"Hey, what are they doing?" Uju asked as I walked over, yawning slightly. 

"Huh? What do you mean?" I blinked.

"I meant... erm, Mikado Yuga and GulusGammamon, I think? But first things first, are you okay?" He asked, seeming concerned. 

"It's nothing," I answered. "It's just that..." 

I had been up all night staring at the DIM card, wondering how to trigger it again, and whether it would be enough to bring Eosmon back... 

And a part of me had questioned whether it was for me that I was bringing her back, or for her, but I shut it down right away. Of course, it was for her! She didn't deserve the death she had gotten! 

But... hadn't she been reunited with-

"Hey, you good, Luno?" Uju snapped me out of it, making me jump a bit as I nearly bumped my head against a mistletoe hanging-

Hold on, a WHAT NOW-

"Ohh~ Looks like you got caught under mistletoe~" The voice that was unmistakably the human incarnation of evil in the Buddyfight Ace timeline sang. 

"You know what's tradition, right?~ Oh boy, this tradition is awesome~~" Another voice cackled, this time of the Jet-Black Champion. 

"E-EH!?" Uju went red as I struggled to control myself. We were just friends! JUST. FRIENDS. WHY THE HECK WAS THIS HAPPENING-

"Come now, it's just a kiss between friends~" 

"Surely it's not gonna hurt~" 

"Oh dear, I thought that Wynton and Dan were bad, but this, this takes the cake," Brakken shuddered as I saw him and his SO, Inizio Ranaan (yet another of the Uriah-Wei system), staying five meters away. 

"Ohh~ Do you want one too, Brakken? Cause we have plenty more~" Yuga smirked while sitting on an upper railing. The highest one there was too! Dang it! Those two thought ahead! And to make it worse the place was LITTERED WITH THEM as Yuga used a fishing rod to lower the mistletoe. Truly a demonic plan...

"NO THANK YOU, DEMON!!!"

A tuff of brown hair then appeared from the sofa as Wuliang yawned, getting up from Alec's lap.  "What's going on?" 

"The insanity of Mikado Yuga has struck again," was all Masato had to offer before he pecked Subaru on the cheek. 

"Ugh, I swear he does this every year! I am so sorry, guys!" Ranma pressed his hands together. 

"Don't apologise. Chaos happens and that's all I need," Shin Batzz laughed while eating popcorn.

"Are you for real now?! He's had me kiss Helios five times! And it's only the eighth of December!" Alec looked done. 

"Ohhh, wait till Wuliang's dads find out," Wuliang's Legend World partner, Jackjack, had a sinister smile across his rabbit face as Alec paled. "You know that Present Fic is scary right? And you've seen a Magnus, but you haven't seen BE Magnus~"

"OH MY RA!!!!" 

"Well, serves you right for insulting Ranma in the first timeline~" Yuga sang even more. 

"HOW ARE YOU STILL NOT OVER THAT?!" 

"Mikados hold grudges. I would know; Gao held a grudge against me for 24 years about me not telling him I was moving to America," Shin Kodo Noboru said with a straight face as he pulled away from Shin Tim Gilberts, his husband and drama director, who looked pretty amused from the kiss they had done. "I swear he pulls that card out every time I try to stop him from adopting a kid. Thank you for showing up, Yuga. I swear, thank you. Otherwise, they would have genuinely gotten too many kids."

"Ehh, it's cool," he shrugged. "Anyway, you haven't kissed, Luno-sempai, Uju-sempai~" 

"Kid, you are getting on my nerves. I swear to the CREATOR you are getting on my nerves so COME DOWN," I glared. 

"Nope!~ This is way too fun~" He cackled. "Isn't it, Gulus-san?~" 

"Yuga, you speak my language so well I want you as my brother," Gulus solemnly stated. "Thank you for introducing me to the wonderful tradition of the thing known as mistletoe." 

"You too?" Hiro asked as he walked over, Koutarou having slung a shoulder around his boyfriend with a heavy sigh. 

"We are JUST FRIENDS, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS-"

"Then why haven't either of you walked away? Unless... you're as superstitious as Kiyo," Gulus smirked while jabbing a finger at a terrified Kiyoshiro as he was having a panic attack while looking at a confused Aoi who was under the mistletoe with him. Considering their past I could see Kiyo not knowing what to do, but still, that was a bit too much.

"You shouldn't be that mean to Sempai. He provides you games to play with, you know."

