The end of the Signer war brought with it a sense of peace - and also a feeling of having come to the end of one age and out into the birth of another. Things were new, were going to be different from now on, and who could blame anyone for looking around with new eyes?

The work on the bridge started almost immediately, and it turned out that Director Godwin had specified for it to be so before his death, meaning that no one could countermand the order, one which included that Satellite itself was to be fully refurbished.

It would, however, take time. And in that time, people like Yuusei, like Crow and the others like them, would have nowhere to stay while the work was going on. It was collateral damage that they were more than willing to put up with however, since in exchange, it was building a brighter, better future every step of the way.

When it came to personal issues, things weren't so clear cut.

Jack found himself staying in the penthouse for only until he could find somewhere else to stay, or at least that was what Mikage told him, which was insult added to injury after Carly's loss of memory, and the way she'd started acting strangely around him. Compared to normal. Although whatever 'normal' was given that they'd only known each other for such a short time, he was starting to wonder.

She didn't fawn all over him like she used to. Oh, she did, but not quite so... much. As though something had happened.

It shouldn't have hurt him, but it did.

She seemed happy enough, though, so he didn't push, and ignored anyone who said that there might be something wrong with him.

Yuusei and Crow were recommended to someone Martha knew, who lived in Neo Domino and might let them live with her for at least a while, so he did have that option at least - and was forced to take it some time later, creating a bad tempered Jack from the fact that there was nowhere more upmarket that would take the former King of riding duels.

Crow was less than happy about the situation either, seen as Jack wouldn't pay his way, but Yuusei just smiled, happy to see his two friends and brothers back together again.

All in all, things had begun to settle down, and into a routine of sorts, day by day dealings becoming ones they were used to as opposed to ones where they continually had to remind themselves that this was normal now, and that they weren't going to be told that they weren't welcome, to go back to where they came from... regardless that many still seemed to want to think that way. The masses were being swayed. Satellites were being accepted.

It was a slow road, but it was one they were taking. Eventually, they'd get there. And there would be no separation any more, and a marker would just be another form of tattoo, something the future generation would only hear about in history books, and stories from their grandparents.

And then, they began to notice Carly's strange behaviour on a more regular basis, and it definitely was strange this time.

The first time it was clearly apparent was when she'd suddenly rushed inside, and suddenly started throwing up. At first they'd thought it was food poisoning - it was possible - but nothing came up as having possibly caused such a reaction, and the nausea faded away soon enough, leaving her feeling just fine only a short time afterwards.

They put it to the back of their minds, worried but generally sure that everything was all right, that things would work out.

Only to be caught out when it happened again, and the next day.

It was when she started to visibly enjoy something Jack later assured Yuusei that she'd never liked before, she'd even said that she hated the food, that Yuusei, and then Crow when he was told, began to have their suspicions.

Jack, of course, was in denial. How could he not be? Nothing was wrong. Nothing. She was just unwell for a while, and she'd be fine in a few weeks. That was all.

Yuusei watched him slam the door to the garage yet again, and sighed, noting that Aki looked just as worried as he felt.

"He knows there's something wrong," he said, once the echoes had dissipated. Crow was out on a delivery and wouldn't be back for at least another hour. Aki herself had yet to hear back from the Duel Academy, even though he was sure that she was going to be let in with flying colours at the top of her grade. He just believed it of her. "I'm sure. He just won't admit it."

She nodded back at him nervously.

"But when Carly herself doesn't seem to know what's wrong, or remember anything much from back then... Jack's sure that nothing happened between them, or right before... then how can we know what happened to her during that time? How do we even know it really is... ah... I mean..."

She trailed off, blushing slightly and looking away. Yuusei fixed her with a sympathetic yet matter-of-fact, apologetic look.

"It is," he sighed. "That or... I don't know what else it could be. Crow and I - and Jack - we know the signs. Martha told us what to look out for if we ever found someone in trouble like that. In Satellite..." he trailed off for a moment, caught up in the memory, and Aki was left remembering just how different life used to be for them, how that would have been something that could have happened, all the time... "We saw it happen. Only two times. Maybe three... I can't speak for Crow, but I don't think there's anything else it could be."

"And she doesn't even realise," she said, fists clenching - half in anger, half in horror.

Yuusei shook his head.

"Probably not."

"Don't you think you should tell her? Yuusei! She has a right to know!"

