A Day In The Life Of: Amazawa Keisuke

by eastfall

Summary:

Across infinite parallel realities, it’s not impossible for two different souls to meet - again. Alternate Universe!Keisuke x Post-HM!Erika.

Notes:

At the severe lack of fanfics for this pairing, I have decided to add my own. Please enjoy this work of almost two years in the making.

Chapter 1: 'Eternal Treasure' case

Amazawa Keisuke was really out of ideas.

It was a predicament frustrating enough to have him smashing the keys on his computer keyboard while grinding his teeth. On the screen was a search result that read: 0%. Another dead end.

He laid his head into his arms, thoughts blanking out for a moment. Then peeking out from there, he brought up a music player that was loaded up with only one mp3. He hit the play button.

A song began to flow into his earphones. It had no lyrics, just a feminine voice humming a tune. Yet it was beautiful and captured one’s heart. Keisuke felt peaceful listening to it, but didn’t forget that this very song was the source of his current frustrations.

It belonged to an urban legend he stumbled upon recently. A strangely benevolent one. It was said that a mysterious song sometimes appeared in people’s computer, and if you give it a full listen you would have a good day. He got this song from Nogi Yuu, his best friend and fellow hacker teammate, who had the song appear in his computer. There was a forum of people online who expressed the truthfulness of the urban legend, dubbing it an ‘Eternal Treasure’, and it was largely harmless.

But the song somehow captured Keisuke’s heart. He wanted to know who sang it.

Therein the mystery that made it an urban legend in the hacker community. No one has yet to crack the mystery of who sang the song.

Look, if you record a song and post it online, you’re going to leave a digital footprint right? Yet somehow no one could track down the source of it. It was like a ghost, ephemeral and floating about the net.

Many have already threw down the towel. But not Keisuke, though he was sorely tempted to do so at the moment.

When it finished, he took out his earphones and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. That brought to his notice that his fellow hacker Imai Chitose was watching him with amusement.

“Another dead end?” Keisuke nodded as Chitose extended a cup of coffee in sympathy.

“You’re still looking at it? It’s been two weeks since I showed it to you!” Yuu, who was in a nearby booth, exclaimed. He almost sounded annoyed, and Keisuke gave an awkward laugh at that.

“It’s all fine and dandy to look it up, just don’t let it interrupt your work. Speaking of which, have you already finished testing the firewalls?” Chitose asked.

“I’ll get to it now,” Keisuke straightened up and put on his visor, accessing the virtual net.

He found himself floating in a wide open space with white walls and loads of code floating about. His Digimon Program was there with him: a Herakle Kabuterimon. He smiled at it, and it expressed it’s happiness at seeing him with cute ‘kri kri’ sounds.

“Okay, let’s get to work.”

He brought up the virtual keyboard and typed in the URL provided by Victory Corporation, their recurring client. A tunnel opened up in the space in front of him and they floated into it.

Honestly, if it was the old world of hacking, with it’s C++ languages and the like, maybe Keisuke wouldn’t ever have gotten involved. But the world of hacking changed in the recent decade with the introduction of Digimoji and Digimon Programs by Victory Corporations. And HUDIE was a hacker team of this era.

Keisuke and Herakle Kabuterimon soon arrived at the URL. A huge firewall, represented by a red digital wall, blocked his way. Two Digimon stood in his way; a SkullGreymon and a ShadowWereGarurumon. Not bad, he thought to himself, they managed two ultimate-level Firewall protection. Now to give it a test.

Well, it was barely a battle. The ultimate-level Digimon were just newly-hatched babies compared to Keisuke’s vast experience of battling alongside Herakle Kabuterimon. He had coded Herakle Kabuterimon back when it was just a baby-level Digimon program, and he saw it as his own child whom he had nurtured to adulthood. Of course, Chitose always laughed at that comparison and asked who its mother was, leaving him flustered. Oh, and Herakle Kabuterimon had the attribute advantage so yeah.

Soon, the two ultimate-level Digimon disintegrated into data, leaving him free to unlock the firewall. With the only Mega-level Digimon program in existence by his side, it was a cinch. He retrieved the data within, a dud that only served to prove he had done his job. He also noted the amount of time it took for him to take down the Digimon programs and the firewall.

He gave his Herakle Kabuterimon a thumbs up, promising himself to feed it some Best Meat later.

As he exited the space, Keisuke mused on his fate. To think that his stolen online information all those years ago would lead him to become the famous Supreme Hacker urban legend he is known to be today.

Yet, even the Supreme Hacker had yet to crack the mystery of that song.

His frustration returning, Keisuke returned to the real world.

Later in the day, they had a surprise visitor. Apparently Sanada Arata, a mutual friend of HUDIE and also a hacker, had come to hang out.

HUDIE operated in a manga/cyber cafe, with the front of the shop as an open area and the back of it filled with booths containing computers. Keisuke joined Mishima Ryuji, HUDIE’s leader, and Arata at the open area. Gathering around a standing table, the three men sipped at their coffees. He knew that Ryuji’s coffee would be mysteriously too sweet, but the stoic man would gulp it down anyway.

The conversation eventually turned to him.

“So I heard you’ve been looking into the ‘Eternal Treasure’ mystery. How’s that going?” Arata asked.

“Nowhere,” Keisuke grumbled.

“That urban legend has been taking up a lot of your time,” Ryuji noted.

“With nothing to show for it,” he sighed.

“Wow, the Supreme Hacker, giving up? That’s unlike you,” Arata teased.

“I’m not giving up, just… it’s frustrating. I just can’t find anything!”

He saw that Arata and Ryuji shared a look, but he just couldn’t stop the frustration bubbling up. Maybe it was childish of him to be this frustrated over one song, but it irked him personally and professionally. Something in him truly wanted to meet the singer, the desire pulling at him day and night.

Arata hummed. “Well if you’ve hit a dead end, want me to introduce you to my friend?”

“Why, is that person a hacker?”

“Well no. He’s cooler than that,” Arata puffed up proudly. “He’s a private detective known as the Cyber Sleuth.”

“I’ve heard of him. He’s quite well known for taking on cyber crimes,” Ryuji said.

“Not just cyber crimes, he takes on any case related to the net. His office is just at Nakano Broadway. Keisuke, maybe you can submit a case to him to get him to help you with your investigation. An outside opinion could help you a lot.”

So with that, the next day found Keisuke standing in front of imposing double doors with the sign “Kuremi Detective Agency” written at the side. It honestly looked legit, even if he personally thought ‘cyber sleuth’ sounded a little shady.

Arata was supposed to accompany him, but he had just remembered a limited edition manga release event he was supposed to attend today at Akihabara. Keisuke had convinced Arata to go for it instead, and it took a lot of convincing. But he had kindly informed the cyber sleuth beforehand that Keisuke was coming today.

He imagined an older, wise man. So imagine his surprise when a boy who looked no older than sixteen greeted him at the door.

“You must be Amazawa Keisuke! I’m Aiba Takumi,” they shook hands.

“To be honest, I was expecting someone a little older,” Keisuke admitted.

Takumi laughed. “That’s what everyone says! But yes, I am the Cyber Sleuth. Come in and take a seat at the couch, I’ll brew you some coffee.”

Once they were both seated, Keisuke explained his case to Takumi. To his credit, the boy felt older than his age, and listened to his problem without prejudice.

Once he finished explaining, Takumi began to ask some questions for clarification. For example, what methods did he employ in his searches, if he had interviewed anyone regarding this issue, and etcetera. Once he was satisfied, the cyber sleuth looked a little uncertain, rubbed his chin in thought, then nodded to himself and asked:

“If you could excuse me for asking this but… what are you going to do once you meet them?”

Keisuke paused, his brows raised at the question. Then he put his hand to his lips; an expression of thought. No one had ever asked him that question before, and he himself had never thought about it; facts he admitted to the cyber sleuth.

“I guess… I don’t know…,” he scratched his head. “I just feel some kind of pull, a connection, to this person. It’s like an echo, calling to me, day and night. I just can’t get it out of my head. Like, I have to meet this person. Honestly I don’t know what I would do if I met them. Give them praise? Flowers? Gush about how I’m such a fan of their song? I don’t know. I really don’t. But,” and at this he found himself straightening and looking directly into Takumi’s eyes. “I know I don’t mean this person any harm. I just want to meet them, even if it’s just once.”

“A connection. An echo…” Takumi smiled and nodded. “All right, I’ll take on your case.”

Keisuke immediately bowed low. “Thank you so much Aiba-san!”

“Takumi is fine,” the cyber sleuth laughed. “Well, I have to admit, I think you’ll be the most important part of the investigation.”

“Me?” Keisuke cocked his head in confusion. Takumi nodded, then asked an odd question.

“Amazawa-san, do you think the internet connects people?”

“Uh, sure. Of course! We have social media and things like that.”

“Yes, that’s true, but what if connections through the internet themselves could contain information?”

Now Keisuke was really confused, but he gave it some thought. “… you mean like URLs?”

“Close enough. But what I’m talking about is… Hmm, like when you’re logged into the internet as your avatar, the organic emotions that you feel become digital, right?”

Keisuke thought that sounded familiar, as if he had read - that’s right!

“You’re talking about Professor Suedou Akemi’s research paper. The one called ‘Digital Emotions and the Organic Soul’.”

Takumi nodded. “’Why do we still feel our emotions when we are inside the internet?’ Is the central research question of that paper. His conclusion was that the part of the brain that houses emotions, the limbic system in the temporal lobe, is itself turned into Digital Waves. In essence, our emotions are carried into the Cyber World every time we log in. But that brings the thought: what if what we feel towards other people also becomes Digital Waves? And what if those Digital Waves we experience in the Cyber World affect us in the real world? Both these questions are recorded in his ‘further research’ section.”

Keisuke had read the paper, yes, but it had too much medical jargon for him to truly appreciate it. Plus, he skipped the ‘further research’ part of the paper, so… he decided to ask a question, “Do you have a hypothesis?”

Takumi nodded. “I believe that yes, the connections we have with people in the Cyber World are Digital Waves that we bring over into the Human World. By isolating those waves, we can find out where the other person is in relation to the Cyber World.”

Things began to piece together in Keisuke’s head. “You’re saying that this ‘connection’ I feel ‘calling out to me’ is in fact something like a search alert that I brought over from the Cyber World?”

Takumi smiled. “Yes. And most likely, the person you have been looking for has been looking for you too.”

Takumi’s hypothesis was very interesting, but if they were to test it, they needed someone with a specific set of skills. Skills that involve searching for people in the Cyber World.

Yes, they needed Imai Chitose.

The person in question was grinning like the cat that caught the canary. “You do realize how utterly romantic that sounds, right?”

Keisuke couldn’t meet his eyes, and he felt his face burning. He really didn’t think about that right until the moment he explained everything and saw Chitose’s grin. HUDIE’s sub-leader locked his hands together and practically sang out, “Two people calling out to each other across the digital void through a song. A tale of love for the modern age!” Chitose laughed. Thankfully he stopped when he saw that Keisuke couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m just kidding, sorry Keisuke.” He patted the younger man’s shoulder. “Of course I’ll help you, you’re my kouhai. And I know how much you’ve been obsessing over this.”

“Thank you so much Chitose,” Keisuke bowed to his senior, who waved it off. He continued, “Let’s meet up at the chatroom in a few minutes. Takumi should be there already.”

As Keisuke moved to his booth, he missed Chitose muttering to himself: “I hope Yuu doesn’t find out about this…”

To be exact, Chitose’s main skill was in ‘monitoring’. He had various little malware spies - baby-level Digimon programs - scattered throughout the Cyber World. His ability to coordinate between these programs while still maintaining their invisibility was truly something to be amazed by. That also meant he had a finger in everything and everywhere in the internet.

