The three of them left the basement and walked toward the front door. Momotaro opened the door and leapt outside.
''Come on! I'll show you the lighthouse!'' He yelled as he dashed off.
Nagisa, being the man child he is, ran after the little boy, his white lab coat swaying behind him.
Aiichiro slowly closed the door, not wanting it to make a lot of sound. He turned around and saw that he was left alone. The darkness kind of scared him and he ran as hard as his tiny legs could carry him in the direction he thought his brother had went, crying ''Wait for me!''.
Momotaro led them to the cliff. The cliff looked out over a lighthouse that looked abandoned. The only thing that was on the cliff was a wooden bench.
''There it is!''
It wasn't as if Nagisa hadn't noticed it yet, because there was no way someone could overlook something the size of a lighthouse, let alone an actual lighthouse. Yet, for once he chose not to comment.
''Awesome! But how do we get there?''
''Oh! We need to go down the hill!'' Momotaro answered.
Then why didn't we go down in the first place, Nagisa thought. He tried not to show his annoyance, he still needed these children's help after all.
''Then, can you take me there?''
''Sure!''
Momotaro turned to run again, but Aiichiro grabbed his wrist.
''Momo-kun, can't we walk there instead?''
''Huh? Oh, okay.'' Aiichiro smiled gratefully as he let go of his brother's wrist.
Momotaro, Aiichiro and Nagisa started walking south at a steady pace. They were going down the way Nagisa and Rei had come from earlier. Suddenly Aiichiro gasped.
''Oh no!''
Nagisa stared at the ground. In front of their feet lay the deflated still unidentified object Nagisa had poked with the stick.
''My beach ball! Somebody broke it!'' Aiichiro said.
''..Oh.''
Nagisa saw that the boy was on the verge of tears. Not having the time to deal with a crying child right now, Nagisa tried to soothe him.
''Hey, hey, it's okay! Rei-chan will buy you a new one!''
''Who is 'Rei-chan'?''
''He's my partner, Dr. Ryugazaki Rei! He'll definitely buy you a new one!''
Aiichiro looked up at Nagisa. ''Really?''
''Uh.. Yeah! I promise!''
The little boy's mood visibly lightened at Nagisa's unrightful promise.
''So, can we keep going now?''
''O-Of course!'' Aiichiro said as he wiped at the corners of his eyes with his fist.
They continued walking until they reached the company's car, still smashed against the tree.
''It's smoking!''
''Who's the dummy that crashed that car?''
''Oh, uh, it was Rei-chan! Yeah, it was Rei-chan.'' Nagisa put the blame on Rei and he quickly walked away from the car, as if the broken vehicle would reveal that it was actually his doing.
They walked and walked until they finally reached the lighthouse.
They went to the door of the lighthouse, when Nagisa saw something else. There was a stone that was sticking out of the soil. A bouquet of plucked flowers lay before it.
''Wait, what's that over there?'' He asked.
Nagisa walked over to the stone. It read:
''In loving memory of Tachibana Haruka''
''Tachibana Haruka,'' Nagisa spoke, ''Is that Mako-chan's husband?''
''Mako-chan?'' The children questioned.
''Tachibana-san, the old man. Was 'Haruka' his husband?''
''Dunno.''
''I don't know either,'' Aiichiro said, ''But before Tachibana-san got sick, he came here every day, placing wild flowers at that stone. Now Mommy does it every day. I think Tachibana-san asked her to.''
''Ahw,'' Nagisa began, ''Then he must've been his husband. His husband had a girly name, too!''
Momotaro was getting impatient. ''Can we go inside now?''
Nagisa remembered that he came here to do something. ''Right, let's go!''
They entered the lighthouse. There were a few flights of stairs too many for Nagisa's liking. He mumbled, ''I don't get paid enough for this.''
When they reached the top of the stairs, the first thing Nagisa saw that the floor was littered in paper cranes.
''This is it!'' Momotaro made a presenting motion with his arms.
Nagisa walked towards the middle of the room, carefull not to step on any of the origami cranes. He looked at the big lamp.
''Hmm, looks like this thing stopped functioning a while ago.''
