"He tried to save the world, and they repay him by locking him up in prison...? How dare they dishonor his sacrifice for [REDACTED]... I will make them PAY...."

****

"Urgh... my head feels so faint..."

Looking around, Hiro yawned as he stretched, feeling achy all over. He didn't know what Jinpei had done while in his body, but there was no way his body would feel THIS tired. 

While groaning, Hiro sat up and was finally ready to start his day as usual when he blinked. 

The bed felt... bigger than his bed at Hazakura. 

"Huh?" he looked down, trying to discern what Jinpei had done...

And found himself staring at someone that was definitely not Gammamon. 

A human female, to be exact. 

"E-EH?! WHO ARE YOU--" 

Suddenly, his headache grew bigger, and he winced as he gripped his head. Why did it hurt so much?! He had just tried to ask a question, and yet--

"Kinori? Are you okay?" the female asked him. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you? I mean, yesterday's Youkai wasn't exactly easy to deal with it, but Suzaku's summoning probably left you exhausted." 

Who was Kinori?...

He then noticed the mirror nearby and did a double-take. 

Dark purple hair that was spiked up, chubby cheeks, and small black eyes.... 

For the second time that month, Hiro was another person, and boy was he not happy with that.

****

"Hiroooo, onaka suita!" 

"Ugh, stop bothering me Shu- Wait what did you call me?" his pleasant dream about him and Ayame was cut short as he registered what the dinosaur-like.... thing had said. 

"Hiro? What's wrong?" the other asked. 

Hiro? The last time he checked, his name was Arihoshi Akinori, a name that he liked, thank you very much. 

"If this is a prank Nade-nee-" he froze up as a splitting headache arose out of nowhere. "AGH! It hurts!"

"Hiro, daijoubu?" Akinori felt sharp claws touch his cheek slightly, and despite the flinch from the claws, he could feel the warmth in the other's paw. 

He was still very much confused, though. Who was Hiro, and why did he think that Akinori was him? 

He got his answer when he got up and saw a mirror, revealing how this Hiro was supposed to look. 

Bright emerald-lime orbs, leaf-like brown hair hanging around, and fair skin completed the look with the green shirt he had on at the moment. 

The only thing he could say?

"Okay, what the fr--" 

****

"There's something off about you, Kinori." 

Once again, I find myself in such a weird situation, Hiro thought to himself with a sigh. He was so done with this, genuinely. Yesterday was emotionally draining, and while he was relieved that he could let out some of the pain, it didn't mean his energy was back to its normal levels. If anything, they just decreased upon absorbing just what was going on. 

The girl, who was his older sister after he lied (for the second day in a row, wow) that somehow he had lost some memories, had introduced herself as Arihoshi Tenade, and had helped fill in some of the blanks he needed about the person whose body he was in at the moment. He was Arihoshi Akinori, apparently.

"I told you I lost some of my memories," Hiro dismissed her suspicions despite the swirling panic that was beginning to settle in his stomach. "What do you expect?" 

"True, but it's like... how do I say it... something's not right. The way you talk, it feels... different, even if you lost your memories... it's like your talking style did a 180."

Once again, he could feel the mist of worry cloud his mind again. Dang it, he didn't know the first thing about Arihoshi Akinori and this was the result. 

He tried to keep his cool, although the stress of having to deal with Digimon, then this, was starting to pile up again. He couldn't let this break him, yet it was so... so tempting to do that. 

His appetite now mysteriously gone, Hiro set the chopsticks down and got up, "I'm not hungry... I'm going to take a walk." 

Tenade grabbed his hand, "Hold on! You-" 

He swatted her away, "Leave me alone! I don't need your kindness or whatever it is! I just want to be home--" 

Once again, the lightning struck his head, and he screamed as he collapsed onto the ground, shaking, trying to recover from that painful shot. 

"KINORI!" was the last he heard before he slipped into the dark, where the six-month-old despair cried out for nutrition and got what it wanted. 

****

Akinori closed his eyes as he looked up, trying to keep his tears from falling. He had seen how sensitive Gammamon was to his emotions, even though he wasn't his partner, so he resolved to quietly cry about this... this chaos. 

Times like these made him miss his older sister and younger siblings. Sure Tenade traumatised him and left him unable to make friends until Natsume, Touma, Keisuke and Ayame came along, and she did tend to be a bit arrogant. But she cared immensely for all of them, and she always let him hold her hand when he got nightmares from those times. His siblings were all as weird but they cared. Dan had taken too much after Tenade, while Wynton had taken his smarts from her. Lia was the calm one and Shun was lovable, although he did tend to wake Akinori up during his naps for Tomphy merchandise shopping. Ajit did have a lot of difficulty fitting in, but all of them were his family, and he loved them. 

