"Let me carry him back to your home—"

Michinaga sneaked a few more glances towards the young boy in front of him. The boy didn't look any different than the one he met a few days ago... he thought. Yet, if what Kyuun told them through Neon was true... the boy in front of him should have regained their memory of their past life by now. Well, assuming that Ziin really did manage to restore Ace's past memories earlier...

"So... Ace—?" he started to say before the 'kid' turned around towards him wearing the most grim look a boy their age could muster.

"Not now, Buffa. How's Kei-chan?" said the boy as 'Eisuke' tried to reach out to him again to check on his 'twin'.

Michinaga shrugged at the boy. "Your bro's still fine, you worrywart! Though I'm not sure it's because of the sun or anything, but it's really getting hot right now—" he said again and that prompted Neon to announce that she's calling for a car to pick them all up.

That didn't stop Ace from trying to check his twin's temperature by placing a hand on Keiwa's forehead.

.

"He's burning up—" Michinaga stated plainly as they all got into the 7-seater car. Neon turned around from the front passenger seat as she stared at the pair of twins worriedly.

"Should I tell the driver to take us to the nearest clinic?" asked Neon as Ace shook his head slowly while holding his twin close.

"No, I just want to get him home..."

xxx

Ziin bit his lips as he watched Michinaga place 'Keisuke' gently on the bed while 'Eisuke' fussed around to take care of their twin brother. Neon and Tsumuri had also started to offer some aid as Ziin noticed that Ace acted as if he was ignoring everyone but Keiwa. Somehow it made him wonder if Ace was angry at him.

After all, it was his fault that Keiwa had collapsed suddenly. And he thought he could try to restore Ace's memory today without any other problem. Who could've predicted that 'Keiwa-san' would suddenly appear and pick up the golden coin that Ziin had wanted to return to Ace? And why would 'Keiwa' react so badly to the coin when Ace was barely affected by it?

"I'm sorry... Ace," he started to say after a few minutes had passed.

Ace paused from pressing a wet cloth on his twin's face as the boy raised their head towards Ziin.

"It's all right..." said Ace slowly. "It's not your fault that Kei-chan had a terrific instinct to come find me at that time. And you couldn't have predicted how touching that coin could've affected my big brother."

Michinaga let out an amused cry.

"Heh," he chuckled. "Never thought I would one day hear you call on Tycoon so affectionately like this."

Ace bristled immediately at the retort. "And why wouldn't I?" exclaimed the 'boy'. "Kei-chan and I had been together all our lives... at least in this one. So why won't I still refer to my oniichan affectionately, even after I regained my memories of my past life?"

Neon grinned as she noticed Ace's cheeks reddening before slinging her arm around his neck.

"And Ace had always been fond of Keiwa... right?" she exclaimed as Ace's face went scarlet.

"—aah, it's nice to see you again... Ace. And I'm glad that you still looked the same as before... Keiwa too." Neon chuckled before giving the boy a belated hug. "Though it's still weird to see you being younger than us now—"

Ace snorted... before turning his head towards Michinaga. "Yeah... that reminds me."

Michinaga scowled at the young boy as Eisuke grinned at him cheekily.

"You really looked so old now... Buffa."

xxx

"So... care to explain?"

Ace glanced up to stare at Neon and Michinaga... before turning to face Ziin and Tsumuri.

"There must be reason for you to try to restore my memories now..." Ace cocked his head in the direction of Neon and Michinaga, "—and it couldn't be a coincidence either that Na-Go and Buffa happened to be rushing over to my school to find me."

Also, the reason for that shouldn't be a mystery. After all... 'Ukiyo Ace' had died last time, and since he had now been reborn as Inugami Eisuke—that should mean that he hadn't been able to fulfil his promise to make his ideal world a reality. And since he didn't manage to defeat Suel last time, that person would've got the freedom to continue with the DGP, wherever and whenever they want. It must've at least been 15 years since then...

—But, that didn't explain why Keiwa had also been reborn as his twin. What happened between the time Tsumuri shot him down and the two of them being reborn as twins? How did Keiwa die? Why did Keiwa die?

"Actually, it's been a while since the DGP had been held," Ziin explained. "There were a few short runs here and there in between and at a different location and period, but that didn't last too long."

Tsumuri nodded her head as she stared straight at Ace. "It's only recently that a proper run was held in this world."

So it's starting again, huh, the games. Ace's eyes widened suddenly. So THAT should explain why Neon and Michinaga just 'happened' to have encountered him and Keiwa in the past few weeks. Because the moment they reenter the DGP, all of their past memories would've been restored!

Still, just because he now remembered the existence of the Desire Grand Prix, doesn't mean that he could just join the next DGP whenever he wanted—Ace remembered at least one time the Desire Grand Prix was not held throughout the lifetime of one of his past incarnation, and a few others when he didn't get to survive until the final round... let alone get in as a player—so even if he wanted to participate in the DGP, the final decision will not be up to him. Well, there are still other ways that they could try...

Ace suddenly recalled the way Ziin and Tsumuri had behaved oddly earlier. Ziin had mentioned that they 'don't have much time' and Tsumuri was still hesitating. That must be related to why the two of them had come to see him. And that might explain why—Ace turned his eyes towards Michinaga—these other two were rushing to get to him as well.

Ace let out a heavy sigh, which didn't quite fit a boy of fourteen years of age.

"So... Big Sis, tell me if I'm wrong—But by any chance, were you supposed to come here to give someone something?" Ace asked again as Tsumuri froze.

But soon later, she sat straight in her seat before holding out her hands in front of her. Right away a familiar yellow and black box started to materialize in front of her...