I sat alone, in my foreign, cramped dormitory room.

The clock on the wall ticked slowly as the distant hum of the ship's engine echoed through the walls.

I sighed and looked outside the window to see the vast twinkling expanse of space.

There was no solar cycle for this ship, so there wasn't any real point to the clock other than to notify us of our schedule.

Maybe it was there to give us a link to the Earth we left behind.

In the end though, it didn't really matter to me.

A week.

That's how long I've been on this ship so far, and from what it seemed, it would be one of many, many more.

Even then, I would finally be chasing after the Lysithea's long lost contrail, all these years after the it left the Earth.

Nevermind…contrails didn't happen in space…

I sighed and scratched my head, stretching on the chair I had in this cramped room.

The ship I was assigned to was the Horcrux 3. Merely one unit of a series, and wasn't close to the marvel that the Lysithea was.

The rescue ships we were using were created with defense and efficiency in mind only. Compared to something like the Lysithea, this was more along the lines to what one would expect from a military vehicle.

Rather than the clean white sheen of the Lysithea, our ships were much more industrial.

Basically, they were no pinnacle of human engineering.

Many people would agree that this was essentially a suicide mission. Unlike the Lysithea, our ships were borderline defenseless. If we were to be attacked by Tarsians, we would be sitting ducks with hardly any way of retaliating. We essentially had to pray that we wouldn't run into anything, and could pull off a safe rescue.

On the other hand, our rescue ships were at the very least built for the mission. On board were a good amount of supplies for a home trip, a large amount of living quarters (cramped ones but they serve their purpose), and more importantly, a reliable mini-hyperdrive engine that could take us to Agharta in relative speed.

To me, this was all that mattered.

It was enough to be worth betting my entire life on.

I snickered to myself.

In all honestly, I was making an insane gamble most people wouldn't dare to take. It required too much for so little.

My family were against it initially, but respected my wishes after seeing the resolve and effort I put into joining the military.

I had to thank them for complying with my selfish wishes.

My friends made a huge party for me the week before I left, it was so much fun.

I would likely never return to Earth to see any of them anytime soon.

This mission was quite literally my life at this point.

"So be it…" I whispered to myself.

I stared further out of the window, into the blackness of space.

An immeasurable infinity, never-ending.

However, I will cross it.

After all, I had gone so far already.

I had sacrificed everything for this one journey.

This was it, after all this time, I was finally on my way.

After all this time, she was the only thing on my mind.

"Mikako…"

Her name still slipped out of my mouth as easily as ever.


I casually strolled into the ship's cafeteria, after a whole day of reviewing procedures, I felt bored out of my mind. I casually grabbed a dinner tray and absentmindedly walked to the line.

Without me realising, I walked straight into another person.

As I fell backwards, my metal tray made a loud clatter as it fell onto the ground.

Surprised, the person I ran into began apologising.

"Ah, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

The voice belonged to that of a girl, one a little older than me but not so much that she was outside my age group. It was surprising, most people that were on this mission were middle aged to old workers who had nothing better to do or had families they had to support no matter what. I did occasionally run into the odd person my age but those interactions were rare."

"Yeah yeah, it's fine. I wasn't looking where I was going."

I casually replied.

"Ah, no it's my fault too, my mind wanders often nowadays. I don't think I've seen you before, what's your name?"

"Uh, Noboru…"

"Noboru huh…nice to meet you!"

She straightened out her long hair and signalled me to come with her.

"My name's Hisa. Wanna chat a bit? Not many people around my age here it seems."

"O-Oh, sure."

We got our dinner for the night and moved to a table on the side of the cafeteria. We had very bland-tasting beef potato curry with stale rice.

For some reason I felt excited talking to Hisa, probably because it had been a while since I made a friend at about my age.

"Wow, this tastes really bad." Hisa complained.

"Yeah," I replied, "but I guess it's cheap and easy to make for the staff."

"Perhaps, I dunno I guess I was just spoilt by my last fleet's food."

