Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

〔 無 問 題 〕

Her plan was simple. Sneak into her brother's room while he was out, low down the volume till almost zero, and play the Digimon game in his computer. He said he wasn't coming home until later in the evening so Shiuchon had time play to her heart's content.

Now, of course she could have asked her brother's permission instead of playing in secret like this, but she had specifically said, in a tone that betrayed no uncertainty, that the game was nothing but a waste of time that she could have spent on her make-believe tea party instead. 

Her brother naturally persuaded her to try the game, and she humored him. But a few minutes in, she surprisingly fell in love with the game. Or more accurately, one of her brother's Digimon characters.

It was a Digimon called Terriermon, a cute little guy with a pair of long bunny ears and a horn right above his forehead. His most powerful move is Blazing Fire that sent fire bullets in his opponents' direction. She thoroughly enjoyed her whole five minutes playing the game.

She couldn't admit that when her brother asked her opinion however, so she lied, repeating those exact same words she had said earlier. He never bothered her after that. 

It had been a few days since then, and she. Regretted. Every. Second. Of it. But she couldn't just walk up to him and said she was just saving face, so "pwease pwetty pwease wet me pway the game". Ugh, no. She was a proud woman. Well, young woman. 

For days she suffered not being able to touch the mouse or keyboard. All she had was the game's English guide she 'borrowed' from her brother's room. She convinced her other brother, Rinchei-niichan, to write a translation for her. Plus to promise to not tell a soul about this. Her dignity rested on it. She'd been reading and rereading the translation since. 

She thought this was how the rest of her days were going to be, wasted in her room with the guide, unable to reach her beloved Terriermon.

Then luck landed before her feet. She didn't wait to pick it up.

Her brother, the constant existence that guarded the room where her beloved resided, was going to a friend's house. At last, she could have the game all to herself.

It went without saying that she went all out. Every tasks, every level, she played them all. She didn't touch the levels her brother hadn't passed yet though. That'd give her away and she wouldn't want to answer to whatever question her brother might have.

Thus her day went. With every little tricks she recalled from the guidebook, she cleared over ten levels in two hours. Hah! At this point she practically memorized it, save for some parts she found too complicated.

She stretches a bit and yawned once she finished the last level she could play. The game sure took a lot out of her, she thought as she stared at the lists of levels she couldn't touch. Oh well, it's fine. She had played enough for today.

There was still some time before her brother should return. Shiuchon took that chance to get a glass of chocolate milk straight from the fridge to drink while watching Terriermon's funny animation collection over and over. 

She didn't get to however. 

The moment she came back to the room, Terriermon was running away from a rampaging Digimon.

Shiuchon gulped her milk in one go and rushed to the seat, frantically looking for the exit button, pause, anything. 

Did she accidentally advance to a new level? This is bad.

Terriermon was running about, trying to defend himself. Meanwhile, the unknown Digimon, Gorimon from what the cards told her, chased him around with cannon blasts directed at him. It didn't seem like a typical level, more like an animation.

Huh? She didn't know this game had a story mode. Unless this was a secret level... She paled.

Oh, she was beyond dead once her brother found out. She was about to click on the exit button and bail out of this room when the familiar beep of Terriermon's dialogue stopped her. On the right of the screen, Terriermon lay in bruises and injuries. His dialogue box said "help, please" in English. She wasn't fluent by any means but even she knew what that meant. And yet mom said the TV wasn't good for her.

Meanwhile, on the left side, Gorimon approached, canon at the ready. 

When she looked at Terriermon again, she saw something she didn't expect. Tears. Pleading tears. Her cute Terriermon was crying and it broke her heart.

At that moment, something awakened inside her, something raw and burning. She was mad. No. Beyond that. 

Shiuchon pulled her seat closer to the computer and picked up her cards. She didn't care if this was a secret level, or that her brother would find out. Terriermon was getting bullied and she wasn't going to allow it any further.

