Okay, I'm uploading this chapter today too, and tomorrow I'll continue uploading the remaining chapters~


"What kept you busy for so long?" Takuya said when he spotted his blue-eyed friend walking through the park to meet with him. He was leaning against a tree, sitting on the grass. Takuya had decided to stick to Kouji as much as he could during the time Kouichi was delicate, so he was going to his friend's house during the afternoon.

Kouji looked at him, frowning a little. He wasn't really mad at him; he just wasn't in a good mood. He sighed. "I got distracted… I was waiting outside until they came out, then I had to hide in the parking lot."

The goggle-head shrugged and walked towards his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go back, Kouji. We can talk there if you want."

Even if Kouji didn't say anything, it was obvious that he was really worried about Kouichi, and that he wanted to finally meet his mother. Kouichi had promised him to introduce them as soon as he could, and he had to be patient until his brother was well enough. Takuya could see the worry in his eyes and behavior, so he was going to keep him company.

Because, what's better than my company? He thought to himself. Somehow I'll cheer him up. I have to keep him as upbeat as I can until Kouichi gets better.

Takuya didn't like seeing any of his friends suffering. And now that Kouji was as worried as he was about Kouichi, he would make the elder twin a favor and make Kouji realize that everything was going to be fine.

The trip to the Minamoto house was mostly silent. Takuya had tried to start a conversation a couple of times, but gave up and decided to leave it until they were alone. Once they got to the house, Kouji had to put up his best face and act as if there was nothing wrong. He couldn't let his parents know that there was someone he was worried about, and that that someone was Kouichi.

"Dad, Mom… this is my friend, Kanbara Takuya. I met him a few days ago, and he came to do some homework."

Straight to the point, as always. Kanbara bowed as a greeting to Kouji's parents. "It's nice to meet you, my name is Kanbara Takuya, and I go to Kouji's school." Not really, but it would be weird if they were going to 'do homework' and they were from different schools. They also avoided the fact that Takuya was almost a full year younger than Kouji and thus in a lower grade.

Kousei and Satomi were pleased; they were glad that Kouji had made a friend for once. Kousei thought that Takuya was the type of boy who would stick to his son even if he didn't want to. He just hoped that Kouji wouldn't kick Takuya's ass too hard if they ever got in a fight.

Satomi immediately offered their guest —and their son, too— something to eat, but both boys declined the offer, saying they had a lot of homework to do and should better start. Then they went to Kouji's room, their 'homework' being Takuya talking Kouji into believing his brother would be fine soon.

"You know I'm right, Kouji. Just give it time; Kouichi will be able to get out of the house in two weeks, and you'll plan how to introduce you to your mother." Takuya was getting fed up with Kouji's stubbornness, but he was keeping his voice as low as he could so that they wouldn't be discovered.

"I know, but I can't wait two weeks to see him. We've been separated for eleven years, almost twelve; now that he found me, I don't want to be away from him, especially now that he's hurt."

Takuya looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Kouji, you lived without him for eleven, almost twelve years; I'm pretty sure you can survive another two weeks without seeing him."

Kouji shook his head. Takuya simply didn't understand. "I need to be by his side. I can feel how much he's hurting; remember what the nurse told us? Another one of the symptoms is depression, as if he didn't have enough things to be worried over…"

Takuya sighed. Kouji was now near hysterics, and he had to do something to keep him from losing his head. And then an idea popped in his mind. Actually, Izumi had said it first, but no one had really considered it an option until now; it was mostly because, well, it was technically a crime.

"Ne, Kouji… what if we break in his house when your mother's not there?" He said.

Bandana boy just stared at him, with an expression that could be interpreted as 'Takuya, you've gone completely mad.' Or 'Takuya, you're a freaking genius."

"Takuya… it's hard for me to say this, but… you're a freaking genius."

The brunette blushed a little and grinned at the recognition of his friend, though he did notice the sarcastic intonation. "Thank you, but it's not really my idea. Izumi suggested it yesterday while Junpei and I were walking her home."

Kouji shook his head slightly, with a smile on his face. "It's not a bad idea. And actually, we should be of some help to him. He can't be alone much time."

Takuya was really satisfied with the progress he had made with Kouji, until he decided to speak again. "But… we'll have some trouble. First, we can't go into the house. Kouichi will want to open the door, but he's not even allowed to stand up, let alone walk. Second, I don't know my mother's work schedule; I don't know when she leaves or when she comes home. We can be caught easily."

