A/N: Written for the Digimon Flash Bingo Challenge, #120 – altering.

More Open

The Digital World had changed him beyond recognition. Gone was that timid boy who could barely get three words out of his mouth, who sat upon his pain and anger and let it grow unchallenged, to always walked with a forced smile on his face in front of his mother so she wouldn't worry about him, and gone was that almost distant look that told the world he'd rather be anywhere else but there.

People who used to walk past him without a second thought were now talking to him, looking at him like they'd never met before even though they'd shared the hallways of their school for years. His teachers who hardly ever called on him looked in surprise when he volunteered an answer or comment without being asked. The soccer coach just stared when he showed up for tryouts (he hadn't tried out before because he hadn't thought he could handle being in a team, but now he knew he loved it). His mother became more open too, now that he frowned or cried when he was upset, and laughed when he was happy. And she seemed almost happy to scold him when he got in to trouble – because that meant he wasn't trying to be the perfect little boy for her.

None of them, not even his mother, knew about the Digital World, or about what had changed him. They assumed it was Kouji – but if it hadn't been for the Digital World, he might never have actually talked to him. Or the others.