"Hey, Sakurai, look!"

Meiru looked over at Miki, then at what the other girl had spotted. "It's so cute!" she exclaimed, running inside the nearby store to get a closer look at the Metool-shaped handbag near the window. "But does it..." She looked it over. "Yes! It zips! And there's a pocket there, too..."

"You should totally get it!" Reiko said. Picking up a messenger bag embroidered with constellations, she added, "And I'll get one of these for me!" Snatching up Meiru's purchase, she skipped to the register. "Jun-chan, if you'd be a dear!" she called back.

Meiru quickly ran to catch up. "I can pay for it myself, really..."

"Sakurai, he's a guy taking us girls out! It's his sworn duty to pay," Reiko said seriously.

"But I have the money, and—"

Junichi, already bidding farewell to a few thousand zenny, clapped a hand on her shoulder. "It's cool. Besides, I'd be a lousy date if I didn't, right, Miki?"

"Right!"

"It's nothing to worry about, so don't!"

"Okay. Sorry about that..." Meiru picked up her new bag, laughing sheepishly. "It's just, I haven't made a guy pay for me since..."

"Oooh, another guy in the secret past of Sakurai Meiru?" asked Reiko, her face lighting up. "Watch out, Jun-chan!"

"Not really, just a very close friend," Meiru explained. "He's... not around anymore."

While the girls exchanged glances, Junichi said, "He must've been a pretty cool guy."

"He was." Meiru smiled at him. "But that was a long time ago, and I don't think living in the past is good for anyone. So there's nothing to watch out for anymore."

"Wow… that's kind of deep, Meiru," Reiko said with amazement. "I can call you Meiru, right?"

"Sure," Meiru said, smiling.

"Come on, let's go to more stores!" Reiko said, tugging a mock-horrified Junichi out the door. Laughing, Meiru followed them.

"We don't wanna make the guy broke in one trip, though, do we?" wondered Miki. "Maybe just one store?"

"Yeah, one store's probably his speed," Meiru agreed. Junichi sighed in relief. "We just have to make it the one store that really counts."

"I don't like the sound of that..." He looked over at Miki. "Miki, you'll stop them from going nuts on me, right?"

"Well, maybe. If we're going where I think we're going, there's a headband with my name on it." When they turned the corner, there was a ball machine sitting there. "Wonder how that got so far from the sporting goods store?" There was a whirring sound as it started up. Then, a tennis ball went flying at the group. "Yikes!" They barely managed to duck back to the other side in time.

"There's another one over there!" Reiko noticed. The other ball machine noticed them at about the same time. It shot forward.

"Come on!" Meiru said. "The fountain! It can't get in, and we'll have walls surrounding us!"

"But we'll get wet!" complained Reiko.

"And at top speed, taking a hit'll give you a black eye for sure, if not worse," Meiru countered. "If they've got ones that shoot baseballs, we're in even more trouble. Go ahead of me!"

"What can you do?" asked Miki. "What we really need is mall security—"

Meiru flashed her Net Savior I.D. rather than let them stay in the center of the danger any longer. "I am mall security. Go." She aimed her PET at the port just as the tennis balls started flying. "Plug-in, Roll! Transmi—ack!" she managed, ducking under the barrage as her Navi went in. She dove for a big planter as soon as she was in range. "How's it looking, Roll?" she asked, listening to the tennis balls bounce against the ceramic.

"They're just viruses," Roll said. "Lots of them, though!"

"I don't want to leave Junichi-kun and the others unprotected for long—Aqua Tower, slot-in!" Roll echoed her Operator's cry, slamming her fist into the ground to produce a massive burst of water. Waves from it crashed over the viruses, deleting them. Meiru heard the ball machine power down. "Nice! Plug-out for now!" With that taken care of, she ran down the hall toward the mall's center. "Shoot, they're everywhere," Meiru muttered, peering around another corner to see two or three trundling around. "How do I stop them from chasing me...?" She looked around. Nestled in between two clothing stores was a candy shop. Quickly and quietly, she went inside. "Net Saviors! I need to use some gumballs—I'll pay you back later!" she announced, grabbing a few containers and putting them in her bag.

"What on earth is going on out there?" wondered the man behind the cash register.

"Looks like a virus attack—but I'm sure the person behind it's nearby," Meiru explained. "Thanks!" She ran out the door, opening up the first gumball container on the way.