Last fleet? So Hisa had gone to space before?"

"So Hisa, why did you join this rescue operation? Most people our age wouldn't think of doing it. With these risks and uncomfortable living conditions, most people I know wouldn't volunteer for it."

She made a weird smile

"Curious about that huh? I could ask the same thing to you no?"

"I…have my reasons. It's a little personal."

"Is that so? Can't be helped I guess."

Hisa took a sip from her drink and made a sad smile afterward. She seemed friendly, but had a sense of melancholy with her as well.

I wondered if I seemed the same to her.

"I made a promise."

Hisa suddenly spoke.

"…Huh?"

"You know the Lysithea we're going to find right? I was a part of its crew.

"Wait…you were?!"

"Mhm. It was an honor but didn't feel that way. I felt really homesick back then."

"Ah…I see."

So Hisa…she felt the same things Mikako must've felt.

I couldn't imagine how many more were like that.

"During my time on the Lysithea, I met someone else like me. She had been planning on going to the school I used to attend, and we swapped uniforms one day for fun. Since then, she became one of my best friends, and she was the closest person to me on that ship."

Hisa nostalgically smiled before her face tensed up.

"However during a battle with the Tarsians, I was heavily injured, and only barely survived. My crew had to leave me behind, and my friend along with them."

"Wow…so you were part of the Lysithea's fleet huh…"

"Yeah, comparing this ship to that marvel is quite the difference. Anyways, before I left the communication range, I got into contact with her one more time and I promised I would never forget her."

I noticed Hisa's hand tighten into a fist.

"It's been 8 years since I last saw her, and I've still made true to that promise. I've long healed from those injuries, but that promise will forever remain on my heart. So when I heard the Lysithea was in critical status, I knew I had to go back for her. No matter what."

"You had to see her again right?"

Hisa nodded in response.

"I can't leave her alone. She had nobody else back then, and I can only pray she managed to make another friend."

"I see…"

I couldn't say more, I sympathised with her so painfully much.

"I'm sorry I made you tell such a difficult story."

"No, it's alright, it's nice to get it off my chest for someone else at least."

"If you say so…but now…it's only fair for me to tell you mine in return."

"Oh? You sure about that?"

"Yeah, compared to yours mine's gonna seem a little childish though."

I sighed.

"I miss someone."

"You miss someone?"

"Yeah…my childhood friend, a girl named Mikako."

Hisa immediately bolted up from the table and looked at my in the eyes.

"What did you say…?"

"H-Huh...?"

"That name." Hisa spoke "What was your friends name?"

"Mikako…Mikako Nagamine…" I stuttered in shock.

Hisa's eyes widened as she slumped onto her chair.

"No way…"

Judging from her reaction, I put the pieces together.

"Wait…Hisa, was your friend perhaps…Mikako?"

She nodded slowly.

Oh.

I was talking to the friend Mikako had told me about on her mails.

The one she had made on the Lysithea.

"So, you were one of Mikako's friends on Earth huh?" Hisa asked.

"Aha, yeah. We grew up together, we were inseparable best friends since childhood."

"My god, that's amazing. This had to have been some sort of fate that we would meet like this!"

"You're right about that, it's just so unlikely!"

After realising Hisa was a friend of Mikako, somehow she became much easier to talk to.

All of a sudden, Hisa no longer felt like a stranger, but instead, another close friend.

Just because we had one more close friend in common.

Her eyes lit up.

"Say, tell me, what's your relationship with her? Are you her boyfriend?"

"Aha…no…not really…"

"Aww you don't have to hide anything, Mikako's essentially my sister in arms. I wanna know more about you two! There's no way you'd go to space just for any friend right?"

"Uhh…no…really it's the truth. Mikako and I were just friends…when she left…that was honestly our relationship…we never dated or anything like that…"

I sighed.

"Although…you have a point…yeah…friends huh…man…that wasn't it at all was it…?"

