Chapter 55: The Complicated Human World

"Ah-Zero, wait here for a moment. I'll go up first to check out the situation."

After saying this, Tai walked into the apartment building alone.

There was simply no help for it. Although Zero-Maru's size was already extremely compact compared to the complete forms Tai had previously encountered, a height of five meters was still far too jarring and conspicuous in the human world.

*If only Zero-Maru could stay inside a Digivice like when he was little, and come out anytime and anywhere whenever needed.*

Tai thought to himself while taking the elevator up to his family's floor.

*Come to think of it, the partner Digimon of Davis and the others being able to revert to their Rookie forms is quite convenient.*

Fortunately, despite his small physical stature, the amount of data contained within Zero-Maru was by no means small, easily rivaling that of a Mega form.

Before long, Tai arrived in front of the apartment door bearing the "Yagami" nameplate.

Only when he actually arrived in front of the door did he think of the series of troubles that would occur upon meeting his family in this world.

"Whoa... this door is even harder to open than I thought."

Tai wore an expression as if he were terribly constipated.

On second thought, living out in the mountains actually sounded pretty nice.

"Smack—!"

Tai suddenly slapped both sides of his face with his hands.

What is wrong with me? Having had adventures in the Digital World for so long and defeated so many evil enemies, I can at least be considered a hero. What kind of hero would be too embarrassed to enter a door?!

A hero should brazenly walk into someone else's house, rummage through chests and cabinets right in front of the homeowner, stuff all the valuable items and equipment into their inventory, and then leave just as brazenly!

Besides, to a certain extent, the house in front of him was also his home, giving him even less reason to be afraid of entering.

That's right, Yagami Tai, stop dithering, bravely open the door and walk in, don't let people look down on you!

Thus, Yagami Tai inserted the key into the keyhole with towering ambition and turned it 90 degrees toward the inside.

"Huh?" The key refused to turn—the door wasn't locked at all.

Doesn't this mean there's someone home?!

Realizing this, Tai drew in a sharp breath.

"Excuse... excuse me..." Tai pushed open the door and cautiously poked his head inside.

He first observed his surroundings and, finding no one in the living room, tiptoed into the house.

After carefully looking around the interior decoration once more, Tai sighed, "It really is just like my house."

Tai unconsciously relaxed, his shoes practically kicked off on instinct as he walked toward the living room.

Passing the refrigerator, he casually grabbed a can of cola from it and then flopped down onto the living room sofa. At this moment, a yellow-and-white cat also approached him.

Cat ears, pink fur, forced love...

"Mimi, long time no see."

The yellow-and-white cat docilely curled up on Tai's lap. "It seems your name is also Mimi in this world."

Tai stroked the cat with one hand while holding up the can of cola with the other, draining it in one breath.

"Burp~"

The familiar feeling made Tai very relaxed, as if he had truly returned home at this moment.

"By the way, if the interior layout and everything else are the same..." Tai suddenly remembered something, murmuring to himself as he walked toward the dining room.

As Tai expected, the Yagami family portrait from this world was indeed hanging right here.

The couple in the photo looked unfamiliar, bearing no resemblance to Tai's own parents.

Yet, Tai still felt a sense of closeness emanating from them.

Then there was the little girl standing to their left.

"So you're Kari~"

The girl in the photo was very cute, wearing a pale yellow dress, with a pink scarf and a whistle tied around her neck. She was holding onto the hem of her father's jacket as she stood there, looking like a very well-behaved child.

It was just that her body seemed a bit frail, looking as though she lacked exercise.

Standing to the parents' right was Yagami Tai of this world.

Tai said smugly, "You're the only one who's a bit worse than me in every way~"

Well, just kidding.

At that moment, a soft voice came from behind Tai: "Big brother?"

Hearing this voice, goosebumps broke out all over Tai. He wanted to turn his head, only to find that his body refused to obey.

A little girl was leaning against the doorframe, looking rather lazy.

She gazed at the cloaked back before her.

The girl had just woken up from an afternoon nap, wearing pajamas, with messy hair and no slippers, walking out entirely barefoot.

"Pitter-patter~ pitter-patter."

Taking small step after small step right up to Tai, Kari raised her head, looking at the stiff and strangely expressionless Tai, and frowned with some confusion: "Big brother... you're big brother, right?"

"H-Hello, Kari..." Tai wanted to slap himself the moment he finished speaking; what kind of older brother talks to his little sister so formally?

Unexpectedly, Kari nodded cooperatively and said, "Hello."

Having received this response, Tai felt somewhat nervous instead.

He had the distinct feeling of being completely seen through by the other person.

Although it might not be very appropriate to say so, Kari truly is a bizarre girl...

Kari smiled and took Tai's hand. Tai offered no resistance, letting Kari's small hand lead him over to sit on the sofa.

