Chapter Eleven: Kuro Mirai*
The next day, Rentaro had grudgingly agreed to assist Yuuto in reaching this enigmatic town of his. Something seemed different about him; he had been desperate before, but now there was fear in his eyes. The young man hadn't begged or groveled, but one look from both him and his companion had been enough to convince Enju, and she was as stubborn as they come.
It took them half of the day following the river to reach the town—what was left of it, anyway. Yuuto looked like he was going to have a heart attack when he saw the ruins, but he recovered quickly. The town appeared to have become a nest for Gastrea, with Stage One, Two, and Three Gastrea running all over town.
At Yuuto's insistence, they had gone inside the town. He dragged the group around to many landmarks—a major mall, the central shopping district, a high school—all collapsed and decaying. Each location seemed to drain some of the color from Yuuto's face, but he pressed onwards.
He pointed out where he used to live, but didn't stay long. Rentaro didn't press him; he was obviously undergoing a lot of stress.
The final place they went was the cemetery. When they got there, Yuuto collapsed, eyes wide. Rentaro followed his gaze, and saw a row of gravestones. Something seemed unusual about them, and Rentaro realized they all had the same date of death: December 18, 2011. Surprisingly, the names on the headstones were still mostly intact.
YU NARUKAMI. YOSUKE HANAMURA. CHIE SATONAKA. YUKIKO AMAGI. KANJI TATSUMI. RISE KUJIKAWA. NAOTO SHIROGANE.
They must have been friends of his, Rentaro realized. They all died on the same day. I wonder why?
"The date is wrong," Yuuto said weakly. "They fought Ameno-Sagiri on the twenty-fourth, not the eighteenth." He looked down, tears sliding down his face. "At least, in my timestream, they did…I guess it was different in this one…."
Yuuto began sobbing uncontrollably. Yui embraced him, Enju held his hand, and Rentaro just stood back; he could think of nothing to say.
The sun was hovering just above the horizon by the time Yuuto calmed down. Rentaro thought to the grief he had felt when he lost his parents, and his heart twinged in empathy.
Yuuto stood up, wiping his face. "We sh-should leave," He said, his voice shuddering. "I'm n-n-not going to s-see my friends again. They're d-d-d-d-"
He couldn't even finish his sentence. Slowly, he walked out of the cemetery, and the group began to head out of town. When they set up camp, the sun was setting. Yuuto halfheartedly helped gather firewood, then laid down on his sleeping bag, wallowing in his sorrow.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Rentaro spun around, searching for the source. It was a massive Gastrea—a Stage Four. It was the size of a large house, with massive, flat feet and three tentacles dragging on the ground on either side of it. Each tentacle was bulging with muscle, and tipped with a claw that looked like it could shred steel. Its neck was fairly short, ending in a head with two bulging yellow eyes. As Rentaro watched, it tilted its head back, dropped its jaw, and roared. It was hard to tell because of the distance, but Rentaro thought he could see multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth.
"We'd better not stay here. Stage Fours are dangerous," Rentaro said, turning back to the group.
Yuuto had sat up to watch the Stage Four, and had completely blanched. His face was white as a sheet, his pupils had retracted to pinpricks, and his mouth was hanging ajar. Seeing a Stage Four Gastrea could be a bit jarring, but surely Yuuto was overreacting?
Yui tugged on his shirt. "Yuuto-san…?"
A sound like a small, dying animal came from Yuuto's open jaw. "Yuuto…?" Rentaro asked, alarmed.
Finally, Yuuto managed to speak. "What…the hell…is that doing here?"
BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK
Takuma had seen this monstrosity before. He was actively experiencing flashbacks, to that horrible cave.
"I am a Shadow, the true self. And I'm going to destroy the world! Starting…with you!"
It's gone, it's gone, my Shadow is gone! I defeated it! I accepted it!
So why the hell is it here?
The resemblance was identical—the massive, pulverizing feet; the crushing tentacles; the deadly claws. Even that triumphant roar. There was no doubt about it.
His Shadow was in Inaba.
Suddenly, the trauma of the past few days hit him all at once: the loss of his Personae, the death of his friends, the resurgence of the darkest part of his mind. He started hyperventilating, and his vision began to fade. The world closed in on him, and he slumped to the side. Visions of his friends' graves, of his Shadow's lair, of blood splattered across his palm swirled around him, trapping him in a maelstrom of regret and fear.
"Snap out of it, Takuma!"
Suddenly, he saw the face of his fellow classmate. "Kanji-san…."
Kanji grabbed him by the lapels and shook him. "You're not going to let this stop you, are you? What kind of a man are you?"
"B-but…you're dead…all my friends are dead…."
Kanji flung him to the ground. "So you're just gonna curl up in a ball and die? Don't let our deaths be in vain, Takuma."
His other friends began materializing next to Kanji—Rise, Naoto, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, and even Teddie.
Takuma looked around at them, and nodded. "You're right. I need to keep fighting."
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was beginning to regain control of reality….
"Yuuto-san, wake up!"
Takuma jumped. "Ah! What…what happened?"
Yui hugged him, tears in her eyes. You started rolling around, mumbling about Shadows and your friends…I was worried, Yuuto san…."
Takuma looked down at Yui. I can't lose myself like that again. At the very least, I need to be strong for Yui-chan.
Takuma sat up. "What was my Shadow doing here, though?" he mused aloud.
"That was a Stage Four Gastrea," Rentaro said. "It's probably a sort of guardian for these ruins."
"But it looked exactly like my Shadow! There's more things that don't make sense in this world. For example, if Ameno-Sagiri k…." Takuma took a deep breath and steeled himself. "If Ameno-Sagiri k-killed my friends, then who stopped the Shadows?"
Takuma was met with confused faces. "What do you mean?" Rentaro asked.
"Well…the Shadows were going to invade from the Midnight Channel." More blank stares, but Takuma continued. "The two worlds were already starting to bleed together; fog was spilling out of the Midnight Channel. It wasn't going to be long before the Shadows invaded and started killing everybody. Ameno-Sagiri was the ringmaster behind it all, and on December 24, 2011…my friends defeated him. The world returned to normal, the fog went away…everyone was saved.
"But, in this world, it looks like they challenged Ameno-Sagiri before they were ready and…well, they…d-died." Takuma took a shuddering breath. "So, if they didn't stop the Shadows, who did? And somebody did, because otherwise the world would be…." Takuma's voice faded.
"The world would be what?" Rentaro asked, irritably.
"The world…would be…overrun by Shadows," Takuma finished, and several facts clicked into place.
Dr. Muroto had said that the first Gastrea appeared in Inaba, twenty years ago.
Takuma's sword, Gaia, could harm Gastrea, even though it didn't appear to be made of Varanium.
His friends had challenged Ameno-Sagiri before they were ready, and been killed, allowing the Shadows to invade the human world.
Finally, a Gastrea had appeared that was identical to Takuma's own Shadow.
All these implied a single fact.
"Nobody stopped the Shadows," Takuma said, slowly.
"Then where are they?" Rentaro demanded.
"They're everywhere. You just know them by a different name. You call them…Gastrea."
*In Japanese, "Black Future"
