"Perfectio is going to find that their Digivice falls short, Taiyou. I can tell you that."

I nearly spun on my heel and left upon seeing Blues' dark face, but he dragged me to a seat and sat me down before saying seriously, "My pride as a Digivice creator has been put into question. Your adoptive brother isn't safe from my wrath and neither are those inventors if I ever meet them."

Sometimes, Blues also said stuff in such a deadpan but also threatening way like Dad that I questioned why he and Mei were the people I spent the most time around outside of... Well, what I used to do.

I sighed and said, "I had a feeling that would be the case."

He seemed to frown as he asked, "I... Heard from Ismaya. You got fired?"

"I don't... Yeah," I just gave up and nodded. "It's better than being arrested and sent to jail, so..."

"I... See." He hesitated, but said, "Well... I... Know that Mei isn't around so if you need anything..."

"I'm fine. I'm just surprised you don't avoid me like the others."

"It's... Understandable," He admitted. "After all... It may not be the same but I did... Nearly drive someone to suicide..."

... Ah. "You still feel bad about it?" I asked him. "Mei is mostly over it. Just... Don't tell Yuga. The kid really cares for her."

"It's not that. It's what I was feeling at the time," He said, his artificial eye/Digivice and normal eye looking down as he continued, "I was... Really prepared to make Hiro agree no matter what. I wanted him to be free of Digimon, I wanted him to finally be free from the pain Hokuto put him in."

"Well, you also made him a math nerd," I drily added, and he gave a slight chuckle. "But honestly? Not as bad as what I did."

"... Why DID you do it, if I may ask? I thought money didn't matter a lot to you."

.... That... "I... I don't know either," I confessed. "Why I felt like hoarding up so much money, I don't know."

Well, I did have an understanding of WHY, it was just that I couldn't disclose it to anyone yet... It was.... If I did tell them, what would they think?

Here, Blues frowned, but sighed as he said, "I know I already upgraded Hiro, Ruri and Kiyoshiro's Digivices, but I'm working on the same for you. Mei already got hers as a birthday gift from me, so that's done. I did get Mom's help in adjusting some of the Fragmented Digivices and making them whole before upgrading them to the same level as Hiro and the others too, so..."

"It's just mine?" I asked.

"I was going to ask but you were working on Metamorphosis..." He exhaled. "I'm guessing no dice on that end?"

"Don't remind me... This entire month is starting out ****ty." I groaned. "I really don't get why the DIM card won't work. Everyone said it was fundamentally okay already!"

"Maybe you need a break. Isn't that why you're here?" He got out a small necklace with a centerpiece similar to his eye as he said, "Your partners are either out of commission or distrustful, so you came here to regain trust by taking on a case from Lirurun."

"Did Shin Bernard-san drop by or is it that obvious?" I snarked.

"Well, both," He chuckled, getting out a case file and handing it to me. "I printed out the cases you might be interested in, so feel free to go through them while I work on adjusting this necklace and getting you a weapon to fight."

I couldn't help but smile at this. Blues really was amazing. "Blues... Thank you. Really."

"Remember, we're both taking care of a Trouble Magnet, you more than me. It's the least I can do," He smiled.

I smiled, and took off my Digivice while sitting on a stool, opening up the case file  with the sounds of machinery whirring up in the background.

"'Toyland Mystery', 'Cherub of Evil'... Wow, there are a lot of these." I hadn't realised just how much Christmas brought about digital chaos...

I quickly looked through the posts, but stopped at one pretty interesting one.

"'Snowman Yeti'?" I repeated to myself. Curiosity piqued now, I decided to read it and see for myself what it was.

There are more blizzards happening now and it's concerning, but the real question is what people see DURING the blizzard... I was walking home one day when I spotted what seemed like a snowman Yeti thing?... If not, a yuki-onna... I got so scared I nearly tripped and was about to run, but when I looked back the storm was gone and so were those figures...

It seemed pretty harmless at first glance, but those blizzards mentioned... That could really hurt people...

I frowned slightly. This seemed like an okay case to take on, so... I got out a pencil and began scribbling notes into my notebook, skimming through the various comments about their location before I got to one user named EcoTeamMember.

Their comment was... Interesting.

"'I think I figured out the pattern, but I can't fight those monsters alone... Lirurun, please help me out... I worry that if this keeps up, people could die...'" I read aloud to myself. That was interesting. Someone managed to figure it out? There were definitely skeptics in the followers Ruri, Mika and Aoi had amassed, so the chance of people believing in it fully was rare.

