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A girl, around 20 or 21 with long black hair, walked slowly to the apartment door. She paused for a moment to think about why she was doing this before knocking twice on the door. A few seconds later, a small boy with strawberry blonde hair and piercing blue eyes opened the door.
Must be Jason,' the girl thought. "Is your father here?" she asked.
"Yeah, but you'll have to wait. My grandfather's talking to him," Jason said icily.
"Understood," she replied with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"You can wait on the couch. I have to go catch me bus," Jason snapped.
"Fine."
She closed the door behind her as she entered the apartment. There was shouting coming from one of the other rooms. 'What have you been up to, Matt?" she wondered. 'None of us have heard from you since Sora was killed.'
The yelling stopped and Matt's father came out of the room. "Hello Mr. Ishida." Her voice was low.
"And you are?" he asked the girl.
"No one important...You aren't very smart are you?"
"Apparently not. I should have known that he wouldn't leave the band now that she's gone...why did I even come here?"
"I was just wondering the same thing." Her voice was smooth.
Matt's father looked at her. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He turned and stormed out of the apartment.
She stood and walked down the unfamiliar hallway. As she approached his study, she heard his muffled voice talking to himself through the closed door. She knocked.
"I told you no!" he shouted.
The woman ignored it and opened the door. The sight before her made her heart wrench. Her former friend looked like he'd been through hell. His hair was dirty and matted. His eyes were bloodshot with dark circles beneath them; they had lost their former sparkle.
"Yamato?" she asked.
Matt looked up. "Who are you?"
"Don't you remember me? Oko Kamiya?" she asked, using her married name.
"Oko?" he paused, "I don't want to see you."
"I don't care Matt. I'm not going to ask you to do anything, not even be friends or go see the others. Taichi wanted to know if you were still alive and so did I," she took a deep breath, "I see that you are, so I'll leave you be." Oko turned and was walking towards the door when he called out her name.
"Oko."
The girl stopped and turned back. "What?"
"Stay," Matt pleaded.
"No, Matt. I can't anyway."
Matt looked as if his heart was breaking.
"Listen to me, Matt. Do you know how hard it was for me to track you down? If I didn't have military training, I probably wouldn't have been able to. I was your friend and even your girlfriend for a time...I can still be your friend-like the others."
"What about Sora?" he asked.
"You have to let her go. She was killed, Matt...you can't change that and you can't bring her back, no matter how hard you try. She loved you, Matt, as do I," she answered. Oko walked over to the blonde and gave him a kiss. It wasn't a passionate kiss, but it held something that Matt couldn't identify. "I will always love you, Yamato," she whispered before turning and leaving.
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