Full Swing

On a cool, breezy autumn afternoon, Naota Nandaba was sitting on a bench on the first-base side of the baseball field near Mabase River, waiting for his turn to bat.

The uniform Naota was wearing was that of the town's amateur baseball team, the Mabase Martians. Their opponents that day were the Umaguma Fragments, their fated rivals from the next town over.

The game was in the throes of its final innings, and the Martians were at bat.

The scoreboard showed that the Fragments had a large lead against the opposing Martians, who had yet to score a run.

"This is pathetic," commented old man Shigekuni, who sat on the bench wearing a Martians uniform. Naota's grandfather, Shigekuni, was the Mabase Martians' coach.

Although they were now perennial bottom-dwellers, the Martians were a legendary team around the time they'd entered the local amateur baseball league, as they'd formerly monopolized the top spot. The old players' proudest moment had been in 1988, when they'd defeated PL Gakuen, the strongest school historically, in a practice game. (It was all talk, however. No one could be sure if it'd actually happened.) At the time, their team had been dominated by their ace pitcher and cleanup hitter, Shigekuni.

The reason Naota had come on as a substitute player for his grandfather's amateur league team was essentially because Shigekuni had forced him into it.

"This is really pathetic. The Martians lineup used to be compared to the eruption of the active volcano Mount Olympus. Now, we can't even score one run."

This season, the Martians were at the bottom of the league again. As the winter progressed, they would continue rewriting the record for most time spent at the bottom. Their best hope was to win the three-game series against the Fragments that started today, which meant their longstanding rivals would have to repeatedly lose against the Martians.

"Although you said it wouldn't make a difference," the player who was sitting next to Shigekuni said unsupportively, "I think we expected more out of the sub."

Upon hearing the player's comment, Naota, who was sitting on one side of the bench, began to feel uncomfortable. The thing was, each time Naota had batted, he'd struck out when he was looking, no less.

"That sub hasn't swung the bat once!"

"Active volcano? More like a dormant volcano."

The players complained, each adding something more insulting than the previous remark. They started griping about how they were always going to be losers, and that their offensive rhythm had gone out of whack when Naota was inserted into the lineup.

Shigekuni gazed at Naota with disappointed eyes.

It was never meant to be , Naota thought, wearing his hand-me-down uniform.

Fully aware of his own batting inability, it wasn't a complete surprise that he'd struck out. What was surprising was the difference in expectations that his teammates had of him.

Shigekuni had pressured Naota into joining the team, claiming that the sport was

"amateur baseball," but the teams were full of adults. An elementary school kid like Naota was bound to be ridiculed for being filler, and would probably be relegated to playing right field and ninth. A substitute player was merely another head to meet player requirements.

Naota failed to grasp the impact his revered brother Tasuku, who was now in America playing baseball, had left on this amateur baseball team from a very young age. Tasuku had been a legendary boy substitute who'd pulled off miraculous wins for the team time and time again, when he was even younger than Naota was now.

As soon as Tasuku had entered middle school, he became busy with his own sports activities, so the amateur baseball team had refrained from asking him to be a substitute. There was a sustained tragic plea from the weakening team for the great Tasuku to return, though.

Ultimately, the team's plea was in vain, as Tasuku had gone to America.

Eventually, the team had started talking about the existence of Naota, Tasuku's younger brother. They'd heard he always walked around with a bat, and those who saw him became fired up with great expectations.

"The little brother of the genius baseball player Tasuku Nandaba still carries a bat around with him. The moment we've prayed for is here…" And so it went: Suddenly, Naota had the cleanup spot, and a lot of overblown expectations placed upon him.

The reality was that Naota's baseball skills, even among boys his own age, weren't particularly high. Actually, the truth was that they were pretty low. Naota knew this, of course that's why as soon as he learned he'd be wearing his brother's uniform and number, he got a sinking feeling. Naota became easily frustrated if people he interacted with on a daily basis held a low opinion of him. Being expected to do great things in an unfamiliar territory and ultimately failing was an especially brutal kind of agony.

The third batter had struck out, and it was Naota's turn to bat. Standing in the batter's box, he gripped the special bat he'd brought. Because Naota always carried his brother's bat, everyone expected him to be as good at baseball as his brother was.

However, aside from one practice swing, Naota had never swung the bat during a game. The special bat was only for holding. Naota's swing wasn't even something his brother had taught him; it was something he'd made up himself.

I'm sorry I'm a dormant volcano , Naota thought remorsefully.

He could hear supporters' voices coming from the bench.

"Whack it, Tasuku's brother!"

"Just get on base, Tasuku's brother!"

Not one person called Naota by his name. His name in this game was simply

"Tasuku's brother."

Out of nowhere, a terrifying fastball came hurtling toward Naota, who remained uncomfortably in his stance. Exactly like his other times at bat, he couldn't do anything except stand there with his bat in hand and watch the ball fly by.

"Strike!" the umpire shouted.

The opposing team's bench applauded.

Naota stared at the pitcher, who was grinning menacingly, and attempted to

catch his breath. The Fragments' pitcher was, surprisingly, Haruko Haruhara.

Haruko, who'd become the Nandabas' housemaid, was dressed in a Fragments uniform and faced Naota on the mound. Feeling full of herself, Haruko blew a kiss to her supporters on the bench, causing the old men on the opposing team to go wild with joy. They were lovestruck. Haruko and her aged admirers were just like a pop star and her fan club.

The tall Haruko had a great style, and her uniformed figure certainly was attractive. It wasn't a big surprise that old men would enjoy watching her move around, throwing and batting as she played. In fact, every motion Haruko's arms and legs made completely captivated men of all ages on the Martians bench. Observing the scene, Naota felt somewhat proud of her. The same Haruko everyone was admiring lived with Naota in his room and had even performed CPR on him. The roommates had a special relationship, and when Naota remembered that, feelings of superiority managed to overtake his feelings of futility.

"Strike two!" the umpire yelled.

As expected, Naota hadn't moved an inch in response to the second pitch.

Anyone could see that he didn't intend to swing. His own team was heckling him with questions like, "What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

From Naota's point of view, Haruko Haruhara was a monster that had fought strange robots to draws or victory. He wasn't even considering trying to hit a ball thrown by that fiend. Regardless of whether he could follow the pitch with his eyes, there was no way Naota was going to be able to hit the ball. There wasn't any point in attempting the impossible that was all there was to it.

Haruko's control was also good. Up until now, Naota had gone down with three pitches, which meant that he'd suffered three strikes each time at bat.

At least I'm smart enough to realize it's useless, Naota reasoned . Nobody here knows how amazing this girl is. I'm the only one…

Staring at Haruko's form as she threw the ball post-windup, Naota's vision suddenly went black. His body felt light, and soon, he felt a blunt, heavy pain in his head. No, don't tell me "that" started again! What he feared was the extraordinary spectacle of a robot coming out of his head. Naota feared that the process had begun again (which had recently become an obsessive habit that he couldn't snap out of).

As soon as the umpire called out, "Take your base!" Naota began to understand the situation.

The pitch had struck Naota's head, and he'd collapsed in the batter's box. That was all there was to it.

After being replaced by a pinch runner, Naota returned to the bench. To be safe, Naota wound a bandage around his head.

