Fire Starter

All the sorrows in the world collected within one body.

Although it was supposed to be his special season, Naota felt more depressed than ever.

Outside, students rode bicycles. Elderly couples savored their walks together.

Two crows perched in a ginkgo tree. The cyclists, the elderly couples, the crows in the ginkgo tree everyone seemed to be enjoying freedom. That was all outside the window, though.

It felt like, of the whole wide world, only the students in this class remained unjustly locked up. The freedom to walk between tree-lined avenues under the autumn sky was something they wouldn't be able to obtain until after their hundred-year prison sentences had been served.

Afternoon classes, cleaning time, and all the rest had ended. The other classes were leaving school now all except Naota's. Naota's class still couldn't go home because it was a debate day.

Naota's teacher, Miss Miyaji, was a young, enthusiastic, vitamin-filled type of person. Despite being an adult, she sometimes acted like a spoiled little princess the kind who would have hundreds of stuffed toys lined up in her room, each with a name she'd given it.

At Miss Miyaji's suggestion, the class had to stay after school twice a week for a useless debate. Naota's first thought about this idea had been: You have to be kidding.

Naota didn't have much confidence in Miss Miyaji.

One of Naota's female classmates recently had been placed in charge, and she was habitually forgetful. Every time the girl forgot something, Miss Miyaji scolded her in front of the whole class. The teacher wasn't particularly harsh, but the girl wasn't very thick-skinned, so she'd start crying, and then it would be ages before she'd calm down. Whenever this happened, Miss Miyaji would stand next to the girl and then, clapping her hands together, would start singing, "The girl who shed crocodile tears was a geisha girl!"

In the meantime, there was nothing the rest of the class could do but stand by and watch the bizarre performance. Miss Miyaji claimed that her own grandmother had sung her that song during her childhood whenever she'd cried crocodile tears.

Regardless, Naota and the rest of his class didn't think their classmate was shedding fake tears.

There was something messed up with this spoiled princess of a teacher. She was pretty enthusiastic, but you couldn't place your faith in her. If you followed her teachings too closely, she probably would lead you very much astray.

As Miss Miyaji had recommended, today's debate topic was fires.

In Mabase, there had been several fires recently, and it looked as if they'd been caused by arson. The incidents had made the newspapers, too.

Last night, a private residence not too far from the junior high had been burned halfway down. The school couldn't ignore this, so it issued a cautionary warning:

"Recently, there have been quite a few fires due to arson. Everyone, please keep an eye out for any suspicious people." And that was all. At least, that was all the other classes had been told, anyway.

However, Miss Miyaji had begun an endless story about a memory she had from her school days, when a gas station had exploded, its roof blowing off.

Please, shut up , Naota thought fervently.

Naota, too, remembered a fire. Although it had happened when he had been in kindergarten, he recalled the incident vividly: It had been a night in early spring.

Mabase Elementary School used to be a wooden building alongside the riverbank, but the old building had burned down. Led by his brother, Tasuku, the young Naota had left his house to watch the fire.

Crackle, crackle, crackle.

The scene was strangely beautiful. The school garden's cherry trees were in full bloom, and the falling blossoms were lit up by the burning building.

Naota had been very young at the time; thinking about it, Tasuku must have been in elementary school himself. Whenever Naota remembered that time, Tasuku seemed like a grown-up to him, though, even then. For various reasons, his brother always had been mature.

Naota couldn't forget the fire; it was near that burning school where he had first met Mamimi.

Mamimi Samejima…

I have to meet Mamimi today.

That was the real reason this long after-school meeting annoyed Naota.

Since the night the robot had emerged, Naota hadn't returned to Mabase Bridge once. Frankly, his need to meet with Mamimi was much stronger than before. The single thing on his mind, at home or at school, was Mamimi. At the same time, though, his heart still was conflicted. He got the feeling he shouldn't see her for a while. More than that, he was frightened of being with her again.

His heart wavered with the uncertainty of how he should act the next time he saw her. That strange night, he had planned to end their fuzzy relationship, but he hadn't found the chance to make his resolution a reality.

Today, he wanted to see Mamimi so much that he couldn't stand it just a glimpse of her would be enough.

He hadn't been back to Mabase Bridge, but maybe she had gone there today, all alone. Maybe she was waiting for Naota to meet her there. No, she definitely was waiting, and he was going to see her. He had to go.

I need to see her!

Thus, Naota was infuriated by having to stay behind for this endless debate.

Please, finish already and let us go home. If I don't hurry, then Mamimi might leave.

"So, that was the terrible fire I'd witnessed. Next time, I'm going to show all of you the newspaper reports."

Finally, the words signaling the end of his prison term reached his ears. The second his teacher said, "Everyone, please be careful going home," Naota already had jumped up, bag in hand.

Naota dashed out of the classroom at full speed, but he was hailed by Gaku and Masashi at their lockers.

"What's up, Naota? Why the hurry?" they asked. "You busy?"

He could have said "yes" and gone straight home; without thinking, a lie came out: "No, not really."

He wanted to hide the true reason that he needed to leave so quickly from his classmates. Therefore, he said the exact opposite of what he really wanted to say. He

regretted his response the second he'd said it.

Gaku and Masashi were good friends of Naota. They all lived close to one another, so they often went home from school together.

Recently, that had become something of a concern for Naota, who wanted his classmates to know as little as possible about the time he'd been spending under the bridge with a high schooler. He didn't want to imagine the kinds of rumors that would spread if people knew a twelve-year-old boy was doing such things. His actions would be a capital offense to his friends, like giving up the secrets from a shared diary. Naturally, Naota didn't want to ruin his friendships over gossip, so he had taken great care to hide his meetings with Mamimi from his classmates.

Gaku and Masashi already had seen him with Mamimi several times now. He had explained to them she was just a girl he knew somewhat but if they continued to see him with her time and again, then they probably would figure out that he had an unusual relationship.

"We're going to go look at the burned-down house," Gaku said, referring to the remains from last night's fire.

"You'll come, right, Naota?" Masashi assumed.

"Of course," Naota heard himself answer.

I don't want to go look at that kind of thing.

"Where are you going?"

Startled, he turned around to face the person who'd spoken behind him. It was Ninamori. She must have been standing there, listening to them.

"Don't loiter. Go straight home."

"Busybody class president," Masashi said.

Naota agreed Ninamori was a busybody, but in his heart, he pleaded that Gaku and Masashi would obey her for just this one day. Of course, praying didn't change anything.

Eventually, all four of them left the school gates together.

Disgruntled, Masashi asked why Ninamori was following them. Gaku then teased that there had to be a reason why the class president would want to be with them. A little annoyed, Ninamori grumbled about what he meant by that. Otherwise, though, it was quite a happy group.

Suddenly, Naota was given a start when he'd heard the familiar sound of a portable game.

No way! Seriously give me a break.

When he looked up in surprise, Mamimi stood by the front gates. Still in her school uniform, she was sitting on the asphalt, playing her handheld game.

This is the worst , Naota thought, sighing deeply. Mamimi's here.

He had wanted to see her so much, when they could be alone not in front of other people, and certainly not in front of his classmates. How dare she inconsiderately come to his school like this? Now, Naota felt rage.

"Hey, Takkun."

"What are you doing here at my school?"

Just for once, think of other people, he wanted to say.

