Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or anything related to it.

Note:

I do own some of the OCs that will appear later on and also some of the digimon designs. I intend to use all ten legendary spirits and have created designs for four extra spirits.

Also, I am not putting all characters in one place because the place gets crowded. I am also not putting Takuya with Tai from start, as in many stories. Takuya lives in Shibuya as canon. I also moved some of frontier characters to different locations. Some characters will friends outside digidestined circle because that's realistic. I hopes that don't bother you.

When Hikari woke up that fateful morning in the third week of May, she had no reason to believe that her life would turn upside down once more by the end of the day. Even the dream she had didn't give her any such indication. It was a fairly ordinary one. She could only remember bits of that dream. She was wandering through a forest in that dream, and someone was calling her for something. She had no reason to put much thought into it.

"Hikari, are you up?" Her mom called from outside the door knocking on the door.

"I will be there in ten minutes." She yawned stretched her arms as the sound of her mom's footsteps receded. She got out of her bed and went about her morning routine.

After getting ready, she grabbed her cell phone from the bedside table. She smiled wistfully at a picture of her and Tailmon and then took out her D3 from the drawer. Its screen has been blinking for two whole weeks now. Koshiro had returned them after gathering as much data as he could but still had yet to figure out what was all this about. The whole thing had ignited a new hope in their group. It had been a topic of heated discussion for a week, after which most of those discussions started to die down since nothing new was happening.

Hikari paced breakfast plates on the dining table as her dad entered the kitchen, yawning, "Morning!" He said.

"Morning!" Hikari and her mom replied.

Hikari's mom glanced at the clock, "Hikari, would you go wake up your brother?"

"Sure, mom!"

It was as much a part of her morning routine as brushing teeth or washing her face. Just like every day, Hikari found her brother wrapped in a blanket, "Time to wake up, Taichi!" She pulled the curtain, and the sun lit up the whole room.

"Taichi!" Her brother hadn't budged an inch. She approached his bed tried to pull the blankets, "Wake up." But he merely turned to the other side. She sighed and pulled the blanket again. "You wanna be late for your soccer p..." Taichi sat up so fast that anyone who didn't know him would have taken a step back in shock.

"Dammit! I will be late for practice!" He jumped out of bed and started running around his room, gathering his stuff. She had to give credit to his sudden burst of energy. Exactly how her brother goes from zero to a hundred in a moment was still beyond her. Still, it was always fascinating to see, "Hikari, why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Honestly!" She sighed and left his room.

About fifteen minutes later, Taichi left the house, having a piece of toast in his mouth, yelling, "I need to run, or I will be late!"

Hikari placed Miko, her cat who had decided to rest in her lap, on the floor, "I should be going to too." After packing her school bag, she left the house, ready for another ordinary day. She met Daisuke on the way, which she felt was becoming the norm as well. He was waiting for her on the same spot as the previous day and the last Wednesday.

Daisuke talked nonstop after they left her house. His conversations ranged from soccer to basketball to complaining about his sister. Hikari would add in bits as a reply from time to time. It went on until she caught sight of Takeru approaching them.

"Hikari!" The blonde called.

"And then Jun's audacity to...huh!" Daisuke broke off, "It's you, I see!" He said in a frustrated tone. His mood had taken a 180.

"Morning to you too!" Takeru replied dryly.

Hikari smiled, "Morning!" She noticed Takeru's eyes drifting Daisuke, who made no effort to show his annoyance. Takeru's gaze shifted to her with the silent question. She shrugged her shoulders.

Takeru turned to Daisuke and crossed his arms, "Let's me guess. You decided to wait for Hikari since you were passing by the usual spot because you had some errand early in the morning from which you were returning. For some reason, you took your school bag along instead of grabbing it on the way back from that work."

Daisuke's face lost the red color as a bewildered look dawned upon it, "How had you figured it out?"

"Because you said the same thing last week and the week before last week."