The faint memories of my teenage years slowly came back to me, one by one.

"It was only after we were apart…I realised she was more than that to me…"

All the memories I've spent with her…

Eating food with her…

Walking home with her…

Talking about my daily life with her…

Taking shelter from the rain with her…

"After she was gone…I just missed her so much…"

I could feel tears begin to escape my eyes.

"Ever since she left Earth…I've felt so lonely…my life felt like it was missing something…and I realised it was because she was my other half…she completed me…"

"Noboru…"

Hisa moved beside me and patted my back.

"It's ok Noboru…you can let it out…"

Her words were so comforting.

"I tried to move on from her but I ultimately couldn't bring myself to…everyone forgot about her…but I couldn't…because…because…I loved her!"

I said it out loud for the first time.

"I loved her so much…I treasured her so much…every day together with her was a blessing for me…I was happy just being with her…!"

These were my honest feelings.

"There wasn't anyone else that could take her place for me, and I never realised it until it was too late…! I've been hurting inside every day…because of that…because I missed her!"

I screamed them out to the someone that would hear and understand.

"That's why…I've chosen to come here…I abandoned every other chance in my life to get here. I need to see her again…no matter what…even if I die trying…even if there's no hope of seeing her again…I have to give it a shot…I have to tell her how I feel…otherwise I won't even be able to live anymore…"

This was my resolve.

Mikako was now my everything.

"whew~"

Someone from a nearby table whistled

It was then I remembered, I was in a public cafeteria.

"Sounds rough kid."

A boisterous laugh came from everyone around me, and I immediately felt like I wanted to disappear.

I was a sniffling mess in front of a half-eaten curry and made a whole speech about my feelings in front of a whole bunch of people.

"Ugh…"

I was so ashamed of myself.

A few people giggled.

"Hey, quiet down!"

A well-built, gruffy man from the another table stood up.

I recognised him, he was our unit's captain.

He made his way from his table and came up to me, before slapping me on the back, very very hard.

"H-Huh?" I timidly whimpered in surprise.

"Anyone who makes fun of this kid's lil' speech will hafta' face me. I dunno about all of you, but I was moved by what he said."

He turned to me and gave me a reassuring smile.

"Mosta' us here came just for the pay and duty honestly, but here you are doing alla' this for a woman ya' haven't seen in years. That demands respect man!"

"Yeah!" Another big man from his table spoke up, "all of my mates here could tell how strong your feelings were from that show, you've got a purpose kid! Be proud of it!"

The third one from the table spoke up too.

"All of us gotcha' back kid, go far and find her king."

Our captain grinned at his mates and gave me a can of beer.

"Here, take it, on me. You're part of the crew now so we gotta' get along. Sure's nice ta' know you've got resolve! Once we arrive at da' place, lets greet your missy with pride and joy 'right?"

I was at a lost for words.

"We'll do that for sure then, thanks Sir." Hisa spoke for me.

Our captain smiled and left back to his table, and slowly everything went back to normal.

"Wow." Hisa said, "that was quite the show you put on wasn't it?"

"Ahaha…" I laughed lightly.

I wanted to lock myself in my room until the end of the trip.

"But y'know Noboru, I agree with those three. I could really tell how much Mikako means to you, she must've been lucky to have such a close friend her life."

Hisa continued finishing her curry as she spoke.

"I can say with confidence that she missed you too. Mikako always seemed lonely when I wasn't talking to her, so I had to cheer her up often. Occasionally she'd talk about how much she missed Earth, and y'know what Noboru, I'm sure you were always in her thoughts whenever she did."

She smiled at me, kindly.

"Lets find her together Noboru, and then you can tell her just how you feel."

I looked at her wistfully and then snickered.

"Yeah…lets both see her again, Hisa."


"Horcrux 1 to Horcrux 3, is there anything in your sector? Over."

"Negative, just debris n' a loada' space, over."

"Copy that, move onto searching the next sector, over."