Now, with only Gammamon for company... He felt oddly empty. He didn't know where he was, what he was doing here, and how the body-switching even happened. All, what was up with all the rules they had to this body-switching thing?

... Maybe he could try compiling what he knew first? It could help Hiro as well, so Akinori took out the other's phone (sometimes he forgot how nice normal clothes were) and began typing down what he know. 

"So far, if I mention anything about my real self that isn't connected to Hiro, I'll get a pain in my head," he mumbled. "Not to mention, it does seem like I used the amnesia trick yesterday. Maybe this happens for one day only? So yesterday it was someone else..."

"But who would do this, and why?" he asked himself. "It can't be Soranaki can it?"

He groaned and wiped the tears away from his eyes. He really hated it when he got this emotional. Dang it, he really was a weakling. 

But at the same time...

He stroked Gammamon's head slightly and smiled as he said, "Peace and quiet... It's been a while since I felt this serene. Thank you so much for this chance, Kami-sama, even if it's just for a day." 

And so, he continued typing down his observations while patting Gammamon. 

If he fell asleep along the way, it was fine. No one would notice it in his private room.

****

"Hey, are you okay?" Tenade asked Hiro while helping him steady himself on the bed. 

"Y-Yeah..." Hiro nodded, looking away as he noticed the time. They had been eating breakfast, but now... it was  6 p.m. Tenade looked starved to death... Had she stayed up to care for him...?

That... made Hiro oddly nostalgic, and soon, the tears he had tried so hard to suppress since entering Hazakura, since the disappearance of his dad... it all came out as he started crying.  

He hated this. So so much. He wanted his dad back. He wanted his mom back. He wanted his family back, thank you very much! Why did the world love picking on him?! Why? Why was he never allowed to be happy!?  

Suddenly, he felt a body pull him into theirs, and he froze up. Was it... Tenade?

"It's okay... it's okay..." Tenade soothed him quietly. "You're safe now, Hiro-kun."  

Hiro instinctively stiffened. He had been found out--

"I saw your memories... I can do that since our world allows the use of magic... I'm sorry for looking into your memories like that," Tenade explained quietly. "I'm... so sorry for your dad's disappearance, Hiro... I'm sorry I tried to force you into telling me everything..." 

At that, he felt his muscle loosen, and he pulled himself closer to the older female, "I-It's okay... I-I'm sorry for acting out..." 

"No no, it's okay," she comforted. "I already sent my younger siblings out to keep them from knowing this, and I'm glad I did."

Hiro then exhaled, "I'm glad..." 

"You know, it's okay to cry out once in a while," Tenade shifted so Hiro could place his chin on her shoulder. "You don't have to hold it all in. Trust me, I did that before, and it cost me years in prison and trauma for Kinori." 

"Yikes..." he winced. "I'm sorry about that." 

"It's cool," she laughed. "Never apologise for things you didn't do, Hiro. It doesn't make any sense."

Hiro blushed slightly. He did do that a lot, didn't he?

"Do you want to sleep now?" she then asked him. "Or do you want to eat something?"

"I think I'm good for today," he said. "Can I sleep for now?" 

"Sure," she smiled. "Sleep well, okay?" 

Hiro nodded, "Got it." 

Tenade then got up and was about to leave when Hiro hesitantly called out, "Erm, thank you... for letting me cry on you..." 

Tenade blinked and looked back, but grinned softly and said, "Nothing to worry about. We're family after all." 

Hiro's heart swelled when he heard that. She... she considered him family. A total stranger...

He lied back onto the bed, and a teary smile made its way to his face. 

"Thank you..." he whispered quietly, and slowly closed his eyes, letting dreamland take him through the good times spent with his dad. 

****

When both woke up the next morning, they were relieved to be back in their own bodies. Akinori was ecstatic to be back, although he did explain some theories he had about the body-swapping to his older sister. Hiro, on the other hand, found Akinori's notes, which he had added his number to, and decided that if they lived in the same world, he wanted to contact him. 

Because as nice as that experience was, he knew that there was something wrong. Something VERY wrong. 

But Hiro now had that fire, the will needed to be proactive. 

His fragile heart had grown tougher over the two days of being someone else, and Hiro was glad of that. He was ready to take the next step in finding his father, but helping others who might be dealing with that nonsense too would be a sweet bonus. 

So he went onto the internet and made an online forum. After chatting up Akinori, (to both their surprises, it got through) Hiro then sent one to Jinpei, who had saved his phone number under Body Switcher and a peace sign, although Jinpei was also pleasantly surprised that it worked. The three and Tenade then began to discuss what was going on. 

Little did they know... that they were being watched. 

****

"Huh, he's a smart kid... But by the time they figure it out, it'll be too late... So you should  just give up now foolish children."

Tenade is my OC, and so are Baehoshi and Ichita.