Daisuke crossed his arms and glared Takeru in the eyes, "Well, it's the truth!" He said stubbornly, "And what I do is my business. I never asked about yours'"

Takeru released a sigh, "I of all the people shouldn't be saying this, but this is hopeless. Anyway, let's go." At that moment, a beep came from his and Daisuke's pockets and Hikari's bag. The two boys and Hikari fished out the source of the noise. Their D3s! The devices' screens were blinking so fast that Hikari feared if they would burn up.

"What's up with these!" Daisuke asked. He raised his D3 higher and examined it from all angles as if he would actually find some kind of answer.

"Koshiro said that he thinks it's some kind of signal. Maybe it's gotten stronger." Takeru suggested.

"You think others' digivices are also acting strange?" Hikari said and took out her cell phone to ask her brother. At that time, a group of three boys and a girl teenager from her class appeared from a street ahead. The raven-haired and brunette boys and the girl waved at them. The redhead boy was grumbling about how he forgot to do his assignment, which, as it seemed, had struck Daisuke like a lightning bolt.

"DAMMIT! I FORGOT TO DO MY ASSIGNMENT!" The brunette screamed with a look of terror on his face, "Now I am gonna get a zero, and mom is gonna go ballistic!"

Takeru rolled his eyes, "That's why I told you to finish it two days ago."

"Shut up, Takeru. I don't need a lecture. I need a solution. Oh yeah," He turned to Hikari, "Hikari, give me yours, please. I will copy it as fast as possible!"

Takeru released an exasperated sigh. "But, you should do these things on time, Daisuke," Hikari advised as she handed her assignment to Daisuke and dialed Taichi's number. The digivices were still beeping frantically.

"Oh, thank you, Hikari. I won't forget this kindness." Daisuke said with jubilant expressions, hugging the document. "Oh yeah,. The D3s!"

"You should stop spoiling him," Takeru said, crossing his arms. Hikari gave an apologetic smile before Taichi's voice came from the other side of the call.

"Hikari, what's up? I didn't forget anything, did I?"

"No. Taichi, it's our D3s. They are...not beeping weirdly anymore!" She said, confused as her D3 had gone back to just blinking screen.

If Taichi hadn't known Koshiro for as long as he did—and if he wasn't so desperate for an answer—he would have left the computer fanatic with his laptop a long while back. Koshiro always goes through this phase of pretending the world doesn't exist when he has found something very interesting or troublesome. As much as it could get wearying, Taichi could show enough patience here. He had learned to do that over the years. Taichi stuffed his mouth with his burger wishing he had a bit more talkative company.

"Any new information?" Taichi looked up at the blonde who had just dropped his bag n the table and took a chair. Finally, some actual human interaction.

"Tell me as well, if you get any!" Taichi said. He turned back to Koshiro.

"Takeru just called," Yamato began, "Says his D3 is still going haywire."

Taichi nodded. After Hikari had called him earlier that morning to tell about how D3s acted up and then went back to the old blinking screen, she had called again. The D3s had started to act up again, "Other's D3s still haven't acted up."

Taichi took another bite of burger. There were so many questions and no answers. First, there was that whole thing with digivice for the last week, which Koshiro still had to tell them anything about. The mystery tunnel had decided to become a labyrinth this morning. None of their digivices had acted out like Hikari, Takeru, and Daisuke's. What was weirder was Ken, Iori, and Miyoko's D3s not acting out either. Why? "It's just a mess!"

Yamato smirked, "And you wouldn't have it any other way."

Taichi grinned. That was true. Even if this whole thing was a mess, it ignited that old enthusiasm in him, and, admittedly, he had missed such a mess over the years. They only needed to figure out this mess. Now, only if Koshiro would just hurry up, "Any time in this lifetime, Koshiro!"

"Give me five minutes!" The redhead actually spoke. It gave Taichi enough patience to hold on a while longer.

