Author's Notes: Oh boy... This pair of side cases... I find them a bit more random than normal, but oh well...

~LIVING~DOLL,~DEAD~PERSON~

"How is your mother doing?" Kyoko absently asked as Takumi typed out another report for her.

"She's fine," he responded with a shrug. "Still busy as usual, I suppose. Her most recent story was covering organ trafficking between Japan and the country she's staying in."

"Oh? What an interesting report that must have been," the detective smirked. "Did you tell her about any of the cases you've been working on?"

"Her story did remind me of the cases involving that occult club," Takumi looked up from his laptop. "She really likes stuff like that so I told her about what happened at Shibuya. She didn't believe me about the ghost trying to kill me though," he frowned. "She said I used to have strange nightmares when I was younger about strange black-and-white monsters trying to eat me." He blinked as that sounded really familiar, but he never recalled having such nightmares as a child. "Coming from a small over-imaginative boy, I guess it does sound rather far-fetched…"

"Speaking of which, it seems there's some sketchy poster on the second floor of Broadway," Kyoko mused. "Have you seen it?"

"Sketchy how?" the boy blinked.

"You'll know it when you see it," the detective smirked. "You should go check it out sometime."

"If you say so," Takumi shrugged.

Takumi crossed his arms and frowned at the strange poster on display by the card shop. A nearby young man spotted him staring and smiled at him. "Ah, I see you're interested in the sign too," the brunet nodded.

"Do you know something about it?" Takumi asked him.

The glasses-wearing college student shrugged. "The 'Super Ultra True Puppet'… It's quite the intriguing name, that's for sure. Like the name says, it's an exquisitely crafted doll made to look just like a real human being that you can buy online, or so I hear. Though calling it 'Super' and 'Ultra True' is a tad redundant," he chuckled. "They could have gotten the point across without using both terms.

"So it's an advertisement for a life-sized doll…?" the Cyber Sleuth's frown deepened at how strange the idea was.

"It's actually not that expensive. I'm thinking of saving up my money and buying one myself," the young man nodded. "And it's made by 'Jorogumo Co., Ltd.'. A nice, snappy name for a company, although there's a bit of a sketchy vibe to it, too."

"Jorogumo…?" Takumi tried to remember which mythical creature that was. "It was something to do with spiders, right?"

"Anyway," the young man studied the poster thoughtfully, "I wonder who the model behind this doll is, too, come to think of it…"

"Right… you do that…" Takumi backed away from the college student. He started back down the hall before his Digivice began to ring.

"Hey, a case has come in from Mei of the Inoden Occult Research Club," Kyoko notified him. "Drop by the office when you can, all right?"

"Understood," the boy nodded as he hurried down the stairs.

Client: Occult Research Club's Mei

Place: Broadway

Details: Have you heard of "Super Ultra True Puppets'? "We" ply our trade there…

As soon as Takumi removed the note from the board, Mei and Lily from the Occult Research Club arrived. The president of the strange club frowned as she called out to the detective taking a seat at her usual sofa. "Detective Kuremiiii! You have to help us! You have to help us, please!"

"Mei, calm down!" Lily told her. "I'm sure she'll help us!"

"Tell me what's going on," Kyoko crossed her arms. "What's wrong? Given that this is business from the Occult Club, I take it we've got another supernatural case on our hands?"

"Yeah…" Mei frowned. "I mean… I mean, no…" She shook her head. "Probably. I don't think…" she wore an uncertain frown, "this has anything to do with the occult this time."

"Oh?" Kyoko curiously stared at the high school girls. "Then why all the big fuss?"

"Well…" Lily worriedly began, "there are apparently these 'dolls' being sold on the Internet that look just like me and Mei. I think those dolls are called 'Super Hyper Ultra Lookalikes' or something like that…"

"Eh!?" Takumi blinked at them.

"You must be referring to the 'Super Ultra True Puppets'," Kyoko nodded as she brought her hand up to her mouth. "I've heard rumors about them. All right, tell me more."

Mei nodded before continuing. "These dolls, their faces, their bodies… everything from top to bottom looks just like us. They're so accurate, it's creepy…"

"Aaaand, to make matters worse," Lily added, "they're being sold real cheap! You'd think they could go for at least a little more money on the market!"

"Uh… that's not really the problem here," her friend shook her head. "You get that, right?"

"But it still sucks!" Lily pointed out. "It makes me feel like they see me as some kind of cheap piece of junk!"

"I mean I find it weird, too," Mei nodded, "that your doll costs several thousand yen more than mine, but…"

"Wait, so you do care about the prices after—"

"I said it's not important!" Mei cut her off. "Anyway, these dolls that look just like us are being bought by otaku all over the place. And when I think about those guys are probably doing with, er, TO them…" she shuddered at the thoughts, "it just really creeps me out."

"Hmm…" Kyoko lifted her gaze towards Takumi. "You know, this reminds me of another incident. I wonder if this is connected to that."

"Eh?" Takumi blinked at her and tilted his head to the side.

"What kind of incident?" Lily asked.

"There's a really dicey-looking service out there that's called the 'Perfect Girl Project'," Kyoko told them. "You can use it to get a living doll made in the image of your 'ideal girl' and live the life you've always dreamed of. But, the police have been hearing about how owners of these dolls are going missing. I was just discussing it with Detective Matayoshi."

"Ah…" Takumi nodded at the suspicious similarities. "It sounds like they could be related to each other."

"Super Ultra True Puppets… and living dolls made in the images of people's dream girls…" Mei mused.