That was a pretty dangerous pitch, Naota said to himself. As he watched Haruko on the mound with a sulky face, he heard a camera shutter behind him. Canti was standing behind Naota and, for some reason, had taken a picture of Naota's bandaged head. The robot had a tendency to do things for no reason whatsoever.

The photo developed instantly and printed out from part of the robot's body. It was an X-ray, and the white circle in the middle of the black film was Naota's skull.

Canti nodded happily while reviewing the picture.

Staring at the robot, one of the players commented, "Taking X-rays of players during a game seems a bit dangerous."

"It's one of the machines MM makes, isn't it?" another player asked, studying the logo on Canti's chest. "Is the radiation safe?"

"Does MM do weapons research for the American military?"

"Hey, we started losing right around the time that the plant was finished!"

Canti's reputation wasn't very good among the Martians. Everyone was suspicious of this robot that wandered around town, whose true colors and intentions were unknown. To make matters worse, because the Martians were a team based in an older shopping district, they were critical of anything MM.

"Cut it out," Shigekuni ordered, feeling there was no point in finding fault with such a convenient machine, which would run and fetch things for the team. The players didn't say another word about their coach's possession and stopped the badmouthing of the robot then and there.

The batter who went up after Naota also struck out, and the Martians once again ended their stint at bat without having scored any points.

It was time to take the field again, but Naota, whose head was wrapped in bandages, remained on the bench without going out to play defense. He probably could've said a quick apology and left the game, but he decided to stay and watch the Fragments' turn at bat.

The first batter up was Haruko, and that alone was enough to warrant watching.

After all, Haruko's swing kind of reminded Naota of his awesome brother. It wasn't that Haruko's swing itself was similar to Tasuku's it was the level of skill with which she swung. Both of their swings were so complete, each the epitome of perfection.

"Hiii-ya!" With a loud shriek, Haruko swung the aluminum bat without holding anything back.

As the ball soared skyward, it was clear to everyone that it was a home run.

With another run for the opposing team, the Martians drooped their shoulders. The ball quickly disappeared into the blue sky, and the players gave up trying to follow it with their eyes.

There was something that kept watching the ball for a long time, though Canti, the robot.

When the game was over, the scoreboard showed a massive difference in scores.

It was an overwhelming win for the Umaguma Fragments. Sadly, the Mabase Martians didn't score any points and had suffered indisputable, utter defeat.

Regardless of whether the Martians had won or lost, it was customary for the team to hold a meeting after every game to reflect. Naturally, all the players could talk about this time was Haruko.

"We need a substitute player like that girl."

"Every time she batted, she hit it out of the park!"

"She even hit home runs off our intentional walks."

"Who is that girl, coach?"

Shigekuni usually severely scolded the players after a defeat, but today, he

silently gritted his teeth. Of course, he kept it a secret that the girl the team was curious about was his housekeeper.

Shigekuni had been surprised when he'd first seen Haruko wearing a Fragments uniform. He was the person who wondered the most about why she was on the other team. What wound him up was the fact that he and Haruko had been so close, but he'd never known she was so good at baseball.

I have to do something , Shigekuni said to himself. There were still two games left against the Fragments, and something needed to be done, or the Martians were sure to lose all three games. He didn't know what he could do about it, though.

"Wow, take a look at that," one of the players exclaimed.

Upon glancing in the direction the player pointed, Shigekuni saw balls flying into a basket near the bench, one after the other. The sight of the skillfully aimed balls landing one by one in the smallish basket almost seemed to be a trick.

The responsible party ended up being Canti, who'd been instructed to tend to the grounds. The robot had been retrieving the scattered balls and throwing them from long distances.

Shigekuni and his surprised players all stared at one another. It was obvious that everyone was thinking the same thing. The team members quickly got Canti to stop cleaning up the field and gave the robot a glove to see if he would catch some balls.

The team pondered the possibilities of Canti being a real find, but the robot turned out to be more than a real find. No matter what kind of fly ball or grounder the players hit at Canti, the robot cleanly fielded it with perfect form, throwing it back.

His nimble movements were far better than the Martians had hoped. To top it off, the robot pounded his glove with his fist, as if to say, "Bring it on!" showing he had heart, too.

"He's amazing, coach!"

"With him, we're going to win the next match."

"A hidden jewel, our secret weapon we're going to ride that robot to victory!"

The players ate up Shigekuni's excited boasts.

"Plus, Tasuku is coming home soon," the proud coach added with conviction.

"Hooray!" yelled the players.

The news of Tasuku's return brought even more joy to the players who'd excitedly observed the robot's prowess. That's how much the amateur baseball team revered Naota's big brother.

Nobody was thinking about the substitute player from earlier any longer. As the team cheered in unison, "Tasuku's brother" stood up and left dejectedly, without anyone noticing.

After walking up an embankment, Naota found a Vespa on the waterside road with Haruko standing by it, counting several bills that looked freshly swindled. The money was probably the reason she'd played in the game earlier. When she saw Naota, she shoved the money into her pocket.

"The bandages look good on you," she said.

It was unlikely that Haruko felt an ounce of responsibility for beaning Naota with the ball. Actually, he could envision her telling him, "You couldn't get out of the way? Gosh, you suck at baseball, Takkun!" and she did.

"Whatever," Naota sulked. "I don't care about baseball."

"That's not cute at all."

"Stop it," Naota insisted, covering his head.

Haruko reached for her guitar case that was strapped to the Vespa, so Naota thought for sure she was going to hit him as she usually did.

Idiot, don't play around where people can see us. They're going to start gossiping, Naota thought . Then again, I wonder what the players from both teams who were making fun of me would think if they saw me and Haruko together?

In the end, Haruko simply slung the guitar over her shoulder, glancing at the bat Naota held in his hand and saying matter-of-factly, "If you don't swing, nothing will happen."

"Well, it isn't as if I can hit your pitches anyway!"

"Takkun, you think you're special, don't you? That's why you don't swing. If you swing, people will know you're not special."

What is she saying? Naota wondered.

Haruko slapped on her helmet and sped off at full speed, leaving Naota standing there.

Shigekuni and the other players had gone somewhere else to hold a second

"meeting of reflection," which meant they probably went to the barbeque restaurant near the station.

When Naota made his way back home, he found Haruko on the living room floor, still wearing her uniform, and Kamon massaging her back.

"Ooh, it hurts. Not so haaard," Haruko moaned.

"Sorry, Haruko."

Naota was more than a little shocked by what he saw. Kamon was openly giving a massage to Haruko, who was calmly accepting it, as if it weren't strange whatsoever. It was strange. When had they forged such a comfortable relationship?

"Welcome home, Naota. Dinner soon," Kamon declared cheerfully.

"What are you doing?" Naota asked dryly.

Kamon ignored Naota's question and continued his suspiciously sordid massage.

He was now using his own chin to press down on Haruko's back and rub her.

"Oh, your beard!" Haruko exclaimed with delight in her voice. "That feels good like an electric massage."

Naota felt as though a cold hand had ripped out his heart and sensed that he'd been betrayed. "But I saw you first…"

The night Haruko had first come to the Nandaba house, she'd uttered that very phrase to Naota. She'd insisted she'd come to the house because Naota was there.

