Author's Notes: An early chapter today because I'm up waiting for my sister's school bus to come pick her up. Anyway, I decided to split each chapter by how it is in the game and by case sidequests. In between main chapters, sometimes there's a period where nothing progresses until you do certain story related cases. All sidequests are color-coded in the game and I decided to cover just the red story-related ones and the purple DLC ones. While I do like some of the blue/yellow ones, namely because some are very heartwarming, they really have no bearing on the main story so I omitted them. So yeah, enjoy Takumi's first case: Top Quality Beans.

Takumi took a deep breath before entering the Kuremi Detective Agency for his first day of work. He opened the door to the messy office and saw that Kyoko was already sitting at her desk. Her eyes flickered towards him before returning to her monitor.

"So you're finally here," she nodded to him.

"Yeah," the teen nodded. "I'm ready for my first case."

"Then let's get down to it," Kyoko crossed her arms. "I have something for you."

"What is it?" Takumi approached Kyoko's desk in anticipation.

"Your first duty to kick off your new career as a Cyber Sleuth," she smirked. "If Nakano is going to be your base of operations, you should make the rounds and introduce yourself at the various establishments here."

"That… doesn't sound very interesting…" Takumi's face fell in slight disappointment.

"Not so," Kyoko shook her head at him. "You'll be depending on these places a lot, so it's important they know who you are."

The redhead took a moment to consider her point before nodding. "Alright, I understand."

Satisfied he wasn't going to make too much of a fuss over his simple first task, Kyoko looked around her office. "Hmm…" She quickly spotted the whiteboard hanging on the back wall. "Oh yeah. Let me explain about the whiteboard. Hanging on the wall to the right of my desk is a whiteboard. You see it?"

Takumi turned his head to the board and nodded. "What about it?"

"You can accept cases from there," she told him. "Field practice is better than book learning," she stated with a nod. "I'll put some simple cases up on the whiteboard. Check it out and start working on some cases."

"Okay then," he obediently walked up to it and noticed Kyoko had already posted up a case for him. He pushed aside the red magnet and examined the note.

Client: Kuremi Kyoko

Place: Kuremi Detective Agency

Details: Purchase coffee beans at K-Café. You can find the place yourself. Make sure you say hello to everyone.

Takumi blinked at the task. "You really had to make this a 'case'?" he asked her with a crooked smile on his face. "What's the point of posting this up here?"

"Seems like you accepted it though," Kyoko smirked at him. "It's pretty straightforward. When you want to take on a new case, get one from the whiteboard, just like that. I'll add new cases every so often, so make sure to check it from time to time." She watched as Takumi prepared a folder for his first case. "Anyway, go on and start talking to people. I'm counting on you for my case, too." She sternly looked him in the eye. "It's very important for you to obtain those coffee beans."

"Alright," Takumi nervously chuckled. "I feel like an errand boy rather than a detective's assistant though."

"Think of this as a test," she shrugged. "I might be your client, but don't think that means you can slack off."

"I'm off then," the teen waved to her as he left the office. He started down the hall, but paused when he spotted a purple-haired woman waiting for him. "Eh? Mirei-san…"

"Good day, Cyber Sleuth," she greeted him.

Takumi stared at the store behind her and noticed it was a consultation booth. "Eh!? Don't tell me you work here too!?"

She chuckled at his observation. "I thought it was about time you came by. Won't you come inside my little shop? There's something I have to do for you."

"What is it?" the boy asked.

She impatiently pushed up her glasses. "We are bound by fate to do this. Hurry, please." She quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him into the store.

"W-wait…! What are you…?"

"Okay then. Stick out your right hand," Mirei directed him. "It'll be over soon. Hold still." Takumi frowned as he felt a tingling sensation spread from his hand to the rest of his body. "Next is… the other thing," the woman continued. "Turn around. Don't move… Leave it all to me." After a few more uncomfortable shocks, Mirei pushed him out of the booth. "All done!"

Takumi stared at his outstretched arm and blinked at his glove. "So… what exactly did you do?"

"I installed a special program into your cyber form, adding certain features," Mirei proudly explained. "You can now scan physical things with your right glove and capture cyber data of the target. In other words, once things from the real world are in your hand, they can become cyber data and be brought into cyberspace with you."

The boy's blue eyes widened in amazement. "Is that really possible!?" He lowered his arm and stared at the strange, but incredible lady.

She simply nodded to him. "Acquired data will be kept in your storage. Such a convenient world we live in today, don't you think?" she asked with a smirk. "Modern technology and whatnot."

Takumi placed his hands on his hips and shook his head at her. "This isn't just any technology!" he cried.

"You shouldn't be surprised by such things," Mirei frowned at him. "Your body will continue to…" she quickly stopped herself with a shake of her head. "No, it's better if you don't know what the future holds. All should be as fate directs."

"Fate, huh?" Takumi frowned at his strange body. Even if it has been a few days, he still wasn't quite used to it. "I wonder what lies ahead of me…"

"If you lose your way, come and see me," Mirei told him with an encouraging smile. "I shall be happy to point you in the right direction, to the best of my ability. Use a Connect Jump to come directly to the DigiLab from wherever you might be."

