Digimon Adventure Tri: Echo

4) Growing Connections

The rest of the week was a strange combination of eternal in its length and speeding by far too fast. The information about the attack involving Buraimon spread quickly, and it was practically all that Taichi heard about at school the next day. Odaiba had fallen into a routine of regularity, and it didn't feel real to hear everyone discussing the monster assault and when they believed it was going to come next. All Taichi could do was bite down on his tongue and pray that nobody dug in too deep. He was positive that nobody could tie him to what was happening, but the nerve-wracking sensation remained regardless. 

The only people who had managed to catch pictures of Buraimon captured them before the attack on Miyako began. The area had been thankfully empty when the younger generation fended him off, and Taichi couldn't help but feel newly relieved each time he remembered such a fact. He didn't know what he would have done if he had to listen to misinformation about them on top of everything else. 

When the final day of the school week finally arrived, Taichi was more than happy to embrace it. He kept on expecting something to happen day in and day out, and every moment left him on edge and feeling like he was about to crumble. When he managed to push through a day without enduring an attack, he would go to sleep with a heavy sigh in his chest and exhaustion in his mind. He hadn't been this defensive before when it came to matters involving the Digimon. 

Once again, it all tied back into the lack of knowledge regarding this endeavor. Taichi detested the fact that they didn't know anything about what was happening with the Digimon affected by the black patches of data. No new information had come to light, and all Taichi felt like he knew was that the data could infect the Digimon who came into contact with them. Attacking the data would make it easy to unravel everything, and that was a positive in Taichi's eyes. Still, it left many questions that Taichi was desperate to find answers to. All he could do was watch as the clock continued to tick closer to the end of the school day though, and his gaze kept straying up to the familiar spot on the wall. Time never sped up the way that he was hoping, but Taichi wound up praying regardless. 

It had become almost customary already for Taichi to arrive in Daigo's classroom before most others in his period, and Taichi sat down in his regular chair early that afternoon. It was the last day of the school week, and the meeting with the rest of the Chosen Children was scheduled for the next day. He couldn't wait for it, and he tapped his fingers impatiently against the wood in front of himself as a way of passing the agonizing seconds. 

"You sure do seem worried about something."

Taichi cursed Daigo's sense of perception, and he perked up in his seat as his teacher turned around. Once again, Taichi caught a glance of those exhausted eyes, and he wondered what could have caused someone so young to fall apart under the power of the world around him. He frowned to himself, not making a scene about it, and shrugged his shoulders. 

"I guess so," Taichi finally managed to push out. He didn't want to continue if he could have avoided it. The last thing that he wanted was for Daigo to figure out that he was hiding something. Everything was messy enough as it was, and he didn't want his professor digging deeper into his personal affairs after everything that had happened on top of the disaster that his life had become. 

"Does it have anything to do with the recent monster attacks?" Daigo questioned curiously. His eyes were innocent but unreadable, and Taichi stared at him with something that he hoped resembled a painted sense of shock. He didn't know how Daigo had found the ability to catch on so easily, but he absolutely hated it already. 

"I guess so," Taichi shrugged to himself. "A lot has been happening with the new school year, and it's unfortunate that all of this is timed at once. I think that it's just adding a bit more stress than anybody really asked for." That sounded realistic, didn't it? Plus, it didn't tie him to what was happening at all. He was able to get his point across without getting Daigo onto him, and he would be able to resolve the issue before his professor could dig any deeper.