Still, it felt like a promising lead, so I got my phone out and typed down the username for a quick search. It was pretty easy to find their profile too, but strangely enough it had no posts. Maybe they just had social media to look at stuff instead of posting? I knew I did that at times too, so it wasn't that farfetched.

"Speaking of which, how's the concert prep coming along?" Blues asked, nearly scaring me as the younger male dropped the necklace and an improved taser into my hands. Right, I had lost the first one yesterday. It had probably been crushed during the fight against Jokermon...

"I haven't been catching up on it, but I heard Gami is pretty nervous about it. They are going to be doing their first concert, and they can't use a mask or anything, so the world will know about their assigned gender at birth."

"They identify as non binary right?" Blues frowned. "Then it won't be easy."

"Shin Yunbae and their grandma are going to be performing alongside Amano, so I think they should be fine," I reassured him, getting up. "I should get going though. I found an early lead."

"That's good," He smiled and said, "Good luck, Taiyou."

I smiled back despite the doubt that it would go well. "T-Thanks."

I sincerely doubted it would work out, but okay.

I grabbed my phone and pressed down on an application, which opened up a portal as I stepped through to enter my shared apartment with Dad, walking to my room and getting thicker clothes on due to the harsh weather outside. Hopefully it would recede enough for the case today...

I found a thick orange jacket and a navy blue sweater, which I put on with a pair of maroon jogging pants. I added green gloves to the mix, grey socks and brown goggles to the mix in case the weather was bad, and then put on my purple shoes. Alright, I was set. I adjusted the two new additions to my attire accordingly, and I was ready to head out.

Walking out into the freezing air made me wish I was back in Cho-Taiyo. While it was pretty secluded in the sense that it was located in a rare dimension of intersection between words, it also had its own weather that consisted only of rain and heat. Seriously, anything but snow!

I had texted EcoTeamMember to meet me at the cafe Kagami used to work at, which they agreed to since they actually lived nearby, so I arrived at the cafe and waited, sipping on some teh tarik (a recent addition to the menu from Malaysia. Shin Michelle LOVED it.). The warm tea mixed in cohesively with the milk and I couldn't help but smile as I kept drinking. The cafe was pretty secluded too, so it shouldn't be hard to see my informan-

"Hey, are you Akashiro-sshi?"

I froze on the spot the moment my orange eyes met their scarlet ones. When... How...?

The person in front of me looked around Hiro's age, with messy scarlet hair that matched their eyes and fair skin. They wore a white hoodie underneath a blue shirt, light grey pants, red and white shoes, and a red watch on their wrist.

But my eyes zeroed in on the blue goggles sitting atop their head.

We stared at each other before my dumb mouth opened and said, "Gogglehead."

And immediately they blushed hard. "H-HEY?!"

I covered my mouth and blushed as well. Oh sweet mother of everything supernatural this was EMBARRASSING! "Ah, forgive me! I just spoke without thinking! And I'm also wearing goggles so-" Darn I should stop spending time with Ren Kiyoshi-san! He called the Legendary Heroes goggle heads and I just immediately associated-

They smiled sheepishly. "I-It's fine... A-Anyway, I'm Tak Uju. W-We chatted on social media?"

"Y-Yeah. You mentioned that you had some insight about the Snowman Yeti case." Thank goodness they switched up the topic!

"Are you taking it on? After... Yesterday?" They asked curiously.

I flinched a bit but nodded. "Yeah, I-I guess."

It was pretty dumb, but I wanted the others to forgive me as soon as possible. I couldn't stand the looks anymore. Yeah, maybe it wasn't going to be easy, but just anything would do. Selfish as it was... 

Uju seemed... Intrigued by that. "That's really cool."

"H-Huh?" I looked over at them.

They chuckled as they sat in front of me, quickly ordering a drink as well before they said, "You can get back up really quickly. That's... Admirable."

"I wouldn't call it that, but okay," I sighed. "Anyway, what do you have?"

They had a twinkle in their eyes as they got a tablet out and opened it up, showing a map with various marks. "Here are the locations where the blizzards hit. At first, it seems random but when you consider the locations themselves..."

I leaned in, looking at the locations before my eyes widened. "Those are stadiums for concerts!"

"Exactly. The blizzard has been making it hard for concerts to happen," They said. "Maybe it's to stop the one happening tomorrow. The one that is going to be the beginning of diplomacy for all worlds, if my memory serves me correctly."

"Y-Yeah..." My eyes were wide. I HAD heard Kagami complaining about it but...! This concert HAD to happen! Ever since the worlds became open source, lots of confusion and mistrust were in the air, mainly due to Lumosmon being controlled by Haavik. This was supposed to begin a peaceful era of coexistence! If this didn't happen...! "Could... Could Team Perfectio be behind this?"

