I might have mentioned this already, but I'm trying something new with this story… I'm trying to keep a few chapters ahead (written) of what I have posted. So far so good. It is a little odd though, mentally, to go straight from writing one chapter further along in the story to backtrack to type up an earlier chapter to post. I'm going to try to keep this up, though.

Thank you so much for reviewing chapter two: Sweet Cari, Shiki Shiori, Patachu, and ToastyToaster22! I loved reading them all!

Chapter Three: Transfer

By Friday, it seemed like everything had returned to normal. Cody joined the girls at their lunch table again, but no more was said on the subject of the 'terrorist' attack or the missing kids. Yolei respectfully neglected to make any plans with Kari over the weekend, allowing her to spend all her time with her family. At the risk of sounding rude, Kari almost wished it wasn't so. The gloom plaguing the Kamiya household was more tangible than ever.

In the end, Kari had made up a research paper due soon and retreated to her room for the majority of the weekend. Though she doubted her parents really noticed her absence, Kari fell victim to guilt, holed up in her room for hours at a time. It was not as if she didn't love Tai. She cherished every memory she had of her brother. They'd been partners in crime since before Kari could even talk. He'd been her first best friend. A symbol of bravery and courage whenever she was up against some daunting task. Tai's sudden disappearance had sucked all the light out of the world, further emphasized by the haze of dust that had hung over the city in the following days, dulling the sunshine.

But in the past four years, Kari had learned that you couldn't rely on another person to supply your light. Their lives had continued on, even in spite of Tai not being there to share his with them. She had no intention of leaving Tai in the past, but she couldn't remain there herself either. Tai would not have wanted their lives to be swallowed up by endless wallowing, wherever he was. Because Kari did believe he was still out there somewhere. And sooner or later, this awful waiting, this torture of not knowing, would come to an end. The answers were out there. She just hadn't found the right place to look for them yet.

…

Once again, Kari tried to treat Monday as a normal day. Neither girl mentioned the significance of the date on their walk to school, and Kari didn't catch too many curious glances in the hallways. It truly seemed like everyone was moving on. The day might have been uneventful… if not for the bomb her teacher dropped in homeroom that morning.

Kari and Yolei were in their seats before he was even in the room, though certainly not because they were early. The room was overtaken by whispers and searching looks as the final bell rang and their teacher still had not joined them. But the growing excitement did not have long to fester. Their teacher did enter the room soon enough, a friendly-looking blond boy following him in.

Immediately, every voice fell silent, awaiting an explanation. The boy stood before the class without a hint of self-consciousness, blue eyes sparkling. He took off his hat to be polite and bowed his head to his new classmates as their teacher cleared his throat to speak.

"Class, we have a transfer student joining us today."

The boy took over smoothly. "It's nice to meet you all. My name's Takeru Takaishi. You can call me TK. My family and I just moved to this district. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you."

More than one girl sat up a little straighter at TK's introduction—apparently, he was making quite the first impression—but none so sharply as Kari. She couldn't say she'd known immediately that something was familiar about TK. They'd never met; he'd only been eight years old in the only pictures she'd ever seen of him. But the recognition sent a little thrill through her stomach. Of all the days for TK to transfer into her class… Could it possibly be a mere coincidence?

Beside her, Yolei giggled. "He is kind of cute, don't you think?"

Her whisper barely touched her. And Davis's grumbling garnered even less of a reaction. Kari didn't answer her friend. He was looking at her. She hadn't been sure at first, but TK wasn't just looking out over the class as a whole. She was his focal point, Kari was sure of it. Had he recognized her on sight?

"Kari, what's wrong?" Yolei whispered. Kari just shook her head and looked down. No, she must be imagining it. She was sure every girl whispering hopefully in this class thought TK was looking at them. After all, why would TK have taken a special interest in her? What a backwards thought. She wasn't the one who'd made a miraculous reappearance, been the subject of every media outlet's top story for a straight week. She was just one more piece in the network of families that had not been reunited with their loved ones. For all she knew, TK wasn't even aware of their group status.

"Um, yes," the teacher cut back in awkwardly. "Well, welcome to the class, TK. Why don't you take the seat behind Kari? Miss Kamiya?"

Kari looked up then and raised her hand to direct him to his seat. TK smiled and nodded at her. (She was now more convinced than ever that he had already been looking at her.) "Great."

Kari tried to smile welcomingly as he passed her but groaned silently. Why couldn't the empty desk have been the one in front of hers? Now she was going to be fighting the urge to turn around and look at him all period. She was struck by the sudden, irrational feeling that if only he was somewhere in her periphery, she could speculate in peace.

Their teacher went on with the morning announcements as usual. He didn't mention the anniversary as she had feared, but Kari had given up on any chance of this being just another day the moment TK had walked into the room. She couldn't wrap her head around the question of coincidence. Because really, what were the chances? She was desperate to talk it over with someone, and all morning, classes dragged.

She rushed through the lunch line and wasn't displeased to see Cody at their lunch table again. She must have had a crazed sort of look on her face, because the younger boy was immediately a little more alert. "What's wrong, Kari?"

