THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Serenade of Light does not own . (Man, this line is getting really boring.)

Chapter 23: Missing Team Member

Laika looked around at the table of people, taking note of the various officials sitting there waiting for the meeting to begin. He also noted Netto's absence, but this in itself was not surprising. One could almost count on Netto being late as one could count on the sun rising each morning...and using the word "almost" was giving Netto credit. So Laika thought nothing of the boy's absence.

But as time slowly ticked by and the meeting progressed, Laika began to wonder more and more why his younger comrade had not yet rudely burst in, apologizing frantically. Laika progressively found it harder and harder to focus on the men presenting as the minute hand slowly moved around the clock face and unwilling curiosity and, yes, even worry continued to rise. What bothered him more was that no one else in the room seemed to notice that Netto was absent.

Finally to the Sharo soldier's relief the meeting ended. He and Enzan exited the room.

"I've been in more exciting meetings," Enzan commented dryly. When Laika did not respond, the shorter net saver looked up at his comrade, who seemed to be deep in thought. "Something wrong?" Enzan asked.

"Huh, oh, nothing," Laika said. "I was just wondering why Netto did not show up. He's usually late, but he always makes it." Enzan stopped cold. Laika turned around confused. "What?" Laika asked.

"You…don't know yet?" Enzan asked.

"Know? Know what?" Laika asked, dread unwillingly rising in his chest. The look on the normally stoic face of the dual-haired boy was not at all settling. "What's wrong with Netto?"

Enzan looked away regretfully. "He's sick," Enzan said.

"How sick?" Laika asked.

"Really sick. He's been in the hospital for awhile. Actually, he's been in a coma for several days now," Enzan said just loud enough for Laika to make out what he was saying.

"A coma? How!" Laika asked.

"He has a heart disease but the coma is from being an idiot and playing hero," Enzan explained.

"Playing hero? What do you mean by that?" Laika questioned further, not at all surprised at the "playing hero" part but wondering what it meant in this situation.

"Have you heard about the hospital fire?" Enzan asked.

Laika nodded. "Yeah. No one died because one patient…oh," Laika said, putting two and two together.

"Netto's heart was put under too much stress. Not to mention being exposed to the smoke and the heat for so long," Enzan said. "Though, quite frankly, the doctors say it is a complete miracle that he did not die."

"So…do they expect him to live?" Laika asked hesitantly.

Enzan, still looking away, did not answer away; but after what seemed like an eternity to Laika, Enzan finally answered, "If he wakes up, yes." There was another long pause and Enzan looked back up at Laika. "You want to come with the hospital with me to see if he has awakened?"

Laika slowly nodded indicating his desire. The two then left the police headquarters in silence.

The monitors gave off a steady, slow beeping sound as Enzan and Laika entered the still room. Rockman, who had been sitting on the table in holographic form, looked up as the two net savers walked in but did not say anything; though it was clear he was surprised to see Laika.

"No improvement?" Enzan asked. Rockman shook his head sadly. Enzan then took his seat in the new hospital room next to the table in the corner. Laika soon followed suit, taking the seat on the opposite end. The breeze from the nearby ocean blew gently into the room. It was such a nice day and it crossed Enzan's mind that it was such a shame that Netto was missing such a day.

The minutes passed with no activity. Before long Laika stood back up and went to Netto's bedside. He had not really seen the brunette when he had walked in and it startled him how small and frail the boy looked lying in the stark white hospital sheets with more tubes and wires attached to him than a central computer. He had never seen Netto so vulnerable nor he had never imagined that he could be so vulnerable. Netto made it so easy to believe that nothing could bring him down.

But reality always had to set in sooner or later.

"What are you doing here?" It was Rockman who finally broke the silence.

"Just some business," Laika said. "Nothing too important," he added, remembering Enzan's admonition on the way here to not let Netto or Rockman know anything about the present concerns of the net savers. As far as they were concerned, Netto and Rockman were civilians now and Netto surely did not need anymore worries or stress that would only worsen his condition. If he ever woke up, that is.

Rockman seemed to debate if what Laika was said was completely true or not but in the end he either decided that it was true or that he did not care, and so went back to watching his net-op's still form.

A few moments later an older man walked into the room. Upon seeing Enzan and Laika, he greeted the first teen. "Good afternoon, Ijuuin-san. How are you today? And who's your friend?" Ueda asked.

