Net Nitro, Chapter 20; Netto-kun's Journal
In a dark room within a hotel, there were sounds of someone typing rapidly on a laptop computer. A pair of eyes watched the screen as information was called up, pictures and text flickering off and on within nanoseconds. A few sharp clicks of the mouse were heard before the user of the computer shut it down, taking it under an arm, and walking towards the door. The light from the outside hall would have blinded anybody who'd just emerged from a room of darkness. Anybody, except Enzan Ijuiin.
"I've got the information, Blues." A serious-looking Enzan said as he walked down the hall. He lifted the tattered blue bandana up to take a good look at it again. "This material item was handcrafted by the Hikari family of ACDC town. Interestingly, the NetNavi symbol is the same as the Navi Megaman's, who belongs to Netto 'Lan' Hikari." He peered down to look at his PET. "Draw up a map of ACDC, and pinpoint their house."
"Yes, Enzan-sama." the usual cool voice responded within the PET as Blues did as he was told to. Drawing up a map was easy. Soon, the house in question appeared on the screen, and he displayed it, without questioning his Operator's actions.
Enzan looked at the map on the screen, as if drawing it into his memory. He nodded, silently telling Blues to put it away.
"We're going to give this Netto Hikari a house call."
-- -- Netto's House -- --
Netto had just gotten home when the rain that had been going on for hours drizzled to a stop. "Just my luck!" he exclaimed, stepping in through the doorway and taking off his soaking wet shoes and socks. He looked like a drowned rat, and he'd been told that by everyone who managed to see the boy running like a blur for home. Clutching his PET and taking his backpack with him, he went upstairs, going past his mom who was watching soap operas on tv.
Netto walked into his bedroom, and the first thing he did was to change out of his wet clothes and into his pajamas. He wanted to be comfortable, so that was what he had in mind. He looked up, and saw that Megaman had already come out of the PET, and was sitting on the floor, legs crossed, and looking the other way. Obviously it was because he didn't want to watch him get dressed. Netto chuckled to himself, and went over to his bed, where he collapsed on top of it lazily. He chucked the journal underneath his pillow at the Navi, and Megaman caught it in midair. The blue and yellow journal had only a few pages left at the back, and he knew that what was left was much less than just 20 pages. More like 5.
"You go ahead and read it, Mega," Netto said with a big yawn as he pulled a sheet over himself, "I'm tired! I'm gonna take a nap." With that, he put his head down on the pillow.
"Are you absolutely SURE I can read this?" Megaman asked. Netto turned over and looked at him, a sleepy look on his face. "Megaman... if you don't want to read it then don't." He then turned back over and promptly went back to sleep. Megaman looked down at the book in his hands. He felt like he was going to violate Netto's privacy if he read, since that book contained all of his thoughts and writings. Did he really want to know what it contained?
'...I can't do it.' He thought to himself, laying the book down on his right side. It eventually found its way back into his hands, and he opened the front cover.
Five lines of song lyrics marked the title page of the journal, from a song by X-Japan called 'Crucify my Love'. He'd never heard of them before.
( Crucify my love... if my love is blind
Crucify my love... if it sets me free
Never know, never trust
"that love should see a color"
Crucify my love... if it should be that way )
He turned the next page.
"My dad's never home when I really want him to be. I always used to run home from school in the hopes of Mom telling me he's on his way for dinner, but he never made it. He always left me in charge of the house, and me and Mom would eat dinner alone, without him. I'm mad at him – it's as if his work is more important than us, his family. I understand that he's a very important man, but please, just once... I want to spend time with him. But ha... come on... it might take years before he could take a day off for that. I'll just wait, I suppose. I think I can do that.
I'm kinda a loner at school, you know... everyone else had these neat things that were popular and they always had friends to hang around with, go to movies, and stuff that normal people do for fun. One day, they had Tamagotchis, the next, new Nike shoes, and then more stuff would come out, and they'd have it. Most of them had allowances that allowed them to buy all that to stay on top of things... but I didn't. I couldn't really ask my parents to give me money... that'd make me sound greedy, and besides, they'd probably say something that'd convince me I didn't really need all that stuff. Well, that was before the PETs became really, really popular with everybody. Personal Exploration Terminals.
