MMEXE: Am I a Twin?

Lan supposed he should have expected the next question to come from Miss Yuri. The fact that his teacher, Miss Mari, had an identical twin that was also a teacher had peaked his interest, and he had ended up asking her several questions about it. And then she had asked him questions back.

"Are you a twin?"

It was a very simple question; a yes or a no. For the first time in his life, Lan wasn't sure how to answer the question - not because he didn't know the answer, but he knew that both possible answers were correct.

"I..."

How did he answer this?

---

Lan remembered when he had been eight years old, just three years ago, before he had received MegaMan. He'd just celebrated his birthday, and his closest friends had come - Mayl and Dex and Yai and all of his classmates! It had been a great day, even if his father hadn't come home in time for the party; his mother had taken plenty of pictures.

He'd wanted to see the pictures from his earlier birthdays, too! So when his mom had been busy in the kitchen the next day, he'd slipped into his parents' room and dug out the photo albums.

They were all there - his seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, third, and second years. At first he'd wondered where was his first year and his baby pictures, but digging deep through the closet had netted both albums. How odd, it was almost as if they had been hidden.

Lan opened the album with his baby pictures, and had stared.

"Hub and Lan's Birth Year" had been written inside the cover along with their date of birth. Their birth certificates were tucked into the pocket. There was no doubt - a boy named Hub Hikari had existed at some point.

Who was Hub Hikari?

He stared at the photo of the two identical babies, one dressed in orange held by his father, and one dressed in blue held by his mother. Both of his parents were smiling widely. He had a brother? A twin brother named Hub? But where was Hub? What happened to him? Lan turned the pages of the album, noting many photos - some of just him or Hub, and some of the both of them. Something wasn't right...

When he reached the end of the album, he set it aside and immediately grabbed the one that should have his first birthday.

"Hub and Lan's First Year."

He could see a few differences now between the two of them, with the way Hub's hair was slightly neater, and the less mischievous expression on his face. There was even one photograph of the two of them smearing chocolate onto each other's faces while their dismayed parents tried to stop them. There was even a group photo of the two of them along with Mayl and Dex (Yai, of course, hadn't been born yet).

Lan didn't remember any of this (of course not, he had been one), but Hub had clearly been around, and his parents had loved the both of them. Before finishing the album, he set it aside and grabbed the second one.

The second album, however, was only labeled "Lan's Second Year." Nothing about Hub.

Whatever had happened to Hub, clearly happened between their first and second years of life. He grabbed the First Year album again and flipped through it, noting one thing: as the pictures progressed, Hub began to look more and more sickly and pale, not smiling even when he, Lan, was beaming wildly. Eventually... the pictures of Hub stopped together, and pictures of his parents taken right afterwards had them both looking pale and tired. At the end of the album, tucked in an envelope in the pocket, was a death certificate for Hub Hikari.

Lan closed the albums and left them on the floor, numb. He'd always wanted a sibling, and he'd just found out that he'd had a brother. A twin brother. An identical twin brother. An identical twin brother that had, apparently, died before they had turned two. He wasn't stupid; he knew what death was, and what he had seen heavily implied that Hub had died of... something.

Why had his mom or dad never mentioned Hub?

Big boys didn't cry, but Lan found himself screwing his face up, and rubbed at his eyes with his hands. Maybe his mom and dad hadn't wanted him to know because they wanted to cry, too? In that case, maybe he shouldn't ask them about it.

Lan glanced down at the photo albums. He should put them away.

But before he did, he opened up the First Year album, and took one of the pictures out, a picture of the two of them hugging each other with the widest grins on their faces.

No wonder he had always felt lonely.

---

Sometimes, when he lay in bed at night, even if he didn't want to think about it, he wondered. What would Hub have been like had he still been around?

Would their personalities have been similar? Would they, like in anime and manga, been a duo of prankster twins, always having fun pulling pranks on people together? Would they know everything and anything about each other, and always stay together no matter what?

Or would they have clashed? Would Hub have been the responsible, smart twin, the one that always got their homework done on time and got good grades? Would he have constantly been nagging Lan to stop being late and to do his homework?

What kind of Navi would Hub have had? Would Hub's Navi and MegaMan have been friends? Or would they have disliked each other? Would Hub have been a NetBattler like him and MegaMan?

Sometimes when he thought about this, an angry, bitter feeling would well up inside of him instead of loneliness. He would never know, because this cruel world had taken his twin from him before they could ever know each other.

---

"Lan?"

It was MegaMan's voice. The Navi sounded a little nervous and concerned. Lan jerked out of his thoughts to notice that both MegaMan and Miss Yuri were staring at him.

"I... well... yes and no," he finally said. "...I was, but not anymore."

Miss Yuri went silent, as if not sure how to respond to that, and patted his shoulder. "Mari never told me that... but I'm sorry. It's a wonderful experience."

Somehow, Lan doubted that Miss Mari had ever known. He nodded, and took a deep breath. "Well, I... I have to go, Miss Yuri, it was nice talking to you again."

"You too, Lan," she said softly. "Come visit any time. I love getting to know my sister's students."

Lan nodded, and quickly booked it out of there. He wanted to go home.

"Lan?" It was MegaMan again. "Lan, I'm sorry, I-"

"It's okay, MegaMan. You don't have to feel sorry for me." Lan said, interrupting his Navi. "Hub might be gone, but I have you."

"That wasn't what I meant," MegaMan said, almost too quietly for Lan to hear. But the boy didn't respond.

He didn't have Hub anymore, but he had MegaMan. MegaMan, who was like a twin. The loneliness that he had felt when he had been younger had disappeared as soon as his dad had given him MegaMan for his eighth birthday gift.

He didn't need fantasies of a dead twin brother.

He had MegaMan.