Hello, everyone. Hope you all had a lovely new year. You'll be happy to know that we are now officially setting the actions into motion, including some drama with romance.

Let's get right to it.

"Ugh! The nerve of some people!"

Yuki looked at Naomi with concern as he and Kazu followed her down the steps after school on their way home. The Izumi girl had been in a bad mood for much of the afternoon since lunch had ended. He was getting some kicking practice in at the time, so he wasn't aware of what may have happened.

"What's up, Nomi?" he asked as they reached the bottom of the steps.

Naomi didn't answer as she pushed some of her hair back. Yuki was surprised to see tears paint the corner of her eyes. His heart sank into his stomach. Naomi was usually bubbly and cheerful, sometimes to the point where people believed that's all she was, so to see her upset and angry like this was concerning.

"People are stupid!" she cried. "But it's not them. It's that idiot brother of mine. If he wasn't so overprotective of me, people wouldn't say things like that."

"Things like what?" Kazu asked. "Talk to us, Nomi. That's the only way we can help you. What did Shiro do that is causing people to talk about you?"

That little snot. Whatever he did to upset her, Yuki was going to make him pay for it. Thoughts rushed through his head ranging from the ultra violent to a simple telling off. He waited to hear what Naomi said.

She sighed. "Because of how protective he is of me around boys, some people said that it might be because he's in love with me with how he chases every single guy who comes at me away. Remember what happened with Saito?"

Yuki came to a dead stop in his tracks. That couldn't be true. Could it? Sure, he found it annoying that Shiro was always there to block him whenever he tried to get close to Naomi, but he never thought it was like that. He hoped not.

"What?" he gasped.

Kazu scoffed. "Oh, come on. That's ridiculous! The fact that people would even spread rumors like that is sick!" He glared at a few of their classmates pointing and giggling. "If I know of any people spreading those rumors, I'll dunk them in the bay!"

"Right with you there, Kazu," Yuki agreed. He too gave their classmates an evil glare. The group of kids scattered off with scared looks on their faces, which brought a smug of satisfaction to his face.

"Ugh! What am I going to do?" Naomi wiped frustrated tears from her face. "No matter how many times I tell him to knock it off, he keeps doing it. I'm at the end of my rope here, guys."

She then started to cry, which made Yuki become flustered. He instantly jumped into action, wrapping an arm around Naomi's shoulder and patted it to calm her down.

"Hey, come on. Show me that famous Naomi smile," he gently coaxed. "Come on."

Naomi turned her head away, not showing so much as a single smile. Kazu then stepped up.

"Nomi, just talk to your parents and ask them to get it through to him," the blonde said, standing directly in front of her. "He'll understand if they talk to him. I'm sure your brother means well, it's just–"

"Means well?" Naomi snapped. "He's done this so many times that I stopped counting a long time ago." She turned to look at the orange-haired boy. "It's not just with you, Yuki; it's every other boy that so much as tries to glance at me. He'd put me up in a convent if he could."

Naomi looked down at the ground as Yuki locked eyes with Kazu. He wasn't sure exactly what to do or say that could help in the situation. As much as he wanted to clobber Shiro for this, he didn't want to get on Kenya's bad side either since the two were best friends. Looking into the blonde's brown eyes, he saw Kazu was also trying to figure out an idea. The torturing Shiro idea was looking more and more appealing by the second as he couldn't think of anything either.

"I think I have an idea," Naomi said, lifting her head up to look at them both. To Yuki, it looked like she was staring at Kazu more than anything. A fact that made him a little upset.

"Let's hear it," he said.

"Kazu, could you pretend to be my boyfriend for just a little while?" she asked.

Yuki's eyes bulged out of his skull. "WHAT?" he shrieked. The effects of puberty then reared their ugly heads. He coughed into his elbow, still not adjusted to the fact his voice didn't hold that well when shouting. Yuki felt his two friends admonishing him with glares, but he didn't care.