Shiuchon didn't know how this level worked since the mouse and keyboard did nothing when she tried to use them… which left only the card reader.

When Gorimon launched another shot at the sobbing Terriermon, Shiuchon slashed High Speed Plug-in B to increase the digimon's speed. That should give him, a Child level, a fair a chance to run from Gorimon, an Adult level.

A meter appeared on the bottom of the screen, filling up with shades from red to yellow. Soon Terriermon was back up again. His new speed allowed him to evade and sidestep Gorimon's canon attacks.

But this wasn't enough. Shiuchon needed something to defeat Gorimon. But how? Gorimon was an Adult and Terriermon was just a Child-

Oh.

A line from the guide popped up into her mind, something about achieving Evolution. If the requirements were met, a Digimon could Evolve to a higher level.

If Terriermon could evolve into an Adult, that would even the field. Agh, what did the guide say about Evolution, what did the guide say?! She couldn't remember!

While Shiuchon struggled with her memory, Terriermon jumped away from yet another attack. The speed meter was decreasing, making it harder for him fo dodge.

His dialogue beeps snaps her attention into place and she looked to his dialogue box. Her blood curled upon processing it.

It said "Shiuchon" in Romaji. Her name, followed by words like "help" and some others she couldn't understand. How…

Terriermon shouldn't know her name. This was her brother's account she was using! So how?!

The dialogue box droned out longer and longer with her name sprinkled in here and there. 

A small voice in the back of her head told her to climb down the chair and make a run for it. This had gone on long enough and it would only get weirder and weirder.

Another voice reminded her of the now-dried tears on Terriermon's face, his hopeful face pleading her to save him.

With Gorimon gaining on Terriermon the more his speed decreased, the latter growing desperate with every near-miss with Gorimon's cannon attack, her brother's words a few days ago echoed in her mind.

"I think… I think the Digimon in this game are alive. That's why I don't kill them. I know dead Digimon will respawn, but since you're using my account, you're not allowed to kill them either. Got that?" he had said when he introduced the game to her. She had agreed to the term if only to satisfy him.

Shiuchon held on to her promise and only completed tasks. Deleting Digimon wasn't a requirement to pass a level after all. She mostly did that because there was a visible kill count though, currently stuck at 1. If that number rose any more she'd be the one her brother would kill.

But his words suddenly weighed on her conscience. She trusted her brother, and he was never wrong. If he said the Digimon were alive, then she believed it.

Even if the Digimon could respawn endlessly, the thought of leaving someone defenseless to their death, game character or not, was bothering her the more and more she considered it.

Alright. Shiuchon made her resolve.

How Terriermon knew her name didn't matter. What did was that he needed her help. If Gorimon was aiming for the kill, then so would she. The only way to do that was by Evolving Terriermon to Adult level.

She didn't know the exact requirements, but it had something to do with cards. As long as she kept slashing cards, she could Evolve Terriermon and destroy this cannon handed bully.

And so she went, slashing cards left and right; Boost Chip, Aurvandil's Arrow, Stamina Seed. The cards complemented each other and increased Terriermon's meters. Terriermon managed to hit Gorimon with augmented Blazing Fire. Gorimon, enraged, counter attacked by slamming a fist in his face, sending the small Digimon flying. But Shiuchon and Terriermon weren't done yet.

Without looking, Shiuchon a slashed a card that… did nothing. 

Huh? 

When she looked down, she saw a blue card that wasn't in the deck before. It wasn't even a Digimon card. Then, before her eyes, the blue card transformed into a regular Digimon card. She blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't imagining things. In her trance, Gorimon managed to sneak up on Terriermon and kicked him high into the air. Gorimon's cannon was aiming for him and being airborne, Terriermon got nowhere to run.

No. No…

Frantically reaching for the card reader to slash Terriermon an escape chance, she was yet again surprised, this time by something that looked like a toy that sat exactly where the card reader should be.