"I can't believe that, Matsumoto!" Sora said, coming out of nowhere with her friend, Ayako Shin, from the tennis club. She dropped her bag on the table and fell into the last chair. She looked thoroughly annoyed.

"I will see you later, Sora!" Ayako said. She had shoulder-length black hair and grey eyes. "And don't forget about Matsumoto. He is just an arogant brat." She added and walked away.

"What'd he do to you?" Yamato asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He asked me to go with him for a party."

"HE DID WHAT!"Taichi snapped.

"Will you keep it down!" Sora hissed indignantly, looking around. The whole cafeteria was watching as if there was a circus.

"Sorry!" Taichi said, not really caring about people. Suddenly every other thing gassed out of his mind. Who cares about digivice acting weird. This was important now! "What did you say?" He asked, fearing the worst for some reason. He doubted Sora had exchanged more than a dozen words with him. Was it because Matsumoto was tall, had blue eyes, and had those slick black hair.

"And you refused. Right?"

Oh yeah, Yamato was also here, and obviously, he was interested. Taichi had forgotten about him in an instant. The blonde had tried to make it sound like he was sure, but Taichi knew better.

"Of course, I did." She huffed, and Taichi and obviously Yamato released a relieved sigh, "And then dared to say...Ugh forget it." Taichi would have pressed if he wasn't glad it ended at that and finally, his mind was free to wander at other impotant things.

"You two are doing it again!" Koshiro spoke, and Taichi blinked. Was Koshiro actually paying attention? "What you always do."

"You are listening to us?" Yamato asked, sounding equally perplexed.

"Lately, I have had a hard time ignoring you two when you act like that."

"Is there a special reason for that" Sora quired?

"That, I still have to analysis on."

"What about the other things you have been analyzing before that?" Yamat asked.

"You were just telling us what you have found, right?" Taichi asked rhetorically.

"No!" Koshiro replied. Taichi sighed. So I will have to wait longer.

"But I am about to," Koshiro added, and his eyes from the laptop, "Where would you like to start from." He reached out and took Taichi's drink.

"Hey, that's mine."

"I know." Koshiro replied, turning back to his laptop, "Let's start from our digivices' blinking screen. At first, I thought something from our world might have caused it, maybe some kind of radio signal, since there has been no connection with the digiworld."

"Obviously, that's not the case," Yamato said.

"As a matter of fact, no. It's a signal from an outside source."

Taichi's hopes suddenly soared like an eagle. This was precisely the kind of news he had been waiting for, "So the digiworld? Someone is trying to contact us?"

"Gennai, maybe?" Sora added.

"That's the problem," Koshiro replied.

And Taichi's hopes came a notch. Problem

Koshiro turned the laptop around. There were some graphs, and Koshiro pointed at the one with a rhythmic jagged green line, "This is the signal. The problem is that it's similar to the record of a DGS." He pointed to another graph with a similar yet different line in red color. The crest and troughs are farther apart in this one.

"DGS!" Yamato asked.

"Should we know what that means?" Taichi added.

"Digital Gateway Signature," Koshiro answered, "It appears when a portal opens."

There was a collective exchange of glances from Taichi, Sora, and Yamato: each wondering the same thing. Taichi straightened up—his heart hammering in his chest. Sora beat Taichi to the question, "So does that mean?"

"That's another problem," Koshiro replied, and Taichi slumped back, "This is different from every other reading I got from portals we used and not just that..." He reached around the laptop and pressed a button. The two graphs in separate boxes were now superimposed onto each other.

"I don't get it," Taichi replied, "What's the problem." Sure the two readings were different, but it was already evident when the graphs were separate.

"It's too little," Yamato said.

"What!"

"That's right," Koshiro replied.

"You mean the signal is not strong enough?" Sora asked. Koshiro nodded, and now that Taichi actually thought about it, the red line, from the portals they used, had much higher amplitude.

"Not just that, it doesn't appear to have any particular source either, and to top it off..."

