It was a year and a half after the fifteen pilots had escaped to the real world, and life had finally calmed down enough for them to take in the beauty of the world around them. Planet RS13-Alpha was filled with rolling hills, crystal clear lakes, and vibrant forests. And while the barely double-digit population resulted in some missing the bustling metropolis of Ashitaba City, it did come with its own upsides.
For example, things were nice and quiet. There weren't hundreds of cars driving through busy streets, or a million people going about their day. Speaking of cars, the lack of pollution caused by them (and other sources) left the sky nice and clear from smog. The most notable difference however come at night. The lights of the city no longer illuminated the darkness, revealing the stars in a quantity and quality that none could find in the old world.
Due to this astronomical marvel, many spent their nights staring up at the stars, observing it with a child-like fascination. Along with the double moons of the planet, it made for a truly alien view. Currently, on this night, sitting on top of the high hill that originally housed the simulated world were five teenage boys, all up there for their own reasons.
Okino wasn't sitting, but standing, looking through a telescope he had managed to reconstruct out of the parts of decommissioned Deimos. He had recently taken up the task of mapping out the stars as a nightly hobby, because the teen couldn't live without a challenge apparently. He kept glancing between his telescope and the paper in his hand, jotting down star names and locations with an easygoing look on his face.
Hijiyama was right next to Okino, relaxing after a long day's work on the farm. If anyone asked him why he was up there, he would say he was just 'stargazing'. Anyone with eyes though would notice that his gaze seemed more attracted towards the silver haired boy standing beside him. Luckily, Okino seemed too invested in the stars to notice and tease the man about it.
Ogata was also using this time to relax, but for an entirely different reason. Kisaragi was about six months into her pregnancy, and while it was a happy event for all, it also wasn't a stress free one. He had spent every waking hour at her woman's beck and call, ensuring that she had everything she wanted. It was proving to be a testy experience though, as the hormones had made Kisaragi somehow more argumentative then Ogata himself.
Amiguchi was currently moping. He had planned to spend his night on a quiet date with Yuki-chan, but unfortunately, he didn't realize their 'perfect stargazing site' was already taken. She was half-way down the hill before Amiguchi could even explain himself, and so was left alone and dateless. He was now forced to spend his night with four guys instead of a girl, since he was too embarrassed to immediately leave, and tried to save face by pretending he wanted to stargaze anyways.
Finally, Sekigahara was trying to get some piece and quiet. Emphasis on trying. He was the one to first discover this stargazing spot after all, and for a time it was his sanctuary away from the noise and chaos of everyone else. Just him and the stars. Then one day, Okino mentioned having trouble finding a good spot for his astronomy work, and he couldn't help but open his mouth.
That in itself wasn't a problem, since Okino tended to work in silence. Sekigahara could just pretend he wasn't there. He was looking up at the stars after all. The problem came when Hijiyama started following him up there like a loyal puppy, and the silent night suddenly became filled with teasing and awkward flirting between the two. Then Hijiyama mentioned it to Ogata as a hideout from Kisaragi, and the nagging of a soon-to-be father was added to the nightly ambience. And now Amiguchi was trying to use it as a hook-up point.
'I need to find a new spot…' Sekigahara sighed, half-listening to whatever conversation had started in his brooding.
"The stars are so amazing up here. They're nothing like they are back on Earth." Ogata said in amazement.
"Well, the stars are all in completely different positions, since we are located elsewhere in the galaxy." Okino said. "But I assume your referring to the quantity of them in the sky. The lack of light pollution will do that. The view would be just as impressive back on Earth, if we weren't all trapped in a heavily populated city."
"I noticed that back then. The view wasn't that bad back home, but when I went to the 80's I could barely see a single star in the sky." Hijiyama pointed out. "But even that pales in comparison to this view."
"The levels of light pollution did increase rather dramatically after the war, due to the area being reconstructed basically from the ground up." Okino explained.
There was a silence for a while, before Amiguchi next spoke up. "Man, I can't recognize any constellations." He admitted.
"That's understandable, we are 1,200 light-years from Earth. I'm having enough trouble comparing this new planet star chart to the Earth's." Okino sighed, flipping between a few more papers in his hands. "You might as well start making up your own constellations. We probably can't even see all the old ones."
"Do you really trust these morons with that responsibility?" Sekigahara huffed, ignoring the looks the others gave him.
"Well someone has to do it. I don't see you making any suggestions." Okino shrugged.
They fell into silence again for a time, which was broken this time by Hijiyama.
"So, have you found anything interesting other than stars with that telescope?" Hijiyama asked.
"Most noticeably are the two moons. Observing their orbits and other differences between them is incredibly fascinating." Okino began. "I've found a couple planets that I believe are within the star system, as well."
"Wait, seriously?" Ogata exclaimed, before looking at him hopefully. "… Can you see any now?"
"No, unfortunately. I haven't been able to figure out how they move across the sky yet, so having to find them nightly can be a pain." Okino said.
"Damn, worth a shot." Ogata moped.
Okino shook his head in amusement. "Of course, I think my most surprising find are the many artificial satellites in orbit around the planet."