"Roger that, continuing search, over."

Our ship cruised through the orbit of Agharta, slowly surveying the emptiness of space as we continued our search.

It had been about two months since we had left Earth, during this time I got myself very familiar with the Horcrux 3 along with the people on it. My captain and his friends were really enthusiastic with getting to know me, and they would share stories over drinks occasionally.

I would also get to know Hisa very well, we talked a lot about our own lives from before and after we went to space, and also shared our memories of Mikako with each other.

She would often talk about Mikako along with a woman named Miwa, who was apparently somewhat of a parental figure to the two of them. She described Miwa as kind and understanding, unlike most of the other instructors or staff on the Lysithea.

It really seemed like both her and Hisa helped alleviate a lot of Mikako's anxieties, and I couldn't be more grateful to them for that.

As the days went by, we eventually entered the Sirius system and arrived in Agharta's orbit. Our ships were given 12 sectors circled around the planet, and we would search the area in hopes of finding the Lysithea, or at least signs of it.

So far, we haven't found much.

I paced around inside the Horcrux 3, we couldn't do much other than keep our eyes open for any signs of the Lysithea, and I felt so useless.

Why had I come here if I was just going to sit around?

I needed to look for her now.

I realised I was being unreasonable and selfish, I knew there was a process I had to follow but still.

"I didn't come here to just stand around…"

I frustrated me to no end that I was literally where I had wanted to be for the past 8 years, yet couldn't do anything despite that.

"Mikako…I just want to see you…"

I really wanted to see her so much.

"Hey." A familiar voice sounded from the hallway.

"Oh, Hisa."

She gave me a casual wave before leaning on the wall behind me.

"Frustrating huh? We're finally here and all we can do is just wait for a sign before we can actually do anything."

"Yeah…" I replied, "I just want to do something now that I'm here…I want to see her now…"

Admittedly, that wasn't the only reason I wanted to do something, but I didn't want to say it for my own sake.

"Oh, our ship's co-pilot." Hisa said.

Sure enough, the co-pilot for the Horcrux 2 was walking through the hallway.

"He's probably on his break, must be tiring piloting the ship constantly."

"Yeah…probably.

Judging from his appearance, he looked extremely tired, he was probably going to go to sleep about now.

"Ugh…there's nothing out there…"

I caught him talking to himself.

"For crying out loud…so much of the hull's just drifting out there, ship's probably gone already…why are wasting our time here, I just wanna go home already…agh…"

I felt my expression tense up from those words as his footsteps echoed away from us before we could even react.

"The hull…broke…?" I whispered…

Hisa simply stood in silence "No…it can't really be…"

Could it actually have been for nothing?

I fell to my knees immediately, as if the puppet strings holding me up were cut.

"Heh…guess it was hopeless after all…"

Suddenly I felt all of my energy leave my body, and my existence felt weak.

I should've predicted this, everyone told me already.

Why had I bothered…

It was 8 years ago, the chances of survival were already slim, and so many of my friends told me that the mission was just for show.

"What was the point of it all then…"

I felt all hope just extinguish immediately.

"Hey…Noboru…don't listen to him."

Hisa spoke.

"I know what our co-pilot said was disheartening, but don't lose hope just yet."

I looked at her for a bit and could tell she was struggling inside too.

"I know we've both just made it here purely based on naive hopes…but…I don't want to give up just yet. If we stop hoping, who else on the team will? We need to stay strong, for the sake of Mikako and the other survivors out there."

Ah, she was right.

I couldn't stop now, I wasn't just doing this for my sake.

If Mikako was alive, she would be relying on me, all of the survivors would.

I had to stay positive.

Slowly, I got up and wiped my tears.

"Yeah, you're right Hisa…thanks."

I couldn't give up now, it wasn't like we saw the destroyed Lysithea itself, nor was the search itself over.

If there was truly no hope, we would not still be searching.

"I'll keep hoping then…it's all I can do now…"

"Right, that's the spirit Noboru."