A continuous beeping pulled her attention to the the screen where Terriermon was calling her name over and over as he fell at Gorimon's mercy. 

The cannon followed him around. 

And then…

"No. Terriermon!" Shiuchon called when Gorimon fired.

Bright light invaded her vision. She soon realized that it wasn't from Gorimon's attack, but something else. Something totally unexplainable.

In the empty space between her and the computer, a void white hole appeared. Out of it came a glowing figure. Before she knew it, Terriermon, a game character, was in her arms. The hole disappeared soon after but it left a souvenir in the form of a fog clouds. Behind the computer screen, an enraged Gorimon glared at her before running in the other direction. Then he was gone. The computer shut down by itself.

Shiuchon, still dumbfounded by everything that happened till now, found herself at a lost for words when Terriermon adressed her.

"Thank you, Shiuchon," he said, tiredness and relief leaking out of his voice. Then he was out, resting his bruised but smiling face on her chest. 

"Y-you're welcome…" Shiuchon replied after she snapped out of it, wondering what in the world was going on.

〔 無 問 題 〕

The card reader was missing.

And not only that, Terriermon was missing too. All the Digimon NPCs as well. Numemon, Vegiemon, Monochromon. Did they all run away? Like Gorimon?

Jenrya stared in confusion at the barren wasteland his game had become. 

When he looked at the kill count, the number was far higher than what he left it as the last he played this game. Either a certain somebody sneaked in and played it without his knowledge… or the Digimon fought among themselves and died.

But they would've respawned if they died wouldn't they? Instead, all he saw was an empty game world.

Where did they all go? Could… could he have done something that displeased them? Did they run away because he wouldn't let them kill each other?

The only possible clue to what could answer his questions was the white and green Digivice on his desk where the card reader should be. He didn't recognize the design, but he knew a Digivice when he saw one. What bothered him though, with a degree of confusion mixed in, was what was written on its pixelated screen when he pressed one of its buttons.

There, written on it, was Terriermon's name in Katakana.

〔 無 問 題 〕

Chapter Text

〔 無 問 題 〕

Terriermon became a fixed part of Shiuchon's life. They'd play together("No means no, Shiuchon! I'm not wearing that dres-Ahh! Let go!"), sneak into the kitchen for midnight snacks, watch TV on the weekends… The list went on and on.

The hardest thing so far having Terriermon around was convincing everyone he was a doll she bought with her savings. Mom and dad scolded her for not consulting them first, but they and her two oldest siblings bought her lie and left it at that. Her brother Jen-niichan however was another story. 

He kept sending looks her way like he knew something. He'd also pick up Terriermon sometimes and study him, forcing the Digimon to freeze in her brother's curious hands. 

"Why did you buy a Terriermon doll? I thought you said you didn't like Digimon," her brother had asked one day.

"I said the game was boring. I liked Digimon. Just not the game. And Terriermon is cute," she had replied and made herself scarce right after, hiding her panicked face from his view. That had been scary.

His fixation on Terriermon didn't stop there.

Once, he had taken Terriermon into his room and sat the Digimon in front of him. For hours Terriermon had to hold himself from moving, barely able to not flinch while her brother did his homework. 

Shiuchon treated the poor guy with an expensive ice cream the day after as an apology for not being home to rescue him. The Digimon made her promise to take him with her everywhere after that.

Still. What confused Shiuchon was that he had yet to ask about the card reader or the strange toy that appeared in its place. Something wasn't right.

Some time ago, she heard dad asking him how far he'd progressed in the game and he replied he was almost finished. Terriermon wasn't in the game anymore so the only way he could have advanced was by creating a new account with a new Digimon starter. 

Either he really didn't care, or he already knew. Terriermon was leaning on the latter and she couldn't help but consider it. Her brother must at least suspect something, right?

"I bet this manju here that Jen already figured out everything," Terriermon said before shoving saud manju down his mouth. 

"…you just ate it."

