Re:Birth
Kaoru shyly giggled as he received another kiss in farewell.
"Have fun on the field trip tomorrow." he bid with a gentle nuzzle of the nose. The two were so mushy it was sickening, but neither of them cared what their peers thought at this point.
"Thanks. I'm pretty excited; I've never hosted something like this before, so it'll be interesting. Want me to bring you back something?"
"No, it's all right. Just enjoy yourself, and stay safe!" Daisuke offered one last kiss before riding back down the hill. Once the cyclist was out of sight, Kaoru greeted his mother from the doorway and slipped off his shoes in routine. He made his way towards the kitchen, lured by an unfamiliar aroma. The teen couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his mother cook!
"What are you making?" he asked the aproned woman, "It smells edible!"
"Hey, you shush!" the woman playfully retorted. He couldn't remember the last time she glowed like this, either.
"When will it be done?"
"Mmm, maybe an hour." she answered.
"Okay, well I'm going to play online for a little while." Kaoru informed before heading towards his room. He heard his mother shout an expected warning that he'd better get offline in time for dinner, and he passively agreed. Once he activated his account, however, he found it near impossible to leave.
In his inbox was a message from Scryptic. He knew it was Mimi, but she'd never contact him before. She requested that he invite her to adventure to Omega: Hidden Forbidden Dark side. It was an all too familiar area name and he wondered how she knew about it.
"Hi!" a familiar voice sounded as his character warped into Root Town. Scryptic's character's complexion was similar to her actual one, and her white hair was tied into two buns. The ribbons matched her sky blue Kung Fu uniform, which in itself labeled her as a hacker, and her eyes were of the same hue.
"Oh wow, your character is so cute!" the girl exclaimed, issuing a chuckle from the Wave master, "Anyway, are ya ready? Invite me into your party once you're done stocking up!"
Elk nodded before heading to the Item Shop to pick up a few Elixirs and Artisan's Souls. Once he was done, he invited Scryptic and they warped to the designated area.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Let's head to the dungeon!" Elk perked up as the girl suddenly bolted off towards the dungeon. He stumbled after her and, once they got to the dungeon, he tried to decipher the big surprise for himself. Was it a weapon? Was Daisuke waiting for him, perhaps? He blushed at the latter, but realized how impossible that was.
"H-Huh?"
The teen froze at the sudden sight of a red clad character with turquoise hair. The character slowly turned and greeted them, though Elk was less gentle with his gesture.
"…K…KITE!"
The familiar twin blade was suddenly trampled by the young character, earning a chuckle from the receiver.
"KITE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"Haha! Get off of me and I'll explain!" he laughed, "I can't stay on long before Blackrose notices."
Elk reluctantly obeyed, but squeezed Kite's gloved hand to continue their virtual contact.
"Do you remember this place?" Kite asked.
"O-Of course! But what are we doing back here?" in his heart, he suspected the reason, but was afraid to believe Daisuke could be that kind.
"Let's go to the lowest level." Kite commanded, and the three of them fought all ten levels down. He'd forgotten how many data bugs there were. He wondered if that was why Daisuke had decided to log on…-
"Daisuke…" Elk breathed, "You're…playing again…" Kite slowly turned at the address and smiled.
"You're allowed to call me by my character name, but thank you." the other nodded in obedience and, hands locked, they continued into the final room. However, the room lacked even a monster and stood completely empty from their visit two years ago.
Kite and Scryptic then took their positions in the center of the room with Kite's right arm directed towards the known hacker. Whatever they were doing caused a stream of white noise and dial tones. Kaoru almost removed his headset when the picture cleared up again, revealing a three-dimensional shape of moving numbers. The shape morphed into something familiar and after a brief flash of white, the ceiling of the area seemed to open up to release a long-eared purple character that landed in Kite's arms.
Elk dropped his staff and nearly collapsed from the shock.
"Scryptic and I discussed this after your party and she said she might be able to help. I had to log in to lend the information on my bracelet, so using that…"
"M…MIA!" Elk cried as he staggered towards the awakening character.
"…Elk?"
Kaoru wiped the real-life tear that trailed down his cheek. That voice…he never thought he'd hear it again after her deletion. He would've bawled had the concern over his neurogoggles not stopped him. Everything was too expensive to risk getting even just a little wet!
"Oh Kite! You…you did this just for me?! Thank you so much, you guys! I…I…-Oh Mia!" he cried, "I'm so happy you're back!"
Kaoru had a hard time logging off, but was reassured that Mia would be there tomorrow after school. So he ate dinner and went to bed, heart still racing over Mia. Oh Mia! Mia! She had returned to him one more! Mia! He promised himself he wouldn't lose her again!