"I guess they sound like they could be related," Lily shrugged, "but are you sure there's really a connection?"

"That's the tough part to prove," Kyoko stated. "To make dolls that look so similar to how you two really are, it'd take having pretty specific data on your bodies. I imagine getting your hands on something like that isn't exactly easy…"

"Actually," Mei began, "I have an idea how they might have managed to pull it off. There's an 'LDC' machine in an arcade in Akihabara that I think might be suspicious…"

"Oh? 'LDC'…?" Kyoko blinked at her. "You don't mean 'Lustful Dream Chick', do you? They're certainly not one for subtlety if that's the case."

"No, no, not that!" Lily shook her head. "She means 'Living Doll Club'! That's what LDC stands for!"

"Right," Mei nodded. "It's a machine that scans all of your body and makes a 3D-printed figure of it. Our data could have somehow leaked out of that, I guess…"

"Hmm…" Kyoko thought it over. "I definitely can't deny the possibility."

"It's worth looking into," Takumi said, ready to begin.

"Then our next step is clear," the detective turned towards her assistant. "We need to head straight to Akihabara and gather information on this Living Doll Club machine. That'll be your job, Takumi. As for me, I'll see if I can dig up anything else regarding the Perfect Girl Project."

"Understood," he nodded.

"Huh? You… you want to talk to ME?" the unstable nerd blinked at Takumi. "Why? What is it?"

"Do you know anything about a Living Doll Club machine in the area?" the Cyber Sleuth asked.

"Ahh, Living Doll Club, is it?" The nerd turned towards the building across the street. "For a time there was this huge ad campaign about how it used the latest in 3D tech and whatnot… There was a Living Doll Club in the arcade down the way, wasn't there?"

"I see…" Takumi smiled at the boy before setting off. "Thanks for the information."

The teenager quickly crossed the street to head over to the arcade in question but on his way there he was stopped by a man in a business suit. "You there!" the man called out to the redhead. "I can tell from your body language you're frustrated and unhappy!"

"Frustrated and unhappy?" The blue-eyed teen blinked at him. "Me…?"

"Yeah, I'm talking about you!" the odd man nodded. "I know this is outta the blue, but I bet you're into beautiful woman, aren't you?"

"Eh?" Takumi brought his hand up to his mouth. "What's this about?"

"I'll have you know that I sell top-notch dolls of only the prettiest girls," the man boasted. "Maybe you've heard of them. They're called 'Super Ultra True Puppets'."

"Ah!" The Cyber Sleuth immediately snapped his head up at him.

"If you want, I can let you have one for cheap," the salesman smirked. "Go ahead. Check this one out for yourself!" He motioned towards the doll he had in the van he had parked nearby.

"E-eh!?" Takumi blinked at the doll since it looked like a perfect replica of Nokia. "That doll…!"

The man knowingly nodded and frowned at the figure. "Granted, this one's an ugly one that was made as an experiment and it hasn't sold well," he told the boy, "But you understand how real my dolls look now, right?"

"Well, I can't deny the accuracy," Takumi nodded.

"Well, if you're interested in having one of these for yourself now…" the man's smile grew, "I've got something even better, but it's a top-secret service. Nobody can know…" he said as a deep sinister chuckle emanated rumbled in his throat.

"What is it?" the Cyber Sleuth asked with a suspicious tilt of his head.

"Let me ask you," the man studied the vigorous youth, "how are you doing health-wise?"

"My health…?" Takumi nervously frowned. "Meh," he shrugged as he stared down at his half-cyber body. "It could be better, could be worse."

"Great to hear!" the odd man brightened at that. "Really, even if you weren't 100% perfect, you'd probably still be fine…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" the boy asked.

"I bet you're bored with how your day-to-day life is going," the man nodded. "Wouldn't you love to just throw it all away and spend it with the girl of your dreams? Doesn't that just sound fantastic?"

"Um…" the teen blankly stared at the man.

"Because with the 'Perfect Girl Project', I can offer you exactly that."

"Perfect Girl Project…!?"

The man smiled as he continued to sell the idea to Takumi. "With the Perfect Girl Project, you can have your ideal girl recreated and sent straight to your room as a living, breathing human being. There's just one condition you have to abide by if you use this service. Just one condition and you can be free from the tedium you've lived with up until now!"

"A condition…?"

The businessman laughed at the boy's curiosity. "I bet you're wondering just what that condition is? I understand," he nodded. "That's a fair question to ask. Tell you what," he smirked. "I'll let you in on that condition, free of charge." The man carefully looked around the street before lowering his voice. "The one condition is that once your dream girl has been sent to your room, you can never leave it for the rest of your life! Simple, right!?"

"Eh!?" Takumi blinked. "But how is that supposed to work?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about survival," the man shook his head. "The girls take care of that for you. So what do you think? Not a bad deal, right?"

The redhead closed his eyes and thought it over. Besides how obviously wrong that proposal is, it looks like our suspicions were right about the Perfect Girl Project being related to the Super Ultra True Puppets. I can try to accept the man's offer and see where it takes me, but I'd have to get Kyoko-san to approve of the idea first considering it sounds extremely dangerous. Takumi opened his eyes and frowned at the man. "It's a tempting offer, but…"

"That's okay," the odd man nodded in understanding. "Take all the time you need to think. Once you know you want one, just get in touch and I'll make it happen…" he laughed. "The Perfect Girl Project is a top secret service provided by Jorogumo Co. Ltd. If you're interested, just come talk to me…"

The teen nodded to him and quickly started towards his actual destination. "Alright," he muttered to himself. "I think I'll just go check out the LDC machine at the arcade." He soon spotted the machine quickly before deciding to make a call back to the office.

