Notes: Just so you all know, Netto got Rockman at the age of five in the manga version. I have a hobby of mixing the anime/manga/game altogether.
Chapter 20
Two days had passed since their return back to the real world and already the NetSaviors were awake from their coma and made a good recovery. Rei, on the other hand, was twice as gloomier than usual. He never returned to class and he stayed in his room for the last two-day until Hikari called him to HQ for a meeting. So now, Rei is back at the meeting room with an aura of dread and promise pain if someone pushes his buttons the wrong way this time.
Kifune was the first to speak. "What is your story behind the disappearance? The news reporters have been demanded answers for the last two days." Everyone shot a glance at Rei. The sharpness in Rei's cold eyes dimmed as if he himself had no more strength to fight something but the aura of dread still lingered around him.
"Rei," Kifune called. Rei looked up.
"Yes?" he asked.
"So what's your story?" he asked. Rei looked away.
"…I have no memory of it," Rei responded, not making contact with anybody.
"Six more days," Rei whisper. "Six more days to enjoy life." He began staggering back home with that thought in his mind.
ooOOoo
Four days has passed since Rei read the news article. For days since they returned to the real world. Four days after Kari passed away.
Now he's standing in front of Kari's grave, wearing black clothing- drenched in rain, holding a bouquet with Baby's Breath and Forget-Me-Nots.
"I'm sorry, for not protecting you earlier," Rei said to the grave. "If only I had reacted sooner, then I would have saved you." A figure approached him.
"I'm sorry about your loss," the figure said. Rei shook his head.
"I let my guard down, I didn't keep track of time," Rei said. "It's not your fault, my loss is my price. Just like my family, I would have died with them," Shizora stood in silence, holding on an umbrella.
Rei placed the flowers on Kari's grave before walking away. Shizora followed along.
"Kari is a great person to be with," Shizora said.
"She is," Rei said. "She is my childhood friend after all."
"Don't you mean your girlfriend?" Shizora said. Rei glared at his brother's clone.
"Don't you love her?" Shizora asked. Rei paused.
"…Yes, yes, I do," Rei finally responded. "Now, I have no one to love, along with any reasons to go on living."
"You still have one more job to do," Shizora said. Rei's eyes soften.
"I'll get that job done, what better way of dying than prolong yourself the suffering?" Rei said with eerie happiness. "If I'm going to die a painful death, then so be it."
"I wish there was some other way," Shizora whisper.
"Well, there isn't," Rei responded, then he gave Shizora a small sad smile. "I'm going to die and I'm sorry for breaking my promise."
"What promise?" Shizora asked. "You didn't make any promises." Rei walked down the road, opposite from his house.
"I promised Shizora I'd never leave him alone…" Rei whisper. Shizora smiled sadly.
"What are you going to do know?" Shizora asked. Rei stopped and turned.
"I'm out of the NetSavior Force, I quit school, and I have money from my parent's will; I might as well blow off some of the money and give the rest to charity," Rei gave Shizora a small smile before walking away. "Well, see you around. Don't get into any trouble now." Shizora watched Rei walk down the street till he could no longer see the Ex-Savior's figure.
"You know, Rei, you made that promise for the real Shizora," he said. "Not to some copy."
ooOOoo
A week has passed and Rei decided to spend his time walking down Netto's street. It's been raining all week and he's drenched in the wetness. His bangs covered up most of his eyes, giving him difficulty to see anything. He stopped at the park and looked at the slide. Unwanted memories resurfaced.
"Rei! Let's play tag!"
"Why are you so slow? Let's hurry and play some more before it rains!"
"Thank you, Rei," Shizora's voice rang through his mind. Rei shook his head.
"Rei?" a voice called out with uncertainty. Rei turned to see a woman hold an umbrella on one hand and groceries on the other. Rei squint a little to see well.
"Hikari-san?" Rei called. For the last several days, he must have lost over a pint or two of blood making it extremely difficult to focus and remember what was going on for the last hour. Haruka Hikari stood before him with worry in her eyes.
"Rei Soradanomi? What are you doing out in the rain? It's freezing cold! Come on to our house, you'll catch a cold at this rate!" Seeming Rei had no choice, he nodded and followed her.
ooOOoo
"It's been almost ten years since I last saw you," Haruka said from the kitchen. Rei sat down on a chair with a towel over his head and a cup of warm tea in his hand. Sadness was in her voice even though they sounded strain. "I'm sorry about your parents." Rei took a sip of his tea.
