As the weekend drew nearer, anxieties ran higher. It was to be expected, but that did little to mitigate just how frustrating it was that Izumi could barely bring herself to focus in class. She had to at least try to concentrate a little bit longer before the group's next full expedition to the Digital World, though that was much easier said than done given how she could hear the constant buzzing of her other echoes as the minutes crawled by. They were eager to return to the Digital World as well, and Izumi could feel it. She would have dashed out of the classroom then and there to investigate the other realm and its mysteries if she could, but she knew that wasn't going to happen as long as she wanted to at all maintain her reputation, so she remained still. 

Izumi was currently in her literature class, though she struggled to think much of the literature they had studied up to that point because of just how chaotic her life had been as of late. In the row before her and off to the right by one seat, Chiaki stared up at the teacher intently. She was taking notes with dedication and determination, and Izumi silently thanked the universe for at least making this fun for someone else. Even if she wasn't getting anything out of this, at least Chiaki was. That had to count for something, right? 

The teacher of this class, Himari Kikuchi, was looking down at a clipboard with a frown. Her light brown hair fell around her head in a gentle curtain as she chewed on the tip of her pen. She was newer to teaching, and as far as Izumi could tell, she wasn't taking the wrench thrown into her initial plans well at all. The few days off from classes caused by the Digimon attack had caused problems on all levels, and Izumi only had the chance to appreciate that damage after she returned to school in full. It was certainly something to get used to, though she hoped she didn't need to. If all went well, there would never be another Digimon attack to merit her shifting her mindset to begin with. 

Then again, if life wanted to cooperate with her, this wouldn't have happened at all, and there she was. 

Himari sighed and shook her head. "Because of the shift of schedule caused by our... Impromptu break, I'm going to change around our next project," she announced, picking her words so delicately to ensure she didn't say a trio of monsters had tried to tear the school to the ground. "Normally, I would have you all do this first report by yourselves, but since we've already lost three class periods due to the... Unfortunate circumstances of the last week, I'm going to let you work in pairs or groups of three instead. Go ahead and find a partner, and we can discuss the details of the project after that."

"Now there's something I can get behind," Kaze grinned. "As long as we're working with someone else, we won't have to spend as much time on it, and that means focusing more on the issues in the Digital World. I think this is a win for everyone."

"Assuming we can find a partner, that is," Zephyr pointed out. "Izumi, I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't want this to be an extra burden on our plate, so be sure to choose carefully, alright?"

"Izumi?"

The Warrior of Wind had gotten so caught up in listening to the other voices in her head that she hadn't even realized there was a voice coming from overhead until she looked up. Chiaki was standing in front of Izumi's desk, a light smile on her face. "I hope you don't have anyone else in mind for this project," Chiaki began. "I was wondering if maybe the two of us could work together."

"I don't know about this," Zephyr cautioned. "She's already trying to figure out everything that's going on with the attacks here on Earth, and if she gets too close, then she could find something that she wasn't meant to. I don't want her to be the one who blows everything up after we've tried to be so cautious up to this point."

"Maybe we should be thinking about that, but... I still think she has a nice heart," Aero smiled gently. "She's just another girl at the end of the day. Even if she spends time with Katsuharu, Teruo, and Teppei, she's still her own person, and I don't think we should judge her for everything she's doing with them when Izumi knew her before all of this too."

"Plus, if we get lucky, we might be able to get an extra bit of information about the recent attacks and her theories about them out of her if we get lucky," Kaze pointed out. "I think this is a perfect place for us to start."

Izumi did her best to not let any of these racing thoughts show on her face as she smiled up at Chiaki, hoping with every ounce of her being that she didn't look as fake as she feared she did. "Sure," she smiled simply. "That sounds great."

"Perfect," Chiaki nodded. "I would be happy to have you come over to my house at some point over the next week so we can work out the details for the project."

"You can come over to my house too," Izumi offered, her stomach doing flips along the way. She was more than happy to have the distraction as far as the Orimoto household was concerned. Her father was working just as much as always, and while that was nothing out of the ordinary, it was still disappointing. 

The greater problem was Masae though, and while neither one of them had spoken about the day with the boxcutter, Izumi knew her sister was thinking about it. Masae was still trying to figure out what all of that had been about, and she was scrutinizing every move Izumi made in an attempt to unravel the truth. Masae was terrifyingly perceptive, and even in their most amicable of conversations, Izumi couldn't help fearing that she was lying to her sister in a way that was going to rip their relationship to shreds. It was a terror that never seemed to want to leave her alone, and she had no idea what to do about it. At least having Chiaki over for a short while would give her a reason to not think about Masae's constant and piercing gaze trying to read every thought that crossed her mind. 

"Perfect," Chiaki smiled as she began to gather her things. "Do you want to walk to lunch together? I heard from Teppei that he wanted to share a few new details with the rest of our regular group."

Izumi swallowed dryly at that, though she covered up her deep dread with a smile. She had no idea what it was that Teppei could have possibly found, but she had an awful feeling about it already. "Sure," was all she said though, and she slung her bag over her shoulder before starting toward the door. She gave Himari a small wave on the way out, though she could tell her teacher was only halfway paying attention, still trying to work out the details that could fix the broken schedule for the semester. 

On some twisted level, it was nice to know that Izumi's life wasn't the only one that had been completely wrecked by the attack. It was a dark way of thinking, but it was still comforting in a way that she refused to discuss openly. At least other people were feeling the sting of the terror too. At least it wasn't something she was having to hide and grapple with on her own. 

