"My name… is Sakuranbo. I'm a traveling monk."
The reporters are all gone and Lum and her father returned to their ship. Right now, the traveling monk is counseling the Moroboshi family.
"Although… if you wish to, you may also call me… Cherry. I chose that nickname because of how the pits of the fruit can parallel the problems of life."
Now it was Ataru's parents' turn to speak.
His mother leans forward. "You wanted to tell us something earlier about Ataru's face?"
"Are his features really unlucky?" Said Mr. Moroboshi.
"Yes, at first glance, he looks perfectly ordinary… But he bears the mark of an extremely unlucky star." Answers Cherry. "Tell me… as his parents, have you noticed anything noteworthy… changes in your son over the past few years? Anything… unusual?"
Ataru looks at his parents again. As much as he'd like to answer Cherry's question himself, he's almost certain what they'll say.
Mr. Moroboshi crosses his arms. "Hmm… I wouldn't say 'unusual' would be the term, but…"
Mrs. Moroboshi speaks up. "The Coronavirus Pandemic was an unpleasant time for everybody, um…"
She looks at her son. "I could tell that it… changed him… in a way. Almost every day since he turned fifteen, he'd been practicing music. I was worried that his fingers might start bleeding considering how often he'd been playing. Then he moved to other instruments. I never thought in a million years he'd start practicing the piano. Didn't need to take any lessons or anything."
Cherry scratches his chin. "Hm… It's great to invest in a new activity… The reason WHY however…"
He looks at Ataru again and Ataru looks back at him. For a moment it was as if they could read each other's mind. Cherry is stumbling onto a delicate secret that Ataru is hiding from everybody else and pressing on further is undoubtedly going to cause more harm than good.
Standing up, he bows to the family. "I thank you wholeheartedly for inviting me in. I shall be going now… and Moroboshi-san?"
"Yeah?" Ataru picks his head up.
"I've just remembered some words of wisdom from a historical figure. Sun Tzu. You may have heard of him." He takes a deep breath.
"The key to victory is… looking through all your problems… and finding an opportunity. I may now know that much about you, but this is the truth. I trust you know what to do with this information."
"Good night, Cherry." Ataru looks away from him. "I got a long day ahead of me tomorrow."
If this Lum girl is correct in saying that she's not easy to catch, he's going to have to put all his energy and effort into winning this game of tag.
There's no time to worry about the past.
"Well folks, the tag game of the century with the lives of everyone on Earth at stake!
It's about to begin right here!
In front of Musashi-Koganei Station!"
The city of Koganei is roughly around four times the population of Ataru's home of Tomobiki.
Dressed in what he could call the finest sprinting attire provided for him by some sportswear manufacturing company (He believes they're headquartered in Kobe), Ataru looks around to see all the people who must have come from all over Japan to cheer him on. Beyond that the world is watching on their computers and their phones. Billions of eyes are on him.
In the center of all the seemingly endless people in the audience beside him, he can almost instantly recognize the familiar face of one person cheering with them.
"Hey, Ataru!" "Oh god no."
It was Officer Itsuka from yesterday. Traveled from Nerima to show his support.
Seeing that Lum hadn't arrived yet, Ataru concludes that he has some time left. So he went up to the crowd to speak with the officer.
"So Itsuka… You didn't think you'd be here cheering me on today, did you?"
Itsuka had a large, goofy smile on his face.
"You got that right! I gotta say, man. It's been a real privilege to get to know you before… all of this.
Anyway, these obnoxious aliens got nothing on you! I know you'll be winning on the very first day! I just know it!"
"Thanks, man." Ataru smiles back. "I'll need all the encouragement I can get. The billions cheering on for me has got to account for something, right?" He then sees that something has caught Itsuka's eye.
"Oh my god. Is she the one you're up against? Woo, you're a lucky guy."
Ataru turns around to see that Lum has entered the makeshift arena. The crowd goes wild as she makes her appearance. He could even make out a few 'boos.'
He turns back to Itsuka. "Well, I gotta go. Let's talk some more after I win, yeah?"
Itsuka pumps his fist in the air. "Go get her, Tiger!"
It's now two minutes until noon. From twelve until six, the game of tag will be played.
He sees Lum smile at him before turning around. The crowd slowly grows more quiet as time drags on.
"Contestants, to your marks!" The announcer of the event shouts out as he raises a pistol in the air.
Ataru takes a moment to loosen up the muscles in his body. He knows his girlfriend, Shinobu, is watching as well as his parents. His actions will either make or break the future of this world and everybody knows it.
He looks up at the giant clock displayed on the train station to see that it's quickly approaching noon.
It's now or never. He took a deep breath. "5… 4… 3… 2…"
As the sound of the pistol firing registered in his ears, his feet received a signal from his brain to start running.
