A/N: And here is the second chapter as I promised. I don't really know what I should say now in the beginning other than to enjoy and review so I'll just leave you to read this. :)

The first file: New world, new life

Sub-file two: Adjusting

It burnt. Or was freezing cold. So cold it felt like burning… Lari wasn't sure. But it did hurt a lot and the swirl of Technicolor rainbow didn't help the matters at all.

"Jade didn't go through this… She just walked in." The boy gritted through his teeth as another wave of pain hit him. But maybe the difference came from him forcing his way through the portal(or whatever it was) from the First World and not being pulled in to the DC World. (A/N: I mean that the command came from Lari and not from the person using the machine in DC World.)

Suddenly the boy felt a prickling feeling in the tips of his fingers. A similar feeling than when staying in bath for a long time and your skin going all wrinkly. The feeling spread to his whole body and when looking at his hands, Lari could see them shrinking in his eyes. Or then it was the Technicolor background making tricks to his eyes.

Light in the end of tunnel. Lari could see it. He was practically flying towards it.

Bang

The sound was only in his ears and the boy hoped his eardrums weren't busted now. And that – that and the hope he was in the right place and time – were the last thoughts he had before fainting.

"…-ke up. Oi, kid, wake up!" Someone was poking Lari on the side. The boy groaned and rolled on his stomach. His whole body was still aching. He clenched and unclenched his hands experimentally. There was some grass beneath him. It was tickling his cheek. Then he blinked slowly. His laptop was lying on the ground next to his backpack.

"Hey, I told you to wake up!" The same voice than from before told the boy. Lari squeezed his eyes shut and when opening them, stated:

"I'm awake." When his voice had become so high? Wait… had the shrinking really been just an illusion or…

Lari sat up quickly. So quickly that his head began feel dizzy. He grabbed his head with his both hands and tried to push the dizziness away. At that he noticed how hard it was to move, like something was weighting him down. Slowly, he lowered his arms… to see his shirt(even with rolled up sleeves) reach his wrists.

"Wha-?"

"Yeah, you have oversized clothes. Great observation, kid." The voice on his right continued. Lari looked at the person speaking. It was a young man dressed in a black cap and jacket with a green t-shirt and grey jeans. His eyes were deep green and hair was platinum blonde, reaching his mid-back and pulled on a low ponytail. Just like a teenage version of…

"Sanjuu?"

Ishikawa Yamato blinked, taken aback by the sudden recognition. Then he leant forward to examine Lari's face.

"Could it be… That you are Hibiki?" He frowned. Lari nodded.

"Though I have no idea why you call me that…" The boy reached to take his laptop. It still had open the page of Yamato's/Sanjuu's message. "You wrote this, right?"

"Yes, as soon as I was able to do basic coding. Your sister brought me here, into a world I don't exactly belong and where I have no friends she created for me… Even Renkon is missing."

"So you decided to bring me here? Because your would-be-fiancée isn't in the same world with you?" Lari scoffed.

"You came on your own. I just helped you to the beginning." Yamato retorted. "Which brings me to my next point… Why do you look like that? Weren't you supposed to be seventeen or something?"

"Apparently my arrival to this world was more complicated than I believed… I tried to come ten years earlier but it seems I was de-aged instead…"

"…What is the year your sister is in now?"

"Somewhere around 2011 I guess…"

"Well, if that's the case…" Yamato got up from his cross-legged position and brushed his hands against his jeans. "You are in the right time. More or less."

"I am?" Lari looked up from packing his laptop into his backpack.

"Yes. Ever since I came here, I've been keeping an eye on Kudou Shinichi. Discreetly of course since I'm still not out of the organization. I don't want my brother start targeting him ahead of time." The young man shrugged and stuffed his hands to his pockets. "You coming?" He nodded his head towards the city. Now Lari noted for the first time his surroundings: it was some sort of a simple grassy field outside the big centers of Tokyo.