"Meiru-chan, here they come!" Roll warned as her Operator ran past the ball machines. Meiru turned, tossing the gumballs onto the floor. As she'd suspected, the ball machines couldn't navigate around the new obstacles they sensed, and largely abandoned their efforts at pegging her with the tennis balls. She continued on toward the mall's center. Her first sign that things were about to get tougher was the bike flying at her, which she dove out of the way of only to catch a football in the chest. She fell to the ground with a scream.

"You're kidding!" she exclaimed, looking at the fountain feet away—and the helicopter flying over it. Someone had had the foresight to mostly drain the fountain before anyone hid in it, but that didn't stop the assorted sports balls from flying overhead—or the remote control helicopter trying to swoop in.

A hologram of what looked like a mascot was sitting on one of the pitching machines, tossing and catching a baseball in his oversized glove. "You fellas are the last ones left!" he said in a falsetto. "Everyone else's all rounded up outside!"

Meiru liked villains who gloated, especially when they weren't gloating at her; it gave her an opportunity to better analyze the situation. However, she also had to contend with the sports balls still flying around, and that helicopter was worrying her. She could see purses and bags flying up to swat at it, but that wasn't doing much good. "Roll, see if the machines are networked," Meiru said, plugging her into the football machine. "Aqua Sword, slot-in!" With her Navi armed, she turned her attention back to the real-world situation. "I've got to do something about—oh!" A team of helicopters was slowly coming forward with a lit grill tethered to them.

"Since you're our last guests, I cooked up a little something special for you!" the mascot Navi said cheerfully.

"They're linked—I can jump from machine to machine," Roll reported. "I'll move toward the one that Navi's in!"

As Roll traveled the short tunnel that would take her to the next machine, Junichi raised his head over the edge. "What do you think you'll get by bullying a few kids, huh? We don't have anything you want!"

"Oh, good point." Meiru looked around in confusion as the machines all stopped and the helicopters halted. She hadn't thought this Navi would quit just because he'd been presented with reason. "But what do I want, huh?" he wondered. Meiru's eyes widened as the turrets all repositioned themselves to point at Junichi's head. "Well... Maybe some laughs!"

Throwing stealth to the winds, Meiru rushed forward, jumping the fountain's edge to tackle the stunned young man to the damp ground, her hair getting pulled at by the balls colliding overhead. They landed on top of each other, almost nose-to-nose. "That was pretty stupid, huh?" Junichi laughed. She was so relieved that she couldn't help but laugh a little, too.

"Meiru!" exclaimed Reiko to their left. "Nice save!"

"Are you all right?" Miki asked. Meiru nodded. "That Strikeman guy isn't really here. He and his Operator're back at the sporting goods store!"

"So all I really need to do is stop those helicopters," Meiru said, looking up to see it flying a few yards away. A few of the machines had been shut down; it was good enough for now. "Plug out, Roll!" The blonde Navi got beamed into the lead helicopter, her Operator sending her an AkaTsunami while the other girls looked up in surprise.

"I so didn't notice that," Reiko said, scooting a little closer to the fountain wall. All three of the civilians yelped as the grill plummeted to the ground, landing with a solid crunch and wrecking the remaining helicopters with it.

"Just made it, Meiru-chan," Roll reported, reappearing on her Operator's PET screen.

"But it's still on fire," Miki noticed. "What if it blows up—"

"Which one of you turned off the fountain?" Meiru asked.

"I did," Junichi said. "Can Galaxyman turn the spray in some other direction?"

"Yep!" While he was doing that, Meiru set Roll to work disabling enough of the machines to give them a clear path out. "Okay. I'm going to go take care of this guy. You guys just hurry to the exit, okay?"

"No way!" Reiko protested. "It's scary, but you can't go in there alone!"

"It'll be way worse in there," Miki added. "If nothing else, we can be a diversion."

"It's dangerous," Meiru argued, "and I don't know what I'd do if you got hurt—"

"Meiru, we're your friends," Junichi said. Jokingly, he added, "And I'd be a lousy prom date if I made you face down a wacko alone!"

"But I—"

"Count of three," Junichi called. "Ready? One, two—"

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The sporting goods store was completely dark when they arrived. Reiko squeaked and hid behind Meiru and Miki as the group headed in. "They sell hunting equipment at these stores," Meiru muttered. "Guys, I really don't like this—"

"Nuh-uh," Reiko piped up from behind them. "There's no place we're going but in." In the face of her friends' determination, Meiru could do little else but sigh and lead the way. The four of them picked up pocket flashlights on their trip past the cash registers, giving them some light as they got deeper in the store and it got harder to see.