The rest of the group was already sitting at the lunch table by the time Izumi and Chiaki arrived, and they sat down at the last two available seats. Izumi was between Chihiro and Chiaki while the other girl sat beside Teppei. The boy pushed his glasses up against the bridge of his nose when he realized everyone was there, and he glanced around, almost as if he was making sure nobody was trying to eavesdrop on them. When he was satisfied, he leaned in over the table, his eyes gleaming all the while. "Are you ready to hear the best news of your lives?" Teppei asked dramatically. 

Koji simply rolled his eyes as he continued to pick at his food. "I don't think that whatever you're about to say is going to qualify, but go on," he said simply. He was only halfway paying attention to the circumstances at hand, and Izumi could only assume that he had already heard about all of this somehow. She frowned at that, praying that it was nothing too awful that could have threatened everything the group had been working toward up to this point. She flipped the cap off her water bottle before starting to take a drink, already looking to mask her reaction in case Teppei managed to catch her by surprise.

"Last night, there was another monster attack," Teppei declared, and Izumi just about spit out her drink from shock. She coughed a few times before forcing the remainder of the fluid down, Chiaki patting at her back to ensure she didn't stumble once again. Izumi simply stared at Teppei even as tears started to rise in her eyes from her failed attempt at drinking her water. 

"You can't be fucking serious," Chihiro spat out, treating the words like poison. "I would have thought that something like that would be all over the news, but the rest of us haven't heard anything about it."

"It was too dark for anyone to be able to record it clearly," Teppei explained. "I did what I could to capture it on camera though." He pulled his phone from his pocket and turned it around so the screen was facing the rest of the table. The camera had been pointed up to the sky at the time, and three figures could be seen clashing distantly, though the only thing Izumi could make out was the way their attacks slammed into one another. Aside from that, everything was too dark on account of the video having been taken in the dead of night from a terrible angle. Izumi could certainly believe that nobody had wanted to report about it because of how bad all of the footage had been; she wouldn't have wanted to touch something like that if she was a journalist either.

"Did you find anything new during this fight?" Koji questioned quizzically, and based on his complete lack of surprise, Izumi could only assume that he had been told before all of this, though she was at a loss as for who could have shared the information with him. Wouldn't anyone involved with the fight would have wanted to share with it with the rest of the group? Why did they only approach Koji?

That only led to Izumi's next question: just who the hell did Teppei see in that video?

"N-No, but it doesn't matter!" Teppei assured him. "It's all fine, because we're getting ready to jump right into the most important piece of information we've gotten so far... Everything that happened when the school was attacked earlier this week."

"You know, I've heard that some of the teachers are trying to keep us from talking about it," Teruo said as he took a bite of his meal. "They think it's going to be a distraction, so they're keeping the students from discussing it in detail. Think about it: have you heard anyone that works here actually say what happened specifically?"

Takuya bristled before shaking his head. "As a matter of fact... No," he admitted, though Izumi could tell that having to admit that the group of investigators had a point was much harder for him to do than he initially thought. "I guess I didn't think of it that way, but you might have a point in saying that they're trying to keep us from digging too deep into it."

"Exactly," Katsuharu nodded. "We were all there, you know... We were there when the fight took place." He whispered the words like he was sharing the most important secret ever known to the history of the world, and he grinned with an almost evil gleam in his eyes. "We caught a bunch of it on camera, and we were able to find out all sorts of new stuff. Who cares if last night was a bust? We've already got so much on our plates that we're going to have this case cracked in no time."

"Alright then, Sherlock," Koji frowned as he returned to sifting through his food. "If you've really learned so much about all of this, then go on and enlighten us. Do you really think you're going to be able to figure out the truth on your own?"

"Of course," Katsuharu assured him, seemingly baffled at the idea that Koji would even think of implying otherwise. He cleared his throat before launching into the story in full, and Izumi's stomach went tense with his words. "During the evacuation of the school, we decided we wanted to go and investigate things as they were happening elsewhere in town. We snuck out the back way and followed after the monsters as they started to go towards the heart of the fight. There were a few of them in the sky overhead, so we just followed them to see what we could find."

Izumi frowned at that, though she wasn't entirely surprised. Of course the quartet would have followed her and the rest of the group as soon as they realized what was happening. It was an opportunity they couldn't even imagine passing up on, and thanks to so many of the 'human monsters' being from their school, they had a direct line that took them out to the battlefield. Izumi was just glad none of them had seen the group transforming. That would have been a disaster she wouldn't have ever been able to live down. 

"Once we got there, we saw there were three monster attackers, and a group of other creatures appeared to stop them," Teruo went on. "In total, there were twelve other monsters that showed up to try and stop the fight. If you ask me, that's probably how many of them there are around here... Twelve. After the battle, that group of monsters sent the others back where they came from too before scattering, so they're definitely still here on Earth in some form or another."

"There were a few of them that weren't familiar, but a few of them had the same armor patterns as others we've seen up to this point," Katsuharu continued. "Even if they didn't look exactly the same, the similar armor and abilities seemed like enough clues to say that they were just different forms of the same monster. In other words, this week has brought our total up to twelve. Somewhere in Shibuya, there are twelve monsters, all of them here to defend us from invasions from another dimension."

"You do realize how ridiculous you sound when you say all of this, right?" Chihiro questioned. "Even if you're right, I feel the need to double check how quick you all were to jump right on board with this the instant you thought something might be wrong."

"You're so skeptical," Teruo groaned. "You do remember that we've seen this monster world, right? You might have stayed home that day, but we were there, and we saw that it was as real as it got. You can see the monsters for yourself all around us whenever attacks happen. There are always other monsters who come to our defense, and it just has to be because they're here on Earth with us. How else would they be able to keep everyone safe so easily?"