Naota's cold words were lost in the wind somehow, and Mamimi looked at him

with her usual grin. She almost seemed to enjoy Naota's concern about what other people would think.

Ninamori, meanwhile, eyed Mamimi with suspicion. Her thoughts were written all over her face: "Who's that girl acting all familiar with Naota? Dyed hair, red lips, sitting in the street, playing a portable game although she's already in high school totally pathetic!"

"Who's that?" she asked.

"That's his wife," answered Gaku.

"Yeah, he likes his women older," Masashi added.

Naota heard the entire exchange. Embarrassed, he cursed himself for neglecting the evidence that his friends had been suspicious the entire time, after all.

"Are they going out?"

Gaku and Masashi snickered meaningfully. Knowing Ninamori had been paying attention to Naota, they were being pretty spiteful.

Naota tried to think of an excuse to get far away.

"Takkun, that looks cool," Mamimi said innocently. "It really suits you."

Is that true?

She was talking about the bandana wrapped around Naota's head. As soon as she mentioned it, Naota tried to hide the bandana with his hands. He'd been wearing it the whole day.

He needed it now. Because a second horn had emerged.

It had happened the previous night.

Naota had woken up suddenly in the middle of the night, feeling like he couldn't move his arms or legs. It was as though he'd been tied up.

Vague fear immediately changed to very real alarm. He smelled some kind of drug and felt groggy. Is this the work of that person I heard about in school? he thought when he felt paralyzed. The one who ties up people?

Looking around, he saw Haruko in the dimness. She'd been sleeping in the top bunk, so it wasn't unusual for her to be in his room. However, she looked different than usual. For some reason, she was dressed all in white and was peering down at the motionless Naota.

"What are you doing?" Naota managed to get out.

"Playing doctor," Haruko laughed.

Then, she turned and spoke to someone else who was behind her, "What? The response is strengthening… No, I wanted to ask: Why is it happening here? Looking at the X-rays, you can see this kid's brain is totally empty…"

He thought he heard a man's voice coming from behind her, but he couldn't be sure.

My brain is empty?

Haruko touched Naota's skull. Feeling Haruko's cold hands, he realized for the first time that he was naked. With fear and embarrassment, he tried to yell at her to stop; he couldn't control his mouth, though, and eventually lost consciousness again.

It hadn't been a bad dream. When he regained awareness, a horn protruded from his forehead once again. And this time, there were horns at both the front and back of

his skull. Two horns! It looked like a sharp metal object had pierced his head.

"Since you arrived," he told Haruko, "everything in my life has been awful."

"That's because your brain is empty," Haruko replied. "I had nothing to do with those horns."

Whose fault is it, then?

Unnerved, Naota glanced sideways at Haruko, who offered him the bandana.

The longer Haruko stayed with him, the worse things became. Once again, Naota had a horn situation. Life, indeed, had hit rock bottom.

In the end, Naota had left Gaku, Masashi, Ninamori, and Mamimi at the school gates, going home alone.

He had seen Mamimi today, as he'd been hoping to; but once again, the reality had made him feel awful.

Why do all these terrible things keep happening?

When he arrived home, yet another distressing thing occurred: He saw the robot that had come out of his head the other day, and it was outside again!

Kamon had been putting the robot to hard work at the shop. Now, the android was carrying in some kind of printed materials from the car. From the look of things, it appeared Kamon had not abandoned his hopes of becoming a famous author, and he had written some kind of fan fiction. Of course, Naota, who had no interest in such materials, hadn't read it.

"The neighbors have eyes, you know!" Naota objected.

His father was unabashed about using the robot outdoors in the middle of the day, despite Naota's instructions that he not let it out where other people could see.

"Just because you found it, that means you can hog it?" Kamon seemed completely unconcerned. "Isn't that a little selfish?"

"It's weird. Who else owns a robot?"

"Why shouldn't we have one? A house with a robot think of the significance of such impossible science or technology. Here, we have a humanoid robot combined with a human household. Doesn't it speak to the loss of father figures and the supplementation of lacking family relationships? What's your take on the symbolism and perception of this mechanical robot mixed into a normal family household?"

Naota sighed, not saying a word. His father's one published book was about a robotic machine: The Mysteries and Meanings of Evangelion . Unsold copies still lined the Nandaba household's bookshelves.

"Wasn't he walking around on his own last night, too? That dumb robot!" Naota growled.

"He wanted a breath of fresh air. Isn't that right, TV-boy?"

Because of its monitor-like head, Kamon had started calling the robot "TV-boy."

"You've heard about all the fires around here recently, haven't you?" Naota asked. "If it wanders around suspiciously, people are going to start thinking it's the one starting the fires."

As soon as Naota had finished the sentence, he had a sudden thought: This isn't a fire-spewing robot, is it?

The fires had begun around the time the robot had emerged from Naota's head.

And now, it was walking around on its own in the middle of the night. There were a lot of worrisome things about its behavior.

No, wait a second, Naota thought. He'd realized it was also true that the fires had started after Haruko arrived. The robot was odd, but all things considered, that coarse, maniacal woman was far, far more suspicious.

He couldn't say it was beyond her. No, in truth, it wasn't hard to believe it had been her. There was simply too much evidence not to suspect that she might be the fire starter.

Damn…

She had brought more bad luck with her than he could have imagined. Because of Haruko, Naota's life was at the lowest point ever.

The shop's phone rang.

When Naota picked up the receiver, he heard the insolent girl say, "Hey, Takkun. It's me, Haruko. I don't suppose you could come and get me? They've kind of caught me…"

Contrary to Naota's expectations, it wasn't the police who had apprehended her.

The place where she was being held was a guard station in the MM factory compound.

She had instructed him to bring one of the bike parts from her room (that is to say, Naota's room) when he came.

I can't believe this. She's nothing but trouble.

He thought about ignoring her, but then he thought back to what Haruko had said to him when she'd given him the bandana:

"Hey, it really suits you. You look good."

I guess I have to go. Damn!

He walked twenty minutes and arrived at the MM building, which resembled a clothes iron. As ordered, Naota went to a small office near the entrance gate. Inside, he saw the Vespa and Haruko crouching over it, fiddling with a part that looked like it had been damaged in an accident.

Opening the door, he addressed a middle-aged man who was dressed in a guard's uniform and sitting on a chair, "Excuse me, I received a phone call earlier."

"Hey, this kid is your guarantor?" the guard asked skeptically, looking Naota up and down.

"Did you bring it?" Haruko asked nonchalantly.

When Naota proffered the bike part, Haruko took the part and inserted it into the Vespa without so much as a "thank you."

"Is this girl completely brainless?" the guard asked. "She's acts so suspicious.

Anyway, it hasn't been safe around here lately. I heard last night's fire on Second Street was arson."

Naota felt uneasy inside. "Attempted arson?"

"Yeah. That's why I called the police. She hit the fence with that bike. She's a menace."

Yeah, I know.

After Naota's name and address were taken down on a thin notepad, the guard

allowed him to take her home.

"The fence wasn't permanently damaged, so it's okay this once; next time I see her, I'm calling the cops right away."

This is so depressing.

"You're a grown-up," said Naota. "What do you think you were doing?"

"He probably wondered why I had a junior high schooler as my guarantor."

"You have absolutely no common sense."

"You came anyway." Haruko beamed at Naota, her expression unexpectedly innocent. "You came all this way, so I'm going to thank you."

"What kind of thank you?"