There was one paper crane that stood out from the others. It was resting upon a small, wooden box and unlike all the other cranes, that were colourless, this one was a bright blue and green.
Nagisa picked it up to take a closer look at it.
''Hey! That one wasn't here when I came here last week!'' Momotaro exclaimed.
''Tachibana-san must have come here before he fell ill again and became bedridden.''
''Two colours..'' Nagisa muttered.
They were startled by a sudden ringing sound, Nagisa's phone went off.
''That's probably Rei-chan.'' Nagisa guessed as he picked up. ''I knew it!''
''Yes, Rei-chan. Yeah, yeah we're coming back! I'll be right there, Bye!'' He hung up.
''Blah, blah, blah!'' Nagisa said to his phone, causing Momotaro to burst out into giggles.
''Shall we head back, then?'' Aiichiro proposed.
''Yeah, let's head back!'' Nagisa agreed.
Back at the house, Nagisa went upstairs as quickly as he could, while Aiichiro and Momotaro went back to playing the piano.
He entered Makoto's bedroom. He saw that a green helmet was placed over the old man's head.
''What in the heavens were you doing, Nagisa-kun?''
''I was taking a look around the house, just like I said I would.''
''What took you so long?''
''I don't know, I might've gotten a bit distracted along the way.''
Rei sighed. ''Your helmet's on the couch. Put it on, we're going in.'' Rei sat back down in the chair.
Gou turned to Nagisa. ''By the way, I'm curious...'' She started, ''How does it work? Do you just write him another life like a novel?''
''What? No!'' Nagisa laughed, ''I'm not a writer or anything! We can't just write out an entire life manually. There are way too many dimensions.''
''Then.. how do you do it?''
''It's mainly the machine that does the.. 'doing','' Rei explained, ''In a nutshell, our job is to travel through his memories to as early as possible. And when we do, we would then transfer his registered desire of going to the moon..''
''..to the reconstruction of the world and himself at that early state!'' Nagisa finished his partner's sentence. ''And with the help of a wiki of data and his own, the machine would then simulate a rerun.''
''Except this time, he'll have the motivation of his registered desire with him all his life,'' Rei concluded.
Gou frowned. ''So you'd be depending on him fulfilling his own wish by simply having the desire to? How could that be? Everyone has ambitions for things, but most won't accomplish them.''
''That's because in the real world, ambitions fluctuate... and fade,'' Rei said. ''People start things with a passion, but eventually they lose that initial drive and slow down. But imagine if you were locked onto that initial push through your entire life, never wavering. It is actually more powerfull than it seems.''
''That being said, no ambition's gonna help a dead man, so we better get going.''
''Oh, of course! Sorry,'' Gou apologised.
''Nah, it's okay!'' Nagisa said as he strolled toward the couch and sat down.
Rei and Nagisa put on their helmets.
''Alright, here we go!''
Rei pushed the button. Their helmets activated and they waited until the memory was loaded.
Vision slowly returned to them as they arrived in the memory. They were standing in Makoto's bedroom, but nobody was here, except for Rei and Nagisa.
''This should be the last accessible memory,'' Rei declared. ''Disable speech for all except Tachibana-san,'' He commanded Nagisa.
''Done, and can you call him Makoto? It feels less formal.''
''May I remind you that this is, in fact, a formal occasion. But if you prefer it, I'll call him Makoto-san from now on.''
''Yay! Let's go find him,'' Nagisa said as they left the room and went downstairs.
There wasn't anyone downstairs either, so they walked outside the door.
Nagisa remembered what the children had told him.
''Oh, I know! He might be at the lighthouse!''
''The lighthouse?'' Rei questioned.
''Yeah! We should be able to see it from the cliff! Come on, I'll show you!'' Nagisa exclaimed and he led Rei the way just as Momotaro had led him earlier.
When they reached the cliff, they saw Makoto sitting on the bench and Gou standing behind him.
''Makoto-san?'' Rei called.
Makoto stood up at the sound of his name. He took a step aside, facing Rei and Nagisa. Nagisa's suspicions had been confirmed. Even though he was old, Makoto was still taller and broader than the two of them.
