Chapter 14

Saito stared down at the PET in his hands like it was going to explode any moment. To be fair, there was always that possibility.

"It was nice knowing you," Netto said when he heard what Rockman had done after Forte was defeated.

"Thanks," Saito responded drily.

Glyde shook his head. "How would you react if someone forcibly confined you to a new PET? I do believe Forte will attempt to destroy you and that you should hand it over to the proper authorities."

Saito stared at the red swordsman. "Does a body count as a new PET? Because I'm living that right now. Forte can learn to deal."

"I can't believe Dr Hikari thought this was a good idea," Zero mused. "Forte and Saito will probably kill each other or delete each other trying."

"Explain the body thing," Yaito demanded. "It's obvious that there's some kind of connection between you and Rockman-"

"They're synced," Netto said, "considering Rockman was built to be Saito." He received a lot of blank stares. "Rockman's form was created to house Saito's mind. They sync together, making Saito into Rockman on the net."

"We're one and the same," Saito said. "Does that help?"

"Aside from the absurdity of the situation, it's a passable explanation," Yatio mused. She glared at Saito. "And it really is absurd."

"I think it makes sense," Roll said. "Dr Hikari could probably explain better." Everyone silently agreed with that, although they doubted they would be able to understand any explanation the scientist would give.

"We won't be handing Forte over to the authorities either," Netto pointed out. Even Saito looked scandalised. Netto took the PET from his older twin's hands and dropped Zero's PET into them to replace it.

"Why not?" Dekao demanded to know. "He blasted Yaito's computer! And he hurt Gutsman!"

"We're fixing the computer!" Roll pointed out as she moved some data back into place. Zero huffed as he helped and Glyde was focused on replicating destroyed data from backups. Gutsman was the only navi not present as he had shielded Glyde and Roll from Forte's initial attacks and needed to recover.

"And he's been punished," Meiru pointed out. "Rockman connected him to a PET."

"It's not hard to break something like that though," Saito pointed out.

"Just don't let him on the net," Meiru said. Roll frowned sadly as that didn't seem fair.

"A bond to a PET is difficult to break on our side," Glyde pointed out. "However, normally a navi is built for their PET and operator, not forced into it." His tone said that he wasn't very impressed with Saito's choice to confine Forte.

"I guess we won't know until he wakes up," Roll said to Glyde as she scanned some loose data. "Until then..." She looked out over the destroyed cyberspace.

Yaito had some older games which didn't require a navi or cyberspace connected to the net to play, even if most of them were 1 to 2 players and no more. Everyone gathered on or around the couch in order to watch and take turns.

Meiru pulled Saito away as she went to check on Roll.

"You know, you should have told us." Her tone was scolding, reminding Saito of being lectured by a teacher.

Saito raised an eyebrow. "How?"

That stumped her. She stared at him for a couple of moments before figuring out a response.

"You could have just told us you were Rockman! Or showed us! Something!"

Saito shook his head. "I'm sorry I couldn't but you know now. I'll talk to Roll later on if you two want more of an explanation."

Dekao cornered Saito when he went to get a drink from the fridge.

"Fight me."

Saito blinked in confusion. Dekao didn't move, arms crossed over his chest and a big grin on his face. "Did you just challenge me to a fight?"

"You're a navi turned human, right? I reckon you'd be a challenge."

"Firstly, it's a human turned navi and back. Secondly, I'm about as strong as Netto like this." Although, since he had continued his muscle exercises from the time he woke up, he was slowly getting stronger than Netto.

Dekao made a disappointed noise. He already knew he could beat Netto in a one-on-one physical fight.

Saito groaned and leaned over the top of the couch.

"Isn't it my turn yet?" he questioned the room as a whole.

"No!" everyone responded.

"Netto's died twice." Everyone else had switched after dying.

"Netto's gotten further than the rest of us," Yaito pointed out. "And I want to see how far he can get."

"I still have lives left, Saito."

Saito groaned. At that moment, the door burst open. Dr Hikari stood in the doorway, breathing heavily.

"Papa?" the twins questioned in unison.

Dr Hikari stared at Saito. "You're okay?"

"Yes?" Saito questioned. "Papa, why are you here?"

Dr Hikari pointed to the black band Saito was still wearing. It was blinking at a normal pace. "Your heart rate went dangerously height."

"Did it?" he questioned obliviously. It was easy enough to do since he wasn't certain how high his heart rate had gone or even what made a dangerous heart rate.

Dekao shook his head. "You should have just left fighting Forte to our navis."

"Forte? He was here?"

There were affirmations all around, although Saito stayed quiet as he didn't want to incriminate himself. He probably shouldn't scold his father for messaging Forte in front of his friends either.

One comment from Meiru had all three Hikaris' attention. "Rockman took care of it."

Dr Hikari was silent as he tried to make sense of that. "Rockman? How?"

"He fought Forte and placed him in a PET," Yaito explained haughtily. "It would have been nice to have been told about Forte being contacted, Dr Hikari. He has trashed my family's servers."

"I apologise." Dr Hikari turned back to Meiru. "Are you sure it was Rockman? I mean, it's not possible."

"What do mean?" Meiru said, looking around confused.

"It was most certainly Rockman, Dr Hikari. Saito explained about he kept his synced status with the net as Rockman," Glyde commented.

"Should he not have?" Meiru asked as Saito wished to sink into the back of the sofa and into oblivion.

Dr Hikari turned to his eldest twin. "Saito, care to explain?"

"Not really, no."

"Try again. What's this about Rockman?"

Meiru glanced at Netto and asked if Dr Hikari knew about Rockman. Netto shook his head, since it had been a secret.

"I know there were theories about how you might still connect to the net more, having been raised there, but still, when you woke up, your mother and I thought the connection severed."

Zero shook his head with a sigh. "Rather than being severed, it seems to have made a way for both Rockman and Saito to exist."

Dr Hikari stared at Saito for a couple of moments before glancing at Netto. Netto looked away the moment their eyes met and Saito hadn't stopped looking anywhere but at him.

"If you kids will excuse me, I'll be taking my sons home. It seems we have a lot to discuss."

Netto took Saito's hand and gave it a squeeze as he said goodbye to everyone. He wasn't going to leave Saito alone to explain things to Papa, even if he wanted to finish the game.

There were whispered apologies as their friends realised that Dr Hikari hadn't known and they had accidentally spilled the secret.

"It's okay," Saito said softly before they left. "See you tomorrow."