Kotomi's reactions to his bunker were much the same as they had been before, Okazaki reflected. Sure, a few things were slightly different from the first time he had brought her down there. For one, he was returning her to her own house. For another, he had two of his terminator fragments holding metal plates fanning her from the moment she stepped off the elevator.

But in many ways it was just the same as the first time. She would go from one of his fragments to another, smile when he waved at her with one of them, and wince whenever a loud noise came from the factory below. And as they started nearing her house, the vastness of the bunker once again began to have an effect on her.

"We're almost there," he assured her. "Just a couple more blocks." They turned past one last column of terminator troops, and came face to face with a mirror of the elevator to Okazaki's house.

-0-

Kotomi and Okazaki ascended the elevator. She got them both some tea, and they sat in the room with the screen door to her yard, discussing the mind-to-machine interface. As the night wore on however, Okazaki sighed.

'Why am I doing this?' he wondered as he took a sip of tea. 'It's no longer about her. It's becoming about me. I'm here spending time with her, becoming all the closer to her, when there's a good chance I may not survive what comes. That's not fair, not to her.' He sighed again.

"...Is something wrong?" Kotomi asked.

"...A bit," he admitted as he sat his tea on the table and steepled his hands. 'So what do we do? Push her away? That'd just hurt her. Carry on as if nothing's happening? That could hurt her worse. ...Compromise between the two extremes? Hmm. Maybe.' He sighed and closed his eyes. "Kotomi chan. It's getting late."

"...Oh?" She glanced over at the grandfather clock. "You're right."

"I'm going to go."

"...You can stay if you want." She blushed slightly as she spoke.

He clenched his teeth. "...I would take you up on that, but... I think it's best, for both of us, if I wait until after I have dealt with my past."

"...I see." She frowned and set her hands in her lap.

He stood up. "Kotomi chan."

She looked up at him. "...Yes?"

He walked to stand in front of her, and gently took her hands in his own. "I will do my best, to come back to you. Please... pray for me."

She squeezed his hands and nodded.

He smiled softly, and kissed the top of her head before pulling back with a frown. "...Goodbye, Kotomi chan."

"...Tomoya kun... Goodbye..."

He let go of her hands and, without another word, walked to the elevator. He could hear a muted sob behind him, and grit his teeth. Almost, he turned back.

Almost.

With a sigh, he stepped into the elevator, and descended.

-0-

Tomoyo didn't show up at Okazaki's house the following morning, which came as a mild surprise to Okazaki. After she had shown up the last time, he halfway expected her to keep showing up. With a shrug, he sat and contemplated what he was going to do.

His musings were interrupted later in the afternoon by rude knocking on his door. He sighed and stood from his position on the floor, and looked out the door window.

Kyou looked back at him with a frown.

He mentally shrugged and made his way to the door to open it.

"Did you do something to Kotomi chan?" asked Kyou, before he had the chance to speak.

"Not in any sense you're thinking of," he replied.

She frowned and put her hands on her hips. "...Explain that to me."

"I need to deal with my past. It's not going to take long, just a couple more days now really." He sighed. "That sounds more introspective than it is. Sorta. It's... complicated."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Is this related to that whole 'back from the future' thing?"

"...If I say yes?"

Kyou rolled her eyes. "Look, I was prepared to let it slide, but you've hurt Kotomi now. And-"

"Kyou."

"What?"

"Do you really think it's what I wanted to do?" He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "There's a good chance I won't be coming back when I confront him. I'm trying to cushion that possible blow, as much as I can. If I could, I wouldn't hurt her again. Unfortunately, I've done too much in the past to make that a possibility."

She raised her finger to say something, let it drop after a moment, raised it again, and finally crossed her arms in frustration. "It's still your fault."

"Without a doubt," he admitted. "I'm trying to fix my mistakes, though."

She shook her head. "Alright, fine. But I still want to know what exactly happened between you and Kotomi."

"Honestly? I told her that I needed time to myself until I had taken care of my past. Which will be in three days."

"Alright, fine. Why?"

