Quite ironic for this chapter and a few future chapters to be posted as it's already some time past Halloween.

Oh, well.

The sentence duration had been set for a month, but to Roll, it felt practically an eternity being imprisoned. Through the first half of the month, she was unconscious to her environment and subjected to various tests as to ascertain of the Yan Love Chip's coding possibly still left behind within her system.

The test cases were formulated by both Hikari Yuuichiro and Eguchi Meijin, being the only two brilliant scientists that have knowledge of the nearly forgotten, but dangerous personality chip. They had exhausted their reserves to ensure that the chip's programming would be detected within a NetNavi's digital being.

There was no trace of it left within Roll's body.

But even with the high probability of having been cured of the Yan Love Chip, the Net Police felt that it was still too early to give the pink Navi her release. Instead, they simply reactivated her and gave her some freedom for the remainder of her captivity. That still wasn't enough to make her time any more comfortable. She just wanted to leave once all tests had proved negative on her.

It was only a few days now before the Densan fall festival began.

She was deemed to have earned that much from her good behavior.

"Roll is free to go," Commissioner Seishin Kifune declared. "I expect not a repeat performance from you, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Meiru said with a humble, grateful bow.

Kifune's assistant, Manabe Rin, accessed the Net Police network on a wall interface, typing in a sequence of characters before tapping the enter button. Meiru and Netto observed through a monitor on the cyber world side that Roll's cell unit was being disengaged. The cylindrical energy wall powered down until it fully disappeared.

Three sets of footsteps were heard approaching the cell. Two Police Navis advanced ahead to the deactivated cell to give Roll a final scan before escorting her out. The third NetNavi stepped forth to welcome her back to the outside.

"You made it, Roll-chan," Rockman cheered, giving a thumbs-up. "I'm glad you're finally free."

"… Rockman," Roll mumbled hesitantly, keeping her arms close in front of her.

"Something wrong?" Rockman asked.

The blue Navi was answered with a sudden leaping hug from Roll, practically tackling him off the ground and onto his back. The Police Navis were not sure how to react to the situation as they were given strict orders and assurance that Roll was clean, but the latest action they witnessed was closely bordering on the line of assault.

"Rockman!" Roll cried loudly, clinging tightly to the sheepish Navi. "I missed you!"

"But I visited you every day like I promised," Rockman pointed out while wiping her tears off her face and his outfit.

"It's not the same!" Roll wailed back, gazing back at him with adorably shimmering green eyes. "I miss being close to you! I miss your touch! I miss everything!"

"R-Roll-chan, calm down," Rockman requested, unsure how much more of his friend's pent-up emotional burden he could bear. He placed a hand to a side of her face and stroked her gently to get her to relax. "You've finished your sentence now. That's all that matters."

"T-T-True," Roll hiccupped, regaining control of her emotions while wiping away the remainder of her tears. "B-But after everything I've done to you, to Medi, and to our friends, you still f-forgive me?"

"It's all in the past now," Rockman assured, rubbing an arm of hers. "Now can you please get off me?"

Roll nodded with a quick sniffle, kinda wishing that they spent a bit longer in that position. Nonetheless, she stood back on her feet and helped Rockman up as to stay on his good side. The Police Navis appeared poised, but Rockman also reassured that nothing bad was to happen at this point.

"It's really sweet how Rockman still bore with Roll," Meiru commented fondly with shimmering eyes. "Don't you think so too, Netto?"

"I suppose, but is Roll ready to leave yet?" Netto inquired impatiently. "We still need time to get to the airport to greet Jasmine."

"Geez, you could be a bit more supportive here, baka," Meiru reprimanded. "I'm getting my NetNavi back after a long month and you're ruining the moment!"

"What? What did I do now?" Netto groaned, taken aback from his friend's snippy front. "Rockman and I came here with you and I'm also happy that Roll is rejoining us now."

"But then you come around complaining about being late to pick up Jasmine," Meiru retorted, seizing the dense brunette by the collar of his vest. "I'm your friend here too! You could at least be considerate of that!"

Cyber World

"… I'm guessing not much has changed between them?" Roll queried, watching her Operator beat up Netto on a screen interface from the cyber world.

