"-Shuseki Blaze was convicted of quite possibly one of the worst cases of child abuse this country has ever seen. The court saw video footage of this abuse, which bordered on torture-"

ProtoMan sometimes wishes the odd data exchange that made him and Arcadia brothers for real had given him more than just the ability to hear Chaud and Mimic's direct thoughts. He would give anything to be able to know what Chaud's feeling, what thoughts are running through his mind.

Because all Chaud's doing right now is staring at the holographic screen playing the news recording, blank-faced and empty-eyed. The only thing that tells ProtoMan is that his primary operator is more broken than he was before he went to visit Master Blaze in prison.

It's not fair. Chaud thought seeing his father again would help, and instead, it's done the exact opposite. Why can't things work out the way they want them to, for once? Every single time something bad like this happens, something else happens to make it worse, or things seem like they're getting better for a while, and then something really bad happens and sends everything spiralling into despair all over again.

ProtoMan can't help but think that this is his fault. He should've tried harder to convince Chaud not to visit Master Blaze. Maybe if he'd actually managed to do that, Chaud wouldn't be like this now. Maybe he'd be getting better, instead of getting worse.

"In related news, IPC has a new president and vice president-"

Chaud hunches his shoulders up a little. ProtoMan digs his claws in to stop himself from sliding off, though his shadows would definitely catch him if he fell off Chaud's shoulder.

The news recording ends, and Chaud plays it again from the start. The recorded voice of the news reporter gets about five words into the video, and then Chaud and Mimic's bedroom door opens.

Mimic pokes her head out, eyes flashing in the darkness. ProtoMan looks up and meets her eyes for a moment, and then she comes forward and crouches down beside Chaud.

Bedtime, Mimic says.

Chaud blinks slowly and looks up at her. His eyes reflect the light of his PET, making them seem emptier than they already are. Mimic reaches out and cuts off the recording, banishing the holographic screen, then carefully takes Chaud's PET from him.

Bedtime, she insists, tugging on Chaud's sleeve as she pushes herself to her feet.

ProtoMan deactivates the Navi-hologram as Chaud allows himself to be pulled up. He appears back inside his operator's PET and looks at the screen, making sure that Chaud actually does go to bed.

Whether or not he'll go to sleep is another matter entirely, but at least he's not sitting in the hallway, watching the news recording over and over again. At least ProtoMan doesn't have to mentally kick himself for not having the courage to delete the damn recording and give his operator some peace.

Once Chaud's curled up in the futon with Mimic, ProtoMan switches off the PET screen and goes over to his corner and settles down. Dark Shadow forms itself and sits next to him as he curls up, chin on his hands, staring at the opposite wall.

. . . He's not gonna get any better like this, ProtoMan murmurs.

No, Dark Shadow agrees. Evil-monster hurt host-brother too much. Bad this time. Very bad.

ProtoMan grunts quietly and tucks his hands under his chest, laying his chin on the floor now. Dark Shadow's blank white eyes turn to look at him, but rather than speaking, it simply reaches out and lays a clawed hand on ProtoMan's head. It's cold to the touch, but soothing in that odd way only Dark Shadow can manage.

He blinks and looks up, without raising his head, as Arcadia streams into the PET. He looks troubled, and ProtoMan can sympathise, of course.

Arcadia comes over and puts his back against the wall, sliding down until he's sitting on ProtoMan's other side. With his little brother's warmth on one side and Dark Shadow's comforting coldness on the other, ProtoMan should feel content - but he isn't, because he, like Arcadia, like everyone else in the Hikari house, is too worried about Chaud to actually relax.

He feels Arcadia's clawed hand softly brushing through his hair, and a wave of unhappiness sweeps over ProtoMan. The hand in his hair stills, and ProtoMan pushes himself up, curling around Arcadia and hiding his face in his brother's stomach.

Arcadia wraps his arms and wings around ProtoMan, and they sit like that until they fall asleep, with Dark Shadow watching over them.


Raika doesn't know if he's usually the first to wake up in the mornings, but whenever he does, Mimic and Chaud usually come downstairs fairly soon afterwards. They normally spend a quiet hour or two just sitting in the living room, waiting for everyone else to wake up as well.

Not lately, though. After Chaud's ill-fated visit to his biological father, it's just been Mimic coming downstairs in the early morning, and not for very long. She just grabs a glass of milk and heads back upstairs, no doubt trying to look after her twin, and she only acknowledges Raika enough to say a quick 'morning'.

Which is understandable. He's not going to get annoyed about Mimic not greeting him properly, not when Chaud's well-being (such as it is) obviously occupies her mind more than anything else. To be honest, it's probably occupying the mind of everyone who lives in this house, himself included, however temporarily that is. Bass, too, though he doesn't live here. Or Raika thinks he doesn't live here.

