Hikari, 17, took a deep breath.

The gel was placed on her belly. A cold chill before the doctor placed the machine that will show her the image of her child. Hikari waited in anticipation wondering what the child would look like.

Starless Redux

Chapter 5

Today, the hospital activity was quiet. Patients coming in and out, but no big emergency.

Jyou or as his new proper title, Dr. Kido. Sat at his desk seeing different patients with different conditions. His attention changed when a knock was heard.

He turned around and asked, "how may I be of…"

He stopped, first seeing Yamato. "Dr. Kido, how are you?"

"Yamato-san? It's good to see you, but don't tell me it's something serious?"

Yamato looked down, "health wise… no…" then at Jyou, "mental wise… maybe."

Jyou raised a brow.

Yamato walked into Jyou's office, "I know you can get busy, but… I… I need you to do me a favor. And like… open up a slot for a patient."

Jyou put his hand on his chin, "it's not health, but mental… and you want me to open up a slot. Yamato-san, I'm a medical doctor…"

Yamato nodded, "and my friend. I know it's against policy, but make this exception."

Jyou were still concerned, "what is it?"

Yamato smiled softly, "Identification process?"

Jyou raised a brow again, "Identification process?" Yamato nodded. Jyou nodded slowly, "Yamato-san, if Jun-san's pregnant you're having doubts about the child being yours… that is best done when the child is…"

"N-No No No," Yamato repeated, "it's not that."

Jyou shrugged, "then what is it?"

"Jesus, you're taking too long," Koushiro appeared, "we need a doctor to confirm the identity of someone."

Jyou picked up his folders, "okay, but whose?"

"Daisuke-san."

And Jyou dropped his folders.

Yamato and Koushiro stared at the young prodigy doctor scrambling to fix the folders he had organized before. "You owe me ten dollars," Yamato told Koushiro.

Jyou was not a stuttering mess. "Did a body appear and you would like to identify it?"

Yamato sighed, "no, like he's actually here. But we need him to be identified as part of his missing person report we did when he first disappeared?"

Jyou gulped, "and… like…" his speech was reverting back to his younger self. "Anyone else know?"

"The three of us are the only Chosen Children that know he has returned so far. Our wives know." Koushiro said.

"Erina-san knows?"

"We needed to go to her first since she knew how you would respond. She said you would either pass out or drop folders… me and Koushiro-san betted on that." Yamato explained before finally helping Jyou pick up folders. "So willing to help…?"

Jyou get up carrying folders. "You know who I least expected to be the first ones to find out Daisuke-san was back… the three people who had the least to do with him."

Yamato groaned, "I'm married to his sister."

Jyou shrugged, "if I'm being honest, you weren't really around him before or after compared to others."

Yamato looked offended at Jyou, "Yeah," Koushiro confirmed as Yamato turned to him, offended. "Enough of this discussion about friendship with Daisuke-san!"

"I'm literally the Chosen Child of Friendship."

"We need to go and get a doctor's approval that Daisuke-san is back."

Jyou blinked, "but why me? Tons of doctors here."

"It's hitting 3 birds with 1 stone," Yamato began to explain. "More Chosen Children know, you're a doctor, and more importantly… you can tell Mimi-san."

And both Koushiro and Yamato walked away.

"W-What!?" Jyou moved forward only to drop his folders again.

Koushiro and Yamato walked down the hall as Koushiro took out his cell phone. He dialed a number and waited as Jyou was beginning to catch up. "Yes, get a ride for Erina-san. Thank you."

Yamato smirked, "you make calls like a detective all the time?"

Koushiro smirked, "nope, but it's actually fun."

"So cute," Jun giggled while carrying a small child with small blue black hair. This baby was Jyou's child, Genki Kido.

"My, my," Karen lightly pinched the baby's cheek. "How much have you grown?" She asked before spoiling the baby.

"He is growing quite remarkably," Erina, Jyou's wife, said sitting beside the two young adults.

Karen smirked, "oh, I wish I already had a child of my own…"

Jun smirked sadly too, "me too."

And they let out a vibe that immediately sent shivers to Koushiro and Yamato who were across the room.

"Please hurry," both glared forward seeing Daisuke place his finger on a scanner.

Jyou was beside him writing down some things on his notepad. "Blood, match. Hair sample, match. Fingerprint, match." He put his notepad down, "yup, definitely Daisuke-san."

Daisuke looked down, "sorry you had to leave your job for this."

Jyou turned around, "well friend's favor," he said quietly before walking off. Gennai's assistant comes over to Daisuke while asking some questions. Jyou walked to the coffee maker and immediately Gennai joined him.

"How are you?"

Jyou poured some coffee, "I don't know," he took a small sip. "This would be infinitely easier if Daisuke-san didn't do what he did…"

Gennai looked over, "didn't expect you to be this angry at him."