"Thanks," Takumi gratefully smiled, "I suppose…"

Mirei suddenly became serious as she pushed up her glasses to consider something. "The border between this world and the digital world is growing thinner and thinner," she mused. "The proof of that lies in the fact that I was able to meet you in the real world." Takumi knit his eyebrows together but remained silent. "But that might not be a good thing as far as the world is concerned. This is likely the harbinger of far worse things to come." Mirei looked over to Takumi once more and gave him a small smile. "Meeting with you assures me of the light of hope that will shine for this world." She chuckled to herself. "I wonder if I will enjoy this new world. Until we meet again in the DigiLab!"

"Until then…" Takumi waved to her as she went back inside. "I guess…" He was about to start off on the rest of his tour of Nakano Broadway when he noticed his Digivice had a new message for him. He blinked a few times before opening it up and saw Mirei had also sent him two Digimon. "Agumon (Black) and Gabumon (Black)?" Curious, Takumi read her attached note.

"As I told you before, your bonds with your Digimon will be a measure of your strength. These two are from difficult breeds, but if raised well, even they might come to your aid when you need them most. I look forward to see who else becomes entangled by your thread of fate."

After completing his introductory tour of the first floor, Takumi stepped out of the elevator and onto the second floor. He looked towards the hall to his right and spotted a CD shop. "Oh, cool! A music store!" He started towards it to greet the workers inside before he heard a girl's voice behind him.

"Huh? Oh, hey!"

Takumi turned around to see who it was and blinked when he spotted a familiar face. "Ah! Nokia!" he greeted his friend with a relieved smile. So she's okay after all!

"You're safe! That's great…" Nokia smiled back at him. "Well, I assumed so," she nodded. "After what happened in the digital world, you should be fine in the real one. But are those little critters okay, I wonder?"

"Critters…?" Takumi tilted his head to the side before he remembered there had been other Digimon in Cron that day. Before he could say anything though, Nokia freaked out.

"No way! You don't remember? You insensitive clod!" Nokia shook her head at him. "The Digimon that protected me!" She frowned to herself. "I'm a little worried. Had they not been around, it would have been…" She sighed. "Well… I've got this problem and I've had it since I was a kid. When things get serious, I always get frightened. It's like my mind goes blank and I freeze up. That must have sucked for you. I'm really sorry."

Takumi shook his head. "It's alright. I was scared then too," he gave her a reassuring smile. "But thanks to the Digimon, we're okay." Well… more or less okay, he mentally thought as he fidgeted with his glove.

Nokia curiously stared at the redhead. "Hey, are you out shopping right now?"

"Nope," Takumi shook his head. "I just recently got a job as a Cyber Sleuth so I'm actually working right now."

"Wow, you're a Cyber Sleuth?" Nokia stared at him in amazement. "That's great! A Cyber Sleuth? Really?" She blinked a few times. "A Cyber Sleuth…" A sudden look of confusion appeared on her face. "What is that exactly? What's a Cyber Sleuth?" She knit her eyebrows together as she stared at Takumi. "It's no skin off my nose! I don't know if it's good or bad. I totally gave up on figuring it out. It's probably better than being a hacker!" she shrugged. Suddenly she began yelling. "That said, I'm a hacker!"

"Well, you do have the Digimon Capture program," Takumi stated with a chuckle. "Just like me and Arata…"

At the mention of the older boy, Nokia shook her head. "Arata! He was a hacker! He helped us out, but he was a total hacker!" She frowned at that thought. "That's a little depressing, knowing I was lied to this whole time. I haven't seen him since. Ugh! This is the pits."

"It's not that bad," the boy tried to console her.

"It's times like these I want to throw on the new Jimiken single," Nokia nodded. "Get my freak on."

"Jimiken…?" Takumi winced when the girl began singing.

"La la la laaaa~! The saaad hummingbiiird~!"

Takumi covered his ears. "What is that?"

"Hm?" Nokia blinked at him. "That's the newest hit Jimiken single! You should pick it up!"

The detective's assistant nervously chuckled. "Maybe another time… I still have a job to do after all."

The girl pouted a bit but decided to leave it be since he seemed to be busy. "Well, alright. Later, Cyber Sleuth!" she waved to him as he left the store.

As soon as Takumi stepped into K-Café he was hit by the strong scent of coffee. "Welcome!" the man behind the counter called out to him.

Takumi smiled as he maneuvered through the empty café. "Yup, this is definitely the place," he nodded.

A girl with blonde hair at the side of the counter greeted him too with a curtsy. "Welcome! Please come in! Take any open seat!"

"Ah, thank you, but I'm here to pick up some coffee beans for Kyoko-san," Takumi explained. "I'm her new assistant, Aiba Takumi."

The man blinked at him in surprise. "You're Kuremi-san's assistant? She hired an assistant?" He eyed the young boy enviously. "Wow. So you get to bask in her radiant beauty to your heart's content whenever you want, huh?" He shook his head as he looked around the counter for the coffee beans. "I'm so jealous! It's outrageous! Truly outrageous!"

"Boss?" The girl looked to the owner in surprise.

The owner turned to her. "Yes? What is it, Sacchan?"

"You don't look at me like that, do you?" she frowned, staring down at her cat-eared maid uniform.

"What?" the man was taken aback.

"Oh, you creep!" Sacchan glared at him. "You total perv! I quit! Right here and now!"

"What? What!?" the man shook his head.

"And I'm taking full payment for this month's salary," the girl crossed her arms. "Plus I'll be billing you for 20 months of leering. You're paying me psychological damages!"

