The explosion was brilliant. I didn't think it'd be that beautiful and full of colors, but then again, I've never seen an explosion before so…

This guy actually did everything I asked. And lived. How?

We stopped at an intersection. I remember this place from when the Mono kid pulled me away. Maybe I can catch up with the others. Are they even looking for me? If not, I hope they found the place the Nurse was leading them to.

"So...What're we doing now, Cap?"

"I had some friends before I came across the warehouse. I'm looking for them."

"Do you want me to help?"

"I don't see why not."

Chikao and I look for Tastuha, Suika, Oda, Murata, Togashi, Kin, and the Nurse. We venture around the area, yelling out until our throats get sore. I don't think that we'll find them.

"Cap. Don't be sad. I'm sure that we'll find them. You just need to hope a bit more."

As twisted as I know his reasoning behind the word 'Hope' is, I do agree. We can't give up now. We've looked for so long.

"Capi!"

"Captain!"

"Cap'!"

"That's them!", I say excitedly. "Suika! Murata! Kin!"

Chikao nods and follows me as we trace back to the yelling. We finally see them. I leap up from my chair and stumble towards the whole group. I run into Oda, but he catches me as we are about to fall.

"Whoa there, Captain. Where's your wheelchair?"

I fall onto the ground as soon as I realize that I used my prosthetics again. It's really sore where my stumps are.

"Huh? Captain? Where'd you go?"

The Nurse grabs my hand and steadies me up.

"We really need to teach you how to walk again."

"We were worried sick for you, Captain. How the hell did you get lost?"

"That's the part that I'm worried about, too."

"Hey, Cap'. Who's that guy?" Kin points at him as if he were some sort of animal. He looks suspicious for some reason.

Chikao smiles timidly back as if waiting for my cue.

"Someone I found. His name is Chikao. He's a bit...off...but he knows a lot of information that we don't have, like where we are, where we can find a sanctuary."

"Really? Well, that's cool." He walks over to Chikao. "Hello, the name's Kin. Nice to meet'cha."

Chikao nods.

"Does he talk?"

"Yeah."

"Nice to meet you, to all seven of you."

"Hey, Cap'."

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?"

Oh shit. The mask. How could I forget the mask? Shit shit shit shit shit shit. Oh, course he'd recognize me. I stabbed him.

"Why?"

"I just thought about it and you never told us."

"Yeah, what is your name, Captain?"

"Your face is kinda weird. You were wearing a mask before, right?

"I...I don't remember. I have amnesia. Did you forget?"

"That's a lie, Cap'. Sorry, Mr. Mizoru. You stabbed me, how could I some'em forget that?"

He points his gun right at me. Am I going to die? I can feel Saito shivering. After all, she's helping me to stand. She'd be shot, too.

"Even then, I don't remember it. I'm a different person. I think."

That wasn't very convincing.

"Don't shoot, Kin." It's Saito. "Without Captain, I wouldn't be here. Both you and I would be dead. Or in a trance. Being asleep like that is as well as being dead."

"You just don't want me to shoot you too."

"Wouldn't I just have let go? Went to the six of you, hiding behind Kin's back. Here I am, supporting the man who saved me from Despair. Yet it wasn't just him. It was all of us. Why are we divided on saving a man? Even if he is crazed, even if he was still the man who stabbed you, what says that we shouldn't help him? He's not beyond help. After all, he helped us not even knowing about the shit that went on in this world. I'm a nurse. I can tell when a person is so broken that they have no choice but to die. This man, Mizoru, our Captain, whatever you want to call him, is our leader and we all decided that."

Something swelled up inside of me. These are the first people I've ever met. Why should these people care about me? Maybe they feel the same way. We're all alone here. We need something to hold onto.

"Capi is Capi and just that."

Suika joins Saito by my side.

"Even if there's just nothing spanning on and on forever, I see that you're a good person, Captain."

Oda feels his way over to our side. Togashi joins him. Then Tatsuha, then Murata. Kin lowers his rifle.

"C'mon guys. I can't do this." Kin struggles to find words. "I'm...I'm sorry, Captain. I know it was you who stabbed me, and I hated you for that. But it was and I hated. Past tense there. I'll never do something as despicable as this ever again."

He walks over and hands the gun to me.

"Take it. Shoot me. Do whatever you want with it. All of you. We're not just individuals. We work as a team. The Hospital Team. We need to come up with a better name, don't we."

"Yeah. That name sucks, Kin."

"Fuck you, Oda."

"No problem."

I look over at Chikao to see how he's taking this. He's probably very confu...What? His eyes are sparkling. Is this what he means by 'in Despair'? This doesn't seem to be negative, but it's creeping me out just a bit.

Everyone notices that I've been staring at him, and they look at Chikao, too.

"Uh...I'm nothing special...I feel under pressure with this many glares." He laughs extremely awkwardly. "You guys are just so full of Hope. It fills me with Despair." Now it's a smile. A crazed, insane smile.

"Is this what you meant by 'odd'?"

"Yes. Exactly this."

...

We explained everything to Chikao, and I explained what happened on our side of things. Chikao rarely spoke. I think it's because I never told him too. He's very sensitive to anything I say. I left out the part about Yumika knowing me so well.

"So you two were the ones who blew that building? It really shocked us. Hey, at least it was the enemy's base. That could have been us."

"So you are Taeki Mizoru?", The Nurse asks.

"...Yeah. I am. I'm 99% sure."

"Did I ever tell you how you got put into the hospital?"

I shake my head.

"This man who spoke no Japanese brought you in. Your legs were ripped into shreds. The man told me to fix you up, in English, of course. Then he left. That's the only thing I can remember when I was in a trance. I don't know why, but that scene really stuck with me."

"So…What were you all doing?"

"Ah. We found the place! It's a big house with two stories!"

"We split up. Half of us went to look for you, the other half went there with the nurse. They cam right back here when the found it. I didn't even have to use my gun at all."

"I didn't use it either."

"You almost did."

"I said I was sorry."

"C'mon, let's go."