"Something more fun than CPR." Haruko gave a meaningful smile.

Hey, don't make me more depressed than I already am.

As they passed through a cluster of trees, they took in the view of the wide ocean. They saw the sky sparkling with sunlight and the fresh blue of the sea.

Haruko and Naota were riding the Vespa along a coastal road. Taking the full brunt of the wind, Naota sat in front of Haruko, who was driving.

"How's the sea?" Haruko asked, sounding satisfied.

"This isn't the season for sightseeing," Naota replied, but the sound of the engine and the wind drowned out his voice, and his words didn't reach Haruko's ears.

She drove at a terrifying speed, zigzagging across the road. As carefree as the expansive sky and the wide sea, she ignored all the rules, wavering left and right at whim.

"Careful!" Naota yelled at her.

Haruko, who must have heard him, twisted the accelerator instead, shouting,

"Rider's high!"

"Seriously, you're freaking me out! This is dangerous, and I'm not wearing a helmet!"

However, Naota didn't look entirely unhappy as the wind rushed over his face.

After all, this was the first time Naota had ridden on a motorbike. And it was the first time in his life he'd felt the wind like this.

"You have no brain, so what are you worried about?" Haruko laughed.

Then, the Vespa sped up all the more.

The cool autumn air blew straight over him. The stimulating breeze whisked past, exhilarating him.

This feels amazing!

Maybe he enjoyed the feel of the wind rushing past because his head really was empty, exactly like Haruko had said.

Naota walked down the incline, careful not to slip on the rain-soaked ground.

Mamimi had taken shelter from the rain beneath the bridge.

She sat directly on the concrete, holding a stray cat on her lap. Playing a handheld game, she splashed her legs around in the shallows, although the river

wasn't really shallow anymore. Because of the rain, the river had swelled.

It had been raining since that morning. At daybreak, the sky had been gray and cloudy; by afternoon, a heavy downpour had begun.

After walking through the annoying rain, Naota had arrived home from school just in time to get a call from Mamimi.

"I'm at the bridge," she'd said. "My shoes got washed away in the river, so could you come and meet me here?"

Naota had thought to himself that he'd been getting a lot of calls asking him to do things lately. First, it had been Haruko's bike parts; now, it was Mamimi's sandals.

However, while he told himself he wasn't going to become anybody's slave, he proceeded to put some sandals in a bag and set out, an umbrella in hand.

Since "that" night, Naota and Mamimi's relationship had taken a strange turn.

Yesterday, she had waited for him in front of the school; today, she had called him. It was the first time she'd done either of these things since he'd met her. A little while ago, if Naota had received a phone call from Mamimi, he would have jumped up and run out of the house immediately, heedless of snow, a typhoon, or anything else.

Ducking out of the rain and under the shelter of the bridge, Naota closed his umbrella, removing the sandals from his bag and offering them to her.

Mamimi looked up and grinned at him, showing her teeth as she had yesterday.

"You're in high school already," he said, "so what do you think you're doing?"

"I was playing with Takkun, and I lost my shoes in the water."

"With who?"

She repeated, "With Takkun," and continued to stroke the cat sitting on her knees.

"That's Takkun, too?"

The cat was Takkun; Naota was Takkun; apparently, any substitute pet was Takkun. Thinking about his unhappy situation, Naota sighed.

This fickle high school girl, she really doesn't care about how I feel at all.

"This Takkun is hungry," Mamimi said. "Do you have anything? Cats don't eat gum, do they?"

"Did you find it?"

"I'm like a god," Mamimi smiled, self-satisfied. "I'm a protector of the weak, like Cantido, Lord of the Black Flame."

The God of the Black Flame, Cantido, was a character in the handheld game Fire Starter. Mamimi had been playing it for more than a year now. "I'm so addicted,"

she'd say with an innocent expression; she would play it again and again without getting bored.

Suddenly, Naota realized what was missing and asked, "Don't you have an umbrella?"

"It's all right. It'll stop soon."

"It'll stop? Look at it."

"I never carry an umbrella."

"Then, what do you do when it rains?"

"I don't mind getting a little wet."

Naota was getting annoyed again. She doesn't mind getting a little wet? In this

downpour, she'll get soaked! She should have said she didn't have an umbrella when she called.

"Let's play some," Mamimi said, not noticing Naota's concealed rage.

By "play," she meant their kind of fooling around. Naota liked the smell of her, her softness, and her mischief. Today, though, Naota felt like staying away from carefree girls who didn't think of other people's feelings.

"I'm busy," he said coldly. Opening his umbrella, he walked away.

"Takkun," she whispered, touching the kitten's nose.

After about an hour, the rain stopped.

The clouds began to disperse, revealing glimpses of a blue sky.

Mamimi put on the sandals that Naota had brought her; then, she stood up, still holding the cat. Whimsically, she walked along the riverbank, wearing the oversized sandals and looking at the dragonflies that had come out after the rain had stopped.

And then…

She saw something that took her breath away.

Next to the river, the tall grass grew thick. In that tall grass, an odd-shaped figure stood, the likes of which she hadn't seen before. It was big, had a dark blue body, and looked like some kind of idol. It wasn't a statue, though; it was alive.

It took three giant steps toward the riverbank, gazing at its surroundings.

"God?" Instinctively holding her breath, Mamimi hid in the grass and watched the figure with excitement.

The odd-shaped figure was none other than the robot that had come out of Naota's head. It must have seized an opportunity when Kamon wasn't looking to leave the shop. What it was doing in this forsaken place was a mystery.

After loitering on the bank for a while, the robot climbed up the concrete shore and began walking off somewhere.

Mamimi, heart pounding in her chest, followed after it.

The place the robot was headed appeared to be the burned-down wooden school building by the side of the river. The grass grew high over the ruins. It was the old Mabase Elementary School. The building still hadn't been demolished, despite all these years, and the ruins were covered in ashes, just as they'd been that night. On the walls, the clocks had stopped at the exact time the fire had erupted.

The robot stood in the center of the building. Suddenly, it turned to face Mamimi. Its television-monitor head stared at her.

Mamimi was taken aback. Had she been chosen deliberately? Yes, she must have been. The girl sensed or imagined some kind of mystical spirit, hidden by that robot's expressionless face.

Among the thin clouds, which had stopped producing rain at that moment, a single shaft of sunlight shone down like a spotlight, illuminating the robot. Cleansed by the rain, the robot sparkled in the light, looking like some sacred object or, at least, that's how it looked to Mamimi, anyway.

"Oh!" Mamimi exclaimed, surprised.

The heavy metallic body began to float into the air. As it continued to gaze

down at Mamimi, the robot disappeared through a parting in the clouds. When Mamimi looked up at the sky, which was now full of light, she saw that a giant rainbow had appeared.

Mamimi felt inspired by the events she had witnessed. In her mind, there was no doubt: She must have seen a miracle.

"You are a god. You really are."

The rainbow cut a clean, brilliant arc across the autumn sky.

In ecstasy, Mamimi stayed for a while, looking up at the place where her god had vanished.

There had been a considerable amount of gossip about the broken-down robot working at the Shigekuni Bakery, which was unsurprising, given how much it had stood out. Neighbors had talked about how it would linger in the convenience store, reading perverted magazines for three hours at a time. They spoke about how it wandered around, checking the vending machines, searching for forgotten change.

They gossiped about how it would go to the barbershop, sitting and reading comics in the waiting area before returning home.