"Uh…" Takumi frowned as he looked around the empty establishment. "If now is a bad time I can come back later…"

Sacchan looked over to Takumi and blinked at him. "Oh, our customer! You wanted some coffee beans, right?" She reached into the basket she was carrying and handed him a bag. "These are the coffee beans Kyoko-san always buys. Here you are!"

"Thank you very much!" Takumi nodded as he accepted them. He took his time to pull out his wallet and watched as the owner begged his employee to stay.

"Hang on, Sacchan! Quitting out of the blue like that kinda puts me in a bind!"

"Does it now?" Sacchan frowned at him. "Well then, shall be negotiate, boss?"

"Negotiate? F-for what?"

"For what?" The girl shook her head. "Why, for my hourly rate, of course! If you're going to play stupid, I'll sue! We're talking a harassment lawsuit here!"

"Yikes!"

During the negotiation, Takumi slipped the money onto the counter and managed to get to the door. Still, he watched for a while longer before chuckling to himself. "They make quite the pair," he muttered. "Be that as it may… I've got the beans Kyoko-san asked for."

As he opened the door to leave, Sacchan called out to him. "Thank you very much! Come back any time!"

"Thanks again!" Takumi nodded to her. As soon as he was outside, he closed his eyes to figure out his next move. "That should be enough saying hi. I should get back to the office."

"I'm home!" Takumi jokingly called out as he returned to the agency.

"Welcome home," Kyoko looked up from her monitor and smirked at him. "Looks like you've cracked the case. But you shouldn't bother me with it," she shook her head. "When you complete a case, note it down on the whiteboard."

"Alright," Takumi nodded as he finished up filling out the case report. He quickly put away the coffee beans in the office's kitchen before noticing Kyoko already finished reading his report, not that he wrote much to begin with. She was patiently waiting for him now and he quickly stood in front of her desk. "What's next?"

"It seems you've made your rounds," she satisfactorily stated. "They're quite a bunch of characters, but that's what it takes to survive in Nakano. Next, I'm going to have you hit the streets."

"Alright!" Takumi eagerly exclaimed.

"I want to see how well your digital self can blend in, in the real world. The final stage of your testing," she nodded. "Go around Shinjuku asking questions. You might find yourself the topic of rumors. People saw you looking like that, after all."

"Well, it has been a while," Takumi crossed his arms. "I doubt anybody would figure out that it was me on the streets that day." He curiously tried to get a peek of what was on Kyoko's computer. "But what about you?"

"While you're doing that, I'll clean up my affairs," she smiled as she turned the monitor to the side so he couldn't look. "I've got to make a report of my investigation to Detective Matayoshi."

"Eh…? Even you have to make reports to someone?" Takumi raised an eyebrow at her. "Alright then."

"And I forgot one important thing," Kyoko stated, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"What is it?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"It's about your mother," she sternly said.

"My mom?" Takumi blinked in surprise.

"It was a blessing in disguise that she was working abroad for so long," she crossed her arms. "She was going to come back when she heard you were sick, but I told her you were released from the hospital at the last minute."

"She… actually said she would have come back…?" Takumi asked. "That's… surprising…" He frowned to himself as his mother usually trusted him to be able to take care of himself. She's so overworked that I always try to avoid adding onto her worries… Mom knows better than to be concerned about me though, so why would she offer to…? "Does she know I have EDEN Syndrome?" the boy asked.

Kyoko shook her head as she didn't know the exact details of what his mother knew. "You should contact her and reassure her you're okay," she told him.

"R-right!" he nodded as he began fidgeting with his Digivice.

"So how was your parent doing?" Kyoko asked as soon as the boy ended the call.

"It's the same as always," Takumi frowned. "She's super busy with work so it didn't really matter that I couldn't visit her as was originally planned. Still," he crossed his arms, "I'm a bit worried about her… She'd freak out if she discovers that my actual body is still in the hospital…"

"Hmm, it seems like there are no problems," the detective noted. "It's good that you put her at ease. She'll probably call again."

"Yeah…" the boy sighed. "I suppose I'll have to keep it a secret that I have EDEN Syndrome."

Kyoko nodded in agreement. "I'll leave your parent to you. Handle her well. That's your duty as her child."

"I know…" the boy knit his eyebrows together. Even though Mom's never home, she's working hard to support the two of us where she is now. I know it's difficult for us to be alone but… "I have to do my best too!"

"Speaking of duty," the detective gently smiled at him, "it calls! Head to Shinjuku. We may not know everything, but getting out there and taking action is key. Don't think too hard; just keep moving forward."

"Right," Takumi straightened up. "Well, I'm off!"

Takumi stepped out of the station and took a good look at the area before he spotted a tall boy with black hair. The redhead quickly called out to him with a gin on his face. "Arata!"

The older boy turned around and his eyes widened in surprise and relief. "Takumi! You're all right!"

"For the most part, yeah," the detective's assistant nodded. "How about you?"

"What, me?" the older boy smirked at him. "I'm fine as well, as you can see. If anyone was gonna be looking for trouble, I'm guess it'd be Nokia," he joked. "You can either peg her for a chicken or toughie, but she gets what's coming to her."

"Eh…?" Takumi nervously chuckled. "She was worried about you too, you know. I saw her earlier today at Nakano Broadway."