"It's like they're superheroes," Teppei commented. "They live among us, but they're always waiting for the chance to keep us safe from otherworldly attack. It's like something you'd see in an anime or manga, but it's real. This is the life that we're all living, and they're all real."

Izumi nodded at that, though she said nothing on the matter, not wanting to accidentally give them more fuel to their theory-filled fire. Instead, she simply watched as Katsuharu opened up the notebook that contained their research and slid it in Chihiro's direction. "Here are all of the monsters we were able to catch pictures of during that last fight," he explained. "We've started trying to log their abilities too, and it seems like each of them represents some other element. Their powers don't seem to have all that much overlap as far as we can tell."

"I think one of the fighters I saw last night was of the dark element we saw earlier this week," Teppei declared. "I can't think of any other reason I would see so little. Even if I was all the way down on the ground, you would have expected me to at least see a little bit of the battle, but I missed just about all of it. Anyone who summons light when attacking is out of the question."

"It makes you wonder just who could be responsible for all of this," Chiaki murmured. "It sounds to me like the human monsters were the only ones allowed off the train in that other world, and they looked around for a while before coming back here. I guess they fought against that giant demonic beast while they were there, and afterward, they returned, but they can still transform even in this universe. That's how they've been able to keep everybody safe."

"I don't think they're working with the government though," Teruo said. "I know there were a few theories about that floating around online, but I just don't see it. They can't be government funded as long as the people up top are doing so much to try and cover up the fact that they exist at all. I bet the government knows they exist but doesn't want to admit it since they don't know what to do about the problem. If they were behind it, then they would have said that these fighters were countermeasures to the invaders, but that's not what's happening. They're just as clueless as we are, and they're trying to get people off the scent."

"You think that the people who are covering up the online forums and theory boards are part of the government then," Takuya murmured, and Teruo nodded. Takuya thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "I guess that does make a little bit of sense... I guess they wouldn't want anyone to panic too much about what was going on since they don't even have all of this under control."

"I think they're trying to find these human monsters too," Katsuharu declared. "That was what I gathered from the press conference earlier this week, at the very least. Nobody actually gave any answers about what they were searching for or if they were close to finding it, so it seems pretty obvious to me that they're trying to figure everything out too. They just don't want to admit that there are human monsters hiding somewhere in Shibuya and waiting for the perfect time to swoop in and save us."

"So what do you think their motivations are?" Koji questioned. "You seem rather confident that these human monsters are lurking around the area, and yet, you haven't come up with any ideas as to what it is they could want to accomplish. I feel like that's a pretty central part of any investigation like this."

"We're not sure yet, but some people seem to think that these human monsters are heroic," Chiaki said as she glanced over to Teppei. From there, she cast a glance over to Katsuharu. "Others think this could be the first step of these monsters trying to take over the planet."

"Maybe these human monsters are just trying to gather our trust before they decide to tear everything apart and take control by force," Katsuharu offered. "We have no way of knowing for sure, but since they're our only line of defense against monsters from another world, we have to count on them no matter what. They have to know that, and they could use it to their advantage."

"You're getting too deep into all of this," Teppei pointed out. "If they really wanted to take the world down, then they would have done it already. You noticed just how powerful they were, right? One of them can reform earth at their very command, and nothing can stop people who can move the ground itself as they see fit. That's just one example too. Imagine what all twelve of them could do together. If they wanted to take over the world, then the end of the world would already be happening around us."

"I want to believe that they're here to help us out, but I can't help thinking there could be something else we're not understanding it," Katsuharu frowned. "You never know when the hero is going to stab everybody else in the back in the name of their own gain. People are complex, and there's always going to be somebody out there willing to sell out others as long as it would benefit them."

Izumi bit down on her lip to keep from making a comment about how she didn't think the monsters would do that, knowing that it was only going to make her seem suspicious. The ragtag investigation team barely seemed to trust anyone outside of their innermost circle of four, and Izumi couldn't afford to have suspicion leveled in her direction as someone involved with all of this. Instead, she just smiled and offered a loose laugh. "You all get so excited about this," she remarked. "In some ways, it's almost refreshing to see how happy it makes you."

"This could be the greatest discovery our society has ever known," Teruo grinned. "Think about it. We've seen another world, and these monsters are evidence of that other world existing. If we can narrow them down to get more information, then we're going to be able to change everything we've ever known. Imagine all of that..."

"And we'd be the ones at the front of it all," Katsuharu finished for him, unable to hold back his prideful smile. "We're not going to let anyone take the glory from us after all we've done to learn about this. The human monsters are out there, and we're going to find them. Beyond that, we're going to learn why all of this was kept a secret to begin with, and we'll make sure it never gets swept under the rug again."

"I don't know if I would go that far," Chiaki murmured under her breath, anxiety starting to show in her eyes. "It was already hidden twice, and I don't know if we're going to be lucky enough to keep things from being swept into silence a third time."

"Don't be such a doubter, Chiaki," Teppei frowned, almost scandalized that she had even implied it. "The evidence is so much more obvious this time around. I mean, look at the pictures we took. There are monsters here in the city, and everybody knows it. That's pretty different from a mass phone call or a show in the sky."

"Hold on a moment," Izumi suddenly interrupted, though she didn't recognize the sound of her own voice when it left her lips. A few beats later, she realized that Zephyr had forcefully taken control to pose a question. "You said that this had been covered up twice. What exactly are you referring to?"

"I guess that's the other thing we haven't told you then," Teruo said. "While we had the days off from school, we all decided to get together and see what we could learn about all of this stuff. Along the way, we learned that the incident a few weeks ago wasn't the only time that a show of light has taken place in the sky. This time, it only happened a few hours after the mass phone call that threw off everyone in the city, but when it originally took place, it seemingly happened out of nowhere."