"How's your investigation into the LDC machine coming along?" Kyoko asked.

"I just found the machine," Takumi told her.

"Ah… so you're just about to get started on it," she nodded in approval.

"Before I do though, I need to tell you about some guy I just met. He seems to be a part of that Jorogumo Co., Ltd."

"Hmm? You encountered a suspicious man out by the LDC machine? That's good timing, because I'm detecting a faint Digital Noise signature close to where you're standing," she nodded. "You'd better take a close look at that arcade machine. I bet you'll find some clues about how these Super Ultra True Puppets are being made. As usual, this case is starting to take some weird turns, so be ready for anything in there."

Takumi nodded to her and quickly hung up. He looked back towards the man as he was soliciting another teenager, but the Cyber Sleuth decided to leave him for now. Looking back at the LDC machine, he took a deep breath. "It looks like I can Connect Jump into the LDC unit…" he said as he held out his right hand.

Takumi frowned as he noticed a spider-like Digimon deep inside the network. His Digivice quickly ran a scan on it and the Cyber Sleuth tensed up as he realized the Perfect-level Infermon was definitely not supposed to be here. The Infermon didn't notice him though as it scanned the machine's compiled data.

"I TAKE PEOPLE'S DATA. MAKE DOLLS FROM IT,"the Digimon cackled as it continued to work. "LOTS AND LOTS OF DOLLS. DOLLS THAT STEAL SOULS THEN PEOPLE BECOME DOLLS. THE DOLLS ARE LIFELIKE. THE PEOPLE ARE DEATHLIKE."

"Deathlike…?" Takumi knit his eyebrows together at that.

"HUH?" Finally noticing the boy, the Infermon turned to look at him. "WHO, WHAT ARE YOU? ANY INTERFERENCE MUST BE PUNISHED. ANY INTERFERENCE MUSTTT BEEE PUNISHEDDDD!" He opened his mouth and Takumi's eyes widened at the gun muzzle pointed at him. "HELL'S GRENADE!"

The Cyber Sleuth dodged out of the way as his Digimon appeared. Rapidmon immediately intercepted the attack to protect his tamer, weakening the blows with his triangular beam. "Golden Triangle!"

"Gatling Missile!" Andromon fired missiles at the spider but frowned when Infermon retracted all of its tentacles into its body, tightening its defenses.

Infermon reeled backwards and cackled as he rammed his entire being towards the Cyborg. "COCOON ATTACK!"

"Sun-Crescent Kick!" Lilimon's body glowed as she charged it up with solar energy before kicking their opponent away like a ball.

Rapidmon flew behind the immobile Digimon and slammed the Infermon into the ground before quickly finishing it off. "Rapid Fire!"

"Good work, everyone!" Takumi nodded to his team before something caught his eye. He knelt down and blinked at the strange data. "There's something on the ground…" The Cyber Sleuth held out his hand to scan it and blinked at the mysterious URL he just discovered. Looking around, Takumi didn't see anything else of importance so left the Digital Space. As soon as he emerged though, he saw the odd man staring at him in surprise.

"D-d-did you j-just come… out of the… out of the LDC machine?" the salesman asked, nervously eyeing the machine behind the Cyber Sleuth.

"What of it?" Takumi suspiciously asked back.

"Y-you're not with the cops or something, are you!?" the man tensed up. "Are you!?"

The redhead placed his hands on his hips and glared at the man. "Something like that! I'm a Cyber Sleuth, the cops' secret weapon!"

"Oh…" the man glared back and placed his right hand on his hip. "I didn't realize that was who I was hitting up… I must not be on top of things like I used to be. Well, I've made a good amount of money as it is… Maybe it's time to call it good enough for now."

"Just what are you up to?" Takumi asked.

"Don't bother trying to come after me!" the man smirked as he turned. "If there's one thing I'm still good at, it's running away! See you!"

As he took off, Takumi quickly started to go after him. "Hey! Get back here!" It didn't take long before the redhead to lose the suspicious man in the crowds of Akihabara though. With a sigh, Takumi decided it would be best to report this in to Kyoko before anything else happened.

"So the perpetrators behind this case are probably that salesman you met and a Digimon, working together…" Kyoko summarized as she crossed her arms.

"I managed to take out the Digimon," Takumi nodded, "but I'm sorry I let him escape."

"It's unfortunate he got away, but we'll live," she nodded to him. "As we suspected, those two probably used that LDC unit to gather up girls' data and then used it to make the Super Ultra True Puppets." The detective looked up when Mei and Lily entered the agency.

"Then does that mean you guys checked out the LDC unit in Akiba?" Lily asked.

"That probably means you have a good idea of who's behind our dolls then, right?" Mei added.

Kyoko nodded to them before smirking. "Don't get too excited. We didn't arrest the guy, but we've got him cornered. I doubt he'll try to pull something like this again anytime soon."

"I suppose we can let Detective Matayoshi and the actual police handle the rest," Takumi nodded.

"But the question still remains as to what's become of the Perfect Girl Project now…" Kyoko brought a hand up to her mouth. "Hmm… At the very least, we know each doll's looks are derived from a real person. The dolls' realism is then used to help sway potential candidates to join the project."

"But what is the Perfect Girl Project even really about in the first place?" Mei asked.

"I think Detective Kuremi mentioned that people who are a part of it have been disappearing, right?" Lily remembered.