That moment had been special to Naota, if only a little.

"You stink of sweat. At least change out of your uniform!" Naota suddenly complained in a vicious tone.

"Takkun isn't sweaty at all. Oh yeah, that's right you just stood there."

"Why are you playing for the other team, anyway?"

"Part-time job," Haruko replied. "I thought I should pay a little something toward the electric bill."

The Nandaba house's electric meter had been running at least ten times higher than usual. Naota wouldn't find out the reason for this until later, though.

Canti, who was wearing an apron and had made dinner, carried the dishes from the kitchen. The robot was an ideal housemaid who worked for no pay at all, but his repertoire of dishes didn't exceed that of an elementary school home economics class.

Tonight, the menu comprised a large plate of fried eggs, sunny side up.

"Oh, Haruko let me…" Kamon insisted, taking one of the fried eggs in his chopsticks and offering it to her in a sensual manner. Haruko opened her mouth wide to accept the egg. It was exactly like something a newlywed couple would do.

Needless to say, Naota was incensed. "What are you two doing?" What he really wanted to say was, When did you two start having that kind of relationship? but nothing came out.

What Naota was feeling was simple jealousy, although he wasn't going to admit that to himself. That's why he couldn't complain. All he could do was grip the bat tighter in his hand. When he could bear it no longer, he left the room, enraged.

"What about dinner?" Kamon called out. "We have your favorite genetically modified bean curd!"

To Naota, Kamon's jovial voice sounded like nothing more than antagonistic.

Naota darted out to the front of his house and instinctively hit a guardrail with the bat in his hand, leaving a scratch on the rail and causing a metallic sound to ring out.

You said I was the one you saw first! Naota shouted to himself, lifting the bat high and hitting the guardrail at least three more times. This time, there was a large dent left in the white rail.

"Hey, you're damaging public property!"

Surprised by the man's voice, Naota turned around. Standing under a streetlamp was a man he'd never seen before. The man was dressed in a suit and was tall and muscular like a professional swimmer.

"Look at the poor rail getting hit by a bat," the man said.

That incident with the bat was the first time the man appeared.

Dusk had fallen at Mabase Bridge.

Naota was sitting with Mamimi on the bank.

"So, you had a fight with Haru?" Mamimi asked.

"As if I'd argue with her."

"Ha! So grown up!"

Naota remembered that Mamimi had looked up to Haruko in the recent past. She often said how cool she thought Mamimi was or how sexy she looked. Naota, who'd been fuming about the dodgy relationship between Kamon and Haruko since yesterday, had reluctantly revealed all the things he was unhappy about to Mamimi.

He couldn't talk to his classmates about it, so he didn't have anyone else he could talk to.

It was at times like these that Naota wished his brother were around, but if Tasuku were around, Naota wouldn't be spending time alone with Mamimi. He had mixed feelings about it all.

"Why is your head bandaged?"

"It doesn't matter. That has no bearing on anything."

The truth was that the injury to Naota's head was Haruko's fault, too, but he didn't really feel like explaining that. Perhaps he didn't want to tell Mamimi that he'd struck out three times and was hit by a pitch.

Mamimi, who'd been sitting back to back against Naota, turned around and stared into his eyes, as if searching for something. "You're in a bad mood, Takkun.

Why?" Her eyes smiled, revealing that they'd seen his thoughts.

Mamimi's eyes got on Naota's nerves, too. Somehow, it seemed as though her eyes were saying, "Takkun likes Haru." After all, one only gets in a bad mood after fighting with someone one likes.

You must be kidding me, Naota thought . Who could ever like that untrustworthy witch?

All of a sudden, Naota remembered the face of the man from the night before, who'd also assumed that Naota liked Haruko. When Naota had snapped and started hitting the guardrail with the bat, that strange man had suddenly spoken to him.

Who was that man anyway? Naota wondered.

After the guardrail incident, the man had come into the shop, and with a tray in hand, started choosing bread. Naota didn't think he'd seen the man before, but nevertheless, he was grateful for a customer, who placed the unsold bread onto his tray one by one.

The well-built man appeared to be in his late-twenties, and he had two strangely thick eyebrows. They were really unnatural eyebrows. If inspected closely, they appeared as though they'd been drawn on and were shifting from their original location.

"Very spicy curry rolls," stated the man as he read the label on the counter and furrowed his bizarre eyebrows. "You didn't stock these before, did you?"

At that moment, Haruko's gleeful voice emanated from the back of the store. It sounded like the selfish laughter of someone who could enjoy life without worries or stress.

The man peered toward the back of the store with a sideways glance. "Seems you guys have more and more pointless things. They don't sit well with me."

Naota knew that "pointless things" both referred to the curry rolls and to Haruko, who was responsible for the curry rolls' existence in the shop. The rolls had been added at Haruko's request when she'd first come to the Nandaba house.

Naota was on his guard, perplexed by how this man knew so much about Naota's family.

"How about you? Haven't you noticed that if you force yourself to eat it, you become addicted to it in the end?"

"I hate spicy food," Naota replied. The only thing Naota could manage was Star Prince Curry.

"She really seems interested in you. Are you aware of that?"

Naota wondered if the man was someone from the police. Off the top of his head, Naota could count about ten or twenty crimes that Haruko had committed. It wouldn't surprise him if the authorities were now watching her. The thing that was most surprising was that she hadn't been caught until now.

When Naota failed to say anything, the man smiled. "Keeping your mouth shut.

Clever. It's best you don't let too many people know about her. You'll know soon she is no ordinary woman."

Naota still couldn't force out a reply.

"You should give up older women anyway. They cause nothing but pain." After uttering his final words, the man paid for the bread and left.

"Give up older women"? Naota repeated to himself. The man must have assumed Naota was currently involved with an older woman. You must be kidding me.

Who could ever like that untrustworthy witch? Naota felt angry when he thought back to what had happened the night before, but Mamimi paid it no mind as she embraced him from behind.

"I'm going to leave my mark on you!"

Naota hadn't forgotten that on the night of the fire, he'd decided to stay by Mamimi's side forever. Today, they were together, their bodies attached; however, ironically, though touching each other, Naota could sense Mamimi had no particular attachment to him. He was a substitute and a tragic one at that.

It probably wouldn't bother Mamimi if Naota liked someone else.

Like always, Mamimi pushed Naota down into the grass and started nibbling on his earlobes.

White steam from the MM factory slowly drifted across the red sky above them.

Because it was autumn, the sun set rapidly and the streets were already getting dark.

After he finished playing with Mamimi, Naota headed home, feeling slightly guilty. I really am a bad person , he thought.

One day back in kindergarten, Naota's teacher had decided the class was going to play a stupid game where each of the kindergartners confessed the name of someone he or she liked from the opposite sex. Even in kindergarten, children liked one another.

Naota, who'd already matured by the age of five, resented this infringement on his human rights. That sort of rage had been limited to Naota, though. All the girls had kept their mouths shut while the boys sat on the edges of their seats and said aloud the name of the girls they liked, blushing. It probably would've been better to remain quiet or swear there wasn't anyone they liked, but the boys were too simple. If one of them hadn't said a name, there was a danger he wouldn't have been considered manly.