"Ah, yeah…" The boy scrambled on his feet and tried to hurry to Yamato, succeeding only to faceplant due his now too big clothes. Yamato sighed and crouched to pick up the boy. Lari didn't protest the man's decision to carry him but it didn't make it any less humiliating.

"Say…" Lari began when he was buckled on the passenger seat of a black Toyota RAV4. "How much do you know about the… future plot? The events that'll take place in ten years?"

"Not too much, since I should be considered as a canon character though I'm not. I only know the main outline of 'the story'." Yamato started up the engine. "I guess I was lucky to find you then."

"How did you find me then?" The boy frowned while hugging his backpack protectively.

"I got a message to my pager."

"A pager?" Lari repeated in amusement. Right, it was ten years earlier. Of course they wouldn't have cellphones but pagers.

"A problem, geek?" Yamato shot a glare at the boy.

"G-Geek? I'm not a geek!" The non-kid spluttered.

"Yes, you are since you managed to hack your way here."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are."

"…Say, what were you telling me about Kudou Shinichi earlier?" Lari decided to change the topic of discussion since there was no way he'd win that argument. Instead he turned to look out of the window. Lights flashed past them in the darkened city.

"He is about to start in Teitan Elementary soon with his friend Mouri Ran. What do you think?" Yamato glanced at the boy for a second before turning his gaze back to the road.

"What to think about what?"

Yamato gave out an exaggerated sigh. "Seriously? You are honestly asking that? I'm practically screaming it in your face: what if you'd go and attend Teitan Elemantary along with those two? It'd help you establish connections and trust for your future plans."

"Sounds reasonable. But we need to prepare first a bit."

"Yeah, your hair must be dyed and I need to get you papers. Not to mention buying you a school uniform." The last sentence was said with a hint – no, a load of – glee.

"No school uniform! They aren't using those in Teitan Elementary!" Lari protested immediately.

"I know~!" Yamato laughed. He calmed down quickly though. "Have you thought about an alias yet?"

"Actually I have." Lari smirked. "I hate the name Iruka that Jade has used on me sometimes so… Just to piss her off I'm going to use the name Midorikawa Shugo."

The car swerved dangerously.

"Hey!"

"Mi-Midorikawa… Shugo?" Yamato whispered.

"He doesn't exist, does he? And I've heard that some of his personality traits were based on me." The boy shrugged. "Besides… I'm good at hacking, just like him."

"I shall refrain from commenting…"

Adjusting to the new life in Tokyo, in Yamato's cramped apartment, wasn't easy. Lari – named now Shugo – had to learn how to act more childishly and the difference in the times wasn't easy for him either. The height difference he could endure but the laggy internet connection was beyond his patience. More than once or twice he had swept everything off the table he had placed his laptop on. It didn't help the matters that Yamato couldn't stop snickering at that behavior, saying it was perfect for a brat like him.

"Shut up…" Shugo growled.

"C'mon, Shuu-chan, smile." The nineteen-year-old male was holding a camera. "Or don't smile. This pic will be hilarious…"

And the boy's grumpy face was preserved into a film(A/N: no digital cameras).

A/N: And this is done! What do you think? I bet you didn't expect this turn of event. :D

Replies to Reviews(I so happy I got three of them from solely the first chapter!):

-Shiny Sylveon:
I am. I hope you liked this chapter.

-Lutias'Kokopelli:
Really? That's brilliant! I chose the alias for Lari by simply going to Google and searching for Japanese alcohol. And I wanted ti to be a whiskey since... well, Rye, Bourbon, Scotch... they are all whiskeys. :D
Well...

I don't know how to answer, I'm feeling scatter-brained at the moment. I thank you for you review and opinions. As you can see from this chapter, there'll be a lot of pre-chapter's before I can even start catching up with Dream or Not. Thankfully(as you pointed out) I have more freedom with this fic unlike with DoN since that one has to follow the plot and I need to be careful with that one. But here, I can play around in the background and with already established plot points. While I rather not tell anything about the plot this early in advance, you can be assured that Lari/Shuugo will meet a lot of people in the next ten chapters or so.
Thank you. :D

-kujyou12:
Thank you. :)