The trio walked in silence. None of them knew what to say. Though each desperately wanted to break the horrible silence that had befallen them, Haruko walked in front, Mamimi in the middle, and Naota followed at the rear - a dazed and confused look on his face. There was no one in the streets, no noise to be heard from any of the houses that they passed, in fact there was no noise at all. Nothing. Not even the sound of cats purring or dogs barking. It was almost as if the city had died. The smoke added to this illusion.

In fact, the only thing that looked "alive" or gave the illusion it held any semblance of life that night was the Medical Mechanica factory. The ironic twist to this was the fact that it had been deemed "dead" for years by the people of Mabase. When the smoke stopped pouring out of the iron-shaped factory for good, one day - everyone just forgot about it and continued their daily routine. It was considered a relic of the past, and relics of the past have no place in a town like Mabase. They didn't even bother demolishing it; they just forgot it existed in the first place.

The buzzing noise coming from the factory could be heard everywhere in the city. In every home, in every sewer, in every crevice of Mabase it rang loud. It was still going strong even after the smoke had stopped pouring out of the iron. Only Haruko Haruhara and Samejima Mamimi seemed unaffected by it.

Naota, on the other hand, felt like it was drilling right through his ear canals and straight into his brain; leaving his brain with a few new holes in the process. His situation wasn't helping this feeling either. He felt torn in two, a silent battle raging inside of him. One part of him just wanted to be glad Haruko was back…while another part of him desperately wanted answers. The latter part won out, totally annihilating the opposition in the process.

It was decided…

He needed to talk with Haruko; he needed to know why she left them there alone, even when she must've known that he wanted to go with her; he needed to know why she had chosen now to come back, and, he thought, I need to know why she doesn't love me.

He knew that now was the time to do it. He was going to make her answer and he wasn't going to let her change the subject or ignore him.

"Hey, ex-housekeeper, look at me! Hey, alien temptress! Hey, woman who broke my heart! Hey, Haruko, I'm talking to you!" Naota yelled, hatred dripping from every word with a hint of love, guilt, and desperation added in for good measure. These words caused Haruko to stop, but she did not turn around to face him. Twice now, Naota thought, twice now I've made her stop but she won't turn around and face me!

Mamimi kept walking, seemingly unaffected by Naota's words. While in truth, she was trying to ignore what was going on behind her now. She couldn't bear to listen to it, she knew what was going to happen, and she didn't want to be there when it did, so she kept walking, leaving Naota and Haruko behind; lighting a cigarette as she did so.

…

"Haruko, talk to me, damn it!" Naota was screaming now, he needed answers.

She wouldn't turn around, she just stood there. As if she was made of stone. She stood there, feet planted on the ground, breathing heavily. Drops of salt water moistening the ground beneath her.

She turned around, any trace of the tears that littered the soil under her gone from her face, and she said, "Did you really think I loved you, Takkun? Did you really think my offer to take you with me had any real meaning, kid? Yours was the only head that worked. I wanted Atomks' power, and you could give it to me - simple as that. " She regained her composure and started walking again. Leaving Naota there standing alone in his thoughts for the second - and most certainly not the last - time.

Even when Haruko was out of view, Naota still stood there, awestruck. It was all a lie – everything that he had experienced during those months that Haruko was his housekeeper was all a lie. He had swung the bat for nothing.

The things Amarao had told him about "Raharu" had been true after all. She was just a heartless bitch who was only using him to get what she wanted. She had twisted his view of what love was, that's why he was never able to go out with Ninamori. That's why he never moved on. He gave a cry and started to laugh uncontrollably - his eyes tearing and his heart shattering as he did so.

Shift.

I stayed there laughing for a while, even after the buzzing from the Medical Mechanica plant had stopped - I laughed. I was laughing at how stupid I had been to not have moved on by now. It had been years since she left. I could hear the shattered pieces of my heart rattling inside of me. My chest started to hurt and after a while I couldn't breathe anymore. I didn't stop laughing though, I just kept laughing right up until I passed out. My stupidity was just that funny.

There I lied, in the middle of the road for the rest of the night. By some odd miracle I didn't get turned into road kill over the night and was still in one piece when I woke up. I didn't know where I was but I knew I couldn't stay there. I got up and walked.

After a while I saw the hospital Haruko had dressed up as a nurse in. I walked passed it. Who cares about her?

I kept walking, then I heard a voice come from behind me, "Naota, hey wait up!"

It was Eri, but I didn't turn around and just stopped. This was the last thing I needed, I wanted to be alone. She kept calling out to me, but I didn't turn around. Couldn't she get the hint? I didn't want to talk to her right now; I didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Get the hint already! In my mind I was yelling for her to leave me alone, screaming at the top of my lungs for her to just pass me by. She didn't.

"Wow, Naota, you look dirty. All better now?" She pointed at her forehead. Yeah, I was all better now, but I had some other wounds that needed healing. I didn't think I would be going back to school this week.

We started walking together, she kept talking and I kept quiet. I kept trying to hint that I wanted to be alone. Every time she'd ask a question I'd just not answer, but instead of actually figuring out what I wanted her to figure out she just kept on talking. She was always stubborn like that.

We crossed the bridge in silence.

myShift.

Why won't he open up to me? I've known Naota forever but he still doesn't trust me enough to tell me what's wrong. I can tell there's something troubling him, when you're around him as much as I am, you can tell. When you feel the way I do about him, you can tell. He's got this melancholy feel about him that I desperately want to bring him out of, but he won't let me.

WHY?

Ever since that dumb, pink haired girl – the wife – came back nothing's been the same. When I went to see him this morning his dad said that he wasn't there, and that he hadn't come home the night before. There had been a commotion in the background and I could see the wife sitting on the steps of the stairs smoking. The old guy, the robot, and another person were having a party or something in the kitchen.

I decided to ditch school that morning to go look for him. One or two missed periods were no big deal. After all, I wasn't class president anymore. I hadn't been class president since the time that thing came out of my head. No one trusted me to be one and I knew it. So, I didn't bother to run anymore.

I couldn't stand it anymore, why was he completely ignoring me? He'd never done that before, not once since we've known each other has he ever just flat out ignored me. I stopped in front of him, I had to - otherwise he might just keep walking. I slapped him as hard as I could.

"What is wrong with you, Naota? Tell me!"

Shift.

"Haruko's back."

I just kept walking, leaving her to comprehend what I just told her.

…

This town has never felt more like a prison than it does now. The hand may be gone but I can still feel it looming over the iron, ready to grab it once again and put us all out of our misery. The smoke is covering our borders and I know there's no way out. What am I supposed to do?

Author's notes: I wanted to try something different. This story is more of an experiment for me than anything else. So…yeah.