Focus: Niwa Daisuke
Course: Biology

Disclaimer: I don't own DNAngel.

The Jar

Due to the fact that, until high school the type of science class (be it Biology, Chemistry, or Physics) taken was unspecified, and was simply called 'Science Class,' the course dabbled in all three categories throughout the year. The year started off with a bit of Physics and Astronomy, had Chemistry in the middle, and ended on Biology and Genetics (a unit in which Hiwatari Satoshi often asked to visit the nurse during, but in which he still managed to maintain a 101 percent). Now that the year was drawing to a close, and the class was reaching the end of the genetics unit, they were going be breeding fruit flies as their final project.

Nearly all the students were excited about the experiment, (excluding Hiwatari Satoshi, who had worked with live specimen before, and Harada Risa, who wanted anything but to work with live specimen ever). Needless to say, everyone was a little jumpy when the instructor came in carrying the delivery box at the beginning of the period. While getting the box open and removing the insects inside, the class noticed that each batch of flies was contained within its own glass jar. The removal of the jars need not be explained, however by the end of the process there was a cardboard box lying on its side on the floor next to the broken glass, while Hiwatari Satoshi realized that his Monday morning was going to be even more chaotic that he had previously thought, and Harada Risa realized that her worse fears were coming true.

-------

"Niwa, they're fruit flies. Fruit flies will not use up an entire pickle jar of oxygen by tomorrow morning. They'll be fine." Satoshi said as he finished tightening the lid on the temporary replacement home for the flies they had been able to gather up. Upon seeing the still concerned and unsure look on the Daisuke's face, the boy continued. "Would you rather I took the lid back off?" he feigned loosening the lid.

Harada screamed.

Hiwatari rolled his eyes, but he stopped the action, nearly wanting to hit himself in the forehead instead.

-------

"Do…do you really think the flies will be okay? I mean, leaving the lid on that jar…won't they need air?" Daisuke asked, in a manner that would have suggested he was talking to himself, had anyone been able to see him. He was in his room laying on his bed looking up at the ceiling. He hadn't quite yet gotten used to those early bedtimes on nights when he didn't have to steal.

'They'll be fine, don't worry about it. Dai, why don't ya just listen to creepy boy on this one, eh? I mean, I don't trust the kid when it comes to anything else, but perhaps he might know what he's doing when it comes to Science class…' The voice of the Phantom Thief Dark answered back from within the boy's head.

"But do you really think that he'll take the lid off tomorrow like he said he would? Taking the lid off would just defeat the point of ever having put the lid on, wouldn't it?"

'…I get the feeling that he'll keep his promise and take the lid off tomorrow. Today he's just letting the bugs get used to the jar. Just watch. …And, no, taking the lid off tomorrow won't defeat the point of putting the lid on today.'

"But wouldn't they just--" His voice was interrupted by Dark's.

'Daisuke, have you ever heard the story about the scientist that put flies in a jar for a day?'

"Is it a real story?" Daisuke asked, skeptical of such a title.

'Yes, it's a real story.' Dark returned caustically. 'Just listen, Dai. Okay, so there was this scientist, and he wanted to study some flies by trapping them in a jar --'

"What good would that do?"

'I don't know, I'm not a scientist, now am I?' Dark replied in his lightly annoyed voice due to the interruption. 'So anyway…he put these bugs in the jar. But they kept flying out.'

"Why didn't the guy just put a lid on the jar?"

'Well, just like you, he didn't want the bugs to die. But just like Hiwatari, he figured they'd be okay for a day. So he put the flies back in the jar, and for twenty-four hours he left the lid on.

'When the day was up, the scientist went back to the jar, and took the lid off to give the flies some air. In place of the lid he placed a screen, thinking that he would outsmart them by giving them air, but still not letting them out.' Dark paused.

"Well…then what happened?" Daisuke asked, now interested in the story because of its similarities to his own situation.

'He was shocked. None of the flies even tried to land on the screen. The flies wouldn't even spread their wings to fly. The scientist even took the screen off the jar, but the flies refused to fly out of the jar. Instead they crawled along the bottom.'

"But…why? Why wouldn't they just leave?"