"I think perhaps we're all too close to this," SearchMan says, after Mimic heads off upstairs with the glass of milk.

"What do you mean?" Raika asks, glancing at his Navi.

SearchMan steps off his shoulder and onto thin air, looking up at Raika. Like everyone else, he's sporting a troubled look, but he seems faintly overwhelmed, too. Raika honestly feels the same way, sort of.

"I mean, we're all too close to Chaud to know how to actually help him," SearchMan clarifies. "Obviously we want to try, of course, but . . . well, maybe we should try asking someone who isn't as involved as we are for help. Or advice, maybe."

"There's always that Mizuki woman," Raika suggests.

But SearchMan shakes his head. "I don't think that would do much. Yes, I know she's a therapist, and this is literally her job, but she's been involved in all of this since day one. I'm talking about asking for help from someone who's never met Chaud, or even Mimic. It'll have to be someone we trust, of course, because this is . . . a very sensitive matter."

"Someone we trust who hasn't met Chaud or Mimic?" Raika murmurs. "There's not a lot of people we know who fit that description. Most of the people who could help with this already know them."

They both go quiet for a few moments, thinking it over.

Raika is suddenly hit with a flash of inspiration at the exact same moment that SearchMan's expression lights up, and they look at each other, eyes wide.

"Uncle Malenkov!" they exclaim in unison.

"That's perfect!" Raika goes on, unable to suppress a smile.

"He's never met Chaud or Mimic, and he's always been willing to give us advice if we need it," SearchMan agrees.

"And he took me in after my parents died, so he knows a thing or two about traumatised children," Raika adds eagerly.

SearchMan's expression twists a little, in that way that tells Raika he said something very awkward and very upsetting.

" . . . Sorry," Raika murmurs, wincing.

"Let's, uh . . . let's move on," SearchMan suggests, somewhat delicately. He lowers his voice to a mutter. "Just in case you stick your foot in your mouth again."

Raika gets the feeling he wasn't supposed to hear that last bit.

But, well, however awkward his verbal blunder was, it's true. Uncle Malenkov should have some experience with this kind of thing - not the exact same thing, obviously, but close enough to be useful - because he raised Raika after his parents died. Raika was too busy being, well, traumatised by the sudden loss to actually notice what his uncle did for him, and honestly it felt far too awkward to ask after he started getting better, but now . . .

Now he needs to ask, because Chaud's life may or may not depend on it.

He knows Bass usually shows up as a hologram in the real world before he goes to the other Navis. Raika once overheard MegaMan asking him why he does that, and Bass had replied with 'so I can make sure Chaud didn't fucking self-delete while I was gone'. Self-delete is the cyberworld term for suicide - so Bass is literally making sure that Chaud hasn't killed himself in the night.

Raika doesn't know if Chaud is suicidal at the moment. Mimic and their Navis would be the only ones who would know that, but they're not saying anything. So, yes, Chaud's life might depend on whether or not Raika can ignore the awkwardness of asking his uncle for some advice on helping traumatised children.


He waits until Chaud is out of the house, gone to school with Mimic and Lan, and Ragdoll too. Whether or not Chaud's actually paying attention in school is a matter of debate, but Raika did overhear Haruka talking to their teacher on the video-phone - a nice lady called Ms. Mari, who he's never met personally. The conversation was more about Chaud's blank stare than any grades that happen to be slipping, if they even are slipping in the first place.

Is Chaud the kind of person who stops paying attention to the things around him when things get really bad? Raika knows that Mimic is, kind of. But Chaud isn't Mimic, for all that they spent over a year sharing the same body. They're similar, of course, but they're not the same person.

Whatever the case, Raika waits until Chaud is gone, and then locks himself in the bathroom. SearchMan lets him know when Dr. Hikari has gone to SciLab, leaving only Haruka in the kitchen as usual (that woman loves to cook so much, it's almost absurd - not that Raika's complaining, because her cooking is amazing). As soon as he's sure that he won't be disturbed or overheard, Raika calls Uncle Malenkov and explains the problem.

Uncle Malenkov hums when Raika's finished talking, and he puts a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Chaud's one of those kids who's been on the news lately, right? One of the people you worked with to save the world?"

Raika's not entirely sure why, but he feels relieved when Uncle Malenkov says that instead of . . . well, instead of mentioning the abuse thing. Or Shuseki Blaze.

"That's him," Raika says, nodding. "U-Uncle, I wanted to ask . . . is there anything you can think of? Anything that could help?"

"He's basically unresponsive," SearchMan adds, standing on Raika's shoulder so he's in view as well. "His sister and their Navis are doing what they can, but even they can only do so much."

"Take him to a therapist?" Uncle Malenkov suggests.

