Annette led Kanan to her son Graham's room. The boy was inside, well-dressed and polite looking. He wore a green polo, hair neatly styled with a natural-looking scissor cut, and he shyly smiled at Kanan as he walked in.
To the boy's side was the Toygar, lying on the floor. It was slightly larger than your average housecat but had the appearance of a miniature tiger, save for its more gentle-looking face. It was somewhat large for a Toygar, looking plump and well-cared for. It didn't respond to Kanan's entry, but its eyes rolled over to look at him, showing that it was awake.
Kanan looked at it for a moment, deep in thought, before turning his attention back to Graham.
"Hello Graham, my name is Kanan. It's nice to meet you, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
Graham looked at his mother for confirmation and, seeing that she was ok with it, nodded in approval.
"Yes, that's fine… is it is about Gar?"
"That's right," confirmed Kanan. "I heard that Gar became like this after you moved. Do you have any idea what might have caused it?"
"N-No," said Graham. "M-maybe it's homesick?"
The boy stuttered a bit while answering, seemingly finding it difficult to talk to a stranger like Kanan.
Kanan didn't acknowledge it and continued on. "Is there something that makes you think that? Did Gar maybe have friends that you left behind?"
Graham's eyes lit up at the question "Y-yes! We would play with the next door neighbor, Cindy, and her family's Florady too."
The Toygar didn't respond at the mention of their friends, merely continuing to sulk.
Annette chimed in. "That's true. Graham and Cindy were very close. They would often go out into the woods to play, and we had them take Gar and her family's Florady for safety. I didn't know that Gar and the Florady were close, but given how much time they spent together it makes sense."
Kanan nodded in acknowledgement. To tell the truth, it did seem like a case of homesickness more than anything. Still, there was something he didn't find quite right about the whole situation. He decided to examine the Toygar.
"Gar, do you mind if I take a look at you real quick?"
His question prompted Gar to give a weak nod of acceptance, and he poked and prodded the beast, testing its health. He took extra care in placing a hand over its stomach, checking for any abnormalities, before he got up, satisfied.
"Mm, just as I thought," he announced.
Annette's eyes lit up at the question, and Graham looked at him curiously.
"What's that?" Asked Annette. "Did you find something wrong?"
"Nope. Quite the opposite. Gar is the very picture of a healthy spirit beast."
Annette's face fell. "That's the same thing that they told us at the healing center! But look at the situation. How could Gar possibly be alright? Even if it's something like homesickness, surely it's unhealthy at this point, right? Are you really not able to do anything?"
Kanan shook his head. "No, on the contrary, I learned quite a lot from the examination just now. I won't be able to do anything about it today though. Do you mind if I come back tomorrow?"
Annette sighed, clearly unconvinced. "Well, what's one more day. It's not like it could hurt.
Getting her approval, Kanan gave a smile. "Thank you, I have a feeling you won't be disappointed.
Kanan gathered his things and left the house, leaving the family and sickly spirit beast behind.
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That same night, Kanan returned to Annette's house, Poppy and Twilight in tow. He had them use Darkness and Light Curtain, concealing the trio under the cover of night.
Sneakily, they hid themselves on the side of the house, close enough that nobody could enter or exit without them noticing. Then, patiently, they waited.
A few hours passed, and around the time that it turned midnight the back door creaked open and two figures stepped out. It was Graham and Gar, the latter looking healthy and chipper as the two skulked into the backyard. Graham held a large bag in his hands, stumbling a bit as he tried to tiptoe while holding its weight.
They two left the boundaries of the yard, and Kanan followed them stealthily as they made their way to a small public park situated nearby. Once there, they lost their vigilance and Gar started to bound around happily.
Graham placed down the bag, pulling a bowl out of it and filling it up with a large helping of spirit beast food. Gar munched on it happily, clearly having no reservations about eating.
