Warnings: Canonical character death

Kimura Kouichi's destiny was to die.

At least, that was what Mirei could read. The fun thing about being from a parallel world and not tied to any afterwards was that when everyone else had laundry she didn't need to ask them about it and suffer the long diatribe on how miserable their lives were. She could merely look at them and see it and go on her merry way with having them fulfill their role. They had no idea how ridiculous it all was, really. It also kept her from sniping at them about it. That always made people so testy.

After all, she was actually dead so it wasn't as though she didn't understand. Then again that also wasn't any of their business.

So she watched the boy her mind identified as Kimura Kouichi wriggle and look around, surrounded by wisps of what she suspected was his own spirit. Charming. She lifted her hand to reach out to him, but as she rose from her chair, he disappeared.

She frowned. "Amusing," she said to herself. Though, really it wasn't. It was at best interesting. At worse it was a distraction.

She had to wonder where he had gone. But then her welcoming portal let out its familiar soft chime, disrupting the ambiance around her, and settled back once more.

"Hello, Aiba," she greeted in a pleasant voice, watching their hair stand on end. Oh, it looked like it was- well, one of them anyway. There were two and their times often overlapped with each other.

By the time she was finished with them (both of them, somehow not tripping over each other like ducklings on land), the wispy boy had returned. He looked a little less out of sorts now, and was actually taking in the room in front of him.

Good. I worked hard on it. "It looks like you're in a better state now," she said by way of greeting.

His head whipped around to lock onto her face. Thankfully he did not panic, though his eyes did widen in alarm a little.

"I… did not see you there."

"Unsurprising." She waved a hand and he jolted forward, carried to a seat that she had also created. "My apologies. I don't want you blocking the portal. Would you like some tea?"

"I.. uhm…" She watched his cheeks flush as he was set down like a children's toy. "I… yes please ma'am. I'm a little thirsty."

"That's a good sign." Her black cat leaped into his lap as the cup and saucer floated to a tray table beside him. Mirei watched the cat pad to a comfortable position on her new guest's lap and lay down. Without hesitation she started to purr. Something relaxed in his shoulders as he reached out to stroke her fur.

"She's a very efficient groomer," Kouichi said after a moment. Mirei laughed outright.

"I suppose you would know."

"I would."

He laughed. Mirei sipped her tea. They sat in silence, broken only by the clinking of teacups (that constantly refill) on saucers and the steady purring of the black and white cats resting in various places.

Eventually, Kouichi spoke up, His voice was quiet, thoughtful. "I'm dead, aren't I?"

Mirei glanced at him over her laptop. "Physically, yes, you are. You wouldn't be here if you were alive, at least not without some extenuating suffering or circumstances on your part. This place is a world where you must give up your body to reach it, on some level, relatively speaking." She chuckled. "Flesh is difficult to mold to work here, unfortunately. I'm working at it as quickly as I can."

He listened politely, and that was surely a nice change. But then he asked. "WHat do you mean by physically? Isn't dead, dead?"

"Usually," she agreed. "But when you died the way you did, your body and soul were disconnected beforehand. When your data was absorbed, it didn't end up the way your opponent must have assumed it would. Then again, the Demon Lords aren't clever after a long time spent alive. Their thought processes deteriorate at the edges then all together."

"How did you know-"

"I saw it in your head," Mirei replied, offering some biscuits. "When a person first arrives here, the circumstances of why and how they arrived here are transmitted to me. It spares long speeches and monologues."

The boy sobered. "So, you know about my friends."

Mirei smiled. "I know all, yes."

He scowled a little, and then focused, rather intently if she did say so herself, on petting her cat. She wouldn't tell him that was a Lady Devimon. He may not take it that well.

"They'll be all right," she said after a while. "They always are. The people we leave behind."

The we killed the retort that was building in his throat. "I know," Kouichi finally said after a few moments of thought. "I know. I just…"

"You have regrets." The woman shrugged. "Most people do. It's inevitable with the way we die. It's rare that people do not."

"I left my mom," he said, almost to himself. "Grandma just died, there are loads of bills to pay. She can barely work a full job now...she's all alone. And Kouji has no idea where to start. I didn't tell him anything."

"Indeed you didn't." The white cat paced around Kouichi's chair. "They will still find their way, as they do. But that doesn't mean you cannot return."

His eyes lit up. "I can?! But how?"

Oh does he have regrets indeed. "Wish for it and leave this place." Mirei closed her laptop for a moment. "You have a body to project back too. Of course, all of you need the resolve and something to connect to. By all rights it's impossible. But you are a chosen one. So a miracle can most certainly occur." She smiled. "If you wish it so."

"I do," he says and his eyes aren't the wild hunger of some she had met in the past. They were sincere and open and determined, serene in their certainty. And she met that certainty with a smile. Come what may work and what may not, this was a decision he could make with his whole heart and whole soul.

She raised a hand. "Then step over there." She pointed to the portal he had stepped out of. "Be warned though, you may not come out as easily as you'd like. The path you walk is hard and cold. Look for the warmth and let it guide you home."

Kimura Kouichi stared at her like she had grown a second head but nodded anyway, putting her cat down and doing as she had told him to. With a wave of her hand, Mirei watched him go in particles of light and code.

When all her ears could hear was the soft thrum of her lab, Mirei sat down again with a sigh.

"He didn't even finish his tea," she murmured with a small smile. "How rude."

And he wouldn't be able to come back to apologize either. She knew that very well indeed.

His was the sort that created miracles.

A/N: Congratulations remi! I'm catching up on prizes and here is one of yours! I hope everyone enjoyed.

Challenges: Random What if Competition Prize fic for reminiscent-afterthought, Mega Prompts Picture Prompt 41, mini fic masterclass interseason 1