Thus, Mamimi rather quickly was able to find out where the robot lived.

Although she heard the rumors decrying it as perverted, nothing could shake the firm conviction that Mamimi had derived from her vision. Already, she was wholeheartedly devoted to the robot, for better or worse.

Nowadays, she followed the robot around, her camera in hand. Increasing her photo collection had become an important part of Mamimi's daily routine. She acted exactly like the paparazzi following a celebrity.

Rumors spread that the robot was hitting on girls who hung around the bakery.

Therefore, Mamimi now stopped by Naota's place quite often. Of course, it was merely to see the robot.

That evening, the Nandaba family dinner had ended normally. Kamon was cleaning up. Having learned the robot wasn't home, Mamimi had lined up her photos on the porch, showing them to Naota. She elaborated on the ones she particularly liked. Perhaps she thought everyone liked the robot as much as she did. The way she spoke about the robot's greatness made her resemble a fan who wanted everyone else to share her obsession.

Naota didn't know what this new god Mamimi followed was doing there; he was concerned about the robot's actions, though, so he looked through the photos. After all, the robot had come out of his head. Looking at the pictures, he saw the robot had been wandering aimlessly around town. Wearing one of Kamon's old jumpers, it had visited backstreets, the riverside, shopping areas, the library, the school, the kindergarten, City Hall, and the bus stop so many places.

What does it think it's doing? Is it thinking at all?

In any case, to capture all these moments on film, a photographer would have to be dedicated. Recently, Mamimi had been skipping school so she could follow the robot.

Naota didn't really like this development. Maybe it was because she now paid more attention to the robot than to him. Damn, is this jealousy?

"You're so lucky, Takkun," Mamimi said. "He doesn't come over to my place."

"You're not allowed pets in your apartment, are you?" Naota asked coldly.

Naota had hidden the fact that the robot had come out of his own head. Keeping the details vague as to how his family had come to have a robot, he explained that it was an automated helper in the Nandaba household.

"Yo, Sameji," greeted Haruko, coming out onto the veranda. She was wearing a sloppy shirt. Haruko had begun calling Mamimi "Sameji," due to her last name,

"Samejima."

Mamimi smiled. "Hey, Haru! Good evening!"

Mamimi seemed to admire Haruko an awful lot, something that had surprised Naota. After all, Mamimi had seen Haruko run over him when they'd all met. Despite this, Mamimi respected the young woman, who utterly lacked any common sense. At the end of the day, maybe Mamimi had bad taste. If that were true, then what did that say about Naota, who liked her ?

Standing on the porch, Haruko looked up at the night sky and said, "Hey, it came back."

Zigzagging across the sky was an illuminated object. It was the robot.

"It's doing that again?" Naota complained. "Can't it do that somewhere no one will see it?"

"It's so cool," said Mamimi.

Its monitor shining like a headlight, the robot slowly descended straight into the Nandaba household garden.

"Turn off your lights," Naota grumbled.

"Lord Canti!" Mamimi started a thankful prayer to the robot, which was still in the garden.

"Canti?" asked Naota.

"The God of the Black Flame, Lord Cantido."

"Always with that computer game. You can't give it a name yourself?"

"Canti, you're late. You got the stuff?" asked Haruko, deliberately using the name Mamimi had given it. She extended her hand toward the robot.

'Lord Canti' handed over a convenience store shopping bag.

Taking out her evening meal of spicy curry bread and a canned drink, Haruko addressed Lord Canti, "I didn't ask for this! I said the juice with pulp in it! You're so useless!"

"Haru, you shouldn't say that," Mamimi cautioned, unable to let it pass. "He's a god. He's going to turn Endsville to dust."

"Endsville?"

"It's from her game," Naota explained.

'Endsville' was another word she had picked up from Fire Starter. It was the name of the town where the game was set.

Sliding open the paper door, Shigekuni peeked out. As always, he regarded Mamimi with scorn. Shigekuni didn't think much of her. Every time he saw her, he made cruel or sarcastic comments.

In truth, Naota thought Shigekuni's behavior was another expression of jealousy.

Shigekuni had been a baseball fan since he was little. Thus, he was very proud of

Tasuku, who had inherited his passion for baseball and displayed a natural talent for the game. Because he felt Mamimi somehow would steal Tasuku away from him, he was downright nasty to her.

"Look at my clothes," the old man suddenly boasted. "Tasuku sent them from America."

It could have been an innocent boast, but it was also, likely not coincidentally, an attack on Mamimi, who hadn't heard from Tasuku. That fact alone should have irked Mamimi. However, she ignored the spiteful old man and pointed her camera at the robot, pressing the button to take another photo of Canti.

"Hey, what are you doing, taking pictures of other people's machines? Don't you dare take another picture of our machine. If you do, I'll call the police at once,"

Naota's grandfather said, pretty much echoing the MM guard. Then, he slammed the screen door shut.

Not fond of Mamimi's newfound obsession, Naota seized this opportunity to speak up, "You know, you really should stop following this robot around. You've been skipping so much school that you're going to get in trouble soon. If you get kicked out of school, there's no way my brother will like you."

Mamimi stood up silently. With a brief, sad expression, she looked at Naota.

She started to say something, stopped, and walked out of the garden without a word.

She left the photos she had brought over, which were still spread out on the balcony.

"Are you really going to let her go?" Haruko asked. "Why not?" Naota answered. "Nothing bothers her, anyway."

"I see," Haruko said, biting into her spicy curry roll. "Don't buy bread from the convenience store. This is a bakery, you know."

The robot, standing in the garden, watched Mamimi leave.

The next day, on their way home from school, Naota, Gaku, and Masashi went to look at charred ruins again. They'd heard rumors that there had been another fire last night, and that it probably had been arson.

"You can smell the smoke still, huh?" Masashi said.

The remains were surrounded by police tape; several police-related people sifted through the ashes inside.

It had been an abandoned house. Although Naota had seen the site fairly often, now that the ground no longer contained a building, it looked strangely small.

When they moved closer to the scene, one of the workers signaled not to come beyond the tape.

"This isn't merely arson," Gaku said meaningfully. "It's the work of a UFO."

"A UFO?"

"You haven't heard? Recently, a strange object's been sighted in the skies above Mabase. Its picture has been in the paper, too."

Gaku apparently had taken a particular interest in the fire incidents, which was fine but Naota really wanted to avoid the UFO subject.

"These fire outbreaks," Gaku continued, "they're probably caused by that UFO."

Silently, Naota reflected, He might be right. The arsonist might not be Haruko, but Canti.

The reason Canti as Mamimi had christened it was here remained a complete mystery. The weird robot had come out of Naota's head; it would zigzag elusively across the night sky, lighting up its shining head. It certainly wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that the robot was responsible for the fires.

Naota recalled the night it had emerged; there had been another robot Canti had defeated. That one had been pretty violent. It might be only a matter of time before Canti became like that. No one had died in the recent spate of fires, but who knew what might happen? He had to do something.

Carefully, Naota retied the bandana in such a way that his classmates wouldn't notice.

Anyway, why does all the bad stuff happen to me?

When he left the others at the ruins to go home, he took a different route than usual. Although normally he wouldn't cross the bridge, Naota walked toward the riverbank, thinking he might swing by the hangout.

Mamimi might be there and if they were alone, maybe he wouldn't feel as irritated as he'd been last night. Maybe he could be nicer.