"You think we haven't thought of that?" He leaned back against the wall, one hand tapping frustratedly against the wrench in his other. "And what would we say? She'd panic. The last thing any of us want is to have her scared and making things worse for herself."

"Then what do we do. Tell me, Yuusei. Please."

The tapping slowed.

"We figure out what happened before she has a chance to start assuming the worst. She's a reporter... and a good one. She she'd try to investigate into the matter herself, and get worked up, stressed... The reason she's in this state might be the reason why she lost her memories of that time, and rediscovering it herself would do more harm than good."

Aki found herself nodding slowly. She could understand the need for caution when there were triggers of that sort involved; her duel against Misty had left her with the inescapable knowledge that, should she hear those words again...

That was it.

"Misty."

"Ah?"

"Misty, Yuusei! Carly knew Misty when she was with the Dark Signers, and they're still in touch! Maybe-"

"She knows something?"

"Mm!"

Yuusei smiled, and watched as Aki quickly took out her mobile, scrolling down her - admittedly short - list of contacts before finding the woman's name, hesitating her finger above the 'call' button before closing her eyes and going for it, before she could lose her determination.

Then, the phone was ringing. Too late to back out now.

"Ah- Misty-san. I'm doing well. ... Actually, Yuusei and I were wondering if we could meet with you... ah. That's fine. No, no... everything's fine. Thank you."

Yuusei sent her a questioning look as soon as she took the phone away from her ear and cut off the call.

"She's got enough time in between meetings to have us over next week. Not much, but it should be enough to talk things over, right?"

Yuusei gave her a nod, only hoping that it would be.

Another week of uncertainty, then. And they wouldn't even know if Misty herself knew anything useful until they talked.

All they could do was to continue acting normally, and as though nothing was wrong. And hope, above all, that somehow - one way or another - this wouldn't turn out for the worst.

...

The week passed fitfully. Jack had gone from sheer, outright denial and through into an odd - and rather frightening at times - mixture of anger and depressive acceptance.

It'd been when he'd finally brought the matter up, and asked when they should say something to Carly, that Yuusei explained his own reasoning... and that he and Aki were going to try and get some answers themselves.

Jack had then gone uncharacteristically quiet.

"Whoever he was," he said almost under his breath, fist clenched tight, "when we find out, I'm going to kill him."

Yuusei and Crow were used to threats being flung - and they couldn't help but feel the same way - but it was the blunt, expectant way that Jack said it that put them on edge. And right now, not knowing anything, they weren't sure if they'd end up able to stop him from doing something they all regretted.

Overall, he and Aki arrived at Misty's apartment building in a nervous state of mind. They told the receptionist their names, and the woman told them that Misty was waiting for them, allowing them to pass and giving them the directions to her room.

Aki was the one who knocked once they arrived, Yuusei hanging back, leaning against the opposite wall until the door opened and they were told to come in.

He caught her frowning slightly right before telling them to sit, but the next moment there was a smile back on her face, and she was turning away, walking with flowing movements into a side room. A few moments later she came back with tea.

"You're here about Carly, aren't you."

It wasn't even a question. She simply 'knew'.

"How...?"

"Perhaps I should have mentioned that I can read faces the way that our Carly can cards; some of the clarity is gone," she said, placing loose strand of hair back into place, "but overall, it remains. Not that I should have to. Yet you came to me for answers, so I can only assume that you require information of a time in her life very few are privy to."

Aki looked away slightly, down at her tea as it cooled enough to drink, as Yuusei nodded, somewhat relieved that he didn't have to explain that much.

"We were wondering if you could help us figure out if there was anyone she could have been... close to, during that time."

Misty sighed, picking up her own teacup as she pondered the matter, eyes closed as she remembered.

"I have to admit that I still had many of my own duties to attend to, back then. I was one of the few with a job, who the outside world would not see as the walking dead if I went into public. Therefore, I was not able to be with her as much as would help you right now."

"If there's anything you know, Misty-san. Anything at all," Aki pleaded, causing Misty's eyes to narrow.

"This is more than just worry over changed feelings. Is it not?" She took another sip, mulling the thought over and watching their faces, before putting her cup down still half full. "What time I did have to spare, I did spend with Carly. When she was available to spend it with, after the first day of her staying with us."

"Ah... what do you mean by that? 'Available'...?"

"Exactly as it sounds. For several hours a day, she would be gone. Perhaps Rudger would have known where to if he had come back with the rest of us, but as it is..."