"Heya, kids!" laughed a high-pitched voice above them. "I hope you weren't planning on going any further!"

"He's got to be in the security cameras," Meiru noticed. She ran her flashlight beam along the ceiling until she found one of the cameras. "After him, Roll!"

"Right!" Through her PET's screen, Meiru watched Roll duck under a curveball thrown by Strikeman, who was tossing and catching another baseball a few platforms away from where Roll stood. "Heart Slash!" Knowing that Roll had things covered when it came to projectile weapons, Meiru turned her attention to finding the Operator.

"Over there!" Junichi's flashlight beam caught a shadow moving deeper into one of the aisles. Meiru and the others ran over to find a man wearing a baseball cap picking up what looked frighteningly like some kind of rifle.

"Net Saviors!" she called, flashing her I.D. Looking down at her PET for confirmation, she said, "My Navi's going to have yours logged out before long, so give up!"

"Give up? But the fun's only beginning! Strikeman, do it!" Though the ball-shaped Navi was under a constant barrage of Roll's attacks, he managed to hurl a baseball away from the fight. In the real world, a canoe dropped from the ceiling, forcing Meiru and the others away. Still more equipment fell down on the group, adding to the confusion. When the redheaded Net Savior managed to look back into the aisle, Strikeman's Operator was gone.

"Great..." she said to herself, scanning the area with her flashlight. Junichi was still next to her, but the other two—and Strikeman's Operator—were nowhere to be seen. "And with a gun, too..."

"I'm pretty sure that was a paintball gun," Junichi noticed, hopping the canoe to reach the aisle. "My cousin's into the whole hunting thing, and his rifles are much larger." Meiru followed. Sure enough, there were a few more paintball rifles where Strikeman's Operator had gotten his.

"So he just wants to intimidate us... He's probably just a thief, in that case," Meiru said. "How's it looking, Roll?"

"To borrow this guy's terminology, like a home run!" Strikeman was getting knocked to the floor after a Roll Arrow found its mark.

"Suzumi? A chip or two'd be swell about now," the mascot Navi squeaked.

"Cyclone, slot-in!" Strikeman jumped into the air and spun, creating a yellow-tinted storm that he cast upward.

Before either Meiru or Roll could do much other than wonder why he'd chosen that direction, he called, "Pitch Machine!" His pitching hand turned into a silver buster that shot a barrage of baseballs into the Cyclone, which spat them out at Roll even faster.

"Area Steal, slot-in!" As there wasn't any way to adjust the Cyclone, Roll was safe once she'd shot forward and out of the targeted area.

"But you're still one girl," Strikeman taunted. "I can keep track of you easy! Pitch Machine!"

"If one isn't good enough, try two," Junichi said. Pointing his PET toward the nearest camera, he said, "Plug in, Galaxyman!"

As soon as Galaxyman had arrived next to Roll, he lifted his silver-plated hands and spread his black, blocky fingers. "Void Defense!" A glittering blackness opened in front of Roll and Galaxyman, swallowing the baseballs flying at them. "Go ahead, Roll-chan!" he warbled quietly, clapping his hands together vertically and widening their distance to form purple energy shaped like an infinity sign. He called, "Infinity Pulse!" and shot it forward as a stream of flickering energy.

"Well, you're not that tricky!" Strikeman said, dodging easily. He decided to focus on his attacker, throwing a baseball that curved around to smack Galaxyman in the side.

That gave Roll the opportunity to Area Steal over with no interruption. "Roll Whip!" The blonde Navi's antennae smacked hard into Strikeman's body, sending him stumbling backwards.

"And now, let's finish it off!" Meiru said. "Iron Ball, slot-in!" Strikeman was still recovering from the Roll Whip attack when Meiru's heavy projectile thudded into his head. He fell over, then logged out. With that done, Meiru plugged Roll out so she could contact the Net Police. "It's over, Suzumi!" Meiru called. "The Net Police are on their way!"

There was a loud crash from the other end of the aisles. Meiru and Junichi rushed over just in time to see Reiko and Miki high-five. Suzumi's paintball gun was lying in front of a mountain of golf balls, which Meiru had to guess the man himself was buried under. "Not to worry, Meiru-chan!" Reiko said. "We've taken care of this guy!" She then turned her attention to the orange splat on her shirt. "I just hope this paint washes out..."