"Indeed," Kyoko seriously nodded. "Takumi actually picked up some rather useful information about what's required of anybody who does join the project."

"W-what is it?" Lily nervously asked.

"Anybody who has their dream girl sent to their room can never leave it, ever," the detective answered. "I'm sure I don't need to explain why that's probably a bad deal."

"Of course," Takumi nodded. "But besides that, the man was asking about my health before he offered the deal to me." He blinked as he remembered something else. "Oh, and I also found this, Kyoko-san," he stated as he sent her the strange URL the Infermon dropped.

"Oh? What's this…?" Kyoko curiously studied it. "My, it's a URL left at the scene of the crime. This might come in handy. Takumi, I want you to go to that URL and check it out."

"Understood," her detective replied. He prepared to leave but Kyoko quickly placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"But… don't worry about going too deep inside," she sternly stated, resulting in the boy glancing back at her in confusion. "We don't know what you'll find in there. It's very possible we could be dealing with something extremely dark and sinister."

Mei covered her mouth with both hands as she gasped. "Dark and…"

"Sinister?" Lily lowered her gaze to the floor.

"We're talking as grim as the stuff you look at for fun in your club…" the detective nodded. "Maybe even more so. Whatever's on the other side, it's not going to be pretty by any means."

Takumi paused for a moment and brought a hand up to his chin. "Alright, I understand, Kyoko-san," he nodded. "I'll be careful." He glanced at the two girls in the room and noticed they were absorbed in another conversation. While their attention was diverted, the redhead quickly took the chance to complete a Connect Jump straight into the television.

The blue-eyed boy didn't really know what to expect on the other side, but he blinked as he found himself in a locked EDEN room, designed to look like a bedroom. Taking a careful look around, he noticed he wasn't alone. There was another boy with dark brown hair there surrounded by multiple girls.

The dreaming guy blinked at Takumi in confusion. "Huh? Who are you?"

Seeing as the taller boy didn't seem to be a perpetrator, Takumi quickly introduced himself. "I'm Aiba Takumi, a Cyber Sleuth."

"A… Cyber Sleuth…?" the college student frowned at him. "Heh, man, this place sure is getting crowded now."

"Is this supposed to be your room?" Takumi guessed as he looked around the messy room.

"Yeah, of course it is," the boy nodded.

"So your room was replicated within EDEN," the redhead deduced as he continued to examine his surroundings.

"What's this about being inside EDEN?" The older boy laughed at that. "Stop joking around. This is clearly the real world! How could I be in cyberspace!?"

Takumi didn't answer as he stared at the girls, or rather dolls, also in the room. "So who are they?"

"Who are all these girls around me?" the young man smiled at them. "They're my dream girls… My dream girls as pure, pristine dolls…"

"So you're a part of the Perfect Girl Project?"

"Yep, this has all been made possible thanks to the Perfect Girl Project! You really know your stuff!" The boy shrugged as he flopped onto his messy bed. "As promised, in exchange for these dolls, I've stayed locked up inside my room. Life with these girls is the best! I couldn't be happier! They take care of everything I need… Really, I don't see any reason to ever leave this place anyway. It's perfect here!"

"You can't just stay here forever!" Takumi told him. "Don't you have friends or family? Doesn't anyone notice that you've been locked here in EDEN?"

"But this really is inside EDEN?" the boy blinked at him in confusion. He shook his head and laughed again. "Cut it out already with that, man! Are you sure you're not the one who's actually dreaming right now?"

"You're really missing the point here," Takumi stated as he worriedly knit his eyebrows together. He shook his head as he decided now was a good time to report back to Kyoko.

"Huh," Kyoko blinked at Takumi's description of what he had discovered, "All right then… So that URL led you to one of the victims of the Perfect Girl Project."

"Victim…?" Mei frowned at that. "What do you mean?"

"Remember, to join the project, you have to stay hold up inside your room for the rest of your life," Kyoko reminded them. "But in reality, he was lured into EDEN and now he's living with those girls there while he's actually unconscious."

"But that means…" Lily frowned at the implications.

"Right," the detective nodded. "The so-called 'life' he's leading with those girls in cyberspace is just one big lie. The whole thing's just a sad scam. Anybody who falls prey for it is unwittingly imprisoning themselves for life inside cyberspace, thinking they've never left the real world at all."

"That makes sense…" Mei lowered her gaze. "It also makes sense if you think about the name of the company behind it, Jorogumo…"

Takumi tilted his head to the side before his blue eyes widened. "Ah…! I remember now… The spider seductress!"

Mei nodded at him. "Jorogumo is a mythical spider who appears as a beautiful woman to attract men to her waterfall. They'd plunge in for her and die at her hands."

Kyoko chuckled at the girl's knowledge of the story. "I knew if there was anyone here who'd know about this, it'd be you, Mei. You really know your occult history."

"Okay, so I get all that," Lily began with a frown, "but why go to the trouble of locking victims up in their room and then imprisoning them in cyberspace?"

"I can think of a few good reasons," Takumi said as he stared down at his own half-digital body.

Kyoko nodded as she thoughtfully studied her assistant. "If somebody's stuck inside EDEN thinking they're still in the real world and don't log out, then… All that's left inside the locked rooms are living bodies… which could be used for any number of things."

"Like…" Mei brought her hands up to her mouth. "Like what?"

"According to police investigations, the victims' bodies are carried off by a third party and taken overseas to foreign countries."

"What?" Lily shook her head in disbelief. "Why would anyone do that?"

"A lot of the applicants are young and healthy. There are who knows how many people around the globe who'd want such fresh bodies," the detective gravely stated.

