Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon blah these disclaimers don't actually do anything but they're tradition so what the heck. The following is a fan work and not in any way official.

Trigger Warnings: Suicide, Self-Harm, Death, Gender Dysphoria, Low Self Esteem, Violence, Child Abuse, Vomiting

Author's Notes: Hello and welcome to my fanfiction. It's inspired by Square Enix's Chrono Cross, with lots of elements drawn from there, but hopefully with enough of an original spin to keep you interested.

My friends and I have a habit of sharing OCs so I would like to thank Arcana Force XIII Thanatos for allowing me the use of Haseo Misaki. Haseo, named after the character from .hack, has starred in many stories written by Arcana Force XIII Thanatos and his friends. If you want to see more of him, you can check out Arcana's profile or visit Twilidramon, on here or on FictionPress. Personally I recommend the Digimon fanfiction Digimon Rebellion and the original story Koukon Bridge. Twilidramon is also the owner of Loaño Ishida and KiddGarurumon, two other OCs scheduled to appear in this story. I hope you like them!

Prologue

Naota Yamaguchi, thirteen-year-old freshman at McAlister High quietly slipped into the back of his second period English class, hoping nobody would notice him. They did. Some of the students' eyes widened in shock while others quickly turned away, trying to give him some privacy. Mrs. Raythorne, an elderly teacher with glasses stared in utter disbelief. Naota pulled out his copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, the class reading assignment, and grabbed his homework out from his binder. He waited silently, unsure of what to say.

He kept his head low, his curly brown hair hid his almond colored eyes, so nobody could tell that he was crying, just like the his red long sleeved shirt hid his arms. His already slim body seemed to have lost a few more pounds over the weekend and his face looked extremely pale. Even if the class didn't know what happened, they'd be able to tell something was wrong.

But they knew. That's why half the class stayed home that day. That's why they were shocked to see that Naota hadn't. Two days ago, on Saturday morning, Naota's friend Haseo Misaki had committed suicide. The young teen didn't have many close friends other than Naota, but the news still sent a wave of sadness and shock through the student body. Many students had taken the day off to recover from the news, though naturally there were those using it as an excuse to ditch. Naota's aunt and uncle had nearly forced Naota to stay home as well, they said he needed time to mourn, but he begged them to let him come to class.

So that morning he took a shower, got dressed, and walked to school just like any ordinary day. Except there was no Haseo to great him at the gate like usual. No Haseo to partner up with in first period Science. No Haseo to discuss the weekend's reading with. There was a new RPG coming out soon and there'd be no Haseo to discuss it with. And now he felt terrible and there was no Haseo to confide in.

"Naota, if you need to take the day off and stay at home, I assure you, your teachers would all understand," said Mrs. Hawthorne. Her green eyes narrowing in concern. "Today was just going to be a review on the assigned reading which I'm sure you did fine on. And I'm sure the other teacher's won't have much planned either."

"Thank you," said Naota. "But I'm going to be fine." Naota stared with an empty gaze. His entire body felt hollow distant, like it wasn't a part of him, just something he wore like a shirt or shoes.

"If you change your mind, let me know," said Mrs. Hawthorne. She turned her attention to the rest of the class. "In light of this weekend's events, I understand if some of you failed to complete the assignment. Will those of you who have your work please turn it in? The rest of you may take a few extra days as you see fit. I will also permit you to skip this week's independent reading. Those who wish to may do it for extra credit."

In addition to whatever book the class was reading, Hawthorne expected each student to read 100 Pages a week from a book of their choice, though they were honor bound to pick something they'd never read before. He and Haseo usually hit the 100 page marks on Sunday. They'd had a little competition running. Each month the winner got to pick a book for the loser to read. This month Naota found himself with a huge lead, and he'd already picked out the book he'd assign to Haseo. It was a fun competition they'd started just a few months ago and Naota had a win loss ratio of 2-1. Now they'd never be able to play it again.

Naota handed his work to the teacher as she passed by. It was a worksheet on the weekend's reading. His hands trembled so much as he gave it to her that he nearly couldn't hold on. He didn't want to think about Haseo right now. He didn't want to admit how he felt about the whole situation.

'He felt guilty. He was guilty.

'You might as well have stabbed him in the heart with a knife,' spat a voice in the back of his head.

