44. That child's name is Jia'er.

Clearly, this is no place to recuperate.

"There's no help for it. Let's retreat for now," Tai immediately decided.

Although he desperately wanted to settle the score with the enemy, when weighed against Veemon’s life, Tai chose the latter without a second thought.

Davis instinctively clenched his fists, feeling deeply frustrated. But as he watched Veemon, who was still groaning in pain even while unconscious, he immediately calmed down.

"I understand. Let's run!"

Seeing the shift in Davis’s attitude, Tai nodded to himself. He’s a guy who truly values his partner, he thought.

He immediately called out to Zeromaru, "Zero, we’re pulling back!"

Zeromaru, who never questioned Tai’s commands, suddenly released his grip on the enemy. The enemy, not expecting Zeromaru to suddenly let go, stumbled and collapsed to the ground. Taking advantage of this, Tai and the others fled as far as they could.

***

After an all-out retreat, Tai and the others soon arrived at a forest of stone pillars that towered into the clouds. Tai used his Digivice to project a green light into Veemon’s body.

"What is this..." Davis was taken aback by the sight.

"I’m transferring the data of medicinal herbs from my Digivice into Veemon. It acts as a direct healing treatment," Tai said, gesturing to the Digivice on his wrist with a grin. "In the same way, I can store data of food and transfer it into my body to fill my stomach directly."

Zeromaru added, "But you can only taste food by eating it properly, so we never do such redundant things."

"What a convenient ability," Davis remarked with a sigh.

Watching the wounds on Veemon’s body heal at a visible rate and his breathing shift from rapid to steady, Davis finally relaxed. Tai, meanwhile, poked the sleeping Veemon’s belly curiously. "It’s strange. He had already evolved into an... Adult form, so why did he devolve?"

Seeing Tai ask this, the sense of dissonance that Davis had temporarily forgotten due to Veemon’s crisis surfaced once more.

"Tai-senpai, what is wrong with you? How could you forget that Digimon can temporarily evolve through a D-3 Digivice?" Davis asked.

"And your height and appearance are strange, too. You’re wearing a cape I’ve never seen before... Are you really Tai-senpai?"

Tai nodded. "Authentic and genuine. Taichi Yagami, born in 1988. I’m eleven years old."

Davis pointed at himself. "I’m Davis Motomiya, born in 1991, also eleven years old... Ahhh! I don't get it at all!"

"First we suddenly arrive in this bizarre place, and then I see an eleven-year-old Tai-senpai. What on earth is happening?" Davis clawed at his hair in frustration.

"It seems that by some twist of fate, we have arrived in a brand new parallel universe—one that belongs to neither your timeline nor mine."

Tai was not surprised. After all, he was someone who had already traveled through parallel worlds; seeing a junior from a future parallel world was not something difficult for him to accept. *Sigh, parallel worlds... how convenient.* Once he accepted this premise, many troublesome problems resolved themselves.

At that moment, the data of the unknown Digimon that Tai had scanned earlier was finally deciphered.

*Dimensionmon*
*Mega level, Mutation type.*
*A Virus-type Digimon with the ability to move freely between parallel worlds. It is keen on absorbing Tamer data to strengthen itself. Its finishing move, "Absorption Strike," can decompose and absorb data.*

Tai was not stingy and shared the intelligence with Davis.

Davis blinked, then said, "A parallel world... so you mean I’m currently in a world that looks like mine but isn't?"

"You’re actually quite bright," Tai nodded. "In short, I am indeed Taichi Yagami, but not the Taichi Yagami you know." He patted Zeromaru. "This is my partner, Zero. He’s an Adult-level Veedramon."

"An Adult level..." Davis said, surprised. "In our world, the only partner Digimon that can maintain its Adult form is Kari’s Gatomon."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Kari?"

Tai’s expression was subtle, but to Davis, who idolized Tai as his hero, it was like watching Piccolo forget the name of his own granddaughter, Pan; he was so terrified his face turned green.

"Y-your expression, what’s that supposed to mean? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten—Kari is your sister!"

A terrifying thought crossed Davis’s mind. "Tai-senpai... could it be that in your world..."

Tai nodded silently. "I’m an only child."

Upon hearing the word "sister," Tai’s heartbeat skipped for a moment, then began to race at two hundred beats per second. Long ago, HolyAngemon had told Tai that in a parallel world, he had a sister. But just as he had learned this news, Devimon had evolved into SkullSatamon. That had been the most grueling battle Tai and Zeromaru had faced since they started, and after the fight, he had promptly forgotten about it.

He truly had not expected to hear about it again at a time like this. Tai’s emotions were indescribably complex. "So that’s it... That child is named Kari."

Watching Tai’s expression, a wave of sympathy and pity surged in Davis’s heart. *This Tai-senpai doesn’t even have a sister? How pathetic!*

He immediately draped an arm over Tai’s shoulder, his face solemn. "Don’t worry. When we get back, I’ll take good care of Kari for you."

"From now on, we’re brothers from different parents and different worlds. Please allow me to call you 'big brother'—Tai-nii!"

Tai: "..."

Tai stared blankly at Davis, whose eyes had literally turned into abacus beads. Suddenly, his fists felt itchy.

Just as Tai was about to use the excuse that their eyes had locked to start a fair and square duel, Veemon woke up.

"Veemon! Are you okay?"

Davis rushed to Veemon’s side. Seeing his partner like this, he had no choice but to begrudgingly extinguish the Digisoul in his hand; the crest on his chest faded as well.

Tai walked over to Veemon and scanned him with his Digivice. "His HP has fully recovered. Don't worry."

"You can even see his HP... it’s just like a game," Davis remarked with a sigh.

"Well... after all, this is a world composed entirely of data and networks. But don't ever mistake Digimon for just a string of data because of that," Tai said with a serious expression. "They have their own thoughts, their own joys, angers, and sorrows. They are precious lives born from data."

"Tai... senpai?"

In a daze, Davis felt as if he saw the Tai-senpai from his own world standing behind this Tamer Tai, the two figures perfectly overlapping into one.