Raika winces and exchanges a quick glance with SearchMan. "He's already seeing a therapist," he says. "But . . . we want to do something to help him. Even if it's only a little."

"A little is better than nothing," SearchMan murmurs, somewhat sadly.

"In that case . . ." Uncle Malenkov pauses for a moment, thinking it over. "Hm. When did you say this started, again?"

"After he went to visit his biological father in prison," Raika replies. "Mimic said Chaud thought that talking to his father would help in some way."

"Where did he get that idea from?"

Raika exchanges another glance with his Navi, this time more hesitant. "Uh . . . well, um . . ."

Uncle Malenkov's eyes narrow just a fraction. "Raika, you haven't done anything against the law again, have you?"

"No!" Raika quickly exclaims, flailing a little in mild panic. "No, no, of course not. Well, not me, anyway. Not personally. Kind of."

His uncle's deadpan expression does nothing to settle the mild panic.

"Look, it's . . ." Raika hesitates, trying to work out how to word it.

SearchMan speaks up before he can, though. "Chaud's primary Navi - ProtoMan - was bullied and tormented by the NetNavi of Shuseki Blaze. He was too afraid to even step outside of his operator's PET because of the damage that Navi did to him. The Navi was put into lock-down and isolated in the Navi prison when his operator was arrested, but he was recently deleted."

"Deleted by who?" Uncle Malenkov asks. The cautious tone he speaks with tells Raika that he obviously knows something's up and definitely suspects them of being involved somehow.

Technically they are involved, if only because they know who deleted Proxy. Knowledge of a crime isn't the same as actually committing a crime, but while Uncle Malenkov has always told Raika that he must do his duty as a Net Saver no matter what, Raika would rather keep silent this time. If only to avoid the trouble that could be caused if word got out that Bass is the one who deleted Proxy.

"I can't say," SearchMan tells Uncle. That's a wonderful phrase, because it's both vague and technically the truth - the kind of thing Mimic would do with her manipulation thing. "But ProtoMan was able to confront his fears - to confront the Navi who bullied him - and he's begun to recover since then. That's where Chaud got the idea that talking to his father could help."

" . . . Right," Uncle Malenkov says slowly. Raika has to suppress a relieved sigh when his uncle decides to move on rather than press the issue. "But talking to his father only made things worse."

Raika nods sadly. "And like SearchMan said, he's been pretty much unresponsive ever since."

"Do you know what happened, when he talked to his father?" Uncle Malenkov asks.

"Not exactly," Raika replies. "The only thing we really know is that, whatever his father said, it's made Chaud worse than he was before."

"The only people who actually know what was said are Dr. Hikari, Mimic, ProtoMan, and Arcadia," SearchMan adds.

"Arcadia?"

"Mimic's NetNavi," Raika explains. "The two of them swap sometimes, but ProtoMan's been staying as Chaud's NetNavi for the time being. For . . . obvious reasons."

"Understandable," Uncle Malenkov says, nodding. "Well . . . without knowing exactly what was said, I can't really get a good idea of what the actual situation is. But to be honest, it sounds like Chaud talked to the wrong person."

"The . . . wrong person?" Raika repeats, blinking. "Is there a right person to talk to?"

"Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't," Uncle Malenkov says.

"He's seeing a therapist," SearchMan says hesitantly.

Uncle Malenkov nods. "Yes, you mentioned that. But I'm not talking about therapists, here - if Chaud really does need to speak to someone, he might have had the right idea with his father."

"But . . . that only made things worse," Raika reminds his uncle, frowning. "You just said he might've talked to the wrong person. How could that have been the right idea?"

"Right idea, but wrong person," Uncle Malenkov tells him. "What about his mother?"

That throws Raika for a loop. SearchMan looks relatively stumped too, and after they blink at each other for a moment or two, more than a little bewildered, they turn back to Uncle Malenkov.

"Chaud's mother is dead," Raika says. He hesitates a little to add this, but it's kind of unavoidable given the topic. "It came up during the court trial, actually. I don't know the whole story, but Chaud's mother died a long time ago, and that's when . . . that's when the . . ."

"That's when the abuse started," SearchMan murmurs, eyes narrowing a little.

Uncle Malenkov lets out a faint sympathetic hum. "That poor boy . . . and his sister, too. They're twins, aren't they?"

Dammit. Raika keeps forgetting that most of the world knows Mimic only as Chaud's twin sister, rather than the girl who accidentally stole his body and became his twin sister after they were separated into their own bodies. 'Most of the world' also includes his uncle.

"They are." Luckily, SearchMan is apparently better at coming up with lies on the spot than Raika is. "But Chaud took the worst of the abuse, because he was the heir to Shuseki Blaze's fortune and company. I believe Mimic was only seen as . . ." His expression twists in disgust which isn't entirely faked. "As a spare. They were both simply tools, in Shuseki Blaze's eyes."

