Chapter Three
A few days have passed. Ken is growing used to having the Kaiser go everywhere with him. Ken has noticed a change in him, as he himself changed. But the Kaiser seems to be slipping away much quicker. Ken tries not to see it, even though he knows he can't avoid it. He tries to think of other things instead.
Several times now he has tried to contact the mysterious person on his computer. Each time, nothing. He asked the Kaiser about him, but he refused to talk. But Ken will be seeing her much sooner than he imagined.
Ken is in school. Suddenly he feels faint. He keels over, hitting his head hard on his desk in the middle of class. He does not see, but the Kaiser's dim form flickers in and out of view. All Ken knows is blackness.
He expects to wake up in the sick room, maybe even in hospital. However, the reality is far from it. He finds himself in the digital world, cold and alone. His head is throbbing. The Kaiser is sitting opposite him. His face is strangely somber and his position mirrors Ken's. Ken starts to get up, but the Kaiser shouts at him to stay. He is surprised by the outburst and does so.
He notices it start to get foggy. His heart begins to beat faster. He can feel the presence of someone else, besides him and the Kaiser. Ken whirls around to be face to face with the most beautiful creature he has even seen.
She is crouching down to be with his sitting level. Her face is pale and her lips are red and her hair is a beautiful golden blonde. It shimmers in the fog, making it seem like she's glowing. Her eyes are blue and so soft Ken thinks she could never hurt anyone. She is barefoot with a silver chain around her ankle. She is wearing a white dress that is almost like a petticoat and she has a jacket made from pure white feathers. Ken is stunned by her beauty and as she reaches out her pastel hand he clasps it. He is afraid of crushing her frail-looking fingers, so he loosens his grip until his hand is just brushing against hers.
Then she speaks, and her voice fills his mind with a thousand thoughts. She sounds like the wind, the sea, a choir, every beautiful sound that ever existed. But a warning siren is blaring in his mind. 'Don't trust her!' it says, over and over. And then she speaks.
"You are Ken Ichijouji." She says. "And I am Kaosumon. Pleased to meet you at last."
*
Kaosumon leads him through the dense forest. Occasionally, she looks at Ken with a melancholy look upon her face and strokes his cheek lightly.
"You are quiet. Not like when we spoke on the computer." She says, her voice singing a lullaby in Ken's ears.
Ken starts to say something like 'I have nothing that's needs to be said.' Except those were not the words that spilled from his mouth. "I am.humbled by your presence." He trips over the words, as if he has forgotten how to speak. "I feel.so.overwhelmed.Kami- sama." He nearly stops in surprise as the last words stumble from his dry mouth.
Kami-sama.Kami-sama.
She is a god.
Ken gasps and turns his head. For the first time, he has noticed the Kaiser walking behind them. He looks like he wants to run away, but is being held back; dragged like a dog on a chain.
And.she is.
The Kaiser turns away, and for a moment so short Ken hardly believes it, it looks like there are tears in his eyes.
How the mighty have fallen.
The words dash through Ken's mind. He wonders what kind of creature this kam.this Kaosumon is. How much fear must she have placed in the Kaiser's mind to bring him to tears. This potent figure, ruling over an entire land, crushing any opponents, who was barely fazed by resistance, by the image of a devil.by the insanity in his own mind.is now.
The next time Kaosumon strokes her feathery fingers over Ken's cheek, he shudders.
After what seems like years, they reach what Ken presumes is Kasumon's abode. It suits her; a beautiful paradise, white and pearly and shining, every part of it gleaming even without sunlight. But as Ken moves closer, he notices things which make him fear the god or demon before him. The air is cold and damp. A light fog hangs over the walls. It makes him shiver, though both Kaosumon and the Kaiser seems unaffected. Ken thinks the Kaiser must have been here before. He listens hard, but he hears nothing but their feet upon the ground. There are no birds or animals in the trees, and all the plants covering the white palace are dead, brown and shriveled. This is not a kingdom. This is a place of death and suffering.