"Rudger?" Yuusei asked, taken aback.

"She approached him for a favour. I believe that at first it was declined, but later taken up. Given what I know of her now, I have my suspicions as to what it was."

"Which are?"

"Carly does not drive a motorbike. Or, in fact, a D-Wheel. Not to my knowledge before she came to us, and not to my knowledge after. The only answer could be that makes sense, is that she was taught during that time, and has forgotten what she learned. And with that in mind, if you would forgive my saying so, there was only one person qualified to do so. Only one person in all of the Dark Signers who had been with us long enough, had the motivation, and the means to teach. And he is not in such a position currently to be questioned on the matter."

Aki blinked, not really knowing who Misty was referring to, but Yuusei-

Clenched his fist tightly enough that it hurt in an effort not to break something that belonged to their host, eyes shut but unable to keep back the memories. The understanding of what Misty had been trying to tell them.

"Yuusei... you know who it is that I mean."

Kiryu.

He nodded, finding himself unable to speak the words that would make it real, make it more than a mere 'suspicion'.

How? How could Kiryu have... the answer, of course, was obvious. Carly liked Jack, and Kiryu had hated all of them, all of the ones who'd been in his old team... Who he'd been convinced had betrayed him.

But still. To go this far?

"Yuusei..." Breathe. He couldn't think clearly if he was only focusing on the past. He had to think about the present, and the future. Or they wouldn't be able to help Carly. "Misty-san," Aki was saying, "I'm sorry, but... who was it...?"

Misty glanced over at Yuusei, now staring woodenly at his tea, which was going cold, and sighed.

"Kiryu Kyousuke was the Dark Signer of the Giant," she said carefully. "My opinions of him at the time were that he was an ambitious yet impatient and impulsive young man with a blatant disregard for authority figures." Yuusei fought to bite back a snort, and failed, the sound coming out as almost a laugh - it was certainly an apt description of Kiryu.

Misty looked at him again, but he nodded at her to continue.

"We... none of us tended to get along all of the time. Our group was formed not by bonds, but by shared goals, and not all of them met eye to eye. Kiryu-san often rankled at having to answer to Rudger-san especially. But... in the time before Director Godwin gathering you all together, things were far more relaxed. If you could call such an existence so."

"Ah-?"

He'd never thought of it. That time... a limbo, as it were, a stasis of what must have been between dying and having their plans come to fruition - or so they hoped.

"The Earthbound," Misty carried on, "controlled our thoughts and emotions and leaned them towards revenge. But as I am sure you are aware, not even the least sane mind can think of one thing so constantly. Thus, we created, despite ourselves, safe areas. For me, it was my work. For Kiryu-san himself, I believe it was racing, and D-Wheels... although I fear that once she arrived, Carly as well."

"Misty-san... that..."

"Doesn't sound healthy," Yuusei said, finishing Aki's train of thought and speaking properly for the first time since a potential truth had been outed.

"We weren't healthy people," Misty said bluntly. "And I have told you all that I know. Now, perhaps you might tell me something in return. Why the sudden interest in Carly's time as a Dark Signer? Surely any pain caused would heal in time, if left be."

Yuusei and Aki shared a look, and in the end it was Aki who spoke.

"That isn't possible, no matter how much we wish it could be. Carly... she's been having morning sickness. And odd cravings. It's not been long, but..."

Just over a month, in fact. Long enough.

Misty carefully put her cup down, and for the first time, Yuusei thought he saw something other than the pristine self-composure that they'd become used to from her.

"You haven't told her."

Her voice was steady, but distant, as though she was dealing with the news in her own way and would allow her true reactions out later, once they were gone.

"Ah-"

"You should. Soon."

"Ah- aa... We will. We just needed-"

"I understand," she said, standing, and they took that as their cue that it was time to leave. "But she also needs to know."

He didn't bother arguing against that when he knew it well enough himself.

...

"Ah- KIRYU?!"

"Jack, keep your voice down!"

"Hn! It's hardly as though anyone's around to hear - and I don't care!"

Crow buried his face in his hand, shaking his head.

"Ah, Jack..."

It was a few days after Yuusei and Aki's meeting with Misty, and he, Jack and Crow were in the garage. Thankfully, it was the middle of the day and there weren't many people, but this still wasn't something he felt should be shouted about so that anyone passing by could hear them.

"Yuusei. You're sure?"

He shook his head.