"You must be tired from the journey. Would you like some watermelon?" Kari asked, acting like a hostess entertaining a guest.

"N-No, thank you." Tai shook his head, and after hesitating for a moment, finally voiced the confusion in his heart: "Kari, how come you're the only one at home?"

Leaving a young girl all by herself at home without even locking the door—that was simply too dangerous!

Kari sat beside Tai, swinging her legs back and forth as she said, "Mom and Dad went to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Because I had a fever, I didn't go to summer camp with big brother."

"You had a fever?! What's your temperature right now?!"

Clearly, he could remain completely unfazed even when a tens of thousands of volts electromagnetic cannon blasted him in the face, but at the thought of Kari currently running a high fever of dozens of degrees, Tai's expression changed drastically.

He couldn't help but complain inwardly about the Tai of this world: What is wrong with you? Your own little sister is running a fever, and you still have the mood to go to summer camp.

I hope you get swallowed by a tsunami in the mountains!

He brushed aside Kari's bangs and pressed his forehead directly against hers to check her temperature.

"I'm fine, my fever broke this morning. Big brother just made me stay home because he was worried."

"Then why is your face still so red?"

"Heh, heh-heh..."

Looking at that face pressed right against hers, Kari smiled with some embarrassment.

Tai carefully sensed for a long time and found that Kari truly no longer had a fever, only then setting his mind at ease.

Kari brushed her bangs back herself, and then asked, "What about you, big brother? Where did you come back from?"

"Ah..."

Tai gave a wry smile, instantly realizing he had been found out. "Sure enough, even though we look identical, to family members who spend days and nights together, the differences are still spotted at a glance."

Kari suddenly took Tai's hand and said with a smile, "But big brother is still big brother."

Oh hoo...

If anyone dares to harm this smile, I will slay even the gods to protect it.

Kari continued, "Are you big brother from Koromon's world?"

Tai stared blankly at Kari: "You know Koromon?"

Kari smiled, and before he could explain, a commotion suddenly came from the balcony.

Tai looked over and saw Zero-Maru squatting there, his face crunched up as he said, "Tai~ I'm so bored."

Having been separated for only five minutes, Zero-Maru was already dying of loneliness.

Kari pushed open the balcony sliding door, showing no fear as she looked at Zero-Maru, as if she had long since seen monsters nearly five meters tall.

"Are you a friend of Koromon?" Kari asked with a smile.

"Koromon?" Zero-Maru thought of the Koromon village now renamed NEO Village. If he had to say, the Koromon in the village could indeed be counted as his friends. "Yeah, we get along really well."

Kari beamed with joy: "Is Koromon doing well? That's wonderful."

Kari asked Zero-Maru about Koromon's situation, and Zero-Maru answered Kari point by point, matching the conditions when he left NEO Village.

The two of them were talking about completely different things, yet somehow managed to connect on the same wavelength. Tai watched from the side, his mind subconsciously analyzing what Kari had said.

To summarize simply, several years ago, Kari had encountered a Digi-Egg, which quickly hatched into a pitch-black little creature. Judging by Tai's guess, it was probably a Botamon in In-Training I.

Botamon evolved into Koromon in an extremely short period of time—after evolving, Koromon also gained the ability to speak and told Kari its name.

However, not long after, Koromon evolved into a large orange dinosaur and seemed to lose the ability to speak again.

Tai frowned. A large dinosaur?

According to Kari's description and his own understanding of Koromon, the other party should have evolved into Agumon. But could Agumon's size be described with the word "large"?

Perhaps Kari was still too little back then; children see everything as big.

On that very same day, deep in the night, a large bird appeared in the sky, and without a word, it began fighting with Agumon. Triggered by the sound of a whistle, Agumon evolved once more into Greymon.

The evolved Greymon defeated the large bird, but having exhausted its strength, it was sucked into a door that suddenly appeared in the sky.

This experience was witnessed at the time by many children who didn't sleep in the middle of the night or were woken up by the commotion. However, because it was too magical, most people—including the Tai of this world, who had experienced everything firsthand alongside Kari—simply regarded it as a dream.

Only Kari kept Koromon in her thoughts all along.

Tai naturally believed one hundred percent what his little sister said. That large bird was probably some kind of Digimon as well, and the thing that sucked them in together was the gateway to the Digital World.

Presumably, that door was the official passage back to the Digital World.

Tai immediately relaxed. Since the Digital World had opened a door before, there was still hope for him and Zero-Maru to return.

Kari suddenly said, "It doesn't matter even if you don't go back."

"Eh?"

"Big brother and Ah-Zero, if you both stay here forever, living together like this would be great too."

"That way I'd have two big brothers, and Mom and Dad would definitely be very happy."

Looking into Kari's hopeful eyes as she looked up at him, Tai genuinely had a momentary impulse to agree to her.

However...

"No." Tai made a mental split-screen shot.

