First Encounter

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𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲 : 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗜 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗱𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. 𝗦𝗼, 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝗼, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗳𝗻. 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲. 𝗜 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗱𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰.

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Tai felt terrible this morning. Keeping a secret of his condition from Kari and actually lied to her about it, was utterly exhausting and sickening. He wanted to shout, telling everyone to stay away and die quietly because he was done. He hated this feeling.

But he couldn't.

"Tai!" Sora shouted, her eyes brimming with energy. It was still a mystery where she got it this early morning.

"Come here, quick!" Tai realized that she was alone and her digimon probably asleep along with the others.

"Morning, Tai." The brown haired boy turned to the right and saw his orange haired friend rubbed his eyes. Tai looked down as he met Izzy's tired gaze.

"Still playing on your computer, Izzy?" Taichi said playfully but was pushed by Izzy. "It's not a game. I tried to find out what is digital world, but more importantly how to get back."

"Alright, alright. I get it." Taichi laughed shortly, not noticing a bottle rolled out of his pocket. Nobody noticed until Joe and Matt came around.

"Hey, what is that?" Taichi's eyes widened as if someone poured ice cold water over his head. His heart started to beat faster when Joe held it up in the air. For once, it was quiet and without a digimon to interfere as they still asleep inside.

Seeing how his messy brown haired friend was making no move to saying anything, Koushiro asked.

"What is this, Tai?" It gotten the attention everyone around the two of them. Tai started to squeeze his hands together. He was not prepared for everyone to find out. So, he lied. "It's a headache medicine, Joe."

"Really?" Joe inspected the bottle then blue pills inside. He felt weird, like letting something slipped. So, he wanna tried a test. He pulled out an ampoule from his bag and the lid he opened slowly as not to let out the liquid inside.

"What are you doing, Joe?"

"My brother worked in Pharmacy. He gave me this to learn about how to test a drug."

"So?" Matt asked impatiently. He didn't understand a single things his older friend said.

"I'm guessing this is something else." Joe pulled out a leaflet containing information on what this clear liquid was used to identify it with.

"In short, this was used to identify a substance." He began to crush one of the pills before sliding it into the ampoule. Then, he closed it and shake it gently.

"What?" The liquid changed colors instantly to a moss green. A color which indicate a substance for painkillers. Codeine.

"Tai? Are you sick?" The room instantly went completely silent. Taichi stood there, haunted by his fears. Feat of facing people who discovered his disease. Almost. He can't tell them the truth. Not while his little sister still inside and probably listening to their entire conversation. But fate seemed to like playing a cruel trick on him.

Kari jumped out of her hiding and walked to them. Her identical brown hair was a mess and her eyes were swollen. She cried but yet her face was wearing the calming smile.

"Is it true, Tai? Are you sick?" Tai's eyes scanned all of them. They looked terrified, nothing like before and he hated it. At that moment, the air turned heavy.

"Tai..." Sora slowly walked to him, her eyes full of concern, "It's okay..."

"..." Tai kept his mouth shut and closed his eyes. He didn't want those so called pity from his friends, not even Kari. Before anyone could react, he ran.

Out of their gaze, he didn't want to be near them. He could hear shouting from afar and panicked laced in their voices. Deep inside he knew, it's over. No more secrets, no plan to die quietly, only regret.