Arata nodded in relief to know she was safe, but he crossed his arms and frowned. "But still, that monster… That's the first time I've seen it. I'd heard rumors of some nasty program, preying on data. Then I asked the admins about it, but they insisted they knew nothing. Don't you think that's a little strange?" he asked. "The admins should have noticed something like that."

"Are you referring to the admins from Kamishiro?" Takumi frowned.

The older boy nodded. "Something bothers me about all this. I've half a mind to look into things properly."

"So do I…" the detective's assistant crossed his arms.

"At the very least," Arata shrugged, "this doesn't seem to be an official event or a prank by some third-rate hacker either."

"Ah, Arata, that reminds me," Takumi studied the older boy. "Aren't you a hacker too? Even before you got the Digimon Capture program?"

"Huh?" the older boy didn't think Takumi would pick up on that. "You say I'm a hacker too?" He sheepishly chuckled and shook his head. "Well, what can I say about that? It is what it is."

"You're really not going to say anymore on that subject, are you?" Takumi crookedly smirked.

Arata quickly turned away from him. "Oh! I just remembered I've got an appointment to keep. I've gotta be off."

"Of course," the redhead chuckled. "It was good seeing you, Arata."

The raven-haired boy flashed him a smirk and nodded. "I'll see you later."

Takumi watched him head down to the station for a while. He closed his eyes and frowned to himself. "So Kamishiro Enterprise is keeping that monster a secret too… Could it be related to EDEN Syndrome?" He opened his eyes and sighed. "It must be considering the state I'm in… I'd better remember to bring this up with Kyoko-san later."

He headed over towards the crosswalk and waited for the light to turn green. When he reached the other side, he spotted two teenagers wearing light grey high school uniforms and yellow ties. Takumi blinked when he realized they were his friends from his homeroom.

"Ryota! Sakura!" he called out to them.

The boy with light brown hair turned around and blinked at the sight of the blue-eyed teen. "Huh? Huh? HUUUH!? What are you doing around here?" he asked in surprise. "I thought you went to your mom's place. It was overseas! Gah, what country was it?" Ryota looked over to the girl beside him. "Hey, Sakura, where was it again?"

The girl blankly stared back at him and tilted her head to the side. "What? Oh, yeah…" She frowned and knit her eyebrows together as she answered. "Um… Gunma?"

Ryota frantically shook his head. "Bah! That's totally wrong! That's not a foreign country! It's a part of Japan!"

Sakura slowly nodded. "Oh, yeah… That's right…"

"Hey, are you okay?" Takumi asked her in slight worry. "You seem a bit… out of it…"

"Jeez!" Ryota sighed. "She's been like this a lot lately. She's all into Jimiken, it seems."

"Jimiken…?" Takumi crossed his arms. Isn't that the singer Nokia was talking about earlier?

His friend shrugged his shoulders. "First it's all 'Jimiken this' and 'Jimiken that' twenty-four seven and now it's this." He frowned at Sakura in concern. "She stays at home watching his videos all day long. I'm gettin' kinda worried, y'know."

"I see…" Takumi brought a hand up to his mouth.

"But anyhow," Ryota cast his frown onto Takumi. "You! What are you doing here instead of being overseas?"

"Huh? Me?" Takumi flashed his friend a smile. "I just got myself a job as a Cyber Sleuth."

"A 'Cyber Sleuth'? What the hell is that?" the brunet asked. "That sounds mad sick, Cyber Sleuth." He turned towards Sakura with a humorous smirk. "Did you hear that, Sakura? Takumi's a Cyber Sleuth!" He paused when the girl blankly stared off into space.

Takumi tilted his head to the side. "How long has she been wearing those earbuds?" he asked.

Ryota groaned and waved his hand in front of her face. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Sakura still didn't hear him so Ryota pulled out one of the speakers to whisper something into her ear.

Takumi tried to crane his neck to listen in on what he was trying to say, but couldn't make it out. All he knew was that it resulted in Sakura punching their friend in the gut. The redhead sympathetically winced. "Ryota…!"

The brunet groaned. "I thought I could get through to her, but…" He shook his head and looked over towards Takumi. "But have you heard of Jimiken?"

"Is that a singer?" Takumi asked.

"It's a band!" Ryota corrected him. "A rock group. Jimi's super hot right now, but I legit don't get why," he shook his head.

"You don't like their music?"

"Well, the songs aren't half bad sometimes," he shrugged.

"If I have time, I'll probably check it out," Takumi said, a bit curious as to what the hype was about. "That said though, I have work to focus on first… "

Ryota nodded in understanding. "So, you're a Cyber Sleuth and can skip school whenever you want now?" The brunet placed his right fist over his heart and lowered his gaze. "We even held a farewell party for you back then. I cried for you for reals, man."

"Yeah, I remember…" Takumi smiled.

"But I guess we still get to see each other after all!" Ryota smirked. "Right, Sakura?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

Ryota lightly laughed and crossed his arms. "That's what I'm talkin' about!"

"I guess everything worked out then!" Takumi grinned. He checked the time and shook his head. "I should go. It's about time for me to report back to my boss. I'll catch you two around! If you're ever around Nakano Broadway, come visit me at the office sometime!"

"Hmm," Kyoko crossed her arms and smirked. "The folks who saw you earlier didn't seem to make much of big deal about it."

"That's right," Takumi nodded. "Out of the all the rumors I managed to gather, the most widespread is the one about my sudden appearance all being a staged guerilla film shooting, complete with a car chase scene."

