Wow, I wrote this one quickly! I dunno why, I guess I was just inspired... Thank you all for your kind comments, they mean a lot to me. It's nice to know that people are enjoying my little story. :-)
Y'know, I'm actually a bit embarrassed to say it, but this is the first fanfic which I have really thought about carefully before I put pen to paper (if you follow my meaning). Rest assured, Everything that is happening serves a purpose, which includes Tai's scars, so don't worry- by the plan, the stories of him on the island should start to appear during the next chapter or so. And each will be relevant in displaying the moral of the story, as it were.
Well, go ahead and take a gander, and let me know what you think!
p.s. I think I should let you know, I'm English, which is why I say 'mum' rather than 'mom', and 'football' rather than 'soccer'. I tried using the American-English words, but didn't feel comfortable with them, so I stuck to what I knew. It makes no real difference to the story however, so it's no biggie.
CHAPTER 4: PROVE IT
The next five days were calm if one could count out the news crews who occasionally knocked on the apartment door, or followed them when they went out. They had kept doing so to a minimum- 'food only' was the way, the only reason to step out of the safety of the doorway, apart from the third day. That whole day had been dedicated by Kari, TK and Davis to buying a few more items of clothing for Tai, as well as catering for his own personal needs- shaver and cream, deodorant, even hair gel (which Davis had insisted on buying for a reason beyond him). Taichi was on his way to re-entering society.
There had been quite a nice 'bonus' of sorts, when the airline which had owned the crashed plane, American Airlines, had got into contact with them. They had sent a donation (which they had made rather public of course) in the form of a cheque payable to the castaway. He had opened a bank account with TK's help, into which it had all been placed, ready to be put to use to set him up for life. They had been quite generous too- he could probably live comfortably for a couple of years without having to work. But then Tai wanted to work sooner or later- he didn't need to be stranded in a flat, left only with his thoughts. He'd had more than enough time alone.
Thus, his two flatmates had been around all the time. He had asked about their work, only to find that TK worked partially from home as a novelist as well as being a part time worker on the local council switch boards, and that Kari worked in the local primary school- both had been given leave for 'family matters'. He was pleased at hearing this- it was nice to be around family once again.
Which brought up a very interesting question.
"Kari," the scarred man said as he walked into the kitchen area of his sister's apartment that morning after exchanging greetings with the girl, "how are mum and dad?"
Kari stopped at the counter, putting down the kettle she had been using to prepare their morning coffee. She didn't answer for quite some time, and Tai realised quickly that this was not going to be pretty.
"They... died about a year and a half ago. It was a car accident, on a slippery road, they hit a lorry, and..."
She turned to look at her brother, expecting to see him saddened by the news. To her surprise, he looked rather indifferent- almost like he had expected it. Kari had pieced together since his return that this Tai, though far more patient than he once had been, was certainly not one to beat around the bush when it came to matters of importance. What he was showing now was going to be what he felt.
But to feel nothing?
So, she asked him.
"Tai? Aren't you... sad?"
He paused, then said quietly,
"I don't know. I suppose I suspected it. I'm not sure of how to explain it, but I suppose that I was as dead to them as they were to me, so in a way..."
"You've already grieved?" she finished.
"Yes. And no. I never spent too much time thinking of people as dead, but I didn't think of anyone as alive either. It was just that you, mum, dad, and the rest of the Digidestined were somewhere else. Somewhere I could, perhaps, get to if I tried."
"...you wanted to see us again?"
"I had no will to see the rest of the Digidestined again. Please do not misunderstand me Kari, I wanted to see those who I knew cared about me, not those who forgot. You, TK, Davis too... But not Sora, nor Matt, Mimi, Izzy..."
"Why? After you... went, they all came to the funeral. They all missed you, they all felt guilty-"
"Which is why I don't want to see them. Kari, being guilty is no reason for me to believe that I can trust them again. Once they feel better, they will just go away again."
Kari found herself at a loss for words at that. He had changed, he seemed so wise. Obviously, he had thought about many things on his island and as well as making him so much more serious and patient, it had apparently given him the ability of foresight. And, by the sounds of it, he knew exactly what he was talking about.
"So what are you going to do? What do you want from them?"
"If they turn up, then I will ask of them a question. And, depending on their answer, I will know if I can trust them."
He was quiet as he looked her in the eye. After a moment, he spoke again.
"Could I see their graves?"