"So it's an organ trafficking operation!?" Takumi cried out as the two girls stared at the detective in alarm.

"That's…" Mei shook her head. "That's so horrible!"

"We don't know for sure that it's anything along those lines," Kyoko flashed the teenagers a reassuring smile. "It's just a theory right now."

Lily shivered. "Just thinking about it gives me real goosebumps…"

"Aaaaaaaanyway!" Mei tried to change the subject. "About that guy your assistant met a little while ago, what do you think happened to him?"

"It's hard to know for certain…" Kyoko honestly replied. "On the one hand, his body might already be lost forever… But, on the other hand, we might still have a shot at saving him." The woman smirked as her assistant immediately began fumbling with his Digivice. "We might as well see if we can still call out to him."

"Of course!" Takumi urgently nodded as he sent the boy a message. He gulped when he noticed Kyoko's smile disappeared.

"But we should be prepared for the worst…" she crossed her arms.

"Urgh…" Takumi frowned as he knew the chances for the boy he met were slim to none.

"Hmm?" the brunet blinked at his Digivice. "What's this?"

He reread the message Takumi sent to him. "Please, you need to log out…"

"Is this another of that kid's pranks?" He rolled his eyes and slipped his phone back into his pocket. "How many times do I have to tell you, buddy? I'm in the real world! I couldn't log out even if I wanted to! You must be pretty clueless if you think this could possibly be inside EDEN!" he laughed. After a while his laughter teetered off.

The boy stood in silence for a while as he actually considered Takumi's warning. He shrugged as he took out his Digivice again.

"Well, it couldn't hurt to try." He smirked at the idea of logging out of the real world. "I mean there's no way it'll work. That's not how it works in the real world. I mean, come on." He paused when a strange message appeared on his screen. "Huh? What am I…? What am I seeing here?" He frowned to himself as it didn't make sense. "I don't get it…"

"Error: Nowhere to log out…" The message continued to flash on his screen as a creeping chill ran down his spine.

"Takumi," Kyoko stared at her assistant in concern, "did you just come back from the hospital?"

"Yeah," the boy nodded. "I just wanted to make sure my body is still there…" he frowned. "I know the results of the case were unfortunate, but it did remind me of something important. I had almost forgotten why I became a Cyber Sleuth in the first place…"

"Oh?" the detective frowned at him.

"Maybe 'forgotten' is the wrong word," Takumi crossed his arms. "But I definitely did 'remember'… Or was it that I was 'awoken' from a dream? A dream where I thought this body was my actual self… Or maybe it is and I'm actually awake. That would make my physical body the dream…" The teen chuckled to himself as he began reciting a story. "Once, I dreamt I was a butterfly. I forgot myself and knew only my happiness as a butterfly. Soon, I awoke, and I was myself again. Did I dream that I was a butterfly? Or do I now dream that I am a man? Yet there is a distinction between myself and the butterfly. This is the transformation of the physical."

"Oh? Quoting Zhuangzi now, are we?" Kyoko raised her eyebrow at him, impressed he was actually keeping up with the readings she had assigned to him. "But it is as you say. The line between dreams and reality can be murky," the detective simply told him with a smile. "It's why I can't dismiss the possibility outright. Who are we to say we don't live in a dream?"

"Dream or not," Takumi shook his head, "it doesn't change the fact that we're here now. Even if this body turns out to be the dream, I need to do all I can with my power."

Kyoko chuckled in agreement. "And so the wheels of fate continue to turn," she nodded.

~RARE~COMIC~COLLECTION~

"It looks like Rebellions is doing well," Takumi notified Kyoko as he messaged his friend back on the DigiLine. "Nokia's recruiting as many Tamers as she can find to help her, so I guess I can relax a bit. I'm sure Arata will be relieved too, but I haven't heard from him since our little adventure at Asakusa."

"Detective Matayoshi says Arata-kun's been seen in Shinjuku a lot," Kyoko mused. "What's he up to?"

"He should still be making his infiltration plan," the Cyber Sleuth frowned. "Is he searching for clues there alone?"

"Arata!" Takumi called out to the tall boy staring at his Digivice.

"Hey!" Arata smirked as he lifted his head towards his friend. "What are you doing around here?"

"Kyoko-san asked for me to make my rounds around the city, looking for prospective clients," the redhead answered with a shrug. "I figured Shinjuku was a good place to start since she also wants me to check up on the labyrinth here."

"You're telling me the great Cyber Sleuth is just walking around looking for a job?" the raven-haired boy chuckled.

"Come on," Takumi crookedly smiled at him as he placed his hands on his hips. "Work is work."

Arata laughed at his friend. "Just joking with you. If you're free, do you wanna hang out?" He glanced back down at his Digivice. "Actually, this written challenge just came from some mysterious guy. It says, 'In my hand I am holding a very rare out-of-print edition of the comic Bakuen Delete. If you want it, accept the challenge'!"

"So… is this a case or something?" Takumi asked, bringing a hand up to his chin.

"Basically, this is a rare comic contest!" the older boy stated, excitement leaking into his voice. "What do you think? Interesting, right? We should do it together!"

"It sounds fun," the redhead nodded. "But, uh… what about work?"

"Ah, I know, I know!" the tall hacker smirked. "I'll send it to Kyoko-san as an official request! If she finds out we're slacking off work to go mess around… Kyoko-san's gonna explode!"

"Maybe…" Takumi crossed his arms and crookedly smiled.