He thought of the Digital World currently in crisis, the Digimon enslaved by dark forces such as Devimon and Datamon, and MagnaAngemon, who had pinned all his final hopes on him.

How could Tai turn a blind eye to both Digital Worlds?

At that moment, the television suddenly interrupted the broadcast of the anime and switched to other content.

Tai and Kari immediately abandoned their hesitation, both nervously watching the television.

"Whoa, Tai, Kari... why are your expressions so serious?" Zero-Maru was startled, completely unaware of how explosive it was when TV Tokyo stopped broadcasting anime and instead broke into a news flash.

The television was broadcasting footage from various regions around the world suffering from abnormal weather conditions.

Some regions were inexplicably experiencing droughts; green, tree-ringed mountains were scorched into barren hills in a short span of time, and all streams dried up.

Other regions, right in the middle of hot summer, were experiencing heavy snowfall.

Even some countries suffered incalculable casualties due to sudden earthquakes.

Then the television broadcasted discussions from some online forums. Some people believed this was destruction caused by terrorist organizations, while others said it was a precursor to Earth welcoming the year 2000 apocalypse.

Only Tai, as he watched the television, discovered that the figures of Digimon had appeared in all the disaster-stricken areas:

"That's FlameMon, that's SnowGoburimon... and Seadramon!?"

The news was filled with Digimon Tai had once seen, yet the broadcaster seemed completely oblivious, treating the climate issues they caused as mere natural disasters, and even the forums lacked any discussion regarding Digimon.

Tai remembered the passersby from earlier; none of them could see Zero-Maru either.

In other words, the human world had already been affected by the Digital World, yet humans remained completely ignorant of it?

No, that wasn't right—there was one person who knew!

Tai looked toward Kari.

"Kari, can you see the Digimon on the television?"

Kari nodded: "I've always been able to see them, but no one believes me."

That's right, Davis had said that Kari was also a Chosen Child.... She might not have been chosen yet at present, but she already possessed the ability to see Digimon.

Tai's expression grew solemn. Digimon were actually affecting the human world; was it due to the influence of dark forces, or was there some other reason?

"Static......"

At that moment, the computer screen in the study suddenly lit up automatically.

Tai walked over to take a look and found a familiar portrait displayed on the screen.

"Elder Gennai! It really is you!" The former Tai would never have imagined that one day he would look at Elder Gennai's face and smile happily.

Regarding the situation with these Digimon, Elder Gennai might be able to provide him with some clues.

"Finally... found... you... Tamer."

The signal seemed poor, and Elder Gennai's voice stuttered and broke.

Tai couldn't care about all that and blurted out all his questions at once: "Why are Digimon appearing in the human world? Why do people seem unable to see them? How can I get back?!"

Yet Elder Gennai acted as if he hadn't heard a thing, talking to himself: "...The Digital World... has encountered... a major crisis... Chosen Children...... Tamer... we need you."

After finishing these words, Elder Gennai abruptly hung up the communication as usual.

"This stubborn old riddle-maker who never explains things clearly..."

Tai sighed. However, this time, the other party's communication seemed to have genuinely been interfered with, so he couldn't really blame him.

Still, since Gennai had contacted him, presumably he would open the gateway to the Digital World for him soon.

Thinking of this, Tai anxiously looked toward Kari.

Although Davis had once said that Kari had a Champion-level partner Digimon, he came from a future timeline, and goodness knows how long it would take for that Digimon to appear.

Yet right now, disasters were occurring in the real world with such high frequency.

How could he possibly let his guard down?

At that moment, the wind chimes hanging from the ceiling suddenly began to sway, and tremors came from the ground.

"Is it an earthquake?" Tai's first reaction was to look at the television, only to find that it had stopped breaking news and returned to the anime broadcast.

Then it couldn't be anything major.

Yet right at that moment, Zero-Maru on the balcony suddenly noticed the figure of a Tyrannomon appearing on a nearby lake.

The color of this Tyrannomon was somewhat special, and its eyes were lifeless, looking at a glance like a mirage.

Yet Tai clearly sensed the other's presence.

At that moment, Tyrannomon suddenly spewed a blast of fiery breath.

The massive fireball sprayed toward a nearby sidewalk at blinding speed.

The destructive power of a Champion-level signature move was by no means inferior to a missile.

If it hit, the resulting casualties would be incalculable!

"Ah-Zero!" Without a second thought, Tai's gaze instantly turned sharp as he pushed open the front door, vaulted over the railing, and leaped straight down toward the ground.

"Big brother!" Kari's pupils sharply contracted, leaving her time only to cry out.

At that moment, a fierce gust of wind blew up from behind Kari, and before she could react, Zero-Maru had already appeared beneath Tai.

Tai rode upon Zero-Maru's back, charging toward the direction of the fireball.

The cloak behind him fluttered loudly in the wind.