"And it happened a bunch of times," Teppei followed up. "Twelve, to be exact. On twelve different nights over the course of about three years, the sky lit up with different colors, and it seems like that was a sign of what's to come. It looked a lot like the projection we saw of the fight against that massive demonic monster the day of the phone call spam."

"You can't just say that and not elaborate," Chihiro told him, leaning over the table as something intense and almost fearful crossed their expression. "It happened twelve times, and you say that there are twelve human monsters on Earth too."

"We noticed during that big fight that there are colors that correspond with each of the major players here on Earth," Katsuharu began as he flicked to a different page of the notebook. The book had made its way around the table by now and found its path back to his hands, and he was more than happy to take everyone to the next destination within its endless wisdom. "As it turns out, those same twelve colors showed up in the light shows years ago too. It was a while ago now, but... Well, it's a lot of cool stuff. This managed to avoid being covered up entirely, though I think there was still a pretty dedicated effort to hide it."

"The government probably tried to have all of this swept under the rug too, but since it wasn't directly related to anything weird, they didn't get away with it in full," Teruo went on. "We had to do a lot of digging through online archives in order to figure out what happened those nights all those years ago, but it seems like these light shows were pretty rare but still caught a lot of attention when they did happen."

"I've got the list of dates here too," Chiaki remarked as she reached over to grab a spare slip of paper from the notebook. It had clearly been printed, no doubt from one of the online archives Teruo had mentioned previously. "In 2002--seventeen years ago now--there were three dates where this happened. First was April twenty-seventh. Next was August thirteenth. After that, the next day was October twelfth. In 2003, it happened five times. The first time was on March twenty-ninth. The second was exactly two months later on May twenty-ninth. The next one was strange though... Two light shows happened on the same night, and it was June fourth. The last time in 2003 was July twenty-eighth. In 2004, the final four light shows took place. First was February twenty-fourth followed by March seventeen, April first, and November thirtieth."

For a few heavy moments, Izumi was silent, and she stared down at the lunch table before her as she tried her best to stay grounded and calm. If she wasn't mistaken, those eleven dates matched up with the birthdates of the Legendary Warriors. Hers was on May twenty-ninth, and she had been born in 2003 too. When she glanced over to the other Legendary Warriors at the table, she was met with the same shows of confusion, though they were all trying to hide it for the sake of not being caught in their constant lies. 

"The twelve colors of these light shows--purple, yellow, turquoise, red, pink, white, black, brown, blue, orange, gray, and green in that order--followed the same color schemes of the fighters we saw earlier this week," Katsuharu said next. "Their attacks seemed to match up perfectly. If you ask me, it seems like those were the days that our human monsters were chosen to become these elemental powerhouses. They went off to that other world, transformed, and came back with the ability to fight evil. Now, we're here, and they're just as much of a mystery now as they were all that time ago."

Izumi could feel her heart racing and screaming in her ears, but luckily, she didn't need to compose herself enough to speak since Teppei filled the silence next. "These light shows seemed innocent enough, but anybody who did research found that they had no known cause. There was no group that was consciously setting off fireworks or other explosives on these nights. People just thought it was strange. Now that we know more though--and now that we know there was a fight in the sky that was projected the same way--it seems like it all ties back to that other world. That must have been a sign from the other realm, and now, we have all sorts of questions about it," he continued. 

"There's so much we still don't understand about all of this, but I think we're getting closer," Teruo grinned. "We're going to have to figure out what happened on those dates back in 2002, 2003, and 2004. It's not going to be easy though since we barely know anything about what we're supposed to be looking for, and most of the forums from that time are probably going to be really tough to track down now."

"The internet was much younger back then, and a lot has changed in all these years," Chiaki shrugged. "But I'm sure that we're going to figure out what's going on when the time is right. There has to be an explanation behind all of this, and we're going to find it. People don't just start turning into monsters out of the blue, and invasions from another world don't happen randomly. There's a reason for everything that we're seeing now, and all we have to do is find the clues to dig it up and drag the truth into the light."

"At first, we were thinking that maybe these light shows took place on the same days that these human monsters were born," Katsuharu interjected. "If you can believe it, that would put everybody as being around the same age as us. They would be mostly a year younger or older, but they would be basically the same age as us. Imagine something like that... Living part of your life as a monster while living the rest of it as a human."

Izumi smiled loosely at that, though she could still hear her heart screaming in her chest from fear and terror. "It would be strange, wouldn't it?" she questioned. "I don't know anybody would balance something like that too. I don't even know if it would be possible."

"We're not exactly setting our hearts on the monsters being the same age us for that same reason," Teppei said. "It would be pretty tough to balance school and saving the world. Imagine having to drop all of your homework to go out and fight a giant monster that was waiting to tear a bunch of other people to shreds. It would be so wild."

"Right now, I'm thinking that these human monsters could be recluses and hermits who hide away from the rest of society and only surface when they absolutely have to," Teruo suggested. "Of course, we won't know until we can actually drag them out of hiding, but I guess we'll just have to think about doing that in the near future. There has to be at least a little bit of evidence out there that will point us in the right direction for who we're supposed to be searching for, and we're going to find it."

"You've found quite a few extra details since the last time we were together. I'll admit that it's impressive," Chihiro murmured with a shake of their head, though Izumi could tell it wasn't exactly Chihiro talking. Somebody else from the collective must have taken control, though Izumi couldn't put a finger on who it was given how little she knew about most of the other groups of Legendary Warriors. "Still, I don't think all of this is going to really help you out as much as you're hoping. The fact remains that they're only twelve people out of thousands upon thousands, and finding even the slightest inkling as to who you're searching for isn't going to be a simple task."