She was thrown for a moment by the swift change of topic, before realising that he was referring to their parents.
"Of course, Tai. The school has given me another week off after this one, so we can go anytime."
"Thank you," he said with a smile. She mirrored it, before pushing the unpleasant memories from her mind. Of course, with her 'dead' brother standing before her, doing so was much easier than it once had been, and for that she was thankful.
"Anything going to happen today?" he asked, as he turned and took a seat at the table in the main room.
"Well," TK said as he walked out of the master bedroom to join them, whilst pulling a shirt over his head (much to the annoyance of his wife), "Every week on Tuesday we meet at Davis' café for a beer or two and catch up on the latest events. Do you want to come?"
"Who will be there?"
"Well, Kari and me," he said as he walked to his wife and took two of the mugs of coffee she presented to him. After setting one down in front of the older man, he continued, "plus Sora and sometimes Davis."
"Is that all?"
"Well, yeah, unless one of the guys is passing through. They're scattered all over the world now with different jobs... and actually, speaking of them, surely they have heard about you on the news by now. Perhaps they will make contact?"
Tai said nothing, opting to contemplate the bubbles in his caffeine filled drink instead. Dealing with a guilty Sora was bad enough... He really did not feel up to seeing them just yet.
Still, he would go. He had a dislike of staying indoors for a long period of time, and would enjoy going out for a while.
"I'll go," he said. TK and Kari looked relieved.
"Tai," his sister said, "I think before we go you should take the bandages of you hand, they look like they're cutting off your blood..."
He frowned, looking at his bandages limb, realising that it was trembling again. 'No,' he thought, not the blood...'
"Don't worry Kari. I will."
She smiled pleasantly as she came to the table to eat breakfast with them, before launching a conversation with the two men about the news of the day. Tai did not forget about her request however, and began to bide his time and wait for the right moment to ask a favour of TK. That moment came after about fifteen minutes, when she went to the master bedroom for some reason that he did not care to know. What was useful though was that they had been talking about the weather, which was beginning to cool- winter was coming.
"Takeru," he said casually, and waited for the younger man's questioning look. It only took a moment. "Do you have any old gloves that I could use? My hands get cold easily."
"Sure Tai!" he replied cheerfully in between bites of toast. "I have a pretty decent pair of ones that I used to use, they should fit you fine. I'll get them before we go today, I mean, we don't want you getting cold in this weather, do we?"
"Thank you," Tai answered, followed by taking a sip of coffee from his mug using both hands. This was, of course, for a reason- he had found long ago that keeping his right hand warm seemed to calm it down, even if it did still twitch on occasion. But there was no point in alerting anyone to it- after all, the doctor had said that nothing could be done to repair it.
"Um, Tai?" Takeru asked, "What do you think about... Y'know, Kari and me? You used to be so protective of her, I thought that you were gonna kill me in the hospital..." he trailed off with a nervous laugh.
Tai raised an eyebrow.
"I was."
TK blinked in surprise, and Tai continued as a dangerous grin touched his lips.
"Well, I was going kill whoever it was. There was just one exception- you." He levelled a finger at the other, to emphasise his point. "You are the only person who I think is good enough for her. You are the only person who I think can protect her. And, you are the only person I know she likes romantically."
"...huh?"
Tai leaned back, and regarded his confused companion with mild amusement.
"Oh, don't deny it. I know that you two were going out before all of this started."
TK was starting to blush.
"I don't mind, Takeru. I just... Have one request."
"Uh, sure Tai. What is it?"
He signalled the younger man to move closer, and they lent towards each other over the table. Tai spoke in a hushed tone, as though he were relaying a secret that he wanted no one else to know.
"Next time you... you know... Can you try and keep the noise down?"
He couldn't help but laugh as TK shot back, toast forgotten, his face almost instantly turning crimson, whilst trying to splutter some reasonable answer.
----------
A few hours passed, and soon Tai found himself following his sister and her husband to Davis' café. He had asked if Davis owned the place, to which the other two had simply laughed as though he had meant the question as a joke. Which meant that, no, Davis did not own the café... but then, Tai wouldn't have expected him to anyway. For him to own such a place was a little far fetched... Not that the kid was a bad person, of course. He just was a bit daft with his decisions.
Still, that was Davis.
Tai felt naked, for lack of a better term, without the gauntlet-like bandage up his right arm. Instead he had a black fingerless glove which, whilst not his ideal item, did it's job. As long as he covered the palm of his hand, then he was okay- what he did so with didn't matter too much.
