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“Damn it!!”
Rei yelled the phrase over and over again as he slammed his fists into the wall, falling to his knees. He had failed. His AppliDrive was taken. His Buddy and all but one of his friends were captured. There was nothing else he could do. This was the end.
“It’s over,” Rei said. “Why…? We were so close… Damn it!”
He laid his forehead against the cold wall in front of him. He could feel the pressure building behind his closed eyes and did his best to not let the tears fall. Despite the crushing feeling of loneliness, Rei was aware others were watching him. He didn’t want them to see him cry.
“Haji…me…”
“We can’t give up,” Haru said. He was standing a few feet away from Rei. “If we give up now, it will all…”
Something about Haru saying that pissed Rei off. Rei didn’t need optimism, he needed to sulk and scream and cry.
Rei glared at Haru before standing up and grabbing the front of his jacket with both hands. Haru’s expression didn’t change as Rei pulled him close.
“It’s over!!” Rei yelled. “Don’t you understand?! Nothing else can be done!”
“Then are you okay with that, Rei-kun?!” Haru immediately shot back. It actually caused Rei to loosen his grip on him. “If you give up now, you’ll never be able to smile from the heart again!!”
Rei let go of Haru’s jacket. He felt bad for yelling at Haru, who was only ever trying to help. Rei could vaguely hear Haru continuing but wasn’t paying close attention. Eventually, he turned back to the wall, slumping to his knees and laying his forehead against it. Just like before.
Haru stopped speaking mid sentence when he noticed this. “...Rei-kun?”
“...Why do you keep trying with me?” Rei asked.
“What do you mean?” Haru asked in return.
“You’re too kind,” Rei began. “I haven’t done anything to deserve your kindness. I hurt you when we first met, but you still carried me on your back to Kashinoki Books anyway.”
“Y-You knew about that?” Rei didn't need to see Haru’s face to tell he was blushing.
“Hackmon told me,” continued Rei. “Anyway, you had no reason to help me. You didn’t even know for sure I was against Leviathan. And yet…”
Rei had a hard time keeping his composure. A part of him felt like he deserved to be alone, especially if he would never see Hajime again. In all honesty, Rei didn’t even want to live in a world without Hajime in it. Maybe it would be better for him to walk back over to Knight and surrender. Whatever happened after couldn’t be worse than losing his precious brother.
“Because I could tell you were kind at heart,” Haru said.
Rei turned his head to Haru, unsure of where he was going with this.
Haru continued, “You were hurting. You still are hurting. You convinced yourself that other people would get in the way of saving Hajime-kun, so you tried everything in your power to get leads however you could, even if it meant pushing away potential allies. But now, you’ve accepted us as your friends, and you clearly feel bad about how things went when we met.”
Rei looked at the ground again. “You didn’t know that back then.”
“I knew that you couldn’t have been on Leviathan’s side. That was enough for me.”
Rei never understood Haru. He was constantly beaming with optimism no matter how dire the situation seemed and did his best to remain kind no matter how hostile the person. In a way, Haru possessed the same innocence Rei saw in Hajime. Or maybe it wasn't innocence, per se, rather a genuine belief that the world was a good place and that the average person had a good heart.
Rei could never be like that. He had too much experience with the cruelness that existed in both humanity and the world. It’s why he was so hesitant to let the other AppliDrivers help him on his search for Hajime. But Haru’s kindness managed to remind Rei that there was still good the world had to offer, that he should not only fight to save his brother, but the world as well.
Rei heard faint footsteps followed by kneeling. Before he knew it, arms were around his waist. He slowly looked to the source.
“...Haru?”
Haru’s arms tightened around Rei ever so slightly. “Please don’t push me away. I really want to help you…” Haru buried his face into Rei’s shoulder. “You’re important to me.”
It was strange. When Eri and Astra had tried to hug Rei awhile back, he immediately shoved them off. But for some reason, this was different. Haru’s hug was tight yet gentle. Soft yet firm. It gave Rei a sense of comfort. It was almost comparable to the times Hajime hugged him in the past.
And Haru’s words weren’t much different. Only two other people had spoken something remotely similar to Rei before. One person he may never speak to again and one he knew he would never speak to again. Now, Haru had expressed a similar thought, and Rei could tell it was sincere.
It was nice.
Haru was really something special.
Rei turned to face Haru and slowly returned the hug. Haru flinched, apparently not expecting this, as Rei held him tight.
Hugging Haru was just as nice as Haru hugging him. He was so soft and warm. It caused Rei’s heart rate to pick up slightly. Rei began to realize that he really liked Haru much more than the others. Haru was important to him, too.
“R-Rei-kun?” Haru said.
“...Okay.” Rei replied.
“Okay?”
“I won’t push you away,” Rei said. “...I don’t want to push you away anymore.”
