EDITED 4/8/2021

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the song "Photograph" – by Ed Sheeran

"I swear it will get easier,

Remember that with every piece of you

and it's the only thing we take with us when we die"

I woke up in my most favorite way possible, to the sweet, sticky, smell of pancakes and the lovely sound of a sizzling griddle. I heard a plate being set down on the table in front of me. Since Kari was in the spare bedroom I was camped out on the couch in the living room.

My joy was paused at the thought of Kari, and everything that happened last night. I hadn't slept much. I couldn't stop thinking, about her marred body, and what that bastard did to her.

I wanted to kill him.

I spent half the night, shaking with anger, thinking about what I could do to him if I found him. I had never wanted to do real harm to another person, but after seeing her, I was just so angry.

At the same time, I knew I couldn't just go after him. I felt terribly helpless. The damage was already done, and I couldn't stop, or take away, the pain she had been through. All I could do now was try to help her get through it.

I promised her I wouldn't go to anyone but I didn't feel great about it. Wouldn't she need her family? Shouldn't she go to the police? Didn't she deserve justice? What would justice even look like in this case?

I knew he had money and available lawyers. It would be hard to fight someone with his reputation and resources. I wondered how many other girls he had hurt, and how many more he would hurt after this. I knew I couldn't push her, she needed time, and I wasn't going to take that from her. I would be there for her, but if I felt like things were out of control I would get some help, I would have to.

I rolled over and opened my eyes to see a glorious stack of chocolate chip pancakes, slathered in maple syrup, with bacon on the side. I missed my brother's cooking. I never really had his talent for it.

My eyes moved up a little further and I saw Kari curled up on the love seat across from me. She was wearing the same thing from last night but managed to look extremely well kept for someone who, I assume, just woke up. Her face was clean of makeup and her hair was combed neatly out of her face.

"Morning," she said, as she smiled sweetly at me. She started to eat her breakfast and I turned my attention to my own food.

"Hey kid, you're finally awake!" Matt yelled from over in the kitchen.

As I sat up fully I saw him cooking, and Sora looking half-dead at the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of her. She was staring down, miserably, into what I assumed was a cup of coffee.

Unlike Kari, Sora's face was smeared with last night's makeup, and what I could only assume, was deep regret.

"Rough night Sora?" I chuckled.

Matt turned and smirked at me, while Sora glared for a moment before softening her features.

"I've never been cut out for this lifestyle!" She exclaimed before her head came down to the counter.

We all started laughing, none of us could help it, but it was Kari that surprised me. She was almost doubled over. I was worried that she was only wearing masks around everyone, so it was good to see her like that.

"Now you see why I always leave early," Kari said, still giggling.

She looked over to me and pointed to my food with her fork. "You might want to start eating that before someone else does."

I looked at her curiously before scanning the room for these, would be, scavengers. She looked down at her phone, held her hand up, and started to count down from five before pointing to the door. I checked my own phone and saw it was just about noon. Not three seconds later I heard people making their way up to the apartment before barreling through the door. They were in an animated conversation about the band's show tonight.

I grabbed my food and started to stuff my face, thinking of our friend Davis, and how he would have just started eating right off one of our plates. I couldn't take that chance! Kari giggled at me, before placing her empty plate down on the table.

"Sora! You are looking just lovely this morning," One of the guys said with a strong pat on her back. He was tall, taller than me, so a few inches over six feet at least, and very muscular. He had light blue eyes and a shaved head. There was a big grin across his face as he addressed Sora.

"Thanks, John," she replied, flatly.

"You guys are the worst don't you see we have company," Matt said, with feigned annoyance, as he gestured over to me.

"Hey! It's the little bro in the flesh!" Shouted the guy, who I now knew was John.

I put down my half-eaten plate and made my way over. I held out my hand to each one of them. "I'm TK, nice to finally meet you guys."

"Name's John," he said, giving me a big toothy grin, as he shook my hand. He was their drummer. Matt had told me enough about him to know he was the most excitable one of the group. Even if he hadn't, I could tell from the last 30 seconds of listening to him.

"Colin, nice to finally meet you," said, the next guy.

Colin was a little shorter than me but with a similar build. He had cropped brown hair, similar to my brothers, and light brown eyes. He played piano. He seemed nice, quieter than John, but Matt had told me he was a really great guy. He, and Colin, had known each other longest.

I turned to the last guy, "Trevor," was all he said.

He let go the quickest, and when he smiled at me it seemed forced. He was about my height with curly brown hair, and deep-set dark brown eyes. He was pretty skinny for his height. After everything Matt had told me about him, I wasn't surprised.

