instead, she could feel another wave of hot tears start to pour forth. "Tai, where are you?" she whispered in desperation.
##
Tai ran faster than he had ever gone before. Even though the snow was starting to pile up on the sidewalks, he crushed it underfoot like it were nothing. Along busy roads, around corners and through side-streets he bolted. Each person or obstacle that sprung up in his path was deftly sidestepped or spun around as though an opposing team member on the soccer field. He had to get to Kari, she was all that mattered. What could possibly have happened to her, he thought as he cut through an alley? Obviously, she'd left school, or never made it there in the first place. But that did not help him come to any sort of conclusion. Instead, it simply ramped up the worry factor.
Reaching the park close to Odaiba Middle School, his eyes began to scan the area for any sign of a green uniform/jacket or bright orange hair. What if she isn't here, he asked himself? It was a distinct possibility. Kari herself had not been sure of her exact location. If that transpired to be the case, he'd have to try and call her again (she'd ignored his previous attempts) or hope she would answer a text message. Failing that, he'd need to find a map and start searching all nearby greenspaces. Feet hammering along the snow-covered path, he continued to search. Eventually, towards the back of the park, he caught sight of something green and orange. He left the path and veered off towards it. His paced ramped up to a burst sprint the second he had confirmation that the figure was Kari.
He had to force air into his lungs to yell, "KARI!"
She didn't respond, although when he saw that she had her headphones on, it made sense. Reaching her side, Tai reached out a hand and touched her on the shoulder. She jumped.
"Kari, are you ok?" he asked through laboured breaths when she took off her headphones.
"Tai," Kari breathed when her eyes looked up to stare at him; she'd been crying.
Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her. When their cheeks touched, he could feel how cold she was. "Kari, you're freezing, how long have you been sitting here?"
"I don't know," she replied, her voice sounding fragile. "I left school during homeroom."
Shit, Tai thought to himself. She'd been outside for about three hours. And while he was desperate to find out what had happened, he needed to get her somewhere warm. However, if he took her home, their mom would ask far too many questions that he did not have answers for at present. "Come on," he said as he helped her to stand, "I'll take you for a hot drink and we can talk."
Taking his girlfriend by the hand, Tai led her back to the path and out of the park. There was a coffee shop across the road and so he headed straight for it. When they got inside, he sat her down at a table beside a radiator and went to order them both a hot chocolate. While Kari no longer suffered the health problems she had in her youth, Tai had a bad feeling that three hours outside in the current climate would result in her becoming sick. He put the beverages on the table and sat down.
"Here, drink this," he said, sliding a mug towards his girlfriend.
He watched her pale hands take the mug and recoil slightly from its heat. "Thank you," she whispered.
"I'm just glad you're safe," Tai replied, his voice laced with concern. "But what were you doing in the park? Did something happen at school?"
Kari lifted the mug and took a small sip; her hands shaking. When she sat it back down, she looked him in the eyes and said, "TK knows about us."
"What!" Tai yelled in alarm. He had to force himself to reign in his voice when he asked, "how did he find out? What happened?"
"Matt… apparently he saw us when we went for coffee last week… he showed TK a picture of us kissing."
"That bastard!" Tai cursed, hitting his fist off the tabletop and drawing a reproachful look from the woman behind the counter. Of all the people who could have found out about them, why did it have to have been Matt?
"It gets worse," Kari croaked and took another sip from her mug.
"How can it get worse?"
"TK confronted me in homeroom. He demanded to know if…" she paused and he could see that she was on the verge of tears, "…if I was fucking you." Her eyes met his and he could see the fear in those reddish-browns. "He practically yelled it at me. Davis, Cody and probably half of my class heard him. By now, all of them probably know."
Tai felt anger swell up inside him. While he hated the idea of everyone in Kari's class knowing about them, the majority of it was directed towards TK. How dare he yell at her like that and make her feel so upset that the only thing she could think to do was run from the building. Indeed, if it were not for the fact that Kari needed him here, he would have headed straight for her school to beat the shit out of the little bastard. Instead, he reached out a hand and took one of hers. "It's going to be ok, Kari," he said, though even he did not believe it. "Our friends were going to find out sooner or later. We're just going to have to deal with any backlash that comes from it." It was easy for him to say that, he thought. He was not the one who would have to face his classmates and all the shit they might through. Even if Kari were to outright deny it, such rumours would probably dog her until she went to high school in the spring. Even then…
"It was horrible, Tai," Kari then said. "All the pain and anger that caused TK to do what he did… I did that to him."