Ken own will seems to return to him. He stops, trying to go back, except his feet are stuck to the ground and he can't remember the way. Kaosumon looks angrily at him. It is the first time he has seen here do anything but smile. It scares him, so he carries on following her into the palace. Ken shivers as he enters. His breath forms a mist on front of him. It is colder in here than outside. He notices, the second he steps inside, that the Kasier's form becomes more defined, stronger and less blurred. He feels suddenly weak, but it passes in a second.
They stop in a large room and Kaosumon and the Kaiser sit at the two chairs at the head of a table. The Kaiser slips his gloved hand into Kaosumon's delicate fingers, visibly so that Ken can see it. Ken seats himself at the other end of the large table, since there are no other chairs.
"Ken." The word echoes around the room. "You will not stay here for long. I will tell you what I plan to do with you, then you will leave." Despite this was an order, Kaosumon's voice stays as butterfly light as ever. She continues. "Ken...It pains me...My plans may end up...destroying you. However, there is a chance you will survive." A painful smile crosses her face. "Of course, this would mean both mine and the Kaiser's demise, but I don't think you'll mind." Ken's mind is processing what she is saying, but it seemed he doesn't care. He decides in that moment he would die for this beautiful creature. He decides he is in love with her.
"I tell you this because I know you won't mind. It has already begun." Kaosumon licks her lips. Ken is enchanted. "But Ken, listen to me now." Suddenly she is by his side. Ken is still captured by her lips. She takes his face in her hands. "You do not love me."
"No...I do...I love you..." Ken mumbles. Kaosumon's grip tightens on his cheeks so that her nails draw the slightest trace of blood.
"You don't Ken. My spell is tricking you. You must look into your heart. When you leave, these feelings will go. Who do you love Ken? You must tell that person, otherwise you will simply die."
"Don't...don't care." Ken shakes his head as much as he can manage.
Kaosumon lets him go and sits away from him on the table. "You care, Ken, and so do I." Her face contorts into a manic smile. "'It's not as fun if I catch you right away.'" She mimics the Kaiser's voice perfectly. "...You may go now."
Ken suddenly feels desperate. He can't leave. "Please, don't make me go."
She looks at him, considering. "...Hmm. You may stay for a night. One only. Then I will force you to leave. My daughter will help you. The effect will wear off in your room. Use that time to think."
*
Ken discovers she was right. When he is in his room, his doesn't feel weak and it no longer besotted with the beautiful Digimon. He waits and wonders what her daughter will be like. There is a knock on his door and a strange Digimon enters with a drinks tray. She is horrible to look at; it is as if she is made of wood, and has deep cuts along her arms and legs. A flimsy yellow dress covers her body. Ken presumes she is a servant.
However, she comes and sits on his bed. She bounces a little, before saying, "My name is Kara. You are Ken-chan." Ken is shocked. Could this be...the daughter? She's so ugly...And she only speaks with one side of her mouth. The other is all teeth. It send chills down Ken's spine. But he recovers himself and nods. She speaks again, in a lower, more threatening voice with the toothy side of her mouth. "You may call me Tekki. If you wish." Then suddenly, she is back again.
"Are you here forever?"
"I...No."
She looks sad. "Oh. I think I'll like you anyway. Are you one of Mama's pets?"
"I don't...think so..."
They continue their conversation. The girl, Kara (or Tekki) talks about all sorts of things until they begin to talk about Ken's home.
"Have you got friends?"
"Yes."
"I don't. Mama doesn't let me have friends." There is no trace of sadness in her voice, as if she doesn't know what a friend is.
"I'll be your friend." Ken says it before he thinks.
Kara looks at him in awe. "Really? Yay! I like Ken-chan, and he likes me!" She smiles with both sides of her face in a contorted grin. She jumps around on the bed, then lies down on her front, staring at Ken. "Tell me about your friends."