"We won't know for certain until we either have proof somehow, or if we could talk to him." That bearing in mind how unlikely it was that Carly herself would regain the relevant memories - that said, none of them were entirely sure if that would even be healthy. "But it's possible."

"Rgh-!"

Jack's fist hit the wall, making the other two flinch, but his tears weren't from the self-induced pain, but the helplessness, the-

"That's not gonna help anything, Jack," Crow said from across the room. "Just give you a sore fist."

"Then what will?"

Crow sighed. "Dunno. But we gotta figure it out - and quick. But... if it was Kiryu, then how're we gonna reachhim?"

"What? To kill him, you mean? Because that's all I feel like I'd want to do with him-"

"He was a Dark Signer," Yuusei said, cutting between the budding argument before they'd end up with raised voices and coming to blows. "Jack... you saw what it was like, how different they were from when they were normal. Kiryu... Carly... Godwin... all of them. Would you place any of them fully responsible for what they did while they were under the Earthbound's influence?"

"You're saying that she might have..." Jack began with a low, threatening growl.

"I'm not saying anything. But if she had, then what would you do?"

Jack stared at Yuusei for a long moment, but then looked away.

"I still want him dead for this. Whoever it was."

Yuusei sighed, supposing that that was the best they were going to get, when the door leading out to the street began to open. At first he thought it was Zora, having come back and somehow heard them arguing over something strange, but when the familiar head poked her way in, he realised that it was worse than that. And yet at the same time, better.

"Ah... is this a good time? I could come back later..."

"C-Carly!"

"No," Yuusei said with a shake of his head, causing Jack and Crow to stare at him in thinly disguised disbelief. "We were talking about an old friend," he began.

"Eh? Really? It sounds like you had a big falling out." She came fully in through the door and closed it behind her, and came down the steps. She was dressed differently to what they usually saw her in, looser, although they didn't think she looked any different. Yet. It might just have been a coincidence, but they were starting to lose faith in coincidences.

"Mn. You could say that. What brings you here?"

"Ahaha, I was just passing through - biiiig scoop, but I got there and wrote it all up, so all I need to do now is get back and check it over before I send it off! Hee~"

"Ah, that's good."

And it was good, seeing her enjoy what she did for a living, even if she was rushed off her feet by stories and scoops - or the need of - most of the time.

"So... who was it? That friend?" She must have noticed Jack's expression darken, because she backed away, laughing and waving her hands in surrender. "Ah, never mind, never mind!"

"Name's Kiryu," Crow put in, catching what Yuusei's game was, and not looking over at any of them to see a reaction to the name. "Haven't seen him since last month."

"Eh? Who? Ah... you think I should know this person?"

With the timing the way it was, it wasn't that much of a leap for anyone's intuition. But her reaction... there went one idea. No reaction at all to his name, and although Yuusei and Crow were relieved that it likely wasn't related to something traumatic in her locked away memories, the very idea of what other things it could mean made Jack grind his teeth.

"Well, Misty said the two of you knew each other back then," Yuusei explained.

"Ahaha, well, I don't see how I'd be able to help finding him now, whoever he is! I don't remember enough to know what someone with that name looked like!" She said, laughing.

"Ah, Carly..." Jack said, one of the first things he'd said since she'd come in. "That... wasn't all."

It was also the most downcast and serious they'd seen him for a while. The anger was still there, sure - but it wasn't the most important thing right now.

"Eh? What then?"

"Have you been feeling 'off' recently?"

The question was put forward at high speed, Jack's expression more like that of a child not wanting to know the answer but knowing he had to ask,whether he liked it or not, even though he knew it was going to hurt afterwards either way.

He wasn't far wrong, either.

"Ah, I- what sort of question's that? I'm fine! And I, I've been fine-"

"Carly..."

"Jack, I'm fine!"

She stepped away from him and Jack recoiled as though struck, at which she stopped, breathing heavily.

"I'm fine, I've just caught a bug, probably in the food, haha, I should be more careful! I'm fine. I just. I just..."

"Carly, it's okay."

"But I hate eel!" she shouted out, tears now falling from her eyes as she allowed Jack to pull her into a tight hold, making the rest of her words muffled through his chest. "And last week I... but... What's wrong with me?"

The last was said so quietly that only Jack was able to hear her at all, but both of the others could see that he was fighting to keep himself under control, to not break down himself, not for pride, but for Carly herself, who needed him to be strong right now.