"Kari you…"
She cut him off, "don't tell me that I didn't, Tai." Her eyes lowered to the floor. "Maybe this is what I deserve. I was a total bitch to him and couldn't even tell him the truth."
"You made a mistake, Kari," Tai said firmly. "However, that does not give TK the right to treat you like that. There's a way of doing things and he was out of line."
"Say's the person that wants to go and beat him up for having hurt me."
Kari's words cut through his thought process and his mouth fell open. "Kari…"
"Tell me I'm wrong."
Tai sighed, there was no point in lying to her, she could see straight through him. "You're not wrong." Another sigh. "I guess people have a bad habit of being reactionary when they or someone they love gets hurt. However, that still does not mean that you deserved to have him do that to you."
"That still doesn't change what I did to him."
"I don't care about TK, I care about you." He gave her hand a squeeze. "Are you ok?"
"What are we going to do, Tai?" there was a fear in her voice that he did not know how to quell.
"Well," he began, not really sure what he could possibly say. After a moments pause, he decided to take it one step at a time. "First, we're going to drink these, "he picked up his mug and took a drink, "and we're going to stay here until you've properly warmed up. After that, I'm going to take you out for lunch. We can then hang out until we get the inevitable call from mom asking us why we ditched school."
His words seemed to calm her down until he made mention of their mother. "Oh God, Tai, what are we going to say to her? What if the school tell her what TK said?" Kari replied frantically.
Tai thought about this for a moment. There was a genuine danger that TK's words might be passed on to her. However, that hinged on one simple fact, "was the teacher present when TK yelled at you about us?" he asked.
After a moment, she shook her head, "no."
"Then that's one thing we don't have to worry about, " Tai said reassuringly. "Unless the teacher actually heard something specific and made the call home personally, it'll just be the regular, 'your daughter was absent today, blah, blah, blah,' call from the office staff."
"But how do we explain the fact that both of us played hooky today?"
He thought about this as they drank some more of their hot chocolate. While not as disastrous as their mom hearing word from school that she had run out because someone had accused her of sleeping with her brother, their absence would still raise awkward questions. Not to mention a reading of the riot act. And, unless he found some way of shifting the blame towards himself, this would be one of the rare instances where Kari would come off worse than him. For he at least had the excuse that he had sat his university entrance exam and school was now virtually pointless. Eventually, he said, "we tell her a version of the truth."
Kari gave him a look of resignation, "I suppose, we're getting rather good at that."
"We'll tell her that TK found out about your fake boyfriend, " he scratched his head, "what was it you called him?"
"Takato."
"Yeah. We'll tell him that TK found out about you and Takato and that he lost his shit at you over it. That he upset you that much, you just couldn't handle it and had to leave. Especially since you only recently broke up with him." He gave her a warm smile and squeezed her hand again.
Kari weakly returned the smile. "But what about you?"
"Simple. We tell her the truth. That you messaged me and I came to get you because I was worried."
"Do you think mom will buy that?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.
Tai nodded, "yeah. She's not overly happy about it, but I think she's finally accepted that I'm your first port of call when something happens."
Kari tilted her head in confusion. "How do you know that?"
"I figured it out when she virtually begged me to tell her what was wrong with you a few weeks ago."
"You mean when you sold me down the river because you couldn't handle her," Kari said, giving him an actual smile and a light laugh.
"Hey, that worked out well for you in the end. If I hadn't set the framework for you to spin your story of heartbreak, you'd still be wearing your old pink coat and your hair would be an ever-increasing mess of brown. You made off like a bandit!"
"Jeeze, Tai, you sure know how to flatter a lady," she retorted in mock offence.
He laughed, "don't give me that all offended routine. I'm on to your manipulative ways now."
The comment was enough to cause her to laugh. "Took you long enough."
He joined in with her laughter. It was a temporary fix, he knew that, but it would still help in the long run. They sat and talked about other things for a bit while they drank the last of their hot chocolates. When they finished, he checked to see if her temperature had gone up, before they left the coffee shop.