"Your point?"

They actually considered telling him since he seemed to have already found out anyway. It'd make things easier

...then they decided against it after he left them at the mall getting their groceries.

"Announcement: To Lee Jen-niichan, 4th grade, good at math and Tai Chi. You forgot your sister! Thank you," she had said to the mic, adding a cute giggle at the end.

〔 無 問 題 〕

Her brother wasn't the only one with a fixation on Terriermon.

She had been going through dad's stuff in hope of finding candies. He'd give some to her when mom wasn't looking sometimes. She felt like being a naughty girl though and went through dad's briefcase.

While she did find what she was looking for("Yes! Strawberry flavored!"), she also discovered a whole drawing book dedicated to drawings and sketches of Terriermon in various poses; sitting, flying, even dancing. On each page was a date, all one week apart. After spending an unimaginable amount of mental energy doing math on her fingers, she realized that dad had been drawing them since Terriermon's arrival here.

If discovering dad's hidden talent was a surprise for her, to Terriermon it was a delight.

Being the so-called model for Dad's artistic works, Terriermon declared the man as his number one fan. That slave driver forced her to "borrow" dad's drawing book every week so he could admire his oh so flawless face on paper. Ugh. 

"If you like them so much why don't you do it on your own?" she said to him, cheeks puffed.

"Hey, I'm a doll. Dolls shouldn't walk or talk. What if somebody saw me?"

"And my family seeing me steal dad's stuff is better how?"

"Eh. You're a dispensable slave. Now go get me my orange juice."

She locked Terriermon outside the window that day, watching him begging and failing to convince her to let him in. He only gave up when she blew raspberries at him, to which he responded with raspberries of his own, forgetting he was standing outside an apartment with a few stories down below. 

"Terriermon!" Shiuchon called when he fell down, fumbling her hands trying to open the window. She peered down expecting for the worse. Instead, a smirking Terriermon greeted her, his ears holding onto a protruding part of the wall outside the apartment.

"Hehe. I know you care for me, Shiu-Wait, wait! I was joking. Shiuchon, don't do this. Shiuchoooooon!"

Shiuchon locked the window back and ignored his calls.

He slept outside for the night. Even his squished face on the glass and those big teary eyes weren't enough to get her attention. 

She only let him in in the morning, though not after forgetting he was even outside. The disbelief on his face was priceless.

Shiuchon still followed through with Terriermon's request though, but only because of the candies.

As she went through another file of work-related stuff, she found a curious drawing of not Terriermon, but a group of adults including dad himself. Only one of the adults seemed to be Japanese. 

Under the drawing was a string of English letters, one she copied and, upon asking her eldest brother Rinchei, learned to be read as "Wild Bunch".

"Don't think I didn't see you taking candies from dad's briefcase, Shiuchon." A hand patted her from above as she reread the paper she copied the name on.

When she looked up, a smiling Lee Mayumi was looking down at her. Shiuchon knew mom as a very gentle and kind person, but the few instances of her anger weren't something she wished to re-experience in her lifetime.

Shiuchon gulped.

"No snacks anymore for you."

"No!"

〔 無 問 題 〕

She couldn't find Terriermon.

Shiuchon came back from school hoping she could play dress-up with him per their agreement; every Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday. However, she had yet to see his long ears everywhere she looked. That sneaky bunny, running away from her!

So far she had checked her room:

"Ah, where did you come from?! Go away!" she yelled as a cockroach emerged from under the bed.

...Jen-niichan's:

"I haven't seen him, sorry. But I have been wanting to ask you about this thing here." Her brother raised the weird white and green toy that appeared the same day Terriermon arrived here. There was a knowing smile on his face

Shiuchon grinned nervously at him. Then she turned and ran like there was a ghost behind her.

"IforgotIhaveahomeworktodosobye!"

...and the kitchen:

"Your doll?" Jaarin-neechan repeated as she bit through a manju mom made (that she couldn't eat today sadly). "Hm… I think I remember mom said she wanted to use it to help her with her work. Why don't you ask her."

