Daisuke flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. "Man oh man...things are not looking good around here, already..." The impatient teenager stood up and walked to the doorway, looking out into the hall. Takeru's door was closed and locked, and no one answered when he tapped on the wooden surface.

Across from Takeru's room and on Daisuke's right was another door; the last one at this end of the hallway. "Maybe that's Shinichi-kun," Daisuke mused. He knocked.

No answer came, but Daisuke could hear noises inside--some kind of English music, it sounded like. Maybe Shinichi was there after all...? Dai tried the handle, finding the door unlocked, and stepped in. "Shinichi-kun? You in here?"

"Who's that?" An unfamiliar voice floated back to him.

"Um...who are you?" Figuring it was Shinichi's roommate--after all, he didn't have a Pet--Daisuke closed the door behind him and entered the room. A redheaded boy was on the single bed with an open Pineapple laptop, giving Daisuke a quizzical stare. He lowered the volume of the music.

"Can I help you?"

"Um...I'm Motomiya Daisuke...I was looking for Shinichi."

A worried look crossed the redhead's face. "Uh, he's not here right now. He'll be back soon."

"Are you his roommate?" Daisuke asked curiously.

"Just a friend."

"Hey! Are you Koushirou?" Dai grinned widely. "I'll bet you are!"

The obsidian-eyed teen looked even more anxious. "Yes, I am. How did you..."

"Taichi-sempai told me!" Daisuke said nonchalantly. "And you're Shinichi's boyfriend, ne?"

"Wait a minute. Tai told you?"

"Yeah."

Koushirou looked thoughtful. "Well...how much did he say?"

"Pretty much everything. And of course I know Shinichi too."

"...everything? Oh, I'm going to have words with him..."

Daisuke jumped back, startled. "No, no, don't get mad at Taichi-sempai! He said I was trustworthy! He says he has a sixth sense."

"Well...Tai's never told anyone else...so...maybe I'll trust his judgement. This time."

"Oh, thanks Kou-kun! I owe you. So, where's Shinichi?"

A split second later the bathroom door opened, and a tall girl with damp lavender hair stepped out, wearing a loose t-shirt and shorts. She stared at Daisuke.

Daisuke stared back. "Oh, hello. Are you looking for Shinichi-kun too? Wait a minute, I thought girls weren't allowed on campus."

The female's shocked eyes moved from the oblivious Daisuke to Koushirou, whose mouth was hanging open. "Kou-chan...why is he in here?"

"I didn't hear you shut off the shower," Koushirou replied slowly, "and anyway, I thought he knew. Don't you know him?"

"Hey, you look really familiar," Daisuke commented.

The girl's eyes were blazing. "No, he doesn't know! Why would he know!?"

Daisuke was starting to get a really bad feeling. "Know what?"

"Motomiya-kun, how much did Taichi tell you?"

"Um...about what? Shinichi? Just that you two were involved. And stuff. Hey...wait a minute!" He looked at the lavender-haired female. "If it wasn't for those glasses, you'd look...holy crap, Shinichi-kun, is that you?"

"Is there any point in denying it now?" Shinichi glared at Koushirou, who wilted under her gaze.

"Wait, wait just a darn minute. You're a girl. You're a girl!?"

"Pleased to meet you too," she said sarcastically.

Daisuke began to put the peices of the puzzle together. "Oh, I get it! Taichi said that you came here to help out Koushirou-san." He added the -san as an afterthought, in hopes of placating the fuming redhead. "And you're his girlfriend, right?"

Shinichi looked hesitant. "Taichi...told you?"

"Yeah!"

"Taichi usually has had good judgement, Miya-chan," Koushirou stated.

"True. He's not going to escape the beating of his life, though, once I get my hands on him..."

"Miya..."

"Sorry, I keep forgetting where I am. Anyway...Daisuke-kun, you know that this can't be told to anybody. Not even Ken. If anyone finds out, I'll be expelled for sure."

Dai smiled. "You can count on me."

"Good. Sit down, friend, and we'll tell you the whole story."

Shinichi's tale was much like what he had heard from Taichi--minus the part about Koushirou and Shinichi being gay, a point that in retrospect Daisuke realized that Tai had skillfully avoided. She had enrolled in Sekitomachi when Koushirou had been sent there, after an accident had killed both his parents. Koushirou was 18 and in his last year of school, but was still unable to support himself.

The girl's real name was Inoue Miyako, and she was from Odaiba, just like him. The story of Koushirou's Pet ownership was just as Taichi had described it, with the addition of the relationship between the Pet and the girl-turned-boy. Miyako explained that they usually met in her room while Aki attended his basketball practices, every day after school. On that particular day Koushirou had been filling out applications for university while Miyako took a shower and restyled her long lavender hair to fit under the baseball cap for the remainder of the night. Koushirou joked that Miyako was perfectly willing to pose as a guy--as long as it didn't involve cutting her hair. After seeing the length of the hair in question Daisuke was inclined to agree--it reached halfway to her waist and was such an unusual color that it immediately drew attention.

Miyako adjusted her glasses--Dai had to admit that she looked more masculine when she wore the contacts she had in that morning--and looked at the visitor. "Well, Dai, that's the whole story."

"You can't count on me to keep it a secret--and you can always come to me for help." Daisuke grinned. "It's good to know that there are people here to tlak about something other than sports and Pets."

"Do you have a Pet?" Koushirou asked, uncertainty in his eyes.

Daisuke smiled again. "Technically, he's a Pet, but right now he's a friend." And hopefully, something more. "Oh! I should go check up on him, anyway--I don't want anyone taking him."

"Taking him?"

"It's Ken." Miyako's eyes were full of worry as Daisuke jumped off the bed and ran to the door with a wave good-bye.

"Ken!?" Koushirou was visibly shocked. "But...taking him permanently? That's dangerous!"

"I know." Miyako moved closer to her boyfriend, letting him wrap his arms around her. "I really like Daisuke...but I'm afraid for him..."

"If he gets to close to Ken..."

Miyako sighed. "I just hope he doesn't get hurt."

~to be continued

Shi: Who saw that coming?
Seki: Me, for one.
Ken: Me too.
Dai: Me three.
Shi: Oh, stop that. You're the muses, you shouldn't even have an opinion.
Muses: ...kill...