"You act as if I don't have more," If anything, Yuga's smile went demonic for real. "So don't worry, Gulus-san. Go wild and have some good old Christmas fun~" 

"Hiro, let's take him in as a brother. PLEASE."

"First of all, ask Blues-nii, Lumosmon AND Mom. Second of all, if I had any say in it, NO."

"I refuse," I flatly answered to his look, causing him to pout.

"Still, you're not moving away, so might as well, right?" Yuga smirked.

I groaned under my breath. Man, I hate how much my luck screwed me over at times... "Fine. But only if you're okay with it, Uju."

"I-I'm okay with it," Uju stammered, looking a bit red as he looked away. "The cheek should be fine."

Out of reflex, I closed the distance between us, and flushed upon realizing just how cute he was now. I didn't feel the attraction most people did, but I did feel... weird. 

I had once felt this way towards someone in high school. The person had been quite kind to me, a rare thing, but they moved away before I had the chance to ask them about my feelings. I still didn't know... 

I knew I was aroace, so why...? Why did I feel this way...?

Still, I had to do it. Maybe my luck would turn around... 

So, with a very red face, I slowly leaned into his left cheek, and gently pecked it before turning around and running like a maniac, ignoring Gulus and Yuga just cackling like actual demons. 

"And then- WOAH! Luno, take a chill pill," Benton caught me as Dad asked in amusement, "Did Yuga and Gulus get you too?"

"Did you have to kiss someone?" I snarked back. 

"Actually, yes. I kissed Ryubo on the lips and got to watch the two stare gobsmacked while Ryubo laughed in their faces." Welp, he was unpredictable as always. 

"I heard Dia and Wynton got stuck under those things five times today alone. And Pyravian and Leo couldn't escape the kissing tradition as well," Benton remarked with a chuckle. "I'm glad I don't have anyone yet. And I can dodge those things."

"So who did you have to kis- Oh wait, I know. Judging by your face, it was Uju, wasn't it?" The sinister smile on Dad's face made me gulp as I remembered just why he was scary. He didn't know how to read or understand science, but his logic knew no boundaries and how attuned he had become to others' emotions was downright terrifying. 

"S-Shut up," I muttered while looking away, feeling the heat on my face again. 

"It totally was," Benton smiled. 

"I don't like-like him! He's just a friend!" I snapped. 

"You sure about that~? Cause it sure sounds like you do~" An all-too-familiar voice sang. 

My fists tightened as I turned over to look at Dracmon who was sitting on the couch with Violet and Culumon X as he smiled. Of course... 

His grin seemed to widen upon seeing me look at me, and it made me angrier. How dare he...! Pump had forgiven him, heck even Ruri and Angoramon had forgiven him, but...!

"You ****ing *******, you have no right to tease me after what you did!" I snarled at him. I felt everyone's eyes turn to me, but I didn't care as I stormed over and punched him on the face, eyes burning while pinning his scared *** down. "YOU KILLED PUMP! YOU LAUGHED IN MY ****ING FACE AND YOU DON'T EVEN FEEL SORRY! YOU GOT THE LONG END OF THE STICK, SURE, BUT FOR ****'S SAKE DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THE PAIN YOU CAUSED ME!" 

"Luno, cal-" I slapped Blues' hand away as I turned to him. "I don't want to hear it! That... THAT ******* THINKS ALL IS DONE AND FORGIVEN BUT I HAVE NEVER FORGIVEN HIM! HE ACTS AS IF HE DESERVES ALL OF THIS WHEN HE MADE ME WATCH SOMEONE I CARED FOR DIE! SURE I DESERVED IT BUT PUMP DID NOT! I DON'T... I DON'T ****ING CARE IF PUMP FORGAVE HIM, BUT DRACMON SHOULD HAVE BEEN DELETED A LONG TIME AGO! HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEFT TO ROT IN THE DARK OCEAN!"

"AKASHIRO LUNO, WHAT THE HECK!?" Ryubo-san scowled as she hugged Violet, who was slowly beginning to tear up while Culumon X comforted her as well. "THAT WAS OUT OF LINE!" 