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By the time the Net Police had finished packing Suzumi away and questioning the four teens behind his capture, the sun was getting low in the sky. "And we'll never speak of this again," Junichi said mock-solemnly.

"That was so cool, though!" Reiko said. "A day in the life of Sakurai Meiru!"

"It's not always this exciting," Meiru said, waving a hand sheepishly. "There's paperwork and all that other boring stuff—"

"Then we got the best part." Junichi put a hand on her shoulder. "See you tomorrow, right?"

Meiru's initial surprise gave way to a smile. "Right!" While they started heading for the parking lot, she remarked to Roll, "Good thing I picked my dress up yesterday instead of today."

"Judging from what was going on where we were, you might have one of the last ones in town!" Meiru laughed at the thought.

"Does that mean you still haven't gotten this prom over with yet?" Meiru nearly jumped. She turned around to see Black standing behind her. "He handles himself pretty well, for a civilian. I still think he's kind of boring."

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Meiru said calmly. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"I thought you were my arch-nemesis. And a good enemy likes to see that his enemy has as good taste as he does."

Meiru turned that over for a second. "That's sort of touching," she said. "I still don't care whether you approve or not." She then thought of something else. "What are you doing at the mall, of all places? Don't you have a dark alley to creep down?"

"They were all lit today," Black said, shrugging. "I had to come here and hang with the ripoff artists instead."

Meiru's eyes narrowed. Despite her self-appointed mission to observe Black rather than pick a fight with him, she felt a familiar tendril of annoyance growing. "You were stalking me again, weren't you?"

He looked down at the sidewalk. "I like your bag," he said.

"You were!" Meiru crossed her arms, trying very hard not to just explode at him and be done with it. "And for the last time, he's not my boyfriend. He's just a prom date."

"You said a prom was a boring dance thing," Black said.

"Yep," Meiru replied.

"Well, don't you take your boyfriend to those?"

"If you have one, sure, but I don't." Meiru said. "Why do you care so much?"

"I told you, you have to have good taste to be my enemy." Black looked at her for a second. "Why are you going to this prom, anyway?"

"Because I want to and he's nice, even if you think he's too boring." Meiru decided she'd had enough of dancing around the real issues. "For someone who mutilates people to death, you talk about pretty mundane stuff."

To her surprise, Black looked a little uncomfortable being reminded of that. "That wasn't me. It was Atsuki." Meiru could nearly hear a whoosh as his colder face came flying up to protect him. "But it's not like I care. He knows what he's doing. And it got the job done, didn't it?"

"That's a lie. There was another way, and you know it. You could've let Laika and all the other Irregulars die back in Sharo, but you didn't."

"Yeah, and I got in major trouble for that." Black's hand nearly made it to his hair before Meiru watched him check the show of nervousness, his hand jolting downward before returning to his side. "Can't we just do things the way they were before? Where we just have fun little arguments and not... these..."

"Meaningful ones?" Meiru asked. "I don't know." She looked down at the time displayed on her PET. "I've gotta go," she said. "See you around."

"Hey, wait!" Black called behind her as she headed for her car. "Why're you so cryptic all of a sudden?" She unlocked the door and stepped inside, listening with more interest than she let on. "You're Meiru-chan, you're not supposed to be—"

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"It's like Black thinks I'm a robot," Meiru said, enjoying the sunset streaming in through her bedroom window. She was going to be on her way to the prom in less than an hour, courtesy of Junichi. "I'm not supposed to step out of his idea of what I'm like. I'm obviously not supposed to have even something adjacent to a dating life, if it bugs him so much."

"What if you were right?" Roll wondered. "What if he really is jealous?" Meiru looked at her for a moment. Then, they both burst out laughing.

"I wonder what his idea of a date is?" Winking her eye shut and forming a circle around it with her thumb and forefinger, Meiru mocked, "'Hello, Meiru-chan, I'm here to take you to dinner and blow up an orphanage.'" She dropped her arm and sighed. "But I still don't get it."

"Why Enzan has such an interest in him?" Meiru nodded. "I don't see it, either."

Meiru hadn't contacted Enzan since their argument at the Ministry; she was still furious that he would hide information about an enemy that had turned out to be so powerful. "I wonder if Black helped us in Sharo as some kind of favor to Enzan. His assistance for Enzan's silence."