"Just to get people off my back and until the rumors die down," Naomi explained. "If they see I'm with you, then they might forget all about these rumors. Please? I'm desperate, and I know I can always count on you when things are tough."

The orange-haired boy was stunned into silence. How come she was going to Kazu first? He would have jumped at the chance if given the option first. Oh well. That didn't seem to matter right now. Kazu didn't say anything right away, instead looking like he was thinking about it. Sometimes that annoyed Yuki; Kazu liked to think things out before doing anything whereas he was more of a man of action.

"Nomi, that sounds a bit rash, don't you think?" the blonde asked, not sounding as though he were excited about the prospect.

'What is wrong with you?' Yuki cursed him.

"Kazu!" Naomi seemed to be thinking the same thing. "It's not like we're actually going to be dating or anything. It's just for a while until this whole thing blows over. Do you want me to be dogged by incest talk the rest of my middle school life?"

"Of course not!" Kazu shot back. "But I know you well, and you have a tendency to not think things through."

He bit his lip and looked down at his shoes for a second before looking back up. Yuki tensed. That was the same look that Kazu had on the first day of school when he and Naomi were looking at each other. The two seemed lost in each other, like they were the only two people in the world right now. Looking at Naomi, Yuki saw she shared the same look. He was stuck between wanting to gag or punch Kazu's lights out.

"Hello?" he said. "I'm still here, guys."

Neither one made a remark in reply. Instead, they kept their gaze on each other. They now had small smiles on their faces.

"You're impulsive sometimes, Nomi, and this is one of those times where your emotion is driving your thought process," the blonde said softly. "I'm sorry, but I can't go along with it. You need to find a more practical solution."

Naomi groaned heavily. "I've tried being practical, and nothing has worked. Please, just do this for me, Kazu."

This was getting to be too much. It was like Yuki didn't even exist, which drove him absolutely crazy. He wanted to shout and break it up, but bit his tongue to stifle the words he wanted to say. Why was she going to Kazu first? Was it possible she liked him more or something? Or was it because she trusted him to keep up the act for as long as possible? He didn't want to feel like someone's fallback choice, but if he got his chance, he'd show Naomi why she should be with him for real.

The blonde sighed and adjusted the guitar case on his shoulder. He looked like he didn't want to say the words he wanted to say next.

"I'm sorry, Nomi," he said. "I just can't go along with that. My advice is for you to tell your parents and have them try to talk sense into Shiro if he can't listen to you. I can't bail you out of every jam you find yourself in." He looked down at his phone. "And I'm late for band practice. Gotta go. See you guys later."

"See ya."

With their friend now on his way down the street, Yuki saw his chance. If the blonde was going to be an idiot and turn Naomi down when she offered him the chance, then he certainly wasn't. However, Naomi looked crushed by Kazu saying no. He was going to have to find a way to turn that frown upside down. But he wasn't his father's son for nothing. Plus, he'd learned a lot from Yuto – the self-described "ultimate ladies man".

"Hey, Nomi?"

The girl turned to face him. He made sure to put on the famous Kamiya goofy grin for her, hoping that would at least get a giggle out of her.

It succeeded.

"You have the goofiest smile," she giggled. "But I like it."

Yuki chuckled as he scratched his head. "Hey, it works like a charm. My dad, my brother, and now me." He scraped along his teeth along his bottom lip. "If Kazu won't pretend to be your boyfriend, I'll do it."

Naomi giggled again. "Yuki, you're such a kidder. Stop joking around."

His grin fell. There it was again. She never noticed any of the signs he was throwing out there. It drove him even crazier than her looking at Kazu with lovestruck eyes.

"I'm not joking," he said, taking her hands in his. "Besides, does it really matter who you pretend to be with if it's not going to last for long? Who better to cover for you than your best friend?"

Her hands were so soft and warm. Yuki fought everything he could to not blush like a complete dork. He had to give Naomi every signal that he was serious about his proposal. All the years of being together as friends, he was just her goofy best friend – nothing more and nothing less. This was a chance he was not going to let slip through his fingers.