It'd finally been Naota's turn, and there was a girl Naota fancied in the same class. When Naota was asked, however, he didn't say the name of the girl he actually

liked. Instead, he named the girl who occasionally sat next to him. He hadn't once noticed the girl next to him, and he definitely hadn't interacted with her enough to like her. Why had he named her? Anyone would've done it. The girl had occasionally sat by him, so hers was the first name that had come to mind.

Naota could've been scared of people knowing the name of the girl he really liked. Even when he was very young, he was the kind of boy who didn't like people knowing his true feelings. He basically used the girl who sat next to him; it was quite a cowardly thing to do.

One day, not long after the game, the girl who sat next to Naota asked him to play, and Naota ditched weeding the kindergarten yard. They hid together in the closet, eating candy the girl had snuck in her pocket. With sweets stuffed in their mouths, they didn't say anything, simply gazing at each other, smiling. For some reason, it'd felt extremely comfortable.

After that day, the person Naota was keen on became the girl who sat next to him. He couldn't remember the girl's name any longer, but he remembered it happening.

Kindergarten was such an easy time. Even as a boy, Naota had tended to go with the flow of love. So, what was this guilt Naota was feeling now?

When Naota returned home, Haruko was in front of the shop swinging her bat.

There was another game between the Martians and the Fragments the next day. It appeared as though she were preparing for that. Her swings cut sharply through the wind. As Naota studied the way Haruko swung the bat, he had to admit that she was good. She was the only person who he admired almost as much as his brother.

"Been practicing your swing all day?" Haruko asked, noticing that Naota had been carrying around Tasuku's bat again.

Considering he hadn't hit the ball once in the last game, Naota felt Haruko was being sarcastic, so he ignored her and tried to enter the house. This is a girl who might get with my dad. I'm not bothering with her anymore.

"Why are you ignoring me?"

"Don't talk to me anymore. You've been getting close to my dad, right?"

Haruko pointed to Naota's neck. "You've been playing around, too."

Naota quickly tried to cover his neck, where there was a fresh love bite.

Although this girl told me she came to this house because of me, she isn't bothered by Mamimi and me. Anyway, doesn't what she just said mean she admits to messing around with my dad?

"I'll coach you. I'm good."

"Don't need it."

"You could hit a home run and be better than your brother."

Haruko's swing was still burned into the back of Naota's mind. He'd always wanted to be as good at batting as his brother, so he decided to let her coach him right then and there.

Naota took a few swings with the bat in front of Haruko, who dropped her normally blithe expression and watched with a highly unusual earnestness.

"Drop your hips a bit more and relax your stance," Haruko instructed.

Naota did what he was told and tried to pay attention to keeping his lower half

steady. The sincere tone in Haruko's voice had helped alleviate any initial skepticism he had. Just as he had in kindergarten, Naota was going with the flow.

Surprisingly, this girl's kind of a good person, Naota thought.

"See, better already!" Haruko cheered, holding Naota's bat from behind and casually putting her hands on top of his.

Naota was very sensitive to the feeling of Haruko's hands touching him.

Although he did much more sensual things with Mamimi on a regular basis, this felt even more thrilling than those things had.

Perhaps… Naota thought , I don't hate Haruko?

"Try swinging," Haruko suggested. "Hit it into the sky. A true slugger imagines creating an arch right before he hits the ball."

Maybe I'm over-thinking what's going on between Haruko and my dad , Naota speculated. Haruko was always playing around like that with people. To get jealous over such a thing was childish.

Suddenly, what Haruko had said to Naota the day before came rushing back into his mind. "What did you mean by, 'If you swing, people will know you're not special'?" Naota asked. "Were you suggesting that I think I'm special?"

Haruko laughed. "You do think you're special, don't you?"

Naota didn't know how to respond.

"Whatever happens, if you don't swing the bat, you'll be special, but you'll also be running away." Pointing to one of the stars shining in the night sky, Haruko asked,

"See that star? Swing for that. It feels better if you swing the bat for all you're worth."

Strangely, the star that Haruko had chosen appeared to be flickering. It really was flickering!

"Um… doesn't that star appear to be moving?"

"You think so?" Haruko smiled happily as she gazed up at the flickering star.

The flickering star was actually a static satellite more than twenty-two thousand miles up in the sky. The reason it was moving was because it'd taken a direct hit and its orbital control systems had been destroyed.

Ever since the stationary satellite had first been launched into orbit, its speed and trajectory had been fine-tuned by its internal control system. The satellite had been programmed to change course or make alterations to its position, if necessary; however, the machine was no longer taking orders from the ground and was out of control. It was because of Haruko Haruhara.

In an underground room beneath Mabase City Police Station, twenty-four-hour surveillance was being conducted on the man-made satellite. Monitors and computer screens were lined up on the wall, and numerous operators were adroitly dealing with the displayed data. The people present had been working in the monitor room with no rest for several weeks, but they weren't police employees; they'd merely borrowed the police facilities as a war room.

"Commander Amarao, we've now completely lost control," reported one of the female operators to her superior, who was sitting at the back of the room.

The operator's superior scowled upon receiving the information. He was the eyebrow man who'd bought bread from Naota's house the previous night.

Commander Amarao was a member of a public safety organization that served as a special advisory council to the cabinet. The organization was known as the Department of Interstellar Immigration Bureau by the people involved.

"TTR, target tracking radar, image feed live," stated the report as an enlarged satellite feed was displayed on the monitor.

The satellite had a baseball stuck in it, which, of course, was the home run ball Haruko had hit far into the blue sky during yesterday's game. None of the players had noticed, but the ball Haruko hit had broken through the atmosphere and traveled into space, hitting the satellite above Mabase. It certainly wasn't something that happened every day!

"Part of the position-control jets, remote access, and communication antenna took damage. The operations unit took a direct hit."

"Atmospheric entry: double-zero sixty. Descent beginning."

"Predicted point of impact?" Commander Amarao asked, frowning.

It was late that night, and the residents of Mabase, unaware of the menace threatening their lives high above their heads, slept peacefully as they always did.

In the Nandaba house, Naota, who'd been sleeping in his room, was awoken by the sound of a cat's cries. When he glanced at the balcony, he saw Miyu Miyu. He listened blankly to the mewing for a few moments, but then his cat suddenly stopped and ran off somewhere on a whim.

Naota tried to go back to sleep, but his head itched because of the bandage.

During the game, he'd been hit by Haruko's ball and had wrapped a bandage around his head. The impact had only left a bump, though, and it didn't hurt.

Naota got up to remove the itchy bandage. The ball that had hit his head was probably thrown at it intentionally and could've been quite dangerous, but at least there wasn't a horn coming out of his head this time. Remembering back to when he and Haruko had finished batting practice earlier, Naota recalled that Haruko had hugged his head and said, "Yours is the only head that works." That must've meant that his was the only head robots would come out of.

Naota guessed that it was because of those incidents that Haruko had come to live at his house, but no matter what, Naota was happy and believed that Haruko's primary reason for being there was definitely him.

Maybe I don't really dislike her, Naota thought.