"Okay, thank you!" 

Shiuchon went with her sister's suggestion and went to mom's workroom. A scene she didn't expect greeted her when she opened the door.

A struggling Terriermon was trying to push away mom who was crushing him under the weight of her head and arms. Shiuchon confirmed the woman was asleep when she looked closer.

"A little help here, Shiuchon?" Terriermon gasped. 

Triumph flashed on his face when he managed to get an arm out without waking her up. It was short-lived however. The hand hit the mouse and brought life back to the computer mom was probably doing her work on before falling asleep

There were some cute animal designs on the screen surrounding a large circle with a logo on it. She rarely saw mom's works so this was a novelty to her.  

When Shiuchon looked at the animals one by one, she realized they were based on Terriermon. They were all different animals, but their size and height were about the same as Terriermon if he was mini-sized.

"Hellooo. Shiuchon. Can you hear me?" Terriermon grumbled.

"Oh right. Sorry." Shiuchon gave him a smile, embarrassed. She tapped mom's shoulder. "Mom, I need Terriermon back. Mom." 

Terriermon chuckled when the woman didn't budge.

"I'm famous," Terriermon said and sent her a grin.

"Do you want me to leave you here?"

"..."

"I take that as a no. Mom, come on..."

〔 無 問 題 〕

Terriermon was missing. Again. And the culprit was none other than her sister.

"Here, your doll." A very bright and cheery Jaarin-neechan procured Terriermon from her sports bag and handed him to Shiuchon. 

Shiuchon immediately noticed he was asleep as his head lolled to the side. Her sister didn't notice thankfully, probably too caught up in whatever happy thought she had going on.

"Thanks by the way," her sister said, looking down at her still with that smile. Something really good must have happened. "I don't know how he got into my stuff, but thanks to him I… Uh…" at that the girl faintly blushed and started to scratch her cheek while looking away dreamily.

"Anyway, thanks again!" The older girl forcefully changed the topic, complete with a fake laugh. "I think he can be my good luck charm. Do you mind if I take him with me every Thursday? Okay, thanks. Imma wash up. Oh, I'm so tired."

Before Shiuchon could protest or do anything her sister was already walking away. Despite saying she was tired, the older girl looked anything but. She looked more lively than ever in fact l, especially with that bounce in her steps.

Shiuchon tilted her head, Terriermon's head lolling in the same direction.

When Shiuchon interrogated a more sober Terriermon in her room later, he told her how her sister mistook him for her stuff and put him in her bag. ("I was stuck in there for the whole day!")

It seemed like he had quite an adventure during Jaarin-neechan's basketball club practice. He spent his time there trying to make her confess to her crush. 

Terriermon grumbled as he recounted the story, arms crossed. 

"That girl is beyond help. The whole afternoon I was trying to set them up but she just. Won't. Say it! It's pure coincidence that the guy is into cute toys and noticed me. Then they started talking. You can guess the rest." He rolled his eyes, muttering about all his effort going to waste. "She told him I'm her doll, so expect her to borrow me more often."

Shiuchon patted him on the head. 

"You're very nice, Terriermon. Do that for me too, okay?" 

"Sure, sure. I'll get you your prince. I've read enough of your diary to know who to look for," he said before yawning. 

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep. Today took a lot out of me. See you tomorrow." He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. Knowing him, Shiuchon assumed he was already asleep.

Bored with no one to talk to, Shiuchon went to the kitchen to get some juice. Just because mom was taking her snack away for a week didn't mean Shiuchon couldn't have any sweet drink.

As she poured herself a glass of orange juice by the fridge, Rinchei-niichan came from behind to grab a chocolate bar. Shiuchon tried to ignore his attempt at rubbing salt in her wound, but her annoyance was strong enough to show on her puffed cheeks.

