By the time Koushiro had driven me home, I had calmed down enough to completely ignore any of his attempts at conversation.

I couldn't believe I'd broken down like that; was I really that insecure?

The answer was, of course, a big fat 'Yes, obviously,' but I tried to convince myself otherwise. I told myself I was under a lot of stress, and all of that had just been an overreaction because of it. I mean, I had just found a long lost friend with a knife in his back.

"Are you going to be okay?" asked Koushiro sincerely. I had to admit he pulled sincerity off better than 'Princess Mimi' ever did, but then again, I hadn't seen her much since her move to America, even with everything that was going on in that year that we thought it had all ended.

I bowed slightly, and opened up the door only to be assaulted by a mass of gravity-defying hair and a pair of eyes sporting the same look I'd seen in Miyako's earlier.

"How could you?" my brother spat as he grabbed me by the neck of my coat and pulled me closer so that I could feel the full force of his gaze, "How could you not tell me?"

"Taichi, wait-" Koushiro tried to intervene before I cut him off. I was not going to break down again. It was time to get on the front foot. No more Miss Nice Yagami.

"How could I not tell you? I'll tell you how: for the past month since Sora and Yamato left you've been in danger of having no blood left in your alcohol stream. If I'd told you last night, there was no way of knowing what you would've done. You could've killed yourself if you found out, or you could've got mad before I'd even mentioned he was dead, and tried to beat me like last week."

"Please, I raised my hand, I was never going to hit you, not then anyway,"

"I'm going to leave you two to sort this out," Koushiro interjected. So much for him being the only one left I could count on.

Taichi's eyes were still blazing, and I'm sure mine were more than matching them for intensity. Without taking his eyes or hands off me he stopped him.

"No, you're the only one stopping me from doing exactly what she thinks I'm capable of, so stay put,"

"You know what? That isn't even what I was afraid of. I was afraid you would be so upset that you would drink even more. I could handle it if you were dead," I lied, but it made my point,"but the thought of you lying in a gutter somewhere too sloshed to even remember why you started in the first place would be too much, because then our mother would be worried sick, and I'd have to go out and find you and bring you home while you hit on me because the only thing you can see is whether or not the person you are talking to has tits or not!"

"My God, Hikari, that was one time!"

"I really don't need to hear this, isn't your mother home? Maybe she could come out and mediate so I don't need to go into therapy,"

"Shut up Koushiro," we both said at the same time, but Taichi was the first to strike back.

"Hikari, you can't just dismiss my entire existence because I've had a bit to drink over the past week-"

"Month, Taichi, you've been drinking too much for a month,"

"-and you can't just get everyone together behind my back and not expect me to be pissed!"

"Oh, I fully expected you to be pissed,"

"Okay that's enough, both of you inside now!"

I don't think I'd ever heard Koushiro speak that forcefully before. It stunned Taichi too, because he broke eye contact and let go of me.

"In!" Koushiro insisted. We obeyed. Koushiro and I awkwardly removed our shoes as Taichi went and found some watermelon in the fridge. Koushiro motioned toward the dinner table and told us to sit, which we did.

He took a few deep breaths before he continued.

"Now I'm not going to pretend I know everything about your intricate relationship, but I think I've known you long enough and I've certainly heard enough out there to make a couple of judgements." I went for a piece of watermelon, but Taichi pulled it away. Koushiro continued unperturbed.

"Taichi, I think Hikari has probably said all that needs to be said when it comes to your issues, the only thing I could add is that the Taichi I grew up with would have moved multiple worlds to make sure his sister was okay.

"That doesn't mean she shouldn't have told you about Daisuke, and neither of you should have lashed out at each other like that.

"Now, if you two can put aside everything for a minute, can we talk about the elephant in the room?"

I looked to Taichi, and he looked to me. We were both much calmer than before, thanks to Koushiro's outburst shocking us into submission, but neither of us could figure out what was apparently so obvious to him.

"What elephant?" I asked.

"Daisuke is dead. You, Hikari, you found the body. You called some of the group together to talk about it, yet ever since, have been arguing with Iori, and now Taichi about completely irrelevant topics,"

"What would you have to argue with Iori about?" Taichi asked me. I didn't answer.

"That's not the point; the point is that no one seems to care that Daisuke is dead. No one seems to care that someone ended his life forcefully, on the very day he decides to bring himself back into Hikari's life, and maybe even everyone's life if he'd been given the chance to. And, why, after three years away, did he decide to make contact in the first place?"

"Well, maybe he missed me..." I knew it was stupid as soon as it left my mouth, but hadn't that been my impression when I'd gotten his text? Hadn't that been one of the reasons I'd been so happy to go meet him at such short notice? Hadn't that thought been cemented in my mind all the way up to the moment I saw the handle in his back?

"But weren't you the reason he left in the first place?" asked Taichi innocently. I felt like slapping him for his idiocy.

"We, all know what happened the day we realised he'd left," interrupted Koushiro, before I could snap at my brother again, "but I wouldn't say the discussion you two had the day before was what made him leave, you can't just disappear on a whim, it takes planning and foresight,"

"Have you ever met Daisuke? He was so bull-headed he probably did vanish like it was nothing, just because you say it can't be done," said Taichi, lost in his own little reverie. I imagined the arc of my arm and the smack of palm on cheek.

"My point was that Hikari probably just made it easier for him to go, rather than actually being the reason he left, he was probably just there to say goodbye..." he trailed off obviously thinking he'd said too much. Come to think of it, though it pained me to do so, Daisuke hadn't said goodbye, he'd just said that he was happy for me and left it at that. There might just be something to what Koushiro was getting at.

"So if he didn't leave because of me then why?"

"The only person who can answer that is sitting in cold storage,"

Taichi didn't even see the slap coming.