Glancing up, Naota noticed that Haruko wasn't on the top bunk. They both had gone to bed and said goodnight, but her bed was empty. According to the clock, it was almost midnight. Where did she go?

Naota feared the worst when he spotted a light shining from his father's room.

The bakery opened early. What could his father still be doing up at this hour, unless… Terrible scenes floated through Naota's mind.

HARUKO IS IN MY FATHER'S ROOM?

But wait, Naota told himself , Haruko isn't sleeping in her bed, and my father's light is on in his room. That doesn't mean anything. Dad could've forgotten to turn off the light and Haruko could be in the bathroom.

HARUKO IS IN MY FATHER'S ROOM?

Naota heard something that sounded very much like Haruko's voice.

"Oh, you're so bad!"

There wasn't any doubt about it it was coming from Naota's father's room.

Naota couldn't help but listen, standing stock-still.

"Haruko… Haruko…" Kamon repeated in a gasping moan.

Suddenly, Naota's ears started ringing. "Owww!" he howled as he grabbed his head to try to alleviate the violent, surging pain.

Bursting through the bandage, another horn emerged from his head.

"Marker beacon confirmed," the female operator in Amarao's monitor room called out concurrently with the events transpiring in the Nandaba house.

An extreme wavelength was being displayed on one of the screens. Using a simulator, the girl immediately displayed the area where the satellite was predicted to impact. "I have it. Right hand monitor."

Amarao stared at the screen and muttered, "I knew it Mabase."

"Classification: half-active pulse wave. Something is guiding the satellite's descent directly into Mabase."

After hearing the report, Commander Amarao narrowed his startling thick eyebrows.

After that horrific night, things continued to worsen.

The next morning, Naota couldn't stand seeing Kamon's and Haruko's faces, so he left the house straightaway.

It was the day of the second game between the Martians and the Fragments, but Naota didn't have any desire to go, so he slowly walked toward the bank near Mabase Bridge, where he bumped into Mamimi. She was the same as always a high school girl without anything to do.

They started "playing" in the morning.

White steam poured from the MM factory on the hill and slowly spread across the sky, robbing the world of its color.

Day after day; I'm always in the same place, always looking at the same scene, and repeating the same things over and over again, Naota reflected. Will I be able to go somewhere else someday?

Mamimi drew on Naota's back with her finger. It was the beginning of an innocent game where he had to guess what she'd written. The first thing she drew was a character for "ta," probably for the first character of Tasuku's name.

Someday, somewhere, just like my brother… Naota started to say to himself.

All of a sudden, the sound of an approaching motorbike engine interrupted their game.

"Oh, it's Haru!" Mamimi exclaimed happily.

Naota had left the house so he wouldn't have to see Haruko, but she'd seen the two of them and stopped nearby. She was wearing her uniform and appeared to be on her way to the baseball field.

"The game's started already! Are you doing unwholesome things again?"

Haruko asked.

At that very moment, Mamimi was hugging Naota from behind. Indeed, for a young boy to be doing what Naota had been doing was pretty unwholesome, but Naota didn't want to hear that from the likes of Haruko.

Naota's head bandage was tied tighter than it had been the day before, to keep the horn pushed in.

What exactly were you up to last night? Naota felt like swearing at Haruko. He didn't want Mamimi to hear him sound that jealous, though, so he swallowed his words.

Not knowing what Naota was thinking, Haruko said, "Hey, c'mon, let's go take a swing."

"Takkun's in the game?" Mamimi asked, surprised. "But Takkun isn't the kind of person who would actually swing the bat."

Mamimi's casual remark troubled Naota even more. Not "the kind of person who would actually swing the bat"?

Did Mamimi think of Naota the same way Haruko did?

"You can ride with me to the field," Haruko offered.

With his lips still pursed, Naota declined the offer. "No thanks, I don't play baseball."

"It's Canti's first game."

Hearing that, Mamimi's eyes lit up, and she jumped excitedly. "Lord Canti?"

"It's worth it just to see him field," Haruko promised.

"I want to go see!" Mamimi pleaded.

"You know, your home runs yesterday weren't anything special." Naota's words, which were nothing more than those of a sore loser, were already lost on the girls.

"I'm coming, Haru!" Mamimi exclaimed.

"Okay!"

With the elated Mamimi clinging to Haruko's back, the Vespa sped off.

Left alone, Naota shouted, "I'll never let you be my coach again!" bitterly to no one, and then he went home, clenching the bat in his hand.

Until that point, he never would've been able to imagine he could kill his own father.

The house Naota returned to was eerily quiet. Shigekuni and Haruko were at the game, and Kamon wasn't in the shop.

As Naota thought how the bakery might as well shut down, he heard a noise from the back of the house. It was their pet cat, Miyu Miyu, in the corridor.

Miyu Miyu glared into the living room with a strange shimmer in her eyes. Lore said cats could see mysterious things humans couldn't, and it seemed as though their cat had spied something unusual, given that it looked like it was glaring at a monster in the living room.

Naota shared the cat's suspicion and definitely sensed there was someone in his living room. Instinctively squeezing the bat tighter, he peered into the room and saw Kamon sitting alone. At least, Naota thought it was his father. The person looked a

little different than his father usually looked. The man wasn't wearing a shirt and was disheveled, leaning against the wall with his mouth open. There was a sense of indecency about him.

Naota thought back to the night before, when he'd felt sickened that Haruko had been in Kamon's room.

"Oh." Noticing Naota, Kamon quickly tried to hide his exposed stomach. He then peered into Naota's face and shot a satisfied smile as if he were gloating about something. "Oh, Haruko, I asked you not to leave any marks. If Naota sees them, there's going to be trouble."

Naota glanced at Kamon's abdomen. It was obvious that what he was trying to hide were love bites. Naota could feel his face stiffening up and his disquiet quickly turned to rage.

To provoke his son further, Kamon said, "You see, your father and Haruko have that kind of relationship."

"That kind of relationship?" Naota felt an unspeakable bitterness toward such a blatant display of self-satisfaction and felt completely betrayed. His mind replayed the words Haruko had said to him about seeing him first. Damn it! Despite the fact that she said that…

Kamon leaned against the wall, trying to stand up straight. "You must be hungry. We have your favorite genetically modified bean curd Naotaaa."

Having addressed Naota with an odd intonation, Kamon made Naota feel as though he were being made a fool of even more. Then, Kamon inexplicably repeated Naota's name over and over again like a broken record. "Naotaaa, Naotaaa, Naotaaa…"

Naota screamed at his father to shut up, gripping the metal bat in his hand.

That was when the switch flipped on.

Naota suddenly whacked the television in front of him with the bat, causing the cracking of Braun tube and the shattering of plastic.

Although Naota had only hit the television, his father made a sickening "ugh"

sound, like one a chicken makes when its neck is broken.

When Naota glanced over, he saw that Kamon's neck was bent at an unusual angle and that Kamon had collapsed on the floor in front of him. Actually, the brass clock that'd been on top of the television had flown up with the force of the whack and landed directly atop Kamon's head.

Naota sucked in his breath and took a step back.

An hour after the crime, Naota was in the interrogation room at the Mabase Police Station. As he waited alone in the sparse room, he stared through the barred glass window and could see the midday sun shining brightly outside.