Jyou took another sip, "not angry, more… astonished." He turned to see Daisuke sitting around nervously. "I thought I wouldn't see him again. And here he is… an adult. Malnourished… and he doesn't even realize how much people hate him."

Gennai looked down, "is there a chance for him to be… redeemed?"

Jyou took another sip, "if he goes back in time."

"Well that doesn't exist," Jyou and Gennai turned to see Yamato. "Sorry, but Jun-san began to mention having her own baby shower, I needed to come here. Koushiro-san may join us soon."

Jyou put the coffee cup down, "my bad, I didn't know Erina-san was going to bring Genki."

Yamato leaned back against a wall, "it's cool…" he looked over at Daisuke, "well… I guess it's time to tell Mimi-san?"

Jyou put his head down, "why do I have to do this? I mean, it's Mimi-san. If she finds out, it will ripple into everyone knowing."

Yamato looked over, "you're her best friend. At least on a sincere personal level, she can trust you. Meaning we have a shot to see what an extreme would look like. Ken-san is a good option, but he's with Miyaki-san… we need Mimi-san to know."

Jyou put his hand into his coat pockets, walking towards Daisuke-san. "You are forgetting that Mimi-san knowing is not the issue…" He walked up to Daisuke-san, "how are you feeling?"

Daisuke saw the bandaid on his finger where they sampled blood. "Weird, I never thought my first doctor's appointment as an adult would be in a facility like this." He chuckled which made Jyou uneasy for a bit. "Jyou-san," Daisuke got his attention, "I'm happy you became a doctor."

Jyou looked at Daisuke's eyes. "You're only saying that cause if you feel sick, you can exclusively go to me."

Daisuke looked down, "it's not like that. I never realized how… talented you were. You were always smart in my eyes… Koushiro's level I guess is a good comparison. I never saw it back then… the times I got injured how you helped out so much."

Jyou sat down on a chair, "I guess my talents are finally realized."

Daisuke smiled sadly, "sorry…"

Jyou blinked before looking over, "for?"

Daisuke rubbed his hand, "not appreciating you more back then. You and I… well we both might have known each other, but I never truly appreciated how you had everyone's back. Being the older Chosen Children. I only clinged to Yamato-san and Taichi-san. Now… I see that you and even Koushiro-san… deserved the same respect."

Jyou stared, "you're gonna make me feel like this?"

Daisuke was caught off guard, "what?"

Jyou got up, "nothing, I was just thinking of some stuff at work," he dusted off his coat. "Come now Daisuke-san. "We need to do some tests of your dexterity."

"W-Why?" Daisuke asked as he got up and fixed his chair.

Jyou smiled, "it's just a dexterity test, it's mandatory now." And as he was going to join with the others. He pulled out his phone as his contact immediately read Mimi. He saw that his last time calling was months ago, right before Genki was born. "Please," Jyou murmured as he began to call, "don't freak out…"

It was the afternoon. Snow is slowly falling on the city of Odaiba.

A doorbell rang as Iori walked from the living room to the entrance. Unlocking the door and opening it to find a smiling pregnant Miyako-san. "Hello!"

"Miyako-san?"

Miyako giggled, "I was in the neighborhood. I was going to visit Hikari-san, but she's still at work. So I thought it would be nice to visit you."

Hina peeked, "oh, Miyako-san!"

Miyako looked over in a red blush, "Oh, was it?"

"My mom is home," Iori glared with a slight blush. "We were just studying for the next semester. Nothing more…"

Miyako pouted, "I don't believe you…"

Ken appeared behind Miyako, "we did the same thing when we were younger." He showed a big, "brought some snacks."

Iori opened the door wide, "even without the snacks, you can come in," he smiled softly.

Miyako and Ken both went inside and took off their shoes. As they did, Iori closed the door behind them. Miyako began, "you won't believe how traffic was. I swear I miss when taking the train felt less of a chore. We could go everywhere, but now it's cars and scheduling…"

And as she continued, Ken took out his cell. Opening it, he saw a picture that surprised him. When did I…? It was a picture of him and Daisuke-san smiling after playing some soccer. Both wore the same jersey during their middle school days.

"Ken-san," Ken turned to see Hina, "sorry to disturb you, but Iori's mother made some lasagna. Would you like some?"

Ken smiled and nodded, "just a bit will be fine."

Hina looked over and looked curiously at the picture on Ken's phone. Ken closed the cell and walked past Hina. She turned over to look at the side, "that guy on Ken's phone looked familiar… Where have I seen him?"

Hina shrugged the feeling away. Meanwhile Ken was getting a strange feeling. There it is again… the feeling… Daisuke-san… why am I thinking about you right now?