"Well, I…" Naomi looked like she was torn. She needed an extra push.

"Just give me a try. If there's nothing there, there's nothing there," he said. "What do you have to lose?"

"Huh?" she said. "What do you mean 'if there's nothing there, there's nothing there'?"

Yuki's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Did he say that out loud? Crap! He quickly thought of an excuse as he forced out a chuckle.

"Nothing. Just joking with ya this time. I mean that if we show there's nothing there to those disgusting rumors, then people will get it too. That's all."

That was the best he could come up with? That was stupid. It seemed to work on Naomi for right now as she retreated back into deep thought.

At last, she gave him an answer.

"Okay. But it's just until the rumors die down. Got it?"

A wide, toothy grin spread across Yuki's face. He nodded.

"Yeah. Got it. You can count on me, Nomi."

Tai tore down the last of the pink streamers from the walls and put them in the garbage bag he had with him. Though it was for Airi's birthday party, why did they have to put up so much stuff for the occasion? He loved his daughter and wanted to throw her the best party imaginable. That's what it was.

He couldn't believe his baby girl was six now. Right as he was about to end his career, he and Sora found out they were having her. They both agreed this would be their last baby. Not long before Airi was born, he announced his retirement from professional soccer. It had been a long time coming, but Airi being born was the excuse he needed to hang it up. After traveling and not being home that much for his three sons, he was determined to be the stay-at-home father for Airi. That lasted only a year before Yuki started getting into soccer, but he never regretted a second of it.

The entire Kamiya apartment had been decked out in pink for Airi's birthday party. Streamers, napkins, balloons, the whole nine yards. As cute as it was, Tai was ready to have the apartment back in its normal state. The last of Airi's birthday guests had just gone, leaving only the family inside to clean up. Sora was in the kitchen, while Yuki and Kenya were picking up the living room. Airi went to her room to take a nap, exhausted from the party.

From the start, Airi wanted to have a party with her family and all her friends at the apartment. Though he was happy to accommodate that request, Tai wanted to make the day extra special by taking the family out to Tokyo Disneyland earlier in the day. Using their VIP passes, they were able to get to the front of the line on any ride they wanted, allowing them to cut the time spent at the park in half so he and Sora could set up for the party. Airi even wore a princess crown to show it was her birthday.

"All right, I think I got the last of the stuff in here," he said to his family. "How's it going where you guys are?"

"I'm almost done in the kitchen, sweetheart," Sora responded.

"Squirt and I just finished, Dad," replied Yuki.

Tai smiled. "Good. You boys just leave the bags in the living room and I'll take them out."

He turned and saw one streamer had escaped his detection. With a glare, he tore it down from the wall and stuffed it into the garbage bag.

"And you thought you could escape me," he said with a chuckle.

Tai passed his sons in the hallway as he went into the living room. The two of them were giggling about something that he didn't know about. He chuckled to himself. Being a father to such great kids was the greatest joy in life for him. It paled in comparison to anything he did on the soccer field.

Two garbage bags laid near the door. He quickly picked them up and opened the door to carry them out.

It didn't take him long to get downstairs as he headed to the dumpster just outside the apartment building. He quickly disposed of the bags and headed back home, humming happily to himself as he looked around and saw what a beautiful day it was.

As he passed the mailboxes, Tai realized that he had yet to check to see if they had gotten any mail today. Now that Airi's birthday party was over, it was as good a time as any to see. Luckily he had the key with him, so he went over to their box. There was a small stack of mail waiting when he opened it, which he snatched up for a quick inspection.

There were envelopes addressed to Airi from his parents and Sora's parents, which he assumed to be birthday cards. There was also a bill, some junk mail, two letters for Sora, his monthly check from one of his endorsements, and one envelope addressed to him. There was no name on the top left corner, which he found strange. Something about it didn't feel right, but he'd have to see what was in it to confirm that.

When he arrived back at his family's apartment, he put most of the mail on the kitchen island for Sora to sort through. He had made sure to keep the mysterious envelope for himself. Without a second to waste, he opened it to see what was inside.

