It is still evening, but now Axel is inside of a building. It is a familiar building, albeit smelly, and he finally realizes that this is the building where they hold school.
He checks his watch and sees that it is quarter to seven and the date is Thursday, June the twenty-third. The smell begins to bother him and he sniffs the air repeatedly.
Is that . . . gas? He thought.
He notices an extention cord on the floor leading from one room up to the classroom and he goes up and opens the door.
He sees children gathered in the center of the room lying on the floor with their feet bound and their hands bound behind their backs. Rika, Satoko, and Mion are amongst them. Keiichi is standing there, along with Rena bearing that huge machete with a long vertical tip running perpendicular to the blade.
Axel's presence soon gets everyone talking.
" . . . A foreigner . . . ?!"
" . . . What's a foreigner doing here . . . ?!"
" . . . Was he sent by the police . . . ?!"
"So, one of you has finally come," Rena announced in an eerie monotone as she begins stalking toward Axel.
Axel notices the look of madness in Rena's eyes. He glances at Rika and now understands.
Ah, shit! Rena's got Hinamizawa Syndrome!
"Your kind came here centuries ago," Rena continued as she gets closer while pointing her weapon at Axel, "and left a virus to induce fear and worship. Then, you elevated the Sonozaki family into keeping control over the villagers."
"I don't think Caucasians were in this region of Japan back then," Axel said uneasily.
"No, not Caucasians!" Rena interjected as she jabbed intently at him, as if attempting to stab him. "Aliens!"
"What?!" Axel exclaimed in humorous unease. "I don't think aliens look like that!"
"Lies!" Rena shouted as she continues to point her weapon menacingly at him. "There are aliens with white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes! And you are one of them!"
"Rena, you have Hinamizawa Syndrome!" Axel said desperately with shrunken irises as he begins backing away into the hallway. He glances down at that cord and figures that it must have something to do with Rena and continues backing away.
"And how would you know of such a thing?" Rena accused as she stalks faster, causing Axel to speed up as well.
"I am human, just like you, but I have been sent through various universes," Axel admitted, hoping that the truth will get through to her. "I met you and your friends in other universes too. I even helped you in one of them!"
That seems to work as Rena stops to give him a confused look as she lowers her weapon.
"That's right, Rena," Axel continued with relief, "I am caught up in all of this. I thought I was going on an adventure, only it's not the adventure I was expecting. Just put your weapon down, okay?" As his tone softens. "Nobody needs to get hurt here, and nobody wants to hurt you . . . Just calm down."
Rena seems to calm even more. Axel very slowly moves toward her. He knows that he needs to be careful as a move too quick could set her off.
"Nobody needs to get hurt here, Rena," Axel continued softly with a look to match. "It's okay. Just calm." As he reaches closer to her weapon. "That's it. Everything's going to be fine. There's no need to get violent." His fingers touch the cold blade.
Rena's expression turns wrathful in the blink of an eye as she pulls the blade away from him. Axel is quick to throw himself backward to avoid getting struck. He falls to the floor.
"No!" Rena shrieked as she now towers over Axel with that demented look in her eyes. "You are one of the aliens and you have come to silence me!" As she raises her weapon.
Axel's mind goes numb as his irises shrink to despair. He faintly hopes that he will disappear into another universe before her stroke can fall.
"Rena!" Rika yelled from behind her, causing her to pause and look behind.
"It's over, Rena," she stated. "Keiichi's on the roof disabling the bomb even as we speak! You won't be able to move fast enough to light the fumes! Give up!"
"I don't think so," Rena said coldly as she takes out her light.
Axel moves and shoves her, knocking her down causing her to drop her lighter. He is about to tackle her when she swings her nata, causing him to jump back, and she is on her feet once again.
Damn, she's fast! Axel gasped inwardly.
Rena dashes into another room.
"Axer!" Rika said as she is by his side while he is getting up.
"Rika, am I ever glad to see you!" Axel exclaimed.
"You know this foreigner?" Mion asked as she comes up behind Rika, now sporting a bloody gash on her forehead.
"I'll explain later," Rika said. "Come on. We have to get outside."