The detective raised her eyebrow at this. "If that's so, you'll be fine walking the streets."

"Yup!" Takumi smiled.

"By the way," Kyoko frowned. "Not to change the subject, but I've readied a new EDEN account for you."

"Huh? Why?" the redhead asked. "What's wrong with my old one?"

"Your existing account isn't being recognized properly on the EDEN Network," she explained. "As a result, you can't log in normally. You can 'invade' a service using a Connect Jump, but with an invalid account, you won't be able to do much. That would hinder your work, so from now on, log in with the new account I got for you."

"Sure thing," Takumi nodded. "Is there anything else?"

"Well," Kyoko glanced at the wall clock. "It's almost time."

Takumi curiously tilted his head to the side. It's probably an appointment but… "Is it snack time?" he asked with a wide grin.

Kyoko blinked at him in surprise before smirking at him. "I see… You're looking forward to my coffee."

"Eh!?" the teen tensed up at how poorly his joke turned on him.

"I hate to make you wait for it," the woman brushed her hair aside, "but let's have our coffee break later. It's time for work, my dear assistant," she nodded. Her eyes went toward the agency's entrance and a soft voice began to speak to them through the door.

"Um… Is this the Kuremi Detective Agency?" the girl asked from outside.

Takumi blinked as he recognized that voice from somewhere. He dismissed that thought though as he walked over to the door to open it for their client.

"Right on time!" Kyoko smirked. "She seems like she'll be an excellent client." She nodded to her assistant to let her in. "Please, come in."

"Thank you," Yuuko nodded as she entered, but she paused when she saw Takumi holding the door open for her.

"Welcome to the Kuremi Detective—Ah…!" he stared at her with surprised blue eyes. The girl from the hospital…

"It's you!" Yuuko returned his startled expression with one of her own.

"What's this?" Kyoko looked between the two teenagers. "You two know each other?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," Yuuko shook her head.

"Yeah… it's not that we know each other," Takumi said, casting his eyes away from the girl. "It's more like… we're acquainted with each other… And even then… it's probably not really that..." he frowned to himself as he had no way to clearly explain it.

Yuuko knit her eyebrows together but remained silent as she neither agreed nor disagreed with the teen's words.

"Hmm..." Kyoko looked between the two teenagers before shrugging it off. "Well, regardless, you are Yamashina Yuuko, my new client?" she asked the raven-haired girl.

"Yamashina…?" Takumi blinked. And here I thought she was Kamishiro…

"Yes," Yuuko nodded. "I am Yamashina Yuuko."

"Let me inquire, then, into the details of the case," Kyoko professionally stated. "Please be seated on that sofa there."

"Yes," the girl nodded as she did as asked.

Takumi closed the door and stood at his usual position as Kyoko sat on the sofa opposite of Yuuko. He remained silent as the girl began to explain the details of her case.

"My… my father… has disappeared," she began.

"Disappeared?" Kyoko asked, bringing her hand up to her mouth.

"He's gone missing," Yuuko nodded. "I'd like to ask a detective to seek out and find my missing father, Yamashina Makoto."

"Hmm… Do you have any info on your father?"

"Yes," Yuuko raised her left hand and Takumi watched as she fidgeted with the goggles strapped to her arm. "The basic information is all here. I'll send you the data." There was a light blip, indicating the files were successfully sent. "But the only possible clue I have would be the EDEN account info he used. When you query the account info, it says it's still currently active, but…"

"There's no response when you call?" Kyoko guessed.

"None whatsoever," Yuuko shook her head. She paused for a moment and frowned. "Please find my father," she requested of them.

"I understand," the blonde detective nodded. "We'll take the case on."

"I…!" Yuuko seemed a bit surprised that it was so easily accepted, but she gratefully bowed her head. "Thank you very much."

"Well then, let's get started!" Kyoko stated. "I'll let you know if there are any developments. Would you mind giving me your contact information?"

Takumi narrowed his eyes when Yuuko shrunk back a little. The girl shook her head as she answered. "No… That won't be necessary. I'll come by again in a little while."

Takumi brought his hand up to his mouth and closed his eyes. Just what is she hiding?

"I must be going," Yuuko said as she stood up. "Pardon me."

When their client was gone, Kyoko brought her hand up to her mouth. "I see…"

Her assistant opened his eyes. "What is it, Kyoko-san?"

The woman returned to her desk and ran a search on the data Yuuko sent them. "Yamashina-san's account info checks out. And my conclusion is this: I believe that someone has hacked this account."

"Is the solution really that simple?" Takumi asked, crossing his arms.

Kyoko nodded and showed him the related evidence. "There are numerous strange points of activity that I can see with the account and multiple Yamashina Makoto roaming EDEN. It's got to be the result of an account raid. Everyone's been clamoring about that sort of thing recently."

"An account raid…?" Takumi frowned. "I see…"

"I want you to start by tracking down the active traces of the Yamashina account," Kyoko directed him. "Account hacking is sometimes connected to organized crime. Take your investigation to EDEN and ask questions. We might get some info on these account raids."

"Understood," the assistant nodded.

"You're up, my dear Watson!" Kyoko chuckled. "Proceed to EDEN and start asking around." She frowned as she decided to investigate something else on her computer. "Account raiding is starting to be a real problem. I don't know much about getting Yamashina Makoto's information, but… look into that as well, would you? Go on, log into EDEN."