"It's the little miss!" John exclaimed, taking me from my thoughts. He picked Kari up bridal style, spinning her around before putting her back down.

"And how are you today Johnathan?" Kari flinched, responding the way a school teacher might respond to a kid in class.

"Well the sun is out, the sky is blue, and I get to spend my day with you fine people. So I couldn't be better," he said with a beaming smile.

"So, like every other day?" She rolled her eyes playfully towards him.

Trevor walked over and ruffled her hair, like something her brother would have done, before sitting next to her on the love seat.

"How's it going?" His voice was quiet.

"Ok," she replied with a smile. "How was your meeting?"

He pulled a coin out of his back pocket and handed it to her.

"Yea! Trevor hit 90 days today!" John yelled with a fist pump. Matt, and Colin, sighed and shook their heads at him. Tact was clearly not John's strong suit.

I didn't realize he was already that far along. Matt said he just recently got out of rehab. Last we talked he wasn't even sure if he would be touring with them or not. He didn't tell me too much about his addiction, just that he had a pretty bad problem, and they practically dragged him there kicking and screaming. He eventually agreed when they told him, it was drugs or the band. He was their bass player.

The rest of the guys only drank, but Trevor had already been into harder drugs when he joined the band.

"I'm proud of you," Kari said while handing his coin back to him. I felt my jealously rising a bit but pushed it down. I was going to have to stop that this week, it wasn't fair for me to get upset every time a guy gave her attention. I had no claim here anymore, and she had known these guys for months at this point.

"Excited for tonight Kar?" John said as he sank onto the couch next to me.

She squinted, annoyed, "I don't know why you guys are pushing this."

"You cover up Matt's voice and make us sound good." Colin shrugged.

I just started eating again as he said this and I started laughing so hard that I ended up choking on my food. John gave me a pat on the back to help, I think. Matt didn't say anything. I guess at this point he knew it was better not to feed into it. Once I regained my composure I looked over to Kari.

"You're performing with them?" I asked curiously.

Before she could respond all the guys shouted, "Yes!"

She looked around and sighed in mock defeat. "If I must." She turned to Matt. "Did you pick a song?"

"For us yes," He replied walking over to us. "But you need to pick one for yourself. I told you, you aren't just some backup singer. You get some spotlight too, ya know."

"I'll think on it," she said, as she started to clear everyone's plates.

"But it's," Matt started but she cut him off.

"I know, it's tonight. I'll have one. Let's just work on ours and I'll have one thought up by the time we finish." He nodded but looked a little annoyed. I knew he was a planner and last minute was not his favorite.

I made my way over to Sora, at the counter, as everyone started to get out their equipment and get settled. She was looking exponentially better after coffee, and some food. She smiled at me and clutched my shoulder as I sat down.

"How was last night?" She asked as quietly as she could. I looked over at the guys and Kari, but they were paying us no attention as they got set up.

"It was ok. We just talked a bit," I avoided her eye contact as I spoke. I was an awful liar.

She jumped right in, "She's jumpy and weirdly uncomfortable in public. Did she mention anything to you?"

Her words were laced with concern, it killed me, but I didn't know how to respond. I don't think I had ever lied to Sora before. I stared down at the table too long.

"You feel like you can't tell me?" She questioned.

I looked back up at her. "There might be more but I can't exactly clarify, it's her story to tell. She needs someone to trust right now, and I … I can't betray that."

She looked at me and nodded, but her mouth was in a firm line, I could tell she didn't like my answer but she understood.

Sora always understood.

"As long as she has someone, then it's a start, but if you feel like you need help, please come to me?"

I almost wanted to tell her. I was saved as Matt started playing his guitar and Sora looked over at him, smiling brightly.

I recognized the song. It was an acoustic ballad by a British singer, I forget his name, but they had arranged it a little differently so it could be a duet.

The band had been going through a bit of a transition, only been playing covers for the past year or so. They spent that time writing new songs, deciding their olds ones were no good, they scrapped everything and stuck to the covers until they had an entire new setlist.

It actually worked out pretty well for them. Matt and Colin were great at rearranging and creating mashups. It gave them such a good following that they decided to keep a short set in the middle of their show that would still be covers.

As Kari joined him in the song I was reminded of the talent I witnessed last night and saw why they gave Matt such a hard time because she did make him better. She added more emotion and depth, and he had to adapt to that. They were good for each other.

He stole little glances at Sora every once in a while when he was singing. It was sweet, that they were still so into each other after all this time.

