Chapter Text
Netto woke with his heart in his throat and the lingering sense of fighting something. He was in his room. He plopped back down onto the bed and grumbled;
"Ugh. I think I had a weird dream, Rockman." There was no response. "Rockman?" Sitting up again, Netto slipped out of bed and paused. His PET was in its dock like always but that wasn't what made him pause.
There was another bed in the room. It ran parallel with his, pressed against the opposite wall and was decorated in a pallet swap of his own green sheets. The shelf which Netto remembered being there had been moved near the door.
"Who are you?" Netto questioned, PET forgotten as he crept over to the bed and the stranger sleeping in it. He poked a round cheek and brushed his hand through brown bangs.
"Nnn." The stranger began to stir. His brown eyes squinted in his sleep before opening.
"Hello," Netto said, kneeling beside the bed.
"N-Netto?" the stranger stammered, jumping up and getting his feet slightly tangled in the sheets. He stared at the sheets and then around at the room. "Where are we?"
A suspicion started to form in Netto's mind. However, as he often did, he decided to play dumb. After all, he could be wrong.
"In my room. I think. I don't remember this bed. Or having two sets of everything." There was indeed two sets of everything. Two bags sitting by the door, two PETs, two charging docks and two beds. "Or two mes. Who are you, anyway?"
The strange with his face blinked slowly, as if trying to process everything at once.
"What do you mean, Netto? It's me, Rockman!"
"Rockman?" Netto looked the kid up and down. "Rockman.EXE?" Rockman nodded and gave him a pleading look but Netto wasn't fully convinced. He helped the kid out of the sheets. "Prove it," he ordered.
Rockman's mouth dropped open. "How am I supposed to do that?" He stumbled to his feet, a look of surprise coming across his face as his legs were weak after a night in bed. "What-"
A deep, rumbling voice from below interrupted, "Saito!" 'Saito' Rockman mouthed, eyes wide. "Netto! If you don't want to be late, you should hurry up!"
The boys shared a look. "That wasn't Mama," they said in unison. Netto couldn't help thinking that someone was playing a horrible joke on them.
Rockman's expression was tight. Without smiling, he moved in front of Netto and towards the door. "Stay behind me."
"Got it," Netto said, falling into step.
The twins crept down the stairs. Humming could be heard from the kitchen. A round shaped man made his way around, his back to them as he fiddled around in the fridge.
Rockman held his fists up, ready to fight as the figure whirled around.
"Ah, boys. I hope you're not going to school in your pyjamas!"
They stared at him from the doorway, Netto angling to get a better look past Saito. The large and fluffy white beard which matched his combed hair allowed them to recognise this man, having seen pictures around their house.
"Grandpa?" Netto questioned.
This was weird. Grandpa had died before they had even been born.
"Yes, Netto?" the jolly man responded kindly.
Netto had no idea how to respond.
"Where's Mama and Papa?" Saito asked for him.
Tadashi Hikari laughed a deep belly laugh. "Boys, you know I don't keep tabs on where they go. Your father drags your mother all over the world for work."
Saito's mouth dropped open.
"So you're looking after us?" Netto asked.
Their grandfather nodded. "Now boys, you should probably get ready for school. It started five minutes ago."
Even though this couldn't be real, Saito's stomach dropped at the thought of being so late. Netto was about to shrug when Saito grabbed his arm.
"Quickly Netto!" he said. "We should get ready!"
"But we're already late!" Netto could be heard whining as his brother pulled him back up the stairs.
Saito and Netto puzzled out their problem as they got ready for school.
"This can't be real," Saito insisted, marvelling at the blue hoodies and vests. He grabbed one and pulled it on. They wore the same kind of pants but this world seemed to think they needed to be colour coded as Saito's shoes were just like Netto's, except blue instead of orange.
"I think it's kind of cool, real or not," Netto said happily. He glanced over at Saito who was sitting on the floor and glaring at his shoes and their undone laces. "Um…"
"I think I need some help," Saito admitted quietly, pulling his legs up and resting his head on his knees.
Netto quickly tied Saito's laces while telling him how to do them himself. At least Saito was a quick learner.
"I can teach you to skate!" he realised, eyes sparkling.
Saito groaned. "I don't know about that." From the PET, it was always a blur whenever Netto skated. He didn't think he could do it.
"I'm sure we can get some time skating in while working out why we're here."
Saito chuckled, Netto seemed so enthusiastic. "Let's just get to school first."
They were so late. Saito didn't even understand how it happened. According to Grandpa, they had left shortly after Meiru but they hadn't encountered her on the roads. Instead, Netto would skate forward and around poles and people in a circle until Saito caught up.