"There is more?" Taichi interjected, losing the trail of possible reasonings in his head. Koshiro turned the laptop around, did something Taichi had no clue about and turned it back to them. There was a graph with multiple slopes. Taichi couldn't figure out where one ended, and the other started among crisscrossing colors, "And this is?"

"That green one is just one of these!"

Okay. Now Taichi was officially confused. He had a feeling Koshiro himself was confused, not as much as Taichi, but he was. If Koshiro was confused, what hope did Taichi have?

"So there are different signatures?" Yamato asked. Koshiro nodded.

"I don't get it," Taichi said, "What does all this mean?"

Koshiro released an exhausted sigh, "I still have doubts. Honestly, a lot of my theories fail halfway through."

So, in the end, it was a whole lot of pretty much nothing. Taichi sighed. He was so sure that Koshiro would be able to tell him a lot more by now. The redhead had always been reliable! I guess if it's something new, then even Koshiro would deserve a bit more time.

"What about the D3s?" Yamato asked.

"It can't be the same, right?" Sora asked, "Or Moyoko's would also have acted up."

"Ken and Iori's too," Taichi added, "But they haven't."

"Sora is right. It's not the same," Koshiro replied as he turned the laptop around to do his thing, "I tracked their D3s and looked at this." He showed them the screen. Three dots were generating rippling waves in yellow, blue, and pink colors, "The D3s are emitting digitized fields to detect something."

"Like a SONAR!" Yamato said. Koshiro nodded.

"I didn't know D3s could do this!" Taichi replied in complete awe.

"Neither did I. My guess is it works by the same detector that was used for digieggs," Koshiro replied, "Although, it appears something has triggered this feature."

"The new DGS!" Sora suggested.

Koshiro shook his head, "Not possible. DGS doesn't carry a signal like this. Not even the new ones. I think it's the very thing that the D3s are detecting."

"Then where are they?" Taichi asked as his eyes kept searching for something that he thought should be on the screen, "I know I am not really great in physics, but shouldn't there be some kind of interference."

"Are the D3s not detecting anything in this simulation?" Sora asked.

"This is the current activity, and if the D3s had stopped detecting something, Hikari, Takeru and Daisuke would have told us," Koshiro replied. "Either the rebounding waves are too weak for my laptop to detect, or their very nature is changed," He rubbed his chin, "Or both. Since I can't detect any interference in outgoing waves."

"Then why did the phenomena stop minutes after it happened this morning?" Yamato asked.

Koshiro took a moment and then spoke, "The source must be remote. I will ask for Ken's help to solve this problem."

Taichi crossed his arms and gave everything some thought. If the D3s were detecting something, it must be connected to digiworld. If the source is remote, it could be something alive like a digi...wait a minute! "THE SOURCE IS REMOTE!" Taichi snapped, getting on his feet, "Then...then it can mean..."

"Something or someone might be watching them." Yamato finished with a horrified look on his face.

When Ken was digimon emperor—his biggest regret—he was sure he knew everything about digiworld. Although his knowledge was extensive and helped him capture as much area as he wanted, he, over the years, realized he lacked. In his arrogance, Ken has severely underestimated the vastness of nature and overestimated his capabilities. Although Ken was no slouch, he never constantly reminded himself that a lot of those capabilities were granted by dark spores. There was someone just as capable, if not more.

Ken had always held Koshiro's opinions in high regard. The redhead was everything on his own, without any need of dark spore. For this reason, when Kshiro sent Ken the data with a message that Koshiro was stuck, Ken was immediately more intrigued than he was with usual digiworld related problems.

That day Ken was sorting out his work in the computer lab after school thinking about others' D3s abnormal behavior. He needed something to go with. Some data to work things out and had been waiting for Koshiro's response. He grabbed a stack of papers and hurried off to the small office at the back of the lab, knocked, and entered on permission. "Arata sensei, I have the..." He noticed a boy sitting on the opposite side of Arata sensei's desk.

"Ken, come in." Arata sensei said with a smile.