"OH, CRY ME A ****ING RIVER AND GET OVER IT! THAT CHEAP*** JERK NEVER APOLOGISED ANYWAY! NOT TO RURI, NOT TO ANGORAMON, NOT TO PUMP AND NOT TO ME! HE JUST GOT EVERYTHING HANDED TO HIM! WHY THE **** DOES LUMOSMON HAVE TO WORK HER *** OFF TO BE FORGIVEN BY OUR WORLDS WHEN HE GOT OFF SCOT-FREE AND WITH EXTRA REWARDS!? WHY THE **** DID DAD HAVE TO GO THROUGH SO MUCH PAIN!? WHY THE **** DID I HAVE TO WORK MY BUTT OFF JUST FOR OTHERS TO FINALLY ACCEPT ME AS A FRIEND!? HE HASN'T CHANGED AT ALL! WHY THE **** ARE WE THE ONES HURTING!? HE SHOULD TOO! AFTER WHAT HE'S DONE, HE SHOULD BE HURT TOO! HOW THE **** IS IT FAIR THAT HE DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK HIS *** OFF TO BE FORGIVEN WHEN WE ALL HAD TO!?" I snarled, eyes trained on the terrified Digimon as my hands reached out-

"LUNO, STOP! WE GET IT ALREADY, SO DON'T DO ANYTHING YOU'LL REGRET!!!" I felt Gami's hands pull me away from Dracmon while Reiji pushed me back. "DON'T MAKE YOUR BODY COUNT 460!!" 

I froze at that. My body... count...? 

I... had one... I had... killed as well...

I slowly looked at my hands, seeing, out of nowhere, the Digibits, seeing the blood trickling down my hands, scarlet liquid dripping onto the floor and staining pristine white floors red...

What... What was I... Why was I? 

I felt sick to my stomach at that point. What was I doing?... 

Pushing Reiji and Kagami off, I ran and locked myself in the girl's toilet, shaking and shuddering as I felt the fear overwhelm me. 

What the... Why was I so... so...

I curled myself up into a ball, feeling utterly terrified at the thought of killing someone again... Emotions...

I hated emotions. I wish that I didn't have them. Maybe then it would be better. Maybe others wouldn't have lost their lives to me... 

Desire... Did I ever want to have one again? 

Did I even DESERVE it...?

The one thing that scared me the most?

I didn't know the answer to those questions. 

I didn't know whether Dracmon and I... whether we deserved forgiveness. 

And that terrified me to no end. Just how deep-rooted were these selfish genes going to take me? Why was I not like my parents? Why was I like Menoa, like the Daikis!? 

I punched the wall beside me, feeling the tears fall down my cheeks as I sobbed. Why!? Why had I taken so many lives?! Why had I let my emotions get the better of me!? Why had I killed RobinHoodmon, MusosIatreiamon, all those Digimon? 

Why had I killed so many... and why was my body count double of my dad's? 

Was I truly nothing but a despicable piece of **** who should just die?

I hunched over, curling myself up like a caterpillar and bitterly thinking that I would probably look like a Zetsuboumon. 

I... I found that the idea was accurate. All too accurate and it was scary, terrifying... 

Just...

Just how badly have I ****ed up and hurt my loved ones with my past actions...?

+ SPIRITUAL DIGILEMMA +

"Luno?..." a hesitant voice had me looking over to see Uju join me on the terrace as I looked out into the sea. 

"Oh, Uju..." I greeted. "I'm sorry about the ruckus I caused... Are the others okay?" 

"Well, they're all doing sorta fine," He answered. "But Dracmon looked pretty pale."

I felt a deep sigh escape my lips. "I didn't mean to... I swear I..." 

"Don't apologise," Uju frowned as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "You had to go through traumatising times. I get it a lot, Luno." 

"But it doesn't justify how I reacted..." I looked away, gently smacking his hand away while continuing, "I want the others to have fun, not to have to deal with drama for once, but with Perfectio and everything, I just..."

"I get it," he whispered while his hand moved to take my own. "I really get it, Luno. I... Remember my grandparents? The ones I mentioned before?"

"During the concert? Yeah. What about them?" 

He hesitated, but took a picture out and gave it to me, talking while I looked at the picture to see Uju at around the age of 8 with two older men, one of them with red hair while the other had yellow hair, "They... they didn't die naturally. They were murdered."

"WHAT!?" My eyes widened, head swiveling over to look at him in shock. 

He nodded before continuing, "I heard from my parents that they had allegedly been caught up in a warehouse fire. One I barely remember but... it was too much of a coincidence. There was no way my grandparents would overlook a small mistake as the police claimed. They had always been so meticulous, so it didn't make sense. I just... For a while, I struggled with these emotions. And therapy did help but I still felt pain and sorrow about their passing. I kept on thinking, why was I the only one suffering...? Why did everyone around me claim it was an accident...?" 

His fists tightened, and my eyes softened upon seeing the slight tears fall down his cheeks. He had been suffering for so long, huh...?