There was a slight flaw in this plan, however. Six years of scratching a living out of the land and rock had caused him to develop a mindset that if it wasn't necessary to use something, then he wouldn't use it. In this case, it wasn't necessary to wear the left glove, for his hands were not cold, nor did he have anything to hide there. The odd thing was that he wanted to wear it as part of his cover, but he just couldn't. He felt like it was almost a crime to waste the item.
So he just wore the right glove, and hoped that no one would notice.
They arrived at the café in good time, moving over to a corner table by a window to avoid the looks from other customers as the castaway from the news appeared before them. Tai sat with the glass to his left, and Kari on his right, whilst TK plopped down over the other side of the table. Davis soon turned up with a grin plastered on his face.
"Greetings, good sirs, and Madame," he said with an exaggerated bow in Kari's direction.
"Hello Davis," TK replied, mirroring his grin. "What are you doing over here? I didn't know that you got waiters in here."
"Heh, not until recently. It's the boss' idea, he thinks that we'll get more customers if we act more 'professional'. I don't mind, it's more interesting than standing behind the till all day. Plus, it's so much more social!"
"Great! Who knows, maybe now you will find a girlfriend!"
"Ah shaddap," the goggle wearing boy said. "So how are things, Tai? What's it like to be home?"
"Nice," he replied. "It is strange, I mean, everything is so different now... But it is nice to be back with my family and you, my friend."
"Used you hair gel yet?"
"Umm... Not yet, I haven't had a need."
"Ah, I bet you will soon. The ladies love a bit 'o gel."
"So why don't they go out with you?" TK asked innocently.
"All-RIGHT! Enough with the comments on my love life already!" Davis said in exasperation, as the other three chuckled at his state. However, they all fell silent when a quiet cough from behind the newly appointed waiter got their attention.
Davis stepped to the side, revealing a certain red-haired and red-eyed young woman, who was wearing a brave smile, yet was also trying to remain composed, as one facing their fear would do.
"Hello Sora!" TK, Kari and Davis said in three various ways. Tai, in the manner that he had taken since he had returned, simply looked at her, as if questioning her presence.
"Hey, um, guys," Davis said, "I'm still getting used to this waiter stuff, and uh, I've left the menus back at the counter... Um, TK, Kari, could you come and... Help me get them? Or something?"
"Sure!" the two exclaimed at the same time, thankful for Davis' poor (although convenient) excuse for them to leave Tai and Sora alone. They all but leapt from the table and disappeared further into the café, Davis trailing behind them in surprise at their speed.
Tai did not look at her, but he heard her sigh and sit directly across from her. It was then that he realised that his hand was trembling again, so slowly began to rub it with his other to calm it down.
"Hello Tai," she said quietly. He raised his eyes to her, and looked at her in his now usual manner.
"Sora," he replied flatly in greeting.
"You look well..."
"Kari took me shopping. It's all thanks to her, really."
"Oh... I bet you're glad to be with her again, huh?"
"Yes."
They were silent for a while. Sora was nervously playing with her hands, feeling uncomfortable at that she could not think of a thing to say to her old friend. Tai, on the other hand, was used to such pauses, and so leant back in his chair and crossed his arms. They remained that way, until Sora could stand it no longer.
"Listen, Tai, I... I want to say, I mean that... I'm... Sorry, for all that's happened, and-"
"Don't be," he cut her off. "I'm not."
"But... I feel so bad, so guilty about it all, I mean I was supposed to be your best friend..."
"Yes. You were."
"...do you hate me?" she asked, lowering her gaze. He responded by leaning forward, and resting his elbows upon the table. His hands laced together beneath his chin, and he fixed his eyes on her, before saying,
"Hate you? No. I can't hate you."
Her head shot up, hope sparking in her eyes, but he spoke again before she could even open her mouth.
"But, I don't trust you either."
He could see the hope fading, but he ignored it. He had to tell her this- she deserved to know.
"Listen to me, Sora. You were once my best friend. I trusted you with my life on many occasions, but after that Christmas-" he could see she knew what she meant "- you drifted from me. You must understand that I did not hate you for choosing Matt over me, I never did, but you moved further and further away."
"But I broke up with him!" she spluttered, but he seemed to ignore her as he continued.
"After a year... I didn't feel like I knew you anymore. It was the same with all of the others, all apart from Takeru, Davis, and of course Kari.