Ken sighs. He simply says, "I like them all very much, and I always hope they like me."
"Do you know what love is?"
Ken starts. "W-what?!"
"Love. Mama won't tell me what it is. Please?"
Ken blushes deeply. "It's this feeling...the best one in the world. When you love someone, it means you like them lots more than a friend and you want to be with them forever."
She swings her legs in the air, and for a second, Ken sees her as a normal young girl. "Do you love?"
"I...I guess so."
"Who?"
"I love...just some people." Ken blushes further. He knows now he loves Kaosumon, or he did for a while at least. He remembers what she said. 'My daughter will help you.' Help him think of his heart. I suppose she is, he thinks.
"Who? Tell me!"
"I...I don't really know I guess..."
She looks confused. Her wooden face moves in a strange way. "How can you not know? Mama won't tell me what it is, but she told me you have to look in your heart to find love. She said, uhm...She said 'The face of your love will come if you concentrate. Think of beauty and you will think of them.'. She told me to tell you that too."
And so Ken tries. Kaosumon said it would give him a chance...but...he can't...remember anything else she said...Why did she want him again? He forgets. But he shrugs it off, and concentrates. First he thinks of Miyako. But he decides she is just his friend. Then he thinks of Kari. The same. He tries to shut his mind down and let it some to him.
Darkness at first...
Then some kind of light...
A memory.
Which?
He is there. He can see himself. He is talking to someone.
"I don't know..."
"Please Ken! I know you'll help us!"
"But...what if-"
"No what ifs." Stern hands on his shoulders. "You'll make me sad if you don't come join us."
Ken panics. He doesn't want this person to be sad, but he is unsure of himself. "O..okay then." A hug, tight. Something on his cheek. A kiss. A joke? Maybe. Laughing.
It's getting clearer. He can see someone is the distance, running away, laughing. Who? Who is it?
"Wait for me, Daisuke!"
Ken jerks out of his trance-like state. Kara is staring at him. "K- Kara, could you leave me alone for a bit?"
"Will I ever see you again?"
"I don't know. Please just go."
She nods slowly, then leaves. He hangs his head in his hands.
"Didn't you know? I knew for ages. She wouldn't let me tell you."
Ken jumps for the third time that evening. He'd forgotten about his annoying shadow, who has returned to him at a most awkward moment.
"Leave me alone." Says Ken with unusual bluntness.
The Kaiser flicks his nose. It hurts. Ken is surprised. Whenever the Kaiser touched him before, it simply went through him like a ghost. Now he seems, and looks more solid.
"Where've you been?"
The Kaiser is silent. His expression is blank for a moment, then he grins and says, "So it's Daisuke then?"
Ken blushes. "I...I guess so...What's it to you anyway?"
"Just something to make fun of you with."
Ken frowns. "Where did you go anyway?" He says, quickly changing the subject. The Kaiser remains silent with his eyes closed.
"She called me. So I went."
Neither of them say anything. The Kaiser sits down on the bed next to Ken. Ken is surprised to note that it dips slightly, and there are creases in the cover. "She is...beautiful. Isn't she?"
Silence again.
"Even though...Daisuke...I think I like her too." Ken sighs. He doesn't see how knowing his feelings will help him if all he can think about is Kaosumon. He gets up from the bed. "I have to go."
"...She will kill you. She will torture you and break you until you can't take it anymore, and then she will kill you." The Kaiser's voice is barely audible, and not recognizable as his own. Ken pauses, then leaves.
*
Over the next few days, Ken is visited by both the Kaiser and Kaosumon, but he does not return to the digital world until 5 days after he first did. Once more he is taken to her forsaken castle, and once again he talks to her daughter.
"I really like roses, don't you Ken?"
"Hm? Oh. I guess so."
Kara grabs his hand and pulls him towards the door. "Mama has lots of roses! Come on, come and see them!"