"If you are busy, I will..."

"No, it's fine," Arata sensei scowled at the boy sitting opposite to him. The boy had black hair and upturned silver eyes. The only thing Ken knew about him was that he was in a different section but the same grade. "Pull yourself together, Shiro. You can't just waste your time like this. I hope you understand."

"Yeah." The boy Shiro replied. Ken had feelings; he really didn't mean it.

Arata sensei nodded, "Right. You can go." The boy stood up and left the small office. Arat sensei rubbed the bridge of his nose, "This kid! I wish he was more like you." He said, looking at Ken.

"You are flattering me," Ken replied and placed the papers on the desk.

"Well, you deserve it." He opened a drawer and put the stack of papers inside, "Thanks for taking your time to assist me. It is becoming a bad habit of mine to rely on you so much. Sorry for the trouble."

"It's fine. It's not like I had much else anyway."

Arata sensei gave him a proud smile, "If you don't mind Ichjoji, can..." It was at that moment, Ken finally got what he had been waiting for. A message from Koshiro. He took out his cell and read the text. There was a sudden desire t rush back home and go through the data Koshiro had sent, but Ken kept himself composed.

"Sorry, sir. You were saying something."

"It's alright." Arata sensei waved his hand, "We can talk later. I can see you are in a hurry."

Ken wanted to protest that he could take time out for himself but even keep himself composed entirely. He rushed back home.

As Ken gazed at his computer LCD and observed the data, he found he wasn't disappointed. This data was something that he had never seen before. It was fascinating and baffling.

"What's the problem, exactly," Miyako asked, leaning closer to the screen. She and his other friends would occasionally visit him in Tamachi, and Ken was glad for it. "I mean, it's just more DGS, right."

"Look at it like this," Ken began, "As you know, we can access different computers by using IP addresses and ports, right. And if we want to track back, we can do it by using IP address." Miyoko nodded, "Well, if we track back a signal to digiworld, then it means it can be considered an IP address."

"So digiworld access our world by also using these IP addresses, sort of."

Ken nodded, "Considered a port as a difference between the human world and digiworld."

"I guess we can use an analogy."

"So what happens if you try to trace an IP address and it leads to nowhere."

"But that's not possible even with protections. So these DGS leads to nowhere."

"Right." As Miyako pondered over this, Ken turned to the other problem. The D3s.

Ken switched to the window that showed D3 activities. Ken knew a few things about D3s since he had worked with them thoroughly as the digimon emperor. He was sure, whatever D3s were detecting, was alive.

"How can you be so sure?" Miyako asked when he spoke out his mind to her.

"To detect living beings, whether, from his world or digiworld, the device had to release a particular kind of signal, which the D3s just wasn't capable of." He explained to Miyoko. "The type of signal would only interfere with living organisms. And yet, D3s weren't just emitting such a signal; they seemed to be interacting with only certain life forms; thus, the D3 activity would stop at certain moments." The thing would simply go out of range.

"And since we don't know what life form, we can't use any other way to find out," Miyako said to herself. "We would simply detect every living thing in the vicinity."

Ken sighed as he leaned back in his chair with the same question in front of his mind as Koshiro. Why is the returning signal undetectable to our other devices. Ken's gaze roamed around for any kind of inspiration, and it was Miyako who broke his trail of thoughts.

"Ken' what is happening to your computer screen?" Her voice was a bit ominous and uncertain. Ken snapped his gaze at the computer and noticed several black windows with multicolored writings popping up. One particular line caught his eye.

Coordinates locked.

Ken's hands flew to the mouse as another window opened, and his eyes caught another line.

Processing initiated.

A feeling of foreboding settled in Ken's chest as he tried to make sense of it. Another window and another line.

Data processing initiated.

"Ken!" Miyako called, getting panicked. What's going Is the computer hacked. Ken tried to stop the program. That was the only option that appeared to be safest at the moment.

"Ken, what's going on?" Miyako asked frantically.