"It's gonna be okay, yeah?" Crow said awkwardly, hoping to comfort and reassure her that it wasn't just Jack on her side. "Nothing's- it might be nothing's wrong, it's just-"

"How can nothing be wrong? I-" A look of slowly dawning horror came across her, and she let go of Jack, instead holding herself with her arms. "You were talking about that person and that time I can't remember- no. That can't be what you're thinking," she reiterated, shaking her head. "You, you don't know!"

"If it was true," Yuusei said slowly, carefully, "then it'd be up to you what you did next."

Emphasise the 'if', make it hypothetical, and numb the pain with theory and the allowance of temporary denial instead of cold, hard facts.

"Eh? Wh- what do you..."

"You don't remember. You wouldn't owe anyone anything, and you wouldn't even if you could. It'd be your choice."

Her eyes widened behind her glasses as she realised what he meant, and she shook here head wildly.

"I don't know! I don't know what I want!"

"Carly-!"

She was running for the door, and as soon as he realised that it would be a bad idea for Jack to go after her, Yuusei and Crow had to hold him back from doing that very thing.

"Let her go," Crow said in a rare instance of sounding entirely serious, completely and utterly sincere. "She needs time, yea? Something like that..."

Really, who could blame her for running?

...

Carly didn't remember running home, let alone catching the bus because she knew that she was far too worked up to drive right now.

All she knew for certain, as she lay curled up in her bed with the covers drawn around her and her Jack bear in her arms, was that she was lost, confused, and she'd hurt her friends by running away from them - run away from Jack.

Who'd only been trying to help.

She sniffed again, and continued to sob, not quite having dried up all of her tears.

She'd noticed it, how could she say she hadn't noticed it, you can't not notice being sick and... all the rest.

But putting it all together had taken longer. She didn't remember. Any of it, from going to sleep that one night with Jack having taken over her own room for the night (sometimes, she liked remembering it, and it was almost as though there was someone else in the room with her, keeping her company) to waking up well over a week later, confused and not understanding why it was suddenly morning, or how she'd moved across town, or why Jack was reacting to her as though she'd died or something.

She'd had no reason to think something might be up. She still liked Jack (didn't she?) and Jack hadn't said anything, wasn't acting odd in some weird way around her, so nothing could have happened.

Because she wouldn't have cheated on Jack.

Except, apparently, something had happened. She had gone behind Jack's back, and she couldn't even remember-

She didn't even know whose it was.

The realisation, coming into her head with clarity this time rather than in a mix of overwrought emotions, caused her to break down in tears yet again. What kind of person was she back then, to do such a thing?

Kiryu, she remembered Yuusei say. Haven't seen him since last month.

Just a little over that, really, but hey - who was counting? But if that was it...

She threw herself out of bed, hair messed up and glasses askew but she didn't care, skidding into her living room and turning the computer on, making sure to turn the video phone off - she didn't want to be disturbed, and especially not by her editor right now while she was dressed like this - while she pulled up a search.

Kiryu... Kiryu... there were a surprising amount of them. None of whom she felt like she should know. She stuck her tongue in her cheek, adding in the parameter that he was 'from Satellite' - an assumption based on the idea that he was an old friend of Yuusei and the others. If they'd all known him, then that would've been back then, when they were all...

Results! And... she swallowed. The first article was on the Security database, for an angry looking young man with a marker running all the way down the right side of his face. She clicked on that one first, bringing it into a new window.

Kiryu Kyousuke, the public part of the file read. Markered for assault on a Security patrolman. Deceased during incarceration.

And... that was it. Pretty much the entire file. If she'd been looking for a story, then she'd have been incredibly disappointed, putting it down as an open and closed case, or acting on a gut feeling - the same one she was having right now - that this was hardly the entire story.

She shut the search down, and then the computer, for some reason not wanting to look any further, or at the angry, accusing face of someone who was supposed to be long dead.

She made her way back into her room and flopped listlessly onto her bed. She... she still didn't know what to do.

One of her hands had found its way to her deck case, sitting on her bedside table, and she smiled - of course! The fairies would tell her! Hah~ ! That couldn't go wrong...

Apart from that one time when they predicted you were going to die, a worried voice said in the back of her mind, but she paid it no heed. Out came the cards, and fanned out in front of her face-down in one hand, while the other hovered above them.

"And today the fortune is - draw!"

She picked the card third on the left. Took it out.

"Super pinch?!"