Takumi had previously explained his hypothesis to Chitose, who then rubbed his chin in thought. “That’s very interesting! In that case, if I can scan for this Digital Wave coming from Keisuke, then it should give us the coordinates in the Cyber World to that person.”

Currently, Chitose stretched his hand and then brought up the terminal. “Okay, so what we’ll do is see if you are at the receiving end of a Digital Wave, then have my little spies do a scan of their area to see if the wave goes somewhere.” Chitose brought up his Digimon program - an Ankylomon - and added lines of code into it. Ankylomon expressed the search by licking Keisuke’s face, then jumping around like a happy canine.

“Okay, wow, you are definitely receiving some kind of strong wave. Now to isolate it…” Chitose looked over the data for a moment then grinned. “Okay, got the coordinates.” He then swiftly inputted another long line of Digimoji code. “My cute spies are doing a scan and…” his eyebrows raised when he saw the results.

“What’s wrong?” Keisuke asked.

“Um, I got no matches.” Chitose scratched his head in amazement. “That’s impossible!”

Takumi crossed his arms. “I don’t mean to question your skills, but how confident are you of your malware programs?”

“Trade secret, but I can at least tell you that I am very confident in them. Anything in the Cyber World, I can find.”

“In the Cyber World…” Takumi paused. “Can you let me look at the wave you got off Amazawa-san?”

“Sure,” Chitose sent the information to Takumi. “It honestly looks like coordinates, so I was definitely thinking I could trace it.”

With one look at it, Takumi’s eyes went wide. Then he nodded to himself.

“Okay, I think it’s my turn to work,” Takumi smiled. “Amazawa-san, I’ll contact you in a few days. I need to ask my contacts some things. And thank you, Imai-san.”

“You mean you have an idea?” Takumi nodded, and Chitose whistled at that. “Nice, you really are the Cyber Sleuth.”

The next few days were agonizing for Keisuke, like a starving person really close to a meal but being unable to touch it. Yet he was still a professional at his work, and he knew better than to interrupt another professional at work.

Eventually though his patience paid off. He received a message from Takumi, asking him to meet at the agency as soon as possible.

Upon entering the agency, Keisuke found a deeply pondering Takumi. There was no coffee waiting this time as the latter went straight to the point.

“I’ve found the origin of the Digital Wave.” Keisuke’s heart soared at that, and excitement coursed through him. “However, to get to the coordinates require some… loopholes.”

That puzzled Keisuke. “… you mean like, illegal ones?” Well he didn’t mind it, HUDIE was used to dealing with their share of necessary illegal activities.

Takumi’s expression didn’t lift at his answer though. “Hmm, it’s more like… you have to have an open mind about this. And you have to keep where we are going a secret, even from your HUDIE family. Furthermore, I’ll need you to alter the code of one of your Digimon programs.”

“It’s that much of a secret?” Keisuke raised a brow. He didn’t expect the destination of his search to be so dramatic.

The detective’s expression became wry. “You’ll understand when you see where we are going.”

The hacker folded his arms, thinking a bit. Then, he gave a resolute nod. “I want to see this through to the end. If I have to keep my silence, then I’ll do it.”

Takumi finally smiled at his resolute answer, then handed in the code to be inputted. He assured Keisuke that it will do no harm to the chosen Digimon. “It would be good to choose one that can fly.”

Though of course, he only had Herakle Kabuterimon.

Strangely enough, he wasn’t able to read the Digimoji on the paper although it indeed looked like a standard format Digimoji code. Still, he decided to trust the cyber sleuth for the latter had yet to betray his expectations.

After inputting the code, Takumi turned on the television. Confused, Keisuke watched as he held up a small white device. It looked old with cracks, but there was a screen on it. A pager maybe?

When he held it up to the tv screen, a green screen replaced the white noise. Then, he held up his smartphone to the screen and asked Keisuke to open up his Digivice app and do the same.

He did so even in a confused haze…and then the world changed.

From a quaint office on Nakano Broadway, filled with files and papers, Keisuke now stood in the woods.

Specifically a weird forest, because for one thing he did not recognize any flora around him. They were various plants in strange colours that gave him a foreign vibe. No, an ‘out of this world’ vibe. What the hell happened? Where was he? Did he just teleport through a tv screen?

As these questions plagued him, there was a feeling of something behind him. Expecting it to be Takumi he turned… and found himself face to face with a huge insectoid face.

He jumped back almost immediately, and saw that the huge insect tilted its head as if in confusion. It would have been cute, but it was too large. Plus those mandibles looked dangerous!

Though if he looked closely…isn’t this…? “Herakle Kabuterimon?”

The Digimon program immediately nodded, making that familiar ‘kri kri’ sound. Now in awe, Keisuke placed a hand on it’s head, giving it a little headscratch. It felt real enough, what with the tough golden exoskeleton and the movement of its head as it enjoyed his hands.

A familiar voice from behind him interrupted his thoughts. “Yes, this size will do.”

Takumi stood there, looking no worse for wear.

“Where are we? Did we just teleport into another world where Digimon programs are physical beings?” Keisuke immediately spilled out.

Takumi looked impressed. “You figured it out all in one!”

His own conclusion gave him a headache.

After some explanation, Keisuke recovered slightly. So he was in a place called the Digital World, which is populated by Digimon programs (simply called ‘Digimon’ here, though Takumi emphasized there were subtle differences), and yes they did go through the tv screen as further evidenced by the small tv on the ground nearby them.

And… “Most likely, who you are looking for is a Digimon.”

Well there goes Chitose’s romantic idea.

“We’ll need to cover some distance, which is why I had you choose a flying Digimon to metaphorize. But honestly, I’m impressed.” Takumi took another look at Herakle Kabuterimon, his eyes full of awe. “Most Digimon never experience the Mega stage, yet here you have one. Truly, you are the Supreme Hacker.”

Though his heart did jump a bit at being exposed, it mostly left him embarrassed. Herakle Kabuterimon meanwhile gave a small cheer. Clearly, it understood them just fine. It simply couldn’t talk.

“It’s because it was born in the Human World as a program. Since you didn’t give it the ability to speak, it can’t do so.”

Well, he never knew programs could even speak! Having his world view constantly being overturned gave him another headache. Anyway, he resolved to find out how to give his Digimon program speech capabilities when he got back to the Human World.

Wow, what a sentence.

At any rate, they carefully boarded Herakle Kabuterimon and Takumi gave it directions. That left Keisuke free to watch as this strange, alien world passed by him.

First a forest, then a desert, then a lake… they flew over all that in quick succession. The feel of the wind on his face was certainly giving him a sense of reality. The wind speed however made talking inconvenient, and he wondered how Herakle Kabuterimon could hear Takumi. Did it have to do with how Takumi was constantly putting his hand on it’s head?

Finally, they began to descend. Keisuke realized that they were in the middle of a jungle now, and currently surrounded by women with… butterfly wings?

Their curious gazes made him feel uncomfortable, so he turned to look at Takumi. Said detective had his phone out, and it showed a holographic of the women (whom he now understood were Digimon too). The holographic revealed that these were Hudiemon. The HUDIE hacker’s heart skipped a beat, but he understood that it was simply Chinese for ‘butterfly’.

One of them approached the two men. “Did you two need something from us?” it - she - asked. Her voice was extremely curt.

“We’re looking for a certain Digimon in this area.” Takumi opened with this explanation.

“Just tell us what it looks like and I’ll see if I know them.”

“We don’t have a description, but are sure that they are in this area.”

She flipped her hair back, clearly annoyed. “This whole area belongs to us Hudiemon. So if you’re not looking for one of us, get out to another area.”

Takumi touched his chin in thought, then asked, “Has there been anyone of you acting strangely lately?”

She hmmphed. “All of us are as usual.”

“Then, has there been anyone of you who usually act strangely?”

The Hudiemon gave a pause at this. “I see… you’re here about ‘her’.”

Both men zeroed in on that. “Can you tell me more about this Digimon?” the detective asked.

Another Hudiemon twittered. “That Hudiemon is like, super old. Might even be the first one of us, I dunno. But she’s totally crazy.”

The main one hushed the other. Then, she turned to them. “It’s true that Hudiemon is not sound of mind. We have her isolated. If you want to see her, then go. If you take her off our hands, even better.”

Keisuke raised a brow at their indifference. He felt slighted in place of that Digimon. Still, he held his tongue. If he raised trouble here, they might not take them to see this strange Hudiemon.

Instead of leading them there, she simply pointed to the northwest. After a short trek, they found a cave. It was dark and damp and Keisuke felt sad that anyone would be abandoned here, but his thoughts immediately stopped when he heard a certain sound. A humming, echoing through the walls of the cave. Humming a certain song.

‘Eternal Treasure’!

He inhaled sharply. His feet took off with single minded determination, running into the cave without the thought that perhaps he might scare away it’s inhabitants. At any rate, there was only one person within: a Hudiemon, completely kneeling, face upturned. When he ran in she stopped singing and began getting up.

She looked unstable and tired, swaying slightly. Keisuke watched her worriedly, but was unsure of how to proceed. Eventually she looked up, straight into his eyes.

“… Keisuke?” his heart skipped a beat and he nodded. Yet this Hudiemon seemed unconvinced; she shook her head. “No… it can’t be. But you look so much like him…”

Then she gasped in pain, holding her head. “It hurts. I can’t-”

And she would have hit the ground hard, but Keisuke caught her just in time. The moment their bodies connected, she began to glow. Her wings disappeared, and her butterfly form was replaced by - a human body? A girl’s body at that! He almost dropped her in embarrassment, but managed to keep his wits about him. Instead, he laid her gently on the ground and took off his HUDIE coat, covering her naked body with it. That’s when he was cognizant of Takumi calling his name from next to him.

“Amazawa-san, look,” he showed Keisuke a Wormmon in his arms. “It seems the Hudiemon de-digivolved into a Wormmon and… this lady?”

The Wormmon began to stir, muttering someone’s name, then seemed to jolt awake when it spotted Keisuke. “Keisuke!? Wha…?” It struggled in Takumi’s arms, forcing him to drop it. The Wormmon shook off the drop, looked between Keisuke and the girl on the ground, and then decided to crawl to the girl before addressing them.

“We should be in the Digital World, so how could you be here?” It said, mostly talking towards Keisuke. It sounded like it expected Keisuke to know them, but honestly he had no clue as to whom they were. Before he could reach a decision to say something, Takumi decided to take hold of the situation.

“Maybe we should discuss this somewhere more private,” he pointed out the other Hudiemon in the distance who were beginning to be too interested in what was happening. “Amazawa-san, could you possibly carry the lady?”

“That wouldn’t be a problem but… well…” his face reddened and Takumi seemed to get the point.

“Well if you don’t mind… I’m trans, so it’s won’t be as awkward for me,” casually dropping that bombshell, Takumi moved to dress the girl in his HUDIE coat, leaving Keisuke to turn around to give them privacy. He heard the Wormmon inform them of a place they could talk privately, apparently a grove somewhere nearby where they were standing.

With Wormmon showing the way, Keisuke hoisted the girl up his back with Takumi’s help. She was warm, but too light, so much so that even the very-lacking-in-exercise Keisuke could carry her easily. He noted that she was also very small, his coat practically dwarfing her body.

It was a little awkward, but Keisuke said, “I should offer you an apology, for just assuming your gender.”

Takumi smiled and gave him a shrug. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Amazawa-san, but I appreciate it. Not everyone has been as kind as you.”

From Takumi’s shoulder, the Wormmon asked “What’s a ‘trans’?” It seemed to be out of pure child-like curiosity, so the cyber sleuth was more than happy to explain to it.

Eventually they reached the grove; a small area of wildflowers encircled by a copse of trees. There were several large stones they could sit on, so Keisuke leaned the girl against one of the stones and took a seat nearby her. Takumi sat opposite him, and the Wormmon jumped onto a tall stone nearby.

A silence overtook them.

“Uh, wow, where do we start?”