Then he surprised her by breaking the bar and handing her the piece inside the wrapping. His mouth held the other piece.

He put his pointer finger on his cheek, followed by a raised pinky facing forward, and shook his palm in front of his shoulder. "MOM WON'T KNOW," he mouthed. 

Shiuchon widened her eyes, then hugged his feet after the surprise faded away. "THANK YOU! LOVE YOU, NIICHAN," She signed after letting go of him.

He smiled and patted her head, crunching his half of the bar as he turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Shiuchon looked at her half and nodded. She pocketed it, determined to not let mom see it.

〔 無 問 題 〕

One night, Shiuchin woke up in the middle of the night for nature's sudden call. She really shouldn't have drunk that much water before going to sleep.

When she got back to her room, mind all sobered up, she realized Terriermon wasn't there. He probably sneaked out for some snacks. Usually, that wouldn't be a problem (unless he got her involved like that one time). But tonight, it looked like someone was on the TV. She could hear familiar commercial ads coming from the living room.

Even if Terriermon was curious about late-night TV, she doubted he would turn up the volume this loud. He had his ears after all. That meant there was somebody else watching. If Terriermon was in the kitchen, then he wouldn't be able to go out unless he wanted to get caught.

Shiuchon sighed as she began to lose more of her sleep time. "Rescuing Terriermon, here we go," she muttered in annoyance.

When she arrived at the living room, she had to squint because the person watching the TV didn't turn on the light. The light from the screen shone on their face long enough for her to make her oldest brother's face. She had to double-take when she noticed Terriermon in his arms.

"Niichan," she approached and called in a voice that was louder than the TV. She noticed he wasn't wearing his hearing aid when she was closer. He noticed her though and turned to her right away. "WHY DO YOU HAVE MY DOLL?" she signed and pointed at her Digimon.

Her brother smiled in embarrassment at being caught. 

He signed back, "YOU LEFT HIM IN THE KITCHEN." He then made a V in front of his chin and closed it as he pulled it down towards his chest. "I LIKE HIM. HE'S SOFT," he opened and closed his hands in front of him as if he was massaging cotton. 

Unknown to him, the supposed doll in his arms was watching his gestures in fascination.

Shiuchon couldn't argue with her brother. Everyone, and she meant everyone, wanted a piece of Terriermon after mom discovered he made a better pillow than all the pillows in this house. 

Her brother handed Terriermon to her.

Surprisingly, the Digimon looked like he didn't want to leave once he got into her arms. 

"I want to stay," he whispered.

Shiuchon creased her brow, wondering what got him so interested in Rinchei-niichan. 

Hm. Well, now that she thought about it, her brother and Terriermon are complete opposites of each other. One couldn't hear well, and the other could but would pretend he didn't to get on her nerves.

Mentally shrugging, she gave Terriermon back to her brother. "TERRIERMON SAID HE WANTS TO STAY."

Her brother looked confused but took him anyway. "THANKS," he made a chopping motion on his left hand and pulled it back, smiling. "BUT I THOUGHT YOU DON'T LIKE TO SHARE HIM."

Shiuchon shrugged. "IT'S FOR THE CHOCOLATE." 

〔 無 問 題 〕

Somehow, Terriermon wormed his way into the family.

Jen-niichan began spending his days in Shiuchon's room to play with Terriermon. He didn't ask about the green toy anymore, so that was good. 

As for dad, he started sharing his drawings with the family. Shiuchon wondered if it was because mom told on her. 

Then there were Mom and Jaarin-neechan who kept borrowing Terriermon. Annoyed, the Digimon forced Shiuchon to make a schedule for when he was available and to tell everyone to follow it if they wanted to take him.

Rinchei-niichan was the only one Terriermon willingly lent himself to, to the point Shiuchon asked who Terriemon's real partner was.

Nevertheless, time passed by, and soon, a new school year would begin. Shiuchon was officially going to be in the 2nd grade.

〔 無 問 題 〕