Naota's stomach churned and he dashed for the door, drawing every eye in the room as he hunched over and vomited onto the grass. He clutched his empty stomach in pain. He'd skipped breakfast and right now it felt like his stomach was being squeezed like a sponge.

The teacher quickly grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled on it with a pen. "Here," she handed the note to Naota. "You should go see the Nurse."

Sweat poured down his burning face as he accepted the note from the teacher. "Th," he murmured, unable to formulate even a basic expression of gratitude. His eyes dropped to the floor as he went silent. He gathered his things and started the trek toward the main office building where the nurse's was located. He could almost feel the eyes of every student turning to watch him as he walked past the half empty classrooms. He was used to unwanted attention, but this pushed things beyond his comfort zone.

Naota passed by Haseo's favorite water fountain, the one which had the best water pressure in the entire school. Naota preferred the one in the office, which had less pressure but tasted better and was always much colder. It was funny how all the little quirks didn't seem to matter in life, but now here they were, adding up inside him as he remembered his friend.

Naota barely paid attention the rest of the way. He simply handed the note to the nurse and sat down on a chair as she took his temperature and phoned somebody off his emergency contact list to come sign him out of school. Naota barely made an effort to listen as the nurse lectured him about the dangers of overexertion and not knowing your limits.

"I swear schools these days put too much pressure on you students. It's terrible! My daughter once went in to class even though she could hardly breathe! All because the teacher said he didn't want to give any make up tests! I swear it's these attendance policies. Would you like some candy dear?" She offered Naota a Twix. He whispered his thanks and shook his head.

Naota waited about fifteen minutes before his older brother, Daichi, arrived to pick him up. "Hey, bro, how are you?" Asked the older teen. Naota could barely look him in the ideas. Daichi had short black hair in a nice tidy haircut, a muscular build from years of baseball, football, and other sports, and wore a red jacket over white T-shirt and faded jeans. He had a bit of stubble on his chin and a square jaw, nothing like Naota who had a softer more feminine figure.

"I'm sorry," Naota said, "I hope you didn't have to leave class early." Daichi was taking classes at the local community college to get his degree. It was nothing impressive but he'd been doing well. He was still actively participating in sports, making both the baseball and football teams, though the sports teams of a community college didn't seem like very much. Naota was still very proud of him.

"Naw, it's not a problem. The teacher was giving a boring lecture anyway. I'd rather get kicked in the nuts than stay for another minute." He said with a laugh. "Anyway I got you signed out, so we can get going. You wanna go home? Or you want to get something to eat first?"

"I can walk home," Naota assured him. "You don't have to worry about me."

Daichi shook his head and smiled. "Nice try kid, but you're sick. That means I'm going to be watching over you like a hawk today. So, what do you want? Relaxation at home? Fresh air? A trip to the mall to perk your spirits up?"

"I just want to go home today," Naota said. "So I can take a nap." His brother gave him a worried look of empathy as he lead the younger boy out to the car. Daichi drove a second hand car that showed a bit of rust here and there on the red paint, seemed to function fine. It got great gas mileage and the AC and radio both worked well. Daichi had saved a bit of money from his job at college and installed a first class sound system. Normally he'd be blaring some popular new tune, but today the stereo was silent.

"Hey, Naota, look, remember when mom and dad died? You shut yourself away for months and wouldn't talk to anyone. I, I really don't want that to happen again. If you need to talk to somebody about Haseo, you can talk to me. And there's Dan, Hikaru, even Ham."

Naota stared at his feet as he wiggled them. "I'll be fine, I promise." He twiddled his fingers. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure, Naota?" Daichi kept his eyes focused on the road as he drove. "Because you've talking in your sleep. You keep saying 'I'm sorry, Haseo.'" Daichi bit his lower lip. "Look, whatever happened, you can't blame yourself for what happened. You can't always see these things coming, and even if you can, you can't always stop it."

Naota didn't say anything. He simply looked out the window at the buildings passing by. Crossfield, was a small city with not much going for it. Sure there were places to hang out: parks, malls, bookstores, but there was absolutely nothing exciting here. Sometimes he dreamed of running away to bigger places. Right now he wanted to run away more than ever. Forget the town, forget the people, forget Haseo, and forget his guilt.

But he'd never be able to forget Haseo. Naota wasn't the type to ever let go of anyone he'd lost.