'Because they didn't think they could. Because for twenty-four hours, they had been trapped with no hope for escape, and it had broken them. They had given up hope for ever leaving the jar, and so they crawled hopelessly along the bottom, instead.

'Now, I know for a fact that Hiwatari knows that story, and I'll wager he knows it well, too.'

"How are you so sure? I mean…just because you know the story…" Daisuke asked.

'Daisuke, I've been around for a while. 300 years about. In 300 years, I've learned a lot. One thing I've learned is that Hiwatari already knows that story. Trust me.'

-------

"See? They're still alive, and they didn't fly out of the jar." His voice was rather monotone, Daisuke noticed, but no one said anything about it. Hiwatari wasn't known to be the most emotional person, anyway. The instructor came to praise Satoshi for his taking the initiative with the matter of the flies, and having solved the problem so quickly, but he brushed it off as nothing.

"It was a simple mishap of broken jars. It was a simple solution. Please, praise is unnecessary…" Again, his voice was empty and emotionless. It was strange.

Class continued on again in the same old way that science class always carried on in (the instructor said she would have to order another a sample of flies, seeing as the ones that they had gotten had undergone some 'variable circumstances.'), but Daisuke noticed again and again that his blue-haired friend was even more detached and aloof than usual. Even throughout the entire course of the day, Satoshi seemed to be a little less interested in everything. He took no notes and he hardly paid attention. What he could be thinking about, Daisuke had no clue, seeing as the boy usually paid attention to the class so as to not have to pay attention to the voice in his head.

-------

"Are…you are sure nothing's wrong..?"

'Dai-chan…maybe you should listen to him the first time…'

Daisuke ignored Dark and continued tagging after Satoshi through the school yard.

"I told you, Niwa, I'm fine." The words were clipped.

"But…you were acting strangely today. I mean, even in Math class…you didn't even write down the problems…"

'Dai…'

"I know Niwa, I was there." The words were annoyed.

"But…what's wrong? Why's it such a big deal that you won't tell me?"

"It's not a big deal, Niwa, you're just making a big deal of it. If you would stop asking, neither of us would be making any deal of this." Those words were commanding.

'Dai, you really should stop…'

"Is this about the flies? Dark told me the story that he said you knew."

Satoshi tensed. Quite visibly.

"You did know that story about the scientist and the flies, don't you?" Daisuke asked innocently. "You did just like the guy in the story did, you kept the flies in the jar, and then they didn't fly ou--"

'Daisuke!'

"Niwa!"

Daisuke stopped this time. Satoshi's back was no longer to him, but instead the boys were facing each other, Satoshi no longer looking commanding or annoyed, but looking utterly infuriated and slightly deranged. His jaw was clenched, and his glasses had slipped far down his nose. When he spoke, his voice was angry, but it was obviously hurt.

"Niwa, you wanted your flies alive, well there you go! They're alive! And they're broken! I just got through with playing Krad for a day! I just broke the wills to live of multiple living creatures! Now if you're done, I would like to go home! I think I've done enough for you for today!"

Daisuke stood still as he watched Satoshi turn his back on him and walk away, his head still held high, as if there was nothing wrong with him. The redhead realized he had done something wrong, but what exactly it was, he wasn't sure. He looked for answers from within. Dark would have an answer. Dark usually did.

There was a long pause as Daisuke waited for Dark to say something, and while Dark thought of what needed be said.

'…Daisuke, there was a reason I told you Hiwatari already knew that story. Those Hikaris were always really withdrawn, depressed people. Krad managed to do that to each and every one of them. And I never really knew how. It took me a some time to figure it all out; he and I never really had too many heart-to-heart conversations.

'Daisuke, Krad breaks those hosts. He gives them a hard time; you better believe. He clamps a lid on their hopes so tight that they have no other choice but to give it up and give in. Dai, Hiwatari has his own way of dealing with it, maybe we ought not ask about that 'story' again, eh?' Dark's tone was one full of pity, but his host hadn't missed the slight undertone of 'when I say 'we' I mean 'you.''

Daisuke looked down. He was standing by himself in the schoolyard, facing the wrong direction for going home. He had probably made a mistake. But he had little to say to excuse himself.

"The flies…they weren't that important to me…"