"Too bad this world didn't see fit to give you awesome roller attachments like mine!" Netto laughed as he skated into school. It was a far cry from the person who had offered to teach Saito to skate.
"No fair! Netto!" Saito shouted, dashing into school past his brother. The only good thing about this was that running didn't seem to wind him.
Saito paused inside the school building, looking around. It was a new perspective on a place he usually attended.
"Come on, we're late!" Netto said, grabbing his arm and pulling him past the picture of the principal displayed in a frame on the wall. Netto pulled him all the way up to Mariko Sensei's class and opened the door.
Mariko Sensei took one look at the twins and sighed.
"Netto. Saito. You're late."
Netto just gave his signature chuckle.
Saito bowed his head slightly, staring at the ground.
"Sorry, Mariko Sensei," they said in unison.
Mariko Sensei shook her head. "If you're late tomorrow, I'll have to have another talk with your grandpa."
"Yes, Mariko Sensei." One again, they responded in unison since the appropriate response was obvious.
They sat next to each other in the front row. The hairs on Saito's neck stood up as he sat down. He turned back to see Meiru staring at him. It made him nervous.
Papa had said that he was a secret. Saito didn't want to spill the secret, even if they were in another world.
Looking back, there was another thing he noticed.
"Netto," he whispered to his brother. "Why is Enzan here?"
Netto glanced back at the white and black haired teen, who was glaring daggers at them. "I have no idea. Maybe it has something to do with this world?"
The bell rang for lunch. Meiru came over to Netto's desk.
"Are we going to eat lunch together?" she asked him with a small glance Saito's way. Saito's gut went cold with the realisation that she was in the same situation as them. She was probably from their world.
"Netto," Saito said in his soft way. "Can we talk first?"
"Huh? Sure, Saito."
Meiru watched them go, confused and saddened. Enzan walked up to her.
"So, it's strange for Netto to avoid you?" he questioned.
"It's none of your business," Meiru countered. "You're not even supposed to be here."
"I know," he responded, causing her to pause for a moment. "We appear to be trapped in a world different to our own. Or something like that."
"Poetic," she said flatly.
His expression didn't change and he stared at her. "I woke up in a world where my mother is alive, I'm in school with Netto and the rest of you and there's two of Netto here."
"I think the other one is called 'Saito'," Dekao commented from his seat.
"Enzan knows that," Yaito pointed out. "He's just saying that it's a difference since Saito doesn't exist in our world."
"You guys as well?" Enzan questioned in surprise, looking down at the little blond girl.
"Yes, us as well. You'd know that if you bothered to jack Blues in during class," Yaito said. "Glide and the others were all talking about it."
"My house is in a completely different location," Dekao said. "It took me ten extra minutes to get to school!"
"My house and yard are much smaller than they are in our world," Yaito huffed in complaint. "And staff are almost non-existent. I don't know what's going on here, but I demand it be fixed!"
"There have to be some clues," Enzan mused.
"There's another kid I've never seen before in the class next to ours," Yaito informed him. "Maybe you should check him out."
"Meanwhile, we'll try to talk to Netto and confirm whether or not he's our Netto," Meiru said.
Enzan nodded, that sounded like a good plan.
Netto gave Saito a curious look. His brother had pulled them into a quiet corner of the library and was looking around to make sure no one else was in sight.
"Aren't you being a little paranoid?" he asked.
Saito sighed and took a seat. "I know I am. But Papa said this was supposed to be a secret."
"What?"
"This," Saito motioned to himself. "Rockman being created from Saito Hikari's data is supposed to be a secret because something like it had never been done before and, as far as we know, hasn't been done since."
"So?"
"If people knew, Papa said he could get into a lot of trouble. He broke rules when he used me… uh, Saito… for my… ugh, Rockman's base." Saito's face screwed up as he had to concentrate to not muddle his sentence up. He wasn't certain which nouns and pronouns to use, wasn't used to talking about this at all, and it was throwing him off. "And even if he hadn't, the Navi project which created me is supposed to be confidential."
"You're worried about telling our friends."
"They're obviously in the same situation as us but..." Saito trailed off, running his hands through his hair in frustration. Netto giggled, reminded of their father who did the same thing.
"It's okay. I'm sure we can work something out without spilling the secret."
Saito wasn't so sure but Netto smiled and was so certain it was difficult to remain pessimistic. Saito trusted his brother so he relaxed a little. Especially when Netto pointed out that this lunch would be Saito's first meal. Neither of them had been able to eat the breakfast Tadashi had created, but they both had boxed lunches curtesy of their grandfather.