He barely noticed his brother speaking to him and simply nodded along when it felt appropriate. It didn't take much longer before his brother pulled into the driveway of their house. It was a simple house on a simple street, with overgrown grass and a garage big enough for the family's two cars. They had a washer but no dryer and instead had to hang their clothes up on a line in the backyard. Naota had been a little embarrassed at first, but had adjusted.

The pavement was cracked with weeds pushing through, and a basketball hoop hung over the garage door. Dan and Daichi preferred other sports, but they weren't opposed to a good game of basketball now and then.

The house was a single story high, with three bedrooms. That left one for Naota's aunt and uncle, one for Hikaru, and one that Naota shared with Daichi and Dan. It was usually a mess, with dirty underwear and other laundry carelessly tossed aside, and Naota occasionally found himself waiting patiently outside when one of the other boys had a girl over, but he was happy his aunt and uncle had taken him in. They didn't make much, his uncle ran a small video game store at the mall and his aunt taught math at a local middle school, but they got by and supported the four teenagers.

Naota trudged into his room which currently smelled like a pig sty. He stepped over a pile of sweaty clothes and sat on his bed. He listened to the hum of his fan as his brother stood in the doorway, watching over him. "You want me to go to the store and get you anything? Some ice cream?"

Naota shook his head. "No thanks, I'm fine." He walked to his closet to grab a laundry basket and began gathering the laundry from the floor. "This place is a mess," he said. "I'm going to go clean up." He gathered the underwear, pants, shorts, shirts, and snatched Daichi's dirty jockstrap off the floor without so much as blinking. He tossed them in the basket and took them to the washing machine outside, grabbing some laundry soap and fabric softener along the way.

"Hey, you should be relaxing," Daichi protested. He tried to snatch the basket away but Naota kept it out of reach. "Or resting. Let me do the laundry."

Naota opened the cover and began throwing clothes inside. "I need to focus on something that will distract me. He poured in the soap and closed the cover as the water began filling up. "But you can help me grab some sheets from the closet." Naota searched the hallway closet for more bed sheets and found some next to the pillow covers. Grabbing those as well he walked to the shared bedroom and began stripping the beds. "When was the last time you and Dan changed your sheets anyway?" He asked as he put the new ones on. "These feel like they've been soaked with sweat." He didn't embarrass his brother by mentioning the stains. He took the sheets and pillow slips out to the washer and dumped them on top of the clothes that couldn't fit into the first load.

"We can do this some other time you know," Daichi protested. Truth be told he hated doing the laundry and usually let it pile up until Naota or somebody else took care of it for him. Dan was the same way. And he'd never once changed his sheets himself. Naota did that too.

Naota turned on the TV for some background noise as he grabbed the vacuum cleaner and started working on the parlor. Some local news program talked about the disappearance of a teenage girl, a commercial aired for the new Shinigami Conglomerate video game that Naota already owned, and a commercial featuring a hit song by pop sensation Hazuki advertised new cars being made by Akimoto Industries.

Naota bit his lip. "You okay?" Daichi asked him for the umpteenth time that day.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Naota said as he shook his head ever so slightly. He caught himself and stopped. If Daichi noticed he didn't let on. "Going to vacuum the room next."

"I still think you should be playing a video game or something," Daichi protested. Naota ignored the comment and continued his mission to clean the house, after quickly darting outside to add fabric softener to the laundry.

The three boys had to share a TV, which meant gaming sometimes became a hassle. Luckily for Naota, his roommates were both athletic jocks who preferred to be outside on a sunny day then inside. That didn't stop them from making a bit of a mess though. He picked up their Xbox 360 Controllers from the floor and stowed those away, then gathered their games together and put them neatly on the shelf. Next he organized their strategy guides. Daichi sighed in protest as he helped. When they finally finished Naota began vacuuming.

"If you want to go hang out with your friends, I'll be fine," Naota promised. "Weren't you planning to hang out with Ross and Ham today?" Ross and Ham were Daichi's friends from high school, they were on the baseball and football teams alongside him. Naota and Ross got along fairly well and Ham was one of Naota's best friends next to Haseo.

"Yeah, but not till later. Ross wanted to hang out with Yuki and Justin wanted to hang out with us too." Justin and Yuki were still in High School so they wouldn't be free until later in the day. Justin was the youngest of the group, just a bit older than Naota, and really friendly. Yuki was polite, but Naota barely knew him. "Though Ham might be dropping by. He said to let me know how you were doing. I told him I was pulling you out of school. He said he'd try to swing by if he could."