''What a pleasant surprise,'' He said, ''We don't get many visitors around here.'' Makoto flashed them a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
''My name is Dr. Ryugazaki Rei and this is Dr. Hazuki Nagisa. Are you familiar with the Sigmund Agency of Life Generation?''
''Are you two from they agency? What a coincidence, I've just been thinking of calling you. Gou-chan, can you please get us some tea?''
The woman didn't respond.
''... Gou-chan?''
''It's not a coincidence, in fact, you have already called us.''
As Rei spoke those words, the woman slowly faded away.
Gou's vanishing had startled Makoto and he took a few steps back.
''We are here to fulfill our contract from the relative future.''
Makoto stepped back a little more. ''You... You are here to take me to the moon, right?''
''Yes, Makoto-san,'' Rei said.
Makoto turned around. ''Well... I suppose I had a good run,'' He sighed, looking at the lighthouse. ''So, can you do it?'' He turned back to them. ''Can you take me to the moon, I mean?''
''We cannot, but you might be able to.''
''Why do you want to go there anyway?'' Nagisa asked.
''I don't know.''
Nagisa and Rei shared some confused looks.
Rei took a step toward Makoto. ''It's okay, you can tell us. It's essential for helping us to get you to go to the moon.''
''Do you want the fame? The money? You have to have at least some type of motive,'' Nagisa pried.
''I'm sorry, but I really don't know. I just... do.''
Rei walked closer to Makoto. ''Nevertheless, Makoto-san, this is what we are going to do. We need to get to your childhood, but it is too distant to do so in one memory hop. Thus, we need to traverse through your memories with gradual backward leaps.''
''Which you have given us permission to do in the relative future,'' Nagisa added.
''Once we lay down the waypoints in your childhood memories for direct access, we will return here. That's when you will need to help us influence your childhood self to become an astronaut. The point is, you will need to have more to say than just 'I don't know'.''
''I'll help. As long as you can take me to the moon, I'll cooperate in any way I can,'' Makoto said.
''Good,'' Rei uttered, ''Now, in order to leap a memory we need an item that is of importance to you. Do you have a memento of some sort to get us started?''
Makoto contemplated this before walking back to the bench. He picked something up and stared at it for a second before hesistantly handing it to Rei.
''This will do,'' Rei confirmed.
Nagisa peeked into Rei's hand and took a sharp breath. Inside of Rei's had rested the blue and green paper crane, the one Nagisa had found in the abandoned lighthouse earlier.
''Well, shall we?'' Rei asked Nagisa.
''Sure, just prepare it first.''
Rei nodded and he prepared the memento. When he had successfully prepared it, he activated it. It slowly got dark before their eyes as they leapt to another memory.
Rei and Nagisa were standing in the living room of the house. Makoto was sitting behind the piano, playing a song. On top of the piano rested the stuffed dolphin. The floor was covered in paper cranes, the multicoloured paper crane lying among the others.
''Turn off visibility and interactivity; it would be troublesome to be noticed,'' Rei said.
''Yeah, yeah, I get it.'' Nagisa turned them off.
He looked around. ''I forgot to ask him about all these cranes.''
Rei didn't say anything in response. Instead, he listened attentively to the tune Makoto was playing. ''Does this song sound familiar to you, Nagisa-kun?''
''Hmm.. Ah! It does!'' Nagisa exclaimed, trying to remember where he had heard it before, ''I think it's the same song Ai-chan and Momo-chan were playing!''
''Gou-san's children?''
''Yeah!''
''Perhaps Makoto-san taught them how to play.'' Rei pushed his glasses up his nose, ''Either way, we do not have the time to stand around and chat. We need to find a memento to hop to an earlier memory. First we need to find five memory links.''
Rei walked over to a clock that hung on the wall. He noticed that the clock was moving, yet it didn't make a ticking sound. ''Hmm, the clock ticks silently,'' He noted. His words established the silent clock as a memory link.
Nagisa found a red umbrella that was lying in the corner of the room. He touched it briefly. It shook a little underneath Nagisa's fingertips. ''I found the memento, Rei-chan! We just need four more links!''