"I'm okay," Enzan said, though he was clearly not even close to the proclaimed state. "This is Laika. He's a Sharonian soldier and he's worked with Netto and I quite a bit." Enzan then turned to Laika to introduce the doctor: "Laika, this is Netto's doctor, Ueda-isha."

"Nice to meet you," Laika said.

"Same here," Ueda said before turning to Rockman. "Anything yet?"

Rockman shook his head. "Not yet."

Ueda frowned then pulled out his PET. "Tare, go get the recordings from Rockman's PET, just so we have them."

"Yes sir," came the response. Rockman disappeared for a moment to greet the doctor navi. Ueda in the meantime studied the various machines attacked to Netto as well as the data Tare sent from Rockman's PET.

"How bad is it?" Enzan asked after a few moments.

The doctor looked up sadly at the enquirer. "Netto-kun had been doing extremely well up until the fire. Most HBD patients have a higher rate of deterioration of the heart than Netto had. But because of the fire…" Ueda broke off, but then continued to force the situation out into words: "his heart is deteriorating at an excelled rate. He's running out of time."

"And the surgery?" Enzan asked.

"I'm pretty sure I'll make it," Ueda said.

"If there's anything…" Enzan began before being cut off.

"It's not resources, Ijuuin-san. It's time," Ueda said. "Believe me, I want Netto-kun to get through this just as much as you and I'm doing everything in my power. But, looking at reality, time is not on our side." Upon seeing Enzan's forlorn face, the doctor walked over to the young business man and put his steady hand on his shoulder. "But we do have another thing on our side and it may be the most important thing." Enzan looked up at the doctor asking him to expand. The doctor smiled: "Netto's a fighter. He's not going to give up and that may be the thing that keeps him from dying. That's the only reason he's done so well up until now."

Enzan nodded. "Very well," he said.

"Hiro-sama. I have what you need," Tare said, now back in his own PET.

"Good," Ueda said and then turned to leave, but as he reached the door he looked back at Enzan. "We can at least try to have Netto-kun's optimism. That'd do us all good." Enzan nodded. Then, giving one last smile, the doctor left.

Enzan and Laika both returned to their seats, Enzan to continue the work he had brought and Laika to ponder everything he had just discovered, the most startling of which was that Netto was no just sick—he was dying. Apparently, every attempt possible was being made to keep Death from claiming the beloved bruentte, but the fact was that Death, at this moment, was still coming.

And so the minutes passed, which minutes turned into an hour and then another hour passed. Meiru had come in once for a little while but then had left again. A woman Laika assumed was Netto's mother had also come in, asking Rockman how he was before he returned the same question with obvious concern. She then smiled kindly at Laika and Enzan before taking a seat next to Netto's bed. Laika noticed how exhausted she looked as she took Netto's hand in hers and before long she had fallen asleep, her head resting softly beside her son's unmoving form.

The forlornness of the whole situation was too much and Laika stood to leave, but as he did the monitors began to show more activity. Laika instinctively turned around as Rockman and Enzan both looked up.

"What's wrong?" Enzan asked Rockman.

"Nothing. He's waking up," Rockman answered anxiously. "Netto-kun?"

The boy's eyes twitched slightly before squeezing tight as he tried to cough, which was made rather difficult by the tubes stuffed down his throat. The sudden movement and sounds caused for Haruka to awaken at this moment.

"Netto," she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. She then turned to Rockman. "Call Yuuichiro-san," she requested.

"Hai," Rockman nodded. "As soon as I call Ueda-isha."

"Should we remove the tubes?" Laika, now at Netto's side, asked, seeing how hard it was for his friend to cough.

"No," Rockman said. "Wait for Dr. Ueda to get here. Netto needs those tubes right now to breathe right."

Laika nodded. He felt completely helpless as he watched his weakened friend struggle to do even such a simple task as cough. But soon Netto seem to get over the fit for the most part and the attempts to cough passed.

Netto slowly opened his eyes. "Rockman?" he called out weakly.

"Netto-kun," Rockman returned, having made the calls to the doctor and his father. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"What happened?" Netto asked weakly. Because of the tubes, it was the best anyone could do to just make out what he was saying.

