Too soon, the original gang had been split up yet again: Wakiya and Hoji were back at university in Singapore, and Valt was back training younger bladers at BC Sol in Spain. So when Daigo had to announce that Ryota's cancer had come back, only Ken, Shu, and Honcho were there to provide sympathy.

"Ryota's already beat cancer once, he can do it again!" Honcho reassured his friend.

"He's a tough kid," Shu added. "And he's older now, his immune system is much stronger."

"It still sucks," Daigo argued, his voice quieter than usual. He had his arms tightly folded against his chest, and his eyes were glued to the ground.

If only I had my puppets, Ken thought. If they had Keru and Besu, a chomp to the hair would have made Daigo smile for sure. Instead, they reached out to take ahold of Daigo's arm as a sign of comfort.

"I'll come with you to visit him every day if you need me to," they promised.

At last, Daigo looked up. It was a moment before he spoke again, his eyes full of emotion as they met Ken's.

"Thank you." His voice cracked, and his shoulders started to tremble. Ken's face fell. It always pained them to see tears in his eyes: Daigo didn't get emotional often.

"Aw, dude, don't cry," Honcho simpered.

Daigo quickly wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

"The last time Ryota had cancer," he muttered through a few stray tears, "he couldn't leave the hospital for months on end. And it's worse this time."

Daigo then went on to explain what the doctor had already told him. The last time Ryota had had cancer - when he was only five - it was afflicting his liver, which had eventually been replaced. But the cancer hadn't fully gone away: now he had something called NSCLC - a type of lung cancer - and he was already at stage four. He had been put on the wait list for a transplant, but if it didn't come quick enough, he would have to go through chemotherapy, something he didn't need to do last time.

Ken didn't want to think about what chemotherapy would do to such a bright spirit. But they knew. So many times, when their family did puppet shows in hospitals, they had seen the effects of that torturous treatment.

"This isn't right!" Honcho said suddenly. "You should be celebrating your win! You've earned it!"

"Yeah?" Daigo spat back. "Well, life fucking sucks sometimes, man. I dunno what else to tell you."

The group fell silent for a moment, taken aback by Daigo's outburst. Ken wracked their brain, searching for an idea to cheer him up.

"Cuza and Clio are going back to Europe tomorrow. How about before they leave, we spend some time with them?" they suggested, resting a hand on Daigo's shoulder. "I know they'd like to visit Ryota, too, if you're okay with it."

Daigo managed a nod.

"He'll be outta there in no time!" Honcho said with a grin.

"Just let us know if you need anything," said Shu. "You know we mean it. You've been there for all of us in our lowest moments."

"Thanks, everyone," Daigo replied, voice cracking once again.

Everyone said their goodbyes and parted ways for the day. Ken and Daigo lived in the same apartment building, however, so they walked home together.

"Is your mom doing okay?" Ken asked.

Daigo shrugged.

"Stressed, as always," he answered. "She always hated having to pay hospital bills."

Ken winced. Tsakana Kurogami was nothing to sneeze at, especially when she was in a bad mood. Ken could vividly remember one time when they had come over for a sleepover, maybe a year or two in the past. The movie they had been watching with Ryota had barely drowned out Daigo's fight with his mother in the next room. Ken had long forgotten what Tsakana had been angry about in the first place.

"How about your dad?" Ken asked, a little more tender this time. "Have you heard from him lately?"

"No," Daigo answered curtly. "He has his own life, and we have ours."

If Ken didn't know anything about the Kurogami family, they'd likely assume that Tsakana was nothing more than a spiteful bitch. But she was a hard working woman, and she did her best to provide for her boys. She just . . . wasn't able to pay a lot of attention to them. Due to this, she didn't have a lot of chances to get to know her own children. There was also the matter of Daigo's estranged father, Ensho, who had been kicked out years ago after he had been caught cheating. He and Tsakana still hadn't gotten divorced. Ken had met Ensho once. They didn't like him.

Twenty minutes of walking later, they were in the elevator. Ken lived on the fourth floor, so they were getting off first, while Daigo lived on the eleventh.

"You sure you don't wanna stay for dinner?" Ken offered. "You know my parents always love having guests."

Daigo took a deep breath.

"I'll be okay for now," he reassured them. "Don't worry, I'll give the cats some extra pats for you."

Ken smiled and reached in to give Daigo a hug. When he returned it, they gave him a squeeze - extra tight for good measure. Their heart seemed to do a little dance when Daigo squeezed back.

The hug lasted until the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to Ken's floor. Still, Ken was hesitant to let go. All they could think of was poor Ryota back in that hospital bed, alone and unable to sleep. The pain of knowing their friends had to do this all over again nearly made Ken's stomach hurt. At this point, after years of knowing each other, the Kurogami brothers were a part of the family.

"See you tomorrow, bud," Ken said softly, and with that they left the elevator.

The first thing Ken heard when they opened the door to their apartment was their older sister's voice, calling out to them from the kitchen. The warm embrace of home greeted them like an old friend. Their father Suijin was on the couch, crocheting a puppet. His expression shifted to that of concern as he took in the look on his child's face.

"Just say the world and we'll schedule a visit with the hospital," he said sincerely, as though he had read their mind.

Ken half forced a smile.

"Thanks, Dad," they responded.

"I made udon!" twenty-one-year-old Chinatsu called out from the kitchen. "Come and get it~!"

Himeko emerged from the master bedroom, rubbing her hands together hungrily. One by one, Ken and their family took a bowl of udon, piled on their favorite toppings, and headed to the dinner table; Ken couldn't help but notice that there was more noodles left in the container. To Ken, family dinner was their favorite time of day, when everyone could simply set aside their anxieties and laugh for a bit, no matter how boring or eventful the day had been. But ever since Ken's older brother Gurei had left for medical school, there was a perpetually empty chair at the table.

"So, I guess Daigo declined the dinner offer, huh?" Himeko presumed.

Ken nodded sadly.

"Sometimes I wonder if he's getting enough to eat," Suijin admitted. "Y'know, with his mom working all the time."

"I mean, he can cook," Ken reassured him, yet they stirred their broth nervously. "I've never had to remind him to eat, or anything like that. He's always been pretty independent." Their knee began to bump up and down again under the table.

"Guess we'll just have to pitch in a little more often now that Ryota's in the hospital again." said Himeko.

Ken swallowed a bite of pasta, the thick noodles slowly traveling down their throat. Their sister seemed to read the look on their face - she had inherited their father's talent for doing so.

"Trust me, we're all worried," she said. "We love Ryota as much as you do - though I'm not too sure about Daigo." She winked. Ken felt their face sizzling as they flipped her the bird.

"Hey, no profanities at the table!" Suijin scolded his children.

"I'm just saying, you should ask him out already," Chinatsu said quietly, glancing downward so it appeared that she was talking to her bowl.

Ken angrily chomped through another bite. They hated how terrible they were at hiding their feelings for Daigo. As cliche as it sounded, they just didn't want to ruin their friendship. But it was nice that, despite how intuitive Daigo was, he hadn't seemed to catch the signs yet.

After Ken had bid their family goodnight and slipped under their blanket, they pulled out their laptop: they needed to watch a movie to calm down. They settled on Howl's Moving Castle, one of their favorites. But all they could think about was how much Ryota loved Studio Ghibli films, too - his favorite was Boy and the Heron.

Ken could feel the tears welling up behind their eyes as the anxiety began to eat away at their insides. Surely the little guy would be okay, right?