She leads him around the palace. He sees places he has never been to, yet seem to be in his memory. The Kaiser is nowhere around him. Kara leads Ken down a great glass corridor, shimmering in the sunlight that shines through the dead trees of the grounds. She takes him down a stone stairway and into the gardens.
For a moment, Ken cannot move or speak for the beauty. It is such a contrast from the cold interior and dead exterior of the castle. It is not actually outside; hard walls surround the colour of the flowers and the ceiling is arched. Ken takes his shoes off so he can feels the grass on his feet and lets Kara take him to the rose patch. She pushes aside a willow and he walks into a small grove with a pond and a fountain, surrounded by beautiful roses, red, white, yellow and pink. At the base of the fountain is a wreath of perfect black rose heads.
"They're so pretty! My favourites are the red ones."
Ken inhales deeply. The smell of all the flowers hits him like some kind of drug. He wanders lazily over to Kara and looks at the red roses. His mind is hazy, he cannot seem to process all his thoughts.
'Blood,' he thinks, 'they look like blood. I bet she would like them. If I give her one, maybe she'll like me more. She'll love me if I give her flowers.' He leans down and puts his fingers around a single stem, then plucks it gently.
By the time Ken returns to his home tomorrow, he does not remember much of the previous day. He remembers Kaosumon tried to hurt him, and that Kara went bad and hurt her back, trying to protect him. He remembers seeing Kara ruined, splinters of wood piercing the flowers and blood mixing in the pond. But apart from that, nothing.
He is now in his bed. He knows his parents. Everything about his life before Kaosumon has come back to him. The Kaiser is with him. Occasionally, he goes to her, but stays with him mostly. He is becoming harsher. Although he has returned to his translucent state, he verbally abuses Ken almost everyday, making him feel small and useless, and Ken finds he can no longer walk through the Kaiser like a ghost. He is solid. Kaosumon's warning about his true feelings lies forgotten. Until one day, one month later, when Daisuke takes him to a park and Kara comes back, fully restored, into his cold arms.
A few days have passed. Ken is growing used to having the Kaiser go everywhere with him. Ken has noticed a change in him, as he himself changed. But the Kaiser seems to be slipping away much quicker. Ken tries not to see it, even though he knows he can't avoid it. He tries to think of other things instead.
Several times now he has tried to contact the mysterious person on his computer. Each time, nothing. He asked the Kaiser about him, but he refused to talk. But Ken will be seeing her much sooner than he imagined.
Ken is in school. Suddenly he feels faint. He keels over, hitting his head hard on his desk in the middle of class. He does not see, but the Kaiser's dim form flickers in and out of view. All Ken knows is blackness.
He expects to wake up in the sick room, maybe even in hospital. However, the reality is far from it. He finds himself in the digital world, cold and alone. His head is throbbing. The Kaiser is sitting opposite him. His face is strangely somber and his position mirrors Ken's. Ken starts to get up, but the Kaiser shouts at him to stay. He is surprised by the outburst and does so.
He notices it start to get foggy. His heart begins to beat faster. He can feel the presence of someone else, besides him and the Kaiser. Ken whirls around to be face to face with the most beautiful creature he has even seen.
She is crouching down to be with his sitting level. Her face is pale and her lips are red and her hair is a beautiful golden blonde. It shimmers in the fog, making it seem like she's glowing. Her eyes are blue and so soft Ken thinks she could never hurt anyone. She is barefoot with a silver chain around her ankle. She is wearing a white dress that is almost like a petticoat and she has a jacket made from pure white feathers. Ken is stunned by her beauty and as she reaches out her pastel hand he clasps it. He is afraid of crushing her frail-looking fingers, so he loosens his grip until his hand is just brushing against hers.
Then she speaks, and her voice fills his mind with a thousand thoughts. She sounds like the wind, the sea, a choir, every beautiful sound that ever existed. But a warning siren is blaring in his mind. 'Don't trust her!' it says, over and over. And then she speaks.