Kanan pulled out his terminal, recording the scene. He smiled bitterly, feeling that his actions were slightly shady no matter how you looked at it. Still, this was the only method that came to mind. Simply voicing his doubts probably wouldn't have worked.
He had suspected the current situation early on. In truth, the only reason why Annette hadn't caught on yet was probably due to her implicit trust in her son. But all the signs had pointed to Gar having absolutely nothing wrong with him.
There were a few suspicious points. For one, Gar looking so healthy and rotund didn't make sense given Annette's story about him skipping meals, sometimes for days. A beast that had been consistently skipping meals for months should look unhealthy and underfed at best, emaciated at worst. This was also what Kanan was focused on confirming while examining Gar's body — he had pressed on the stomach to judge its size and confirm that it hadn't shrunken. Instead, it was large and healthy.
There was also Gar and Graham's attitudes towards the situation. Gar hadn't reacted at all when his supposed friends were mentioned, while Graham seemed visibly excited to even get to talk about them. It was clear that Graham was the one who truly missed the people that he had left behind.
Kanan couldn't be sure why Graham was having Gar act sick, he could only speculate. But everything would come to light the next day when he showed Annette the video.
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The following afternoon, after tiredly getting through his daily classes, Kanan headed to Annette's residence once again.
The woman looked him up and down, surprised to see him.
"You actually came back," she exclaimed. "I was sure that you'd abandon the mission. I've been coming to terms with the fact that there's no cure. It seems that Gar's illness isn't a physical one, after all."
"Well, I don't have a cure, that's true," Kanan admitted. "But what I do have is an answer."
He held up his terminal, a mischievous look on his face.
"Why don't we discuss this in Graham's room? I have some things to say and I think he and Gar need to be there."
Annette eyed Kanan suspiciously, but ultimately relented. The two of them headed to Graham's room to continue their conversation.
"M-Mom? Mr. Kanan? What's wrong?" asked Graham, seeing them enter. "Are you here to look at Gar again?"
Kanan shook his head. "No, I learned all I needed to know about Gar's condition yesterday. I had some things to confirm, which is why I needed you both to give me a day. Now, I have something to show you."
Saying so, he pulled up the video on his terminal and began playing it.
Seeing the scene of him sneaking out of the house, Graham's expression shifted rapidly. First confusion, unsure of what he was looking at, then understanding, and finally into panic. Annette, on the other hand, was slower on the uptake, not quite sure of what she was seeing.
"Stop it! Stop the video!" Graham cried out.
"What is this?" asked Annette. "Is that Graham? And Gar, looking healthy? That's our house, isn't it? When was this taken?"
Looking at Graham with a trace of Pity, Kanan began to explain. "This was taken last night, here at this very house. Gar is perfectly healthy, and he certainly hasn't been skipping any meals. It seems that it's all been an act, and Graham here has been taking him out and feeding him every night. I think that you and your son need to have a heart to heart."
"What?!" Annette yelled. "Gar has been fine this whole time? Do you know how much stress and suffering this caused? Why would you do this Graham?"
Graham began to cry. "I just- I just wanted to go back to how things were!" he cried out. "I don't want you to work all the time! I want to see Cindy again! And I thought… I thought that if Gar was sick, maybe we would go back. Then Gar would get better and we could all be happy again."
The anger melted off of Annette's face, replaced with sadness.
"Oh Graham. I know I've been working a lot, but it's just temporary while I adjust to the new job! And I'm sure you'll make tons of new friends when you enter the Academy. I never wanted you to feel like this."
"I don't want new friends!" Graham sniveled. "I want my old friends! And you say it's temporary, but you don't know how long it'll take, right? You're never home anymore, and when you are home you're exhausted!"
Annette let out a sigh, head in her hands. She turned to Kanan, who was standing there awkwardly.
"Sorry we've made you see this. Why don't you head home for today and come back tomorrow? It seems like Graham and I have a lot to talk about."
Taking the hint, Kanan escaped from the suffocating atmosphere and left the mother-son duo to air out their grievances.