"That happened a long time ago, Hikari-san," Rei responded, taking a sip of his tea. "I've…accepted the fact their gone and I'm doing along just fine with that fact."
"It must have been lonely growing up like this," she said.
"I had no problems growing up," Rei said. "Tetsu-san and Skye-chan supported me all the way till now. It was never a dull day without them."
"How is Tetsu-san by the way?" Haruka asked. "I've hadn't seen him in a while." Rei smiled slightly.
"He's all right," Rei said. "He's been helping out with a lot of depressed patients and they have been doing fine." Haruka smiled.
"It's great to hear that," she said, she got up from her seat and walked towards the kitchen, pulling out something from the oven. "Would you like some cake, Rei?"
"You don't have to," Rei said.
"Nonsense," Haruka insisted, slicing a piece of the cake onto a plate. "I bet you're hungry after that long walk." At the cue, Rei's stomach grumbles slightly. The young adult lowered his head in shame and embarrassment. Haruka giggled.
"This brings back old memories, doesn't it, Rei?" she asked placing the plate with a cake on the table in front of Rei.
"Yes, it does," Rei responded. Rei was about to pick up a fork until he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Rei fell to his knees with one arm trying to support himself by holding onto to the table and the other clutching tightly onto his shirt.
"Rei!" Haruka cried, coming to the young man's side almost immediately. "Rei, what's wrong?" Rei look at Haruka with a pain and dazed look. "Rei? Rei?" Rei looked up to her with a confused expression.
"Why did you call me Rei, Mama?" Rei asked before the darkness claimed him.
ooOOoo
Enzan, Meiru and Haruka waited out side in Rei's hospital room with worried looks on their faces. Sure Rei's an ass but they can't forget the times Rei helped them out. At the hospital's network system, Skye finally came out of hiding and sobbed while the group surrounded her.
"Calm down Skye," Blues said. "We're not sure of Rei's condition but we know he's alive still."
"But we're not so sure about that," Skye sobbed back.
"There's still hope," Roll said. The doctor finally came out and the Netops along with Haruka surrounded him.
"How's Rei and what's his condition?" Meiru asked. The doctor looked at them quizzically.
"Are you all related to the boy?" he asked. Enzan brought out his Net Savior Badge.
"Rei is part of the Forces and we're friends of him," Enzan said. The doctor nodded.
"We've diagnosed him and it seemed the boy had several diseases with him for quite some time," the doctor responded.
"Diseases?" Meiru repeated. "Rei has more than one?" The doctor nodded.
"It's a miracle the boy's alive right now," he said. "The boy has the Sickle disease, the Glomerular disease, Vasovagal Syncope and the rare HBD." Haruka, Enzan and Meiru paled when the doctor finished.
"Are you sure he has that many diseases?" Enzan asked.
"I've checked it out five times and all the results were the same," the doctor said with an annoyed tone. "I've even checked the boy's family member and no one else from the family has a single disease. They were a perfectly healthy family. This is beyond the laws of science. Right now, we're keeping the boy from going to a critical condition and giving him a blood transfusion. Problem is, we don't know if his body is going to reject the blood or not."
"Sir," Began Meiru, "What does the other diseases do to Rei?"
"The Glomerular Disease causes an interference with Rei's kidney causing him to cough up blood, it's hard to determine who has it back then," he explained the first symptom. "Vasovagal Syncope is caused by low heart rate and blood pressure. Prior to losing consciousness, the individual usually experiences symptoms such as nausea, sweatiness, dizziness, auditory impairment, aphasia, exhaustion, tightness in the throat and blurry vision. These symptoms may last anywhere from seconds to minutes. This is followed by an episode of fainting; the individual regains consciousness within seconds to minutes. It is fairly uncommon for vasovagal syncope to occur while the individual is sitting and extremely rare when he/she is lying down; non-standing syncope should point to causes other than vasovagal. During the episode, the individual will be unresponsive, and the pulse will be high as the blood pressure will be low. In some cases the individual may react violently while unconscious, this may be due to a fear response and increased adrenaline. The reaction may have the appearance of a seizure. Upon regaining consciousness, the individual may appear flushed, feel generally lethargic, and may seem very post-ditictal. The heart rate may still be fast, although it usually soon returns to normal." The doctor gasp for air at the long speech.