"They haven't really spent a lot of time together since Meiru was usually here waiting for you," Rockman answered, chuckling nervously as Netto's stomach now faced the blunt of Meiru's right foot. There should be gratitude that she didn't aim lower than that. "And don't go blaming yourself on what's happening right now."

"I know," Roll replied, both amused and disturbed from the ongoing and potentially violent interaction. "I know those two well enough that this is kinda normal, but oddly enough, Meiru-chan is not as easily hot-tempered as before."

"And Netto-kun isn't as tactless previously," Rockman added. "Maybe there have been some changes the past month. Who would have thought?"

"Yeah," Roll hummed, looking away in brief reluctance as a result of the next question she wanted to ask. "Hey, how are you and… Medi doing?"

"Medi-chan and I are really close," Rockman replied, not catching the brief expression of pain the pink Navi harbored. "We're actually going to meet her at the Densan airport once we leave here."

"I see," Roll said calmly. "I guess they were bound to arrive sooner or later. Meiru-chan mentioned to me when I was allowed to be active again that you were planning to take her to the fall festival."

"Not just her," Rockman clarified. "I'm taking you and the rest of our friends here, like Gutsman, Glyde, Iceman, Aquaman, and Numberman. I'm sure more will show up when we meet them there."

"Oh, how sweet of you to do so," Roll commented, smiling sincerely. "It'd be nice to see everyone again. I just hope I didn't leave too bad of an impression."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure the others will leave you alone regarding the 'incident'," Rockman promised. "We're close friends after all, Roll-chan."

"Yeah… just friends," Roll repeated in a whispered sullen voice.

"Hey, Rockman! You guys ready to go?" Netto's voice echoed.

"I'm returning to the PET now, Netto-kun," Rockman announced, preparing to plug out. "Let's give Jasmine and Medi-chan a warm Densan welcome."

"Right!" Netto cheered.

Now left by herself with the exception of the Police Navis that have been standing around the deactivated cell unit, Roll seemed to be staring out into cyberspace for a few seconds before her Operator started to call for her.

"Roll, are you feeling alright?" Meiru's voice inquired.

"Sorry, I'm coming back now," Roll answered back, reestablishing her link to her PET to plug out. "At least it'll be nice to be back in my PET again. Home sweet PET."

10:00 AM

"See? I told you we'd make it to the airport on time," Meiru admonished. "We even got here ten minutes before the announced estimate of the plane's arrival."

"Okay, I get it," Netto interrupted. "No need to rub it in."

"Attention, ongoing passengers and valued guests!" the airport PA announced. "The aircraft that departed from Choina is preparing to dock. Please stay clear of the alley ways for the occupants to leave without hindrance. Thank you!"

"She should be here at any moment now," Netto commented, looking at his PET for the time.

"They're just getting off the plane, Netto," Meiru pointed out, sounding somewhat annoyed. "Plus, there're probably a lot of passengers before we can find−."

"Netto!" a familiar, high-pitched female voice called.

Looking to where the sensation came from, Netto and Meiru glanced over to the upper levels of the airport and found their Choina guest running halfway through a bridge without a care in the world.

Using the momentum from her run, she took a great leap over the railing and opened up her bamboo umbrella to control her descent. The umbrella, however, was opened for a seconds before she promptly closed it, going for a speedy dive towards the main floor. Netto gaped as it somehow turned into a three-spin somersault, in which she stuck the landing perfectly well despite her fair, high-inched shoes not being the ideal footwear to perform such invigorating acrobatics.

All that while having both her umbrella and roll-on luggage in her hands.

"That… was… amazing!" Netto exclaimed, regaining his breath after holding it in during the entrance performance.

"Showoff," Meiru murmured enviously, pouting off to the side.

"You're gonna have a tough time topping that one, Jasmine!" Netto remarked.

"I was just excited to see you guys again," Jasmine replied, grinning cheerfully. "You look well, Netto! And you too, Meiru! Your hair looks really lovely by the way."

"Huh? Oh… yeah, thanks," Meiru mumbled, feeling a bit regretful for her last comment. "So, uh… how was your flight?"

"It was nice, not too bumpy or shaky," Jasmine answered. "Anyway, I actually have some big news I want to share with you guys."