As he approaches Lum, who is surprisingly standing still, Ataru couldn't help but remind himself of a famous runner. Specifically, Usain Bolt from Jamaica.
He hasn't trained nearly as hard as Bolt had in his prime, but now he can honestly say that he has a more clear understanding of what professional runners go through.
For a moment, he really did think he had it in the bag. Lum looked like she wasn't going to start running, so he was just going to grab her horns and end the game right then and there.
He could never imagine what she ended up doing to evade his grasp. She began to jump up in the air and before Ataru knew it, she began levitating.
He took a second to catch his breath. "What… in… the… world."
Lum kept smiling as she looked down at him. "I did say I wouldn't be so easy to catch, didn't I?"
Ataru then had a strong desire to fall down to his knees and scream at the top of his lungs 'THAT'S NOT FAIR!' But he managed to restrain himself. Nobody likes a man who complains.
Complaining doesn't solve problems.
He reminded himself that he has sixty hours over the course of ten days to catch Lum the Invader. So he isn't exactly pressured.
He did what any normal person would. Try to tire her out. He doesn't know anything about alien anatomy and how flight works for them, but he could guess that it takes up energy. Just like any other physical activity.
His mind then wanders off again. This time, remembering that Albert Einstein quote from that one time he managed to pay attention during a science lesson.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be changed from one form to another.
Over time, Ataru's theory did prove to be true. Unfortunately, it wasn't only Lum that was getting tired. He tired out much quicker. If only he'd been a bit more athletic during his younger years.
Before he knew it, the six hours were up and the first day of what he likes to call 'The Trial,' had ended.
To put it simply, he felt like he'd been run over by a train after doing all that running and jumping.
For a second, as he looks into the audience, he could see Cherry, shaking his head as he looks down at the ground.
Whatever god or goddess is watching him right now, he could surely use their help.
The second day of The Trial went by as fast as the first and he had no luck. The same result happened in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on.
With each passing day, the burden of protecting the planet from Oniboshi grew heavy on him.
There's a whole world right outside the four walls that make up his room, and everybody in it isn't looking at him too favorably right now.
After the eighth day, his body had grown used to the exhaustion, but it did next to nothing to ease his mind. He barely slept, and whenever he ate something, he had to resist the urge to accept any unhealthy food. No snacks of any kind. Empty calories. Tire him out quicker.
As he laid down at his futon, he thought of the words of Cherry.
The key to succeeding is looking through your problems and finding an opportunity.
He had repeated that phrase nearly a hundred times to himself before falling asleep.
Day nine of The Trial started out no differently than the rest. The hours ticked by as they usually did, and the crowd would get a little bit louder than they did yesterday.
He just wants to put an end to all of this and move on with his life. Beginning to not care whether or not Oniboshi would occupy Earth.
Just then, a few minutes after five, a miracle happened.
Ataru, exhausted as usual, jumped a little higher than he had anticipated. High enough for him to grab Lum by the waist. His right hand, however, landed somewhere indecent.
He never thought in a million years that the first breast he would grope would be an alien's.
"AAAAAHHH!" Her scream was enough to shake his vision. "What are you doing you pervert!?"
Ataru then felt her slap his face. As painful as that was, it was like all his remaining strength of the day was concentrated on just his right hand. Nowhere else on his body.
Lum did manage to get Ataru off of her, but in the process, he had ripped her bra off her body. A large blush appears on her face as she covers her now bare chest with her arms.
There's most definitely going to be a multitude of the alien's topless pictures on the internet within the hour. Pictures that'll most likely be taken down if Oniboshi takes over Earth.
Struggling to sit up, Ataru felt something in his chest. Something deep down inside of him had 'awakened.' There was no other way for him to describe it.
Ignoring this unsettling feeling, Ataru shut his eyes and handed Lum's bra over to her. No longer caring about the game of tag.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I was just so tired! Please forgive me!"
Lum blinks twice as she looks down at Ataru. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to blame him for the embarrassment he caused her. All that flying around day after day did tire her out. She can imagine how much worse he's got it.
And for him to act this way despite everything, she could almost admire him for it.
She takes her bra from him and puts it on. "My, aren't you a gentleman. I hope you give it your all on the last day tomorrow. I know I will."
Ataru just sat there with his eyes on the ground. Every part of his body is in pain. He would like nothing more than to lie down and sleep for three days straight.
But that's not going to happen. As he faces the final day of The Trial, he couldn't help but begin to want something else.
"Moroboshi is just sitting there! He had made no attempt to grab Lum's horns when she got closer to him!
A poignant moment in this young man's life! Hang in there, Moroboshi! Tomorrow is another day!
We now end our live broadcast for the day!"