Takumi's investigation around EDEN led him to discover that Zaxon may have been involved with the recent account raids throughout the network. This made the investigator frown though as he remembered Team Zaxon was the hacker group Yuugo had been a part of. Still, if he wanted to learn more about it, he would have to ask an actual hacker of Cron for details.

His search of Galacta Park led him to an ex-member of Zaxon and Takumi managed to get a URL to Zaxon's forum room. The link took him directly to the hacking team's headquarters and Takumi was surprised to find so many hackers congregated into one area. Still, it seems as though the attitude of Zaxon was a bit more diverse than he had previously thought.

While it was undisputed that Yuugo was the apparent leader, Takumi didn't think the powerful hacker's idea of 'order' in EDEN meant account raiding. Yet, a part of Zaxon seemed to be engaging in the 'chaotic' criminal activity. This coupled with the fact that new hackers were apparently cropping up all over EDEN, it was no wonder the large hacking team was so disorganized.

Still, the investigator managed to dig up even more information and worm his way into Cron's second level. Takumi stared at the mask he had been given and frowned as it clashed with the Zaxon logo he noticed the proud members of the hacking team wore on their vests. The mask was more reminiscent of a demonic clown, but Takumi figured it couldn't be helped if this was his only way to access Cron's deeper territory.

Takumi flashed the mask to the last hacker standing guard in the area. The green-vested boy waved him off without so much as a glance and Takumi frowned as his task to infiltrate the account raiding operation had been much simpler than he could have ever imagined. Still, he kept his guard up and prepared his Digimon team before approaching the group of masked hackers gathered.

They seemed to have been meeting up with a businessman of some sort and Takumi did his best to blend in with them. He paused though when he noticed they weren't wearing the normal Zaxon vests. They all wore black hooded jackets with purple lining and the sharp blue-eyed boy spotted a different logo emblazoned onto it

Demons? Takumi frowned at that and it caught the attention of a masked boy with straw blonde hair.

"Huh?" he challenged Takumi. "Who the hell're you? You yankin' my chain? Showin' up here like this?" He prepared his Digivice. "I'm gonna kick you right on outta here!"

Takumi quickly pulled out the mask he had been given. "Hold up! I'm one of you!" he nervously replied. "See?"

"I've got infinite extra lives!" the boy declared before he spotted the mask Takumi was holding up. "Whoa, wait, what? Are you with us too?" He crossed his arms and examined the redhead. "A newbie? Did you raid someone's account?"

Takumi smiled and nodded at him. "Sure did," he lied.

"Well, excellent! Next time, let's raid together!" the hacker offered. "You promise?" He didn't wait for Takumi to answer as he chuckled. "You came at a good time. You with me?"

"Why? What's going on?" Takumi curiously asked.

"Have a look over there," the other hacker pointed to the masked businessman. "That's Mephisto-san," he whispered. "He buys any hijacked accounts from us directly."

"I see…" Takumi nodded as he started for the strange man.

"What, you're off already?" the hacker asked in surprise. "Mephisto-san's a little crazy, so be careful!"

The detective's assistant took the warning to heart as he slowly approached Mephisto-san. "Accounts… Hand them over…" the man stated. "Ugh… Accounts… Accounts…"

Takumi tilted his head to the side and frowned. There's something not right here, but I might as well start questioning him. "I want to ask about account raids," he began.

"Hurry… Accounts… Hand them over… Accounts!" the man continued to say.

Takumi shook his head as it didn't seem the man had even heard him. "Come on. I'm asking you about account raiding."

"Acc…?" Mephisto-san suddenly began babbling.

The masked hacker stared at Mephisto-san oddly. "Who!? What did you do to him?" he asked Takumi. He shook his head to check on Mephisto-san. "Mephisto-san, are you rollin'?"

"I don't think that's it…" Takumi frowned as he sensed something was extremely wrong.

"Y-y-you," Mephisto-san turned on the redhead. "You didn't bring iiiiit! S-s-so, so, give me your account!"

"Hey, calm down, Mephisto-san-san!" the masked hacker tried to say. "Look, you're freakin' the newbie out! Mephisto-san-san!"

The masked business man let out a yell and a Growmon emerged behind him. Takumi tensed up and quickly called out his team. "A Digimon!?"

The Digimon and man began speaking at once. "I want a rare… sparkling… shiny new account… Give it to meeee!" they roared as they attacked the Cyber Sleuth. "Shiny… Give it to me!"

Growmon was the first to move and he quickly charged at Takumi. The redhead didn't flinch though as he called one of his speedier Digimon over to counter it. "Galgomon! Dum Dum Upper!"

Growmon's eyes widened as the Vaccine-type Digimon suddenly appeared before him, slamming his Gatling arms upwards into the dinosaur's face. Galgomon also fired shots in conjunction to the uppercut, causing the larger Digimon to topple backwards.

Takumi quickly took a moment to analyze Growmon before looking over towards his team. "Guardromon! Galgomon! Attack from afar. Togemon, switch out!"

His robotic Digimon pointed his fists towards Growmon. "Destruction Grenade!"

"Gatling Arm!" Galgomon jumped back and began firing.

Togemon nodded to Takumi as her vulnerability to Vaccine-attributed Digimon put her at a disadvantage for this fight. As she returned to the Digivice, Garurumon (Black) took her place. "Foxfire!" the dark wolf called out as he launched himself onto the red dinosaur.