Takumi suggested introductions were in order, so that’s how Keisuke learned that the girl’s name was “Erika” and this Wormmon was Erika’s Digimon. Takumi then explained about his position as a Cyber Sleuth (Wormmon was impressed) and gave a summary of the situation on their side.

“Wormmon, you seem to know Amazawa-san. Can you explain how you know him?”

“Erika and I, we know someone called Amasawa Keisuke. You both have the same name,” this time it addressed Keisuke directly, “but you’re somehow… older? The Keisuke we knew was still in high school.”

“I left high school four years ago,” he explained.

“And Amazawa-san, you’re sure you’ve never seen this Wormmon, Erika-san or a Hudiemon before?”

“I mean I’ve met my share of Wormmons, but this is definitely my first time hearing of Hudiemons. And I definitely don’t know anyone named Erika, or seen anyone like her before.”

“Hmm…” Takumi seemed to be considering what he heard. “I can think of two possibilities. Either you’ve somehow lost your memory… or Wormmon and Erika-san are from a parallel world.

“And I think the parallel world theory holds the most water.”

Keisuke’s brows shot up at the suggestion. “That sounds a bit…”

“Over the top?” Takumi smiled wryly. “But parallel worlds do exist Amazawa-san. For example, this place we are in - the Digital World - does not exist anywhere on our Earth. Instead, it exists like a dimensional layer overlapping it. Thinking that, it wouldn’t be impossible if we go a step further and consider a parallel reality of Earth.

“Wait,” Keisuke held a hand up in defeat. “This is a lot to take in. Give me a moment.”

Wormmon groaned. “You’re just as slow as our Keisuke!”

He decided to ignore the jab in favor of sorting out his thoughts. “First, Digimon are living beings from another dimension?”

Takumi shook his head. “You can say that currently, there’s two types of Digimon. One, the Digimon who live in the Digital World, are really living digital beings, but we can’t alter their code the way we do on Earth. Second, are the Digimon programs that are born and live in our world. Your Digimon programs,” Takumi gestured at Keisuke’s HerculesKabuterimon whom was settled behind him, “can be altered using Digimoji codes. For example, unless you code them as such or the code develops in such a way, these Digimon programs do not speak.”

Keisuke nodded. “Okay, that brings up a lot of questions, but things are starting to make sense. My second question: how did Wormmon and Erika come from a Hudiemon?”

Wormmon answered that. “There’s an evolution called DNA Digivolution, where humans and Digimon can partner together to digivolve into a single Digimon. It’s a long story, but basically that’s what happened.”

He really felt his head start to hurt from all the information and having his world being turned upside down, but he continued his queries. “Parallel realities. Let’s say Wormmon and Erika come from Reality A and we are from Reality B, what links them together is…”

Takumi nodded. “The Digital World.”

At that moment, Erika stirred awake.

“… Wormmon?”

“Erika!” the green bug-type quickly went to her side.

“… we’re not Hudiemon anymore?” she asked, in a daze. Wormmon answered negatively and she patted it.

Then she began aggressively poking the Wormmon. It squirmed and wailed “Erika! Not again!”, but its suffering only brought a fond smile to her face. Then she looked up and-

The utter recognition in her eyes brought a certain kind of pain to Keisuke’s chest.

“… Keisuke?” she asked, as if she couldn’t believe it was him. He scratched his cheeks and put on an awkward smile.

“Um… not exactly, apparently.”

Of course she was confused, so Takumi took over. He introduced himself and explained the situation.

She was quick to catch on. “I see. You’re both from a parallel reality…”

“Amazawa-san told me that he doesn’t know of an ‘Erika’, so I deduced that either your alternate self exists somewhere else, or perhaps you don’t exist in our reality at all.”

Keisuke thought the last part was a little harsh, but Erika seemed to accept it.

She asked Keisuke, “Do you work at HUDIE as well?” He nodded.

“Who is the leader?”

“Mishima Ryuji,” he answered automatically.

“And his family?”

What an odd question, but he answered anyway. “He has parents whom he lives with, and no siblings.”

She paused, a kind of sorrow passing her eyes. It was only a split second though, and then she nodded. “Then I don’t have an alternate self in this reality then.”

Before Keisuke could grasp the meaning behind her questions, Takumi had nodded and continued the conversation. “That would make things easier actually.”

“You say I’ve been… leaving songs? In people’s computers?”

Takumi raised a brow. “Do you not remember doing so Erika-san?”

She shook her head. “The last thing I remember is… well, becoming Hudiemon and coming to the Digital World. I don’t remember anything after that.”

Wormmon raised a claw. “I think the memories are with me.”

“Is there any way to share it with Erika-san?” Takumi asked.

At that, Wormmon became distinctly uncomfortable. “I’d rather not,” it declared to everyone’s surprise.

“Why?” Erika asked.

“Erika, we were in the Digital World for a long time. And towards the end, we… um, it was really crazy. Our thoughts I mean. I don’t… think I should share it. But if you really want…”

Takumi put his hand to his chin in thought. “The Hudiemons we met mentioned you were the oldest of them, perhaps even the first.”

Erika crossed her arms in clear discomfort. “I can put aside not having the memories, but Wormmon, you have to tell me what happened before Aiba-san and Amasawa-san came.”

Keisuke frowned. Something about her calling him by his surname didn’t fit right, like an unsuitable puzzle piece. At any rate, the conversation continued.

“Something happened . I’m not sure what, we were living pretty okay, then it happened. I don’t know how to describe it . It kind of… compressed us? I think when it happened we were supposed to die, but because we were a DNA Digivolution, we survived.

Then, um… the Digital World ended?”

Everyone drew back in surprise. “Ended?” Takumi asked.

“Yeah, like a reformat. It happened two times. And again, we survived because of the same reason, I think.”

“This is… really good information.” Takumi was almost in awe. “I’m guessing this… reformatting… did something to Hudiemon?”

Wormmon nodded. “I think something happened to our mental base code. Kind of like almost drowning in a river and then having a fear of water.”

“Then the song… were we looking for someone who could fix our code?” Erika asked.

“I don’t think it was that specific. We kind of were just, like, looking for someone to…” now Wormmon looked really uncomfortable, almost upset. “To end us.”

“And Amazawa-san was the one to answer that call,” Takumi crossed his arms and nodded, redirecting the discomfort in the atmosphere at that revelation. All three of them turned to took at him, but all Keisuke could do was turn away and scratch his cheek awkwardly.

To dispel his embarassment, Keisuke looked up at the sky and remarked, “It’s getting dark.”

Takumi nodded. “Indeed, we should make a move. We don’t know if time is fully synced between realities.”

That made Keisuke exclaim in alarm, “Then are we gaining or losing time?”

“Probably losing, though it shouldn’t be more than a few hours,” the cyber sleuth explained.

“Then we should definitely leave now.” Everyone stood up and Keisuke was struck by the fact of how… short Erika was. Keisuke was taller than Takumi, and she only reached Takumi’s shoulder. Judging from her look, she seemed surprised at how tall he was as well. Her shortness was also punctuated by the fact that his coat reached the floor when she stood up, making it look more like a dress… and making her look even smaller.

Her notice was also brought to the coat, which she pinched in her hand in thought. “Amasawa-san, is this your coat?”

“Um, yeah…” he cringed.

“Then did you… see me…” she trailed off, her face reddening.

She looked angry enough to hit him, and probably would have if Takumi didn’t intervene. “Erika-san, I’m the one who dressed you in his coat,” he said with a hand raised.

“Oh,” Erika looked surprised, but thanked him politely. Wait, how come Takumi got thanked while he was almost hit? The injustice almost made Keisuke pout.

Wormmon happily chirped up “It’s okay Erika, Takumi is a ‘trans-man’ so it’s okay!”

That gave everyone pause, and Keisuke noted “Wormmon, announcing that unprompted might be a bit rude.”

“Oh, is that so!?” Wormmon gasped.

Erika said, “I’m okay with it, just surprised. I apologize for Wormmon,” and bowed. Takumi merely waved it off with a smile.

“Well, let’s get back to the Digital Gate before dusk.”

Even riding Herakle Kabuterimon, it was still dark by the time they arrived at the small tv where they metaphorized. Takumi explained that Erika could bring Wormmon over into the real world once she downloaded the Digivice app, so they had to leave all their Digimon here. Keisuke was loathe to leave Herakle Kabuterimon, but watching Wormmon throw a fuss that ended with Erika poking it was distracting enough.

Soon, they found themselves back at the agency. It was night by then and since a lot happened, they agreed it would be best to turn in and conclude the case tomorrow.

But whom should Erika stay with?

Apparently not Takumi, because the cyber sleuth was living in a share house with four of his friends. There simply was no room for another person, even for a night.

Alternatively, they could put her up at a hotel. Yet, something about that option sounded cold. Imagining her first night in an alternate reality all by herself didn’t sit right with Keisuke.

So that only left…

“You could stay with me, at least for the night. I live alone in a 1K in Ikebukuro, so there’s space for you.”

Even suggesting it made Keisuke a little embarrassed, but he held on to his conviction that she shouldn’t be staying alone on her first night. Plus he sort of was an alternate version of her friend, so that made them acquainted enough, right? Ah, whatever.

Takumi at least seemed to agree. “That would be for the best, especially since you don’t have a smartphone yet. If anything happens, Amazawa-san can call me immediately.”

Erika looked confused at something, so Takumi asked what was wrong.

What she asked shocked Keisuke to the core, in a day full of shocking events.

“What’s a smartphone?”

So apparently in Erika’s old reality, a smartphone was called a ‘digivice’. Keisuke wasn’t sure why smartphones would share the name of the app, but Takumi took quite an interest in that fact. Yet it was late, so they postponed discussing for tomorrow afternoon.

Due to the late hour and the fact that Erika didn’t have a train pass, they had to take a taxi to his place. A very expensive expenditure, but Keisuke calculated from the top of his head that he could afford it.

Sitting in the taxi was really awkward though. What did they look like, a young man and a younger girl going home together in the middle of the night? Hopefully like siblings, but given the looks the taxi driver was tossing him, Keisuke didn’t think so.

At any rate, he decided to just ignore all that and look at Erika instead. The girl was looking out the taxi window, an odd, conflicted expression on her face. Ah, well even if it was just Ikebukuro, Keisuke supposed she was conflicted over the fact that it was not her Ikebukuro. But then again, how could he even begin to sympathize with her? Alternate reality? How bizarre an experience.

His 1K was just that: a combined living and dining room with separate kitchen and bathroom. A second-hand TV sat between the windows, and a round short table stood in front of it. A dresser filled with his clothes sat near the washroom , and a picture of his parents and many of HUDIE sat on top of it. He placed his laptop bag by the wall and briefly watched Erika survey the place.

When her eyes settled on him, he said “Not the biggest place in the world, but it’ll fit the both of us.” Then he walked to the dresser to take out a towel and some clothes. “You can bathe first, I’ll lay out the futons on the floor. Wait, are you hungry? Do you need me to cook something first? Or I could buy a bento from the Family Mart.” Honestly he was rambling to fill in the awkwardness.

Erika was quiet even at his words, as if distracted. When he called out her name, she snapped to attention and, perhaps embarrassed by her lack of attention, grabbed the towel and clothes he was holding out to her. Before entering the bathroom though, she paused.

“I don’t need food but… I need…” she blushed while looking downward. It took a moment for Keisuke to get what she meant, and when he did he too blushed in embarrassment. “R-right! I’ll go and buy… ‘that’… for you then.” He was definitely too embarrassed to say ‘panties’ in front of a girl, so instead he grabbed his essentials and exited the room at warp speed.

An instinct of sorts woke him up in the middle of the night.

That is to say, it must have only been a few hours? So he was still very tired and very sleepy. The very tired and very sleepy Keisuke looked next to him and saw that Erika was still awake and scrolling his phone (didn’t he password his phone? Ah, whatever). He sleepily called her name, grabbing her attention. Erika quickly turned off the phone, plunging the room into darkness again.