"Not sure, but..."

"But!"

If the computer was hacked... But how can it be possible? Is it from digiworld? If so, who? Ken doubted Gennai would do something like this without telling him. Ken pushed the thought aside. He had to protect his computer first. Ken decided to take a leaf out of Daisuke's book, but before he could pull the switch, Miyako's frantic voice called for him.

"Ken," Miyako called in the same frantic tone, "the D3s!" Ken snapped his gaze toward his D3 that was on the tabletop. Its screen was flashing a lilac color. Are the D3 hacked, too, or is it... A new window popped on the computer screen.

Data Analysis Complete

Initiating Transmission

A new window appeared on the screen, but it wasn't black. It contained a map and four points marked on it. Suddenly, things started to make sense, "Call others, Miyako. Something big is about start."

"Stupid alien bird!" Takuya fumed and kicked a pebble sending it rolling down the street, "Comes out of nowhere and never shows its beak again."

Junpei exchanged a look with Koji, and both sighed. This was the twentieth time Takuya had ranted about the situation today. That wasn't even considering the time Junpei wasn't with him during school, "Don't tell me he'd been like this the whole time!" Junpei said.

"Kept grumbling throughout the classes in the seat behind," Koji replied in an annoyed tone.

Junpei had come to find about the mysterious bird the next day Takuya and Koichi claimed to have seen it. At first, everyone was very excited. Well, almost everyone. Koji, as always, was skeptical that it would mean anything. "Digimons have appeared before, and nothing had happened," He had kindly reminded everyone. Junpei had brought excitement down by a notch. Nonetheless, it had created an atmosphere of excitement and speculations.

But as days passed and there was no sign of the bird, Takuya's excitement vaned and his frustration flared. Takuya was making no effort to not show that he wasn't happy with the situation, "Dumb overgrown funny feathered chicken..."

"Will you cut it out!" Koji finally snapped, stopping in his track.

"What's your problem, Minamoto?"

"You!"

The two glared daggers at each other, and Junpei sighed once more. Here we go again! This could turn out really good, and Koji would put Takuya back to normal, or really bad they would sulk for a month. As much as Junpei was disappointed himself with the situation, he understood that fuming would achieve nothing. It only made the atmosphere terrible between them, so he hoped Koji would get somewhere with Takuya. Koichi's presence would have been helpful, though.

"Look, Minamoto, I am in a bad mood. So..."

"So..." Koji cut in, "You decide that it is fine to make others' lives miserable."

"If you have a problem..."

"What have you been expecting, really. Don't you realize what it would mean if those three called us? If not, let me tell you. It would mean something bad is happening over there. Do you want digiworld to suffer the same thing again? Do you really want our efforts to be for nothing?"

"No. But..." Takuya didn't seem to find any words and looked quite shaken, and if Junpei had to admit, he was as well. That was one angle he never gave any thought to. Takuya turned to him expectantly, but Junpei didn't have any counter. Maybe it was a good sign that they weren't summoned after all.

"Maybe, Koji does have a point," Junpei told Takuya, "You know; a blessing in disguise."

Takuya released a defeated sigh, "I guess." He fetched out his cell phone, "It's Izumi. She is coming to Shibuya and wants to go shopping with us." He released a sigh, "I can't take this."

I will get to spend some time with her if these two don't come. Suddenly, it was so easy to forget about the mysterious bird.

"It's a waste of time!" Koji added as the three continued walking down the street.

"Why don't you guys skip out?" Junpei backed away when Takuya and Koji gave him knowing looks. Junpei gave an innocent smile, "I mean, there shouldn't be any force."

"Like we will have much of choice," Koji replied.

"If we don't go, she will be grumpy for a week.," Takuya added. Junpei had to admit, Takuya had a point.

"I'd rather not deal with a grump Izumi for a week," Takuya released another sigh. "Even Koichi doesn't have the patience for this, and he patience incarnate." Junpei heard voices from the alley ahead, and Takuya seemed to have recognized them. All of a sudden, his irritation was back, and by ten folds, "Don't tell me that he..." Takeru rushed.