Damn his thinking-ahead mindset. Takuya frowned. "But it's perfect! That way we can be with Kouichi, and he won't be alone!"

"Shhhh…!" Kouji threw himself at Takuya and put a hand over his mouth. He was about to push Kouji away until he realized what he had done. "Idiot, don't yell out the secret." Kouji said, whispering, and then stood up.

"Hehe, sorry." Takuya smiled sheepishly and stood up as well. "We can work something out. Look, let's call Kouichi and we'll ask what would be a good time to visit him. I'll make the call so his mother doesn't suspect anything. What do you think?"

Kouji thought for a moment. That seemed like a good plan. "…Okay. Let's do that."


Kouichi was already in bed. Tomoko was arranging some stuff to make it more comfortable for him, and keeping him from standing up at all, unless absolutely necessary. He sighed; he didn't like to see his mother worried. The guilt was heavy in his chest; the depression that accompanied the concussion wasn't helping either.

"So, Kouichi, I'll leave you food in your room so you don't have to stand up unless you have to go to the bathroom." He could hear his mother, talking to him from out of his room. Her footsteps were light, and he could barely hear her walking to his room. "And don't answer the…"

Tomoko stopped talking suddenly, upon walking into her son's room and looking at his face. She could see sadness in Kouichi's eyes, and was confirmed when Kouichi started crying. Not that he had wanted to; he was holding back the tears since Shou had fallen into a comma that signaled that his life would end soon. Had he already died? Was he still technically alive, his parents by his side, just waiting to see if he would wake up just long enough to say good bye?

And he missed Kouji, too. What had seemed like weeks in the Digital World were actually just a few minutes in their own world. Minutes where he wasn't even conscious. Was he even alive? He only knew that it hadn't been a dream because Kouji had brought him back; because his nurse told him he had tried to visit him.

But he was also remembering what he had done as Duskmon. He had tried to convince himself that he had been controlled by Cherubimon, even after admitting that it was his own fault. But it was a lie, and he was hurt. Deeply. So he couldn't hold his tears back anymore.

Tomoko ran to his side and sat on the edge of the bed. Kouichi tried to avoid her eyes, but she took his cheek gently and made him look at her. "Kouichi, what's wrong?"

Kouichi's eyes wandered towards the bed sheet. It was hard to look at her mother in the eyes; the guilt he was already carrying was increasing, making feel as if he couldn't breathe well.

"…I …there are so many things that are wrong, Mom…" He said slowly, in a low voice, trying to speak coherently, and trying to keep his voice from breaking.

Tomoko's heart broke. The first thing that her son said after the accident and it was this. She felt a tear on her eye, but didn't make any effort to wipe it away.

"Kouichi, what do you mean…?"

For some reason, Tomoko felt a pang of sadness and nostalgia in her heart. Why was she feeling that? What was wrong?

Kouichi sighed. There was no way he would tell her about the Digital World, about being Duskmon. He could tell her about Shou. But… was he able to tell her about Kouji? He stayed in silence, thinking. He decided to start by telling her about Shou. It was the most recent wound in his heart, and was the least suspicious.

"…A boy was taken to my room this morning. His name was Shou, and when I was leaving, he… he…" He was still talking slowly, trying to make his words as clear as he could. It was difficult, and he would rather not do it; but he needed to get everything off his chest. As much as he didn't want to worry his mother, there was no turn back now.

Tomoko could only guess what he was trying to say. Her heart sunk; he had already seen his grandmother die, why did he have to witness this kind of thing? She hugged him tightly, but not too much.

He hugged back. Should he tell her about Kouji? He wondered if it would relieve her, or bring her more pain. He was completely sure that she would be happy to see Kouji, but… what if discovering that he knew about him would make her worried? She would have a lot of questions. She would wonder how did he find out, how did he find Kouji, how did they meet.

But, that will bring some happiness to her, right? She'll get to know Kouji… Or is it too soon? Maybe I should wait a little more… But in that time she'll only be worried.

Okay, I'll tell her…

He hadn't even finished thinking that when the first word left his mouth. "Mom..?"

Tomoko looked at him. He looked a bit indecisive, as if he was deciding whether to tell her something or not. Then his eyes started filling with tears.

"Mom… I met Kouji."

At first, Tomoko didn't really register what he was saying at first, and he noticed that. She thought that maybe she had misheard what he had said.