He reconsidered at once.

As if she'd be there! She's in love with Canti at the moment. That stupid high school girl is having a great time, unaware that I'm hiding a horn under this bandana. It would be stupid to put any faith in that carefree girl.

Still she might be at Mabase Bridge right now!

His irritation battled his desire to see Mamimi. If he saw her, he knew he'd get angry right away. He'd get angry, but he still wanted to see her. Unsure how he felt, he looked at the water flowing under the bridge.

Something brown floated there: Shoes. And two legs.

Looking closer, he saw several high school girls standing at the edge of the river. One girl was surrounded by the others. The girl who was surrounded sat in the flowing water, her skirt billowing in the river. The shoes that had washed away seemed to be hers.

It looked like the others were bullying her.

Come on, grow up, stupid girls.

The bullies left her sitting in the river, mocking her as they walked away. Naota sighed at this intense scene; then, he froze when he caught a better look at the girl slowly standing up in the middle of the river.

It can't be.

She wore the familiar uniform of Mabase Shinda High School. The girl in the river was, without a doubt, Mamimi.

The person being bullied in front of me was Mamimi.

Mamimi silently wrung out her soaked skirt.

Stunned, Naota watched the scene unfold. He thought back to the other day, when Mamimi had called him because her shoes were missing. She had told him the shoes had been washed away while she was playing with Takkun.

When she'd said it, Mamimi had given her typical giggle. Seeing her smile, Naota had thought spitefully how nice it must be for a high school girl with nothing

to worry about.

Last night, when Mamimi had walked away, Haruko had asked if it was okay to leave her like that. "Why not?" Naota had answered. "Nothing bothers her, anyway."

The person being bullied in front of me was Mamimi.

Standing in the riverbed, Mamimi looked in his direction. When she spotted Naota standing on the bridge, she stopped. Halting in the midst of wringing her wet skirt, she didn't move.

For a short time, the girl and the boy simply stood there, staring at each other.

How much time passed?

The two of them perched on top of the bridge. The town soon was covered in a thin darkness, and the cold air chilled their skin.

"My skirt dries quicker this way," Mamimi had said, sitting down on the bridge.

Naota couldn't do anything but silently sit next to her.

The headlights of cars passed over them.

This bridge was smaller than Mabase Bridge, where he and Mamimi usually met. There weren't as many cars, and there were fewer streetlamps.

Naota felt like he was in a fleeting dream. If someone had painted this scene, it definitely would be a gloomy picture. Since Mamimi had sat down, she hadn't uttered a single word. Cigarette in her mouth, she silently played her handheld game.

I should say something, Naota thought. He couldn't think of anything to say, though, so the blips from the game continued softly.

She was like a robot that had been programmed to play a game. The cigarette between her lips glowed red, and that was the only way he knew she still was breathing. Mamimi …

Naota felt as though his heart had been ripped out.

Last night, Mamimi had come over, carrying her photos of Lord Canti, greeting him with a cheerful smile. It seemed so long ago.

Naota felt as if hundreds or thousands of years had passed. Whether something had happened in the ancient past or just yesterday, once the moment ended, it became a part of the inseparable past. "A long time ago" referred to something in the past that would be impossible to experience again. That was why Mamimi's innocent expression was nothing more than a distant memory to Naota now.

She smashed out her cigarette and stood up.

"Is your skirt dry?"

As soon as he asked, he regretted it so much that he felt like dying. Could he have said anything worse? At that moment, he was the most terrible person in the world.

Mamimi gave him a cold, sidelong glance, as if she didn't know him. Remaining silent, she dropped her game next to Naota. It was exactly the same gesture she'd used to discard her cigarette butt.

Naota picked it up and pressed the start button. He felt he wouldn't be able to stand the silence without it. Of course, the handheld contained the game Mamimi

always played: Fire Starter. Naota, too, had played it when it first had come out, but he'd given up after a few times. It wasn't just Naota most of the kids who'd bought it had given up on it almost immediately. It hadn't sold well, either. Fire Starter was a really weird game.

Welcome to Endsville, the devil town.

It is a dark town, a city of devils.

An invisible darkness has infected people's hearts. It eats away at the world and continues to spread. It won't stop until Endsville has consumed everything.

This town makes real the previously unattainable desire for world conquest. Finally, all the world shall be like Endsville, and all the people in the world will be like Endsville's residents.

Governments, businesses, and churches will become affiliated with Endsville, and all schools will become like Endsville schools, as well.

Pride, obsessions pretending to be love, weak morals, distorted equality this town is full of easy prey for the devils. It's packed with low-hanging fruit.

Stop Endsville from further consumption!

As apostle to the God of the Black Flame, Lord Cantido, you must stop the growth of Endsville, which knows not how to stop alone.

Take care! If you relax for a moment, then the devil town will enlarge.

The single weapon you have been given to halt this expansion is fire the sacred, purging flame: matches, lighters, firebombs, explosives, and cigarettes. If it burns, you can use it. The devil town's weakness is fire.

Obtain the items, avoid the police, deceive the firefighters, and burn down the devil town.

Now, go forth and unleash the purifying flame!

However…

There is one thing you mustn't forget one thing you cannot do.

Despite the powerful flames at your control, you can't burn down everything at once. After all, if you burn down the entire town, you'll be left with nowhere to live.

And so, your battle can't be won. Over and over again, without end, you will burn the heartless town.

That is your mission, chosen one.

Go with the blessing of Lord Cantido, God of the Black Flames.

"Mamimi?"

Naota took his eyes off the screen to look around. While his attention had been diverted by the game, Mamimi had disappeared.

That…

Where could she have gone without her shoes?

Panicking, Naota stood up and ran after her, the portable game player still clutched in his hand.

I don't need a game anymore. I know where I am right now. This is the devil town of Endsville.

In the evening, the shops in front of the train station were busy. On their way home from work, businessmen and office ladies hurried to make their purchases.

Naturally, they were devil businessmen and office ladies, who'd been spit out by a devil company.

Once touched by Endsville, people could do nothing but live as part of Endsville. They could breathe only the air of Endsville, and they could eat only Endsville's food.

Devils wearing ties and devils wearing thick makeup; devils who didn't realize they were wearing masks; devils handing out leaflets; devils passing out election flyers; devils talking loudly; devils with fake faces, flipping burgers; devils selling cosmetics; devils crouched down outside the convenience store; fat devils; old devils; and baby devils, pushed in baby carriages all of them were devils.

Mamimi started feeling sick, so she ran down a deserted alley.

I know.

I'm not an exception. I was born in Endsville, so the curse is in my body too.

However, I am different from the others. The other devils, they don't realize they're devils. They don't know they're in Endsville. Unwittingly, they spread Endsville across the world. That's how we're different: I'm the person who will stop the spread of Endsville, the one who will cleanse this town with holy flame and save the world. I've protected this worldy day after day, with that power.

I pray for the blessing of the God of the Black Flame! Lord Canti, I am your meek servant, the wielder of the black flame. Please, fill me with your holy spirit.

Wandering through the back alleys, Mamimi heard the stray cats meow. Then, between the twilight buildings, she spotted the figure of a robot playing with the cats.

"Lord Canti."

She smiled.

It was the beginning of her holy life.

Naota used a pay phone on his street to try calling Mamimi's cell phone but apparently, she'd turned off hers. No one answered at her home phone number, either.