Rei still honestly felt like he didn’t deserve Haru. In his arms was a boy he had hurt, a boy whose friendship he had rejected, a boy who he yelled at only a few minutes ago. How could Haru forgive him so easily and so fast, too? Rei couldn’t understand.
But right now, Rei wanted Haru by his side more than anything. With Haru, Rei was sure they would be able to defeat Knight and get Hajime back. He wasn’t sure how, but he knew that surely, Haru had something in mind. Haru was a protagonist, after all.
“What’s your plan?” Rei asked Haru.
“Huh? How’d you know I had a plan?”
“You haven’t given up and convinced me not to as well. Surely, you thought of something.”
Haru laughed and pulled back from the hug. “You know me well.” He grabbed Rei’s hands. “Hajime-kun is an important experiment for them. They won’t hurt him. Once we defeat Knight-san and the others, we’ll get him back.”
“But they have our AppliDrives and our Buddies,” Rei said.
“The AppliDrives they have are fakes.”
“What?”
“Timemon has the real ones. He switched them out at the last second,” Haru explained.
Of course. Haru was the first one to give up his AppliDrive when Knight said he would trade Hajime for them. Rei should’ve known there was a reason for Haru giving in so easily.
“He’s also been searching for someone all this time,” Haru continued. “Someone that he found not too long ago.”
“Who?”
“My grandfather. He’s been in the Deep Web this entire time as data.”
So, digital ghosts are a thing inside the net. Rei noted this and kept listening to Haru.
“He’s upgrading our AppliDrives to be like Yuujin’s as we speak. Once he’s finished with that, we’ll use the Appmon that we still have to fight.” Haru squeezed Rei’s hands. “We’re going to get Hajime-kun back. And everyone else, too.”
Rei smiled. “I should’ve known I can count on you.”
Haru smiled back. “I’ll always be there for you, Rei-kun.” Then, he leaned forward and lightly kissed Rei on the cheek.
…What?
Rei blushed. He was about to question Haru when a portal opened up beside them. Haru stood up to greet who came through it, which was Timemon. Rei decided he would come back to this once everything was settled.
Haru gazed at Rei and Hajime embracing each other. The plan went perfectly. Haru and Rei managed to save their friends as well as Hajime. Once Rei converted Hajime back to human form, he immediately hugged Hajime and started sobbing. Hajime did the same. Haru had teared up himself, so happy that Rei finally had his brother back.
A few minutes had passed and everyone's tears had dried up. Rei still held Hajime tight, not ready to let go given this was the first time he’d seen his brother in months, but instead of tears, Rei had a wide smile on his face. A smile born from genuine happiness.
A smile from the heart.
Haru blushed. This was the first time he had ever seen Rei smile like this, and it was beautiful. Haru had thought Rei was beautiful for a while now, but this smile just made him even more beautiful. Haru wanted to see that smile more often, as often as he could. He wanted to be the reason for that smile.
“What’s up with you?”
Haru flinched, turning to the voice. “Y-Yuujin!”
“Your face is as red as your jacket,” Yuujin laughed as he poked Haru’s cheek.
“I-It’s nothing…” Haru said, turning his attention back to Rei.
“Are you sure?” Yuujin followed Haru’s line of sight and stared for a second. Haru barely even noticed.
A moment passed before Yuujin spoke again. “...Wait a minute! You’re blushing at Rei, aren’t you?”
“H-Huh?”
“Aww, that’s so cute.” Yuujin put his arm around Haru. “You have a crush on him! Though, I thought you liked Ai-chan. Does that mean you swing both ways?”
“I do! I mean, I don’t! I mean—ugh, Yuujin!!” Haru felt his face heat up more. He tried to remove Yuujin’s arm from his shoulders but to no avail.
Yuujin just laughed and pulled Haru closer. “Don’t worry. I don’t judge. Not sure what you see in him, but I’m happy for you!”
“Don’t speak so loud,” Haru said as he covered his face with his hands. He knew Yuujin liked to tease him, but it was still so embarrassing every time it happened.
Yuujin finally removed his arm from Haru. “Sorry, sorry. Really, I’m happy for you. Always will be."
Haru uncovered his face to Yuujin’s fist raised in the air. Haru raised his too and bumped wrists with Yuujin before high fiving him, completing their handshake. After that, Yuujin went to pick up Offmon, so Haru looked at Rei once again.
Rei had pulled back from hugging Hajime. It looked like they were talking about something. Haru just continued watching as he was before.
Then, Rei looked over Hajime’s shoulder at Haru. They locked eyes, but Haru’s expression didn’t falter. He smiled brightly at Rei.
Rei flushed a light pink before returning a shy smile of his own. He was probably thinking about what happened before Timemon returned, Haru assumed. Haru was sure he would get a chance to talk about his feelings for Rei with him eventually, but it could wait. For now, they had other things to worry about. They still had Leviathan to deal with.
Their conversation could wait until after they won.