"You don't have enough faith in us, Chihiro. If there's a truth to be found out there, then we're going to figure it out and make sure that everybody knows just how much is going on," Katsuharu assured them with a prideful smirk. "In fact, you saying that we're probably not going to find anything only encourages me more. I'm going to prove you wrong soon enough, and when I do, you're going to see just how much you've missed out on by not trusting us about all of this. There are human monsters here in Shibuya, and the government is trying to cover them up."

"Your conspiracy has certainly gotten a lot larger since you started your search," Koji muttered. "At first, it was just deleted forums from two months ago, but these days, it really does seem like there's something massive out there that's being actively hidden... Something that's been masked for more than a decade and a half from the sounds of it."

"We're going to get to the bottom of it, and you're all going to hear about it as soon as we find something new," Teruo grinned. "We've been trying to learn the truth ever since we came back from that other world, and I'm sure that it's going to be great when we finally figure it out. There's a greater picture here, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it leads to."

"I think it's awfully bold of you to claim that the government is putting so much effort into hiding something like this though," Koji frowned. "It seems like it would be a perfect publicity stunt. If the government officials could sweep in and save the common people from the invasions of these monsters, then that would be an optimal chance to gain popularity and attention in all the best possible ways."

"Maybe so, but we can't exactly get into their heads to see what it is they're planning or thinking," Katsuharu shrugged. "For now, we've got a lot of information and even more theories that are bound to lead us in an interesting direction. No matter what, we know a few important truths about this entire ordeal. There are monsters here on Earth, and they're trying to defend the people here from the attackers from that other world. The monsters that come here seem to be possessed by those little pieces of dark energy. As soon as they go away, everything goes back to normal, and the monsters from Earth kick them back to where they came from. It's only happened a small handful of times now, but it's important that we keep track of the details for future reference. I know this is going to happen again, and I'm going to be ready when it does."

"Be sure to keep us updated on everything you learn then. If you really think you're going to figure out so much, then I'm waiting to see where this takes you," Chihiro remarked with a small snort. "You had better not disappoint me. My hopes are up now, and I think we all know how rare that is."

"We wouldn't dream of it," Chiaki smiled, her grin so earnest and genuine that it felt like a punch to the stomach in every way Izumi hadn't been expecting. Even if the quartet's investigations had posed a myriad of problems for the Legendary Warriors, the fact remained that they were still teenagers like anyone else. Their actions were frustrating, yes, but they really did want to make a difference in the world, and that desire for knowledge was as honest as it possibly could have been. Izumi smiled through the pain in her gut, desperate to not let anything show just how much all of this was tearing her apart. That was the one thing she couldn't show no matter what. Some secrets were just meant to be kept, after all, and she wasn't going to be the one to mess that up. 

From there, lunch wound down easily enough, and Izumi was glad when she was able to dash off to her next class. She could hear the constant clamoring of Kaze and Aero, both of them trying to figure out what to do about all of the new information they had just acquired. Izumi knew they were going to have to sit down and talk to the others about it after school. If they mentioned when their birthdays were in relation to the light shows, then they were going to find themselves on the wrong end of suspicion, and as strange as it was, Izumi was determined to keep the date a secret as long as she could. She didn't know if she would be able to keep up the ruse forever, but she had to at least try for the sake of keeping everything that had changed her life so greatly swept under the rug. 

Izumi could already tell the afternoon was going to be long and torturous as she settled down at her desk once more, and she resisted the urge to let nausea settle in her stomach. All she had to do was survive a few more agonizing hours before she could speak with the rest of the group again. It was going to be much easier said than done, but at least she would be able to get her thoughts out soon enough. 