"You mean the people who broadcast your deeds? What do you mean?" Uju asked.

I went silent, contemplating this quietly. I knew that they wanted revenge on me, but... Was there some deeper meaning? Why had the other eight remained cloaked? If they genuinely wanted revenge... Why do it on Christmas? To maximise the pain?

I groaned as I rubbed my temple. "I... I don't know but I have a bad feeling about them. Like they have some bad plan in mind."

"Maybe you need to think about it from their perspective," They offered. "Well, as much as you can with the information you have. Why would they want to stop a diplomatic event like that? And if they did, would they have allowed sightings? Right now they're considered the hot topic, so if they want to maintain their reputation they wouldn't have risked it."

"It's only been a day and they're already trending? Gosh, that's insane," I muttered.

Uju gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Sorry about that. I was pretty hesitant about meeting up with you too, but I wanted to see for myself if the news were right."

"I kinda had to snap out of it after my partner died, no thank you," I snorted, all too aware of the lump in my throat. I still remembered how Dracmon had stabbed my partner... Laughing as he was turned into an egg... Shiramon's rage as her Wrath Code activated to nearly kill him was it not for Violet and Culumon X.

Another reason why I was going at this alone; I was terrified of losing Pump again after yesterday. Of losing him, Boko or Baku... Or anyone I cared for because of my actions.

"So he was brought back? How?" they asked. "I heard from rumours that..." 

"A friend of mine brought him back in exchange for an old picture of him and his younger brother, who is now my adoptive son. Some crazy **** happened last month," I laughed. 

How we found out about Dad was kinda simple; he had this ultra-complicated plan banking on mental issue labels, which he did have, like me, though I doubt he was aware of my diagnosis. A former psychopath with antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder... It was no wonder he was so confident we would have believed in the worst were it not for Benton-san and Philomena-san wanting to investigate and all that. It was also the very same month he got me emancipated and eligible to adopt Hiro, which was why he was now my son. 

"That sounds... painful," Uju blinked. 

"I guess, but don't worry, kid, it's pretty normal for our group," I reassured them. 

They stopped. "... Wait, hold on. Don't tell me... You think... I'm younger?"

I blinked. "Yeah? Isn't that...?"

"Akashiro-sshi... We're the same age. I'm 20 as well."  

...

"WAIT WHAT!? B-But-" I stammered as I looked them over. They were Hiro and the others' heig- OH NO DID I ACCIDENTALLY LET STEREOTYPES BLIND ME AGAIN!? "Oh, my Kami I am SO sorry! I didn't mean- I-" 

Here, Uju burst out laughing, and it felt like a jingle as they said, "No problem. I get that a lot." 

"Still, I should know better than to judge!" I groaned, feeling like I could really use a wall to hit my head against right now. "I was judged a lot growing up because of my gender and-" 

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I use he/him?" Uju offered. "And I won't judge you. I feel like the others won't either."

"But..." I rubbed my arm as I considered their looks. "They probably do now..." 

"I'm sure they'll come around and see that you've changed. Just give them time," he said. 

"I... guess," I sighed, but then froze. Oh NO. "AH, I'm SO SORRY!!! I didn't mean to trauma-dum-" 

His laugh really made my worries disappear as Uju said, "Relax. I know what it's like to have no one to rant to. Plus, right now, you seem like a really cool person. Down to earth, actually! So you're cool! Friends?"

I couldn't help but feel a smile form at his kindness. He really was... "Thanks, Uju. And yeah, let's be friends." 

As we fistbumped, I saw his genuine smile and it immediately brightened up my heart. Wasn't I aroace, though? What was this feeling?... 

Ah, that could be saved for next time. I had to deal with the Snowman Yeti case! "Thanks for the help, Uju! I'll see you around! I need to go deal with the case first! If you want, we can meet up tomorrow for the concert!" 

"Wait, really?" 

"A hangout sounds fun, doesn't it?" I grinned. 

His smile brightened up a lot more. "Yeah! See you around, Taiyou!" 

I waved before I left in high spirits. I was going to solve this case for my friends! And for Uju as well! 

(If I had been a bit more perceptive, maybe... maybe I would have...)

+ SPIRITUAL DIGILEMMA +

As per Uju's prediction, another blizzard struck a few miles from the final stadium, which made me frown. I had to stop it! 

I decided to check the necklace I had been given, finding the standard buttons and pressing down on the sequence needed to teleport to the digital space, which thankfully took the snow with us, but... 

I blinked. What in the world...? 