Naota finished vacuuming the room just in time to rush outside and hang the first load of laundry and throw in the second. Daichi helped with hanging the clothes and made small talk, but Naota barely caught anything. They quickly finished their task and sat down in the parlor waiting for the laundry to finish.

The door creaked open and Hikaru stepped in, quickly followed by Ham. Hikaru Reinhardt, Naota's cousin, was fourteen, just a few months older than him. She had shoulder length dyed blonde hair, light skin, and wore a black T-shirt and red plaid short skirt. She carried her bag with her as she sat on the couch. "Hey, heard you weren't feeling well so I decided to ditch class. Ham saw me and gave me a ride." She looked out toward the back yard. "Tell me you aren't doing laundry. You should be relaxing."

"I tried to stop him, but he just wouldn't listen," Daichi explained.

"Hey, Ta-kun, how are you?" Ham sat next to his friend.

Hamlet "Ham" Malderess was eighteen, a bit older than Naota, just over four years in fact. That made things between them a little odd at times, but they got along pretty well. Ham cared for Naota like family. He had blond hair, neatly combed and parted to the right, light skin, and a muscular build. He had a strong square jaw, a clean shaven face that smelled like strong aftershave, and wore a leather jacket over his white T-shirt and faded jeans. His mother picked the name. She was a huge fan of classic theatre.

Naota and Ham had always gotten along well. They'd met soon after Naota moved in with his aunt and uncle. Being new to the town, he didn't have many friends at the time. Daichi, Dan, and Ham all played baseball together at the local park with some of their other friends. Every so often somebody would drop by to hang out with Dan or Daichi and they usually left Naota alone to go about his day doing whatever. Ham was the only one who took the time to befriend Naota.

Naota realized he'd been silent for more than a minute and his friend was still waiting for a response. "I'm okay. Just waiting for the laundry to finish." Naota grabbed the remote to change the station. He channel surfed for a little while before settling on reruns of Gilmore Girls. "Oh it's one of my favorite episodes. I like Jess."

"Didn't you have a crush on him when you were little?" Hikaru teased.

Naota blushed and said nothing.

"I think Dean's more my type," said Ham. "Well, of the guys at least."

"I have no idea what's wrong with you," Hikaru rolled her eyes, "obviously Logan's the best."

Daichi, being a heterosexual male, and having never seen an episode in his life, had nothing to add to conversation, so he simply chuckled. Naota smiled, obviously enjoying the conversation. Ham and Hikaru laughed as well, glad to see that Naota was finally finding a way to relax. They watched the episode, laughing at the jokes. Daichi needed a bit of an explanation on some of Lorelai's gags, but he seemed to be getting along just fine. Hikaru complained about the town's traditions being a little sexist and outdated but potentially interesting if they could be fine-tuned a little. Ham said they made him hungry.

It didn't take long before they had to hang up the clothes and toss in the final load, which consisted of bed sheets, blankets and pillowslips. Naota asked if Hikaru wanted to throw her things in, but she answered that she'd done them just the other day, they'd be good for a bit longer. All in all they had fun.

Until the TV began playing another commercial for the new RPG coming out soon. Haseo had expressed interest in it, he'd been really looking forward to it. This one featured the English theme, Meltryosh, by Hazuki, as the TV showed exciting scenes from the game. Haseo really loved that song. He had both the English and Japanese versions on his phone and he listened to them all the time. They were fun and fast paced and climbing to the top of the charts.

Naota fought back the tears but couldn't hold them all in. He ducked behind the couch sobbing as his friends and family watched with excitement. Daichi wasn't a big fan of RPGs but Hikaru and Ham both loved them. Hikaru had begged her father to break street date on this one, thus securing a copy for her and Naota to share. Hopefully they'd be captivated by the commercial.

Naota told Haseo how much he loved the game and even invited offered to let Haseo play it. But Haseo said that he'd waited years for this and he could wait a bit longer. Now he'd never get the chance.

'And it's all your fault,' sneered a nasty voice in Naota's head. 'You made him kill himself. You didn't just stand by as it happened, you made him do it!' Naota listened to his inner voice as he chastised himself. His teeth sank into his arm and the pain managed to block out the voice, if only for a moment.