"You collapsed in the fire," Rockman said. "Enzan got you out."

"Enzan?" Netto said blankly. The expression on his face clearly indicated he did not remember, but suddenly his eyes went wide and he shot up into a sitting position only to double over in pain.

"Netto!" Everyone in the room yelled in alarm.

"Lay back down," Haruka said as she laid her son back down.

"And try to take deep breathes," Rockman added, his eyes darting between his brother and his heart monitor, which was giving signals that indicated that he was bordering on an attack. Netto did as he was told and soon the monitor returned to normal for the most part. Though through the link, Rockman could tell that Netto's heart was still hurting. Not to mention, that he was clutching his heart, leading to the same conclusion.

"Did that boy get out?" Netto finally asked.

Enzan shook his head. "You're such an idiot, Netto. Yeah, he got out." Netto closed his eyes and gave a sigh of relief. "You got everyone out, Netto," Enzan said. "Just had to be the hero, didn't you?"

Enzan frowned when Netto did not respond. The brunette was obviously too tired and in too much pain to come back with some sort of retort. At that moment, Ueda came in followed by a couple of nurses. Everyone cleared the bed so Ueda could treat Netto. The nurses and Ueda worked busily around the teen and Haruka, Enzan and Laika watched in silence, though Haruka would through in occasional questions about Netto's welfare. A little later, Yuuichiro joined the party. Laika noted that it was a good thing the room was so large or else they would have been asked to leave. Not that is made any difference because Ueda soon had Netto removed to undergo tests and only Netto's parents were allowed to follow. Without any more purpose there, Enzan and Laika left, feeling both relief and fear for Netto's well-being.

Had he not been in so much pain, Netto would have been tossing and turning in his bed to try to find a comfortable position in the bed. But he was in pain, so he laid still, making only small movements to try and find comfort, despite the annoying voice in the back of his head that told him that he would never find comfort because it was impossible for a hospitable bed to be comfortable.

After another bout of trying to find the best position, Netto once more gave up and stared at the ceiling, sleep escaping him despite the fact he was dead tired, which, Netto realized, made no sense since he had just spent that last few days in a coma. Man, he hated being sick.

"Rockman?" he called, his voice penetrating the dark room.

"Yeah, Netto-kun?" Rockman's voice came back.

"Did I wake you?" Netto asked, afraid he had. He was pretty sure the navi hadn't had the rest cycles that he had needed and he would hate to disrupt one of the few the navi found time to fit in.

"No," the navi answered.

"Really?" Netto asked.

"Really. What's up?"

"Do you know why Laika's in Japan?" Netto asked, vaguely remembering that the older teen had been at his bedside when he had woken up.

"He said it was business," Rockman answered, "but nothing serious."

"Yeah right," Netto muttered.

"Why do you say that?" Rockman asked.

"Laika never comes for trivial business. Something important has to be happening for him to make the trip to Japan," Netto explained.

"That's true," Rockman answered, "but even if there is something going on, we can't do anything about it."

Netto frowned, though Rockman could not see it in the dark room. "That makes it all the worse. I hate being useless."

Rockman also frowned. "You're not useless, Netto-kun," Rockman reassured.

"But I can't help anyone," Netto said. "And I feel useless. That's the worst part of being sick."

"You'll get better," Rockman said after a slight pause. "You know what I learned today?"

"What?" Netto asked, his curiosity peaked.

"Enzan's funding research headed by Ueda-isha to find a cure for HBD," Rockman said.

"Really?" Netto asked.

Rockman nodded. "Yep."

"That guy," Netto muttered.

"I wonder why he did not mention it before. Actually, I don't think I was supposed to hear today either," Rockman contemplated.

"Enzan's just like that," Netto said, "He doesn't want to anyone to know he's actually a nice guy."

"That's true," Rockman said. "Very different from someone I know," he teased.

"Shut up, Rock," Netto said, smiling slightly.

"You really should be getting some sleep," Rockman said.

"Yes, Mr. Nag," Netto teased. "But that's easier said than done. I did just spend the last few days in a coma."

"Being in a coma and sleeping are two different things," Rockman said. "But even if it is hard to get to sleep, please at least try."

"Okay. But only if you do too," Netto returned.

"Okay. Good night, Netto-kun."

"Good night, nii-san. See you in the morning."