Izumi just prayed she would be able to keep herself together in the meantime.

~~~~~

As was expected, the rest of the day dragged itself as slowly and painfully as possible, and Chihiro couldn't quite get their nerves to calm down. They knew that the four investigators hadn't said anything outwardly accusatory to them, but they still couldn't soothe their anxiety no matter how hard they tried. It was like their skeleton was rattling around inside of their skin, clamoring for freedom and dragging Chihiro down to hell all the while. Their body was being torn asunder in ways they hadn't felt in years, and to say that they were too distracted to focus on schoolwork that afternoon felt like the greatest understatement they could possibly make. 

Chihiro knew what this was like. Back when they had still lived with their parents--a lifetime ago now but still all too close--they had understood what it meant to be constantly afraid in a way that nobody else could see. Even kind words felt like they were a layer of honey that covered a dagger and dripped to the floor like blood. Chihiro's fears had never quite been assuaged in full, and even after they ran away, they always looked over their shoulder to make sure nobody was trailing after them. They always walked a little bit faster than they needed to, just quick enough to outpace the constant anxiety that tried to eat them alive and then drown their corpse in some distant river or ocean they didn't know the name of. 

In the end, the four Legendary Warriors agreed to meet up around the back of the school. Izumi had suggested talking to the others about it at first, but they had ultimately decided to keep it to themselves, at least for now. It was a lot of strange information to be slapped with all at once, and it would likely be best for the quartet to explain it to the others whenever they set out for the Digital World over the weekend. The date of their departure suddenly felt so far and impossible to reach even though it was less than forty-eight hours away. That did little to calm Chihiro's anxieties, and as they walked around the back of the school to where the shadows cloaked the earth, they glanced over their shoulder out of instinct. 

"They're in jail," Cybele reminded Chihiro for what felt like the seventieth time that day alone. "They can't hurt anyone right now. They're in prison since Saki dragged them for the filth they are. You're safe. All of us are safe."

Chihiro nodded at that, though they weren't sure how much they were going to actually believe it in the long run. They tapped their foot anxiously once they had settled against the brick wall lining the outside of the school, and over the course of the next three minutes, the other three Legendary Warriors arrived. They looked over their shoulders too, making sure that nobody had decided to follow them and listen in on the conversation. Realistically, they knew that nobody was going to try and eavesdrop, but the anxiety remained even still. It was a difficult fear to best, and Chihiro didn't even bother trying to fight it off in full. They wouldn't be able to win this fight anyway, so why put in the effort?

"Alright," Koji began once everyone had arrived. "I think we all know exactly what we're going to need to discuss first. The dates that those four listed off at lunch line up perfectly with all of our birthdays, year and day. It feels pretty obvious to me that we were chosen to be Legendary Warriors the dates of our births, and those shows in the sky were perfect evidence of it."

"The pink light came on my birthday too," Izumi remarked with a frown. "And I know I'm not the only one that applies to. The colors all match up perfectly. That was the time when the Ancient Legendary Warriors decided that we would be their heirs, and they chose us over the course of the few years after the war against Lucemon ended."

"The fight against Lucemon was ancient history in the Digital World because his presence was distorting the flow of time," Takuya started. "It was only seventeen years here between the time of the first person--Saki--being chosen and our arrival in the Digital World, but it would have been thousands upon thousands of years over there because of the time distortion. Everybody in the Digital World would have forgotten about the effects of us being chosen as the new hosts of the Legendary Warriors because of the influence of time. The only ones who could have told us about all of this were the Celestial Three, and now, they're gone too."

"I'm going to ask my father about the light show when I can," Izumi said. "I don't know if he's going to be able to help much in saying if anything happened that day, but I feel like it's at least worth asking about. If this will lead us to a new bit of information, then we have to take that chance."

Chihiro nodded, a prominent frown on their features all the while. If their parents hadn't decided to be such complete pieces of shit, then Chihiro could have asked them for details about everything as well. Unfortunately, they had decided to be abusive assholes on top of corrupt manifestations of human garbage, so they were locked up where they belonged with Chihiro not wanting anything to do with them. The answer about the light shows indicating the Legendary Warriors' history felt obvious as could be to them anyway, so why bother with digging any deeper? That was for the other members of the group--the ones with intact relationships with their parents--to think about. 

"There's one other thing about all of this that's still bothering me," Koji remarked. "You heard what they were saying about even these projections in the sky over fifteen years getting covered up. That means there has to be somebody out there who knew there would be something of interest to be found there and decided to cover it up long before any of this. As much as I hate to say it, I feel like those four might be onto something when they say the government is trying to keep all of this hidden."

"Of course there's somebody out there trying to sweep all of this under the rug," Chihiro snorted. "My parents were part of the worst circles you could ever imagine. There are people out there who relish in covering up the truth as long as it fits their own needs. It wouldn't shock me if there was a person out there who decided seventeen years ago that this shit needed to be hidden, so they did everything they could to bury it. The deleted forums were just the tip of the iceberg, and now, we're seeing all of that again. The connection to the Digital World is much more obvious this time around, but the fact remains that there are people out there who are trying to hide it. I said it was bullshit for the sake of getting those four off the trail, but I think we all know better than to think that it's really just a conspiracy with no basis."

"It's so hard to get them off our trail given how firm they are about learning more about all of this," Izumi sighed. "I want to say that all of this sounds ridiculous, but we know better than that. The reality is that there are Digimon attacks unfolding all around us, and we can't escape the truth. They know it just as well as we do that there's too much to be ignored."

"We might not be able to keep them from investigating, but if they come anywhere close to the truth, then we can throw them off," Koji told her. "I don't know what could happen if they figure out what's really going on with the Digital World, but I don't want to ask either. I have no idea if there are really people out there trying to cover up the Digital World's existence from the people of Earth, but it's a chance we can't afford to take."

"They're advertising their knowledge of all this a bit too loudly," Chihiro agreed with a nod. "Even if they say that they're just keeping it in our little circle, we know that they're going to start talking under the right circumstances, and that could very easily lead to a disaster that spirals out of control way faster than we can control it. I bet there are people out there trying to cover this up, and if there's a group of teens who refuse to give up the search for the truth, then I don't know what they're going to do. It's probably not going to be anything good though. The government has always been full of shady people, and they're never going to be wrong about that much."

"We'll keep on as we have been then, and if we see any reason to interfere with their investigation, then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. That's probably just going to get them suspicious though, so we should stay away from that for as long as we can," Takuya concluded. "For right now, we can wait and talk about the whole light show thing when we meet up with the others in the Digital World. I know we were planning on going to speak with Miriamon when we got to the Digital World, and she's probably going to be the one who can answer our questions about all of this. She's the only one who's been around since the time of the Ancient Legendary Warriors, and given her connection to them, she has to know at least something."

"Maybe we can finally figure out what it is that's on her mind when she looks at us then," Izumi murmured. "I know it's been a while since we were last able to go and talk to her, but I still haven't been able to get her out of my head. I think she knows something that we're not yet aware of, and she's not sure what to do about it."

"I think you're right," Koji nodded. "Though there's a chance that she was just going to tell us about the echoes of the other Legendary Warriors being inside of our heads. She certainly seemed to imply that before when she said that she felt their souls inside of our bodies. She must have known about that and just didn't know how to break the news, but luckily for her, she doesn't have to. We figured it out on our own."

Chihiro sighed as they leaned their head back and stared up at the sky. "I feel like today has been an even bigger disaster than most days, and given that there have been two Void Fragment attacks this week, that's an accomplishment," they muttered. "I want to take a long nap and wake up when at least half of our problems have been solved. At least we've got a plan for what to do when we next head to the Digital World. I just hope no disaster strikes until then."

"Knock on..." Takuya faltered at that, realizing there was no wood present for him to complete the statement. He ultimately looked to the brick school nearby and roughly cleared his throat before knocking against it. "Brick, I suppose. I hope we don't run into any trouble either. We'll just have to try and seem as normal as possible in the meantime. You know, attract as little attention as we can."

Koji snorted. "That's much easier said than done with a group like ours, but I guess it can't be helped," he remarked. "Either way, we should go and try to rest before we have to go to the Digital World. We've got a lot of important work ahead of ourselves, and I don't want us to be too tired or bogged down by schoolwork when we head over there."

The Legendary Warriors nodded to one another at that and waved their farewells to one another. Chihiro watched as Koji and Izumi stared off in separate directions before glancing over to Takuya. "So... Home tonight, huh?" they questioned. They were lucky enough to not have any soccer practice that afternoon, and that meant they were going to have to use the extra time to catch up on homework as much as possible. Chihiro didn't mind it as much as they usually did, at least not today. Normally, Chihiro preferred kicking a ball around to thinking through equations and historical timelines, but with how clouded and terrified their mind was that afternoon, they knew just sitting down for a while to think was probably their best option. 

"Yeah," Takuya confirmed with a nod. "That should give us a bit more time to iron out our homework and then come up with a game plan for tomorrow. I can already tell we're going to have a lot to ask Miriamon about, and that doesn't even factor in anything she might want to tell us about first."

Chihiro nodded at that before taking in a careful breath and starting to follow him around the school. "Might as well get it over with then," they muttered. They were ready to be done with their homework already so they could concentrate on everything that was bound to come when the Digital World entered their life once again. Still, that wasn't an option, at least not yet, so they prepared themselves for a long night of homework and silent misery as they pushed through piles of agonizing tasks they never asked for. 

It wasn't until after Chihiro and Takuya had rounded the corner to the front of the school that Chihiro faltered again. That awful feeling of being watched was starting to sink in again even though they knew there was no one there. They glanced over their shoulder, trying to see if perhaps there was some vague chance their parents had sent someone after them again, but they were met with nothing. Chihiro let out a silent sigh at the sight. Knowing they were safe and seeing it were two different things, and they were certainly in dire need of the latter. 

"Are you okay?" Takuya questioned, pausing as soon as he noticed that Chihiro had stopped as well. He turned to look at them carefully, gauging their every action for clues as to what could have been plaguing them so suddenly. 

Chihiro snapped themselves out of it a moment later, shaking their head before trailing after him. "It's nothing," they assured him even though they knew just as well as anyone else that the lie wasn't quite as simple as they would have liked. "Let's just head back home."

Home. That was what the Kanbara household had always been to them. Chihiro had long grown tired of their blood parents, and they could scarcely be considered family after all they had done. Chihiro was glad they had such an incredible support system in place after everything they had gone through, and they knew they would never be able to thank Takuya, Shinya, Yuriko, or Hiroaki enough for all they had done. Having them there certainly made everything simpler. 

But that little bit of stability did little to stop Chihiro from glancing over their shoulder each time they thought Takuya wasn't watching. They weren't sure if he saw them or not, but they decided it didn't matter. They were tired of constantly feeling insecure in their own skin, and Katsuharu, Teruo, Teppei, and Chiaki's investigation into the Legendary Warriors had opened a wound Chihiro hadn't even realized was there to begin with. It felt so obvious in hindsight that they would feel awful after being chased down under the threat of being dragged back home, but that didn't mean Chihiro wanted to acknowledge it. They should have been better than this. Damn it, they normally were. 

It was a shame their fears didn't want to listen to reason. Oh, how easy it would have made everything else. 

