Chapter 10

Mirai stood from the bench at the park where he met Taro earlier when he saw the Ultra Brothers practically running towards him. He bowed slightly towards them when they neared enough.

"Where is he?" Hokuto searched around them with wild eyes. He calmed a bit when Hayata put a hand on his shoulder to restraint his frantic movement. Mirai lowered his gaze. They glanced at each other briefly with an uneasy feeling. If the ever enthusiastic young ultra in front of them looked downtrodden, something bad surely had happened to Taro.

Hayata steeled his gaze. "Tell us." He ordered.

With a deep breath, Mirai launched his story. The four brothers listened raptly with varying emotions. There was confusion, shock and most of all devastation. They couldn't believed that their dear brother had forgotten completely about them. There was no more precious bond than the bond within family, Ultra Father once said.

"Impossible! I don't believe it." Goh exploded after the story finished. He paced irritably for a second before he made up his mind and turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Dan stopped him.

"I must see it with my own eyes." He barely took a step before Hayata spoke.

"No. I will go with Dan first." Hayata said firmly.

"Nii-san! We have the right to know about our brother too!" Hokuto almost yelled in outrage. Only the thought that there were human lurking nearby stopped him.

"Come on Hokuto. Let's find our otouto." Goh turned sharply and walked away. Hokuto nodded.

"Jack! Ace! Do you really want to defy your brother now?!" Hayata cried out in anger. They froze and turned slowly towards their nii-san. Hayata glared at them while Dan crossed his hands in front of his chest and looked in disappointment. The two disobedience ultra shuffled awkwardly towards them.

"Sorry, nii-san." They uttered in desolation.

Hayata sighed wearily. "No, it's fine." He brushed off their apology. "The reason why only Dan and I will go first because we need to gather information. We need level headed ultra for this mission. You will only overwhelm him. If he truly had loss his memory, we need to ease ourselves into his life. After that, we will try to coax him to meet both of you."

Goh and Hokuto looked in appreciation. They both nodded eagerly. Hayata turned towards the squirming Mirai. He looked like he didn't wanted to be there and became a spectator of the sibling argument.

"Mirai, show us where Taro live." Mirai jumped in surprised when he had been addressed suddenly.

"Yes, sir!" He nodded eagerly. Everything was better than watching your superiors bickering among themselves.

Goh and Hokuto bid them farewells and turned to go back to the headquarters. Along the way, Mirai tried to make some small talk but he ceased talking after he saw his elders were preoccupied with Taro's situation. He stopped and gestured towards the house not too far away from them.

"That's the house." He whispered and watched surreptitiously around the house. He didn't saw anyone there but one could not be too certain. If the reaction of Taro earlier should be taken into account, then he shuddered to think what would happened to them if he saw them skulking around here. Hayata nodded pensively after a while.

"Very well, Mirai. You can go now." Hayata dismissed him. He gratefully obliged but not before wishing them luck.

"What are we going to do, nii-san?" Dan asked softly. Hayata sighed.

"For now, we wait."

GUYS Headquarters

"You're back. Where are the others?" Captain Sakomizu greeted and frowned when he saw no one trailing behind Hokuto and Goh. Goh smiled wearily.

"We may have found Taro. My brothers are there. Mirai will follow shortly." Goh answered. Both of them sat down with a tired sigh.

"Isn't that a good sign?" Konomi asked meekly.

"It is if Taro didn't lose his memory." Hokuto said with a wry smile.

"Sirs!" All of them turned to look towards Teppei. "There's a call from Ultraman Zoffy." Both of the ultra-in-disguised glanced at each other briefly. At once, they straightened themselves.

"Put him through." Goh ordered. Teppei punched the button and the image of Zoffy emerged. Zoffy looked haggard. For everyone, they just saw a stern and unflappable commander but they knew better. Under that stern demeanor was a person who loved his brother more than ever.

'Report.'

"We have found Taro." Zoffy gasped and looked at them in wonder. He looked disbelieved for a while before his face broke into the widest smile they ever saw.

'Where is he?'

Hokuto bit his lower lips to avoid from chuckled freely. Imagine, their eldest brothers who always maintained his calm and collected behavior almost jumped in joy. His eyes wandered to behind them to search for their missing brother.

"Zoffy nii-san, calm down. He's not here."

'What do you mean he's not here? Didn't you said that you found him?'

Zoffy looked perplexed at them. Hokuto glanced at Goh and gestured for him to tell the story. Goh straightened his posture and began the story. Zoffy wore a blank mask along it. Even when Goh had finished, he still remain emotionless. But they could saw a slight slumped of his shoulders to indicate his shock and grief.

'That was…unfortunate. I will tell Ultra Father and Ultra Mother about it. Have Ultraman and Seven send their official report as soon as possible. Dismissed.'

Zoffy cut off the connection. The GUYS crew stood silently in contemplation.

"What are you going to do now?" Captain Sakomizu addressed Goh to break the silence.

"For now, we wait."

Land of Light

Zoffy knocked Ultra Father office and entered after he heard a faint permission to enter. He tried not to glance at the disarray state of the office. There's a cluttered mess on the table with papers strewn everywhere. Ultra Father was slumped on his seat. He was massaging his forehead and glanced upwards.

"Zoffy?" He greeted and studied Zoffy's face. There's a faint trace of, relief? He widened his eyes and whispered.

"Zoffy, is he…"

"You better call your wife, sir."

Without a pause, Ultra Father contacted his wife. They didn't needed to wait long before she came barreling into the office.

"Ken! Is it true?" She panted. He scrambled and took his shaking wife into his arms. He led his wife to the couch with Zoffy following quietly behind them. He motioned for Zoffy to sit down. After they settled down, they turned expectantly towards Zoffy. Zoffy sighed.

"Please keep in mind that even I didn't have the actual picture. We need to wait for Ultraman and Seven for official report. But because you're his parents, you deserve the preliminary report." Without skipping a beat, he told them everything he knew. Their face showed shock first before turned to agony.

"My baby!" Ultra Mother wailed. Her husband enveloped her in an embrace and rocked her back and forth. She sobbed and her body shuddered in grief. Even Ultra Father shed some tears. Zoffy couldn't stand the somber atmosphere so he stood and paced a bit.

"I want to go there." Ultra Mother wiped her tears and turned to get out. Zoffy watched, hoping Ultra Father would stopped her but to his shock, his superior just stood there frozen.

"No!" Zoffy unconsciously yelled and brought the attention to himself. He flushed in embarrassment. He almost flinched when Ultra Mother directed her glare to him but he stood his ground.

"Explain yourself." Even when she was worried sick about his only son, she still managed to instill fear in everyone. 'That's why she's along with her husband are our leader.' He thought wryly. He snapped his attention to the present.

"What we know right now is Taro lost his memory. If both of you come down, you will overwhelm him. We don't know what are the effects if it happen. He might lost his memory forever. Either way, we better let the others handle it."

"What do you mean by 'overwhelm'?" she hissed at him. Zoffy gulped and opened his mouth to respond before Ultra Father cut him.

"Zoffy's right. Right now, he doesn't know who we are. If we push him, he will flee from us. Let the others establish the connection with him first." Ultra Father said and embraced her gently. She sobbed.

"What should we do now?" she whispered.

"For now we wait."