"If you want the super rare comic, you have to accept the challenge, right?" Arata lightly elbowed the younger teen. "Sounds interesting, eh? Let's take part! I'll go put in the request."

Client: Sanada Arata

Place: EDEN Community Area

Details: A mysterious man has issued a challenge: a fight with rare comics at stake! Cyber Sleuth! I need your help!

Takumi blinked as Kyoko didn't even question the strange case Arata submitted, but a case is a case, he supposed. Looking around the Community Area, he noticed Arata waving him over as he spoke with a boy with light brown hair.

"Oh, you're here at last," Arata smirked. "You're late!"

"Sorry…" Takumi chuckled as he scratched his cheek.

"Hey, is this your friend?" the brunet asked.

"Huh?" Arata turned towards the other boy and crossed his arms. "Ah, um… eh… that… I mean, this… this is… eh…"

Takumi raised an eyebrow at the older teen. "Yeah, I'm his friend," he ended up answering.

"Okay, so this is the guy you're doing the rare comic contest with this time?" the brunet asked. He studied Takumi for a while before shrugging. "Okay then. Do you best! Well, see ya!" He walked off, leaving the two boys alone.

"Takumi," Arata turned back towards the redhead. "So, I was telling you about the written challenge from the suspicious guy, right?" he seriously asked.

"Yeah," Takumi nodded.

"That suspicious guy is a rare comic collector," the raven-haired boy explained. "He brings participants in with the promise of rare comics and then gets them to answer fan questions he comes up with. All over EDEN there are contest organizers—so-called 'game masters' who ask the questions everyone has to answer. The way it works is that the first one to reach the rare comic collector will be presented with one of his best comics." Arata crossed his arms as a grave expression washed over his face. "You can't just buy a rare comic from the collector. Man, what I wouldn't do to get that rare comic… I'm literally salivating at the very thought!" He began trembling in anticipation. "We've gotta do it! We've gotta win! We need to get our hands on that rare comic!"

"What type of comic is it?" Takumi asked.

"Huh?" the older boy blinked at him. "You want to know what 'Bakuen Delete' is? It's a long story, but a good one," Arata smiled.

"Okay," the redhead shrugged.

"Right, so 'Bakuen Delete' or 'Bakudeli' is set in a turn-of-the-century dystopia. 'Bakuen' or 'Bomber Garden' is the scene of a wild hero-and-heroine adventure," Arata began as Takumi placed his hands on his hips to listen. "The hero is Hakku Shoukyo. He's the head of the student council, a brilliant genius and a senior at a private school called St. Erase. Not just that, but he's an incredible hacker!" Arata exclaimed, his blue eyes lighting up. "Aku, Soku, Delete! He's vowed never to kill. He destroys evil hackers all in the name of justice. At the start of the series he's a detective who can use hacking, but…"

"W-wait, Arata!" Takumi blinked at him. "Slow down!"

"Huh?" Arata frowned at the red-haired teen. "Are you even listening to me?"

"You were talking way too fast for me to keep up…" the younger boy mumbled.

"Well, I did tell you it was a long story…" he crossed his arms.

"No kidding…"

"Well, anyway, Bakuen Delete is now out of print," Arata shrugged. "This is an amazing chance to get the final volume of the comic, which is extremely rare."

"Why is out of print?"

"Huh?" the older boy blinked. "Well, that's a long story. Wanna hear it?"

"Okay, go for it!" Takumi shrugged.

"Well, it's just an overreaction," Arata shook his head. "From when it was published, harmful hackers started to pop up in EDEN and people feared the comic was to blame. Believe it or not, they suspected the author of being a hacker himself and he was arrested. After that it was recalled and went out of print."

"That's unfortunate…" Takumi thoughtfully scratched his cheek.

"It was always just a minor comic with a few fans," Arata continued. "the shops stopped stocking it three days before the arrest, making it an extremely rare comic. Now you can get the contents of the comic on the Web, but nothing beats the real deal…" he wistfully sighed. He noticed Takumi was staring off into space so crossed his arms. "Hey, are you even listening to me?"

"Well, of course!" Takumi replied. He paused as he considered something else. "Hey, do you know the guy who issued the challenge?"

"Huh? You want to know who this suspicious guy who issued the written challenge is?" Arata averted his gaze from the younger boy. "Well… Basically, ehm… you see… I… I guess nobody really knows to be honest!" he laughed.

"Really?" Takumi frowned at how strange the older boy was acting.

Arata nodded. "Okay, so this is the starting point. The game master must be around here somewhere…" he said, looking around. "Let's find the first game master and solve the first puzzle!"

"Alright," the Cyber Sleuth nodded. "Where do we start?"

Arata looked around and spotted a teenager wearing a grey cap nearby. "Oh! That should be the guy!"

The capped boy laughed as he spotted the pair approaching him. "You're also a participant in the contest, right?" he guessed. "Okay, so, answer the following question! Question! In which frame of which volume of the comic series did the main character's rival Ginda Ichinosuke first appear?"

Takumi blinked at the boy before closing his eyes and bringing his hand up to his chin. I have no idea… The redhead decided to go for it anyways. "Volume 2, Frame 9," he tried.

"Oh, this is a difficult question for you?" Arata smirked. "Pfff, it's an easy one for me. The answer is 'Volume 43, Frame 2', right? It's the scene where General Asimov brings him to the classroom."

The game master laughed at Arata's answer. "Correct!"

Takumi raised an eyebrow towards his friend. "You know… I've never heard of 'Bakuen Delete' before today… Of course, I wouldn't have gotten it. And really? It took forty-three volumes before a rival was introduced?"