She wasn't at Mabase Bridge, so he had no choice but to go and look for her.

Where have you gone?

It was time for dinner, but Naota knew he couldn't go home now. He had to look for Mamimi. He had to find her and be with her. Intuitively, he knew this.

He dearly regretted having lost sight of Mamimi just a little while ago. They'd been together a few moments. She'd been sitting right next to him.

It sank in that all he did was make mistakes. Mamimi was slipping away from him a little farther today than yesterday, a little more now than then.

"You there."

When he looked up, he saw a policeman standing next to a patrol car.

"You live around here, don't you?" asked the policeman. "You haven't seen a suspicious-looking high school girl nearby recently, have you?"

A suspicious-looking high school girl…?

For a second, Naota's heart stopped.

"You've heard about the arsons around here," the cop continued. "What a horrible person… You don't know anything? You haven't heard any rumors about the culprit at school?"

"Hey," Naota heard another cop from the patrol car call, "look over there!"

The sky had turned red. It was a fire.

Mamimi …

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No, I haven't heard any word from him. I recruited one of the enemy robots, but it's proving pretty useless."

Haruko was in Naota's room, apologizing and bowing. This was atypical behavior from her, given how outrageous, unruly, savage, and generally over-the-top she was.

She was alone in the room, with the exception of Miyu Miyu, who sat on the bed and looked out the window. The flames of a faraway blaze reflected in the cat's eyes.

"That…"

Haruko noticed the fire. She hurriedly opened the window, stepped outside, and walked out on the balcony.

She heard the sound of sirens coming from the river.

The fire was at a small boathouse, located on the riverside. It was an uninhabited two-story vessel.

Very quickly, a crowd of people formed around it. With the recent arson spate, everyone had become very jittery. Among the gathered people, there was much speculation that this, too, was arson. Usually, no one spent much time around this area, so everyone wondered why there'd be an accidental fire in a place like that.

The small building burned splendidly.

It was fortunate there were no buildings nearby, but the flames were high and powerful enough that complete destruction was unavoidable.

Sparks from the flames danced up into the sky.

Naota was part of the crowd; they were cast in a red glow. Stunned, he watched the blaze.

That's right. A real fire is hot like this.

Naota recalled the last fire he'd witnessed: It was the burning school Tasuku and he had watched together. Back then, Naota had been in kindergarten.

Fire… that's it!

Suddenly, Naota realized he'd remembered a place where Mamimi might be hiding. Maybe she'd be there now. Maybe she was crying.

At the charred site of the Mabase School, the wooden building's remains stood under a coating of ash. Nearby residents sometimes used the grounds to garden.

From the section of the old school garden located on the riverbank, the boathouse fire could be seen on the opposite shore. The river reflected the blaze, and the fire engines roared from across the way.

On this side, the school garden was as dark and quiet as a theater box. As if it were onstage, being watched by an audience, the fire across the river was a curiously unreal, fantastic scene.

Mamimi…

Just as Naota had guessed, she was there. The dark schoolyard was lit up with small red lights. It seemed she had put cigarettes in the ground instead of candles.

What are you doing?

Illuminated by the fire from the other shore, Mamimi strangely swayed in time to some internal rhythm. When she stood, she reached her arms up to the sky; then, she crouched down, hanging her head to pray. It looked like a ritual dance.

No, maybe she intended it to be an actual ritual. When Naota looked closer, he could see Mamimi was drawing a magic symbol with her feet.

Nearby, Canti stood, unmoving. The robot looked like part of her ritual, but he was merely a passive observer.

"Mamimi," Naota called.

She looked back at him with cold eyes the eyes of a witch, interrupted in the middle of casting her spell.

"Why did you come here?"

Naota tried passing her the game machine he still held. "Here."

"I don't need it anymore. It's yours."

He didn't have any response.

"Do you remember the fire here?" Mamimi was looking at the old school building. "No, you wouldn't remember. You were so small back then."

Though he didn't reply, Naota did remember that fire six years ago.

That was when everything had started.

It had been right before the start of spring.

That night, Naota nearly had fallen asleep when the town fire alarms began to ring.

Naota had asked his brother what the commotion was.

Tasuku opened the window to look outside and said, "A fire. It looks like the school. Let's go and see."

Sneaking out in the middle of the night was a big deal to the young Naota. He thought about going to see the fire with his brother, and his heart jumped a little. It was a rare chance for an evening adventure. Anyway, no matter what might happen, Tasuku was with him, so he would be okay.

Everyone was headed toward the fire. Mabase Elementary School which Tasuku still attended back then, and where Naota would begin the following year crackled with flames.

To Naota's young eyes, the fire was a glorious sight. He was excited by the waves of heat, which he hadn't experienced before.

It's so warm, isn't it, brother?

His brother told him not to say that kind of thing.

In the wide schoolyard, a large number of people gathered.

"Wait here for a minute," Tasuku said, disappearing into the crowd.

Suddenly, Naota felt uneasy. He wasn't that far from home, but he was uncomfortable being left alone in what felt like an alien world.

"Brother! Where are you, brother?" he yelled, running after Tasuku.

Despite his brother's orders, Naota ran after him, searching desperately. The fear that his brother had gone to the other side spurred him on.

How long had he looked around? The school building had two stories. In the back of the unburned part of the building, Naota finally found Tasuku: his safety blanket, his brother.

Tasuku was with a girl Naota didn't recognize. She was bigger than Naota, but smaller than Tasuku. It looked like she had been crying. When Tasuku spotted Naota, his brother gently stroked the girl's hair and laughed that his little brother had followed him.

The girl, seeing him for the first time, turned to Naota and happily told him that Tasuku had saved her.

Saved her?

Naota didn't ask what Tasuku had saved her from.

The girl was Mamimi Samejima.

After that fire, Mamimi and Tasuku had started dating.

That's right, Naota remembered . Mamimi was bullied back then, too. That's why she always said she hated school.

Over the ensuing six years, he had forgotten about their first meeting. It all happened such a long time ago, and he'd come to think of Mamimi as nothing more than a carefree girl.

Could it be…?

Naota had a terrifying thought. How could he have forgotten until now? Back then, they'd said that the school fire had been arson, but they'd never caught the culprit.

"I hate it here," Mamimi said. "I'm glad it burned down. Besides, that's how I met Tasuku."

What was I thinking? Naota wondered to himself . I didn't know. I didn't know anything.

Of course, his brother had known everything. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to rescue her back then.

"Although it's all burned down, the ruins are still here."

Naota didn't reply.

The charred remains of the old school building had been left essentially intact.

They stood there, illuminated by the fire.

Mamimi pointed to the burning boathouse and said, "Endsville is burning."

She wasn't talking to Naota. She was addressing Canti. "Now, Lord Canti, a kiss as my reward."

Looking absorbed, Mamimi walked toward Canti. Naota hadn't seen such a

suggestive look in her eyes before.

Finally, Naota thought he understood what Mamimi wanted from Canti. At the time when he'd first met Mamimi here, his brother had comforted her and softly stroked her head. That gesture probably supported Mamimi during hard times .

In fact, that one memory had kept this seemingly carefree girl going, all this time.

Mamimi stood on her tiptoes to kiss Canti; her expression was that of a devotee, offering everything to her god. Naota felt a pain in his heart.

Mamimi, I… Mamimi, I…

"Ugh."

At that moment, there was a violent shuddering in Naota's forehead. His entire body stiffened as if he had been electrocuted.