Reaching out, my other hand wiped the tears off his face as I said gently, "I... I am sorry you had to go through so much, Uju. I don't know what the future may hold, but... I will stand by you. I will help you as much as I can, I promise. Once this entire mess is over, once Perfectio is done, I swear I will help you find out the truth about your grandparents." 

His eyes widened at that, but soon he sniffled as he hugged me tight. "T-Thank you, Haneul..." 

This utterly baffled me a bit. "Pardon?"

And that made him immediately blush as he pulled away, face beet red (I found, much to my distaste, that my own face was hot as well.), but stammered, "I-It means sky in Korean. I-I think it matches you well, e-especially with your irises when the sun goes down and all that, you get what I mean?"

"I-I mean, i-it's not a bad name, s-so you can call me that, I guess," I stuttered, looking away with the steam coming off me as I said that. This was so embarrassing!!! 

But the way his eyes lit up a bit when I said that was pretty worth it, I think. "T-That's grea-"

Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps made us turn over to see a nervous Dracmon walk over, looking down. 

I felt chills go down my spine as I stood in front of Uju. "What do you want...?"

"I... I... I'm... sorry..." he looked down. "I already apologised to Ruri and Angoramon and Pump, but... You always avoided me... I... don't think it was a bad idea for you to do that. You got pretty scarred because of me... And when added to your... p-past... I hadn't... I hadn't thought about anyone but myself until Culumon X and Violet saved me. They changed me, made me want to be better, and... I know it won't be easy to forgive me because all I did was add to your suffering, so... I don't want to be forgiven. You can stay mad at me for who knows how long. I don't... I don't blame you for feeling that way considering what I did, but... Please keep Violet and Culumon X out of it. They had nothing to do with this." 

And suddenly, I was back in Saviour Datand, the land where heroes with good hearts were saved and left to happily enjoy Elysium, when facing Baalmon/Jikantoki Soichiro, when Hiro and I had been beaten by the guard system, when Dad screamed out for them to let me go. 

The sorrow, the pain, the... guilt... I could feel it. 

I never expected that I would be able to... to EMPATHISE with Dracmon of all people, but...

I moved away from Uju, and hesitantly but slowly hugged him. "I... I don't know if I can, but maybe someday. Maybe someday I will forgive you, so... I'm sorry too. I hurt your partner when she had nothing to do with it." 

"I... It's okay." He wiped the tears off his cheek and smiled a bit; a sincere smile that caught me off guard as he said, "Should we head back now?"

"S-Sure..." was all I could say as I got up. A part of me, the bitter, the pained part, had thought that Dracmon was only capable of smiling evilly, but...

Now I could see. After everything, after everything I had seen and heard, I could see he had changed. From a sadistic egomaniac to a guilt-ridden prankster who was also struggling, he had grown so much...

It was... a relief in a way, and I couldn't help but wonder, had I hated him solely for Pump's death? Or... had I been envious that he had found people to care for faster than I had? 

Either was possible, but I did know that the road to fully forgive him was going to be long and worthwhile. 

The three of us walked back into the main common room just in time for an "AHA!" to echo as Alec sneered from below at the two gremlins. "Looks like you finally got caught under the mistletoe!" 

"Wha- huh?" the two shared a glance but soon noticed their SO smirking at them while pointing to the mistletoes above their heads. 

"RANMA! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO NOT COME UP HERE!!!" Yuga immediately sputtered. 

"Lumosss!!!!" Gulus covered his face while the two shared a grin. 

"Honestly, Yuga, you should really shut up at times," Ranma said as he suddenly grabbed the Mikado and kissed him at the same time Lumos mirrored his actions.

On. 

The. 

Lips. 

With an audience. 

With Alec Ankh and Amanokawa Hiro both holding out their phones as they smiled evilly at the red faces.

"FINALLY! I HAVE BLACKMAIL PICTURES OF MIKADO YUGA! RA! I MUST HAVE THIS FRAMED AND SEALED IN THE TIGHTEST SAFE WE HAVE! MULTIPLY IT SO MUCH THAT MIKADO YUGA CAN'T ERASE THIS FROM THE FACE OF THE WORLDS!!!!"

"Understood," one of his Buddies, Voltaic Deity, Ra could only chuckle while Garga shook his head, a fond smile on his face. "Yuga needed a bit of a reality check anyway." 