"Whatever," Arata smirked at the younger boy. "Just leave the questions to me then!"

"But this was just a beginner level question," the game master shrugged at both participants. "Next, please go to the entrance of EDEN. You will be asked another question by the next game master, an avid enthusiast, there." He watched as Arata quickly dragged Takumi to the terminal.

"Okay!" Arata exclaimed as they arrived at the entrance. "The second master should be around here somewhere. Let's look for him and answer the next question!"

Takumi nodded before he spotted a boy wearing a purple shirt. "Ah? Is that person it?"

"Are you the game master?" Arata quickly ran up to the boy and asked.

The brunet chuckled and nodded. "Okay then… Let's get started… Question!" he smirked as he placed his hands on his hips. "In Bakuen Delete, what is the name of the pet rabbit that belongs to Rodrigo, the main character's Japanese-Brazilian next door neighbor?"

Takumi closed his eyes and considered it. "Mrs. Nana," he tried as that was the most adorable name he could come up with for a rabbit.

Arata crossed his arms as he seriously thought about it. "The dog was called John, the cat was called Polish, and the monkey was called Ekatarina…" He blinked as that only left one name. "Really?" he blinked. "Is it Pyonkichi!?"

The game master stared at Arata in surprise before smiling. "Wow, that's amazing. Correct!"

"Pyonkichi…?" Takumi blinked at that. He looked over towards Arata and noticed the raven-haired teen had placed his hands into his pockets as a smug smirk appeared on his face.

"So far you've been able to answer all the questions easily…" the game master smirked. "Just what I'd expect from you Arata," he chuckled. "Next you should go to the EDEN community area…" he directed the boys. "There you will be asked the final question by the next game master… The first one to answer the question correctly will be given the rare comic… Okay, try your best and good luck!"

The two of them returned to the community area and Arata quickly scanned the room for the last game master. "The Top-Tier Game Master should be around here somewhere. Let's look for him and answer the next question!" He paused though as he recognized a person nearby wearing a yellow shirt. "You're the Top-Tier Game Master… right?"

"Precisely!" the boy nodded. "You finally made it here! Of course it would be you, Arata! So, shall we get to the final question!?" Both teens nodded and the game master smirked. "Question! The main character in Bakuen Delete, Hakku Shoukyo, went to a school by the name of…"

Arata chuckled to himself. "That's an easy one! It's called 'St. Erase Private High School', right?"

"However…" the game master continued.

"Huh!?" Arata frowned.

"I'm afraid I need the exact name and address of the school!" the boy declared.

The raven-haired boy was taken aback by this. "Ah! I… uh…" he frowned as he crossed his arms. "But… I don't know…"

Takumi frowned as he made a wild guess. "Shinonome 2-8."

"UUHH-OOHHHH!" the game master shook his head. "Sorry! Wrong answer!"

"Uh… hmm…" Arata knit his eyebrows together. "Which one is it…? Oh yeah! I think it came up in Volume 18, the scene with the school entry application acceptance…!" He wracked his brain for the exact address on the form. "Hmm… Ah… Damn it…" he shook his head. "Come on… I know this…" He closed his eyes and pondered it some more before giving up. "I don't remember!" Arata desperately turned towards his friend. "Hey, Takumi, can you go figure it out?"

"Huh? How?" the redhead blinked at him.

"If you go ask some comic book nerds around the Broadway used bookstore they'll probably know…" the older boy suggested. "Please!" he begged his friend.

"Alright," Takumi nodded. "Sure."

"What is the exact address of St. Erase Private High School?" the game master repeated his question. "If you can tell me the right answer, you win!"

Looking back at Arata, the Cyber Sleuth noticed the older boy's body was shaking. "Don't worry, Arata," Takumi reassured his friend. "Just leave this to me!"

"Huh?" the raven-haired manga nerd blinked at Takumi in surprise. "St. Erase High School's address? Who the hell are you and why are you asking me this out of the blue?"

"Well…" Takumi frowned.

The other boy shook his head as he answered Takumi's question anyways. "St. Erase High School? You mean the one that the main character from Bakuen Delete went to? We… well, you know even though I'm an expert at everything to do with comic books, when you ask me out of nowhere like that…"

"You don't know it?" the redhead sighed.

The nerd chuckled at that. "Nah, that's an easy one." Takumi straightened up at that. "St. Erase High School is at Kingston 5-8."

"Kingston 5-8," Takumi repeated. "Alright, got it."

"But, why are you asking?" the boy blinked at him.

"I just need it for a rare comic contest," the Cyber Sleuth shrugged.

"What!?" the nerd tensed up at that. "A rare comic contest? If you can answer the question you get a copy of the legendary final volume of Bakudeli? WHAT!?"

"H-hey, I didn't say that!" Takumi cried out.

"No… No freakin' way!" the boy's eyes widened in surprise. "Are you freakin' kidding me!? You gotta tell me about it!"

"S-sorry, but I gotta go!" the redhead stated as he took off before someone else beat Arata to the question.

Arata crossed his arms and frowned. "Oh yeah, that's it," he nodded to himself. "It's a Kingston address, but I can't remember the number…"

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" the game master teased him. "Hurry up and answer already! Someone else will win the rare comic!"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Arata cried out as he wracked his brain for the answer.

"Arata!"

"Oh! Takumi!" the raven-haired hacker brightened when he saw Takumi running towards him. "How did it go? Do you know the answer?"

"Kingston 5-8!" Takumi nodded.

"That's it!" Arata smirked as he turned towards the game master. "Kingston 5-8! That's it exactly!"