"...Because my success is not assured. I may perish in the attempt."

She glared at him. "...So you push her away? You think that will cushion the blow?"

He sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what to do in this sort of situation. I can only hope that some distance and clear explanations will help her, in a worst case scenario."

Kyou considered him for a few moments before sighing. "I was really going to chew you out for this, but after hearing that I just feel sorry for the both of you."

"No." Okazaki shook his head with a sigh. "Feel sorry for Kotomi. Whatever happens to me can only be just."

She rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Tomoya. Melodrama much?"

"I haven't even begun to ham it up enough for you to say that."

She snorted. "Good, let's keep it that way."

"Heh. Sure, fine." He sighed. "...Can you keep an eye on her for me? Just in case things do go poorly?"

"...Is it really that bad?" she asked quietly.

"...That's what I've been saying this whole time, Kyou."

"Then Tomoya. Don't lose. I'll kick your ass if you do." She held her fist in his face.

He smiled softly. "Yeah."

Kyou withdrew the fist and smirked at him. "Good." The smirk fell away with a sigh. "I'm serious, you know."

"That I do," Okazaki said.

She shook her head and turned to leave, but stopped before taking a step. "You know, you're going to have to explain this whole situation to us, sometime."

He let out a pained grunt. "...We tried that, and it didn't go so well."

She turned her head toward him with an eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that..." He ran a hand through his hair. "You know, never mind. One day, a long time down the road, maybe I'll tell everyone. But I'm not going to do it anytime soon. Not the whole story, anyway. It's too awful." He grit his teeth and sat down on the doorstep. "Much too awful..."

She turned back to look at him with a frown. "...Alright Tomoya, I won't ask. Right now." She pointed an index finger at him. "But don't think you're getting out of telling that story."

He snorted. "Yeah. I know. But I'll need you to get used to some ideas, first. Unpleasant ones."

"Humm..." She turned back again and started walking. "I can't take this melodrama. I'm leaving."

"Heh." Okazaki stood up. "Bye then, Kyou."

"Bye bye," Kyou replied.

With a final shake of his head, he walked back into his house and closed the door.

-0-

Okazaki didn't bother going back to school when his suspension ended. Instead, he spent some time designing a welcoming gift for his past self. He hoped the absurdity of what he had planned would buy him a measure of time to talk to Past, just on the offhand chance that he could talk him out of his course of action.

He didn't realistically expect to succeed, but the attempt would be amusing at least; if perhaps only from a personal perspective.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was nervous. Even though he welcomed a good fight, the fact that so much was at stake- not just his own life, with which he had only tenuous attachment to- but also Kotomi's happiness, which as much as it flabbergasted him to admit, was tied to his own.

And, of course, the future of the world. One last ditch effort to change the world in a peaceful fashion, or watch it go up in nuclear fireballs again.

'Right, no pressure,' Okazaki thought as he put some finishing touches on the design and started a nanofactory working. 'Of course, nuclear fireballs are probably less likely than complete braindeath when Ushio unleashes her mind plague.'

'...You know about that.'

'Actually, I merely suspected. It's what I would do, after all. Thanks for the confirmation that you're both still able to hide things from me, and that you do have that plague on demand. Good to know.'

'Clever.'

'Thank you.'

He waited for the part of him that was Ushio to say something further. But when ten minutes had passed without further comment, he mentally shrugged and opted to spend the rest of the day reading science fiction. It was perhaps the last chance he would get to do so, after all.

-0-

Okazaki woke slowly the following morning, and stared at the ceiling of his house. The machines under Hikarizaka remained off; he would possibly not find use for them after today, and it wouldn't do to have any runaway reactions in his absence.

'Today,' he thought. 'It's time to face the piper.' He yawned and stretched. 'Well, at least I've gotten a good night's sleep. Perhaps the last one I'll ever get. Hm.' He mentally checked the time. 'Well, no rush, then. Everything's in order, just need to kill time.'