"Hey, Takuya, wait up!" Junpei called after him, wondering what could suddenly irk the brunette more than the mysterious bird.

"Not again!" Koji groaned in exasperation as he and Junpei followed. As Junpei entered the alley, Takuya wrestled a boy away from another, launched a punch.

The boy managed to step aside. Fr someone who had personally fought, Junpei had to admit, the boy had great reflexes.

"You, again!" The boy whom Takuya had attacked growled. The boy growled. So that is Akane Kagami. He was Takuya and Koji's classmate, and as far as Junpei knew, Takuya hated him. He had auburn hair and green eyes, a bit taller than Takuya but the same build. His tie was missing, the top button of the shirt was missing, and sleeves uncuffed.

"Back at your nature, Kagam!" Takuya said, "Leave Ren alone!" Ren was a small and short blonde boy who looked terrified, backed against the wall. Junpei was reminded of another no different boy, but Tomoki wasn't that small boy anymore. He had started showing teenage tendencies, even though he wasn't technically a teenager yet. Much to Koji's despair, his those tendencies seemed o be landing closer to Takuya.

"Takuya!" Ren said in a shaky albeit relieved voice.

"I don't want you to get in trouble, Takuya, but thanks for coming!" The boy Takuya had wrestled Akane away from, said and wiped a trickle of blood from his lip. He was lean with had black hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. He had been shielding Ren.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? This has nothing to do with you." Akane exclaimed.

"I have everything to do with thugs like you!" Takuya spat.

Akane's gaze went back and forth between Takuya to Ren a few times and then settled on Takuya, "So you wanna go at it again?" Akane smirked smugly, "No teacher will come to help you this time."

"You sure, you weren't the one who got helped?" Takuya retorted, tightening his fists. During this, the blonde boy, Ren, slipped away quietly. Junpei had a feeling Akane was aware of it but was now more interested in dealing with Takuya.

"Takuya, let's just go. There is no need to stay here any longer. You don't wanna get in trouble again, do you?" Junpei said, seeing Takuya clench his fists.

"Drop it, Takuya!" The black-haired, brown-eyed boy added, "He is not worth it."

"What, did your parents scare you?" Akane taunted.

"Takuya, don't do anything stupid!" Koji warned.

Takuya looked over toward them for a moment and then sighed. He loosened his fists, "At least mine care enough to yell at me," Takuya replied, and Junpei and Koji exchanged bewildered glances. That was a very mature response. Junpei wondered if they don't give Takuya enough credit, "What about yours'. Doesn't appear as though they care enough, or they also live on other's misery."

Ouch! Takuya might as well have slapped him. For several moments Akane just stared at Takuya incredulously. Junpei could tell things were about to get heated. Akane's face started turning red. He gritted his teeth, "You brat!" He seethed and charged at Takuya. Takuya charged back.

"Kanbara!" Koji snapped.

"What's going on over here?" A strong male voice demanded. Junpei turned as a police officer approached them. He was a tall, bulky young man with a thin mustache. He had black eyes and jet black hair.

"Hey, uncle?" Takuya said nervously.

Uncle! Junpei had known Takuya for years, and as far as e knew, no one in his family was in the police.

"Takuya!" The officer scowled at the brunette, "You aren't getting into trouble again?"

"No. It was just a tiny..."

"You..." He pointed toward Akane, "What's your name?". The officer had definitely already deduced the problem child, though Akane's appearance couldn't help him anyway.

"Akane, Akane Kagami!" Akane replied, glaring but keeping his tone modest. After taking the count of the whole situation from all those present, the officer started reprimanding Akane.

"You knew about Takuya's uncle?" Junpei asked Koji as the officer was lecturing Akane.

"He is Takuya's dad's friend. I have seen him once before." Koji replied.

