The "Kizuna <=> 13+" connection: How Menoa made it all possible
As mentioned before, 13+ had caused me to squeal several times over. But honestly speaking, Menoa's inclusion AND actual importance was something I had not anticipated. I had already rambled about it here shortly, but I still wanted to share my thoughts on the extent of her role a little further (which includes a few interpretations/headcanons too. To put it shortly, let's say: I'm very pleased to see that Kakudou, just like me, wanted her to continue being involved with Koushirou and Taichi.)
So let's outline her situation: Menoa Bellucci supposedly came from the Kizuna!timeline and ended up in the 13+!timeline, having all her memories intact. So her reality is that she lost her partner at age 14 and had tried to retrieve the partnership again and again, culminating in not only obsessive tendencies, but also a saviour complex.
Her plan was then to track down "the original Chosen Children" with two-sided intentions; on one hand, there was the idea that, if anyone could undo/stop the separation process, it'd be the famous Chosen Children who had saved the world various times before. On the other hand, she had done her research properly - trying to get access to the full list of Chosen Children from Koushirou would enable her to trap their consciousness in a frozen realm, thus "saving" them from such a cruel fate.
Hoping to win the likes of Koushirou, Taichi and Yamato over, she had not expected to be met with such resistance; being told that what she did was wrong, that "not growing up" was not the solution, that their fate was not pre-determined. And even though she was fought, "defeated" - and also arrested afterwards -, she must have realized her faults. It wasn't so much a punishment, but a hopeful lesson. So it's not unlikely to assume that the words of those three men may have lingered in her memories.
We don't know how much time has passed between her arrest and her entering the 13+!timeline, whether she had been released and whether the passage of time had been the same in both timelines. All we know is that she had cut her long her short (which had been held together by the butterfly hairclip previously), that it's now 2013 in the 13+!timeline - and that she is working with Koushirou in his lab. Not only that - it's specifically stated that "Menoa contributed half of the startup capital and is essentially the co-owner, but it was Menoa who decided that Koushirou would remain the director", having him specifically thanking her for making everything possible.
After reading that, I had to pause for a moment. As linked above, I have that headcanon that Menoa had always been in touch with Koushirou, that she may have been the American friend he had always referred to - although he had not been aware that it was her for the longest time. Him opposing her in Kizuna may have shattered her view at first; it's been quite apparent that she had admired Koushirou, his achievements and intellect quite a bit and she may have hoped for him to see things the same way she did.
However, at the end of Kizuna, her eyes had been opened - and now, transported into another universe, she gets the chance to meet "another version" of him.
This is not company CEO "Izzy Izumi", neatly wearing suit and tie and an undercut - this is "Izumi Koushirou", trying to establish a research lab in a warehouse, hair grown out. However, he isn't any less remarkable and brilliant in her eyes - which is probably why she decides to "fund" him, build him up to enable him to be just as, if not more efficient than his self from the Kizuna timeline. She may even have told him about the distortion tracking goggles his other self made for Kizuna!Taichi - so she may have been the one who enabled him to make those for 13+!Taichi again. (Let's not forget that his "American friend" also funded Koushirou in Tri, so having this little parallel makes my headcanon feel even more valid. I'm also not sure if it was a fanon headcanon or actually implied that her and Miyako helped to design the lab uniform - it was only said that Miyako decorated the entrance area of the lab, as far as I remember.)
Kakudou constantly points out how well they work together, Menoa praises Koushirou regularly as they try to figure out her whereabouts - even going so far as to have her imply that his "talk-without-filter" tendencies are one of "his good points". And then there is this little moment where she observes him working together with Tentomon, smiling mellowly...
Even writing all of this out now cannot express how insane it is to me. This woman comes from a timeline in which partnerships between humans and Digimon can actually dissolve, where she lost her own partner. She had been opposed by someone she admired and his friends - who fought despite the risk of losing their own partners to save her instead. Now she's in a timeline where partnerships do not vanish. Where she meets other versions of these people who saved her - they still have their partners, Koushirou is still amazing in her eyes. And this is where she may have decided to repent for what she did - by literally cutting her hair, cutting old habits, using her intellect to ACTUALLY work together with others to achieve something good. Even if neither of them remembers her or what happened.
There is no malice, no sense of revenge - but fondness and, probably, the sense of hopefulness that Kizuna!Taichi, Kizuna!Yamato and, eventually, Kizuna!Koushirou had evoked in her. Without their words, without Koushirou's bluntness, his "talk-without-filter", she would not have ended up here.
Of course we didn't see the full extent of what she did - but it's heavily implied that she isn't doing things on her own anymore, not only by the way she works and theorizes with Koushirou; she appears to be on friendly terms with Miyako, even teaming up to prevent Koushirou from being insensitive towards Rui; her and Taichi appear to help improve each other's language skills - at least he is is praising her Japanese getting better and they may or may not be "drinking buddies" as well. Which... May have been something she had wanted to do with him all along - whether to apologize or whether she had felt some kind of kinship to him after all they talked about in the other timeline.
In general, the core between Koushirou, Menoa, Miyako + Taichi and Ken is a wholesome group that I did not have on my 2026 bingo card. I would positively die to see the "genius bug squad" interact more, and Ken and Miyako simply feel like the perfect candidates to form a bond with her. (The latter because we need smart girls sticking together and the former because... Trauma bonding.)
In the end, I couldn't be more pleased with how Kakudou included her in this. It's both bittersweet and uplifting to see her wanting to make a change. (And on a personal, very self-indulgent note - whether intended or not, the way a lot of artists depicted her short-haired look to resemble Koushirou's daughter in the epilogue had me squeal a little too loudly. See here and here. The (Tai)KouMeno in my heart grows stronger every day.)