"CONGRATULATIONS!" the game master smiled at the boys. "THAT'S THE RRRRRIGHT ANSWER!"

"YES!" Arata jumped into the air. "I did it! Takumi, thank you so much!"

"That's it," the game master nodded to him, "you've answered all the questions! Please go to the EDEN free area now. If you get there first THE COMIC WILL BE YOURS!"

"YEEEAAAHHH, Takumi!" Arata cheered. "The mysterious guy who organized this contest seems to be in the EDEN free area! Quick, let's go!"

"Alright!" Takumi smiled and nodded before taking off after his excited friend.

A man wearing a burgundy shirt smiled at the raven-haired teen running towards him. "Hey! Arata!" The game sponsor shook his head. "Oh, sooo close!"

"Huh!?" Arata's eyes widened in shock.

"Unfortunately someone else got here before you…" the man chuckled. "You're the second one here, Arata."

"N-no… Really?" the hacker asked, hiding his disappointed frown behind his jacket's collar.

"Yeah, it was really just a split-second difference, actually…" the sponsor tries to console him.

"Ugh… I can't believe it…" Arata sighed. "I tried so hard…" He shook his head and shrugged it off. "Well, what can you do? It was fun, so I guess it's not a total loss. It was a nice way to pass the time."

The man laughed at the teen's quick recovery. "Well then, Arata. Maybe we should hold another rare comic contest in the future?"

"Oh! Cool!" Arata eagerly nodded. "Yeah, definitely! Next time I'll be the organizer!"

"Huh…?" Takumi blinked at his friend in confusion. "So you actually know the man who set this whole thing up, Arata?"

"Hmm?" Arata looked over to the redhead. "Oh yeah, I know this guy."

"But you said he was 'mysterious' and 'suspicious'," the younger teen frowned.

"Huh? I said he was 'suspicious' looking?" Arata's eyes darted to the man and he quickly shook his head. "Eh… n-no… I never said that…"

"Arata!" Takumi knit his eyebrows together.

"Well, I think it spices things up a bit, calling him suspicious and all that…" the older teen chuckled. He crossed his arms and smirked at the Cyber Sleuth. "Actually, I do that all the time with my friends." He nodded over to the man. "This guy is… well… sort of my 'friend'… or whatever," he tried to coolly say.

Takumi smirked at the raven-haired hacker. "Really…?"

Arata frowned at the redhead since the younger boy seemed to be holding in laughter. "What…? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Arata, you're just posing as a cool loner," Takumi burst out into a laughing fit. "You're such a nerd. And you're friends with some weird people."

"D-don't say that!" the older boy shouted, his face growing red. "That's not true at all!"

"But it is," the blue-eyed boy pointed out.

"Well, even so, it was fun, right?" Arata smirked. "You should take part next time, too!"

"Sure!" Takumi laughed.

Kyoko stared at the comic book Takumi was borrowing from Arata and raised an eyebrow at its title. "Oh? 'Bakuen Delete'… a comic about hackers having to engage in battles with each other…"

"You've heard of it, Kyoko-san?" her assistant looked up towards her.

"It's a comic for people like him who have kind of a sickness," she nodded.

"Eh? Arata…? And a sickness…?" Takumi blinked before chuckling to himself. "Oh? You mean junior high school syndrome? Yeah, I guess he seems that way…"

"Still," Kyoko smirked as she crossed her arms, "a rare comic contest amongst friends… I wonder why humans would bother putting so much energy into something so utterly fruitless… They really have a lot of time on their hands."

"You're one to talk, Kyoko-san, with all your coffee-brewing," Takumi pointed out with a chuckle. "But… it's a fun way to spend time with friends. Doing something you love with the people you care about. It's not that strange and it's definitely not fruitless."

Kyoko chuckled in agreement with him. "People are a never-ending source of surprises," she ended up concluding. "I never pictured Arata-kun as the type to hang around otaku crowds myself."

"I'm always learning new things about him," Takumi realized too. "A hacker before gaining Digimon Capture, a questionable past due to said hacking background, and a comic fanatic… Arata sure loves his secrets… I wonder what else he could be hiding…"

"Everybody has a few things about themselves they don't want to share," the detective mused. "I wonder what it could be that you lock up in the recesses of your mind."

"Huh?" Takumi knit his eyebrows together as he blinked at her.

Kyoko smirked at his confused expression. "But I suppose you're too much of an open book considering you're too honest for your own good. There's nothing about you that I can't figure out, but it also goes without saying that even I have things I keep from you."

"Even so, I'd never question you," Takumi shrugged. "I know you'll let me know of them when it's time. Besides, I trust you enough to never want to have to hide anything from you. That's just the type of relationship we have," he smiled.

Final Notes: Kyoko really is an important person in Takumi's life at this point. For some reason, their relationship reminds me the bond Watanuki has with Yuuko Ichihara in xxxHolic. Takumi's bond is less tragic though... and he wasn't really tricked into it... Anyway, the Living Doll case is more disturbing to me than the Crossing Scramble case. At least with the Crossing Scramble, the results after the case had no lasting consequences other than a ghost girl haunting the scramble. She's easily ignored though since I doubt any other group of teens would be capable of pulling off the Shibuya Hirasaka. For the Living Dolll case, it's terrifying to think of all the victims that can no longer be saved... And then we have Arata's just-for-fun case... He really is an Otaku Hacker... At least now we know why he's obsessed with Takumi being a Cyber Sleuth. Arata makes a very good detective's assistant's assistant though.