Yes, we had to keep waiting…but even then, the feeling of wanting to do something never went away.

"H-Hey Noboru…"

"Hmm, yeah?"

"Look…"

Hisa pointed to outside a window, and beyond it, was a Tarsian.

"Huh, a Tarsian!?" I yelled, caught off guard with its appearance. "We should tell the captain!"

"Right!"

Me and Hisa dashed through the ship and entered the ship's commanding bridge, where our captain was busy organising plans with the pilots.

When we arrived, we saw a sight of complete awe.

"This can't be possible…" Hisa whispered.

Our entire ship was surrounded by Tarsians, not just one, but many.

"Uhh…"

Our captain, noticing our presence turned to us with a slight smile.

"Ah, good day kiddos. I assume ya came 'ere to report a Tarsian sightin'?"

"Uh…yeah…" I said shyly.

"Well, as ya can see, I'm well aware of 'em."

"Captain…uhm…shouldn't we be worried about this?" I asked him.

"Maybe. I dunno, I've been thinkin' that maybe there's more to Tarsians than' we all thought."

"More…? What do you mean Sir?" Hisa asked.

"I gotta quick question for ya both. How many times d'yall think we ran into Tarsians during this trip eh?"

Me and Hisa couldn't answer for sure, we assumed there weren't any since there was never any attack on our fleet, but since our discovery of them, avoiding Tarsians was extremely unlikely during space travel.

"Truth is," our captain continued, "23 encounters."

"23…? That much?!" I yelled in surprise.

"Sure! I considered sendin' a distress signal, since our fleet had no weaponry. However, I noticed a lil' detail: none of them never attacked us, not even once."

"Huh…really?"

Hisa seemed to be in quite a shock, reasonable considering she was nearly killed by them.

"Well I sure think so." Our captain said simply. "over my years, I've founda' sense for hostile intentions, n' from what I've seen, can't help but feel like these Tarsians ain't out for us."

I noticed the movements of the Tarsians, they were simply floating around us. They moved around in motions and around the cockpit, almost as if they were curious.

My time on Earth had so many classes and propaganda that painted these lifeforms as if they were threats to humanity, but from what it seemed, they were no more harmful than a dolphin.

"Wait…" Hisa spoke, "their ends, they seem to be pointing in a direction."

As I paid more attention, sure enough, the ends of all the Tarsian's "limbs" seemed to stretch in one unified direction, pointing at the planet.

"Captain, do you mind turning the ship in the direction they're looking at?"

"No harm in that, ey Yoshi, decrease forward thrust and move about 80 degrees to starboard won'tcha?"

"Roger sir."

With that, the ship began to turn in the direction of where the Tarsians were "pointing."

As we turned, the Tarsians moved further and began aligning themselves in a ring.

"Are they…signalling us to a location?"

"Could be. Akai, zoom in at the middle of the Tarsians for us all wouldn't ya?"

Soon, a holographic image of the land appeared on our screen, and we barely caught a large, metallic structure on the ground.

It took us mere moments to recognise it.

"That's the Lysithea! I'm sure of it! It's the same color and everything!" Hisa shouted out.

Our commander immediately put on communications for everyone in the cockpit to hear.

"Horcrux 3 ta' all units, we got confirmed visual identification of the Lysithea on tha' planet surface, sendin' images now. Requesting immediate regrouping n' permission ta descend to the surface, over."

The coms went out for a moment before they buzzed open again.

"This is Horcrux 1, request accepted. All units rendezvous at Horcrux 3's location and prep for re-entry. All staff return to re-entry seating arrangements, we're going down, over."

Our situation was accepted, we were going to the ship.

"Hisa!" I turned to her, and she had an apprehensive smile on her face.

"Yeah Noboru, we're going to see her now."

I could tell a grin making it's way to my face as well.

"Just wait Mikako…me and Hisa are coming for you…so please…please…"

Be alive…


Anxiety, that was all I felt right now.

