He'd made up his mind a week ago, but he'd only found enough free time in his schedule to actually do something now. Tokiwadaira had tried to talk him out of it, but once he had made his intentions clear to the younger man, Toki had stopped trying. And then he had offered to come along, just the way Aso had been expecting he would.

"Aso-sempai, are you really sure we should be doing this? I mean – you were the one who suspected that Chronos had something they wanted to hide from the public. So… why are we here at Cloud Gate?"

"There's something I still want to find out."

He was almost painfully curious by now; he had to know if that Zoalord was his old friend Masaki Murakami or not. However, if he wasn't, it would have been an incredible coincidence, considering how much the two men resembled each other.

In fact, when Aso had compared the two pictures, only the eyes and the hair had distinguished Masaki Murakami from the Zoalord Imakarum Mirabilis. The clothes weren't of much consequence, and even the longer hair could be easily explained. And now he was going to find some answers, even if the questions about where Masaki was and why he had disappeared in the first place remained unanswered for the time being.

When they had finally made it into the main entrance of the huge doubled-skyscraper that was Cloud Gate, Aso honestly hadn't known what would be waiting for them there. He certainly hadn't been expecting to be accosted by a man almost as large as he was, and then lifted almost five centimeters off the ground while being… cuddled?

Yes; he was being cuddled by a man who was probably around the same age as he was. Even as Aso tried to think of something to say to the man – his own sexual preferences aside, being hugged by people he didn't even know on a casual basis was always awkward – the other man said something that made this odd situation even odder.

"Uncle Aso! You're back!" that voice; so nearly identical to Masaki's, all save for some slight variations in tone and pitch, was one that Aso hadn't ever expected to hear again.

When the strange man – who couldn't have been Masaki; since his old friend would never have done something like this – set him back on his feet, Aso barely had the time to regain his composure before the strange man smiled at him in a way that suggested he was somehow familiar with Aso. "Where were you all this time, Uncle Aso?"

Before he could even begin to formulate a response to that – there was only one person who had ever called him that, and that boy had vanished from his hospital bed not even a full day after his mother's death – another man hurried into the room. Before he had much of a chance to register the newcomer's appearance, he almost thought it was that Zoalord he'd seen not so long ago, the other man had started speaking to the first stranger.

"Kenji-chan, what have I told you about running off like that?"

If the other man said anything in his own defense, Aso didn't hear it; he was too stunned to pay attention at that moment. He knew, intellectually, that there were at least a few men named Kenji in this area; he even worked with one of them. However, the combination of that particular name with the Zoalord who had spoken it, the one he now clearly recognized as the subject of the photos he had taken just four days prior, made the situation feel almost unreal.

And yet, if it was real, then that meant…

The more he studied the man whose name he now knew was Kenji, taking in his features and trying to see just who the strange man really was, the more of Miaka Murakami Aso saw in him. While hair that shade of black was a very common sight, he could never have failed to recognize her face. Not after all of the pictures that Masaki had shared with him while he was dating "that young foreign girl", or the ones that Masaki had sent him once he and the then Melissa Chapman had gotten engaged. Or even the ones that Masaki had sent when he and Miaka Murakami – she'd claimed that the change of name made things easier on her, and he'd seen no evidence to dispute that – had still been newlyweds.

To say nothing of the wedding videos, particularly of their first dance as a married couple.

No, he would never truly be able to forget her face. And the fact was that this man – this Zoalord; Aso could remember his clothing and hairstyle from Chronos' official broadcast – had Miaka's features down to the cheekbones and the point of his chin. He almost didn't notice the other Zoalord's head turning, had almost forgotten he was there, while he studied the Zoalord that looked so much like the late Miaka Murakami.

Ingriam Mirabilis had been the name he'd given during the broadcast. Just like the Zoalord in his pictures had identified himself as Imakarum Mirabilis. He'd initially thought that the two of them were brothers, but now… could they really be…?

"Aso?"

He turned back to the two Zoalords, his train of thought temporarily derailed, and saw that Imakarum had fixed him with an inscrutable stare. Of course, that was just an assumption on his part; for all Aso knew the Zoalord was crossing his eyes behind that dark reddish visor of his; the visor that had to have been made of something more than just glass to turn from black to red in the light the way it had.

"Masaki, is that you?" he asked, knowing that he wouldn't get a better opportunity than he was being presented with now.

He saw a slight tightening around the Zoalord's jaw when he said that name, as if Imakarum had been offended somehow. Before he could wonder for too long why that was, Imakarum spoke again.

"Why don't you come with me and I'll explain things to you? Kenji and I have our own private eating area, so we can have lunch there is you want," Imakarum paused, smiling down at Ingriam who had his head resting on the other Zoalord's armored left shoulder; Aso wondered how he could possibly be comfortable like that. "Kenji and I were just going to eat lunch anyway, so it wouldn't be any real trouble if you and your friend wanted to join us. I'm sure that Kenji would be happy to have you there, and I would be rather interested in hearing what you've been doing since we went out of contact. I can already see you've taken on a partner," Imakarum said, with a glance at Tokiwadaira.

"All right, Masaki," he said, and again had to wonder about the expression of annoyance that passed briefly over his old friend's face.

There was no more doubt in his mind that this Zoalord was his old friend Masaki Murakami; the way he had treated Ingriam had clinched it. And now his reporter's curiosity was roused; he wanted to find out just what had happened to the pair of them. And also – if Masaki was in a position to tell him – how it had happened; after all, Kenji would have only been eight years old under anything resembling normal circumstances, and no eight-year-old had a body like Ingriam.

"Could you please not call me by that name?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"I haven't been called by that name in almost three years, Aso," Imakarum paused for a moment, gently brushing Ingriam's – or Kenji's, but it was still difficult to think of a grown man as the boy he'd known for all too short a time – bangs away from his face. "It's disconcerting."

"All right," he conceded. "I'll call you Imakarum if you'd prefer the name."

"Thank you, Aso," Imakarum said, a small smile on his face, though Aso had the strange feeling that it was a struggle for the Zoalord to maintain the expression.

He wondered why, and also… "What about Kenji? Should I start calling him Ingriam now?"

"Only when you're out among the public. And that applies to you, as well," Imakarum said, directing his attention to Tokiwadaira now. "However, since we are all familiar with one another, so I suppose you can use whichever name my son wants you to."

"All right, I'll make sure to remember that," he said, nodding as the four of them made their way to the elevators at the far end of the room.

"I'll make sure to remember it, too, Imakarum sir," Tokiwadaira said enthusiastically.

Imakarum smiled back at them, already standing inside the far-right elevator with Kenji at his side. "I'm grateful for your consideration, and I'm certain that Kenji is, too."

Kenji, who was standing up straight but still holding Imakarum around the waist, nodded with a wide, excited smile on his face. As the elevator began moving, Aso found himself wondering why Kenji hadn't said a word beyond his initial greeting. Then again, maybe Imakarum had asked him not to.

It had to be rather disconcerting for any parent to hear their eight-year-old child speaking with a voice that properly belonged to a grown man.

Deciding that he would probe further on the issue when they reached their destination, Aso turned his attention back to Imakarum and Kenji. There was no more question in his mind about Imakarum Mirabilis being his old friend Masaki Murakami. The only questions that Aso had now involved just what had happened that day in New Guiney, and also what had happened to Kenji.