Uncle Malenkov looks almost sickened. "What kind of human being would think of his own children as nothing more than tools?" he mutters. "They're children."

Raika grunts quietly in agreement. Even if SearchMan was lying, there is still some truth in what he said - Chaud did indeed take the worst of the abuse, and Mimic was lucky to get out when she did, even if it wasn't exactly by choice. But Shuseki Blaze has left his mark on both of them.

Uncle Malenkov shakes his head. "There are some people in this world who were never meant to be parents. And yet it seems that people like that almost always end up having children." He sighs and looks back at Raika and SearchMan. "Getting back to what we were talking about before, though."

Raika nods.

"You say their mother is dead, but there might still be a way for her to help," Uncle Malenkov says. "She'll obviously have a grave somewhere, right?"

"A grave?" Raika echoes, blinking. His eyes widen. "Of course, her grave!"

Uncle Malenkov nods. "Perhaps visiting his mother's grave might help him. Like I said, he may have had the right idea, talking to his biological family - but he went to the wrong person. He won't be able to actually speak to her, of course. But . . . well, I hope you don't mind if I make a comparison between this boy and you, Raika?"

"No, please, go ahead," Raika quickly says, eager to hear any kind of advice his uncle can give him.

"It always seemed to help you, whenever we visited your parents' graves," Uncle Malenkov explains. "Obviously you and Chaud are different people, but even if you couldn't speak to them, it did seem to make you happier if you were able to visit your parents. Do you know where Chaud's mother is buried?"

Raika blinks. "I . . . don't," he admits. "The only thing I actually know about Chaud's mother is that she's dead. Beyond that . . ." He shrugs.

"Normally I'd suggest asking Chaud himself, since he would know, but . . ." But Chaud's unresponsive and isn't likely to answer something like that, anyway. "His sister would know. Their Navis might, too, if they've been with them long enough."

"ProtoMan told me he and Chaud became partners after Chaud's mother died," SearchMan says. "And Mimic never had a NetNavi until recently, when Arcadia became her partner."

"He didn't bother to give his own daughter a NetNavi, even though he gave his son one?" Uncle Malenkov snorts. "I suppose he really did see that poor girl as a spare." He shakes his head again. "But that's not the point. Since their Navis evidently won't know, that just leaves- what was her name, again? Mimic?" SearchMan nods. "Right. That just leaves Mimic. Do you think she'd mind if you asked something like that?"

"I'm not really sure," Raika says vaguely.

Truth be told, it's highly unlikely that Mimic would know where Chaud's mother is buried in the first place. She has her knowledge of the anime, that which gives her knowledge of the future, and her connection with Chaud allows her to see memories from him the same way he can see memories from her - but the anime likely never gave any specific locations for most things, never mind something like this, and Raika doesn't know if Mimic can get the location of Chaud's mother's grave using their connection.

"Try asking her anyway," Uncle Malenkov suggests. "If that doesn't work out, you could always try and dig up the information on your own."

Raika doesn't even know where to start with something like this. He can work a case as well as any Net Saver - perhaps even better, given that he's one of four Net Savers who can use Cross Fusion - but finding a single grave in the whole of Japan is very different to tracking down and arresting criminals.

For one thing, this is a foreign country. He's not at all familiar with it, beyond DenTech City anyway. And for another, what would he even need to do to find the grave of a woman whose name he doesn't even know? There are records of these things, of course, but it's not likely that he'd be able to access them - given that Chaud's mother was the wife of Shuseki Blaze, formerly one of the most powerful men in the country if not the entire world, records of the family tree and all additional information related to that would be kept private and under strict lock and key.

He could always attempt to use his authority as a Net Saver, of course. But that's unlikely to work, given that Shuseki Blaze was arrested by the regular police, and this has absolutely nothing to do with the Net Police in the first place, aside from the fact that two Net Savers were the victims.

The only real option he has is asking Mimic, even if it's unlikely that she'll be able to get the information for him. He could try asking Chaud, maybe, but . . . will Chaud even respond to him?

Raika's right arm throbs a little, as if trying to remind him of what happened last time he tried to interact with Chaud while he was unresponsive like this. He'd tried to stop Chaud from attacking the now-dead Dr. Regal, and got a hole bitten into his arm as a result. That wound still hasn't healed, not entirely, and he'd rather not end up with a matching hole in his other arm if he accidentally antagonises Chaud like that again.

What exactly are his options, then? Ask Mimic and hope she can get him the information he needs. Try and figure out how to find the grave of a woman whose first name he doesn't even know on his own. Or ask Chaud and risk setting him off into a violent outburst.

Those . . . aren't exactly the best options. But they're the only ones he has.

So what is he supposed to do?