"Hey Naota, how is that game by the way?" Ham asked.

Naota dried his tears and popped up from behind the couch. "Really fun. You wanna play it later? Just bring your Vita over," he said with a bright smile. "It's kind of hard though, if you do it on a hard difficulty. You have to have fast reactions, so I'm doing easy mode." He usually preferred RPGs because he didn't need to react quickly, but he liked this one enough to deal with the challenge.

It turned out the station was running a marathon so they watched another episode of Gilmore Girls, stopping when it was time to hang the laundry. When they returned to the TV, Naota found himself dissatisfied. He loved the show, but he wasn't in the mood for TV. He fidgeted, and let out a sigh. "Hey, Daichi, can I go to the park?"

Daichi felt Naota's forehead. It was still warm. "Sure, just don't overexert yourself. You want to walk or do you want to ride?" The park wasn't too far, so walking was definitely an option. On the other hand, he didn't want Naota to overexert himself.

"I'll be fine walking," he said as he grabbed his backpack off the floor. "I just need some water." He grabbed a bottle from the fridge and emptied his backpack in his room, stacking everything neatly on as well as his PS Vita in case he needed to something to do while there. It seemed silly, walking to a park to read or play a game, but he wanted to be at that park right now.

Ham and Daichi were extremely athletic and Hikaru stayed in shape, so Naota had trouble keeping up with them as they walked to the park. He felt the cool wind on his skin, something felt a little off about the air. The sky seemed blue as ever, completely ignorant of the tragedy in Naota's life. He didn't care how cliché it was, he wanted empathetic weather. He wanted the drumming of thunder as raindrops drowned the streets. Instead all he got were a few clouds.

"Wow, it's hot today," Ham complained. He'd taken off his leather jacket and left it in his car, but sweat was still pouring down his face. He stripped off his shirt, revealing his well-toned body. He wasn't a body builder by any means, but he was muscular, with abs worth staring at. Naota tried not to, but couldn't help himself.

Then the guilt sank in. 'Haseo's dead and you're staring at another guy that way? He said you were his best friend and you always out him after everybody else.' Naota bit into his sleeve when nobody was looking. His heart pounded, he didn't want any of them to turn around and look, but he took his chances anyway. Nobody did.

Akimoto Park welcomed visitors of all ages to its well-kept grounds. You could go for a refreshing dip in the swimming pool, or go for something more natural with the gushing river. You could hike a trail or explore the forests, or visit one of the many gardens. If you preferred sports they had a basketball court and a tennis court and even a baseball diamond. You could simply stop and smell the air, perfumed with the scent of flowers and trees and freshly cut grass. Or you could visit the playground.

Akimoto Park was perhaps the most beautiful place ion all of Crossfield, named after the Akimoto family who donated money to build it for the community. Or rather, a small part of the super huge family. They used to live in Crossfield before moving away.

Naota walked toward the playground. Like a castle built in the sand, a huge structure rose from the ground. There were towers built with swirling slides, monkey bars and jungle gyms, regular swings and tire swings, pogo rides, and a merry-go-round. Children laughed as they darted about having fun. Some got hurt and cried, but their parents rushed to their sides to comfort them.

Naota felt instead regret as the guilt surged up inside. He'd been here with Haseo just last Friday, the day before Haseo took his own life. He choked back his tears. "I'm sorry, I need to go to the bathroom," he said to everybody else as he suddenly took off.

"You okay?" Ham called out, chasing after him. Naota fled into the bathroom and Ham followed. "Hey, Naota, what's wrong man, you can tell me." He bent over and squatted next to Naota, who was sitting on the ground sobbing.

Naota sobbed silently, unable to speak. Ham simply waited at his side as the minutes passed. Five, ten, fifteen. Ham didn't say anything as he waited. He gently touched Naota's shoulder and waited to see if he gave any negative reaction. When he didn't, Ham rubbed his back to comfort him. Naota's sobbing eased up. He gasped for breaths a few times and looked at Ham apologetically. Ham gave him a tight hug.

"It's okay Naota. It's okay."

Naota finally got up and washed his face. Without saying a word he took Ham's hand and let the older boy lead him out of the bathroom. Hikaru and Daichi stood by the bathroom, waiting for his return. They didn't say anything and instead waited for Naota to speak.