With one last glance at Kari, I decided to make my exit and headed out to the balcony for a little while. I could still hear but the song was more muffled now.

I felt bad that I didn't get a chance to check on her this morning. I wanted to see how she was after last night. She seemed fine but there was no way after all that, that she was. She had been hiding everything for so long, now she was probably a pro at putting on a good show for everyone.

I leaned onto the railing and looked out into the city. It should have made me feel at home, being in a big city, but it was so different from Tokyo. I felt out of place here. It only seemed to emphasize how much had changed over the past few years. It shouldn't have been so jarring, but it was a little weird to be here with Matt, Sora, Kari, and a new crowd of people. We grew up in an extremely tight-knit group of friends, maybe looking back we should have branched out more but we had our reasons. As everyone grew up and started to move away I still kind of stuck to those who stayed, not really exposing myself to too many new friends. I do regret it, I probably missed out on a lot in college with my unnecessary brooding.

I was drawn out of my thoughts when I heard the door slide open. Trevor walked out and grabbed a pack of cigarettes out of his back pocket. He walked around me so he was downwind and covered the cigarette, blocking it from the breeze as he lit it, and took a long drag. I was grateful he had moved so it wasn't blowing in my face. I hated the smell of cigarettes. It always took me back to the worst days of my parent's marriage, that was when our dad went from a casual smoker to a chain smoker.

Suddenly I realized Trevor had been staring at me, he must have said something, because he looked like he was waiting for a response.

"I'm sorry, I was spaced, what was that?" I asked him, as nicely as I could.

"It's cool, I asked about you and Kari? Matt said the two of you use to date?" He looked at me expectantly, while he leaned back against the railing, blowing smoke into the air.

My guard was instantly up. The way he said it was so, nonchalant, but it still made my stomach drop. Maybe he did have feelings for her after all.

"Oh, um, well … Ya see," I stopped, clearing my throat.

"We met when we were six years old and didn't actually date until three months before we graduated high school. I mean, she was my best friend for most of my life so..." I drifted off, I didn't even know where I was going, but I knew my face was probably beet red. I looked over at him and was annoyed to see he was smirking at me.

"Relax dude, I wanted to make sure you weren't just here trying to take advantage of the situation she's in right now, she's vulnerable. She..." He stopped seemingly unsure if he should continue. He looked at me and sighed. "We know there is more going on than a simple break up, but she's so hushed about it. She's like a kid sister to us and we just want to make sure she's safe."

I let out a breath. He saw her as a sister. I instantly felt better about him.

"I would never intentionally hurt her and you can count on that," I replied to him.

He smiled, more genuine this time, before taking a long drag. "I like that you said 'intentionally,' I can't trust a person who says they will never hurt someone, that's crazy," I nodded in agreement.

"We are trying to get her to come on tour with us," I perked up as he said this. Matt had not mentioned this to me. He continued, "Matt was worried you wouldn't come if he told you."

I signed, I didn't like that he thought I would run for the hills if he let me in on anything about her.

"She's way too talented to sit here and rot all summer in that dinky club," he said.

I couldn't disagree with him there. "When were you planning on asking her?"

"Probably tomorrow. We know she's gonna kill it tonight, so we want to use that as ammo," he put out his cigarette on the railing and tossed it over the side. "And," he started to say before I interrupted him.

"And, you want me to help you if that doesn't work," I didn't ask it as a question, I could tell where he was going.

"Precisely. You're the trump card."

"I think you overestimate my pull here," I said, "If Matt has told you the story, you'll remember she kind of walked out on me without an explanation." I leaned back over the railing feeling a little defeated.

He didn't say anything for a minute and I glanced over at him. He looked like he was still processing what I just said, Matt must have left that part out.

"I can just tell," He said confidently. The song had just ended and there was some rustling in the apartment. The door slid opened and we looked back at Matt standing in the doorway. "Care for practice Trev?" Matt said, exasperated.

Trevor glanced at me as he headed back in. "TK, I hope to God, you aren't half as dramatic as your brother here, or I don't think the tour will be able to handle it."

I snickered. I judged him too fast, maybe he wouldn't be so bad.

I turned back to the railing and got lost in my thoughts once again. I made a promise to stop judging situations so quickly. The whole point of coming here was to get out of my comfort zone and get material so I could start writing. If I prejudged everyone and every situation I would never have anything to work with, and I would be miserable and stressed.

I was probably going to be spending a lot more time with Kari, and that should be a good thing, not something to worry about. I wanted to, if nothing else, mend the friendship that had been severed, I hoped she would too.