~~~~~

Tomoki was tracing the familiar path back to his house after the school day, placing one foot in front of the other in a pattern that was as predictable as it was comfortable. He found himself humming under his breath, filling the air around him with the same tune that was coming through his earbuds. His hands were shoved loosely into his pockets as he took in the last few traces of summer air as it all began to give way to fall. Autumn would be there soon, and Tomoki wanted to enjoy the warmth while it was still there. 

All things considered, he should have felt on top of the world. Still, he knew something was wrong soon after he began his walk, and his humming fell silent immediately. It felt like someone had poured ice down his spine and told him to sit statuesque after the fact, and Tomoki bit down on his lip at the thought. It was a sensation he knew all too well, but he didn't want to admit what was happening at all. 

"Tomoki, I need you to walk as quickly as you can without getting hurt," Daipen tried to say, doing his best to keep his voice calm despite the urgency to the situation. It was clear that Tomoki was far from the only one who had noticed the sudden change in the atmosphere, the chill that had settled into their bones. It was all too familiar in a way Tomoki hated having to think about, and Daipen's words did little to calm him down. It didn't matter how calm the Hybrid Spirit's voice was; Tomoki could already feel the panic finding a home in his chest, and it was that same paranoia that made him look over his shoulder. 

Sure enough, Tomoki was met with exactly the same sight he had expected. 

Yutaka. 

He stood in the center of the sidewalk a few yards behind Tomoki, walking along at the same pace as his brother. He was almost casual in a way that made Tomoki feel sick to his stomach. Yutaka's posture was so similar to his own between his hands shoved in his pockets and the easy way he took each step forward. It was like nothing in the world had ever bothered him, and the smile on his face only made Tomoki feel worse about it. 