"Gulu too!" Gammamon smiled, which made Gulus look at Gammamon, a scandalised look on his face. "Gamma, how could you!? I thought we had a mutual agreement to embarrass Hiro as much as we could!" 

"Oh? But Hiro gave me choco!" he smiled, as if he hadn't done anything wrong. 

"Oh don't worry, Gammamon, you did well." Hiro's smile was akin to Gulus' just some hours ago as he patted his younger brother on the head. "Gulu is just a sore loser." 

"Wha- I AM NOT!"

"So you say~" 

"BLUES, FOR THE LOVE OF-"

Blues raised his hands in surrender despite the smirk forming on his face. "You know Hiro was looking for revenge and yet you let your guard down. Didn't even see Gammamon attaching the mistletoe above you." 

"WHY AM I FRIENDS WITH YOU LOT?!" 

"Oh you tell us," I shrugged while Uju giggled. "Maybe you just got very unlucky. Maybe your karma came back to bite you in the ***. Either way, not my problem, and serves you two sadists right."

"We are not!!" Yuga stammered.

Ranma then grabbed his boyfriend's chin as he smirked, lowering his tone while whispering something that made his face go beet red. "RANMA!!" 

"Oh~ I see why Ranma fits Lost World so well now," Destroyer, Ranma's Buddy, remarked.

"Indeed. He has the personality to pull it off. There is a reason why those two fit in like matching gloves; Yuga is the extroverted sadist but Ranma is the introverted sadist," Undead Bulter, Trisan, solemnly stated as Amano giggled at his Buddy's words. 

"Someone go ask Mitsuko in the future if Yuga and Ranma end up adopting people as sadistic as them-" Shin Ayumi joked, which only made Shin Gao smirk and say, "You act as if Mikados aren't sadists, Ayumi. Remember when we were younger?"

"Wait, hold on, Gao-nii, don't tell me..." The blank face Shin Imogen Bennett, a Buddyfight instructor and another former member of the Youth Division, gave off was pretty funny as she asked, "YOU were the one who set up all those mistletoes?!?" 

"Maybe~" he teased. "But since Yuga is around, I don't have to do a thing. Keep up the good work, Yuga, Ranma!~" 

The two merely saluted, and we all burst out laughing at the terrified looks of the former Youth Division members, but as I did, I noticed something on the ground, mixed into the mistletoes.

I blinked again, and picked it up, scanning it as I wondered why it looked familiar...

I took out the Wreath bracelet, and located the mistletoe on it, realising that wow, they really looked similar...

This was weird. What was going on? Were these things like Crests or something?

And during the fight against Azami, when Bokomon had evolved, I had realised that the wreath and the DIM card had glowed. Both of them had been pretty warm when I checked on them that night. And the wreath had... Withered slightly. It had confused me, but now that I had one more of these things...

Deciding that I had to find out, that it definitely had something to do with Perfectio and my grandmother, I walked over to Wuliang and gently shook him awake.

"Wha, huh, Luno-nee?" He yawned as he got up.

"What's up?" Aquos Jettra, his Bakugan partner gifted by his world's Dan and Hiro, asked while blinking.

"You mentioned that you knew someone who can access any information in the multiverse right?" I asked.

Wuliang tilted his head. "You mean, Uncle Philip? What about him?"

"I need a favour." I held out the three accessories as I said, "I didn't tell you guys because I was unsure but now... I think these things have to do with Perfectio and Menoa Bellucci."

I felt the others turn over as Wuliang took them and looked them over, his eyes narrowed slightly before he looked up. "Where did you find these?"

"The silver bells at Kitamachi Park, the wreath at DigiHarmony and mistletoe just now. It was hidden in the mistletoe. Weirdly enough, though, the silver bells seemed to just appear in my hands." I held it out. "Plus, the wreath had glowed the day Boko evolved. It was warm to the touch and hadn't been this withered before that day."

He hummed. "Interesting. Alright, I'll call Uncle Philip. But fair warning, he usually needs keywords in order to find the information needed. He only has access to the library; he's not all-knowing."

"Alright. Thank you," I said. "We'll think of that when he arrives."

"Depends. But I'll get the present team to call him. Hopefully he can come tomorrow."

"That would be great. We need to know more about Perfectio's connection to my grandmother, and also, what these things have to do with them. It had to have appeared for a reason."

He nodded while getting up. "I agree. Don't worry, Luno-nee, I'm sure we'll get the information we need."

I sure as **** hoped so. Because this was our only lead toward my grandmother and how Robinhoodmon and MusosIatreiamon were connected to her.