''Alright, let's continue searching upstairs.''
''Okay.''
They entered Makoto's room once they got upstairs. A plate of mackerel was lying on the nightstand. Rei and Nagisa walked over to it.
''Fish?'' Nagisa questioned.
''More specifically, mackerel.''
''Who the hell keeps mackerel in their bedroom?''
''I don't know. Maybe there is a good reason there's mackerel here.''
''Like what?''
''Perhaps it was his meal. Gou-san could've made it for him, but he didn't have an appetite.''
Nagisa picked the plate up and it established a memory link.
''Then why is it a link?''
''I don't know, but there has to be more behind it than just dinner, if it is a memory link.''
''That's so weird. How does a fish have any sentimental value?''
''I guess we will find out soon enough. Now, mackerel aside, let's continue looking for memory links.''
A backpack that was sitting on the floor beside the bed turned out to be the third link.
''I wonder what kind of importance this backpack holds,'' Nagisa said.
''We will just have to wait and see.''
Nagisa huffed. He really loved his job. Learning about other people's lives always excited him. He was curious, and he always wondered what kind of place the links and mementos had in their patient's heart.
Rei, on the other hand, was a lot more level-headed. Rei loved his job, sure, but it didn't excite him like it excited Nagisa. He found learning more about the lives of different kinds of people fascinating and interesting, but he wasn't as curious or enthusiastic as his partner.
Rei walked over to the table - the one on which their equipment was placed in the 'real' world - and picked up the book that was lying on the surface. He took a closer look at it.
''The Little Mermaid by Hans Christan Andersen,'' He read out loud.
The book was another memory link.
Meanwhile Nagisa had trotted out of the room and into a little corridor. He saw Makoto standing there, next to a pot of flowers. He was staring at a painting that was hanging on the wall.
Nagisa wanted to start talking to him, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked behind him and saw Rei shaking his head.
''Don't. If we have to explain our presence to him at every memory, I'd go insane before the night's over.''
''You're right, sorry.''
Rei stepped forward and reached out to touch the painting Makoto was intently staring at, but nothing happened.
''That's weird,'' Nagisa said, ''I expected that to be the fifth link.''
He put his hand on the pot and leaned against it. The pot of flowers turned out to be the last memory link.
''Woah. I didn't expect that.''
''We better hurry. I believe you said the red umbrella downstairs was the memento?''
''Yes! Let's go!''
They walked downstairs. When they reached the umbrella, Nagisa loaded it with the gathered memory links and he prepared it.
Rei and Nagisa travelled with the umbrella to another memory.
They arrived in the memory and Rei looked around.
They were standing in front of the lighthouse and it was raining. Luckily, since this was a memory, they didn't get wet.
Makoto was kneeling in front of the gravestone, holding the red umbrella as tears seeped out of his eyes, tracing lines on his wrinkled cheeks. Beside him lay the stuffed dolphin, the umbrella shielding it from the rain.
''Seems like these memory hops only span a short period of time. We need to find a leaping memento, or else this is going to take forever.''
''Yeah, let's look for memory links.''
Nagisa and Rei walked over to Makoto. The plush dolphin was the first memory link. The stone that read: ''In loving memory of Tachibana Haruka'' was the second.
When Nagisa entered the lighthouse, Makoto started talking.
''It's finished, Haru. I'll be able to watch over him everyday, just like you are. He won't be alone anymore. I stayed true to your wish, Haru, even if I don't understand why. I'm sure Hikaru is grateful to you, too. But when I'm gone, who's going to watch over us?''
Rei activated visibility and interactivity. He walked over to Makoto.
The old man looked up as he heard Rei's footsteps on the wet grass.
''Who.. Who are you?'' He asked.
''My name is Rei. I was just passing by,'' Rei said, his voice a calm and kind noise. ''Was he your husband?''
''Yes, Haru... His name was Haruka.''
''That's a special name.''
''It didn't need to happen.''
''Excuse me?''
''He.. He didn't need to do it. But.. it's what he wanted. I know this is what made him happy. So it makes me happy, even if it hurts.''