Ba-dum… ba-dum… ba-dum…

His head started to throb.

The sirens and searchlights at the MM factory once again prepared for war.

Haruko, who was watching the factory from the corner of her eye, spurred on her beloved Vespa to the scene. "That" night was starting all over again.

Naota heard an ear-splitting ringing and felt his feet leave the ground. His body was floating in the air, just as before.

Next up is…

As he expected, the horns burst through his bandana and extended long and fat from the back and front of his head. No, Naota already knew they weren't really horns. As the two protrusions had appeared on either side of his head, he'd predicted they'd each become another robot.

As he'd surmised, the protrusions emerged gradually: Several fat fingers, a hand, and then an entire arm appeared.

Not now, not here!

Similar to the previous time, the foreign objects made the surrounding area feel paralyzed. He felt no physical pain.

Naota had been prepared for this to happen. He'd experienced the strange feeling of having a heart in his forehead before. He thought if something still were residing in his head, he wanted it out immediately. However, he didn't want it to happen right here and now!

If the thing had to come out, he wanted it to happen somewhere no one would see it. He'd known the resulting robot could be a problem. If it weren't a harmless robot like Canti, but more like that violent arm-thing instead, then its emergence in an inopportune place might be fatal.

"Ew!"

Through the ringing in his ears, he heard Mamimi's repulsed exclamation.

Mamimi stepped back instinctively and looked at Naota with a stunned expression. That was natural. Last time, Mamimi had lost consciousness and didn't

remember anything. Seeing this mysterious wonder for the first time, it was no surprise that Mamimi freaked.

Why couldn't it have been anyone but Mamimi to see this? Or is this happening precisely because Mamimi is here?

After pushing through Naota's head to emerge on the outside, the alien objects both appeared to be part of another robotic arm. It was the same kind of arm as before. Of course, this time, it was the right arm. There was no mistaking it. This was the other half of that violent robot.

Run, Mamimi. It's dangerous! Naota wanted to scream, but to his frustration, the words wouldn't come out. Mamimi remained frozen to the spot, dumbstruck.

Canti stood nearby as before, watching what was unfolding.

As Naota's floating body tilted up, the robot's entire form appeared. The sight of a huge piece of machinery jumping from Naota's tiny head was unbelievably grotesque.

The new robot was gigantic. It was human-shaped, but larger than Canti, measuring about nine feet. Compared with Canti's slim proportions, this one had a thick, beefy body. Though humanoid, it would be more accurate to say it was shaped like a sumo wrestler rather than a normal person.

Its arms were odd. The right arm resembled the full manipulator, which had previously appeared. The left arm, however, was similar solely in its upper part.

Attached to the left elbow was a disproportionately small metallic arm. This smaller limb appeared imbalanced against the sturdiness of the right arm. Because of the mismatch, the robot's silhouette was reminiscent of a crab.

That strange left arm probably was an emergency replacement for the part that Canti had cut off.

The robot caught sight of Canti through the sensor eye on its head. The gigantic robot began roaring, shaking everything in sight. Most likely, it was delighted at the chance for revenge.

The MM logo had been carved on this one-armed robot, as well.

In the MM Mabase factory, the host computer once again began receiving battle reports.

«MMR Class [J].RH appears in Mabase city. 19:57.

MMR Class [K].001 ATOMSK is caught at close distance.19:57.

[K] ATOMSK displays no reaction. 19:57.

RH, receiving no reaction and not recognizing the merit of capture, readies battle plan for ultimate destruction. 19:57.

Permission granted. 19:57.

Battle begins. 19:57.

Good luck to RH in executing battle strategy. 19:57.»

The gigantic robot appeared to be starting a fight with Canti.

Its feet remained stuck, however, bogged down in Naota. For some reason, the

robot's feet were still in Naota's head, and it couldn't get free.

"Ugh!"

In pain, Naota grabbed at his forehead, desperately trying to rid himself of the robot. As if it were disgusted by a piece of sticky eggshell from its birth process, the huge robot lifted its foot and shook off Naota. Consequently, Naota was flicked away.

With a scream, Naota fell to the schoolyard violently. Fortunately, the anti-gravitational force generated by the robot's appearance hadn't dissipated completely. This eased the impact, and Naota escaped with no broken bones more or less, safe and sound.

For a moment, Naota thought, Thank God . His relief proved premature, however; in the next second, he was hit by a bike and thrown aside. Of course, the bike was Haruko's.

"Waaah!"

"Takkun!" Haruko yelled, stopping her Vespa.

Naota mumbled. Although he had escaped unscathed once more, these accidents, one after another, had taken their toll on his mental state.

Haruko turned to the new robot, enraged (already having forgotten she herself had run over Naota), and grunted, "Look what you did to Takkun!"

The formerly one-armed robot immediately assumed a battle stance; with its giant right fist, it punched Canti.

Canti collapsed with a loud metallic crash.

The weight differential between the two was so immense that the impact was like a giant truck hitting a bicycle. In terms of brute strength, the one-armed robot far surpassed Canti.

Trampling on the fallen Canti, the big robot looked like it was enjoying its revenge.

«How do you like that, [K].001 ATOMSK? Last time, I was careless and let my right arm get crushed; but in a proper fight, you're no match for me.»

Canti remained completely motionless, trampled. It had no will to fight back and lay there, passive.

Mamimi screamed.

Up until now, she'd been shocked; finally, she forced herself to acknowledge the frightening reality unfolding before her. Watching the terrifying one-armed robot, she collapsed as if she were a broken doll.

A demon it's the Endsville demon. Because I tried to burn the town, I angered it, and now it's come here…

The one-armed demon picked up Canti's legs, swung the robot around in a semicircle, and flung it to the ground. The entire motion was a well-programmed fight sequence.

Canti's body slammed down a few feet from where Mamimi sat.

The one-armed robot ignored any surrounding people. It exhibited a single-minded malice. After finishing with Canti, perhaps it intended to annihilate the people there, too.

"Mamimi!"

When he regained control over his body, Naota ran to Mamimi, refusing to think of anything else.

This was the worst possible situation. The robot from his head was going to hurt Mamimi. There was no way he could let that happen!

"Uwaaah!" Haruko, guitar in hand, activated the manual generator on the instrument's back. She attempted to hit the one-armed robot.

The robot seized the guitar with its hand.

Haruko's instrument glowed; where it touched the robots arm, blue and white lights sparked. (Perhaps, during this exchange, another battle occurred simultaneously in some complicated dimension that couldn't be seen by human eyes.) The robot desperately blocked the guitar as Haruko pushed down.

It appeared that Haruko Haruhara really wasn't an ordinary girl.

As the robot guarded against Haruko, it also continued attacking Canti from behind. The air twisted, and the whole area was filled with a disquieting vibration.

Suddenly, Canti squeaked and sank to the ground.

It was as though an invisible foot had stepped on Canti's back. By the looks of it, the enemy robot had utilized some kind of medical machinery as a weapon.

In medical science, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment in which patients are placed within a high-pressure environment to change the oxygen levels in their blood. This robot was equipped with a pressure-changing unit that could increase environmental pressure at will. That seemed to be the weapon it now employed.

Canti's body was attacked repeatedly by high-pressure pinpoints, as if it had been hit everywhere by bullets. The assault was merciless.

As Canti let out a scream and a squeak, Naota and Mamimi grew terrified.