Run. 

Tomoki's own voice appeared in the back of his mind, and before he knew it, he had taken off running. His backpack slammed against his spine, clearly not too happy with the change of pace, but Tomoki couldn't help it. An anxiety unlike anything he had known in ages was starting to eat away at him. It had been a while since he last saw Yutaka, and while he had been hoping the restraining order would be enough to keep his brother away for the time being, he should have known it wasn't going to be that simple. Yutaka was nothing if not determined, and Tomoki had come to know that all too well over the years. If Yutaka wasn't determined to make his brother suffer, then Tomoki wouldn't have been made to bear so many scars of the emotional and physical variety over the years. 

Tomoki could still remember what it felt like for his brother to touch him, always too rough and harsh while hiding behind a facade of brotherly love. Yutaka had been perfect in their parents' eyes for so long, and even though Tomoki loved them, he couldn't hide his resentment that they hadn't done anything to save him from his brother's cruelty. They knew the truth but were too afraid to admit it for so long, and Tomoki was the one who had been forced to bear the brunt of it all. 

Tomoki barely kept track of where he was moving the entire time he was running. He couldn't tell if it was a better idea to go home or to hide out somewhere until Yutaka left him alone, and in the end, he wound up settling on a public library between him and the school. If Yutaka raised too much hell there, then people would hear him and immediately rush to Tomoki's defense... Right? People wouldn't just stand back and let bad things happen, right? 

Then again, wasn't that what Tomoki's parents had done in their own way? 

Tomoki only managed to calm himself down when he dashed into the library and pressed himself against the wall, his breath fast and hot in the back of his throat. Every part of his body was uncomfortably warm from anxiety, as a matter of fact, and he absolutely hated it. He thrived in the cold, but he was being denied that luxury because of his terror. He tried his best to let the cold sink in to replace his fear and nerves, but it wasn't as easy as he would have liked to calm himself down. When Tomoki looked down, his hands were shaking. 

It wasn't until after Tomoki mustered the courage to peer out the door again that he realized everything was fine. Yutaka hadn't chased after him, at least not this far. Tomoki hadn't even bothered to check if his brother had started running when he did, too afraid to give his brother any chance at all to catch up. His mind had been too muddled, every ounce of unprocessed trauma immediately slamming right back into him the moment he least expected. 

Tomoki retreated to the restroom as soon as he could bring himself to move, and the other echoes of Ice clamored at the back of his mind, but he didn't let them take control, too afraid to give up any ounce of power. He instead locked one of the stall doors behind himself and sat down after closing the toilet lid, pulling his legs up to his chest as tears rose in his eyes. This was the safest place he had at the moment. Yutaka wouldn't find him. 

No... He would. Yutaka always found him. Such was the bond between brothers for better or worse. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another chapter sealed and delivered!

I have to say first and foremost that I always love writing these chapters with the investigation team. They're tons of fun to work with, and I adore them. I love the new portrayals of them in this universe since they play very different roles both narratively and thematically. In the original, them being somewhat spoiled at the end of Frontier served the purpose of Frontier's philosophy of developing the characters in reverse. It's a mature step to start off with the characters' flaws and then work backwards from there, and I thought the quartet worked perfectly when put up against the main characters. Since I went for a different method of developing the characters though, I didn't really need them (and they didn't fit with the revised plot). Still, I really like where they ended up, even if they're a bit of a pain for the main heroes. 

Most of what we heard here is based on things that have already happened onscreen in previous chapters and building information off of that, but there's one exception to this: the shows of light. We're going to get more information out of that subject later on in this arc, but that's the start of learning more about the history of the Digital World in new ways. These dates do all match up with the birthdays of the Legendary Warriors, and we're going to dig more into that soon. For now though, I can tell you which birthday matches up with which character. 

For one, this story takes place in 2019. It took a while for me to narrow down a date for the story to take place since it wasn't important in the first book. The first book was just vaguely modern, but here, it actually matters for a few timeline reasons that we'll get into... Eventually. For now, the 2002 birthdays are Saki on April 27, Junpei on August 13, and Hinoka on October 12. For 2003, we have Takuya on March 29, Izumi on May 29, Koji and Koichi on June 4, and Chihiro on July 28. Lastly, in 2004, the birthdays are Tomoki on February 24, Haroi on March 17, Mayumi on April 1, and Yumiko on November 30. I figured out all of these birthdays for the cast when I was first working out details about the characters back in May of 2020. Well, all of them except for Izumi. Her birthday was previously April 29, but I decided to push it back to May so it wasn't right up against Saki's April 27 birthday. Aside from that, all of these are the same as my original character notes for some trivia. 

As for other analysis about this chapter, let's go into the scene with Chihiro. It was a pretty small thing, but them being paranoid about their parents is a bit of foreshadowing for where their arc is going to take them in the future. The group's time in the Digital World is over, but their troubles are far from being through, and they're going to see that soon enough. Chihiro's grating anxiety at feeling watched all the time is already starting to get to them thanks to Katsuharu and company, and it made for a perfect way to round up the plot line for this chapter while also fitting with the title of the installment. 

As for the reason this chapter was named the way it was, we have the scene with Tomoki. Once again, we have a bit of foreshadowing, though I can't say much more about it than that. There's a lot to be found in this story as far as bringing back old threads, and Tomoki is just the beginning. He deserves so much better than this. He was just starting to feel secure in himself only for Yutaka to ruin it again. I hope Yutaka goes to hell. 

That's about it for this chapter (I say after writing a 750 word author's note). Next week, we're going to keep pressing forward with the plot as the Legendary Warriors return to the Digital World to speak with Miriamon. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital