#taikouvember2022

[valtren]

Day 2: Adventure / Calm @taikouvember

[seventeenlovesthree]

@taikouvember Day 7 - Free Day 

Initially, I had intended to post this comic for Day 4, but since it’s not directly a “lie” and I couldn’t finish it in time, I thought it was a good way to end the week properly. Hikari is enjoying to tease her brother way too much, Daisuke is too pure for this world and only wishes for his senpai to be happy and Taichi and Koushirou are just secretive dads that’ll want their protégés to find their own happiness - just like they did with each other.

[taikouvember]

ANNOUNCEMENT POST

Hello fellow Digi bloggers!

As the whole year was filled with Digimon related weeks, we would have wanted for Taikou to get a little bit more attention. In absence and honor of the original Taishiroweek blog, we would like to squeeze in a little bit of love for our favorite pairing, that is the platonic or romantic ship between Taichi Yagami and Koushiro Izumi (Taikou, Koutai or mainly known as Taishiro in the English speaking fandom).

November is the last month of autumn, right before Christmas time begins. It’s a time that can be filled with light and coziness but also lurking shadows and gloominess.

So we thought about a few prompts that highlight the contrasts in our two favorite characters with Taikouvember 2022!

It’ll be just a small event, but if you would like to participate, feel free to use the following ideas as inspiration to post your content between November 21st and November 27th.

Day 1: Connection / Distance

Day 2: Adventure / Calm

Day 3: Work / Casual

Day 4: Confession / Lie

Day 5: Extroverted / Introverted

Day 6: Loyalty / Jealousy

Day 7: Free Day

If you want us to reblog your posts, please tag everything as #taikouvember2022 and we will be happy to share your content, let it be fanart, fanfiction, edits or whatever comes to mind!

Rules & FAQ as well as a Prompt Guideline can be found on the blog as well!

[jamesthedigidestined]

TaiKouvember Day 6: Loyalty/Jealousy

“K…ro…”

“Kou…ro…”

“Koushirou!”

A sudden jolt surges through his body at the call of his name. A cold sweat covers his brow as he sits up.

“Mhhh… Koushirou… why’d you get up?” A lazy voice yawns to his side. It was a young boy, Taichi, who had answered his call. He laid in the grass under a large oak tree, observing his friend with one eye as he rubs the other.

“I’m sorry Taichi-san, I believed I heard my name…” Koushirou says, a mix of curiosity and worry filling his mind. Who was it? It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t place it…

“Is there a problem? Do I need to wake up Agumon?!” The gogglehead exclaims before turning his head to his friendly firebreathing dinosaur.

“Noooo… Tai, five more minutes… your mom is making tuna casserole…” After hearing this, Taichi begins to make a face of disgust. In return, Koushirou suddenly gripped his gogglehead’s shoulders.

“Taichi-san! Agumon, how is he?! Has the countdown gotten any worse?!” The redhead suddenly exclaims, causing Taichi to freeze in shock.

“Countdown?! Agumon is fine, I think… What’s happened Kou??” Taichi immediately stands up, worry filling his face at the mere thought of something bad happening to Agumon.

“Taichi-san, I’m sorry, I’m not sure…” Koushirou begins to think. What came over him? He doesn’t know anything about a countdown… He has so many questions, but it’s like his mind won’t work. It’s just like with Vademon… he can’t help himself… he can’t help Taichi-san… he’s…

“Koushirou! Snap out of it!” Taichi’s voice suddenly snaps him back to reality, his eyes focusing on his friend’s. In Taichi’s eyes was… fear. Fear of whatever just happened. Koushirou wasn’t quite sure himself, but to signal to Taichi he was okay, he placed his hands on Taichi’s own.

Taichi’s voice just then though, it seemed so familiar. Like the earlier voice…?

“Taichi-san… I think you were the one I heard…” Koushirou begins, gripping his friend’s hands tighter.

“But I was asleep!” Taichi says, still worried for Koushirou as he tries to make sense of the situation.”

“As am I, Taichi-san… and I need to wake up.”

Suddenly, Koushirou isn’t surrounded by a warm meadow or a large tree, but by dark blue crystals. An almost suffocating cold surrounded him as two steadfast eyes pierced his soul.

Menoa.

This was her doing.

“He’s the password, isn’t he? To the encryption you keep on your database.” She stands still, frozen like a statue as she stares him down.

“Leave him out of this!” Koushirou demands, growling as he raises his fists to his sides, taking an offensive posture.

“You’re so defensive of Taichi. You shouldn’t worry Koushirou, he’ll be with you soon enough. Wouldn’t it be nice though, Koushirou, for him to never have to worry about losing his partner? For you to never worry about losing your precious Taichi-san? Reality doesn’t have to be so cruel. Together we can do so much more. We could even use the Digital World itself! We could bring happiness to everyone!” A crooked smile forms over her once blank expression, showcasing her true desires plainly. In response Koushirou loosens his posture, smiling softly.

“I’m sorry Menoa-san, I simply cannot abide by your plan. Everyone should have the freedom to live their life. Even if it hurts, that’s what’s best.” Koushirou bows forward as he apologizes, putting his arms to his sides as he remains steadfast in his decision.

“I only wish we could have been closer.” After Menoa softly says that, Eosmon gives Koushirou its kiss of death. With it his consciousness is whisked away, waiting for his Taichi-san to wake him up again.

For @taikouvember !

[valtren]

@taikouvember Day 3: Work / Casual A little call at dad while he’s working

[seventeenlovesthree]

@taikouvember​​ Day 6 - Loyalty / Jealousy

Another aspect of the relationship between Taichi and Koushirou that really drew me towards them is that their senses of loyalty are complementing each other rather nicely. If you want to read it that way, you could also say that their “love languages” are - for the most part - highly compatible.

Of course there are more layers of how they behave around and treat each other, but to narrow it down a little, let’s sum it up like this:

Taichi’s love language - besides “physical touch/closeness” and “quality time” - is “words of reassurance”, especially when it comes to Koushirou. He trusts in and relies on his judgement 100%, in each and every situation, and will never grow tired of mentioning that (and that he thinks of him very highly, even if that is more apparent and vocalized in the novels and the reboot).

When he puts his entire faith in Koushirou as they try to figure out the card riddle, Taichi does so because he knows that he is the most capable person to do so. He’ll still take full responsibility - but it’s his “partner in crime” and best friend he believes in with not a shred of doubt in his mind that he will find the solution.

What makes this so interesting is that, while it’s never explicitly stated (at least not in the same way as the novels or manhua do), he seems to be perfectly aware of Koushirou’s insecurities whenever he can’t solve a problem. So his moments of gentle reassurance are just as important.

Koushirou, on the other hand, also fully believes and trusts in Taichi and has done so from the very beginning - direct quote from the anime (or the novels).

(...)

And as Taichi continuously reassures and relies on Koushirou like that, it’s not surprising that his love language, “acts of service”, is especially directed towards Taichi. Figuring out strategies to enable Taichi, not only in solving the card riddle, but also in saving Sora and Hikari; Taichi being the first person he runs to in order to save the world from a Digimon rampaging in the net; him staying up all night, spending years to create the perfect distortion tracking goggles (specifically!!!), or finding a way to prevent their partners from vanishing; last, but not least, him sacrificing himself to send Taichi a vital SMS to defeat their enemy.

They’re actually both great at being selfless self-sacrificers and are both not amused by the other’s behaviour - the difference is that Taichi tries to “gently” nudge Koushirou out of it (see examples above), while Koushirou tends to shout at Taichi for doing so (consistently through the years, with varying degrees of success, see here, here, here and here).

Long story short: Taichi, being the courageous leader that he is, wouldn’t be as successful if he didn’t know he could 100% rely on Koushirou, whom he irrevocably trusts in - Koushirou, who, despite his natural curiosity, probably wouldn’t be(come) as hands-on if he didn’t have someone to believe in him as persistently as Taichi does, while also being 100% committed to support him. (They both have yet to learn not to get into near-death situations because of that kind of loyalty, but I’m sure they’ll get there.)

Bonus: I will never get over how Novel!Yamato initially perceives Novel!Koushirou as “the quiet fourthgrader who never talks” and then this happens:

[taikouvember]

Hello everyone,

it’s finally here, Taikouvember 2022 begins tomorrow, November 21st! We’re looking forward to all of you wanting to participate and are hoping to create a fun and respectful time for everyone involved during the upcoming seven days!

Want to participate in Taikouvember? Here are the Rules & FAQ

Still struggling with ideas? Feel free to read some of our prompt walkthroughs:

Day 1, November 21st: Connection / Distance Day 2, November 22nd: Adventure / Calm Day 3, November 23rd: Work / Casual Day 4: November 24th: Confession / Lie Day 5: November 25th: Extroverted / Introverted Day 6, November, 26th: Loyalty / Jealousy  Day 7th, November 27th: FREE DAY!

[jamesthedigidestined]

TaiKouvember Day 5: Extroverted/Introverted

Taichi could never quite understand what made Koushirou so invested in the people on the other side of his computer screen. It’s not that he was jealous of his redhead’s conversation partners, most of the time anyway. He just didn’t see the value.

You couldn’t play football with them, at least not *real* football. You couldn’t hold them, let alone horseplay. Though Taichi acknowledged that wasn’t entirely Koushirou’s strong suit anyway.

“I guess he just prefers sharing ideas than roughhousing.” Taichi thinks aloud, looking over to his currently busy friend.

“What was that, Taichi-san?” Koushirou immediately diverts his attention to his leader, his fingers frozen in place as he gazes questioningly at his gogglehead.

“Nothin’ Kou, just thinking aloud.” Taichi says, a smile gracing his lips at the attention as he lays his head on the football infront of him.

“Do you want to play some football, Taichi-san?” Koushirou returns the smile, his curious gaze softening as he closes his laptop.

“Yeah, but won’t your online friend get mad? You don’t have to do anything on my account, Koushirou!” Taichi enters a bit of a defensive posture, not wanting to pull Koushirou away from anything he found important.

“I insist Taichi-san. Besides, I believe some fresh air would be good for the both of us. Now, last one to Rainbow Park is a rotten Digi-Egg!” And with that the smaller boy left in a flash, already putting a decent lead between him and Taichi.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Taichi laughs, grabbing his football on the way as he chases after his best friend.

For @taikouvember !

[valtren]

Day 1: Connection / Distance One year difference is way too much for them.

[valtren]

@taikouvember Day 6: Loyalty / Jealousy  Did someone sent a love letter to the cool soccer team captain? How dare them?

[seventeenlovesthree]

@taikouvember Day 1: Connection / Distance

One thing I’ll never grow tired of discussing when it comes to these two is how their closeness is being depicted throughout the series; from Taichi being the one who immediately bonds with Koushirou in football club, taking him under his wing and encouraging him to go to Summer camp with him (novel), to them being absolute “partners in crime”, enabling and supporting each other in the Digital World (Adventure 01) to eventually having their peak bickering couple honeymoon phase three years later (Adventure 02). Then we have a teenage angst period of “debatable closeness” (Tri), in which Taichi seems to be drifting away from everyone, including Koushirou, who wouldn’t have been able to come out of his shell and become a hands-on mentor without Taichi’s support - but in the end, even Koushirou isn’t fully able to get through to him. Taichi’s state of self-doubt and self-discovery may even result in him feeling inferior to Koushirou in their early twenties (Kizuna) - since the latter has basically surpassed Taichi in terms of (outward) confidence after all this time (even if his personal view on and adoration for Taichi may actually never have changed).

I’m still hoping for the 02 movie to give us a little more insight of what their state of relationship is in 2012 besides being “working buddies”. Until then, I will maintain that they’ll find a way to move closer towards each other again, not only due to their intermingling careers (epilogue). Because their connection is definitely still there and I’m confident that it will persist.

[seventeenlovesthree]

@taikouvember Day 3: Work/Casual

"What would have happened if Koushirou had let his mannerisms slide, so Taichi would finally have understood how serious getting their partners back was to him." Based on the infamous "silent scream" scene in the third Tri movie in which Taichi just left Koushirou by himself... In combination with one of my favourite novel moments between these two.

[valtren]

@taikouvember Day 5: Extroverted / Introverted Koushiro knows how to be extroverted around Taichi, making fun of Yamato again.

[seventeenlovesthree]

@taikouvember Day 3: Work / Casual

Considering how we already know that these two will be in the 02 movie, I thought a short intermission could be nice, interpreting the prompt a liiiiittle bit differently, with them being actors talking about their "work" but being rather "casual" and flirty about it.

[seventeenlovesthree]

@taikouvember Day 1 - Connection / Distance

Since I did a similar piece for Taiora week, indicating that I still hope for a Digimon Adventure 2020: reboot sequel that’ll explain the connections between Team Light and Team Hope... I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do the same for Taichi and Koushirou. 

Aside from the fact that I’ve been working on character designs for them for a while now, I really wish that we’d get a more elaborated approach on a.) where their Crests came from exactly and b.) why Team Light and Team Hope were a thing in the first place. Forming two very specific groups and constantly framing them together in terms of power-ups just leaves a lot to be desired in terms of emotional connection - because there had to be a reason Light was linked to Courage, Love and Knowledge specifically, right?

The reboot constantly framed these two to be “digitally connected” through electronic devices (namely their digivices and Koushirou’s tablet), allowing them to basically “facetime” and keep each other updated more regularly than any other characters did in the same way. And while Koushirou was always excited to provide support and information, literal sunshine boy Taichi was equally excited to enable and encourage his intially timid friend to become more confident.

Long story short: I would love to have a soul-mate-ish kind of explanation for Team Light, which links all four participants together - where some of them might be connected in even deeper ways…

[seventeenlovesthree]

Taikouvember Fanfiction - Day 4: Confession / Lie

@taikouvember

Summary: Taichi is used to getting regular and quick text replies from Koushirou - of course he gets worried once his partner doesn’t respond and thus wants to figure out what’s wrong by paying him a visit at his office...

Characters: Taichi Yagami & Koushirou Izumi (established, ages 22 and 21)

Main POV: Taichi Yagami

Genre: Hurt/Comfort

Rating: T (tw: depiction of anxiety/a panic attack)

Wordcount: 1586

The first thing that had made Taichi get suspicious was the significant lack of informative messages on this particular day.

 Koushirou wasn’t exactly a typically ‘chatty’ person when it came to sending messages, but ever since he had created and continuously improved the Chosen Children network, he had made sure to keep everyone up to date – and connected as well. To this day, Taichi was still baffled by the fact that he had not only provided the entire team with individualized smartphones – but that he had also committed himself to the task of inventing the perfect distortion tracking goggles.

 Just for him.

 Koushirou had always been the one to gather and instruct their group and thus, directly or indirectly, helped Taichi to stay on track.

 Now that he was sitting on finalizing his thesis for university, Koushirou’s matter-of-factly messages had been a welcoming distraction here and there. No matter how eager he was to get his thesis done, getting a step closer to the Digital World, Agumon and himself again, Taichi knew he would never not go soft for Koushirou simply rambling to him about ‘a bug in the system, keeping us from tracking the distortions properly at the moment, but I will take care of it’.

 He was aware that Koushirou felt responsible. For finding a way to restore their partnerships, for making sure to prevent it from happening again in the first place. And so, Tentomon had to have worked overtime for all of them recently…

 “Huh. I wonder if he fell asleep on his desk again…”, Taichi quietly mused out loud, yawning, looking out of the window of the campus library. He had been there for hours, so darkness had already fallen over the city. Deciding that it was time to find an excuse to not only distract himself but Koushirou as well, he had texted him around an hour ago.

 ‘Could you figure out what the bug was? Anyway, I’ll pick you up for dinner, your choice, my treat this time. No sleeping at the office today.’

 It was unusual for him not to respond within a timeframe of five minutes, as his office set-up allowed him to access messages from at least three devices at once.

 “Hrm…” Taichi felt like a spoilt child, expecting to get an answer immediately, but now he genuinely started to worry. Not that he had been able to focus much on the paper in front of him anymore anyway, so he got up on the spot, heading over to Koushirou’s office complex via public transport. It was a route he knew by heart already, knowing exactly when to catch which train, regardless of where exactly he was.

 A soothing journey, almost like a ritual, something to hold onto in times he couldn’t really be sure of anything.

 So when he arrived, as expected, none of his employees were left on the floor when he stepped into the darkness of the main space – Taichi enjoyed special privileges after all and thus owned spare keys to all important aspects of the space, including the manager’s office.

 What he absolutely hadn’t expected was the state he would find Koushirou in.

 Contrary to what he had assumed, he was far from being asleep – but the sight in front of him wasn’t any less worrisome. In fact, it made Taichi’s heart stop for a moment.

 The redhead was sitting in a curled-up position on the floor next to his chair, legs pulled close to his chest, breathing heavily and irregularly.

 A panic attack.

 “K-Koushirou?!”, Taichi instinctively uttered to get his attention, slowly approaching him by kneeling next to him on the floor. His own heart was about to jump out of his chest now and cold sweat covered his neck as he frantically looked around, trying to locate a certain ladybug in the room – but couldn’t…

 “Hah…”, Koushirou breathed loudly, unable to look at Taichi, still facing forward with a blank stare and Taichi tried his best to clear his head. He could not afford to be overwhelmed himself in a situation like this. He had to collect his thoughts, memories, strategies…

 “It’s me, Taichi”, he said as softly as he could despite his shaky voice, keeping his presence as non-threatening as possible. “What do you need? Is there anything I can do for you?”

 “T-Taichi-san…”, Koushirou whimpered, gasping for air as his voice sounded awfully raspy. And now Taichi was able to tell that tears must have streamed down his face previously. “I-it’s n-nothing. I will be a-alright.”

 It was a deflective reaction Taichi was just too familiar with and he absolutely hated that he could relate to it so well. Biting his lip, he looked for signs, body language, anchor points… Until he noticed that Koushirou had clenched his fists as his arms were wrapped around his legs and so he took another shot:

 “Is it okay if I touch you?”, Taichi asked, smiling through his worries, wanting to reach through to Koushirou as kindly as he was physically and mentally capable of, no matter how big the urge to just hug him was – and this time he got a reaction, just a small nod, but enough for him to act upon it.

 Reaching for his fists with both hands, he covered them softly, noticing how cold his skin felt, how much he was shaking. Eventually, he could feel them unclenching, trembling fingers lightly intertwining.

 “Do you want to breathe with me?”, Taichi asked after another minute, already feeling a little bit more confident in his doings as he could sense another nod from Koushirou, hoping that his own warmth could get through to him. “Close your eyes and-“

 “N-no…”

 Just a breathless whimper, but persistent enough that Taichi understood. That would have been too much, alone with his own, probably terrifying thoughts…

 “Then… Look at me instead?”, he suggested calmly, looking for dark, watery eyes to meet his own, anxiety and trust equally present in his glance. Taichi could feel the latter coming through as he began to visibly breathe in and out, giving Koushirou an indicator to follow. Slowly, patiently. Repeating the procedure a few times until they were in sync.

 “Good, good, you’re doing great. I’m here for you.”

 How could he not have seen this coming? How could he not have known that the separation process must have begun a while ago? How long had Koushirou kept it to himself? Now he felt like the biggest idiot under the sun for having asked about the ‘bug’ in his earlier message – if Koushirou had read it, it must have triggered his current reaction even more. When looking around in the room, Taichi spotted the digivice lying on the ground. Covered in stone. Even after everything he had gone through…

 They kept sitting like this for a while, while Taichi occasionally repeated words of encouragement. He did not keep track of the time, but it didn’t matter anyway. If necessary, he would have sat here with Koushirou for the entire night, never leaving his side for even a second. The pain of losing one partner was already painful enough for a day…

 As the shaking vanished and Koushirou’s breathing became steadier and calmer, they ended up in a loose embrace, with Taichi gently stroking his back.

 “Thank you, Taichi-san…”, Koushirou merely whispered after more minutes had passed, voice hoarse and tired, but significantly more composed. “How did you… Know what you were supposed to do…?”

 Hearing that, Taichi chuckled, relief washing over him over the fact that Koushirou was finally able to speak coherently again, despite their circumstances.

 “You should know never to underestimate me, right?”, he teased lightly, aware that he had to take this topic a bit more seriously. “Well… To be honest, I had to go through something similar with Hikari when she was little and… She also had to deal with me when I had those after… That time. You know… Panic attacks. Sorry that I never told you about that…”

 “Mhmh…” Koushirou nodded, sinking a little more into their hug, clearly exhausted. “I… Did not mean to lie to you either, I just… Could not… I’m so sorry…”

 “I understand”, Taichi reassured him, thus tightening the embrace a little more. He knew what it was like to spiral. He knew that Koushirou must have blamed himself for everything, watching Tentomon disappear must have been like an entire world crumbling around him. Blaming himself, not having done enough, known enough, being ignorant and useless, not wanting to worry anyone around him. Not even Taichi.

 Taichi, who was just glad that he could have reached him this early – he didn’t want to imagine how much worse it could have gotten if Koushirou had been left on his own the entire time. How ironic that he had to go through it himself to understand that lying about being okay was not the right thing to do.

 “It’s not your fault. Believe me, it’s not. And… We’ll get through this together, I promise. We’ll see them again. Now… Do you want me to get you some water?”

 “Please”, Koushirou replied, breathing in audibly. A tiny wince went through his body and Taichi already assumed he was close to getting a relapse – but then he just leaned his head against Taichi’s shoulder, letting even more of his guard down. “Can we… Go home then?”

 It was the start of an even more uncertain future. But just as Taichi said, they would get through it together.

 “Of course.”