She just shook her head and waited for Yolei to arrive. And when her friend did join them, she had the same question.

"What's going on? You've been weird all morning." Yolei turned to Cody. "This new boy transferred into our class today. You should have seen the way all the other girls perked up. But Kari just got really quiet. What was his name?"

"TK," she replied, almost before Yolei had even finished the question. Kari had leaned forward, the sense of urgency returned. She felt almost like a pact had been formed amongst the three of them the day they'd started theorizing about the night that had changed her life. "That was him, Yolei. The one they found."

Her friend's eyebrows shot up. Both Yolei and Cody seemed to understand at once. They'd all leaned in, Yolei's voice dropping to a whisper. "Found? You mean like—"

"Hi. Mind if I sit here?" They all jumped, scooting back and looking up with expressions that were most certainly guilty. TK stood before them, lunch tray in his hands, smile in place. If he knew they'd just been talking about him, it didn't show.

Yolei was the first to recover. "Oh! Of course!"

"Thanks." TK's smile seemed to grow even brighter, and he set his tray down beside Cody's so that he was facing the two girls.

"Cody, this is TK," Yolei introduced without missing a beat. "He just transferred into our class today."

"It's nice to meet you, TK," Cody greeted, polite as ever.

"Same here." He began eating, and Kari felt free to let her eyes search his face. What she was searching for, she wasn't really sure. She'd only met him that morning, but TK seemed so genuine and easygoing and open. In a way, this made him seem simple, too. Like he had nothing to hide.

He looked up at her then. The smile hadn't left his face, but she hadn't exactly been subtle about her staring. Kari felt her mouth fall open just the slightest bit with the intent to smooth over her faux pas. It occurred to her that she hadn't actually said a word to him yet.

TK beat her to it. "It's probably best to clear the air as soon as possible, huh? You're Kari Kamiya, right? Tai's sister."

She had to admit, his phrasing sent a little thrill through her stomach. Here was someone, sitting right across from her, who had seen Tai after that last night. She had to remind herself that this didn't mean what it should have before speaking. "Right. And you're the one they found."

His smile grew even wider at her response, which felt a little brash in hindsight. But then, perhaps it was only fitting. After all, he had been equally direct. "That's where the nickname came from, you know. I got asked so often—you're that kid they found, aren't you? I started to feel more like That Kid than Takeru. So I became TK. I mean, it fit well with my name anyway, and Matt started calling me TK back before I could remember any different, so I guess it was more like letting the rest of the world in on it rather than taking on an entirely new identity."

This mention of his brother fit so naturally into the rest of his speech, though it caught all three of the others off guard for a moment.

But you really can't remember anything?" She whispered before she could stop herself.

His smile was so apologetic. "Sorry. Nothing."

They all jumped again as another lunch tray clanged down loudly on the other side of Kari. She looked over to see Davis with a stubbornly contrary look on his face. And his tone was not as friendly as it usually was. "So, found yourself a group already, huh, TJ?"

"TK." Even his correction was no harsher than neutral. "And yeah, I think so."

Davis huffed childishly and muttered, "Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable…"

"What is your problem, Davis?" Yolei snapped. "Jealousy is really unbecoming, you know."

"What?! What do I have to be jealous of, Yolei?!" he shot back.

"Oh, come on! It's not like this thing you have for Kari is subtle!"

"Like you'd know anything about being subtle!"

This bickering between them was not uncommon. It seemed to irritate Yolei more than Kari herself whenever Davis took to hovering around her like a lost, lovesick puppy. Across the table, Cody looked exasperated, but Kari was a little relieved by the interruption. It had broken her focus. She no longer had to worry about blurting out her next questions before she really thought them through. Because there was no way to ask what she really wanted to know.

Perhaps he really didn't remember anything consciously. But what about subconsciously? Were there any nightmares he couldn't make sense of? Physical scars he couldn't explain? Other evidence of what he went through over the course of that year? Any hint of what had been so horrific that his mind had apparently blocked it all out…

TK's lighthearted laughter put a stop to the pair's argument. "Sorry. I didn't realize Kari was your girlfriend."

"I'm not his girlfriend," Kari asserted firmly at the same time Davis tried, "…Yeah, that's right."

TK laughed again, and the bell signaling the end of lunch put an end to their conversation. Only Davis was still grumbling as they rose and began collecting their things. The five of them certainly made for an odd little group. Looking around at them all, Kari got the feeling she hadn't seen the last of the surprises coming her way.

Review please!

I don't own Digimon.

It doesn't feel quite right to say I'm getting excited for this story… Because I've been excited since the beginning. But now the written progress of this story is reaching the part where the story really starts to take off. In a few days I'll be on a college orientation trip, so I'm planning to spend the hours on the plane writing and getting as far ahead as possible. (One of the main reasons I want to stay ahead is because I'm transferring to a college quite a distance away, and I have no idea what my schedule will be like yet. I'm hoping the change won't cause a noticeable delay in updates.) If I make enough progress during my trip, you may be seeing another update really soon. Until then, this is it for chapter three!