"Mom, I met Kouji." He said, a bit more determined, though his words came out a bit jumbled up. "I met Kouji…" The tears started falling again. This time there was no denying it; Tomoko started crying as well. Her two sons had met, after almost twelve years. She didn't even know what to say, she had lots of questions in her mind. How? When? Why? It was confusing, but in her heart, she was really happy. She hugged Kouichi again, the tears still flowing.

"Kouichi… Kouichi how did you know? How did you find him? Kouichi…"

The boy hugged his mother as tightly as he could. He just wanted to give her a little bit of happiness for the hard life she had.

"Grandma told me… I found him, and he wants to meet you."

Tomoko cupped her son's face with both of her hands. There was now a smile on her face that shined through the tears.

"Kouichi… I'm sorry for not telling you before…"

Kouichi shook his head slightly. "No, don't worry Mom… What's important is that you can see him now, and know him. He's a great person, Mom."

"Ah…" She was going to say something, when the phone started ringing. Drying her tears, she stood up. "I'll come back soon, wait a moment." As she walked out of the room, she wondered who it could be.

"Kimura residence, who is it?"

"Ah…" Takuya hesitated a moment before speaking. "My name's Kanbara Takuya, ma'am. I'm Kouichi's friend from school and I heard of his accident, I just wanted to check on him. Hehe…" His nervous chuckle resonated through the phone. Tomoko smiled. "Of course, Kanbara-kun. Wait a moment, I'll bring him to the phone."

"Thank you, Kimura-san." Takuya and Kouji were sitting in Kouji's room. Kousei and Satomi had told them that they were going to buy some things to make dinner, so they decided to make the call right then. "So, what did she say?" Kouji asked a little nervous.

"She's going to bring Kouichi to the phone… I guess they'll take a while since he isn't supposed to walk." Kouji sighed. "I guess…"

"Kouichi… there's a friend of yours in the phone." Kouichi really wondered who would have called; no one from his school would have done that. "Really? Who is it?"

"Ah… it's Kanbara Takuya-kun." Then it all clicked. Kouichi had given Kouji his phone and address, with help from the nurse. Takuya was calling in Kouji's place so that his mother wouldn't suspect anything. He smiled.

Moments later, Kouichi had stood up and walked towards the small living room, which consisted of a couch, a small T.V. and a little table where the phone was placed. Sitting on the couch, he picked up the phone, his mother sitting by his side.

"Takuya?"

"Ah, Kouichi? How are you, buddy? Eh… Kouji's with me, and we were thinking about going to see you tomorrow after school to see how are you doing, and in the weekend too… You know, we haven't seen you since we came back… But we want to make sure your mother doesn't find out about Kouji…"

Kouichi stayed in silence before talking. "Takuya… she knows."

Takuya's face made Kouji worried. "Takuya..?"

"Kouji… she knows."

Kouji felt silent again. She knew? Kouichi told her? "…Give me the phone." Takuya did as he was told and Kouji talked with his brother. "Kouichi? Are you okay?"

The elder twin sighed. "I am, don't worry." He knew that the next thing Kouji said would be about his mother, and he wasn't wrong. "…Did you tell her?"

Kouichi remained in silence for a moment. "Yes, I did… it would be great if you could come soon. I want to see you, and… I'm sure she wants to see you too."

Tomoko didn't know what to say. If she understood correctly, Kouichi was talking to his brother now. And he was telling him to come. She started getting impatient; she wanted him to come as soon as he could. She was going to see Kouji soon. She was going to see her son soon, after almost twelve years. Kouichi had said that he was a great person; as much as she couldn't get along with her ex-husband, she didn't doubt that he loved their children and had given his best to raise Kouji.

"Okay… I'll wait for you then. Take care, see you later guys."

Her son's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "He'll be coming tomorrow after school and on Saturday and Sunday too. He says that he doesn't want to leave me on my own for much time. You can meet him tomorrow when you come back from work."

It took a while for Kouichi to give that information to his mother. Sure, he was getting better, but his speech was still a bit slurred.

Back at Kouji's house, he was holding Takuya's cell phone in disbelief.

"I'm going to meet my mother… I'm going to meet her tomorrow…"

Takuya was looking at him with a smile, half happy for him and half amused at his face. But he knew that Kouji would get emotional any moment, and he was ready to be there for him. And he was right; Kouji's eyes started filling with tears, though he tried to fight them back. Takuya just placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, waiting for him to calm down.