His breath left him and his jaw went slack as he read the piece of paper. What was this? Was this some kind of joke? His hands trembled in terror as a cold feeling washed over him.

Tai put the paper down and looked around the apartment. His children were nowhere to be found. Thank goodness. He didn't want to scare them, though he himself was completely terrified.

"Tai?" Sora said. "Everything okay?"

Tai swallowed before he spoke. He tried to contain the fear in his voice, but it was unsuccessful. "Sora, call Ken and Cody."

Ken inspected the piece of paper Tai had given him for what felt like the hundredth time. Since it was potential evidence, he wore latex gloves on his hands so that it wasn't contaminated with his fingerprints. Having been a detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for ten years, he had a whole routine for how to handle evidence.

The message on the paper was fairly simple. It just said 'What goes around comes around'. He had to say that whoever wrote this had a steady hand when it came to writing. The letters were written very nice and tidy, not a trace of emotion or the fact they might have been rushed while writing this message. He'd seen more than enough of these things to notice the difference.

"Talk to me about this letter, Tai," Ken said, looking to the older man. Sora sat snuggled into his side as he rubbed her shoulder. "What gives you the impression it might be threatening?"

Tai glared at him. "Are you serious, Ken?" he snapped. "Something about that message struck me in a bad way. I called you because I'm scared my family could be in danger. For now, it might be this, but what if next time it's a letter bomb and one of my kids opened it?"

The dark-haired man raised a hand to calm the situation. "Tai, come on. Relax. I know this is stressful for you. Being someone of your caliber comes with things like this, unfortunately."

The glare got darker. "Are you dismissing this as nothing more than a crazy fan? Ken–"

"Not at all," Ken shot back steadily. "As a detective, it's my job to take these things seriously." He cleared his throat. "Do you know of anyone who might send you this kind of note? Any past enemies you made?"

Tai shook his head. "No. I can't think of anybody." He bit his lip. "I want you to have this professionally inspected. We're going to find who sent me this letter."

Ken nodded. "I'll do that," he said. "I'll have the lab look at it and I'll let you know what they find."

"Thank you, Ken," Sora said. She then sighed. "Of all days, why did it have to happen on our daughter's birthday?"

"I don't know. It's definitely messed up."

The sound of footsteps came. All the adults looked up and saw Yuki stand at the border between the living room and the hallway.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yes, Yuki. Everything's fine," Sora assured her son. "Just go back to your room."

"Are you sure? You guys look–"

"Yuki, just do what your mother says," Tai ordered. "Go back to your room for now, son. We'll talk later."

Ken smiled and nodded at the boy, hoping to convince him that the situation was under control. As a detective, he dealt with things like this all the time. Yuki seemed like he understood the situation and walked back down the hallway to his room.

Tai then looked past Ken to the other man sitting beside him.

"Until Ken gets back with the results, what are our options here, Cody?" he asked.

Cody Hida scratched his short brown hair, which still retained the Caesar cut he had for almost his whole life. He was now thirty-seven, but looked a lot older than his age would suggest. The skin of his face looked withered like someone who was in their late forties, and his sharp green eyes were slightly dulled after once looking so full of life.

"My best advice to you would be to probably lay low for a while. At least until the results come back," Cody said. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do for you until we get those results." He sighed. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Looks like things still haven't changed."

"Cody, come on. Stop that," Ken said, patting the younger man on the shoulder. "That's in the past now."

He had been through a lot since becoming an adult. It started off the usual way – a wife, career, and a nice apartment in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. Cody was the former assistant district attorney for the ward, and was a damn good prosecutor. He had everything going for him in life. But then, it all changed when a star witness in a case against the Yamaguchi-gumi was mysteriously killed before they could testify.

The case was so high profile that there was an uproar over it. The people on top wanted a pound of flesh as payment, and so Cody decided to take the fall. He resigned from his job in disgrace. Not long after that, he turned to alcohol to numb the pain. After an incident of driving under the influence – which, thankfully, no one was hurt – Cody lost his law license, his wife left him, and then the house was repossessed after he couldn't make any more payments on it. With nowhere else to go, Ken and Yolei offered him a room at their apartment. He's lived with them now for six years.