“I’m sorry for waking you-” he shook his head, cutting her apology.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

“It’s strange, without Wormmon with me. It’s… too cold, somehow. I couldn’t sleep.”

Too cold? Not an odd problem, what with it being the middle of autumn. And perhaps being DNA Digivolved for so long left her lonely, and that was the problem. Keisuke was too sleepy for all that complicated thinking though. His mind simply thought too cold = get warm, so scratching what must certainly be bed hair, he suggested:

“Why don’t you just sleep with me? I don’t feel cold at all.”

Her eyes widened, and as his words sank in her face began burning. Before she could say anything though, Keisuke enfolded her and dragged her into his futon. She must have certainly protested, but his mind was too tired and wanted to get back to sleep asap. So tucking her into the blanket, he brought her close to him with an arm around her and began stroking her back. She squirmed for awhile, but eventually calmed down in defeat.

Gosh, but she was cold.

“Hope you don’t need a lullaby,” he said. Whatever her answer was he didn’t hear as, having solved the problem, he was already off to dreamland.

So yes, he must have been too tired and too sleepy. That’s what he repeatedly told himself in the morning when he woke up with Erika in his arms.

She was curled up into him, kind of like a rolled up pillbug. Which was extremely adorable. Luckily it seemed she was still asleep, so he crawled out of bed to do his morning ablutions.

Checking the time, Keisuke was dismayed to find that it was already late morning. His phone blew up with texts and calls from Chitose, Ryuji and Yuu - especially Yuu - so he texted them his apologies and that he won’t be in for work until tomorrow. That satisfied Ryuji and Chitose, but Yuu of course was persistent.

Y001: What’s going on? You’ve never taken so many days off before!

ama: You say that like I’m a workaholic -3-

Y001: Uh, yeah you are! Make sure you tell me later what’s up okay!

ama: -3-V

Y001: And stop it with that face!

Keisuke chuckled, putting his phone on the kitchen counter. He had the mind to cook up some breakfast for the both of them. Erika especially should be hungry since she hadn’t eaten anything yesterday. Surveying the fridge found him some butter, eggs and sausages - ah right, yesterday he planned for a western breakfast. So he dragged out the toaster and a can of beans from the kitchen cabinets, fired up the stove and got to cooking.

The smell probably woke her up because when Keisuke turned to check she was sitting up, her bleary eyes focused on him. He had to muster up the control to not laugh because her hair… pfft, it was all over the place and she looked like a bog hag. Still a little chuckle escaped him, which cued her in on her current state. Reaching behind to try to tame her hair, she gave him a glare and reached back for the pillow. Uh-oh-

“Wait, I’m cooking-!” still she threw the pillow at his face and he was forced to drop the spatula to defend himself and the food. He managed to catch it with his hands and, peering past it, he greeted “Good morning Erika-san.”

She paused before answering “Good morning Amasawa-san”, but before anyone could think their next thoughts a loud sound reverberated throughout the room. It was the sound of Erika’s stomach growling and that brought a smile to Keisuke’s face. Although of course he put on his funny face when she turned to check if he had heard.

“Breakfast is almost ready so if you could put back the futons into the closet that would be really helpful, thank you,” Keisuke instructed as he turned back to the stove.

Hearing her exertion as she folded and placed the futons back in the closet, Keisuke was suddenly struck by the realization that Erika really was a Japanese person and not some quasi-Digimon person. At any rate, he kept the revelation to himself as he placed the plated food onto the dining table.

After she completed her ablutions and joined him at the table, they chanted “Itadakimasu!” and began eating.

“This isn’t bad,” Keisuke felt strangely proud at her praise. He felt that it wasn’t easy to get those from her.

Hiding his blush, he announced, “I’m off work today, so we can go out shopping for necessary things before we meet up with Takumi.”

Her chopsticks paused, hovering in the air. He took a moment to notice that. “Erika-san?”

The expression on her face was highly conflicted. “… is this a long-term situation? Me living here with you?”

Thoughtful, he placed his chopsticks down. “Technically you don’t have to stay here long-term, but I think it’ll take some time for you to get used to living in the real- um, the human world. Especially an alternate one. So I think you should stay with someone who knows your situation. That’s just my opinion though, but I certainly don’t mind having a roommate.”

There was a pause, then she shook her head, but her expression was a fond smile. “No matter which universe…” she mumbled just loud enough to hear, though she seemed not to notice that. Then she picked up a sausage, continuing to eat.

Seeing her worries placated, Keisuke too returned to eating his food. It’ll be along day today, and he’ll need the energy.

After a long shopping trip and lunch, they finally found themselves in front of the Kuremi Detective Agency. Of course, Keisuke was carrying everything. Though it wasn’t heavy, it was a lot, so he still grouched a little in his head.

Takumi greeted them when they arrived, the smell of coffee already in the air. Keisuke nodded in his head. This man was a bonafide hacker.

“I see you’ve shopped for your necessities. Did you already buy a smartphone?” Erika showed her phone to him, a latest model that emptied his wallet. Takumi looked impressed.

“I’ll add the Digivice app to your phone so you can download Wormmon into it,” Takumi said.

That got Keisuke curious. “Is it different from the Digivice app I use? The one that allows me to enter the Cyber World?”

Takumi nodded. “This one is developed from the Digital World, while the one we usually use here was designed from Victory Corporation. The latter allows us to enter a simulated cyber world, while this one allows travel between the human world and the Digital World.”

Erika immediately perked up. “So Wormmon can enter the human world with this app?”

At that, Takumi had a complicated expression. “It’s perhaps possible in a future update, but for now it only facilitates metaphorizing humans, not realizing Digimon. So no, Wormmon can’t realize into our world just yet.”

For a moment, Keisuke imagined what would happen if Herakle Kabuterimon appeared in the real world. For one, it would be too large, making it inconvenient to move around. Still, it was nice to imagine it.

That actually distracted him enough that he found both Erika and Takumi looking at him, one annoyed and the other amused.

“What?” Keisuke asked dazedly.

Erika sighed. “Aiba-san needs to discuss something with me, so if it’s all right, we need privacy.”

“Oh!” Keisuke got up, a blush on his face from his gaffe. “Then I’ll just hang around the mall. Call me when you’re done. Oh, and I’ll leave the stuff here and pick it up later if that’s all right.” At Takumi’s nod, Keisuke quickly exited the agency.

Takumi had a gentle smile. “How are you adjusting to this world Erika-san? Have there been any side-effects so far?”

She shook her head. “If there is a side-effect, it’s that I feel much healthier. I had a sickness back in my world, a life-long one. But here, I don’t feel the symptoms at all. It’s like a completely new body.”

He looked interested in that last part. “Perhaps… we can consider it a truly completely new body? After all, considering that you were in the Digital World for a long time as a DNA digivolution, and surviving the experience of a reformat twice, it’s possible that your old body…” he trailed off, looking uncomfortable at his own deductions.

Erika didn’t mind the macabre insinuation. “I figured as much, actually. In fact, I believe that this body is not fully… human.”

His brows raised high. “How would you describe that?”

She looked away, thoughtful. “Whenever I am near an electronic, be it a phone or anything with a screen, I feel some kind of… pull. A connection. As if I could… fall though the screen. Though I’m not sure as to the destination.”

Though her words sounded crazy even to her, Erika found that Takumi did not look suspiciously at her at all. In fact, what she saw in his eyes was… recognition?

What he said next surprised her greatly. “Would it be possible to investigate that right now?” He got up and walked to the television behind them. Putting a hand on top of it, he asked her if she felt that connection at that moment.

Erika nodded. “So you want to see if I actually fall through the screen? That’s quite…”

“Crazy?” Takumi looked amused, but Erika had a feeling it was more on himself than at her. “It’s actually a lot more possible than you think. After all, there is a reason my mentor gave me the moniker ‘Cyber Sleuth’.”

She got his insinuation. Another revelation. “You can physically enter the Cyber World through a screen?”

He nodded. “Due to some circumstances, my body is currently part-digital. I suspect you too are in the same situation, or at least have the same ability. I call it Connect Jump.

Well, would you like to try? I understand if you don’t feel comfortable.”

A wry smile on her face. “If I don’t jump on this chance, am I a true hacker?”

Walking over to the tv, she took a deep breath and placed her hand on the screen.

Well, it should have been on the screen.

Instead, she plunged into the abyss.

Y001: What have you been doing all day? Sleeping?

ama: Pretty much.

Keisuke didn’t like lying to Yuu, not at all, but the circumstances were literally out of this world. How was he supposed to explain that he had a girl over at his house who was from the Digital World, or that alternate dimensions exist, and Digimon are real, and that humans and Digimon could… merge, somehow? It was all too much, especially now that Keisuke had the brainspace to think.

Sipping his coffee while watching the barista/boss banter with the waitress, Keisuke leaned back on his chair and took a deep breath. Exhaling, he looked out the window, emptying his thoughts. It was sunset, the city of Tokyo bathed in warm hues, as people hurried about on the streets. He had been sitting here for close to two hours and was close to being worried.

While he sat there wondering if he should check up on them, the bell at the entrance tinkled, drawing his attention. To his surprise, he saw that it was an equally surprised Sanada Arata. They greeted each other, and Arata joined him at his table.

“I haven’t seen you since last week. How did it go with Takumi? I’ve asked, but he said it’s confidential.” Arata rolled his eyes fondly.

“So far so good. Thanks for introducing me to him.” Keisuke took a sip of his mocha to give himself time to think before continuing. “Thanks to working with him, I managed to track down the singer of the ‘Eternal Treasure’ mystery.”

“Really? That’s great!” Arata leaned forward, clearly in anticipation. “So, who was it?”

Keisuke took another sip. “That’s confidential.”

Arata groaned, clearly defeated. “You two are just the same, really!”

At that moment Arata’a americano arrived. He took a sip while Keisuke asked a question. “So how do you know Takumi, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I should say ‘it’s confidential’ just to spite you but… nah. We’re childhood friends, along with four others. The five of us actually share a share house together even now.”

“That’s a pretty tight friendship you have,” Keisuke politely commented, even if he already knew that. Arata looked very pleased at his words.

While they enjoyed their respective beverages, Keisuke thought about his own friendship with Yuu. The only reason they weren’t sharing a living space is because Yuu lived with his family whom he shares a loving bond with. Keisuke had received their kindness for years, and so refused to impose on them any further.

His thoughts were interrupted when Arata asked, “What brings you to Nakano Broadway anyway? Are you here to see Takumi?” Keisuke nodded. Somehow, his response made Arata thoughtful.

“I’m here to see him too, but when I stopped by just now no one was there.”

That made Keisuke’s heart drop. “No one was in the office?”

“Yeah, I knocked and everything. Usually he answers from the inside if he’s busy, but there was no response.”

Keisuke quickly checked his phone, but there were no calls or messages. Did they go out somewhere? But without telling him? Should he be worried? Well, he definitely was worried now.

It must have shown on his face because Arata looked concerned. “Something wrong?” he asked.

“I think I’m going to check on the agency.” He finished off the rest of his mocha and stood up. An alarmed expression was on Arata’s face.

“Wait, is there something wrong? I thought you settled things with Takumi already?”

“I was waiting for him to call me. To just leave the agency suddenly…”

Arata’s expression became grave. “Wait, I’ll come with you.”

After quickly paying for their drinks, Keisuke and Arata hurried down to the agency. He knocked hard on the door, but there was no response. That worried feeling began turning into alarm bells in his head.

It must show on his face, because Arata said, “I don’t usually do this but…” and he took out a large key from his pocket. It fit into the agency’s lock, and opening the door revealed…

Takumi and Erika sitting at the table. Both of them turned to look at them.

Before both could speak, Arata exploded. “You were here all along? Then why didn’t you answer when I knocked?”

