Author's Note: I'm aware of the name inconsistancy. I'm sorry if it sounds weird. But, I guess if their parents' names can be "Yuichiro" and "Haruka" then "Saito" is alright, too. "Hub" still makes me laugh. I'm a goofball. XD

At the end of the day, the two boys headed for home. Lan had decided to take up the topic of netnavis, and was now going on and on about how cool it would be to netbattle, and about how they should ask their father for customized navis the next time he was home. Saito commented that possibly he might just give them navis without them asking if he thought they were ready for them. "How did you do with that spelling thing?" he asked, changing the direction of the conversation.

"Almost half," Lan said, distractedly shifting the weight of his backpack onto the other shoulder. "What about you?"

"Hmm... thirty-seven," Saito answered indifferently. "I guess you'll have some math to do when we get home, too."

His brother stopped to pluck a caterpillar off a nearby bush. He stood there a moment, letting the fuzzy little bug crawl along his finger. Saito stopped several feet ahead of him, waiting for him to resume walking. "Yeah, I guess," Lan said. "But I was gonna go to the net arcade with Dex at 4pm, so I guess I'll have to do it later." He let the caterpillar find its way off his hand and back onto a leaf of the bush before picking up the pace again. "Gonna see if we can beat the high score on that Dance Dance Revolution machine, hehe."

Saito tilted his head slightly, frowning thoughtfully as they continued to walk. "But you're going to do it, right?"

Lan shrugged. "I hope so! We got pretty good over the weekend. Hehe, I bet we lost about ten bucks in quarters!"

"I meant the homework."

"Oh that. Yeah, later. It won't wander away while I'm gone. Though I kinda wish it would." He grinned cheekily at his bad joke, and nudged his twin in the arm. "You wanna come with us? The more the better, as long as you can do DDR. That stupid Tom guy thinks he's the master, or something. He'll be so surprised when we beat his record!" He started whistling one of his favorite tunes from the dance-along game.

"Nah, it's alright. You can go with Dex. I don't mind."

"'Kay. I'll tell you how many tries it took us to beat that score, too."

It was about a fifteen minute walk from school back to their house. They didn't always go together. Sometimes Lan ended up going to school on his own just because otherwise his brother would be horrendously late along with him. Also, their afterschool plan sometimes varied, and so they didn't always end up walking back together, either. In this case, they had gone both ways together and weren't parting until Dex swung by to get Lan so they could go to the net arcade. As school ended at 2:30pm, they arrived home at about quarter to three. Mrs. Hikari was on the phone with a neighbor when they got there. She gave them a silent wave and a smile as they entered so that she wouldn't disturb her conversation. Both boys put their stuff away and seperated themselves in different areas of the house. Lan began watching some ridiculous TV show just to kill time, and Saito resumed his place in a book he was reading. They went on doing seperate things until there was a rather sturdy knock at the door. Lan bounded for it. "I'LL GET IT!" he announced loudly enough that the whole house could hear it. Mrs. Hikari apologized for the loud interuption, as she was still on the phone. The brown-haired boy opened the door to be greeted by the large round form of Dex.

Lan looked surprised. "I thought you were coming at four!"

"Yeah, I was," Dex said. "But... heck! This way we c'n get a good head start on that game, right?"

"Good plan!" He stepped back into his orange sneakers. "Mom, I'm leaving early!" he called to her. She nodded busily. Lan gave Dex a grin. "This is gonna be awesome! How much money are you bringing?"

"Ten bucks, same as last time."

"Okay. I'll go get mine. Come with me!"

Dex nodded and followed him back to his bedroom. Saito was still reading, intently absorbed in his fictional book. Seated on the bed, he didn't even look up when his brother and his brother's friend entered. Lan yanked some paper money out of it's safe place underneath a book in his drawer. What made this spot brilliant was the fact that Lan virtually never read anything unless he had to, or it was text on a website. Thus, no one would ever think of looking there. He held the money up triumphantly. "Let's go!" He shot his brother a glance. "Last chance," he offered. "We're going right now."

"It's alright," Saito answered, almost in the same manner as before. "You guys can go without me." He gave him something of a good-natured smile, as if to assure that he wasn't feeling left out.

"Suit yourself," shrugged Lan as he and Dex headed out. They disappeared out of the room, and in another few moments, Saito heard the door slam as they left. He sighed and continued reading. The house was quiet now that it was free of his obnoxious brother. The silence was sort of welcome, though. At least if Lan was off with Dex, he wouldn't be bothering anyone. He was nice to his friends, anyway. If they put up with what Saito did, they'd probably think twice about doing anything with him. But, of course, Lan wasn't as annoying when he was with his friends. Evidently, he didn't feel the need to be the constant center of attention (and source of noise) around anyone except Saito. How terribly convenient. He shifted slightly and turned the page. This was actually very nice. He and his book were having a good time without any interuptions. At about 4:10pm, Mrs. Hikari entered the room. Apparently she was off the phone now.

Saito looked up. "Hello."

"Saito, the phone's for you," she told him. "It's Tory, Yai and Maylu." Funny... he hadn't even heard it ring. Oh well.