"Shock! Sixth Grade Elementary Schooler Snaps, Beats Father with Bat!" That would be the next day's newspaper headlines.

"No, no he was such an ordinary, mature, good kid. You never would've thought it of Naota…" That's what Naota's homeroom teacher Miyaji and other people would say on chat shows.

I killed my father, and now I'm in an interrogation room facing homicide

charges. It's still light out. Hey, what time did I get up today?

Naota was finding it difficult to breathe, not due to lack of air in the room, but because he was thinking of the wide-eyed, fallen Kamon, and was having flashbacks of his father's fallen corpse.

No, my dad isn't dead. As if my dad could be dead! It was a bad dream all a bad dream. Homicide? Ludicrous. "Homicide" is a word I've only heard on TV dramas.

Murderer? It's a word I've heard on the news. As if my dad could be dead.

MY DAD IS COLLAPSED ON THE FLOOR AND HIS HEART WASN'T

BEATING.

What happened to me? Why did I turn out like this? What would my brother and grandfather think?

Another flashback: the corpse with both eyes wide open…

I killed someone. I'M A MURDERER. Maybe they'll publish the essay I wrote at school in the weeklies.

"Future Dreams: When I grow up, I think I'd like to leave this town, because I smell something rotten about the phrase 'age of local autonomy'…"

Damn, if only I'd written something better than that. All the specialists who analyze my psychological state are going to interpret it as "Boy A's internalized psychopathic tendencies."

What time is it? Why doesn't this room have a clock? How did I get here? Why didn't I go to school today? Oh yes, it's a holiday. I would've been better off going to the baseball game rather than this. I should've been standing in the batter's box, even if all I'd done was stand. Why am I not holding the bat anymore? That's my brother's special bat. Help me, Tasuku. I can't breathe. I feel heavy so heavy. The chair I'm sitting on feels like an elevator descending down.

SOMEBODY… HELP ME!

The sound of footsteps approached in the corridor outside the interrogation room.

"I'm going to be the one dealing with this," a man's voice declared. It was a voice Naota remembered from somewhere.

When the door opened, the eyebrow man, Commander Amarao, was standing there.

Just as I thought he's a policeman! Naota said to himself.

Amarao shut the door and sat down in the chair opposite Naota, removing an electronic organizer from his wide chest pocket and reading its display. "Naota Nandaba, sixth grade student, Mabase Elementary School. Father: Kamon Nandaba, baker, forty-seven years old. Until ten years ago, worked at a publishing house in Tokyo as an assistant editor-in-chief for a subculture magazine. About a month ago, a female, whose full identity is unknown but who is going by the name Haruko Haruhara, took up residence in the Nandaba house."

The eyebrow man had really done his research. He'd probably been watching Naota's house for quite a while in order to capture Haruko, but it surely had taken him by surprise when Naota committed murder.

"You shouldn't have used a bat," Amarao said. "Your house is a bakery. You could've at least used some unsold French bread."

"I didn't hit him," Naota replied quietly.

It was the truth. Naota hadn't hit his father; however, he didn't think Amarao would believe him.

"It must've hurt," Amarao assessed, pouring two cups of coffee from the pot that was sitting on a server next to him and offering one cup to Naota. The man put sugar cubes into Naota's cup one by one. "Here, you like sweet stuff, right?"

Naota thought super-sweet coffee must be an interrogation method, but surprisingly, the man put the same amount, if not more, into his own cup, stirring it with a spoon. He really must've enjoyed sweet stuff, because he put the cup to his mouth without hesitation.

Naota had decided to tell the truth, regardless of whether anyone believed him.

"I only hit the television."

"Hit?"

"It was an accident."

With a serious look in his eyes, Amarao said, "I thought you were the kind of guy who couldn't swing at anything except for guardrails."

"Couldn't swing at anything"? Naota became increasingly confused . What does

"you were the kind of guy who couldn't swing at anything except for guardrails"

mean?

Amarao calmly drank his coffee, which was more like sugary soup. "An older woman was a mistake after all, eh? She wasn't worth fighting with your father over?"

"Haruko doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Haruko? You call her by her first name. You must be close."

"I don't know."

"She's your batting coach, isn't she? Well, she is quite attractive."

"I said Haruko doesn't have anything to do with this!" Naota repeated, raising his voice because Amarao had gotten to the heart of the matter.

"Well, why did you hit him?" Amarao asked somewhat harshly.

"I didn't hit him!" Naota replied. "I hit the television."

"So, you hit the television."

"Yes, because "

"Because you were jealous?"

Naota fell silent and nodded.

"Don't worry. You won't be charged."

He must be talking about juvenile law, Naota thought.

Naota wasn't yet twenty years old, but the reality was that he'd committed a crime. He had no idea what was going to happen to him legally.

"You're a victim, too," Amarao added. "You were merely caught up in something."

"Victim," Naota whispered. Victim? Why am I a victim?

It seemed as though this man had made a gross error. Even if he'd indirectly caused his father's death, Naota felt as though he had to take responsibility for it.

"Do you really think you killed him yourself?"

Naota didn't know how to respond.

"More important, look at this, Naota."

"More important?" Naota asked, wondering what could be more important than a violent incident in which an elementary school student had killed his father.

After Amarao tapped on his electronic organizer, something appeared on a nearby TV monitor. It was sky, but there was also something shining in the very center of the screen that appeared to be a man-made satellite. When Amarao enlarged the picture, Naota could see that the satellite was shaking violently.

"This is a real picture. Right now, in the sky above the city, a satellite is falling.

This isn't an ordinary satellite, either. It's a satellite bomb with massive destructive capacity."

What is this man saying? Naota wondered as he took a sip of the coffee. It was far sweeter than he'd expected, and the dramatic taste increased the glucose levels in Naota's befuddled brain. What is this man saying about a satellite bomb?

"If the satellite bomb explodes, it will destroy Mabase. Do you understand what I'm saying? If that happens, no one will be saved. You get it? No. One. Will. Be.

Saved. Not a single kitten. Of course, you have to keep what I'm saying to you now a secret even from your father."

"Eh?" Naota muttered. "My dad, he's… still alive?"

"Everyone will die, regardless of whether we evacuate now. No one will be saved."

Naota flashed back to his father's corpse once again.

"So, go home quickly and tell her we need her to hit another home run. Tell her the message is from a hometown fan."

Amarao was referring to Haruko. Somehow, this man was familiar with her.

"Why Haruko?"

"She's from the Galaxy Space Police Brotherhood."

Naota didn't bother probing into what a Galaxy Space Police Brotherhood was.

It didn't sound like something he would understand, even if it were explained to him.

Naota noticed Amarao's unusually fat eyebrows again. They simply were not natural eyebrows.

"You're a victim, too," Amarao had said previously. A victim. It seemed as though he'd actually meant a victim of Haruko, which meant there were other victims like Naota out there. Every time Amarao had mentioned Haruko, he'd seemed oddly emotional. Maybe he'd been a victim of Haruko, too.

Naota got confused trying to process all the information.

When Naota got home, he wandered into the backyard, which was connected to the living room, the scene of the crime.