Mamimi quivered in Naota's arms, unable to move. The one-armed robot's violent attacks would be directed toward them soon.

I can't take this anymore.

Naota could do nothing but hold the frightened Mamimi. It was maddening to know that he was so useless.

"Mamimi…" Naota whispered.

Canti simply had been absorbing its opponent's attacks; now, Canti's monitor suddenly lit up with a strange light.

Withstanding its enemy's high-pressure attacks, Canti stood and opened up a section of its armor. In the next second, it extended both its arms, seized Naota, and inserted him into its body. The lid closed.

In a flash, Naota had been enveloped by Canti's body, vanishing.

Watching, Mamimi shook in terror. "You ate him."

Indeed, it looked as though Canti had somehow eaten up Naota.

Where am I?

Naota considered the possibility that he was dead, which would explain why he was in an utterly dark space.

As he drifted through the darkness, however, Naota knew he still had his limbs and body.

If I'm still alive, then where am I?

His memories were jumbled up by the shock of what had happened. Finally, he remembered Canti's body had swallowed him.

Common sense would dictate that Canti's slim form couldn't possibly accommodate Naota's body. However, given that an entire robot had come out of Naota's head, common sense wasn't really an issue anymore.

Yes, I'm probably inside Canti's body: However, this isn't the time to float around in darkness. Outside, that horrific robot might be attacking Mamimi! So, what do I do now?

Naota reached out with both hands, trying to feel around, but his fingers encountered nothing.

"Heeeeey!"

When he screamed, his voice disappeared into the endless black. There was no telling how far the darkness extended. He didn't hear an echo; the shout simply was swallowed up.

From behind, something suddenly pierced Naota's head.

"Huh?"

One by one, his limbs and his organs froze; he completely lost control over his body.

He started to hear the ominous sound of something operating around him.

GON… GON… GON… GON… GON… GON… GON… GON…

Afraid of being caught in giant, rotating gears, Naota trembled.

«[K], ATOMSK shows reaction. 20:01.»

After swallowing Naota, Canti turned around in the next instant. It delivered a powerful flying kick to the one-armed robot. That devil, which had been locked in battle with Haruko, collapsed.

Canti carefully braced itself with a powerful command presence, as if it were an entirely different robot. In fact, Canti's outer appearance was changing.

Mamimi and Haruko watched the transformation.

After displaying several incomprehensible signal patterns on its monitor, the entire body color began flickering, changing to different hues. From navy to silver to green to purple it shifted into these bright colors to a dizzying effect. Finally, it settled into a bright crimson.

Canti's body made a feral noise. Something was happening on the inside, in addition to its exterior changes.

Haruko, who had watched what was happening to Canti, glanced at the bracelet on her left arm. The chain link reacted like a magnet, pointing to Canti.

Haruko grinned. This was, apparently, a delightful development.

"Idiot!" Mamimi screamed, running to Canti and beating its back with her fists.

"You're no god! Why did you eat Takkun? Stupid robot! Give back Takkun!"

She pleaded with all her might. She was bawling. It was the first time since the night she'd met Naota that she had let anyone but Tasuku see her tears. Suddenly, Mamimi stopped beating Canti and looked up at the robot, surprised.

The robot, now a crimson color, tenderly patted her head. Softly, as if it were offering her consolation, it said, "You're a good girl, aren't you?"

Mamimi was struck dumb by Canti's unexpected show of sympathy. That moment reminded Mamimi of something that she always had wanted but hadn't been able to get.

Suddenly, Canti's arm quickly moved her away, as if to signal her to get down.

The one-armed robot stood, readying its finishing attack. Its sensor eye locked Canti in its sights. What attack was it planning this time? Its whole body groaned as it prepped itself.

Canti, however, was faster.

The second it had pushed Mamimi back, the whole robot not merely its color transformed. Although it had been an android mere seconds earlier, Canti now had morphed into a giant crimson cannon. The body resembled some strange, scientific weapon; this was Canti's self-propelled gun mode.

A red laser locked in on the one-armed robot. A shot issued from the cannon's mouth. With tremendous noise, it fired an energy cannonball.

Haruko and Mamimi sensed the attack ripple throughout their entire bodies; they felt the blast in the pits of their stomach.

The cannonball headed straight for the one-armed robot, piercing its armor.

Upon passing through its enemy's body, the cannonball changed directions, flew up into the sky, and returned to the gun-mode Canti.

Not about to let this opportunity to finish the fight slip away, Haruko swung her time-space interference weapon at the enemy robot, which now had a gaping hole.

She couldn't afford any carelessness; this robot's parts could operate as autonomous weapons, which the severed arm previously had demonstrated.

This time, the defenseless robot was hit by the light-emitting guitar. It flew backward, smashing into the side of the wooden building. By all appearances, Haruko's guitar was a super weapon: The entire one-armed robot sparked a brilliant white and then exploded. A huge pillar of flame rose up, incinerating the remains of the school.

Canti returned to its original form and protected Mamimi from the blast. Its body had changed back from crimson to the original metallic navy; from inside, sounds in its belly could be heard.

Naota's body was excreted from the robot's bottom.

"Ouch."

Although Naota seemed almost unconsciousness as he emerged, he returned to his senses immediately. For some reason, his face had numerous scratches. Looking closely, his entire body was covered in little grazes.

Seeing Naota, Mamimi crinkled her nose, saying, "Takkun, you're all sticky.

And you smell."

Naota's nicked-up body was covered in sticky goo. He definitely had an acidic

smell.

Looking around, Naota grasped the situation. "So, that nasty robot was beaten?"

The wooden school building was burning ferociously. The flames were quite a bit bigger than those of the fire on the river's other side.

"The remains were blown to bits, too, huh?" Naota murmured.

The ruins made by Mamimi years earlier, which had sat untouched all this time, now were burning into nothingness.

Suddenly, Naota's ears perked up. He heard a siren. Fire trucks and patrol cars were approaching.

"Hey, you two, what are you doing? It's time to hit the road." Haruko was already on her Vespa, ready to flee.

Canti, standing nearby, rose noiselessly and slipped into the evening darkness.

Apparently, it could be a shrewd robot sometimes.

Naota and Mamimi, illuminated by the schoolhouse fire, regarded each other.

Soiled with tears and cuts, the two of them looked into each other's faces, both completely devoid of expression.

The patrol car was getting closer.

"Let's go," said Naota, taking Mamimi's cold hand. They ran toward the Vespa.

Mamimi is here right now.

They climbed onto Haruko's scooter. Naota sat in front; Mamimi straddled the back, clinging to Haruko. Three people on one scooter that alone was enough for the police to pull them over. There was no way they could let Mamimi get caught, though. As the three-manned Vespa drove away, the night wind stung Naota's wounds.

Despite that night's events, nothing had changed in his relationship with Mamimi. She still loved Tasuku, and Naota still was different from his brother. He had known all that from the start, though.

Although he knew he was just a substitute, Naota thought, I want to be next to Mamimi for as long as possible .

"Pull over!" ordered a patrol car.

Dammit! Had they been caught? Each time Mamimi and Naota tried to move forward, something else got in the way.

"No-brain, you'd better hold on tight!"

Enjoying their predicament, Haruko grinned and accelerated to the max.

The Vespa cut through the night town at light speed.

«Mission Accomplished 20:05. Continue to FLCL 2 20:05.»