All he said was, "can we go to the forest?" He looked at the tall sycamore trees. He'd been in there before. He loved the smell and the way the trees blocked out most of the sunlight. The forest seemed almost magical that way.

Nobody asked why, they just lead the way. Hikaru turned back to watch him for a second. "You feeling better?" She asked. When Naota said nothing she turned away, offering him privacy.

Ham grabbed his hand once more and stuck close by. Naota listened to the sound of his friend breathing and watched the rise and fall of his chest. For some reason it was calming. He listened to the birds chirping in the sky, the snapping of twigs beneath the group's feet, their footsteps, and the beating of his own heart. He'd walked through the forest with Haseo on Friday, right before they parted ways. It was the last time he saw Haseo alive.

He seemed cold and distant and broken. Like he was upset.

He felt Ham's fingers slipping away from him. He tried to reach out and latch on, but he simply felt air. His vision blurred as he began gasping for air. His chest grew heavy. The air seemed thinner. His lungs ached and burned as he fell to his knees, tears swelling up. For a moment the world spun around him as he fell to the ground.

Everything went dark for just a second and he felt himself falling. He could have sworn he heard someone whisper his name. Pain exploded all over his body before subsiding as quickly as it came. The light returned.

Standing up, Naota dusted his clothes off as he looked around and found himself alone. "Ham? Hikaru? Daichi?" He called out weakly. He spun around and saw that there was nobody there. Naota stumbled forward on weak legs as the world spun. His stomach hurt. He still hadn't eaten all day. He fished into his backpack for his cellphone but realized that he forgot it at home.

"Hey, is anybody here?" Naota's heart began feeling heavy. He crossed his arms and pouted. They wouldn't have just abandoned him alone would they? He made a mental checklist of anything he could have done to tick them off. Had he been too whiny lately? Needy? Clingy? Every time he tried to dismiss some notion as ridiculous, he remembered a time he could have upset them. Had he hogged the game too much an upset Hikaru? Interrupted Daichi's private time with his girlfriend? Been too neglectful of Ham?

He thought of all the things he could have done to tip Haseo over the edge. He sniffed loudly as the tears began welling up, but he managed to brush them aside. He was panicking for no reason. It wasn't like he was lost or anything. He could turn around and head straight home. Unless the others were waiting for him on the other side of the forest. Maybe they'd just gotten too far ahead without noticing he'd fallen behind!

Okay, new plan. He would quickly walk through the forest, check for everybody, then turn around and go home if he didn't find them. He started walking at a brisk pace when a branch snapped loudly. He looked at his feet. No branch there.

Naota heard someone or something growling from the behind the trees. A low guttural sound rang through the air as footsteps rapidly approached. The growling grew louder. Naota spun in fear and nearly fell over again. His legs wobbled weakly.

Then he saw a large red cat covered in a crackling fire. His heart nearly stopped and he almost screamed. The cat circled around him, sniffing the air. "Why don't you smell tasty?" He asked with a smug grin. "You humans are so naïve, putting yourselves in danger like this. It's been a while since I had a good snack." He raised a paw with three sharp white claws that looked like they could tear metal into confetti.

"Sparkling Thunder!" Bolts of lightning surged through the air, zapping the cat and pushing him back. Naota spun toward his rescuer and started to run, nearly stopping when he saw something that even more confusing. He regained his composure and ran toward his savior, a small red creature with blue stripes, he had nine tailed spread out like a peacock and long thin ears, almost like a bunny's but less floppy and more pointed.

Next to him stood Hikaru, wearing a pink T-shirt and blue skirt. "Where have you been Naota?" She said as she threw her arms around him, but quickly broke away. "Never mind, we need to get out of here now."

The cat roared in anger and began chasing after them, swinging his claws. Hikaru quickly pulled out her cellphone. "Hey, found him, he's in the forest, and a Lynxmon is after us. I don't think Elecmon is going to be able to hold him off for long." She turned to Naota as they ran. "What are you doing out here anyway? You know the wild Digimon have been getting violent lately! It's dangerous, you could have been killed."

Naota quickly assessed this situation.

Monsters were real.

Hikaru knew what they were and was obviously not as scared as she should be.

For whatever reason, she expected that he was supposed to know what they were.

Something was wrong here. Very, very wrong.