"Because of this, I trust them, and only them. I do not feel that I can trust anyone else. So, until I feel that I can, I do not want to pursue any sort of relationship with you, nor anyone else."
"But Tai! Can't you see, can't you see how much I care for you?!"
"Let me ask you a question, Sora. Answer carefully. Do you care for me?"
"Of course! I just said I did..."
"Prove it."
That completely stumped the girl. She may have expected many things, but certainly not that. Prove that she cared? How? What could she do?
"I... I can't, I don't know how..."
"I know," he said quietly. "Only when you find the answer, will I know that you truly do."
Sora's head dropped, hiding her eyes beneath her shoulder-length hair. Tai relaxed form his serious posture, raising his head to look in the direction the other three had gone. He saw Kari looking over at them in concern, and made a motion with his head to signal that it was okay for them to come back. She did so, TK in tow, followed by Davis who was holding four cans of beer. They sat down quietly, trying to kill off the tense air by acting calm.
Sora raised her head when a can of beer was placed before her, wiping her eyes with her arm, but not before Tai noticed that they were moist. He had, apparently, nearly set her crying, and for that he felt a pang of anger at himself. But it was quickly fought down whilst he made a mental note to be a bit nicer. He wasn't a monster, after all.
"Hey," Sora said, putting on a smile and forcing her voice to be steady. "I wanted to tell you guys that I'm in a show on Saturday."
"Oh!" Kari said, "To show your latest designs?"
"Yeah. I'm nervous though, judging by my reputation this will be my last chance to make it big."
"What is it you do?" Tai asked. The best way to cheer her up, he figured, was to take an interest in what she was doing, and by the way her face lit up he was right.
"Oh, I'm a clothes designer. I sell stuff through the Internet, but it's really hard to get recognition, so I've been entering into fashion shows- you know, with a catwalk. I figured that it was the best way to go, but it hasn't really helped much."
"I don't understand it," Davis said as he scribbled something down on his 'waiters' notepad'. "Your stuff is great, I mean if I was a girl, I'd buy some."
"I know... But there always seems to be a problem when someone buys something from me. Like it falls apart after a day."
"Well, I'm sure you'll do better this time." Kari said reassuringly. "I mean, your new designs are the best I've seen..."
Tai leaned back once again as the conversation continued, only half listening. It was interesting to listen to the people he's known last as teenagers talk about adult matters, something which he was supposed to be doing, and would be doing, had he not gotten onto that plane...
"I wanted to ask," Sora was saying when he turned his attention back to them fully, "if you guys would come to the show with me. I could use the support... You don't have to of course, but-"
"Sure we'll go!" Kari exclaimed, and TK nodded in agreement.
"I'm in," Davis said, before dropping a note before TK. "And that's the bill for the beer, sir."
As TK reached for his wallet with a scowl at the bill (he was sure it had gone up since last time), Kari and Sora looked over at Taichi. He nodded at the unspoken question.
"Great!" Sora said. "If we can meet outside the concert hall at about 6pm then?"
"Sure, that will be fine," Kari said with a smile whilst picking a can of beer form the ones Davis had placed on the table. "It'll be fun!"
Sora smiled as she took another for herself.
"Hey, I gotta go," Davis said as he stuffed his notepad into his pocket. "More customers. I'll be there too, so don't go in without me, okay?"
With that, the goggle-wearing young man waved and headed back towards the counter. TK waved back, before pushing a can of beer towards Tai.
"Beer?" he said questioningly.
"Yeah, beer!" Takeru said cheerfully. "You have had some, right?"
"No, I never got the chance."
Ignoring the wide-eyed disbelieving looks he was receiving from his companions, he made to pop the ring-pull. He succeeded eventually, though with some difficulty due to his six-year lack of experience with them, and carefully sniffed at the newly created hole in the can.
"It smells like urine," he declared.
TK laughed and said,
"Ah don't worry about that. You won't notice after a while!"
Tai looked at him suspiciously, before taking a swig of the stuff. He barely stopped himself from spitting it back out again.
"Jeez! It tastes like it too!"
After Tai had managed to get rid of his beer (which TK had taken with little complaint) and gain a class of water as a replacement, conversation had flowed with a minimal amount of uncomfortable silence. Tai learnt many things about nothing, and nothing about many things, seeing as most topics did not yet concern him. He had become a careful listener on his island, however, so he certainly listened out for anything that, one day, may have been useful.