I was so confident merely a day ago when we found the Lysithea in orbit, but now that the time was approaching, I felt a hundred things racing through my mind all at once.

We had safely landed on Agharta in a grassy plain a few ranges away from the Lysithea, and spent a day scouting the environment and testing whether or not the planet would be safe to traverse.

Soon enough we found that Agharta was perfectly safe for humans to survive in, with an environment very similar to Earth, one that was just a bit more humid.

After a quick debriefing, we had one mission: to reach the downed Lysithea, and find any survivors.

We were equipped with merely a handgun for emergency self-defense and bullet-proof clothe, that was all.

I felt extremely uncertain over what would soon happen.

I felt myself shaking.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my own.

I turned to my side, and Hisa gave me a reassuring smile.

"It'll be fine."

I gave a larger sigh and nodded, preparing myself.

Eventually, the doors opened, and we marched on into the unknown.

The moment we exited the ship, I felt a wave of fresh air hit my face.

"Wow…"

The planet made an immediate impression on me as I stepped out into its open wilderness.

Agharta had been a planet virtually untouched by humanity, Compared to the synthetic air we had gotten used to over the past two months, Agharta's air felt noticeably fresh.

In fact, since it was likely this air was far cleaner than even Earth's.

"Hah…this place is amazing…" Hisa spoke next to me.

It was similar to Earth for sure, but things like the planet's beautiful turquoise atmosphere, paler sunlight, and the moist air reminded us that we were indeed on an alien planet.

And on this planet, we marched forward into the unknown.

We walked through the plain, making our way through a long grass-like surface slowly but surely.

It was there, we eventually found the Lysithea, its large figure resting on the end of a large pit, no doubt one the ship created upon its crash. The ship's recognisable silver hull shone a faint bluish hue under Agharta's sky, gleaming in the planet's ample sunlight.

"Woah…it really is huge in person." I heard someone say in awe.

But for me, I had no time to stand around.

I had to go to it.

"Noboru, wait for me!"

I found Hisa trotting behind me as I made my way to the wreckage.

As I approached the Lysithea, I began to see its details closer.

It's proud hull was slowly rusting, and various unfamiliar flora was growing on it slowly. This meant that the ship had not crashed recently, it had lay here inactive for a very long time

Safe to say, the Lysithea had both sustained heavy damage, and hadn't been used to any capacity in a long, long while.

A part of my mind immediately came to the worst possible conclusion, however as I peaked into the ship, I realised that not only were there no bodies or human remains, but the ships interior was virtually deserted.

"…The ship's been abandoned." Hisa said from behind me.

As the rest of the team caught up behind me, Hisa and I reported our findings, which were confirmed by our captains. We were given our next course of action: one team would stay with the Lysithea and try to and salvage the valuable technology as well as information that it held on board, while the other team would split up and branch out into various areas nearby to try and find potential survivors.

My captain knew why I was here, so he let me join the search team along with Hisa, and with our new orders, we were quickly dispatched.

Hisa and I slowly traversed the grass-like plain, hoping to any sign of humans.

Eventually, we reached the end of a plain and got to a giant crevasse, and the sight we were greeted with took my breath away.

It was a giant city-like structure, built into the ground and rock like an enormous ancient ruin.

It was a sign of civilisation.

"C'mon Noboru, quickly!"

Me and Hisa began quickly descending into the city, hoping to find traces of humans.

As we reached the edge of the city however, we finally saw its inhabitants.

They weren't humans, but Tarsians.

"Ah…"

We slowly realised we had gotten ourselves into a difficult situation, due to hoping that the civilisation was human.

The tarsians didn't move, they just began to recognise our presence, and look at us.

It was unnerving.

As a few tarsians began approaching us, I reached to get my weapon.

But then I stopped as I noticed something else.

"Hisa…look."

I pointed to something hiding behind the Tarsian.

"Is that…?!"

"A human child." I confirmed.