Takumi looked apologetic. “Sorry Arata, I guess we were so focused we didn’t hear you knocking.”

“You didn’t answer just now either, when Keisuke was knocking.”

At Arata’s suspicious look, Takumi simply smiled. “We were having an interesting discussion.”

Their conversation barely registered in Keisuke’s head. He was busy examining Erika from head to toe, and felt relieved finding that she looked fine. She simply had a thoughtful expression.

“Well then, we’ve actually reached the end of our discussion. Sorry to have made you wait Arata, Amazawa-san.” Both Takumi and Erika stood up and shook hands.

“Jeez, you call me over then leave me hanging…” Arata complained.

Erika joined Keisuke, letting him hold all the bags again. This time, he was happy to do so, as long as she was safe by his side again.

Arata sighed and sat on the guest couch after making sure they both left. “So what did you call me over for?”

Instead of answering, Takumi asked his own question. “What has you so frazzled?”

That made Arata pause. “Actually, at first I thought you just left for a case or something, and that you’ll be back. But Keisuke started panicking for some reason… I guess I got caught up with that.”

Takumi smiled, now answering Arata’s question. “Well, I called you here because I need to get in touch with Matayoshi-san.”

It wasn’t the first time, but Arata was surprised nonetheless. “You know he’s on a trip in Hokkaido right now with his ‘Retiree Grumps’ travel group.”

An apologetic look. “Well it’s a pressing matter, so I’ll have to disturb him a bit.”

For a moment Arata gazed at Takumi, then asked, “Is it about that girl who was with Keisuke?”

Takumi simply smiled again. “That’s confidential.”

Arata threw his hands up in the air, groaning all the while.

Keisuke and Erika walked side-by-side, a thoughtful silence between them. He was caught between his happiness that Erika was okay, his awkwardness at him panicking over nothing, and his curiosity as to what discussion took them so long.

In the end, just as they passed the train station, Keisuke said aloud, “Oh, you still don’t have a train pass.”

Erika would need an actual citizenship and proper identification to apply for one. How would he go about it? Should he ask his HUDIE brothers for help? But what if they asked questions? Forging an identification is dangerous work too.

While he was pondering this, Erika answered his unaired question. “Aiba-san has agreed to take care of that.”

Keisuke was still concerned. “Wouldn’t that be expensive?”

“I’ve already agreed to pay him.”

He raised a brow. “… you have money?”

She shook her head. “Information,” was all she replied about the matter.

Somehow that made quite some sense to Keisuke. Takumi seemed quite invested in the Digital World, and both Erika and Wormmon’s information on that would probably be useful to him. There was of course the additional alternate world thing at play. Keisuke himself was fairly curious, but was sure the information would go over his head.

His thoughts were interrupted by a question from Erika. “Did I make you worried?”

He smiled fondly. The question quelled his previously anxious thoughts. “Quite a bit, yeah.”

She didn’t say anything further, but did reach over to take some bags into her hands.

A few weeks passed, and both Keisuke and Erika settled on a routine of sorts.

Takumi did indeed settle her identification papers, and Erika managed to even score some work, though she refused to say with whom. It did have Keisuke worried at first, but it subsided after she came home just fine.

Indeed, the 1K did become ‘their home’ now. Keisuke thought that living with a girl would bring up complications, but in fact it was pretty peaceful. It’s only his chatty neighbors bothering him about finally having a girlfriend. Somehow Erika managed to avoid them, but that meant Keisuke took the brunt of their questions.

Eventually after her first paycheck, Erika began contributing to the rent and bills, thus easing Keisuke’s financial burden by a fair bit. He also began coming home more often to cook dinner for them. After Erika’s disastrous attempt due to adding too much sugar to the dishes, Keisuke subtly banned her from the stove.

Work at HUDIE continued to move at a manageable pace too, especially since his obsession was sated, so all in all the past few weeks were pretty good for him.

Keisuke and Erika were now comfortable enough with each other that he felt confident to ask a question that had been bothering him for some time.

It happened that, whenever Keisuke talked about his say-to-day events at HUDIE, Erika always put on a complicated expression. There was interest there, yes. But also a kind of… melancholy? At least, Keisuke felt that he was missing something. He also remembered something from back when they first met. The pieces seemed to be fitting together somehow.

So one day, when they were having their dinner together (teriyaki salmon don with miso soup. Keisuke thought he cooked it quite well), Keisuke gathered his courage and wits to ask his question.

“Back in your previous world, were you affiliated with HUDIE?”

Erika’s hands promptly paused, and her expression became guarded. “What makes you think that?” though her tone was flippant, her eyes did not meet his.

“You are always willing to listen to me talking about work, but there’s always this… pain, I guess? In your expression. And also,” he moved on before Erika could say anything, “there’s that question you asked me, back when we first met. You immediately asked if I worked for HUDIE, and I just realized I never said anything about HUDIE before that. And then you asked about the leader, and when I answered Ryuuji, you asked if he had family. And when I answered he had parents and was an only child, you said that-“

“’I don’t have an alternate self in this reality’.” Erika completed his sentence.

He nodded. “I think that you knew HUDIE before this, and maybe even worked there. That’s how you knew my alternate self. And you’re related to Ryuuji, somehow. A family member, definitely.”

There was a complicated expression on her face, so Keisuke let her have a moment. After that, Erika took a deep breath and exhaled.

“I was a hacker at HUDIE. The best one. Yes, that was where I first met your alternate self as well. And-“ a pained look, “I was Mishima Ryuuji’s younger sister.”

It became quiet, but a storm was brewing in Keisuke as the revelations set in. “Then you know Chitose as well, and Yuu too.”

“At that time Nogi-san did not join HUDIE, but I knew him as your best friend. And Chitose… he was like a second older brother.”

There was a finality to that, as if she was asking him to drop it. However, he pushed further than he should have.

“Then shouldn’t you meet up with them again? They’re your family, and I’m sure you want to-“

“NO!” Erika banged the table, her aggressive actions surprising him into silence. It seemed that her action was pure reaction, as she looked just as surprised herself. Instead of addressing it, she stood up and spat, “Just drop it, Amazawa-san.”

There really wasn’t a way to hide oneself from another person in a 1K, but she managed to do that by stomping over to the table in front of the television and pulling out her smartphone. Clearly he wasn’t meant to approach her.

Keisuke was deeply hurt, but also began to repent for his rashness. A kind of sadness grew as he disposed of her unfinished food.

Her actions didn’t make sense to him, but what did he know of her feelings? After all, she came from another reality, another world. He realized he truly couldn’t even begin to understand her.

Things were frosty between them after that. Erika began to eat out more, leaving Keisuke feeling empty when he cooked for himself. It was strange to feel that way since before this he was always just cooking for himself just fine. Perhaps he had gotten used to her company.

Eventually though he began to feel a little resentment, and began working overtime at HUDIE. Keisuke knew she wouldn’t ever come find him here, so here he stayed, out of her way.

After two weeks of constant overtime, Ryuuji forcefully sent Keisuke home. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’ve been here too long. Get some rest.”

His actions were full of brotherly concern, but Keisuke couldn’t appreciate it. His constant overtime though did result in him making more mistakes due to tiredness, so he was forced to throw in the towel.

Dragging his feet as if to an executioner’s block, Keisuke noticed something white falling onto his nose. Looking up to the gray skies, he realized it was the first snow of winter.

He recalled that catching the first snow of winter usually signified something good would happen. Fat chance of that happening, he thought.

His depressive thoughts immediately stopped when his building came into view.

Specifically, it was the sight of Erika standing outside the door. She was dressed in her work clothes, a scarf around her shoulders, hand out as if waiting for snow to fall on it. She too was looking up at the gray skies, at the first snow of winter.

At this view, Keisuke suddenly realized how much he missed her. Missed being with her. Really, he should have apologized weeks ago. Why did he drag this along for so long?

His thoughts moved his feet, and he made a quick jog up to the second floor where their 1K was. She had turned to face the sound of his steps, and it looked almost like she was waiting for him. Panting from the exertion, Keisuke then realized that her nose was red and she looked pale.

“How long were you standing out here? It’s so cold. Come on, let’s go in.” As he approached the door to open it, he found his arm seized by her. Her strength was faint, but enough to stop him in his tracks.

He then felt her head on his shoulder as she leaned in to him. Her breath was hot, too hot.

“I’m sorry.” Her apology made him quite surprised. “I know you were just concerned for me. It’s just…”

“I’m the one who should be sorry,” he countered. “I shouldn’t have pushed the subject, especially since I did notice you didn’t want to talk about it yet.”

At receiving her apology, and her his, they both sighed in relief.

“It’s cold. We should go in, drag out the kotatsu and everything.” She nodded at his words, and he felt more than saw her smile.

After that they discovered she was running a fever, so Keisuke took a few days off to take care of her. Ryuuji seemed more than willing to give him the break, and Erika’s workplace was nice enough to give her three days off. It seems he wasn’t the only one forcing overtime.

On the second day her fever subsided, so they decided to have a talk with one another, mostly Erika explaining things while Keisuke listened.

“Aiba-san introduced me to an organization called DATS. They specialize in collecting information about Digimon and the Digital World, so my experiences as a hacker and as a Digimon has helped them a lot. I mostly use my hacker skills when working with them.

My immediate superior is a man named Izumi Koushirou. He’s awkward, but easy to work with. His skills with the computer are the genuine thing too, so I’ve been learning a lot from him.”

Keisuke smiled at her sharing her workplace experiences. “Sounds like you’ve gotten used to life in this reality.”

She nodded, then a clear hesitance overcame her. “… if you want me to leave, I can do that now.”

Her words left him thunderstruck, the memory of her speaking of her long-term stay with him coming back to him. He couldn’t meet her eyes then, and said, “If you want to leave, you can.”

As the words left him, he suddenly thought back to the revelation he had when he saw her standing outside their door three days ago. At that, he looked up at her and-

She looked defeated.

He thought to himself that he didn’t want her to look like that ever again.

“I meant-“ he took a deep breath and corrected himself. “I want you to stay with me. Together.” He reached out to take Erika’s hands on the table into his, and was happy that she let him. There was a kind of dawning realization in her eyes at his words. “You’ve been a good roommate and a good friend. I would be loathe to lose you. Sure, if you still want to leave then I’ll respect your decision. But… I would prefer you stay with me.”

To his horror, she began crying. He wanted to wipe away her tears, or get a tissue or something, but she had firmly grasped his hands.

“I… if I hadn’t met you… I would never have been able to have this second chance. I feel eternally grateful to you, and I hope I’ll be able to show that to you one day. You see…” she confessed. “Back in my reality, I was sick. Very sick. A brain condition from an accident. I couldn’t even go out without fainting, and I had headaches almost everyday. But I’m fine here. I’m okay. I don’t have any symptoms anymore. It’s truly as if I were being given a second life. And this second life… if it’s okay, I want to spend it with you, Keisuke.”

Later he would realize how much it sounded like a confession and that she called him by his name, and then blush fiercely at that, but right at this moment he simply stood up from the dining chair to walk over to her. Reaching out, he enveloped her in a tight hug which she returned.

“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay.”

Everything would be okay now.

“If you don’t want to be known as ‘Mishima Erika’, then what surname did you put on your identification papers?”

For some reason his question made her blush fiercely, and she threw a small pillow at his face. While he recovered from that, Erika seemed to have given in. Walking over to the cupboard, she removed a box he knew held those papers. Passing them to him, he saw that she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes.

The reason left him thunderstruck.

On the paper was written “Amazawa Erika” with his exact family kanji.

“The change in kanji left me confused at first, but Aiba-san corrected me.”

Indeed, he had changed the kanji from ‘Amasawa’ to ‘Amazawa’ due to complicated circumstances, but that didn’t matter right now. What did matter was that she had taken his surname, down to the same kanji.

That essentially made her his family.

Sure there were other people with this family kanji as well but… he was conceited enough to believe that she used that surname because of him. And that made him elated. Extremely happy. Over the moon.

The big grin on his face earned him another pillow.

Chapter 2: HUDIE

Summary:

Some things are bound to happen whether we want it to or otherwise.

Ryuji felt a headache coming along, his fingers already rubbing at his forehead. This commission from their regular client - Victory Corporation - was the source. They had to infiltrate the system used by an organization called Hypnos, but their defenses were surprisingly robust. Keisuke, their whack, could take down any Digimon program guarding the system, but he has to get in first. That is to say, they have to create a back door, but it was proving surprisingly difficult to manage.

“I can’t get Arata,” Chitose lowered his smartphone despondently. Ryuji almost wanted to curse and hit the booth walls, but checked himself. Those actions wouldn’t contribute anything to the situation. Yet indeed, Arata was their best bet, his skills beating out Ryuji. What bad luck that he couldn’t be contacted!

While mentally cursing their bad luck, Ryuji heard Yuu ask, “Keisuke, you look like something is troubling you.”

They all turned to said man, who indeed looked troubled. Keisuke lifted a hand to his forehead, then dragged it down his face; his brows ever frowning. He closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded to himself. Opening them, Ryuji gleaned from his look that he had come to a decision he didn’t like.

“I know someone,” he finally admitted. “You all don’t know this person, but they have better programming skills than me… I think even better than Ryuji.”

“That’s a tall line,” Chitose whistled. “Will this person help us?”

“If I ask, yes.” Keisuke took out his smartphone, seemed to hover over it in indecision, then exhaled and unlocked the screen. He then excused himself to the main area of the cafe.

“Wow, I wonder who could that be? His family?” Chitose mused.

“No, definitely not,” Yuu shot the musing down instantly. His curtness screamed ‘There’s a story here’ to which Chitose and Ryuji shared a look.

He remembered the day he stumbled upon Keisuke on the net. The poor boy was in trouble on a hacker forum Ryuji kept tabs on, and he fished him out of it. It wasn’t so much his skill as his character that made an impression on Ryuji; headstrong, passionate and willing to take risks. Somehow Keisuke managed to bumble his way into becoming the Supreme Hacker urban legend, and that’s history. What is also history is Keisuke’s life before HUDIE; the man did not share with them anything, as if wanting to forget it, and Ryuji respected that. Thus, only Yuu knew the full story.

His musings were interrupted by Chitose’s casual question, “Do you know who it is, Yuu?” The young man shook his head.

“I thought I knew everyone in Keisuke’s life…” Yuu’s look darkened in thought. The three men waited for Keisuke to return, which he eventually did.

“Okay, they said they’ll come. I’ll just hit the convenience store for a bit,” then he dashed out the door before anyone could say anything.

They shrugged at his excitement. Leaving Yuu to puzzle things out, Ryuji and Chitose decided to grab some coffee out front.

Eyeing the 10pm news while taking sips from his too-sweet coffee, Ryuji thoughts were interrupted by the tinkling sound of the bell above the cafe’s door. His ears picked up Yuri’s greeting, a little puzzled at the exasperation their storefront assistant was having in their tone.

“Excuse me, it’s past 10pm on a Wednesday. I’m afraid we don’t accept students at this hour, even if you’re out of uniform.”

It wasn’t odd to get adventurous students since they moonlight as a manga cafe, but on a Wednesday? Ryuji wondered if he had to throw his weight around again - students often arrived in groups - but he only heard an equally exasperated sigh and a single voice.

“I’m here because Keisuke called me.”

That turned their heads. Whoever it was Keisuke called as backup, Ryuji never expected it to be a slip of a girl (woman?) with long blue hair and winter ensemble. She seemed familiar, but Ryuji was sure he had never met her before. Like a bad case of deja vu.

While Chitose sprang off in glee (clearly to get Yuu), Ryuji nodded at Yuri to stand down and let him handle it.

“And you are…?” he asked, perhaps a tad bit too gruff due to the strong deja vu feeling. The woman stared at him in an inexplicable way, as if he were a ghost of sorts. Like a memory you can’t shake. It confused him greatly, so he hid it by repeating his question.

The girl snapped to attention. “That’s a bit rude for someone who’s come to help you.”

Ryuji chastised himself for his gaffe. “You’re right, my apologies.” He gave way, allowing her to enter the cafe. While she removed her scarf and coat, he introduced himself. “I am Mishima Ryuji, the leader of HUDIE.”

“Yes, I know,” she answered curtly. At his raised brow, she explained, “I hear about HUDIE all the time from Keisuke. He calls you all his ‘HUDIE brothers’.” There was a smile on her face at the last part, and then she asked, “There’s an Imai Chitose here as well, right?”

“Yup!” Chitose emerged from the back of the cafe with Yuu in tow. “Imai Chitose at your service. And this is Nogi Yuu, also a member of HUDIE.”

“- and Keisuke’s best-est friend!” Yuu puffed himself up as if ready to fight her for that position. Instead of engaging him, the woman merely nodded.

“Is Keisuke not here?” she changed the subject.

Ryuji answered, “He’s at the convenience store.”

“Never mind Keisuke, can I have your name my lady?” Chitose asked, only to be rebuffed by a very difficult to discern look from the woman. Chitose immediately backed off with raised brows, quickly covering his gaffe with a “Or not, you don’t have to give me your name if you don’t want to?”

At his reaction, she turned away, saying, “My apologies.” Yet she had turned her face towards Ryuji, and he could see a split second of - hurt? Sadness? - in her eyes that made him want to hit Chitose. Why though? Who is this woman?

Before things could get any more awkward and confusing, the bell tinkled again, this time admitting Keisuke. “Erika!” he called out to the woman, his face bright and jovial, with a Famima plastic bag in hand. Ryuji saw her completely relax at Keisuke’s appearance and that made his heart ache a little for some reason.

The latter walked up to her, grabbing both her hands in an overly familiar way. “Thank you for coming! We really need your help.”

“Before that-“ she freed one hand from his grasp and gave Keisuke a forehead flick. He exclaimed more in surprise than pain. “Why weren’t you here when I arrived?

He only grinned and bowed playfully, extending the plastic bag. “Your offerings, o queen.”

A slight blush dusted her cheeks as she took the bag to inspect its contents. Ryuji could see that it was an assortment of snacks and junk food.

“We don’t stock your favourite brand here so I thought I should go grab some. I didn’t think you would be so fast though!” he explained.

They were clearly in their own world, so Ryuji cleared his throat loudly to grab their attention.

“This person is…?”

Strangely, Keisuke’s response is to panic at his question. “This-she-um-ah-“ he stumbled over his words. In solidarity, the woman elbowed him in the back. It looked painful from his point of view, but Keisuke only gave her a sheepish grin.

“My name is Amazawa Erika.”

“Sister!?” Chitose exclaimed in surprise.

“Cousin, actually.”

“And you can help us with our problem?” Ryuji wanted clarity.

“Let me see the problem first,” she responded.

He nodded. Keisuke clearly wanted to lead the way, but Yuu had grabbed his arm with a serious expression on his face. It was clear that they needed to talk, so Ryuji and Chitose led her to the booth with the running computer. “Did Keisuke tell you our situation?” he asked.

“Only the basics. Too complicated to discuss over the phone, he said.” Sitting in place, she took a deep breath and examined the skeleton of the code they attempted to program as a backdoor. After a few minutes, she nodded. “I see what’s happening. I can do it but this… it’s clear you’re doing something illegal.” Rathe than a disapproving look, there was a fond smile on her face.

“We would appreciate your discretion on this,” Ryuji admitted.

“Of course. I wouldn’t ever do anything to put you all in danger,” her words sounded odd, but Ryuji brushed aside his slight confusion for later. He supposed she was just fond of HUDIE from Keisuke’s stories.

“It’ll take a lot of time though, probably the whole night. I’ll have to tell my workplace that I can’t come in tomorrow.”

“We would really appreciate it,” he thanked her. Erika excused herself from the booth to make the call. He watched as she walked past a (glaring) Yuu and approached Keisuke. The latter’s worried expression softened as she touched his arm, then after an exchange of words they walked towards the coffee machines and out of sight.

“Pretty close for cousins,” Chitose commented.

Ryuji nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Yuu looked both furious and confused as he approached them.

“So you’re sure you’ve never heard of this ‘Erika’ before, Yuu?” Chitose asked.

“No!” Yuu’s response was loud, startling both of them. The young man shook his head and apologized. “It’s just… a cousin who knows programming and is friendly with Keisuke? I’ve never…” he took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m just really shocked.”

“Hey, no worries, we’re shook too.” Chitose gave Yuu some pats on the back.

That’s when Keisuke popped his head at the back room entrance, clearly in the process of putting on his coat. “Hey, I’m taking Erika out for a proper dinner before she starts, is that okay? Just an hour is fine.”

Erika came into view, clearly protesting. “The food you bought is fine, Keisuke.”

Said person gave her a disapproving look. “Junk food is not a proper meal, Erika,” he said as he grabbed her scarf and coat. His tone spoke of a thousand similar situations.

“Your work needs my immediate attention,” she countered with a huff, crossing her arms.

Keisuke sighed. “You had jagabbes for dinner yesterday, Erika. That’s basically fried French fries! You’ll faint halfway if you don’t eat carbs, meat and vegetables. We’ll just go to an okonomiyaki place down the road, okay? Please?” He clasped his hands together and pouted at that last part. That seemed to defeat her as, with a sigh, she grabbed her scarf and coat from his hands. He grinned and gave a fistpump at his victory.

“Okay, we’ll see you all in an hour.” Keisuke waved goodbye and practically escprted Erika out of the cafe, leaving the stunned trio behind.

A pause.

“What the heck was that????” Chitose exclaimed. Ryuji could sense he wanted to jump up and down in frustration. “They’re acting like they’re boyfriend and girlfriend, not cousins?”

Yuu meanwhile was biting his nails while muttering. Ryuji could hear, “He knew what she ate last night? And he’s begging her to eat properly? Who the hell is she?”

On the side, Chitose finally calmed down. “What do you think, Ryuji?” he asked.

His response was a shrug. “I only need her skills to be the real deal.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Chitose nodded. “I mean, we haven’t actually seen her skills yet. Like, where does she even work?”

All true worries, but somehow Ryuji… trusted her. Call it a gut instinct, telling him that her skills were the ‘real deal’.

In the end Chitose and Yuu - the latter after much convincing - went home, leaving only Ryuji to hold the fort when the two returned an hour later.

“So they both went home…” Keisuke sighed.

“Yuu was worried about you,” Ryuji noted.

“Yeah, I guessed. I’ll apologize to him tomorrow.”

Erika meanwhile had seated herself and began typing away on the computer. Her fingers practically flew over the keys, evidence of a lot of keyboard work. Ryuji watched the screen for a moment, and the more he watched the more his brows raised. Her quick selection, copy-pasting and manipulation of the code… Ryuji pressed a finger to his mouth in thought.

Turning to ask Keisuke something, he found the man carefully watching Erika instead of the screen. He looked so intent that Ryuji felt a little bad at interrupting him. Still, he motioned for them to talk at the front of the shop.

“I want some background information on her,” Ryuji held up a hand to stop Keisuke’s protests. “I don’t doubt you, but I am also the leader of HUDIE. I need to be very sure about letting her view this sensitive data.” He paused. “And I trust you, but not her yet.”

Keisuke seemed flustered, but eventually sighed. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

“Her skills are the ‘real deal’,” Ryuji began, “but I’ve never heard of an ‘Amazawa Erika’ ever. Where does she work?”

“She works in a semi-government organization called Digital Accident Tactics Squad, or DATS for short.”

“DATS? I’ve heard of them.” Specifically, that Victory Corporation was a major sponsor. As to what they actually do is shrouded in mystery, though the name itself suggested they dealt with internet-related things. Ryuji supposed it made sense that such a talented hacker would work with them and still remain unknown. He checked his musings and returned to the topic. “What is her accreditation?”

“Erm… well… I don’t know, actually. Oh yeah, she’s self-taught.”

“So she’s merely a high school graduate then?”

“Umm, yeah, pretty much technically? I mean, yeah.” he felt the young man sweating where he stood.

“Which school?”

“Umm… I don’t know?” at Ryuji’s skeptical look, Keisuke said, “We just never really talked about it.”

Ryuji became concerned at Keisuke’s strange lapse in memory. “But you’re cousins. And you seem close?”

“We just really hit it off, what with being cousins and hackers and stuff.”

Ryuji felt another headache incoming. “Keisuke, you’re not making me any more confident in this Erika person.” A self-taught high-school graduate with genius hacking skills but virtually unknown? It sounded more like a manga setting. A fiction. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Ryuji.” At his serious tone, the older man met his kouhai’s level gaze. “You took me in and believed in me when I had nothing, when I didn’t want to tell you my past. I’m asking you to extend your belief onto Erika. Maybe not because she’s someone you can trust, but because you trust me. I’m willing to stake my place in HUDIE for this.”

That last part really gave him pause. He knew that HUDIE was Keisuke’s family; even he viewed Keisuke as a surrogate younger brother. For him to risk his position in HUDIE just for this woman… he took a deep breath and exhaled. Putting both hands on the latter’s shoulders, Ryuji said, “Okay. I’ll let her continue, but let’s make it clear here that it’s because I trust you and not her. And I never want to hear you give up your place in HUDIE for any reason. You will always be one of us.” Then he patted his arm and returned to the back room, leaving the younger hacker to collect his emotions.

After that, Ryuji watched Erika work while Keisuke hovered like a helicopter, constantly leaving coffee and water, and reminding her to take breaks. Eventually though he was exhausted and fell asleep. Ryuji sighed at the sight of the drooling Keisuke and decided to pick up his pace, leaving a cup of coffee next to her.

She picked it up, took a sip, then paused - even her typing ceased. Her eyes darted to him and he raised his brows at her surprised expression.

“… where’s Keisuke?”

“Asleep.” He pointed a thumb at the wall where Keisuke was slumped over. Her expression changed to a soft fondness and she stood up.

“Can you help me move him to a chair?” she moved to carry Keisuke, but Ryuji stopped her. Judging from her lack of muscles, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say she probably had not much strength.

She watched Ryuji put Keisuke onto the chair in the next booth, then asked, “Did you make this coffee? It’s very sweet.”

“Ah, sorry. I must have made it to my preferences.” He moved to take the cup, but she shook her head. “No, I like it like this. Keisuke never lets me make it sweet, even when I tell him sugar is good for the brain.” She paused. “But I’m surprised you like it so sweet. You don’t seem the type, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“It’s just how I like it.”

The pause following that was awkward, as if Ryuji had shut her down. Perhaps he did; he was still suspicious of her.

She took a sip of the coffee, as if gathering her courage.

“You were interrogating Keisuke, weren’t you? When you both went to the front.”

“It’s HUDIE business,” Ryuji replied. He saw little of the sad smile as she turned to her cup.

“I owe Keisuke a great debt,” she began explaining. “My family passed on. At a time when I needed someone the most, Keisuke came to help me. It’s for my sake that he can’t answer anything.”

“…I’m an only child.” With Ryuji’s face turned to the side, he missed Erika closing her eyes as if in pain. “So everyone in HUDIE: Chitose, Keisujke, Yuu… they’re all my brothers. You caused me to doubt Keisuke, you were rude to Chitose, and caused friction between Yuu and Keisuke.” Ryuji exhaled. “Yet, Keisuke clearly trusts you. To me, you’re just a siren. But you’re his family. So I’ll trust my brother. And maybe one day I’ll trust you.”

He heard her take a long sip, then the clack of the cup as it hit the table top. “Thank you. For the coffee as well.” Then the sound of rapid key taps started up again.

Perhaps he was harsh on her, but it was the truth. That didn’t stop him from feeling strangely guilty though.

 

“… are they both asleep?”

Wormmon popped out from the edge of the screen, pretending to peek behind Erika even though the booth walls prevented it from seeing anything. “Microphone is picking up two snoring men, so yup, they’re probably out like a light.”

“Good,” she sighed and leaned back in her chair.

“GJ Erika! It must have been hard pretending to be working. And Ryuji was so mean to you, hmph.”

“It’s okay.” She switched topics. “Time to really start working.”

Wormmon nodded eagerly and held up one claw. Erika responded by placing a finger to it, and a circular blue light appeared in front of the screen, dragging her body into the computer.

On the screen was neither Wormmon nor Erika, but Hudiemon.

 

Keisuke was groggy when he awoke, but jolted up the moment he remembered the situation. He almost stumbled out of the chair to check on Erika (when was he even on a chair?). She was leaning back into her chair, her eyes staring at a blank screen. When he called out to her, her tired eyes met his. She greeted him with a smile.

“It’s done.” She extended a silver micro SD card to him. “This program is a backdoor that should take you to the information you need from Hypnos.”

He took it, but his eyes never left Erika’s. She seemed…sad. He knew he was taking a huge risk bringing Erika here, exposing her to people she knew in her ‘past life’. That she exposed her heart just to help him…

He got up and took her into his arms. Erika stiffened in surprise, but eventually relaxed and hugged him back.

“Please…” she whispered, choking back her tears. “I can’t stay here any longer.”

He nodded and picked her up from the chair in a princess hold. Setting her down so she could put on her scarf and coat, he gently grasped her hand in his, fingers interlaced with one another. Then he led her out of the cafe, making sure to lock the door behind him.

When they got home, Keisuke made Erika sit on the dining chair while he went to ready the futon. It was a testament to her tiredness that he had to make sure she changed into her nightwear before she collapsed onto the bed,

Argh, she was so cute, cuddling his Tentomon plushie in their futon. He had to resist the strong desire to join her. She had done her side of things; it was now his turn as HUDIE’s ‘whack’ to do his job.

Returning to HUDIE found Chitose and Ryuji scanning over the program in the SD card Keisuke had left on the table.

“Jeez Keisuke, looking over this program… no wonder you call her queen.” CHitose teased, but he was clearly equally in awe.

“You escorted her home?” Ryuji checked. Keisuke nodded at his query.

“Where’s Yuu?” he asked as his best friend’s familiar silver hair was missing from his field of vision.

“He’s still on the way. We’ll start once he’s here,” Ryuji answered.

Four hours was barely enough sleep, so Keisuke fetched himself a cup of coffee to sharpen his focus. Already he was itching to get started.

 

Inside a private booth belonging to a noisy bar, four men with various shades of red on their faces continued to down their drinks. “Here’s another round for the good work!” Chitose happily took another swig of his beer while Ryuji calmly sipped his next to him. Small plates of finger foods littered the surface of the table.

Yuu took another mouthful of beer himself. Their little victory party was winding down, what with Chitose and Keisuke deftly in the grasp of drunkenness.

“I wanna go home ~” Keisuke drawled, the alcohol clearly affecting him. He was slumped over in his chair, his arms pillowing his head. A clear blush had settled into his fair skin.

He was… so cute! Yuu really wanted to gobble him up. He loved it when Keisuke was drunk. Yuu himself was the more alcohol-resistant of the duo; one of the reasons was because he didn’t want to miss out seeing drunk Keisuke.

Usually he would carry Keisuke back to his house where the latter would sleep off the alcohol, and then have a lovely breakfast together with Yuu’s parents. It was a routine Yuu secretly treasured.

Tonight though was different. This was the first time Keisuke insisted on returning to his own place, and Yuu knew why.

Keisuke seemed heavier this time as Yuu shouldered him, but he knew that it was more his own hesitance. When they stepped out of the bar, a dark part of Yuu protested. He could just carry Keisuke back to his house. He wouldn’t mind. That’s what he told himself but… Yuu shook his head. He loved Keisuke, yes, but first and foremost he was his best friend. If Keisuke wanted to go home, he would… honour that.

The bar was only a few blocks away from Keisuke’s place, but it seemed longer. That was good. It was a little bit of selfishness, but Yuu knew this stretch was the moments he had Keisuke all to himself.

Eventually though they stood in front of his door. Light shone from under the crack. She was still up.

Yuu rapped on the door, and almost immediately it opened.

The woman named Erika stood within. Her eyes clearly betrayed her worry, but they changed to fond exasperation at the sight of drunk Keisuke.

The futon was already laid out on the floor. She nodded towards it. Yuu helped Keisuke remove his shoes and then gently laid him on the futon. He tried not to think about why there was only one laid out.

“I should go,” Yuu declared, mostly to himself.

Erika though answered differently. “Wait, stay for awhile. I need to talk to you about something.”

She motioned for them to move to the dining room, and so Yuu took a seat. He felt very wary of dealing with this person.

Before she could say anything, Yuu launched his question. “Who are you?”

Taken by surprise, she raised a brow. “I am Amazawa Erika. You already know this.”

“No, I don’t.” He continued, grasping his own hand. “Keisuke’s whole family despises him. There’s no way an ‘Amasawa’ would willingly help him. And if there is, I would definitely know.” Yuu leaned in, confrontational. “He’s hiding you. Why is he hiding you from me?”

Her gaze at him was stalwart. “That’s between him and me. But rest assured, it’s due to my circumstance that he’s hiding our relationship from you.” Yuu’s heart twisted in pain at the words ‘our relationship’.

He wanted to say something, anything to defend his own relationship, but at that moment Keisuke called out a name.

Her name.

That broke him, somehow. A great wave of despair hit Yuu, gushing out from deep within him. He forcefully shoved it deep down. “I’m sorry, I have to go now,” were his only words before he practically flew from that place. That woman did not stop him.

He ran and ran and ran.

And then, with a heart full of pain, he cried.

 

Keisuke woke up with a huge headache, the remnants of his wild night attacking him with resentment. The pain made him exhale a loud groan as he slowly rubbed his head in a futile attempt to ease the pain.

It took him a moment to realise he wasn’t as alone as he thought. There was the sound of light footsteps, then some pills and a glass of water entered his vision. He slowly turned and found Erika to be the one holding them up.

Her voice was low and soft. “You’ll feel better once you take these.”

Meekly he followed her instructions. Though slightly nauseous, he managed to keep the pills down. Once he felt more stable, Keisuke asked, “You don’t have work today?”

“It’s a weekend, dummy.”

“Ah, right.” That’s why they went all out at the bar last night.

There was a comfortable silence for a moment. Keisuke used it to gather his memories of what happened yesterday. Finally, he spoke.

“I’m sorry. About HUDIE.”

She shook her head. “It would have happened sooner or later.”

He sighed. No matter how well Erika might have known them in the previous dimension, that didn’t necessarily mean she would be able to have a good relationship with them in this one. Now that he had witnessed it first hand, he began to sympathise with her initial wariness of them. How painful was it that the people she once knew like the back of her hand suddenly became slightly hostile and all together unfamiliar people? Keisuke felt responsible for his HUDIE brothers’ lack of warmth towards her. If he was there to smooth out the introductions, or managed to resolve Ryuji’s suspicions…

At his regrets, Erika simply answered, “No, there is no way that I could be close to them. It’s not your fault at all. You… no, we did our best in that situation.”

He sighed again, taking another sip of water.

“I was more curious about Nogi-san’s reaction. He was quite… unfriendly.” Keisuke paused his action at her statement. “I had a talk with him when he dropped you off yesterday. He mentioned that the ‘Amasawa’ family was ‘hostile’ towards you.” As he lowered the cup to look at her, she continued. “It made me remember back when you mentioned that you had a reason for changing the kanji of your surname.” She paused a moment, then asked, “Can you tell me more about what Nogi-san was talking about?”