"You are Ken Ichijouji." She says. "And I am Kaosumon. Pleased to meet you at last."
*
Kaosumon leads him through the dense forest. Occasionally, she looks at Ken with a melancholy look upon her face and strokes his cheek lightly.
"You are quiet. Not like when we spoke on the computer." She says, her voice singing a lullaby in Ken's ears.
Ken starts to say something like 'I have nothing that's needs to be said.' Except those were not the words that spilled from his mouth. "I am.humbled by your presence." He trips over the words, as if he has forgotten how to speak. "I feel.so.overwhelmed.Kami- sama." He nearly stops in surprise as the last words stumble from his dry mouth.
Kami-sama.Kami-sama.
She is a god.
Ken gasps and turns his head. For the first time, he has noticed the Kaiser walking behind them. He looks like he wants to run away, but is being held back; dragged like a dog on a chain.
And.she is.
The Kaiser turns away, and for a moment so short Ken hardly believes it, it looks like there are tears in his eyes.
How the mighty have fallen.
The words dash through Ken's mind. He wonders what kind of creature this kam.this Kaosumon is. How much fear must she have placed in the Kaiser's mind to bring him to tears. This potent figure, ruling over an entire land, crushing any opponents, who was barely fazed by resistance, by the image of a devil.by the insanity in his own mind.is now.
The next time Kaosumon strokes her feathery fingers over Ken's cheek, he shudders.
After what seems like years, they reach what Ken presumes is Kasumon's abode. It suits her; a beautiful paradise, white and pearly and shining, every part of it gleaming even without sunlight. But as Ken moves closer, he notices things which make him fear the god or demon before him. The air is cold and damp. A light fog hangs over the walls. It makes him shiver, though both Kaosumon and the Kaiser seems unaffected. Ken thinks the Kaiser must have been here before. He listens hard, but he hears nothing but their feet upon the ground. There are no birds or animals in the trees, and all the plants covering the white palace are dead, brown and shriveled. This is not a kingdom. This is a place of death and suffering.
Ken own will seems to return to him. He stops, trying to go back, except his feet are stuck to the ground and he can't remember the way. Kaosumon looks angrily at him. It is the first time he has seen here do anything but smile. It scares him, so he carries on following her into the palace. Ken shivers as he enters. His breath forms a mist on front of him. It is colder in here than outside. He notices, the second he steps inside, that the Kasier's form becomes more defined, stronger and less blurred. He feels suddenly weak, but it passes in a second.
They stop in a large room and Kaosumon and the Kaiser sit at the two chairs at the head of a table. The Kaiser slips his gloved hand into Kaosumon's delicate fingers, visibly so that Ken can see it. Ken seats himself at the other end of the large table, since there are no other chairs.
"Ken." The word echoes around the room. "You will not stay here for long. I will tell you what I plan to do with you, then you will leave." Despite this was an order, Kaosumon's voice stays as butterfly light as ever. She continues. "Ken...It pains me...My plans may end up...destroying you. However, there is a chance you will survive." A painful smile crosses her face. "Of course, this would mean both mine and the Kaiser's demise, but I don't think you'll mind." Ken's mind is processing what she is saying, but it seemed he doesn't care. He decides in that moment he would die for this beautiful creature. He decides he is in love with her.
"I tell you this because I know you won't mind. It has already begun." Kaosumon licks her lips. Ken is enchanted. "But Ken, listen to me now." Suddenly she is by his side. Ken is still captured by her lips. She takes his face in her hands. "You do not love me."
"No...I do...I love you..." Ken mumbles. Kaosumon's grip tightens on his cheeks so that her nails draw the slightest trace of blood.
"You don't Ken. My spell is tricking you. You must look into your heart. When you leave, these feelings will go. Who do you love Ken? You must tell that person, otherwise you will simply die."
"Don't...don't care." Ken shakes his head as much as he can manage.