"But that doesn't explain why he keeps showing up around you," Roll countered. "If he knows Enzan, then why doesn't he do this to him as well?"

"Maybe he does, and we just don't know it," Meiru said. "I don't make mention of when I run into Black without incident." She straightened. "You know, that's what's really weird! When he's got some kind of mission to carry out, he's horrible, but when he's got nothing to do, it's like he's a different person. The things he says are still awful and mean, but his actions are…" The doorbell rang. Meiru and Roll exchanged glances. "That's a little early to be Junichi."

"Well, it's not like you have anything else to do to get ready," Roll said as her Operator headed down the stairs. "Though I have no idea who'd be at the door at this hour."

The doorbell rang again. More out of instinct than necessity, Meiru shouted, "Coming!" She opened the door and ran up the sidewalk as well as she could in heels, the gate recognizing her PET and swinging inward as she approached. As it began to swing shut again behind her, she looked around in confusion. There weren't any cars parked, and nobody seemed to be in front of her.

"Isn't that weird?" Meiru turned to see Black a little ways away, leaning next to the doorbell. "We go through this crazy shit, and then we just snap back to normal. From witnessing murder to dressing for prom in under a month."

"So you're admitting it?" Meiru asked. "What you did—"

"What I did was what I was instructed to do if I was faced with this situation. I don't have any say in what those above me want." Black pushed off from the gate to stand straight. "I'm waiting for you to demand to know why I'm here."

Meiru crossed her arms. "You can't say something like that and expect me to ignore it. You're the one who fired on those two people. Nobody would've known if you'd have just knocked them out or logged out their Navis."

"How do you know that? There are eyes and ears everywhere, Meiru-chan. I can't say that for certain—and the sooner you don't, the safer you'll be." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Besides, they were moving too quickly. I couldn't have stopped for as long as it would've taken to Netbattle them."

Meiru's hand tightened around her arm. "That's cold."

"You were expecting something different?" Black looked at her, his face unnervingly still. Before she could muster up anything to say, he snapped out of it, a smirk flitting across his face. "But that isn't why I'm here." He stepped closer. "Let's not lie to each other, Meiru-chan. This relationship," he continued, nearly in her face, "never would've lasted."

"What relationship?" she asked, exasperated. "I am not remotely—hey!" Before she could move her hands to her hips, Black had intercepted them, pulling her along in an awkward attempt at a dance.

"You know. This one. It doesn't hurt to play along sometimes." They swayed back and forth as Black half-whispered, "We only have one thing in common, sugar."

"'Sugar?'" Meiru repeated with exasperation. "Who actually calls someone 'sugar?'"

They were drawing closer to the doorbell—and, Meiru knew, the port underneath it. She wasn't surprised to hear Black continue on like she hadn't said anything. "And it's come to my attention that you and I have never had a serious, one-on-one Netbattle."

So that was what it was about. "You do know how to speak to a girl's heart," Meiru said sardonically.

"I knew you'd understand." Out of the corner of her eye, Meiru could see their target drawing parallel to them. "Well, then. Let's get started." He spun them around to face the port, and they lifted their hands in tandem.

Meiru didn't think he'd wait for some signal to begin, and she wasn't disappointed; Roll ducked Punk's opening mace swing and came up with a Heart Slash in hand. Punk twisted around it, but Roll's follow-up Super Vulcan found its mark before an Area Steal whisked him away. Roll whipped the golden gun around in an arc, hoping to catch Punk in midair. He instead kicked at her from the side, and she stumbled backward. A Long Sword formed on his arm, and Meiru countered by sending Roll a Samurai Sword as Punk drew his sword back. A pink glove was replaced by the white sword, and Roll blocked Punk's sideways slash before whipping her sword down his and forward, hoping to score a quick jab. Punk jumped backward, sending out one of his shoulder plates as Roll received a Wide Shot. The two attacks hit each other and dropped to the ground, canceled out. Roll sent out a Yo-yo, but Punk ducked under the spinning disk and sliced the cord before retrieving his fallen shoulder plate and ducking into a Mad Roller.

"Stone Cube, slot-in!" Roll jumped on the Stone Cube, the blue armor of a Cold Punch forming over her hand as Punk sped toward her. Instead of jumping away before her perch got destroyed, she pushed off into a forward dive, slamming her fist down as Punk passed beneath her. The icy buildup on his armor turned Punk's rolling into slipping; as Roll did a forward tumble to end in a crouch, Punk popped out of his shell, sending up a spray of ice crystals.