Luckily, Ken was able to convince Cody to go to rehab. He had been sober now for three years, and was getting his life back in order. He had passed the exam to get his license back a year ago, and so could practice law again. Sadly, he couldn't get a job at a firm due to his failure dogging him.

"Okay, Cody," Tai said. "If that's what we have to do, we'll do it."

The couple then stood up, which prompted Ken and Cody to do the same. Tai and Ken shook hands.

"Thanks a lot for coming, guys," he said. "We really appreciate it."

Ken smiled. "Hey, anything for you, Tai. I know this is probably scary, but you can trust me to get to the bottom of it."

"Thank you."

He and Cody then left. Ken had a feeling, however, that this was only just the beginning of something bigger.

Shun settled into his seat with a large stack of manga in his hands. He placed them down on the table beside him. The titles ranged from Demon Slayer to Blue Exorcist to The Destined Jedi. He grabbed the book on top and studied the cover with a smile. It was the sixth volume of the Destined Jedi series, and he liked this one because it had an image of his father on the cover. To think he was that young once; no older than Shun.

If there was one thing Shun loved just as much as playing the piano, it was manga. He had an entire bookshelf in his room dedicated to the various titles he collected. He had too many favorite series to name to narrow it down to just one, but The Destined Jedi had to be up there. It was so fascinating to see what his father and the others experienced when they were just young kids.

As exciting as it looked, he didn't want any part of that.

Shun adjusted his glasses as he scanned around the manga café, which was filled with shelves of manga and people browsing around for what they wanted to read. He then glanced down at his watch.

"Hey, Shun."

The youngest Kido son turned in his chair to look behind him. He smiled.

"Kazu," he greeted. "Good to see you could make it. Have a seat."

Kazu nodded and sat down across from him. His eyes bulged at the amount of manga Shun had with him.

"Do you plan to read all those?" he joked.

Shun beamed. "Yep. Today's Saturday after all. I got all my homework done before the weekend, so I'm covered." He took a sharp breath of air. "Thanks for meeting me here. What'd you want to talk about?"

Kazu went silent as he folded his arms on the table. Shun saw the glossed-over look in his eyes. Something was definitely up. And he had a good idea on what it could possibly be about.

"Is it Naomi?" he guessed.

Kazu blushed. "How'd you guess?" he groaned.

Shun chuckled. "Because you wouldn't stop moaning about Yuki being her pretend boyfriend until those rumors about her died down for the past week." He then frowned. "If anything, she should have asked me. I'd have done it with no strings attached."

That put Kazu on edge. "What? Don't tell me you like her too. It's bad enough I have to deal with Yuki trying to get the edge on me."

"Don't be ridiculous, Kazu. She and I are only just friends."

This was true. Ever since they were little, Naomi had depended on Shun as a "calmer alternative" when she needed to get away from how obnoxious Kazu and Yuki could be. He truly cared for her, but it never crossed over into the realm of a crush. Usagi was the only girl he ever had eyes for. His face fell slightly as he thought about her. She came around to listen to him play every day after school, but he didn't feel like he was making any in-roads with her.

"Are you sure about that?" Kazu continued. "She seems to really like you."

Shun let out a belly laugh. "Jealous much?" He quickly coughed to calm himself, as well as to not disturb anyone reading. "You have nothing to worry about, Romeo. Naomi simply comes to me when things get too much and she needs a reset."

Kazu said nothing after that. Looking into his eyes, Shun saw that he was properly convinced that was the case. Good. He was tired of having to answer those questions not only from Kazu, but Masato as well. It seemed like the whole world was out to push him towards Naomi because of how close the two of them were.

"If it'll make you feel better, then just go ask her out for real," he said. "If you can't stand Yuki being her pretend boyfriend, become her real boyfriend."