Growmon was pushed back before he decided to wrestle the wolf's fiery blast with its own. "Exhaust Flame!" He roared as scorching fire burst forth from his mouth. He winced when Guardromon supplemented his ally's attacks with more missiles. Growmon grabbed the wolf Digimon in front of him and tried to throw him into the robot, but he was suddenly blindsided by Galgomon.

"Dum Dum Upper!" The Vaccine Digimon slammed his hand into Growmon once more, ending the battle.

"Good job, everyone!" Takumi smiled before turning to face the masked businessman. He noticed the man had fallen to his knees before slumping to the ground.

"Mephisto-san-san?" The masked hacker hurried to his side in worry. "Mephisto-san-san… Mephisto-san-san!"

The other hackers scattered in panic as they didn't know what to do now. Takumi watched for a while before his Digivice beeped. He quickly answered the call. "Ah, Kyoko-san. I just fought a Digimon who was apparently collecting raided accounts from some Zaxon hackers. Without someone to sell the accounts to, the hacking should die down a little."

"I see," Kyoko nodded. "All's well that ends well. This really is such an interesting case."

"How so?"

"There are humans with Digimon collections," the detective mused. "Do you suppose the opposite must be true as well? I somehow don't find it strange that there are Digimon with collections of human account information. Still, for it to be that Mephisto-san…" she brought her hand up to her chin. "It looks like the Digimon completely overtook its user's mental data, becoming the user itself."

"Eh…? Is that really possible?" Takumi asked. He frowned as he remembered his body. "Well… I suppose it's not completely out there…"

Kyoko nodded in agreement. "I want to check out what effect this has one the real world but it doesn't pertain to our current investigation. Maybe next time," she shrugged.

"Alright," Takumi nodded. "So what now?"

"The accounts collected by the Digimon included the forcibly overtaken account of Yamashina Makoto. You've done good work today. Come back to the agency," she directed him. "The wheels of fortune are ever turning." She chuckled to herself. "I should bear that in mind. Is that not so, my dear Watson?"

The Cyber Sleuth crookedly grinned at her. "I suppose…"

Kyoko looked over the data again before addressing her assistant. "Thanks to the release of Yamashina's account, I was able to salvage the account information."

"Did you discover anything of note?" Takumi curiously asked.

"I found his current address and checked it," she nodded. "Along the way I looked into his family data. Some interesting facts came to light," she said with a knowing smirk.

"Let me guess…" the boy brought his hand up to his chin. "Is it something about his daughter?

The blonde detective raised her eyebrow at the sharp teen. "Our client—this 'Yamashina Yuuko'—is very clearly not the same daughter listed here," she nodded. "Should I have guessed as much? Or should I say it's just too silly?"

"Silly?" Takumi frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"You still haven't figured it out?" Kyoko chuckled. "Our work relationship remains sound!" she said in satisfaction.

"Well, I had my suspicions about our client from the beginning, but I didn't think it through that far," the redhead shrugged.

"For now, let's head to the Yamashina house," the detective said, standing from her desk. "What shall we find in the home of a man who's disappeared? There's only one way to find out."

Takumi looked around the apartment complex as Kyoko rang the doorbell. Things seemed pretty normal so far and it didn't take long before a gentle voice answered them. "Yes, who is it?"

The door opened and Kyoko greeted the glasses-wearing man. "Good afternoon. This is the Yamashina residence, is it not?"

"It is, but…" the man frowned at them in confusion. "Who are you?"

Kyoko crossed her arms as she seriously responded. "I'm actually looking for someone. Excuse me, but might I inquire as to your name?"

"Eh, I'm Yamashina Makoto, but…"

Takumi stared at the man in surprise. He doesn't seem missing to me… So what was that girl's reason for giving us a case like this? He remained silent though as Kyoko continued.

"Thank you, Yamashina-san," she nodded before bringing her hand to her mouth. "One more question, sir. I've heard someone in this area has gone missing. Might you know who that could be?"

"A missing person?" Yamashina frowned at them. "No," he shook his head. I don't have the slightest idea."

"I see," she said in feigned disappointment. "Might I speak with your family about this as well?"

Takumi curiously looked past the man's shoulder, curious as to see who his daughter really was, but Yamashina shook his head. "Unfortunately, my wife and daughter are out at the moment," the man stated.

"Where might your daughter be?" Kyoko asked.

"Papa?" A voice asked from behind the two investigators. "What's the matter?"

Yamashina looked up and smiled. "Ah, you're home! Such good timing! There's someone here who wants a word with you."

Takumi turned and stood out of the way as a girl with light brown hair approached her father's side. As I thought… It's not Yuuko-san.

"This is my daughter, Chika," Yamashina nodded to Kyoko.

Takumi knit his eyebrows together. Yamashina Chika… So who does that make Yuuko?

Chika noticed the redhead's perplexed expression so looked between Kyoko and him in confusion. "Huh? What's going on?"

"Hmm… This is your daughter, Yamashina-san?" Kyoko confirmed. "You have no other children?"

"No," Yamashina shook his head. "Chika is an only child. Why do you ask?"

"Just who are you exactly?" Chika asked.

"They're asking after a missing person in the area," her father explained. "Do you know of anyone missing?"

"Missing?" the girl looked up in surprise. "No, I haven't heard anything like that."

"There you have it," Yamashina nodded to Kyoko. "I'm sorry we weren't of much help."

