Mist settled on the river, covering it in a shroud of uncertainty. Naota imagined that it mirrored his own thoughts, that somehow he had a psychic connection to the water flowing on its endless journey round the world. The river whispered candidly to him, brushing buried memories with a chilling, yet gentle touch.

What was going on? Naota's ordered world had just been interrupted by the abrupt appearance of three strangers. First his own brother had thrown him into chaos, and now these…things.

But were they strangers? The one called Haruko in particular seemed to think she knew him. Naota struggled to sort out his muddied thoughts. Absorbed as he was, he didn't notice the thing sneaking up on him until it was standing right beside him.

Haruko says you don't remember.

Naota jumped, stepping away from the robot.

But your mind is still open to my thoughts. I don't think you would have been able to hear me if you truly forgot me.

Kanti put a hand on Naota's shoulder and gently sat him down on the grassy riverbank. Then he settled down beside him, and Naota found himself staring into the blank screen that was Kanti's head.

You remember merging. That moment when our minds became one in the same. That moment when you gained control of powers hidden deep within the both of us. I know you remember. The mark is still in your eyes.

Naota felt himself being drawn in by the robot's fantastic words. Hypnotically, they captured his mind and sparked something in the darkest corners of his mind. And when Kanti's screen lit up with an alien symbol and he began to lean closer to him, Naota wasn't afraid.

Tasku.

Haruko smiled from her Vespa, looking out at the scarlet beam of light that had just appeared on the river's edge. Mamimi and Takkun, riding behind her, made no comment as they neared the mist.

Standing near the water and looking off into the distance stood a thing that was neither Kanti nor Naota. Gleaming red metal burned the eyes to stare at directly, but still Haruko drank it in. This was what she had been hoping for.

"Do you remember?" she asked softly, leaving her bike behind and approaching him. "Do you remember now?"

"I'm sorry, Haruko," sighed the thing that was Atomsk. "Apologize to the boy for me."

"I will."

There came an eternity of silence, and Atomsk spoke again.

"You know you're just a child, Haruko."

The words stung more than any physical attack.

"Using the boy like that. Even if he and Kanti were meant to merge, it was unfair of you to steal his mind. It's greatly damaged him, you know."

"I went through all of this to talk to you, and the first thing you do is chastise me." Haruko laughed humorlessly. "How typical of you, Atomsk."

He still wouldn't look at her. Haruko strained to see his face, and when she beheld the empty eyes of the pirate king, her heart stilled in her chest. No emotion.

"You have the remarkable talent of destroying everything you touch, Haruko. I want you to leave this place—"

"But I can't just go!" interjected Haruko, pleading even in her anger.

"You didn't let me finish. I want you to leave this city in ruins. For once, put your curse to use. When the city is burned to the ground, perhaps something better will rise from the ashes." He turned to Mamimi and took her hand. "You, my little pyromaniac, will find this task to be quite amusing, I'm sure."

Mamimi nodded, her lips moving but her voice gone.

"Haruko, please don't hurt Naota again." Atomsk rubbed at his temples. "He is meant to be with the one who couldn't leave him."

"What about you?" demanded Haruko. "When will I see you?"

"In due time." He gently brushed his fingertips across her forehead. "But for now, I must go. Naota is tiring. Keeping a channel open for much longer would put him in danger. Farewell."

Atomsk faded away, and with it, the crimson glow. Kanti and Naota crumpled to the ground, unmoving. And Haruko wiped away her tears and picked the boy up.

"Mamimi," she sighed, "go set your fires. I'll be with you in a moment."

Haruko quietly picked up the guitar that lay in Naota's loosely curled fingers. An experimental pluck of the strings set forth an echo like nothing she'd ever heard before. Memories trapped within them whispered to her, traces of the pirate king.

Haruko laughed to herself and wiped away the solitary tear that had escaped from her eye. Naota stirred, and she quickly placed her own guitar in his grasp. He quieted, and Haruko left him to help Mamimi purge the city.

X.X

One day, Naota woke up on the back of Haruko's motorbike heading God-knows-where to discover that Mabase…

Was gone.