He sighed and looked down at his hands, examining the details as he sat up. 'All too human. Should have worked on AI research, maybe it wouldn't have fucked up so badly.' He snorted. 'Too late for that, now. All that's left is atonement.' He looked over at the floor near his bed as it opened up, a set of bagpipes on the elevator platform.

"Heh, well, he... I, should get a kick out of this," he said as he rolled his feet to the floor. He took in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. 'Will I live or will I die? Live or die? I don't think it would have mattered much, not before I met Kotomi.' He rested his chin in his palms and regarded the instrument thoughtfully. He shook his head and sighed.

'Well, may as well get ready,' he thought. He straightened his legs to stand, and promptly fell on his face. '...Dammit. I'm really not a morning person, am I?' He crossed to look at the bagpipes, now barely a centimeter from his nose. "Don't you laugh at me," he told it. "Like you've never woke up and fallen on your face."

Okazaki blinked as he realized he was talking to an inanimate object, and facepalmed. 'Damn. I've relied far too much on my mechanical half. My biological half is a fruitcake.' He pushed himself up and unsteadily walked toward the kitchen, and got himself a cup of tea. Then he got another cup. He thought the first two cups might be lonely, so he sent another cup of tea after them.

The caffeine started to hit his system, and he finally went about getting dressed for the day. He then picked up the bagpipes and examined them. The elevator closed up afterward, and powered down; one of the last machines to do so. He tucked it under his arm, and played a single, quick note, just to be sure it was working.

"Good," he said, and sat it down on his desk. 'Well, I think that's about everything. Time to face the piper, so to speak.'

'So melodramatic. Have you considered a career in theater?'

'Haha, funny,' he thought as he started to compress the specialized implement. 'For the record, I have.'

'I suppose I should know that, considering.'

'You really should, honestly. Theater is fun, I'll say. Okazaki, maybe if you survive this you should see about becoming a professional actor, as opposed to world conqueror.'

'Is the peanut gallery quite done?' He sighed. 'Because we have a date with destiny.'

'We'll be done when you get over yourself. I mean, do you even listen to yourself think?'

'Too often,' he thought while collapsing the pipes. 'Considering I now have you two in my head, I'm thinking I should stop doing it so much.'

'I don't think he cares for us, Ushio.'

'I think that's more your fault than anything. And his fault, for that matter.'

'Moving right along,' he thought. 'Are you two ready for this? It's your existences on the line, too.'

'You have to ask?'

'Other makes a good point. He's you, and you know how you'd react to this.'

'I was asking more for your sake honestly,' Okazaki reflected as he worked the instrument into his schoolbag.

'In that event, I too am ready. I was ready ever since the Other killed everyone I cared about.'

'Yes, well, it's too late for me to do anything about that. At least I can keep it from happening again.'

'I still hate you.'

'For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I never thought it would all turn out this way. Except for in my nightmares.'

'That doesn't make it right.'

'Of course not. It's not like I'm trying to make things right or anything, you know?'

'You crossed too many lines for you to ever make up for everything you've done.'

'At least I'm trying! Unlike you, who just sat there and left the difficult choices to me!'

'Left the- I didn't leave anything to you! You never gave me a choice!'

'As if you would have done what was necessary. You didn't have the stomach.'

'You wanted me to kill everyone I knew!'

'It's not like it would keep! And it was necessary. We've been over this!'

'You've been over this. You control freak!'

'Is that the worst you can do? Yes, I'm a control freak, I admit it. Just one of my many, many faults.'

'Oh, it's hardly the worst I could do. Not by a long shot.'

'This is like listening to an old married couple bicker in my own brain,' Okazaki thought as he slung his bag onto his shoulder. 'Or maybe one person arguing with themself, considering you don't bother sounding different. At least I can tell who's talking by context.'

The silence that pervaded in his mind after that told him he had probably struck a nerve. He shook his head and walked out the door.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

A Note From The Author:

Well, here we go.

Anyway, I have some good and bad news. The good news is, hey! New half-chapter. The bad news is, well, I may or may not be able to update again in a timely fashion. Lots of stuff going down, may impede my ability to write more for a bit. We'll see, though.