This was definitely not a normal field. It didn't even feel close to what we usually saw in the space! Tall and desolate buildings seemed to loom over me. It was... reminiscent of pictures of AR fields I had seen from the Appli Drivers. 

Curious... Was this a new type of field? Or had Blues used the data from those times we had tried entering the Digital World as a base while also taking inspiration from the AR fields?

Either way, I got the taser out and adjusted the goggles over my eyes before extending the taser as I trudged into the blizzard. My shoes got soaked right off, and I shivered slightly. I really ought to have gotten more layers. This place was freezing! 

But... What was causing it? That was the real question. And were they with Team Perfectio? There were way too many variables and I had to consider all those if I wanted to make a hypothesis, yet it still didn't make sense at the moment! I needed more clues!

My feet sank into deeper snow, and I had to wipe my goggles off once in a while to be able to see in this place, but soon I found the entrance of the stadium, where a Devimon of sorts was standing while flanked by two yeti-like Digimon. 

I didn't have Angoramon or Bokomon with me, but I would have to take a guess that they were all ice Digimon, so I yelled, "Hey! Are you part of Perfectio!?" 

The Devimon paused and looked over. "Ah, I see, so you came alone. How sad. I was hoping to be able to end that pumpkin as well."

My suspicions confirmed, I slid into a stance. "Yeah, not happening! Pump only killed because I ordered him to! Your target is me!" 

"I see. How foolhardy," it said as it floated down to the ground, with the other two Digimon joining it. "You are about to regret that decision. Are you ready, Mojyamon?"

The two Digimon nodded, and I prepared myself. I was not about to lose here!

"Icy Shower!"

"Icicle Rod!"

I ducked and rolled out of the way, powering up the taser before I charged at a Mojyamon, swinging the taser like a baton as it hit its target and was sent flying. 

This was why no one underestimated Blues. His inventing prowess was to be feared! 

"Grrrr...! Hone Hone Boomerang!" The other Mojyamon struck my back and I hissed in pain as I fell into the snow. 

"Frost Claw!" The Devimon summoned up freezing air that hit me right on the face! Damn it! I was really out of my league here! And all this snow just made it hard to see-

... wait, there was lots of snow... and... snowmen, they were made of that snow... Snow, snow... SCARECROWS! My eyes widened as an idea hit me right there. That was it!

Wasting no time, I powered down the taser and ducked behind an ice boulder, balling up a snow ball before I waited. 

"Wha- Where did he go?!"

"We need to find him!"

"But how?"

I poked my head out from behind the boulder and grinned. Clear shot towards the Devimon!

With that, I held my ball and clasped it tight to ensure it didn't break apart, before I threw it with all my might at the Devimon. It hit bullseye as I rushed to another boulder further away.

"What the!?"

"Where had that-"

I grinned. Alright! While they were distracted! 

I made a slightly bigger snowball, and rolled it around to make it grow in size. Then I did the same but made it smaller, and one more for the top. I didn't have any accessories, so I made do with this as I shaped it to look slightly similar to myself. Not that I was hoping to win any rewards or anything. This was solely for survival!

Once I was sure it would hold, I took in a deep breath and yelled, "HEY BOZOS! OVER HERE!"

"WHAT?!"

"THAT LITTLE BRAT...!"

I immediately took off for yet another boulder, and powered up the taser as I rubbed my goggles again. Sure enough, the three Digimon were headed my way. 

But I knew one thing they probably hadn't considered. Snow was practically water in solid form, and lightning did give out heat. Not to mention, water CONDUCTED electricity. 

I quickly thanked the world that I had asked Blues for a function that allowed me to remain immune to the electricity thanks to his skills. Seriously this was really great!

I held my breath as they passed by, but they made a beeline for the snowman, and I grinned. Perfect! I quickly switched on the safety feature for myself, turning the heat up to maximum, and waited... waited...

Until they got close enough to see the snowman. "Wha-"

Without wasting time, I stabbed the taser right into the snow, the sheer heat enough to melt the ice, which allowed the electricity to conduct itself through, reaching them in record speed as they screamed in pain, devolving right into... into Agumons. A ClearAgumon, a ToyAgumon and a YukiAgumon.

Still, I noted that the chilly weather had disappeared and was relieved to shed my jacket as I walked over, making sure to keep my taser on but not to lethal levels. 

I soon reached the three and asked, "Why exactly had you done all this? People could have gotten hurt... Seriously, all your vendettas should be aimed at me, not at the other worlds or other people."

The three shared a glance before the ClearAgumon said, "A warning..."

"Huh? A warning?" I repeated. What did they mean?...

"For... our partners..." YukiAgumon spoke. "Please... be kind to them."