"Tell them I'll be there in a second," he responded, sticking the bookmark back into his novel and setting it down. In a moment, he headed out to the phone, which was near the kitchen. Three faces waited on-screen. Tory and Maylu were both smiling, while Yai, on the other hand, was looking somewhat impatient. Ah, a four-way call. Yai must have hooked this one up.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Hey!" Tory repeated. "I guess Lan already left with Dex, huh?"

"Yeah. They've been gone for awhile now. So what's up?"

"Nothing much," Yai answered, her voice edged with boredom. "We thought you might want to do something with us."

"That's right." Maylu held up some money. "We were thinking that the four of us should all head down to the net arcade and meet them there. Then we'd all be together! It'll be fun!"

It seemed, more or less, like he'd be going with his friends and not Lan, and so Saito found this idea to be somewhat promising. "Alright," he said. "I'll come. Should we all just meet down there?"

"Sounds fine to me," decided Yai. "Just don't be slow this time. The last time, I was waiting for amost ten minutes."

"You live closer than we do," Tory told her. "So... I guess I'll see you guys there?"

"Okay. Sounds good." Saito smiled.

They exchanged farewells, and Saito immediatly headed back to his room to get some money. Retrieving fifteen dollars cash (as you always need to bring extra - you never know!), he pocketed it and went to inform his mother of the change in plans. She was now humming and busily assembling some sort of baked item, which was probably a cake, judging by the pans alone. She looked up as he came in, her bright eyes locking on him in the kitchen doorway. "Hello, sweetheart."

"Hello," he said, the same as always. "I'm going to the net arcade with Tory, Yai and Maylu. I'll probably be back around the same time as Lan, if not earlier. Does six o'clock sound alright?"

"Yes, that sounds fine." Haruka whisked at the batter in the bowl she was working with. "You can give yourself a little more time, even, if you like. Try to be home for 6:30pm, if you can. And try to get Lan to come back with you, please. You know how he is. I don't want him getting into trouble."

"Alright." And so Saito Hikari headed off to join his friends.

In a short while, the four had assembled themselves at the net arcade. They entered as a group, but thereafter decided they'd all just split up and do as they wanted for awhile and regroup before going home. The net arcade was a busy place. Everyone enjoyed going there. It had a nice atmosphere to it. The lighting was fairly soft, and there were arcade games of every sort. Everything from the classics to Dance Dance Revolution and net battling. Here, there was a net battle arena where people could pit their navis against each other just for fun. It was really popular, and usually large crowds gathered around to watch the spectacle. Some netbattlers had become well-known just from their good reputations in the arcade. The arcade itself was a great place. It was high-energy and everyone was always having fun. Time absolutely flew when you were there.

The group of four wandered apart, each searching for something interesting to do. In no time, they had almost completely lost track of each other in the busy scene. Meanwhile, Dex and Lan had absorbed themselves entirely in the wonder of Dance Dance Revolution. They had not yet succeeded in surpassing the current record, however. Dex sighed exhaustively and leaned against the screen. "Whew. This is tougher than I thought..."

Lan dug into his pocket and managed to pull out another quarter for the machine. "Yeah, I know. At least we're close, anyway." He inserted the coin and the machine responded accordingly. "Which song are we doing now?"

"Beats me. Whatever's hard. We don't wanna look like wimps." Dex took out a quarter and did the same. "So let's try it again. Failure is NOT AN OPTION!" So the two started up the next song. Not too far away, Yai and Saito were 'killing' each other on an arcade version of Soul Caliber 2, completely oblivious of the fact that Dex and Lan were probably only about twenty feet away. Yai was frustratedly slamming at her joystick, trying to evade an attack. At last, she got the better of Saito's character and triumphantly pulverised him in-game.

"Hah! I told you! Ayano-Tech's heiress can't lose." She smiled smartly and tossed a blonde braid over her shoulder.

"Heh, alright. I believe you. You won eight times out of ten, which is pretty good."

"Of course it is! Did you expect any less?"

Saito laughed. "Of course not." He looked around, trying to recognise his friends amongst the many other people. "Where did you last see Tory and Maylu?"

"Hmmm... Well, I know Tory went to watch the netbattle. He's probably still there. I'm going to look for Maylu."

"Okay. I'll see you, Yai. Good luck!" The two went their seperate ways, each looking for their friend. Yai had been right, as usual. Tory was entertaining himself by watching a net battle. Saito weaved through the mini crowd to get to him. From there, he could see the arena much more clearly. A somewhat brawny-looking navi was going the rounds with a small and athletic looking female one. The two darted around very quickly, getting attacks in whenever they found openings. It was admittedly rather interesting, and he found himself so absorbed in watching it that he almost forgot why he'd come over there in the first place. His mind clicked after a moment, and he touched Tory on the shoulder.

"Oh! Hey, Saito!" Tory smiled before directing his eyes back to the arena. "Interesting, isn't it?"

"Yeah, very," Saito agreed. "I don't think I've ever really watched a net battle before. At least... not advertently." He watched as the female navi bested the large greenish one with what looked like a canon of some sort. The loser was logged out, leaving the winner standing triumphant. Her net-op offered to play against anyone who wanted to try.