"Enough playing around. Senshahou, slot-in!"

Meiru smiled, a strategy beginning to form in her head. "Right! Rimoko Goro, Toppu, Fumikomi Cross, slot-in!" It was weird to her how comfortable she felt with Black when he stopped pretending and started fighting. She was aware of his presence close to her, his focus probably on his PET like hers was on her own; but it didn't set her on edge like standing next to the person who'd orchestrated the attack on the Ministry should have.

"Summon, Rimoko Goro, Toppu!" Roll leapt in front of the orange virus and the tan box in front of it as the fan inside began to blow air out. As Punk fired his blast, she activated the Fumikomi Cross, zipping forward and over it; with the added blast from the Toppu before it was destroyed, she was in front of him in seconds, slashing forward. Punk whipped his shield forward to block. But Roll's Rimoko Goro had been protected by the Toppu, and its probe was overhead to send down a blast of electricity.

"Rrr—" Punk whacked Roll away with his now-electrified mace, sending her a little taste of her own medicine as she flew sideways. But Meiru wasn't worried—she knew this fight could end soon.

"Ice Cube, Typhoon, Little Boiler, slot-in!"

"You won't stand a chance against all these attacks!" Roll bragged, adding three more objects to the field.

"Oh, yeah? We'll see how many'a those last!" Punk sent out his two shoulder plates.

Meiru had been waiting for Punk to try destroying everything Roll had summoned. "Poltergeist, slot-in!" Just as she'd planned, Punk's shoulderplates were halted in midair as Roll raised her arm skyward, putting everything on the battlefield under her control.

"Se-seriously?" Black asked next to her. Regaining his composure, he countered, "Well, two can play at that! Meteor, slot-in!" As Punk was clobbered by a pile of projectiles, Roll shrieked as her side of the field was covered in falling meteors. When the smoke cleared, both Navis were lying on the ground, objects scattered around them.

"Well," Black said, surveying the situation. "I think that's a draw for now, huh?" He plugged out, and Meiru followed suit.

"Yeah," she said, suddenly aware of how fast her heart was pounding. Starting to laugh, she added, "We should do that again sometime."

"But not now. Date to catch, right?" He pressed his hand into hers, depositing something cool into it before withdrawing his hands. His eye sparkled with warmth—and tears?—and for the first time Meiru noticed the shade of soft brown it was. "You have an awesome night, Meiru-chan." She looked down at her hand. There were two things cupped in it. One was a necklace: a simple silver cherry blossom. The other was an odd Battlechip.

"Elec Aqua Tower," she read. The chip image was of an Aqua Tower with an uneven, sparking yellow aura. Something in her head was trying to click, but the shock was stopping it. No matter what, her mind remained at a steady blank.

"I'm leaving soon," he said abruptly. She looked up, startled. "Well, it's not like I lived here to begin with. Ask Enzan. He knows."

"Then... your project?" she asked. "It's finished?"

"It will be soon enough," he said.

He began to walk away. Even in the grass, he was ghostly quiet. "Come inside," she said, her voice suddenly tight.

"You know I can't," was Black's neutral reply—or was there regret in his eye as he turned back?

She was going to lose him. There would never be another meeting like this. He knew that, and she saw it in his face and knew it too. "Please," she begged, coming closer. "Please don't do this to yourself—"

"Meiru-chan." His hands hesitantly rose up to bridge the gap between them, gingerly settling down like the breeze whispering across her shoulders. "Meiru-chan, just close your eyes." He waited as she closed first one eye, then the other. She wished he had a tighter grip—it was hard to tell if he was still holding on as she relaxed. "Close your eyes and remember—it'll all be back to normal when you open them. This doesn't have to be real."

Her eyes flew open. "It is."

He laughed, soft and sad. "If you can live with the truth, you're braver than me."

She hugged him tightly, anchoring him to her, all she could think to do to keep him from running away. "No, you have to live with it, too," she said quietly. "You know you're hurting yourself the most, don't you?" He was so much smaller than her. With her eyes closed, she could feel how weak his body was through the stiltedness of his movements, by how his bones cut through his thick jacket; it was like she was hugging a small, ill child. "Enzan won't forgive you, and I don't think I should, either."