When I first saw one of the PETs, I nearly freaked. A program called a NetNavi was operated by the PETs' owner, and acted as an internet browser, battler and programmer, and a friend. You could talk to it, and it'd talk back to you. I really wanted one... I never thought I'd be able to get one for myself. But I did! Recalling it, it seemed I was pretty lucky. I must have been. Though the PET store I got it from was operated by World Three (I only found this out until much later), I'd received a PET. It was unfortunately in need of major repair, and inoperable.
Mom wanted me to throw it out at first... she claimed the PET was broken and defective, since it was pretty battered when I got it. I normally listened to her, but then, I just didn't for some reason... It makes me think if I was psychic... if I'd listened to her, I'd never have met him – you know, Megaman.
In total, there were three things that'd tried preventing me from meeting him: the battered PET, Mom, and the condition of him when I first activated the PET.
But seriously...my life changed the day I woke up, met with a pair of sparkling green-emerald eyes. At first I thought those eyes would leave me... but here they are following me. You'd think something like this would creep me out but... it's made me stronger... and now I don't know what to do.
I have to write this stuff down before I explode. My Navi Megaman just gave me this journal and I know it's for a good reason... does he know that I can express my feelings better on paper than I can using my voice? Well it seems that way anyway..."
Megaman considered this. Maybe he'd guessed that's why he'd gotten Netto the journal... it was mainly to give him a place to write in without having him getting into trouble. Netto was a writer, so it made that much more sense.
"Some things I just can't explain right. And others just come out really screwed up. But back to the subject here... the main subject."
Megaman turned the page to come face to face with a simple sketch of himself sleeping against a bed, arms crossed and head down on his chest, a blanket draped over his shoulders.
"I can't stop staring at him dozing off... so I figured, why not draw him and let my mind get off of him for once...
You see... he's... much more than just a NetNavi I operate. Some people don't get that, that NetNavis can be just as equal to us human beings. They've got our emotions, feelings... like our potential alter egos.
Off the subject a moment... my mind's drifting so many places, that I want to write everything I'm thinking of down all at once."
Megaman turned the page again, somewhere near towards the middle of the journal. A drawing of a knight was running up the hill towards a tall tower, and Netto was locked in it at the very top. It was just a scribble though. And no explanation in sight...
"He keeps blaming himself for things he's not in control of. I know that he has a lot of problems that he wants to solve by himself, and I want to help him...but I just can't do that. He doesn't want me to.
It nearly destroyed me to hear my knight in shining armor say and believe so strongly that he wasn't good enough. When he told me when we first met that he was a reject NetNavi... that hurt me so much, hearing him say it over time. It's not his fault; he'd been told that, and he believes it must be the truth. I forgot who he'd said told that to him... the Net-something or another..."
( 'til the loneliness shadows the sky
I'll be sailing down, and I will know
I'll know I can clear clouds away
Oh... is it a crime to love? )
"How come everyone is against us? Even when we had just met... my mother wouldn't stand for it. Like she didn't want us to meet or get acquianted with each other. I don't understand, is love dangerous?!
I don't think my dad has found out. If he did, everything would be scrapped and over. Megaman wouldn't even exist anymore anywhere! Or else he'd be an escaped fugitive and I'd be a runaway. You see, my dad created NetNavis, and he's the one who set the boundaries. 'NetNavis are tools to get Cyber-World jobs and tasks done. They can also become friends to their Operators and to other Navis, as well as programs, but it is forbidden for the relationship between Operator and Navi to exceed that of their roles.' ...I'm not going to give up what I've got with Megaman. But I don't want to ever fight with my father... and I'm afraid that he'll break me and Megaman apart, and for good. We've been separated a lot of times before already. And... I don't want that pain to be caused by my father."
The journal ended off with that, other random thoughts scribbled in on the remaining pages, referring to ex-friends Maylu and Yai and Dex. But he wasn't reading the journal to know about that; he would only look at the stuff that revolved around himself and his Operator...
"Netto-kun..." Megaman called softly. "Oi, Netto-kun..." But the tired boy was sleeping soundly. Mega decided that he didn't really want him to wake up...
Closing the book, he got up from the carpeted floor. Climbing in the bed next to his Operator, Megaman clutched the journal close to himself. Closing his eyes, he too fell asleep, a smile across his face as if joining Netto in his dreams.
>>>> next chapter!