As he intrepidly stepped up into the living room from the yard, he was startled to see his father's feet beyond the door, and he froze. Just past the door was his father's corpse the corpse Naota had created with his own hands.

On the ground nearby lay the violent weapon Naota had used. It didn't appear as though anyone had been at the scene since he'd run out, and there wasn't any evidence suggesting there had been a police crime-scene investigation.

Naota was confused again. He'd gone to the police and had confessed to everything, yet they'd released him, and he was back home. What was all this? In spite of his cool mint head, Naota found it difficult to figure out what was going on.

"You can check with your own eyes. You didn't hurt anyone," Naota repeated the words Amarao had said to him earlier, as Naota was leaving the police station. I didn't hurt anyone? Then, what's this dead body?

Naota heard Miyu Miyu's cry at his feet. The cat's relaxed meowing seemed inappropriate for the moment. Having mustered up his courage, Naota entered the living room, where his father's body lay on the floor, with his head still at a grotesque angle and his eyes wide open, staring ghoulishly at the ceiling. Naota didn't have to check for a pulse; this body wasn't breathing. It definitely wasn't the body of a living thing.

Exactly as Amarao had said, however, it seemed that Naota hadn't committed murder. A green, sparkling liquid that resembled some type of oil oozed from the corpse's head, which meant that the corpse wasn't human; it was an android. No one could've predicted that Haruko would've brought such an extraordinary thing into the house.

"That damn housekeeper," Naota sneered.

Upon hearing a vague noise coming from the closet, Naota forcibly pulled open the door and was surprised to find a mummy. Actually, it was a man dehydrated like a mummy. That must've been Kamon, his real father.

The father-like mummy turned to Naota and laughed weakly.

He's still alive. HE'S STILL ALIVE!

"Ahhhhhh!" Naota hugged his father's shriveled body joyfully, kicking the android onto the balcony and running into the bathroom.

Naota was thinking about dehydrated food, like dried Shitake mushrooms, which could be revived if water were added to them. Relying on the same theory, he sunk Kamon into the bathtub, turned the tap on full blast, and poured water onto his father's body. It was possible that a ridiculous solution would work in a ridiculous situation. It was ludicrous, but Naota's simple, direct method was right on, and Kamon quickly revived.

"The returned," Kamon whispered. "I'm thirsty."

Naota took a breath before realizing the reason for his relief and the reason his brain was no longer stressed wasn't because he wasn't a killer. It wasn't the relief of having escaped a crime, either. It was because he was happy. His father was alive and he was happy. The distress he'd felt before was because he couldn't come to terms with the sudden loss of his father.

"Your father wasn't useful for Haruko," Kamon said serenely. "She asked if she could borrow my head and, delighted, I agreed. But it seems as though I died for a while."

Naota was speechless.

"Haruko really is out of the ordinary," Kamon commented, wearing an unusual expression of good cheer as he glanced up at Naota from the bathtub. "Well, Naota, it seems as though you love your real father."

Naota felt a bit spiteful after hearing his father's last remark, but his displeasure

couldn't suppress the happiness he felt when he saw Kamon's sunny face staring at him.

Dad's here. He's alive, right in front of you, Naota told himself.

Suddenly, the sound of a motorbike roared from the backyard. It was a noise Naota was extremely familiar with.

It's her! Still irate, Naota ran from the bathroom to give Haruko a piece of his mind, but as he hurried to get to her, he tripped over the android Kamon that was still on the balcony and fell into the garden. "Ouch!"

Haruko was on her Vespa in the garden, still wearing her baseball uniform.

"You should be careful, running around like that."

Gazing at Haruko's happy-go-lucky face, Naota asked, "What's with this robot father?"

All of a sudden, the upper torso of the android sat up and spoke: "If Naota sees, there's going to be trouble."

Haruko violently kicked the imitation Kamon, causing the android to short out and collapse again. A lid on its bare chest opened, revealing the internal electronics.

"Oh, Haruko, I asked you not to leave any marks," the android said.

The chest marks the android had tried to hide hadn't been love bites they were a panel.

Naota inadvertently smirked, but in truth, he felt like laughing and crying at the same time. When he thought about it calmly, however, he knew it wasn't the appropriate time for either. Surely this housekeeper who'd changed Naota's father into an android was more dangerous than a housekeeper who merely fooled around?

"Who are you really ?" Naota asked.

"I'm a manifestation of your boyhood desires."

"Stop messing around."

"Takkun."

"What?"

"I saw Takkun first, right?" Haruko smiled.

Enraptured by Haruko's smile, Naota's heart skipped for a second and only for a second. Idiot, what are you thinking? he scolded himself.

Naota quickly changed the topic for fear that Haruko could read his thoughts.

"Do you know about the satellite falling?"

Amarao had said an artificial satellite was going to fall on Mabase. Even scarier was that the satellite was a bomb, and the only person who could avert such a disaster was Haruko Haruhara. Considering there was a massive bomb about to explode right on his head, why wasn't Amarao more panicked?

"Doubleheaders take a lot out of you," Haruko remarked. "Better tell the hometown fan it'll cost him."

The mock satellite steadily hurtled toward Mabase.

It wasn't a typical man-made satellite, and it didn't have a normal descent. As it plummeted, it began to break up, taking the shape of a metal globe. The fact that it resembled a round, implosion-type nuclear weapon was the reason the satellite was so dangerous.

The satellite was the ultimate airborne bomb, adjusting its friction with the atmosphere using simple gravity controls as it descended toward its target area. Most of it had been constructed in Japan, and the satellite's fuse and gravity control modules bore the logo of MM.

There was very little time left before it would collide into Mabase.

The bomb was set to detonate when it came in contact with the Earths surface and had stopped for one fiftieth of a second.

Meanwhile, in an underground surveillance room, Amarao and his team were monitoring the satellite bomb's descent.

"I think we should file a complaint to the Brotherhood," one of the female operators called out.

"No," Amarao replied. "This satellite bomb was set up so we could use it in case of an emergency. Raharu is simply using that."

"Raharu?"

"Galaxy Space Police Agent Raharu Haruha, a terrifying woman. She's using the satellite bomb as a pickoff throw against Medical Mechanica and the Japanese government diplomats."

Everyone remained silent, but they were naturally growing increasingly frantic on the inside. The truth was that they didn't have the spirit to sacrifice their own lives for their mission, and they knew the underground room they were in provided no shelter.

One of the other monitors displayed a careening Vespa ridden by two people.

The scooter was being driven by Raharu Haruko and behind her, Naota was clinging on.

The operators' hearts were frozen, knowing their lives depended on that strange pair.

As a result of the satellite's gravity controls, the sky above Mabase had started to become stormy.

On top of one of the houses, a carefree high school girl gazed up at the storm clouds gathering overhead. It was Mamimi, and next to her was Canti. Together, they studied the swirling black formations.

By some unknown means, Canti was able to display the satellite's descent on its face monitor, which impressed Mamimi.

"Oh, Lord of Fear, you're very late!" Mamimi exclaimed with regard to the satellite. "I wonder if we'll get tomorrow off school."

Without replying, Canti switched the display to show Haruko and Naota, who'd finally reached the baseball field.

Mamimi wore a curious expression. "Takkun… what are you going to do?"