Behind the Tarsian was a young boy, likely only about 4 years old, but a human boy.

"What's a child doing next to a Tarsian?"

Suddenly, we heard a voice.

"Amuro, Amuro!"

A young woman came running from behind the Tarsians, which moved out of the way to let her get to the boy.

"Aaah, mama!"

The boy hobbled to his mother, who picked him up and hugged him.

"Jeez, Amuro don't run away like that, you worried me!"

She then seemed to thank the Tarsians around her, all who didn't reply, but seemed to acknowledge her words.

Eventually, our eyes met.

"Wait…those suits…are you perhaps…a rescue team from Earth?"

Hisa nodded. "We're are, we've come in response to the distress call sent from the Lysithea."

"Oh my, a team did arrive after all…! Oh I'm sorry. I was a nurse on the Lysithea, both of you must be so confused…come with me, I'll take you to the other survivors."

Hisa looked at me and I nodded in response. We walked through the Tarsian city and eventually, we were taken to a large cart attached to two alien deer-like fauna, which was surrounded by a myriad of other human beings.

"Come on, we'll take you back to our town."

"Town?" I asked

"Yeah, our groups are just here to exchange resources with the Tarsians, only Tarsians really live in these ground structures, we built our own place to live here."

She talked a bit with what seemed to be a man in charge who looked at us with a face of surprise before laughing and signalling us to come with him.

"Hop on, lets take you to town." He told us.

We hopped onto the cart and began departing from the stone like city, exiting it from a seemingly newly-made path in one of the holes in the mountain.

"Did you all excavate this?" Hisa asked.

"Yeah," the woman replied, "we occasionally need to trade resources that can only be obtained from subterranean excavation, so we made this pathway to reach them easier. It took us about a year of construction, but it was worth the effort."

After existing the mountain, the cart exited onto a single dirt road in the middle of the Aghartan fields.

"Wow…so you live in peace with the Tarsians?"

"Mhm. Not long after we crashed, we discovered that Tarsians don't actually have any malicious intent. They were powerful and dangerous sure, but they would never hurt humans unless provoked. Once we established contact with them, they were really understanding and willing to help us.

"Contact? You can communicate with them?"

"Mhm. Tarsians are actually very smart, so they learned our language quickly. As for us, it takes a bit of practice to hear them since Tarsians communicate telepathically instead of verbally, but once you get the hang of it, it eventually becomes second nature…oh, Amuro, don't bite your hand!"

"I see…"

Admittedly, I was quite shocked by such a revelation.


Eventually, we had arrived at the human settlement on the planet, and when we arrived we were greeted with a large amount of people.

Hisa contacted our captains and other teams when we arrived, so they would come to our location soon enough.

The human settlement was situated next to what seemed to be an alien forest and very large lake. The town sort of like a rural village created out of a wood and bamboo-like material. They seemed sturdy, and even comfortable enough to live in. Rather than some emergency makeshift settlement, each house here resembled a rustic getaway holiday cabin. There eve seemed to be an area where there were houses above the lake on stilts, and wooden bridges connecting the overwater houses.

In its own way, it seemed like a paradise.

Eventually, the man in charge signalled us to follow him, so me and Hisa stopped sightseeing and

The people in the town began looking at us with various ranges of stunned and surprised expressions.

We slowly made our way through the village and to a large house, before the man knocked on the door.

"Give her a while, she's probably busy." He told us

As I waited, I began hearing whispers between the people around us.

"Huh…?"

"Those suits…are they perhaps…a rescue team?"

"Oh my god, they've actually arrived!"

"It's almost like we're famous, I joked to Hisa."

However, I noticed was stood in place.

"Hisa…?"

She was staring directly at something, and when I turned towards her gaze, I saw an older woman standing in the doorway of the house, looking back at her in an equally surprised expression.

Tears began to well up in Hisa's eyes as she quietly whispered.

"Miwa…"

Suddenly, she ran towards the older woman.

"Miwa…!"