##
After they had left the coffee shop, Tai had let her choose where they went to lunch. She picked a ramen shop, which, given the weather, turned out to be a good shout. They ate large bowls of hot steaming ramen and they had almost forgotten all about why they were here and not in school when her phone went. Pulling it out of her pocket, Kari saw Davis' name then read, "hey, guys, I don't know what the hell is going on between the two of you, but txt's have been flying between the gang all day trying to figure it out. Everyone's decided to meet up after school, but it doesn't sound like the two of you are invited. However, I disagree and want to hear your side of things. 5:30 under the bridge by the river, if you're interested." She closed her phone and pocketed it.
"It sounds like we're what our friends have spent the whole day talking about," she said with a healthy dose of bitterness in her tone. She hated the idea of their relationship being the subject of such gossip and the content of Davis' message had succeeded in rubbing her the wrong way.
"Yeah, I gathered," Tai replied, holding up his own phone. "He sent it to me too. I guess it was to be expected."
"Some friends they are if none of them have even bothered to ask either of us about it," she retorted angrily.
"I don't like it either, but given the nature of the subject, I can see why they might not want to ask us until they get the facts straight," Tai replied, sounding like he was trying to placate her. "I guess we'll have to gate crash and set the record straight."
That idea scared Kari. If she had not already had to deal with TK that morning, maybe the prospect wouldn't be so bad. She had known for a while now that if they wanted to have a relationship long term, that this day would come. Just why did it have to be today? "I don't know if I can face them, Tai. Not after this morning and especially not if TK's going to be there."
Her boyfriend reached out, took both her slender hands in his own and stared into her eyes. "We need to face them sooner or later, Kari. And I'd rather get it over and done with in one sitting, but I can't do it alone. I need you with me."
Deep down she knew he was right. If they did not take this opportunity, while they were all together, the whole affair could drag on for days, as one by one each of the other DigiDestined plucked up the courage to talk to them. Resigned to her fate, she nodded in agreement, "ok. I'll go with you."
"It'll be ok, so long as we're together," Tai then said in a voice she guessed was supposed to reassure her; it didn't.
They returned to their bowls of ramen, but the message from Davis had soured both the taste of the broth and the afternoon in general. When her boyfriend had finished his, Kari slid her bowl over to him. He might as well enjoy it as she certainly would not now. She watched him slurp the remains of her noodles but was soon distracted when her phone went off again. The message this time was from Yolei, who had left her several throughout the day already, and said, "Kari, this whole thing has blown up amongst our friends and they've all decided to meet up down by the river, under the bridge, at 5:30. By the sound of things, no one wants to invite you and Tai. I guess they'd all rather just bitch about the rumours than hear the actual truth. Regardless, I think you and Tai need to come and set the record straight. If you do, you'll have my full support. Love, Yolei."
Kari read the message twice and felt like the weight had been lifted off her chest a little. While she would have hoped her best friend would have their corner, actually hearing her say so made the whole thing seem that little bit easier.
"Who was it this time?" Tai asked.
"Yolei," Kari replied. "She said the same thing as Davis and that if we decide to show up, she'll give us her support."
"That's good. At least one out of nine will be on our side."
"Nine?" Kari asked in confusion, doing a quick count in her head and reaching ten plus themselves.
"Joe's not in Tokyo, remember. I somehow doubt he's taken a train back to Odaiba, just to hear some gossip about us."
"I'd forgotten about Joe being away at university," as she spoke, a thought came to her, "it might only be eight then."
It was Tai's turn to look confused, "eight?"
"Ken might not be there either, as he'd need to get a train pretty quickly to make it in time."
"I suppose we'll just have to wait and see who turns up then," Tai stated.
"I guess so," she agreed.
They sat in silence after that, thoughts of what each of their friends might think about their relationship floating through Kari's head. TK was obviously against it and she suspected Matt would probably be in agreement with him, owing to the current hostilities that existed between him and Tai. Izzy would try to be diplomatic, but in the end, probably advise them that it was a bad idea. Mimi might have an open enough mind to accept that they were in love. And Sora… while she and Tai had started mending the bridge, she did not know how the ginger-haired girl felt about her at present. Unfriendly might be a good starting point. As for the other younger DigiDestined, she was not certain. Was Davis' easy-going nature enough to sway him into accepting them? He had been the one to contact them after all. Perhaps Ken, given his relationship with Yolei, might be open to sharing his girlfriend's point of view. However, she could not say which side of the coin Cody would land on.
Kari sighed. It was pointless for her to try and figure out how people would react once they heard the truth. Or if they could be persuaded to change their minds after the initial knee jerks subsided. In a few hours, all would be known. She would just have to wait and see.