Part Six - Normal

Ken arrives home just before the streetlights come on. This isn't new. He takes a little longer nowadays with his leg, but also he lies that he's studying with a friend. Maybe it's at a net cafe or using the library, but as long as he's seen going somewhere or mentioned something, his parents don't worry.

They've always… worried, since that day. He doesn't blame them, so much. There's nothing quite like one son saving another, and even more so one living with that guilt in other ways. They have never asked him to have the best grades, the best sports skills, or even the best at being alive.. They want what's best for him.

He's not sure what that would translate to, in human terms. Or terms for him anyway.

But today was different. He was out for perfectly normal, non nefarious reasons. It was nice. He… he wants to do it again, if he can. It was almost like having friends.

Ken opens the door, and his mother greets him with a tiny smile. She looks tired. She's always looked tired, but nowadays it's moreso.

He wonders if she's pregnant yet, if today is the day he'll be sat down and told he has a new responsibility coming up, and to take care.

But she just smiles and asks him how his day was. Thankfully, he never has to lie to her. because all his lies would end up callous and bitter and he just-

Sometimes the voices encourage it, but it sounds so tiring.

As she gestures for him to wash up, mom then says. "Oh! One of your friends came by today!"

His blood runs cold and for a moment, he wants a knife, a defense mechanism, anything. He had a deal with the Kaiser. They left each other's families alone. They left each other's lives alone. Ken wasn't going to America and breaking in. "Oh. Really?"

"Yes, it was a nice girl. Yagami-chan I believe. When I asked, she said she received our address from the soccer club and had wanted to talk to you. She left a mail address for you." He takes the piece of paper. On the page is a quick apology for finding his home, and an address for him to email a time to talk privately in the Digital World, signed by Yagami Hikari, of all people.

Ken stares at the paper a moment before putting it in his pocket. "Thanks mom. When's dad getting home?"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Hikari refills her bag with first aid supplies, snacks, and makes sure her shoes are fine. Taichi looks at her warily. Tailmon, on top of her bed, is not much better. Osamu, unseen by both of them, sits in her desk chair. She tries not to look at him too much. Sometimes he looks less human than others. Most of the time, he's just talking rather like she can't hear him, even though they both know that he can.

"Not particularly," she admits. "But I don't want to let Daisuke-kun do this all by himself. If I can talk to him and try to understand him, it'll be easier to deal with the Kaiser, even if he doesn't change his mind or circumstances."

Taichi grimaces. "I can get Agumon to keep an eye out and he can tell the others that are free."

"I'll have Tailmon," Hikari points out. Then she relents at the look on his face. "All right. And I'll have my Terminal, so I'll leave a message up and press send if I need to. Okay?"

Taichi gives her a long stare. She meets his gaze with a patient smile. "I'm not going to collapse on the park in silence, onii-chan."

He softens. "I know. You've gotten a lot better. Just… be careful. Okay?"

"Of course." She holds up her D-3 to her computer. Koushiro had kindly set up a gate there. Tailmon climbs onto her shoulder, bag in her paws.

Within seconds she's gone.

Taichi hesitates. Then he pulls up a window on the terminal and emails the others.

The digital world at night should be more frightening. Hikari knows she should be terrified. She had been in this place in the darkness and the damp, when things were so broken time was a mess. And yet, she doesn't feel anything of the sort. She thinks the Kaiser would act now but he never does. Perhaps he's asleep. The other digimon say nothing happens. Even the prisoners go to rest.

She still takes care to walk quietly. Tailmon circles her with care, eyes thoughtful and nose twitching. Osamu floats after them.

"Nothing, Tailmon?"

"There's always something," she says. "But nothing threatening to us. Not that I can I do much like this but-"

"You've always done plenty for me, Tailmon," Hikari interrupts, firm as they reach her requested meeting spot. It's a short distance from the lake in the middle of File, far enough away from Primary Village and most other settlements, with a clear area that means anything that comes will give itself away quickly and she can dodge into the trees, making an obstacle.

… She really hopes it doesn't come to that.

Finding a soft patch of grass, Hikari settles in to wait. She'll give him an hour.

He takes twenty minutes, emerging from the trees like a ghost. Osamu floats after him, likely having gone to look for him while she'd waited. He floats back to her for a moment and then says, "No sign of that guy."

Hikari gives a barely visible nod. He nods back and floats to Ken's side. Seeing them up close, injuries aside, it was a bit like looking at Jou and his brothers, the same sort of feeling making their eyes burn.

Ken stares at her warily. Not coldly. Not yet. "Hello, Yagami-san."

"Good evening, Ichijouji-kun." She bows her head. "I'm really sorry about going to your house. I just didn't want to bother Daisuke or the others with it. I just… I needed something confirmed. It's really important."

"My role with the Kaiser?"

"Well, it's related." She hesitates, then bites the bullet. "Is it true that Ichijouji Osamu is your brother? And you want to help him?"

Ken's gaze shuts and Osamu snorts. "Cut right to the heart of it."

"How do you know that name?" His digimon tenses, ready to spring. "Did you wheedle that out of my mom too?"

"No." Hikari points just to his right, right where Osamu floats. "He's right there, isn't he? He told me himself."

Please believe me, she thinks. Please don't be like everyone else. Please believe me. I want to help.