"We may not like you, heck, we despise you, but... you're not that bad." ToyAgumon looked down. "Our friends... they're in danger because of..."

"Because of?" I asked. 

"Because of... Hubris and Melancholy... Sorry, that's all we can say now..." ClearAgumon said. "But... it's changing them, it's breaking them, turning them, turning US into monsters... we never... when we were given it, we..."

"Wait, Hubris and Melancholy?" I had a bad feeling I knew what that meant. "You mean Bensidmon and Aduyvesmon?" Bensidmon had been a failed experiment of HIM, as well as Aduyvesmon, according to Aliana... But we never did wonder where the Codes had come from. 

They shook their heads.

"Please... please help..." YukiAgumon began crying. "They're all suffering too... we... we don't want them to suffer... They have been through so much, it's unfair.."

I was genuinely confused now. "Are you saying that Bensidmon and Aduyvesmon are not the only Digimon with those Codes? Did HE... Did HE..."

"We-" a bright light suddenly covered my eyes, and the Digital Space shattered as I heard screaming. 

"No!!!!!!" It was like I was enduring that time again, with Eosmon...!

"TAIYOU!" 

I shot up, seeing everyone looking at me worriedly as Pump hugged me. "You okay!"

"What the heck?! You ran out without any backup to solve a case?! Are you insane, Akashiro-san?! You could have died!" Kiyoshiro scolded. 

Gammamon also hugged me as Hiro said, "We got a call from the stadium people who recognized you as one of us lying on the ground in front of the entrance... we got so worried..."

"I'm fine, guys! Really!" I reassured them. "I managed to beat the three Digimon! I doubt they'll interfere in tomorrow's concert, so that's fine-" 

"That is NOT the point!" Dad yelled, making me jump as he glared at me. "You... YOU COULD HAVE DIED, TAIYOU! RYUBO SAID THAT IT WAS A CLOSE CALL! IF WE HADN'T... IF PUMP HADN'T GONE TO ASK BLUES ABOUT YOUR WHEREABOUTS... IF HE HADN'T SPOTTED YOUR HANDWRITING ON THE SNOWMAN YETI CASE...! YOU WOULD HAVE DIED!"

I flinched at that. He was really angry this time, huh...? 

"Seriously! You scared us all!" Ichita scowled at me. "At least take a Digimon with you when you go!"

"Who was I supposed to bring?" Once again, the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Pump was recovering from yesterday, and Boko and Baku were avoiding me like the plague! DID YOU THINK I WANTED MY PARTNERS TO DIE AGAIN!? NO! I HAVE STANDARDS! I'm not ****ing  Hokuto who would hurt others and inconvenience them for the sake of others! Plus..."

My tone grew softer. "This is MY mess. I started it. Pump was only involved because I forced him to. He had been against wanting to kill but I made him. And now... because of my mistakes, Perfectio... they..."

They were suffering... and if I... if I hadn't... If I hadn't taken on the first job, to kill that unknown Digimon... maybe, just maybe... 

"Taiyou..." Reiji reached out, but I swatted it away as I got up. "It's fine. I'll stay in our world tonight. You guys don't need someone like me messing up tomorrow."

"That's not-"

"Reputation, guys. You don't need a bad rep because of me." Was all I said before I walked away. 

As I had predicted, no one followed me. 

But someone was in the apartment when I came back.

I blinked. "You're..."

"I heard from the others. Felt that you wouldn't be okay," Cha Jinhyuk, Mystic aura expert and Philomena-san's husband, said while sighing. "Ismaya helped me get here. Everything good? You look like you're carrying the weight of the world on your back."

"I-It's nothing," I waved it off while brushing past him. "Shouldn't you be spending time with the others?"

"The AB agreed that making sure you're okay takes first priori-"

"Why the **** can't they hate me!?" I snarled. "I'm evil! I killed people because my ****ty adoptive parents kept on telling me for ages that I would never be successful until I got lots of money to prove it to them! That everything they did for me was to support me! They told me all the time I was only useful as long as I kept up the perfect image! They would hit and kick me if I wasn't! And... when I was... I was..."

"When you were?"

"UGH! JUST SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH ANY OF YOU! PLEASE!" I screamed before pushing past him and slamming the door of my room close as I forced my jacket off and curled up on the door, frustrated and angry and guilt-ridden... 

It was my fault they were suffering... I had to save those kids, but... how?... 

What COULD I do?... 

When I put my mind to it? 

I... I didn't know. 

venusaura owns Violet, Culumon X, Aliana/WrathIramon, Bensidmon and Aduyvesmon.