"You do?" Meiru asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Netto said, tapping the bottom of his fist into an open palm. "You said in your last email that you had something sounding really important."

"And you didn't even tell me about it?" Meiru interrupted irately.

"Sorry about that, it must've slipped, Meiru-chan," Netto responded with a nervous chuckle, holding his hands up.

"How about I share what's going on as we make it to my apartment here?" Jasmine suggested. "I still had a lot of money left over to rent it out for whenever I stay in Japan. It's a good investment and I'll explain why it is."

Cyber World

"Rock-kun! It's so nice to be with you again!" Medi exclaimed, immediately seizing the ecstatic blue Navi in her arms and warmly snuggling with him. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Medi-chan," Rockman replied, grinning rather goofily as he was still not used to this much cyber-physical affection. "How have you and Jasmine been the past month?"

"We accomplished a lot together and learned more ways of making effective medicine," Medi explained, relaxing herself into clinging onto Rockman's right arm. "Jasmine studied especially hard so that she can get the time off at this time, for us to join you for your fall festival."

"You two must be getting better at heal each day then," Rockman surmised.

"I hope we are," Medi concurred fondly. "We don't want to lose anyone close to us ever. Anyway, what's new with you?"

"Nothing much, though I did share in my messages to you that Netto-kun and I have done some minor Net Savior missions," Rockman began. "There was a couple that we had to team up with Enzan and Blues, but those were the more urgent ones."

"Are you at liberty to share?"

"There's still a major problem with innocent NetNavis getting a hold of Dark Chips and accidentally using them as some turned out to be disguised as regular Battle Chips, so we've been working on eliminating any place that's dispensing them and administering the Vaccine Chips to the Navis that have been taken over by the Soul of Darkness."

"That sounds really dangerous, Rock-kun."

"It actually wasn't as hard as it seemed. It turns out that Medi Soul helped in repairing the corrupted data when we were running low on Vaccine Chips, so I've improved a bit in healing as well. It's still not as great as your abilities, but still I've really got you to thank for this, Medi-chan."

"Oh, Rock-kun~…"

"Ahem," a third voice coughed abruptly.

"What was that?" Medi inquired, looking over Rockman's shoulder to find the source. "Oh, my."

"Did I also mention that Roll-chan finished her jail sentence and was just released this morning?" Rockman added a little too quickly.

"I see," Medi responded neutrally.

Sensing that this had to be resolved one way or another, Rockman slipped out of the nurse Navi's grip, allowing the connection between her and Roll to flow uninterrupted. They both stared at each other in the eye impassively.

A few awkward seconds later, Roll took the first step forward, only for Medi to mimic her. They cautiously approached each other until there were merely a few feet apart standing before one another.

"Hey," Roll greeted halfheartedly.

"Hi," Medi replied coolly. "Didn't even know you were here."

"It must've been because all of your senses were easily distracted by one factor," Roll responded. "It's not exactly the best state to be in when behind enemy lines. So careless."

Medi felt her eye twitch, but remained collected nonetheless.

"I guess you would certainly know about such things when you've been an enemy yourself," Medi shot back, earning a low wavering grumble from the pink Navi. "Look, I came here to have fun and not start another fight. I won already and I'm not likely to give up my spoils of war any time soon. I'm sorry, but it is what it is."

"I know," Roll huffed, struggling to keep her temper down. "That doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be close to him, you know. You may have the privilege of holding his hand wherever you go right now, but I have the advantage of being close to him no matter what happens."

"I have to give you some respect for holding in like this, aside from being a reliable NetNavi in pinches," Medi admitted. "I'm certainly not going to relax if you're still this dedicated."

"Is it because you know that I care for him more than you can hope to reach?" Roll goaded.

"No, it's because I don't want to have to experience another tragedy of losing him because of your uncontrollable obsession," Medi countered, the volume of her voice gradually rising.

It was there that both female NetNavis suddenly closed in the distance with their sneering faces and cute angry growls, igniting their competitive rivalry of love once more with that ferocious spark crackling from between their clashing glares.

At least it's a start with Roll-chan out of her imprisonment, Rockman thought, sweatdropping as he was thinking of a way to stop a fight from breaking out. It was too soon. "Hey, Medi-chan. Didn't Jasmine say that she had something 'big' she wanted to share with Netto-kun?"