Among such things were where the other Digidestined were. Matt was still with his band, and had apparently hit it big about four years ago. He was currently on tour. Izzy and Mimi were dating, the computer whiz having moved to America to continue some computing degree. He had stayed with her, and things had gone -quite well- from there. Joe was now a doctor trainee, and excelled at his work. He was practically in control of his own practice on the outskirts of Hiroshima. Jun had followed him, and was currently staying with him and though obsessive as she was, it was questionable as to whether or not they were romantically involved.
The newer Digidestined were just as varied. Ken had gone to Tokyo, obeying the strong sense of justice he had developed during his time as the Digimon Emperor to become a policeman. He was still training for it, but his goal, evidently, was to become a detective, where he could put his smarts to use. Yolei had begun to go out with him a few years back, taking advantage of how they were destined for the same city- she had been accepted at Tokyo University, much to her delight. It had taken a number of years, but she had stuck with it, and eventually had passed the entrance exam. Cody, the youngest, and perhaps wisest of them all had displayed an interest in Law. He had turned eighteen not to long ago, and would soon be studying it at University, but right now he was travelling around Japan with his grandfather as part of his Kendo training.
But that was not everything. Tai had not feigned his interest in Sora's business, after all, when he was little he had always wondered what she would do when she was older. Of course at the time, he had always assumed that she would work in her mothers' flower shop, or become a star football player.
She had started four years ago, when she had just turned nineteen. She would make some garments, simple things really, and sell them through local newspapers and the Internet. She soon became rather popular, and eventually caught the attention of lower levels of the Japanese fashion world. She'd made a good sum of money, and had become a regular customer of a clothes manufacturer, led by a man named Aoba.
Aoba's business wasn't big, just a single warehouse in which a number of men and women worked for him at sowing machines all day. The output was always good quality, and came reasonably quickly too. He was an odd man, 31 years old, forever lost in past pop songs and his air guitar. His shoulder-length hair didn't help the image, and even though he was friendly enough, Kari and TK had branded him as a little strange. Like a kid, who had never grown up.
Also, Sora had developed a contender who went by the name of Mana Kirishima. She looked a lot like Sora, with short red hair and a similar figure, and had naturally become a form of rival (a friendly rival, of course, because Sora -the Bearer of the Crest of Love- hated the idea of having an enemy). They had often competed during shows, but Mana had always won out the best deals and gained the best publicity, as Sora gradually declined. It had got worse as of late, and it appeared that Sora was losing her talent at creating clothes- her last few designs had quickly developed a number of faults, being tears and the like. Thankfully, it had not happened when her models were on the catwalk, but the businessmen HAD seen the errors after the show.
The result was that she was quickly losing money, and her reputation was going down the drain. Like she had said, the show on the coming Saturday was her last chance.
But Tai pushed this from his mind as the group turned to other topics, and he remained content to listen rather than make his voice heard.
It was out of character in comparison to the old Tai, he knew. But still, he thought with half-felt regret, 'many things change.'
----------
Kari frowned at Sora's apartment door, as she dug out her keys from her pocket. She did not know why she was here- Sora had phoned about half an hour ago, asking for her to come over, and to bring TK and Taichi with her. The older woman hadn't explained why, just that it was important.
And here they were.
Kari had knocked, a number of times, but no one had answered. This had the effect of getting the trio a little concerned (two of them visibly, the oldest retaining a calm cover). So, she had reverted to the back-up plan, using the spare key that Sora had given her when she had bought the flat.
She eventually found it in the pocket of her jeans, and subconsciously pulled her jacket closer around her. It was a cold evening, and she was not the only one who felt it- TK was in his own blue jacket, accompanied with jeans and a black sweater, and Tai was in the deep green long coat she had given him. He looked used to the cold, wearing only the jeans, trainers and crimson shirt she had provided when he had arrived nearly a week ago. She knew that he liked the coat- she had picked it from TK's old clothes, thinking that he would be reminded of the blue trench coat he had owned so many years ago.
And he wore a glove on his right hand.
Kari inserted the key into the lock, twisted it, and pushed open the front door. The three were presented with a dark hallway, which was confusing- why would Sora call them over, then go out without a word?
The brown-haired woman walked forwards carefully, brother and husband in tow. They stopped and fanned out upon reaching the main room.