"Not at all," Kyoko smiled as she crossed her arms. "Thank you for your assistance. We were able to get the information we needed after all."

Takumi raised an eyebrow at his boss. Is that something you should really be saying aloud, Kyoko-san?

"By the way, Yamashina-san," Kyoko continued, "are you aware that your EDEN account was hacked?"

"EDEN?" the man seemed a bit lost.

"You can rest assured, however, that we have restored the account," the blonde woman nodded. "You can use it freely now."

Takumi frowned as he noticed Yamashina had fallen silent. The man seemed ill as he lowered his gaze to the floor.

"Is something wrong, Yamashina-san?" Kyoko continued.

Chika looked up at her father in concern before quickly turning towards the woman and her assistant. "Please, just… Please leave now!" Kyoko looked at her in surprise, but Chika shook her head. "It… it doesn't matter. Just leave! We don't know anything about any missing person!" She pulled on her father's arm, urging him to return inside. "Let's go, Papa!"

The two returned indoors and Kyoko brought her hand up to her face to consider what just happened. "Hmm. That was quite the brush-off," she ended up saying.

"I can't say that I expected it, but weren't you saying a bit too much, Kyoko-san?" Takumi asked with a frown.

"And yet, we still got a lot of valuable information," she smiled at him.

"I guess…" the boy reluctantly relented.

"This Chika is certainly Yamashina-san's daughter," Kyoko mused, "Which means our client pretended to be Yamashina-san's daughter for this case."

"Why would she do that?" Takumi asked, still unable to come to a definitive conclusion himself.

"I'm not really interested in why she was deceiving us on that front," Kyoko shrugged. "But she wanted to find something out about him. What's the connection between the two of them? That's what really piques my interest." She paused for a moment as she pondered something else. "There's one more thing I'm concerned about."

"What's that?" Takumi asked, tilting his head to the side.

Kyoko shook her head and smiled at him. "Let's leave that for now."

"Eh? You won't tell me?" the boy frowned.

"The client said she'd come back to the agency. Let's have ourselves some coffee and wait for her!" Kyoko's smile grew wider.

"Forget the coffee!" Takumi shuddered. "I want to know what you're thinking!"

"Come on," she smirked at him. "Let's head back to the agency."

It didn't take long for them to wait for Yuuko to arrive. Takumi curiously watched the raven-haired girl as she came in.

"Hello there," she greeted them with a nod.

"You came," Kyoko smirked as she glanced up at the clock, "And much earlier than I expected. You are indeed an excellent client. Please, take a seat on the sofa. The investigation has concluded. I can offer you my report."

Yuuko frowned, a bit surprised the investigation had actually been completed so quickly. Takumi continued to stare at her but said nothing as they all gathered around the coffee table. He only absently listened to Kyoko as she relayed their results. He decided to focus the majority of his attention on Yuuko's demeanor, hoping the prim girl would let something slip through her body language, facial expressions, anything.

"And here are the results of the investigation," Kyoko began. "A hacker team known as Zaxon was involved in the account raid."

Yuuko's eyes widened in shock. "Zaxon!?"

"Yamashina Makoto is not missing at all. He's living a normal life," Kyoko nodded, "Happily, with his daughter Chika and his wife." The girl tensed up as she guessed the investigators already discovered her secret. Kyoko didn't press the client though as she continued. "I'd like to bring this investigation to a close, if you don't mind," the detective smiled.

Yuuko looked up towards the woman and nodded. "Yes, of course. Thank you very much."

Takumi shifted his blue eyes to his boss in confusion. Wait… We're just going to let her go just like that!? He shook his head and suspiciously frowned at their client. "Who exactly are you?" he demanded to know.

The raven-haired girl frowned as she closed her eyes. She decided to ignore his question so quickly stood up. "I'll be back," she simply said.

"H-hey!" Takumi prepared to stand between her and the door, but he stopped as soon as he heard Kyoko chuckling behind him.

"You're welcome at any time," Kyoko told their client with crossed arms. "Next time, feel free to use your real name," a sly smirk appeared on the woman's face, "Kamishiro Yuuko-san."

"Eh!?" Takumi blinked as his first guess had been right after all. Kamishiro… Yuuko…!?

Yuuko tensed up as she sensed the boy behind her backing away. She was a bit surprised too that the detective was able to discover who she was so easily, but then again, that should have been expected. She closed her eyes as she rested her hand on the door's handle. Without another word, she departed the agency.

Final Notes: So a few things to go over... First up, Takumi's Digimon team. I gave him each starter because really early in the game, it's a bit hard to balance the Digimon typing, or at least, I find it's difficult without grinding. Even though it's easy to train and raise your Digimon, I didn't really do so since I like raising my team at my own pace, plus it's overkill to have a team of Ultimates before you reach the game's chapter 10. And then there's the DLC Digimon, which I couldn't resist adding into his arsenal. For their evolutions, I based it off of my team's highest evolution form and I decided to just forego the whole memory limit thing of his Digivice. I'll also gradually add Digimon into his team based on what he defeats and whether he needs Digimon of that type on his team. That said, expect a lot of Virus Digimon and no Free Digimon on his team... because that's how I balanced it apparently... In any case, his current team now consists of Galgomon, Togemon, Tyranomon evolved from Agumon (Black), Guardromon, and Garurumon (Black). That's enough for now considering the next stuff I want to bring up are just a few personal concerns I have...