He laid down next to her as she asked her question. His eyes lingered on the ceiling for a moment, but eventually he nodded and a look of determination unfolded in his features.

He began with a sigh. “It’s kind of long and dramatic, so bear with me.” Keisuked drawled as if in jest, but there was an undercurrent of seriousness to it. Erika offered her hand and he took it, holding her hand to his chest.

“My parents eloped.” He saw her raise a brow, but she said nothing, only nodding for him to continue. “My father was the scion of the Amasawa Group, and my mother was someone they considered ‘beneath’ my father’s social position.

But then my mother got pregnant with me, so yeah. They ran off to Tokyo and had me, and I met Yuu in preschool, and things were pretty good. For awhile.

Then…” he took a deep breath. “They died in a bus accident on the back from a conference. At that time Yuu’s parents were babysitting me. It was on the news and everything, but I was like this little kid just finishing elementary school. All I remember was a loud cry from Yuu’s mother, … I only got the details once I joined HUDIE.”

Even though his tone was light, his grasp on her hand was not. She simply squeezed his hands back in solidarity. That caused his gaze to be fixed on hers for a moment, then he turned away to continue his tale.

A self-depreciating grin on his face. “The story only gets crazier from here.

So there I was, now an orphan. The police actually managed to trace back to that stupid old family in Kyoto.” He sighed. “They took me in all right, pretty eagerly too. All because they wanted to make me the next heir of the family.

I was just this kid, still sad about losing his parents. This whole ‘scion’ thing was way over my head. They never actually put a hand on me but of course but now that I look back, I’m pretty sure it was a case of neglect. You know, I wasn’t allowed to play with anyone or go to school. I was just studying and studying and studying about stupid things like decorum, finance, and a lot of other useless things. The basic stuff too of course, but…”

His breathing became ragged. She called his name to stop him, making his gaze snap back to her. She took her hand from his grip to run it through his hair and down his face. Tears began to fall from his eyes, and he tried to cover them.

“It’s just - it’s stupid that I’m still crying about it.”

“It’s not stupid. It’s your past, and they hurt you. It’s okay to cry.”

She became silent, allowing him to gather his emotions, but let her hand rest on his chest. Eventually he calmed down and took her hand in his grip again; it was a source of his courage.

“The leader of that family is my grandmother. She’s a real piece of work, that woman. Her appearance, her belief… it’s like she walked out of some period drama. She had my whole life planned out for me, but now that I think about it, she didn’t even care to get to know me. She just wanted to squeeze me into this picture of a perfect ‘heir’, and everyone else was happy to let her do it.”

He scrunched up his nose. “No, wait, not everyone. Ugh my relatives, they’re another piece of work. All smiles in front of my grandmother, but when I was alone… they said things. About me and my parents. I guess they hoped to, I don’t know, break me? Make me give up being an ‘heir’?”

There was a pause, then she asked, “Is this why Nogi-san is… aggressive… towards me?”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t think about what Yuu’s reaction would be. It’s my mistake.”

“It’s okay.” She shook her head. “There’s still more to the story?”

He nodded. “Well, I wasn’t a very good scion, no matter how much I tried. And I really did try.

Then all my online accounts were hacked.

My entire online existence got stolen.

And whoever did that must have done some other weird things with my identity because the next thing I knew my ‘family’ threw me out onto the streets… literally.

I really didn’t know what the hell was happening. I was still panicking about not being able to access my bank account.

This was… five years ago? I only recall scrambling through net cafes with the meagre amount of money in my wallet. Eventually I got this crazy idea to head to a hacker forum. I got in trouble there, and then got saved by Ryuji, and for some reason he let me join HUDIE.”

I’m really grateful to him and Chitose, seriously. They gave me a job, let me sleep at the cafe until I found a place to stay, and most importantly put me back into the school system. I met back up with Yuu at school, and the rest is history.

So yeah,” he grinned. “Pretty crazy huh?”

“Oh, but you know, there’s one last thing. I didn’t want to be associated with them any longer, so I changed the kanji of my family name when I re-entered school. So it changed from ‘Amasawa’ to ‘Amazawa’.

Only Yuu knows the whole story. Ryuji and Chitose let me keep my past to myself. You’re the second person to get the whole story.”

She smiled and ran her hand through his hair, stroking his scalp gently. “Thank you for telling me about your past.

Is there anything I can do for you?”

He looked at the ceiling in thought, then embarrassed but earnest, he asked, “Can you just… hum a song to me? You don’t have to if you don’t want to!” he quickly added.

She knew what song he wanted her to hum: the ‘Eternal Treasure’ song that led him to her. A fond smile escaped her, and she beamed a smile at him. It was all right.

Slowly she began humming ‘Eternal Treausure’, the song that led him to her. He slowly closed his eyes, and eventually sleep found him again.

 

Yuu sat in Keisuke’s 1K with Erika across from him. A table separated their distance. Yuu wondered why this woman had contacted him two days ago, asking to meet up when Keisuke was busy, and without informing said man. He further wondered why he entertained her efforts, but here he was.

She began, “I asked about his past. I understand your meaning, and your hostility towards me.”

She reached out to grasp at an absent cup, and must have realised she hadn’t even served him, a guest, any water. “Let me serve you some tea,” she digressed.

“I’ll do it.” In a semblance of a power move, Yuu got up to serve himself tea. This place was basically like his second home - until a few months ago, he suddenly came to realise. Mentally pushing that aside, he reached for his own cup at the tiered cup holder. Except it wasn’t there.

Puzzled with heart sinking, he asked aloud, “Where is my cup?”

“The one with the wizard hats on it?” Erika pulled open a bottom drawer and passed that exact cup to him. An unassuming lilac cup with black wizard hats all over it.

Holding it in his hands, he remembered that time both he and Keisuke wandered into a Harry Potter themed cafe. After paying, Keisuke appeared back to their table with this very cup in hand and a huge grin on his face. “Reminds me of you,” he had said, and that was all it took for it to be his favourite cup.

His favourite cup in a bottom drawer. Unseen, forgotten, just like -

Yuu’s power move turned on him as his heart cracked just that little bit more.

“Nogi-san?” the woman stood with the kettle in hand, clearly confused at his lack of action.

Perhaps he should have done the polite thing, simply apologise and allow her to pour tea into the cup Keisuke had bought for him because it reminded him of Yuu - now in a bottom drawer -

He cradled the cup into this chest subconsciously, protectively, away from the woman whom carved a significant part of Keisuke from him. Tears welled up and a whine, a sob, threatened to expose himself. But he swallowed it all in, all the cups and bottom drawers and precious memories and cherished person.

But he could never just put Keisuke in a bottom drawer, could he.

Yuu heard the sound of pouring water pulling him back from his thoughts.

Erika took a sip of tea from a mug Yuu noticed was previously hanging from the cup holder on the counter, blue with white whales on it.

“I know how you feel about Keisuke,” she simply stated.

His heart darkened. “You don’t know anything,” he hissed. How could she even comprehend their relationship, so long and deep and unshakeable -

“I know, because I know you are the one who hacked Keisuke’s account five years ago.”

Yuu’s heart leaped to his throat, the cup being the only thing preventing him from putting his hands on her shoulders, or maybe around her neck.

Instead, he let out a shaky laugh. “What, me? I would never do something that would hurt Keisuke. I mean, five years ago, I didn’t even know a single thing about hacking. You don’t have any proof.”

“It’s true you wouldn’t do anything to hurt Keisuke. Conversely, you would do anything to free him from a situation he himself cannot escape from, correct?”

At her strong gaze, Yuu held his ground, not saying a word.

The woman sighed, and took out a tablet. After clicking it awhile, she showed it to him. His heart jumped to his throat. On the screen was a certificate of completion for a Digimoji course, dated… five years ago.

“How the hell did you get this? No, wait - I mean, that’s just… That doesn’t prove my skill. Someone like me, get past a bank’s firewall? That’s impossible.”

A moment of tenseness as their eyes fastened on each other. Then the woman sighed and took back the tablet.

“I’m not here to out you to Keisuke. That’s strictly between you and him. All I’m asking for is information.”

“What? Information?” Yuu’s heart slowed as his thoughts turned to puzzlement.

“I’m also peeved at his family for what they did to him. What I am going to do is prepare a ‘gun’ so that, when the time comes, I can put it into Keisuke’s hand. I want him to have the choice to end them.” The woman sipped her tea calmly, as if she hadn’t just revealed she was about to commit a serious crime.

“You…” Yuu paused. “You’re not his cousin. Who the hell are you?”

“Just a roommate, and someone he trusts for whatever reason.”

There was a further pause as Yuu scrambled to piece things together. “… let’s say I am the one who hacked his accounts five years ago. The information I would have is outdated. They would have changed their passwords, updated their protection,” he warned.

“It’s a starting point at least,” she admitted. “And, I thought that you would like to join in in this little revenge effort.”

Unlike the kind-hearted Keisuke, Yuu was a resentful person. He resented that family whom hurt Keisuke, he resented this woman and her relationship with Keisuke, and he resented himself for being unable to extend his hand in time to save Keisuke from the streets five years ago.

“Fine. Fine, I’ll help you. As long as you keep this a secret from Keisuke.” A smile grew on her face, not arrogance of triumph, but as if she had expected his response.

“Then to our new partnership, I’ll tell you this.” A strong look overcame her eyes. “Nogi Yuu always loves Keisuke, no matter what universe it is. And Keisuke always loves Nogi Yuu. As to what kind of love that is, is up to Keisuke.” Yuu’s heart shook at her profound words. She then turned to look at the cup in his hands. “Keisuke told me that he wanted to put your cup in the bottom drawer because he wanted to keep it safe and pristine for the next time you came by.”

Some knot within his chest loosened, and tears welled up in his eyes. “… He was thinking about me, after all?”

She didn’t answer him, but there was no need to. A kind of realisation dawned on Yuu. This woman - Erika - loved Keisuke as well. But her love was different from his. And Keisuke… didn’t he still meet up regularly with Yuu, even if he didn’t invite him over to the 1K anymore?

Could it be that… he loved them both, in different ways?

This thought deeply affected him.

While he muddled in his head, Erika said, “Keisuke will be home soon. Do you want to meet him? I can leave you two alone.”

It took Yuu a moment to realise this was an olive branch. As he wondered if he should take it up, his gaze swept across the 1K. In a way, it felt alien to him now. Someone else had filled in the empty spaces he was once familiar with. Except for the cup in his hands.

A sour feeling filled his chest. Yuu was jealous. Jealous that he wasn’t the whole of Keisuke’s world, the same feeling that appeared when Keisuke first told him about HUDIE. But HUDIE eventually became his family as well. Erika would never be his family, but… maybe he could one day learn to tolerate her. To exist in a space parallel in Keisuke’s heart.

“I’ll see him tomorrow,” he acquiesced. He passed the cup back to Erika. Wilth his heart full of emotions, Yuu eventually bid Erika goodbye after some social formalities.

In fact, they did have a relationship with each other now. Accomplices.

Notes:

I was stuck for a very long time on this chapter because of the POV changes. You will notice the POV changes at least 4 times between 4 different people. I hope I have made the transition between them smooth as possible.

I'm still dedicated to completing this fanfic. It's at the back of my head constantly.

I thought of giving up on it, but the kind comments I have been given finally pulled me out of the funk. It took a long time, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, leave only kind comments please.

I'll see you all in c3. By the way, c3 has a few Adventure and Savers characters appearing. And ofc, our beloved Cuber Sleuth characters.

Notes:

What, there are unresolved issues? Erika and Keisuke didn't discuss (insert thing)? Well that's what drabbles are for!

Yes, there will be further continuation. This is considered complete in and of itself, but I love this pairing and will go down with this ship. It lives rent-free in my mind.

In the mean time, comment what you want to see next for this pairing! Or that you even liked it at all lol.