What am I going to do? Naota worried as he arrived at the baseball field. He'd thought that because Haruko was involved, he'd have to use Canti to deal with the satellite bomb; however, there wasn't a single person or robot on the field.

Staring up, Naota could see the thick black clouds billowing violently across the

sky. The storm had developed into a terrifying sight. It was like a black sea of tar raging in the heavens.

Naota sensed in his skin that far beyond the thick black clouds, the dangerous weapon was heading straight for the baseball field. "It's coming?"

The satellite bomb wasn't visible to the naked eye, but it wasn't actually falling toward Mabase, anyway; it was aimed directly toward the bulge on Naota's head. The satellite and Naota's bulge had been communicating through half-active pulse waves.

It's heading straight for me. My pounding head is drawing that thing right to me! Naota thought when he realized this frightening reality.

"Well then…" Haruko began as she put her hand in her pocket.

Just as Naota thought Haruko was going to pull out yet another super weapon, it turned out to be a child's shower cap simply an everyday shower cap people used in the shower to avoid getting soap in their eyes when washing their hair.

"What's that?"

"No matter. No matter," Haruko replied, tearing off Naota's head bandages. She quickly put the shower cap on Naota before inserting her hand into his head. Yes, right into the inside of his head. Haruko's arm reached deeply into Naota's head as if she were putting her hand into liquid.

"Whoa, wait a sec. What are you doing?" Naota's skin crawled. Having a hand in his head felt a hundred times worse than swallowing an internal camera. He could feel Haruko's hand wriggling inside his body, through his head and down his throat, and he couldn't help but think that she hadn't used antibacterial lotion or sterilized her hands.

As if she were looking for something in a barrel of rice, Haruko didn't hold back when pushing her hands into the depths of Naota's head. "I see this is what it feels like inside a boy."

"Hey, don't touch that from behind," Naota said randomly.

Haruko was clearly enjoying it. With an indecent smile, she finally located the thing she'd been looking for and pulled it out, gripping some sort of metallic instrument in her hand. It was the next horn that would've come out of Naota's head, the bulge that had been communicating with the satellite. Haruko had intended to pull the horn out of Naota's head, but the annoying object hadn't separated from his head and had gotten caught.

Haruko braced her feet on Naota's head and aggressively tried to pull out the horn. "Hey, c'mon! Hurry up and come out."

"No, don't rush it," Naota pleaded. "If you rush it, it won't come out. Ugh, not so hard!"

The object finally dislodged with a satisfying popping sound. It looked a lot like the bass guitar that Haruko always carried with her. "What's that?" Naota asked.

Haruko grinned. "Your bat!"

"Entered Earth's atmosphere. Altitude: fifty-six thousand feet."

Tension was at its boiling point in the underground surveillance room. Unlike normal residents, the people in this room knew the danger of the bomb hitting its destination. They also knew their chance of survival with the bomb this close was

low. However, Amarao, who'd been tracing the satellite's course, had discovered another faint hope that didn't involve Haruko.

"We might be safe with this," Amarao suggested.

His idea had to do with the angle of entry. Even with gravity controls and speed adjustments, the satellite would skip off the Earth's atmosphere and veer away at an angle. His hopes were immediately shattered, though, when he realized the satellite's angle changed sharply not because of a velocity change, but because of its rotation.

"It's a sinker!" Amarao yelled instinctively.

Their only hope now was Raharu Haruha Haruko. If she didn't have a secret plan, their lives, and all fifty thousand lives in Mabase, would be lost.

Several of the monitors were showing Naota and Haruko on the baseball field.

Haruko had pulled an unknown object from Naota's head that looked exactly like the Brotherhood's guitar-shaped time-space interference weapon.

Amarao knew Haruko was a top-notch expert at that weapon. I see , Amarao thought. You're going to hit the satellite bomb back with this new weapon.

Jumping out of his chair, Amarao yelled again: "What are you doing? There's no way that kid can do it!" He was referring to the monitor, which had just revealed Haruko handing the weapon over to Naota.

What a fool I am! I shouldn't have trusted Raharu, Amarao thought, beating his fist against the desk . She always does this. She plays stupid games at critical moments. It was the same back then

All the operators in the room became startled as they watched their superior quickly lose color in his face.

Needless to say, all the color had drained from Naota's face, too. Haruko had told him to hit the falling satellite bomb back into space with the thing in his hand. It sounded far too ridiculous.

The unfamiliar weapon intimidated Naota, but Haruko smiled as coolly as always. "It's okay," she said. "Just do it like I showed you."

"Like I showed you…" Naota racked his brains, trying to remember what she'd showed him.

"In other words, I think I'm special?"

"But you do think you're special, don't you? Whatever happens, if you don't swing the bat, you'll be special, but you'll only be running away. See that star? Swing for that."

That star. Gazing upward, Naota could see the satellite heading steadily toward them with his own eyes. There wasn't anywhere to run. He had to swing or die. In his heart, Naota understood: If he didn't want to die, the only thing he could do was swing the bat. In this case, if he did swing, he'd be special.

"But you think you're special, don't you?" Haruko had said.

But , Naota thought, until now, I'd never thought of myself as that special. I think. Maybe. What is "special," anyway? The reason I couldn't swing the bat in the game was because I knew I couldn't hit it back. It was only because of that… I GET

IT. I'M NOT REALLY ANYTHING SPECIAL!

Naota gripped the guitar-shaped weapon and assumed a relaxed batting stance

that Haruko had shown him, keeping his gaze firmly on the incoming satellite. From an outsider's point of view, it was simply suicide. However, Naota knew from experience that if Haruko was involved, common sense meant nothing.

Just giving it a shot is enough, right? Just trying… Naota reminded himself.

Perhaps without Naota realizing it, Haruko had greatly influenced his character.

Readying himself, Naota looked up and watched the approaching satellite in slow motion. He could clearly see it in its entirety, as if it were a balloon falling. In other words, it was as though Naota was in a state in which he could see the ball to its seams.

Feels good… I can do this! As his body reacted to his enthusiasm, Naota swung, hitting the satellite bomb dead on. With the weapon in his hand, Naota squarely bludgeoned the giant black metal baseball, which was several meters in diameter.

Holding their breath, the operators watched Naota's swing. "He swung the bat!"

Amarao exclaimed, stunned. "Uraaagh!" the boy on the monitor screamed. All of a sudden, the Shockwave from the impact blew through the surroundings, and the satellite disappeared into the blue sky.

Naota had really hit it back. When it was reported that the satellite was flying toward another planet at warp speed two, there was a huge, long-awaited sigh of relief in the monitor room.

Amarao still couldn't believe Naota had swung the bat. "Maybe he really did hit his father."

If it hadn't been an android, could this boy really have killed his father?

Amarao stared at Naota on the monitor as the boy frolicked with Haruko.

Haruko hugged Naota in delight, rubbing his head with her finger. "See, you can do it if you try! See, see?"

"Stop it! That hurts!" Naota exclaimed, although he was happy, too. His palms were numb, but it felt good. It was the same feeling he got when he'd ridden on the speeding Vespa the time when his brain had been empty.

Maybe this is how Haruko always feels.

Unaware of the harsh fate that awaited him, Naota laughed out loud.