"Where is she?" TK asked. Tai made no move to reply, instead looking around with a frown touching his features. Kari opened her mouth to speak, when suddenly she was cut off by a loud cry, which appeared to come from all around them.
"SURPRISE!!!"
The call was accompanied by the apartment lights blazing into existence, causing the three to shield their eyes for a moment. When they were able to see again, they were met by the sight of a number of familiar people, who had just leapt from various hiding spots around the room. Kari gasped, TK blinked, and Tai's eyes widened.
To Tai, everything became a blur of light and colour. He suddenly felt encircled, trapped, before realising that someone was giving him a hug. He could see two others coming towards him, and another watching from further away. But by the voices, he was sure that there were more, somewhere.
After a moment, his senses returned to him, and his mind began to process what was going on. He looked at the newly appeared people, and recognised them as older versions of those he had once called friends.
Matt was the one who had been hugging him. Izzy and Mimi were approaching him, grinning broadly. Davis was off to one side, looking quite uncomfortable- as though he was hoping for something, but didn't expect it. A purple-haired girl, who could only be Yolei, was giving him a beaming smile. A tall, intelligent looking man –Ken- was by her side. Sora was standing at the doorway to the kitchen looking calm but happy and another girl was by her, one with brown hair whom he did not know.
It was a party... A party?!
No!
Tai forcefully took a step back, pushing them away from him whilst yelling something defiantly. He didn't know what he said, but it was of no concern to him.
"What? Tai?" Matt said, looking confused.
"Get away! What is this, what are you doing?!"
"It's a party, you know, to celebrate you coming back to us!"
"No! I... I don't want this!" Ignoring the shocked looks on the faces of those before him, and the scared look on those he had spoken to over the past few days, he continued.
"I don't want your attention! I don't desire it, I don't need it! You ignored me before- what, what does this prove?"
He looked sharply at Sora, causing her to take a step back.
"It this your answer, Sora? Is this your proof?" he shouted, referring to what he had asked of her earlier that day.
"Tai, what's wrong?" Mimi asked, trying to calm the situation down. "Don't you want us here?"
"No! Not like this!" he staggered backwards, inching towards the doorway. "You are just here to try to reassure me! But, but it isn't real- you don't care! Do you really think that throwing a party will let me trust you again?"
"Tai!" Matt snapped, a result of his short temper. "You can't talk to us like this! Some of us have had to fly for twelve hours to get here-"
"And I've had to fight for my life for the past six years with just the thoughts of abandonment by my friends to keep me company!" he shot back. "Don't ever try to win me over with booze and fun! Is that all I am worth to you?" he yelled, before turning in disgust and running from the apartment.
There was utter, terrible silence, which hung in the air like the spectre of death. But Kari did not wait to see what would happen, instead turning and running after her brother, leaving TK to defuse the situation inside.
----------
"It looks like your guess was correct after all, Joe," a black-haired young man said quietly from within a car parked outside the apartment complex.
"I can't help but feel bad about that," the older man answered, watching as a tall man with wild hair and a short beard strode from the building, a smaller girl following him. "I was hoping that I'd have been wrong..."
"Even if that doesn't happen often, right?" Said a third, a female, leaning in from the back seat of the car.
"Well no one's perfect, Jun."
"Reliable, though. I can always rely on you two."
"Well, that is our trait."
"True Cody, very true."
The three were silent as they watched the drama play before them. The girl, who they recognised as Kari, stopped the man and tried to talk him into going back and apologising for yelling. He simply refused as he moved into the light of a streetlamp.
None of them could help but feel a small degree of happiness touch them as they recognised the aged Taichi Kamiya. It was just a shame that they could not have seen him under better circumstances.
"They must have gone through with the party," Joe said. "I told Matt that it was a bad idea, but he had to go and do it anyway..."
"What do you think we should do?" Cody asked.
"For now? Nothing. Interrupting now would just make things worse. Besides, Kari has already calmed him down," the doctor replied as he gestured to the two, who were now hugging. Apparently, they had finished their argument, which was a small relief. Joe continued,
"We should wait. We don't want to swamp him like they just did. Instead, I think we should seek him out, rather than luring him into a... 'Trap'."
"He won't feel pressured then," Cody added with a nod.
"Give it a couple of days then?" Jun asked.
"Yeah. Then... We can talk to him. We can show him that we care, that way."
"You've really been thinking about this a lot, haven't you?" the girl asked.
"All the time."