She let herself drop back onto the pillows.

You may gain an edge over the competition. Cheer up!

But... how was she supposed to cheer up when this person was supposedly such big trouble? That fortune only made everything worse...

...

It was Duel Time in Crashtown, and Kiryu Kyousuke was in big trouble.

Or at least, he would be if he didn't win the duel. Anyone who lost was immediately sent to the mines and collared, and out of the two groups attempting to control the small mining town, Ramon's was the lesser of the two evils.

Ah, there it was. A weakness. One face-down next, and he'd exploited it easily, and the opponent was taken away by horse and cart to his doom.

Kiryu himself merely turned his back on the town, and headed back to where he'd parked his bike before riding it out to the cliffs.

It wasn't a Harley, like the rest of Ramon's group rode. They'd offered him one, at first, just to fit in. But he'd refused, despite the odd looks it gained.

The Giganto-L was, after all, a D-Wheel in a town full of people who'd probably only heard of them, or seen them on TV at best. That, and its odd design contrasted strangely with his presence as he made it known there, and the way he dressed.

It was the one thing he'd bothered to keep from that dark period in his life, the only thing he'd wanted to keep, other than a few select memories.

The rest could go to hell.

He remembered duelling Yuusei, accusing him of betrayal, the souls, so many people, all dead, just because of his own damn vendetta-

He wished he could forget it. Just be left with a confusion, as though he'd never done any of it. But even then, he wouldn't be innocent.

But he also remembered teaching her, and correcting her, and duelling her and getting frustrated and proud and calm - for the first time since he'd become a Dark Signer, he'd actually been happy, been calm - and his hands on her back, steadying her, hands on her-

He cut the memories off with a choke, torn between wanting to forget because then it wouldn't hurt so damn much, and keeping a hold on them like precious gems, because the last he'd heard of Carly before hitting the road knowing that should Jack find out he'd be dead three times over, was that she'd forgotten. Everything.

And if he forgot as well, then who would be left to know that anything good had come out of that time at all? No one would know. It'd just get lost, something that didn't matter any more... and he didn't want it to not matter.

He wasn't sure if that made him a bad person or not, but weighing up his crimes against the good things he'd taken, stolen, didn't balance out in his head.

"Ah-! Kiryu-niichan!"

He sighed. West, again.

"How many times do I have to tell you - I'm not someone you should get involved with, kid."

"But, Kiryu-niichan, you had that look on your face again."

Kiryu sighed, and turned to look at the young boy.

"What look."

"The. The one like tou-san wore sometimes." His confusion must have shown, because West carried on. "When he'd think about kaa-san!"

"...Ah."

Nico and West's mother had died long before they'd arrived here. And their father had been sent to the mines the day he'd arrived. The man's kids had offered Kiryu to stay with them instead, but he'd refused, only allowing them to give them some of their father's old clothes, but he still came to visit every so often.

"So... there's a girl you like? Is she... is she dead?"

He jerked involuntarily, but then got himself under control again, attempting to disguise the movement with a shrug.

"She might as well be. To me."

"Hah... that's bad..."

Kiryu sighed, fingering his harmonica.

"It's getting dark. You should be getting back to your sister."

West nodded reluctantly.

"Ah, right. You'll be okay, though?"

Kiryu would have sent an amused, wry smile over the boy's way if he'd had the emotional energy to do so, but instead he merely nodded, and put the harmonica to his lips again, playing a bittersweet melody of regret.

...

AN: And there we have the first - and it might be the longest, I have no idea how long or short the next chapters will be - of this story.

Remember back at the beginning, where Yuusei, Aki and Crow were assuming that Carly may have been assaulted? Yes, if you hadn't caught on back then, that is what they were - and still are - considering as a possibility. As you can see from the last section with Kiryu, that was not the case. If it were, I'd probably have 'rape' as one of my warnings. Which I don't.

As to Yuusei being pro-choice? One of my headcanons is that at least once, he, Jack, Crow, even Kiryu way back before the paranoia kicked in, they all had to help out someone in need because Satellite's a dangerous place for women and girls, especially in the BAD area I'd have to assume, and just because it's never mentioned (to my recollection) in the series, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Also, Martha drilled it into them - 'Don't do the deed if you're not willing to take responsibility!'. Satellite being Satellite, it's far less likely to have protection just readily available. Cultural context matters. At least, these are the reasons/backstory I felt like I needed to point out.