"Good," he said. "You're right. Neither of you should." Her grip weakened as she was momentarily stunned by his words, and he used that opportunity to step backward and take her hands in his own. "Forget about me for now, all right? Our world and all the horrible shit in it will still be here tomorrow. Right now, go have a life." She watched him walk away, dazed; it seemed like a strange nightmare, or something she'd misheard. But it was real. She could feel the edges of the Battlechip pressing into her hand. She turned to see two soft lights becoming sharper and closer—Junichi's car.

"Meiru! You ready?" he called, sticking his head out the window.

She put the Battlechip in her purse, then walked over to the car as she looped the necklace around her neck and threaded the clasp through the third-to-last link in the chain. "Yeah."

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Meiru tried her hardest to enjoy the evening; to laugh at the kids who had obviously helped themselves to the wrong punch bowl, to join Junichi on the dance floor when one of her favorite songs came on, to talk to him about things that weren't what was really on her mind. It worked for a couple of hours, but then the sick feeling in her stomach came back, and it wouldn't go away.

She called Enzan in the restroom, locked in a stall where the other girls couldn't see her, taking deep breaths to stave off the wave of tears that was trying to sweep over her. She hadn't wanted to see his face at all, but now he was the only other person who knew what she knew, and who would understand what that meant.

"Netto," was all she had to say.

"I'll come get you," he said immediately.

She wasn't surprised at all that he knew what was wrong. "Thank you," she said, the tears spilling down her cheeks.

She fixed her mascara as best she could with cold water and a paper towel, thinking of what she was going to tell Junichi. She wound up telling him the truth—that she wasn't feeling well, and she had a ride to take her home. It all took less than ten minutes, but Enzan was already waiting when she stepped outside.

"I thought that it would be better if you didn't find out secondhand," he said once they were in the parking lot of the local diner, larger—and, in Meiru's case, more indulgent—milkshakes in hand than they otherwise would have gotten. Meiru didn't feel guilty at all under the circumstances, and she was sure Enzan felt the same way. "I was hoping he'd see sense eventually, and explain himself to you. But that's no excuse. I shouldn't have sat on it the way I did, no matter what he told me or what I thought, and for that I really do apologize."

"I want to say I would've believed it from you, but…" Meiru breathed something out that could've been a laugh or a sigh. She took a sip of chocolate-fudge shake, chewing on a chocolate chip that had sunk from the top of the shake to the bottom before she swallowed. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

"If there is, I don't know it, either."

"That's a huge relief, right now," Meiru said before taking a few more swallows of shake. "I can't imagine what he thought he'd gain by letting you know and not me."

"I wasn't supposed to know, either," Enzan said. His pensive mood was helping him make good time drinking his shake. Mint chocolate chip, of course; for as long as Meiru had been dragging him here, it always had been. "I don't think he knows how to misdirect me the way he does you. I knew something was familiar about him from the moment we met, but it wasn't until I saw him Netbattle that I knew who he was."

"I guess that's what I get for being his friend for so long," Meiru said. "But you're right, I noticed that too—he completely changes when he's Netbattling. It's like he's still in there, somewhere." She looked down through the semi-opaque plastic at the whipped cream losing its shape underneath. "But we can't treat him like that, can we?"

"I don't know." Meiru looked over, surprised at Enzan's genuine uncertainty. "He's told me a lot about the people he works for."

"The ones who told him that if we attacked the Nova base directly, he needed to orchestrate an attack on us where people died," Meiru said.

"Is that what he told you?" Enzan asked, stunned.

Meiru nodded. "He got in trouble for sparing us in Sharo, too," she added, hiding the accompanying wave of fear by drinking her shake. Even though it seemed terrifying, they had to stay calm.

"And he 'has' to do things. He's completely under their heel, whoever 'they' consist of." Absently stirring the remains of the whipped cream into the remains of the shake with his straw, Enzan said, "Someone must have trained him and Atsuki, and someone sent them on to Nova—they've worked together before. And I doubt they're the only two like them."

"Then that organization's our real enemy, not Nova," Meiru said. "If they have so many resources, why would they waste time on something so small-scale unless they had an ulterior motive?" She sighed. "But even if we know that… what are we supposed to do when we win?"

"We can't possibly shield him from all the blame. Neither the Net Police nor the public will stand for that." Enzan stared up at the streetlamp over their heads. "I just hope we find out why he thinks he has do all this."

"That's the only hope he's got now," Meiru agreed. But she also had to wonder how much harder the existence of this mysterious force would make trying to set everything right… including saving their friend.