All the others suddenly sat up and looked at him in surprise.
"Satellites? How did they get there?" Hijiyama asked.
"I'm surprised you even know what a satellite is." Sekigahara uttered.
"I've borrowed some of Keitaro's science fiction books!" Hijiyama defended.
"It isn't that weird to know about them. While the first artificial satellite was launched in 1957, the idea had existed in fiction for literally hundreds of years before then. And the meaning of satellite is simply an object in space that orbits a bigger object. The moon is technically a satellite, though a natural one." Okino explained in surprising detail.
"Yeah, yeah, that's real fascinating. But back to the actual question. How?" Ogata asked in a huff.
Okino rolled his eyes at the man's impatience but continued speaking. "They were likely built in orbit with nanomachines. Using the materials from the moons if I had to guess."
"But what are they doing there? What's their purpose?" Sekigahara asked.
"Their purpose is for managing the development of the planet. They had machinery across the planet and had to be managed somehow. The satellites likely helped network them all with Mainframe to ensure everything went as scheduled." Okino answered.
"Wait, can you see the main satellite? The one Miyuki Inaba is on?" Amiguchi asked with more interest than he had shown all night.
"I believe I have. It's noticeably larger compared to the others, since it's likely housing the biggest supercomputer in a thousand light-years." Okino said. "Its orbit around the planet is pretty fast though. It's barely in sight for ten minutes before passing over the horizon."
"But you can see her? Wow…" Amiguchi looked up at the stars in amazement. "Do you think she can see us? Like if we flashed morse code with a spotlight, she'd understand it?"
"She can probably see the area we are in when she goes over it. I'm not sure how powerful her detection equipment is, but I doubt it's that precise though." Okino said sadly.
"Oh." Amiguchi looked down sadly. "… I hope we can find a way to talk to her again, one day."
Another silence spread out among the group of stargazers.
Staring up into the sky, Sekigahara couldn't help but feel somber about Miyuki Inaba. He thought about the others that he might not get to meet again, like his friend Miura (The AI, not the person), or Morimura. He knew that some had discussed repairing the virtual world, but even he knew that wouldn't happen for years.
Okino must have been feeling similarly as he suddenly spoke up, bringing up another topic no one else expected. "I wonder if there are any other versions of us on those stars, looking back at us like we are now?"
"What do you mean?" Hijiyama asked, bewildered at the sudden change in topic.
"The probe that brought us to this planet was just one of probably millions that were sent out across the galaxy. I wonder what the chances are that another star we can see with the naked eye has a planet orbiting it that was chosen like this one? That has fifteen people that look just like us but are entirely different people? Or that even managed to wake up?" Okino said sadly.
"If… Project Ark actually goes through… If I actually get to be reborn somehow…"
Hijiyama brought a hand to his head. 'What… Why am I thinking of that all of a sudden?'
"Oh please. If we were able to get out of that world, then I have no doubt that any other us's could do so, no sweat." Ogata said without hesitation. "No matter what planet we're on, we can deal with any problem we come across."
"Speaking of problems, don't you think it will be one if you don't head back soon." Amiguchi snarked.
"Shit, don't remind me. That woman's going to bite my head off." Ogata muttered, getting up and walking away. "I should get going before Tomi does something stupid like running up here herself."
"I guess I'll get going too." Amiguchi added.
"Hmm, it is getting late, so I suppose I'll call it a night too. Made some pretty decent progress tonight." Okino said as he folded up his maps and packed up his telescope. As he began to walk of though, he looked back and saw Hijiyama still standing there, looking up at the stars. "Takatoshi? Is something wrong?"
Hijiyama snapped his head back down, returning from his thought and following his partner. "I-I'm fine Okino. Just… Thinking about what you said."
As the four walked down the hill, their conversations following with them, and the area was finally filled with silence. The lone individual left on the hill sighed in relief, crossed his hands behind his head, and gently closed his eyes.
'Finally, some peace and quiet…' Sekigahara thought happily.
The next night, Okino walked through his lab grabbing the usual materials for his nightly stargazing, when he noticed something odd out of the corner of his eyes. The light at one of his desks was on, and there was someone sitting there, looking down at a bunch of sprawled out documents. He'd recognize those broad shoulders anywhere, and he couldn't help but grin as he snuck over. Tiptoeing right behind the man, he glanced around at the contents laid out on his desk and quirked an eyebrow in confusion.
'My star charts, Shikishima Interstellar Development plans, machine blueprints… What are you looking for, Hijiyama?' Okino wondered, before bending down right beside the other man's ear and whispering in it. "What are you doing?"
"AH?!" Hijiyama jumped. "Who-?! O-Okino? Can't you just say something before coming in?" He complained, looking away in embarrassment.
"And interrupt your work? I would never." Okino teased. "But speaking of, what exactly are you doing? This doesn't seem like your usual field of work."
"N-nothing! Just looking some stuff up." Hijiyama trailed off unconvincingly.
"Really? Anything you need help with." Okino asked sincerely, pretending to go along with him.