Tory pulled his PET out. "I'll give it a go," he offered. His navi was IceMan. While Saito was familiar with him, he hadn't ever really seen him fight. He had hardly seen anything pertaining to navis, in fact, aside from their routine activities of deleting minor viruses and managing e-mail. Apparently, Dex tried to have GutsMan wake him up in the morning, too, but that didn't work too well, since both net-op and net navi were rather unreliable that way. Yai's Glide was more like a butler or servant than a warrior, and Maylu's Roll seemed to innocent in nature to actually attack anything. Oh well. Saito watched as Tori approached the arena and jacked his navi into it. He caught himself wondering what it would be like to be inside there, fighting. Strange thought. IceMan appeared across from his female opponent. Just as Tory began to download some battlechips, Saito caught sight of the clock. 5:57pm... He still had time to check out afew things, track down his friends and say good-bye to them, and then find his brother. Punctuality was important.

"Tory!"

His friend looked up for only a split second before his full focus returned to his netbattle. "Yeah?"

"I've gotta go. See you at school, and good luck!"

"Thanks."

Saito turned and squeezed back through the crowd. Now to find the others! In less than ten minutes, he tracked down Yai, who was trying to get change for some cash. He tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around aggitatedly, half expecting to see someone on a pillage for money. "Oh," she said upon realising it was actually someone she knew. "Hi, Saito."

"Hey, Yai. I just came to tell you that Lan and I are leaving shortly. If you see Maylu, will you tell her, please? I know we were supposed to regroup afterward, but I haven't got time."

"Alright. I'll see you at school, then. Bye!"

"Right! See you!" Hah. He only needed to find Lan now, which shouldn't be too difficult. He was playing Dance Dance Revolution, after all. He headed off in that direction, back through the business of the arcade. As soon as they got home, Lan was doing that stupid homework whether he liked it or not.

Saito was right, of course. Lan and Dex were ever so diligent in their quest to beat the net arcade's ultimate DDR player. They hadn't yet given up. Thus far, they'd come in pretty close several times, but never did quite well enough to beat the pants off that Tom fellow. Stopping for a break, they counted what remained of their change. Thankfully (and with a mighty lot of luck), they had managed to mooch a fair amount from Yai and her vast wealth, so they still had some left. Lan sighed dejectedly. "That's it. We're coming back on the weekend. That Tom guy will never know what hit him!"

"At least we're good," Dex boasted. "We could prob'ly take him on in a DDR dance-off."

"Probably." Lan grinned. "We're better than everyone else we know, anyway."

Dex laughed. He had an awkward laugh. It was hearty, but very very awkward. Nonetheless, Lan didn't seem to notice or mind it. The larger boy snorted. "Chisao begged me to teach him one day, so I did. Man, was he ever bad!" Behind him, a couple of girls were still waiting for their turns on the Dance Dance Revolution machines, since the others were taken. Needless to say, both were becoming rather irrate. Dex ignored them.

"Hahaha! I know what you mean." Lan pocketed the last of his change. "Saito was decent, I guess, but nobody beats the masters!" He winked and gestured to Dex and then back to himself.

"Huh. Must be cool to have a brother who's actually old enough to do stuff with ya." By now, the girls who were waiting were starting to get mad. They were grumbling about the 'DDR hogs'. And of course, Dex and Lan continued to ignore them.

"Meh, I guess it's okay," Lan answered. "Just 'cause we're the same age, doesn't mean we do the same stuff. Chisao's too little to do all the stuff you wanna do, but Saito's too boring to do the stuff I like doing." He watched the screen for afew moments as it displayed the game's title again. And of course, with the perfect of all timing, Saito showed up behind him just then. Lan didn't hear him walk up, however, due to the noise all around him. He continued to talk. "I mean, if Saito wasn't such a drag, I wouldn't mind letting him hang out with us more, y'know? But he'd rather read and do homework and study and stuff. He's kinda... lame. I wish he were more like you. That would rock."

Saito's heart sunk.

Dex turned around, and his eyes got wide. "Uhm, Lan? We got company."

Lan spun around only to be greeted by his brother's wounded expression. Did Saito hear all of that? Uh-oh... Lan flinched mentally. "Err.. hey, Saito."

"Hey..."

"Uh, time to go, I guess?"

"Yeah... L-let's just go, okay?"

Lan shot Dex an 'oh-darn-I'm-toasted' expression before hopping down from the DDR platform. "See you Dex," he said.

"See you," came the reply. His friend's expression practically read, 'Nice going'. Embarassed that he'd said such a foolish thing, Lan immediatly was overcome with something he could only place as being vague rue. He and his brother left in complete silence, a growing tension looming over them. At a complete and total loss of what to say now that he'd already said such horrendously stupid things in front of his brother, Lan could only follow him in awkward silence. It was brighter outside than in the net arcade, and it took a moment for his eyes to readjust.

It took several blocks of walking before any sort of conversation began. "I'm sorry," Saito said quietly after a moment.

His brother recoiled. "What?" he asked almost aggitatedly. "Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who said the stupid thing."

Saito didn't directly respond to Lan's retort. "I'm sorry that you don't like me..."