Fortune shone upon the blue Navi as the call of his voice actually broke the two warring girls from their confrontation. Even Roll became curious on what she had to say and backed off a bit.

"Yes, actually," Medi answered. "Jasmine and I will be moving into Japan for the time being."

"… Huh?" Roll gaped.

Real World

"No way," Meiru commented, surprised by this turn of events Jasmine just shared.

"Medi and I asked Jii-chan if we could do something similar to studying abroad," Jasmine continued as the three of them were walking to her apartment.

"And he said yes?" Netto asked to be sure.

"Of course!" Jasmine replied with a wide smile. "Now I don't have to leave Japan so soon once the fall festival ends and I get to be with you for a bit longer. Medi is also thrilled to be spending more time with Rockman."

"That was definitely big news alright," Netto remarked. "Now we can see each other more often!"

"Yeah," Meiru cheered, albeit weakly. "How long do you plan staying here?"

"Jii-chan said that it's up to me to determine how long I stay in one place," Jasmine explained. "I can even return home if I get homesick, but now he's given me his blessing to travel the world and grow from lots of experience. But for now, I want to stay in Japan for a while longer and be with you guys, not to mention the animals I helped take care of."

"Wow, it'll be just like we're next door neighbors," Netto jested.

"Hmm," Meiru grunted.

"Hey, there's my apartment up ahead!" Jasmine exclaimed, pointing forward to the tall gray building looming overhead. "I hope everything left in it has been untouched. It'd probably be dusty though since it's been a while since I lived there."

Out of excitement and nostalgia, the Choina girl ran ahead, leaving her luggage behind in her wake. Ever being the loyal friend and having been strictly raised to be a gentleman by his mother, Netto chased after her while pulling the roll-on luggage along.

Meiru blinked several times in succession, trying to figure out what just happened. Before she could go after them, Roll's tiny holographic suddenly appeared floating in front of her face.

"Meiru-chan, did you know that they're staying in Japan longer than expected?" Roll shared.

"Yeah, she told us along the way," Meiru confirmed. "It's hard to believe."

"You're going to lose Netto to her," Roll warned. "Just like I have lost Rockman to Medi."

The young red-haired girl looked at her NetNavi before pensively glancing over to where Netto and Jasmine ran ahead to, which was entering the apartment building's main entrance. With a heavy sigh, she walked on to catch up to them. Roll went up to sit on one of her shoulders.

"Maybe I might lose him," Meiru mumbled, showing no particular emotion on her face. "But I don't feel angry or fearful about it for some reason."

"What do you mean?" Roll queried.

"I haven't given up on Netto, just as you haven't given up on Rockman," Meiru said. "However, I have this feeling that he and Jasmine are not actually going to get together. Just call it a woman's intuition."

"You can't win without taking any sort of action!" Roll chided.

"Of course I'm not just going to sit back hoping that he'd fall into my arms, but I just feel… confident that it's going to work out somehow. Anyway, how do you plan on getting Rockman back?"

"I have a couple of plans for the fall festival that should convince him that I'm the one he should be with."

"Does it involve the Halloween costume you're planning to wear?"

"Yes! I asked Rockman on what he is going as and I'm going to dress as something complementary to him. I'd definitely like to see Medi try to top me. I don't think she even knows we're part of Gabcom's cultural awareness showcase, so she'll probably show up with no costume."

"I'm not so sure about that, Roll."

Meiru wasn't sure if her NetNavi had missed the memo completely, but she didn't have the heart to tell her that there was a high percent chance that Netto and Rockman were telling Jasmine and Medi everything about what the fall festival entails, including their volunteering to showcase Western traditions.

In any case, it was time to settle in and prepare for the fun of the Densan fall festival.

Just in case any of you were not aware or had forgotten, Gabcom is the Japanese name of the company that Yaito's father works at. You might be more familiar with the English name being AyanoTech.

Also for future awareness, it looks like I won't be able to update as frequently as I have, mostly because of the semester picking up. So for those that have been accustomed to me updating weekly, so sorry about that. Really, I am.

Please review!