Kazu's face turned dark scarlet. "Huh?" he shrieked, earning a chorus of shushes from people around them. He then spoke at a much softer volume. "It's not that simple, Shun. Yuki won't leave us alone together for one minute."

"Then find somewhere the two of you can spend time together alone and do it there," Shun said. "You're a nice kid, Kazu, but you're shy and indecisive at times like these. You need to take advantage of every moment you get or else it'll pass you by. Like last week."

"Like how you can't find a way to ask Usagi out?" Kazu stated, miffed by what the Kido boy said.

Two pairs of brown eyes met each other in a silent standoff that was broken just a second later.

"Touché," Shun muttered, looking down to hide his reddening cheeks.

"Are you saying Yuki has ulterior motives?" Kazu asked, seemingly changing the subject.

"The only one that doesn't see he has a crush on her is Nomi herself," Shun explained. "You can't tell me based on Yuki's personality, he wouldn't try his best to get her to fall for him."

He sighed again.

"Great. Now she's going to start coming to me soon to complain about the crap that he's done. I'm surprised she hasn't yet."

"Kami help us all," Kazu said with a sigh. "Okay. I'll do it. I'm tired of seeing the over-the-top flirting, kissing, and so many other things that make me want to hurl my lunch. The next thing you know, they'll be–"

"Stop it! I get the picture!" Shun gagged. Just the thought of them doing those things together made him want to get sick as well.

"And it seems to be working; I haven't heard anyone mention Shiro once. I'm worried that she may like this so much that she'll ask him out for real."

"All the more reason for you to tell her soon then. We both know that she and Yuki are way too similar for their own good."

"You can say that again," Kazu agreed. "She wanted to cut her hair short, and he egged her on about it. If it weren't for me, she'd look like a guy. Nomi loves her long hair and she would have regretted it. She only wanted to do it because of some stupid video that said it would help her get a boyfriend. She doesn't think things through."

Shun shuddered. "See what I mean? He'd cater to every little thing that pops into her head. She needs someone like you; someone who is not afraid to tell her no or put their foot down with her and say this is the way it is."

He handed the blonde one of the manga he had. The two silently read, with Shun hoping that was enough to convince Kazu to take the initiative.

"You're talking yourself out of it, aren't you?" Shun asked, his eyes still reading. It was a nagging thought and the answer wouldn't surprise him.

Kazu rested his forehead on the table with a thunk. He groaned into the plastic tabletop.

Shun sighed and closed his manga. "What's the problem now?"

"Shun, I can't tell if she likes me," Kazu groaned. "One minute I think she does, then the next she's only flirting with me like she does with others. If I ask her and I mess up our friendship–"

"She likes you," Shun said with confidence.

That statement was enough to give Kazu pause. The blonde looked up from the table with curious eyes. "How do you know?"

The teenager bit his lip. Had he really said that out loud? And after Naomi made him promise not to tell. One time, Yuki and Kazu were fighting with each other over something and Naomi came over to his place to get away from it. Shun had just finished his homework and was playing the piano when she stormed into his room in tears. In the midst of calming her down, Naomi said she liked Kazu that way. She made him swear not to tell, which he duly promised. He didn't mean to break their promise, but the situation called for it.

"Because she told me a while back and isn't sure if you feel the same way," he said.

Kazu's eyes widened until they were about the size of saucers. It all seemed to finally click with him. Inspired by this, Shun decided to press things a bit further.

"How about we help each other?" he said with a blush. He was going to regret saying this. "If you ask Nomi out, I'll ask Usagi out."

Kazu smirked. "Game on."

Just what will happen with all these things? And who is possibly behind this threatening note to Tai? Find out next time on Destined Jedi: Next Generations.

Woowee, this love triangle is getting more and more complicated by the second. And it's only going to get worse from here, ladies and gents. Hope you guys are all enjoying this as much as I am writing it.

Well, that about covers it for this weekend. I'll see you all next week with the next stage in the story's evolution...or "digivolution" if you want to use that XD Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as always.

Tootles.