The woman caught Hisa and returned her embrace.

"Hisa…it's you…? You're really here…?" She cried in a happy voice.

"Yes Miwa, it's me, I'm so happy to see you again!"

Miwa…if I recalled correctly, it was the name of the woman who took care of Hisa and Mikako on the Lysithea.

Oh, this was their beloved mentor.

They had been separated by an eight whole years, never knowing if they would be able to see each other again.

But now, they were finally reunited.

"Uhm…Miss Miwa…" I asked hesitantly.

"Ah yes, you are…?"

"Terao Noboru, we're part of a rescue team sent from Earth."

"Noboru...?"

The woman in front of me seemed to act surprised for a moment, before seeming to calm down and give me a warm smile.

"Ah…Noboru…I see…I see…"

She put her chin to her hand, and told me simply.

"We have a lot to discuss, but you have higher priorities right now, do you not?"

"Huh? Higher priorities…?"

I didn't quite catch on what she meant by that.

"…Go North from here and walk around the edge of the lake and you should find a vegetable farm. She is currently working there to help us with our harvest."

She…?

Could she mean…?!

I looked over to Hisa, who was wiping the tears off her face before she gave me the brightest smile I've ever seen her wear.

"Go. Don't worry about the complicated stuff right now, I'll handle it. Our captain's arriving in a bit too, so you're free."

She gave me a light push away.

"I'll have my touching reunion later, go on, find her."

I nodded willingly.

"Thank you, both of you!"

I put aside all of my responsibilities and simply began running through the town.

Foreign sights flashed across my eyes wherever I went, but it didn't matter.

I had a destination: the farm on the edge of the lake.

That's all I cared about.

That's all I needed.

Making it out of the town, I ran on a simple dirt path that led me to the lake.

I ran.

My heavy protective suit was weighing me down.

The cool lake breeze hit my face as I dashed past the environment.

A fresh scent of unfamiliar grass and liquids made it to my nose as I panted heavily.

I could feel everything, I felt alive.

I saw the sight of an enclosure come up, and I picked up the pace.

I could see her again.

I had needed to meet her.

I had needed to see her.

I had needed to tell her everything.

I could finally fulfil it all.

Everything I've had to bottle up for the past 8 years.

I needed to offer all of it to her now.

It was there, I saw a few people working. People of various ages, both men and women, working hard while chatting merrily.

But most of all, among them, was a familiar girl.

Her frame was as slim as ever, but she was notably taller and looked far more athletic than before.

Her hair was still cut short, but slightly more frayed out than I remember.

She wore a simple cloth shirt and a short skirt, not unlike the school uniform she loved wearing so much.

She had definitely grown over time, and had her differences as a result.

But still, to me, that face was still immediately recognisable.

Then, as I slowly approached her, she noticed my presence and turned to me.

As our eyes made contact, time seemed to stop entirely.

I could see the realisation in her expression.

Instant recognition was plastered on her face.

Reflected in her eyes, was simply my own figure, and mine, her's.

Tears began to fall.

We took small steps.

Those small steps became a run.

By the time she was in my reach, I felt like I was flying over the pathway.

"Noboru!"

"Mikako!"

She jumped into my arms and I caught her, holding her close with a tight embrace.

I caught a whiff of her scent, it was still so familiar.

We spun and spun, arms interlocked, heads resting on each other's necks.

As we began to slow down, we slowly separated and simply looked into each others eyes.

Her smile was so bright.

Her tears seemed to be glistening in the sunlight.

There was so much I wanted to say.

Even more I wished to convey.

It was likely the same for her as well.

However, nothing came to either of us in the moment.

So, nothing was said, and we simply enjoyed the other's presence.

A cool wind blew through the grass as we put our foreheads together, discarding our need for words.

We both knew what the other was thinking.

A shared thought we that could transcend time and space.

"I am here."

8 years of separation.

8 years of waiting.

8 years of loneliness.

For the first time since then, I felt complete.