"Finally, we have the sickle disease. Sickle cell disease is a general term for a group of genetic disorders caused by sickle hemoglobin. In many forms of the disease, the red blood cells change shape upon deoxygenation because of polymerization of the abnormal sickle hemoglobin. This process damages the red blood cell membrane, and can cause the cells to become stuck in blood vessels. This deprives the downstream tissues of oxygen and causes ischemia and infarction. The disease is chronic and lifelong. Individuals are most often well, but their lives are punctuated by periodic painful attacks. In addition to periodic pain, there may be damage of internal organs, such as stroke. Lifespan is often shortened."
Everybody blinked at the doctor's explanation. The doctor sighed.
"What I meant to say is all of the boy's diseases are targeting his blood supply and-" He was cut off when they heard a bloody scream from Rei's room. Rei's doctor immediately enter the room seeing Rei up, curled up to a ball, shivering.
"I'm sorry," Rei mumble. "I couldn't protect you…it's all my fault."
"What's wrong with him?" Haruka asked.
"He's having an episode," the doctor said, taking out a bottle with clear liquid and a needle. "We have to calm him down before he hurts someone unintentionally." The doctor grabbed Rei by the arm, attempting to inject the liquid in Rei. Rei retaliated by swinging a right hook to the doctor, knocking the doctor out.
"Rei, stop this!" Enzan ordered, pining the boy down.
"Let me go!" Rei screamed. "Let me go! I have to see them, let me see my family! Why won't you let you see my parents and brother?!"
"They're dead!" Meiru responded, she pressed the button franticly, trying to get the other nurses and doctors to come to Rei's room to calm the boy down.
"They're not dead!" Rei screamed, denying the fact, still struggling. "Let me go!" The doctor and nurses enter the room helping Enzan pin the younger man down and inject the liquid, finally calming Rei down. They loosen their grip as Rei finally relax and his eyes were much more duller than before, looking past or through them.
"Visiting Hours are over now," a nurse said. "Please leave, the patient will rest now."
"Can't we stay a little a little longer?" Haruka asked.
"It's strict hospital rules," the nurse responded, deadpanned. "You can come by tomorrow. Until then, please leave." Without another word, the trio unwillingly left.
ooOOoo
In the darkness, Netto looked at the screen of his computer with anticipation glittering in his eyes. On the second day when they arrived back home, he and Dark Rockman had to reformat some on the programs Skye overwrite and reset the data flow at the same time.
"Soon…" Netto whisper before closing his eyes. "Soon, we could finally have our revenge."
"Netto-kun," Dark Rockman called. Netto looked up. "You should check the DNN news, there's something you might want to see." Netto blinked in confusion before opening the television.
"On today's new, Rei Soradanomi, an ex-NetSavior was diagnosed with four different diseases and tried to escape hospital today. He was sent there when he collapsed in the Hikari's Resident when Haruka Hikari called for the emergency pickup." Kero, the news reporter said. "Fortunately for the young man, Rei didn't make it out. Soon after he was back and sedated for caution, he went into a critical condition and the doctors are now undergoing an operation as we speak. The man's friends are now waiting for the results."
A screenshot of Enzan, Meiru and Netto's Mother was at the waiting room and Netto stared at the television in shock.
"Rei knows about the death of Saito Hikari and met your mother," Dark Rockman said. He sent hatred and anger through Netto's mind. "Who knows, maybe your mother hates you now as well…" Dark Rockman smirked when he felt Netto's anger. In the cyber world, the sleeping beast's eyes flicker red for a moment before dimming again. Skye watched from the shadows.
"Well, we're going to have a hard time defeating this monster," she thought. She scanned the area a little more and her eyes widened. "A dimensional converter!?! That looks like it could cover the entire world like last time!?!" she thought.
ooOOoo
In the middle of the night, a group on doctors rushed to Rei's room as their monitors alerted them they have a dead patient in the building to see if it was true. By the time they arrived, they saw a neat bed, all fix and untouched and an open window where the cold air blowing in.
"Call the NetSaviors," one of the doctors order. "Tell them, out patient, Rei Soradanomi has left the hospital. And somebody tell the higher ups to give us permission to bar up the windows! This is getting ridiculous!"