They do so and the parents of the children are eager to hug and cry into them.
"Look!" Someone shouted.
They see Rena and Keiichi now on the rooftop in a dual. Axel is astounded by Rena's skill, and apparent strength as she is able to effortlessly swing around a weapon that she should not have been able to so much as lift in the first place. The duel goes back and forth, until Rena knocks the bat out of Keiichi's hand and he falls.
"Oh shit, no!" Axel rasped through gnashed as his eyes go wide and his irises shrink.
He watches helplessly as Rena lifts the blade and brings it down, only to miss. Deliberately. Keiichi gets up and hugs Rena, who returns the hug in kind. Axel feels relieved.
It is suddenly daytime and he is in the exact same place, only there is nobody around and the surroundings look to have been abandoned for a very long time, like back in the Prime Universe. He checks his watch to see that it is almost twelve P.M. and the date is Tuesday, June the twenty-sixth.
He wonders if he is truly back in his own universe and runs inside and up to the classroom. The door is open and he enters, only to do a double take at the presence of a woman staring at him. She seems familiar and is ill at ease. Like most Japanese, she probably thinks that he doesn't know her language and probably cannot speak English either.
"It's okay if you don't know English because I can speak Japanese," he said assuredly.
The woman's irises shrink and she walks briskly up to him and stares up into his face. Axel stands a head taller than the woman and he has to tilt his head forward to look down at her. That is when Axel's irises shrink from shock upon recognizing the woman.
"You," the woman gasped in a soft tone as she reaches up to touch his face with one hand. "It really is you from twenty-four years ago!" As she places her other hand onto the other side of his face and holds him firm. "You haven't aged a day!" As she ends in an intense tone.
"Rena!" Axel gasped.
"But there's suppose to be no such thing as aliens!" Rena gasped desperately as she digs her fingers into his face, causing Axel pain as he winces.
"And there isn't," he said as he is quick to grab her wrists and pull her hands away. He continues clasping her wrists. "I'm just as human as you are! But I am from another universe. I don't know how this happened to me, but I go through universes where I usually meet Rika. I've met you in other ones too. I even helped you in one of them."
"Who are you?" Rena demanded softly.
"Axel Sawyer. What year is it?"
"Two Thousand and Seven."
"So, I'm in the future," he said as he releases her hands. "Or more accurately, this universe's future."
He looks at the chalkboard and sees that it is clean.
"Is there anybody else in this village?" Axel asked as he looks back down at Rena.
"No. Although two more people are on their way here."
Axel walks over to a desk, where he removes his knapsack and takes out his notebook.
"I write about the previous universes I was in," he explained to Rena. "Like I am going to do for the previous one. So I need quiet to concentrate."
"Very well, Axer-kun," Rena said.
Axel stares at her for a moment over her use of that suffix for him. He gets to work writing about the previous universe. Once he finishes, he puts his notebook away once again.
"So tell me," Axel said as he is putting on his knapsack. "What happened to you afterwards?"
"I was taken to a police station and put there for the night," Rena began. "The next day, I learned that a poison gas leak from the local swamp spilled out and killed everyone in the village. I was the sole survivor. I was taken to Tokyo where I was placed in a mental institution for a time until I was well enough to leave."
"You have my condolences, Rena," Axel said empathetically. "That must be so hard for you to understand that everyone you ever knew in this village is now dead. Family. Friends."
"Rika foresaw all this," Rena said. "She predicted her own death, along with the deaths of others."
"Then rest assure that she lives on in other universes," Axel said as he clasps Rena's shoulders. "Just as you do too."
"I know," Rena answered softly. "I . . . I remember them as if they're fragments of dreams. In one, Keiichi murdered me. In another, I killed a woman who tried to kill me. I even remember you in some of them."
"That's good," Axel said tenderly as he takes his hands off her shoulders. "As for me, I could disappear at any moment. But you cannot tell anyone about me or else they will think that you are having a relapse."
"I know," Rena sighed as she looks downward.
The sound of a car engine gets Rena's attention and she looks out through the window to see a car driving up. She looks back at Axel, but he is gone.