Hijiyama looked around nervously, but eventually he just sighed and looked down. "… I was thinking about what you said yesterday."
Okino glanced at Hijiyama apologetically. "About the satellite comment? I know I tease you about it, but if you want to know more about this stuff you can just ask-"
"No, not that. I mean about if there were other us's out there, and if they would be able to escape like we did." Hijiyama clarified. "I never really thought about it until now, but we barely managed to reach the real world. We had no more chances left and had to get help from a whole bunch of other people that we barely even knew. It was honestly a miracle."
"Takatoshi…"
"It just makes me think if any others will ever be able to get out on their own. I thought there might be some way I could help them, but this is just all so much…" Hijiyama said, looking down at the papers sadly.
"I'm surprised to see you so motivated. I can understand the intent, but why are you so worked up over this?" Okino couldn't help but ask.
"I hope I live to protect them. Protect all my friends… My Tsukasa…"
"It's ridiculous. I know that even if they look like us, they're probably entirely different people. But still," Hijiyama started, before looking away embarrassed again. "I just couldn't stand the thought of you getting hurt out there."
Okino felt his heart skip a beat, and he couldn't stop himself from throwing his arms around Hijiyama and hugging him from behind.
"O-Okino?! What are you-" Hijiyama stuttered, surprised by the other's sudden affection.
"You have a good heart, Takatoshi. I never would have thought about trying something like this." Okino praised heartwarmingly. He removed his arms from around Hijiyama and pulled up another chair to the desk. "But you'll need a little more than that for a project of this scale. Luckily, I've got more than enough brains for the two of us."
Hijiyama looked at him in surprise. "Your going to help? Aren't you working on other stuff right now?"
"I can multitask. So, what did you have in mind?" Okino replied as he sorted the pages scattered across his desk into a more comprehensive format.
"Well, I remember a big part of our time together was spent searching for this 'D-Code'. It was what was causing the Kaiju to invade, so I thought there might be some way to deactivate it remotely." Hijiyama explained.
"That's… not a bad idea actually." Okino admitted. "The function of the D-Code was to signal the Kaiju to attack, as well as produce them as long as it is running. The only problem is figuring out how to get rid of it. It can manually and automatically move between the fifteen compatibles at will. Izumi theorized that the D-Code would stop if there was no one left for it to jump to, but obviously that would defeat the purpose."
"So, it won't work?" Hijiyama asked sadly.
"I didn't say that. Just that it'll take time to come up with a solution. I'll probably have to look at the simulation code directly. Guess that's just one more reason to get the main facility back up and running." Okino mused. "What about actually delivering the code? There's no way we could simply send a radio message containing the update. Even the best technology available to those in 2188 wouldn't be able to reach the distance needed."
"Actually, I think there is." Hijiyama admitted sheepishly. "Like you said last night, Pods were sent across the galaxy, searching for habitable planets and copying themselves without any human input. I thought we could use the same system to send our code." Hijiyama continued, oblivious to the look Okino was giving him. "I know it's not the fastest method, but it's probably easier than coming up with our own method… Is something wrong Okino?"
Okino continued to look at Hijiyama in astonishment. "… Did you come up with this all in a day?"
"Hmm? Mostly, I guess." Hijiyama shrugged before yawning deeply. "I kinda came right back here after stargazing, what time is it?"
"It's night already. You've spent all day in here." Okino revealed. "Why don't you take a nap, I'll take a look at what you've got so far."
Hijiyama blinked tiredly but looked hesitant about leaving. "Are you sure. I don't want to just throw all the work onto you…"
Okino just chuckled. "You know this is nothing for me. Come on, you trust me, right?"
"Come on. You love me, so you can trust me, right?"
Hijiyama was reminded of the words of a certain Okino. One he only saw once on a log, but who's memory was burned into his mind. He got up, slowly turning towards Okino, and hugged him back.
"T-Takatoshi?" It was now Okino's turn to stutter, as due to the height difference, he suddenly found himself face first in Hijiyama's (well-defined) chest. He was so distracted by the embrace that he didn't clearly hear what Hijiyama muttered from above him. "Sorry, I didn't here you clearly, what did you just say Takatoshi?"
"I said I do. To both." Hijiyama said cryptically, releasing his embrace and walking out of the lab towards the nearest bed.
Okino looked in the direction of the exit bewildered. "Both? What is he talking about?" He eventually shrugged, before turning back to his desk. "He must be hearing things. Anyone would be exhausted staying up that long, especially when dealing with material like this."
He stretched, grabbing a nearby tablet and starting a new file. "Well, better get this started. Every second spent here…"
That night, Hijiyama's dreams were filled with the memories of a certain silver haired man. Someone who reminded him so much of the Okino he knew.
"Come on. You love me, so you can trust me, right?"
"The work's done. We've done all we can for the human race's future."
"As long as this colony's life support holds out…"
"As long as I've got even a second more, I'd rather spend it with you."
"Thanks, I love you, Takatoshi."
Anyone not right next to the slumbering man might have missed the slight grin on his face, or what he had muttered under his breath.
"I love you too…"