Kaosumon lets him go and sits away from him on the table. "You care, Ken, and so do I." Her face contorts into a manic smile. "'It's not as fun if I catch you right away.'" She mimics the Kaiser's voice perfectly. "...You may go now."
Ken suddenly feels desperate. He can't leave. "Please, don't make me go."
She looks at him, considering. "...Hmm. You may stay for a night. One only. Then I will force you to leave. My daughter will help you. The effect will wear off in your room. Use that time to think."
*
Ken discovers she was right. When he is in his room, his doesn't feel weak and it no longer besotted with the beautiful Digimon. He waits and wonders what her daughter will be like. There is a knock on his door and a strange Digimon enters with a drinks tray. She is horrible to look at; it is as if she is made of wood, and has deep cuts along her arms and legs. A flimsy yellow dress covers her body. Ken presumes she is a servant.
However, she comes and sits on his bed. She bounces a little, before saying, "My name is Kara. You are Ken-chan." Ken is shocked. Could this be...the daughter? She's so ugly...And she only speaks with one side of her mouth. The other is all teeth. It send chills down Ken's spine. But he recovers himself and nods. She speaks again, in a lower, more threatening voice with the toothy side of her mouth. "You may call me Tekki. If you wish." Then suddenly, she is back again.
"Are you here forever?"
"I...No."
She looks sad. "Oh. I think I'll like you anyway. Are you one of Mama's pets?"
"I don't...think so..."
They continue their conversation. The girl, Kara (or Tekki) talks about all sorts of things until they begin to talk about Ken's home.
"Have you got friends?"
"Yes."
"I don't. Mama doesn't let me have friends." There is no trace of sadness in her voice, as if she doesn't know what a friend is.
"I'll be your friend." Ken says it before he thinks.
Kara looks at him in awe. "Really? Yay! I like Ken-chan, and he likes me!" She smiles with both sides of her face in a contorted grin. She jumps around on the bed, then lies down on her front, staring at Ken. "Tell me about your friends."
Ken sighs. He simply says, "I like them all very much, and I always hope they like me."
"Do you know what love is?"
Ken starts. "W-what?!"
"Love. Mama won't tell me what it is. Please?"
Ken blushes deeply. "It's this feeling...the best one in the world. When you love someone, it means you like them lots more than a friend and you want to be with them forever."
She swings her legs in the air, and for a second, Ken sees her as a normal young girl. "Do you love?"
"I...I guess so."
"Who?"
"I love...just some people." Ken blushes further. He knows now he loves Kaosumon, or he did for a while at least. He remembers what she said. 'My daughter will help you.' Help him think of his heart. I suppose she is, he thinks.
"Who? Tell me!"
"I...I don't really know I guess..."
She looks confused. Her wooden face moves in a strange way. "How can you not know? Mama won't tell me what it is, but she told me you have to look in your heart to find love. She said, uhm...She said 'The face of your love will come if you concentrate. Think of beauty and you will think of them.'. She told me to tell you that too."
And so Ken tries. Kaosumon said it would give him a chance...but...he can't...remember anything else she said...Why did she want him again? He forgets. But he shrugs it off, and concentrates. First he thinks of Miyako. But he decides she is just his friend. Then he thinks of Kari. The same. He tries to shut his mind down and let it some to him.
Darkness at first...
Then some kind of light...
A memory.
Which?
He is there. He can see himself. He is talking to someone.
"I don't know..."
"Please Ken! I know you'll help us!"
"But...what if-"
"No what ifs." Stern hands on his shoulders. "You'll make me sad if you don't come join us."
Ken panics. He doesn't want this person to be sad, but he is unsure of himself. "O..okay then." A hug, tight. Something on his cheek. A kiss. A joke? Maybe. Laughing.
It's getting clearer. He can see someone is the distance, running away, laughing. Who? Who is it?
"Wait for me, Daisuke!"
Ken jerks out of his trance-like state. Kara is staring at him. "K- Kara, could you leave me alone for a bit?"