Well, it seems like Takuya would get in trouble with his parents again.

Fortunately for Takuya, it didn't happen. The officer sent sending Akane on his way with a warning. After the dark-skinned boy, Hishiro Iwa, left, the officer lectured Takuya for a bit but let him and told him that the next time he would say to his parents.

Takuya was not in a good mood later, and mentioning a shopping trip with Izumi wasn't helping , on the other hand, was quite content.

"Why did I come here!" Tomoki asked in an annoyed tone.

"You wanted to have fun!" Takuya replied with a grin.

"This isn't fun in any textbook of fun!" Tomoki replied, pointing toward Izumi, who was busy choosing her fifth dress. Honestly, he could have spent his time doing something more exciting. He wouldn't have called Takuya if Teru, his friend from class, wasn't called by his older sister and Tomoki had to cancel his plans, "You could have warned me!" I came from Shinjuku all the way to Shibuya for nothing.

"No way, buddy. Together, all the way, right!" Takuya replied, swinging an arm around Tomoki's shoulder. The younger boy looked up to Takuya, but he really felt like punching him. Since he couldn't hit him on the face in a mall, he raised his foot and kicked the older boy in the shin.

"Ow...ow...ow!" Takuya exclaimed, grabbing his shin, "Dude, no need to get violent."

Tomoki stuck his tongue out and then glanced at his other friends, wondering if they were as miserable as him. It seemed like Junpei was enjoying, though. He was smiling like crazy by just looking at Izumi. As if he had already found heaven.

"I knew I should have just gone to meet Koichi and mom!" Koji said.

"Why didn't you just Koichi here?" Junpei asked.

"Yeah, then we could have suffered together," Takuya said, chuckling.

"I did," Koji replied. After getting gazed at constantly for a minute by Tomoki, Takuya, and Junpei, he added, "Koichi is smart."

Tomoki snorted. That would be an understatement. If you could give Koji the slip, you were entitled to call yourself a borderline beyond genius.

"So," Izumi said as she approached them and showed them two pink dresses, "Which pink is better."

"They aren't the same?" Koji asked disbelievingly.

Tomoki leaned in closer, and so did Takuya, "No, I think this one is darker," Tomoki suggested. Honestly, even that would be a stretch—a really-really-really big stretch.

"No, this is more on the red side. What'd you say?" Takuya asked.

"You sure it's not the lightning?" Koji asked. Tomoki crossed his arms. That could explain the stretch! He nodded to himself.

"This one would look great on you, Izumi!" Junpei suggested. Tomoki gave him a dry look. Can he really spot any difference?

"You think?" Izumi asked, "But I thought the left one looks better."

"Of course, it's the left one," Junpei replied as his hand reached out to scratch the back of his head, and he wore a stupid smile on his face, "Silly me!"

Tomoki once again gave him a dry look, "That, you certainly are." For being the reasonable one in the group, even more so than Koji and Koichi at times, he wasn't being downright stupid.

"He should just paste, "Yes, mam" on his forehead," Takuya said, and Tomoki couldn't agree more.

"I guess I will take another look around; then you guys can have more choices," Izumi said, and Tomoki grimaced.

"That's supposed to be a good thing?" The younger boy asked. Someone pull me out of tis or at least kill me. It was at this moment that the last thing Tomoki expected happened.

"Hey," Koji called, "take a look at this."

"What?" Takuya asked as Tomoki followed Koji's gaze, did a double-take, and looked closely at the channel name. Yes, it was a news channel, or he needed glasses. He raised his eyes. The sky on the screen was punctured by swirling masses of colors at four points. Four reporters frantically talked about each of the swirling vortexes from different districts one after the other. Shibuya, Odaiba, Shinjuku, and Tamachi.

Note: Some of you who have read the story before , would know that I tried to give Tomoki a more grown up personality. He is is always portrayed a child even though he should be passed that stage and the fact that he looks up to Takuya a lot. I hope you like it.

R&R