"Will I ever see you again?"
"I don't know. Please just go."
She nods slowly, then leaves. He hangs his head in his hands.
"Didn't you know? I knew for ages. She wouldn't let me tell you."
Ken jumps for the third time that evening. He'd forgotten about his annoying shadow, who has returned to him at a most awkward moment.
"Leave me alone." Says Ken with unusual bluntness.
The Kaiser flicks his nose. It hurts. Ken is surprised. Whenever the Kaiser touched him before, it simply went through him like a ghost. Now he seems, and looks more solid.
"Where've you been?"
The Kaiser is silent. His expression is blank for a moment, then he grins and says, "So it's Daisuke then?"
Ken blushes. "I...I guess so...What's it to you anyway?"
"Just something to make fun of you with."
Ken frowns. "Where did you go anyway?" He says, quickly changing the subject. The Kaiser remains silent with his eyes closed.
"She called me. So I went."
Neither of them say anything. The Kaiser sits down on the bed next to Ken. Ken is surprised to note that it dips slightly, and there are creases in the cover. "She is...beautiful. Isn't she?"
Silence again.
"Even though...Daisuke...I think I like her too." Ken sighs. He doesn't see how knowing his feelings will help him if all he can think about is Kaosumon. He gets up from the bed. "I have to go."
"...She will kill you. She will torture you and break you until you can't take it anymore, and then she will kill you." The Kaiser's voice is barely audible, and not recognizable as his own. Ken pauses, then leaves.
*
Over the next few days, Ken is visited by both the Kaiser and Kaosumon, but he does not return to the digital world until 5 days after he first did. Once more he is taken to her forsaken castle, and once again he talks to her daughter.
"I really like roses, don't you Ken?"
"Hm? Oh. I guess so."
Kara grabs his hand and pulls him towards the door. "Mama has lots of roses! Come on, come and see them!"
She leads him around the palace. He sees places he has never been to, yet seem to be in his memory. The Kaiser is nowhere around him. Kara leads Ken down a great glass corridor, shimmering in the sunlight that shines through the dead trees of the grounds. She takes him down a stone stairway and into the gardens.
For a moment, Ken cannot move or speak for the beauty. It is such a contrast from the cold interior and dead exterior of the castle. It is not actually outside; hard walls surround the colour of the flowers and the ceiling is arched. Ken takes his shoes off so he can feels the grass on his feet and lets Kara take him to the rose patch. She pushes aside a willow and he walks into a small grove with a pond and a fountain, surrounded by beautiful roses, red, white, yellow and pink. At the base of the fountain is a wreath of perfect black rose heads.
"They're so pretty! My favourites are the red ones."
Ken inhales deeply. The smell of all the flowers hits him like some kind of drug. He wanders lazily over to Kara and looks at the red roses. His mind is hazy, he cannot seem to process all his thoughts.
'Blood,' he thinks, 'they look like blood. I bet she would like them. If I give her one, maybe she'll like me more. She'll love me if I give her flowers.' He leans down and puts his fingers around a single stem, then plucks it gently.
By the time Ken returns to his home tomorrow, he does not remember much of the previous day. He remembers Kaosumon tried to hurt him, and that Kara went bad and hurt her back, trying to protect him. He remembers seeing Kara ruined, splinters of wood piercing the flowers and blood mixing in the pond. But apart from that, nothing.
He is now in his bed. He knows his parents. Everything about his life before Kaosumon has come back to him. The Kaiser is with him. Occasionally, he goes to her, but stays with him mostly. He is becoming harsher. Although he has returned to his translucent state, he verbally abuses Ken almost everyday, making him feel small and useless, and Ken finds he can no longer walk through the Kaiser like a ghost. He is solid. Kaosumon's warning about his true feelings lies forgotten. Until one day, one month later, when Daisuke takes him to a park and Kara comes back, fully restored, into his cold arms.