As he settled back to the ground, relying mostly on Ryan to support his weight, Sho couldn't help but replay the battle with the – the Zoalord who had once been Mr. Murakami – his enemy. The pain from his side helped him to focus, but not so much that he could completely forget what had just happened. Mr. Murakami – Mr. Murakami had just – he couldn't even bring himself to think about what had happened.
Standing, but with his arm still around Ryan's shoulders, Sho waited for his Guyver to finish healing him. He wanted to get out of the armor; Guyvers couldn't cry, after all. Their eyes had nothing that resembled human eyes – not irises, not whites, and not tear ducts. And Sho wanted to curl up and cry for a very long time.
He was grateful to Ryan for protecting him, for keeping him – keeping them both, really – safe from the Zoalord that had come after them. But now, with the battle over, though for what reason Sho still didn't know, there was time for the both of them to rest. Time to heal from all that had happened to them both. When his hyper-sensors alerted him to the approach of various large, slow-moving objects, he turned to look at the road in front of them. That was where the signal was coming from. He didn't know if it was more Chronos troops, but he didn't want to risk removing his Guyver if it was: no human had a chance of fighting off a Zoanoid without at least some kind of enhancement. He'd at least learned that from all the time he'd spent fighting them.
Scanning farther with his sensors, Sho found that the shapes heading toward them were large trucks. Beyond that, though he could tell that they were various kinds of trucks, he didn't know just who had sent them. They could have been more Chronos transports, carrying more Zoanoids to finish them both off now that the – the Zoalord was gone. On the other hand, it could be just normal people coming to see what had happened.
If that was the case, then it was best that they both remove the armor. If any normal people saw the Guyver, Chronos would kill them just so they could keep their secrets. He knew; he'd seen it happen before.
+Ryan, do you think you could tell me who those trucks that are coming toward us belong to?+
+Sure, if you'll tell me just how I'm supposed to see that far.+
Sho shook his head in mild exasperation at himself – he just wasn't used to having to explain everything like this – and tried to think of a way to explain the Guyver's hyper-sensors. +It's like looking through a pair of binoculars. You just have to think about it if you want to adjust them.+
+All right, I guess that makes sense.+
Sho watched as Ryan scanned the approaching vehicles, knowing that the other Guyver was using his hyper-sensors by watching the movement of the metal orbs in their tracks on his head.
+It's fine, Sho. It's just a bunch of firetrucks and ambulances; unless Chronos owns the local Fire Department or a hospital or two, I think we're all right.+
+That's good,+ Sho said, turning to look out at the approaching vehicles himself.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Ryan – after the way his fellow Guyver had protected him from… their mutual enemy, he had at least earned that much – it was just that Sho wanted to confirm for himself what Ryan had said. Scanning deeper with his own hyper-sensors, Sho was able to see that what Ryan had said was indeed true. There were only firetrucks and ambulances heading toward their location.
+All right, Ryan, I think we should un-equip our Guyvers; Chronos will attack anyone who sees the Guyver, and I don't want to get these people involved with them.+
+That sounds like a good idea; we just will them off, right?+
+Right,+ Sho said, feeling himself starting to calm down.
Once he was out of the Guyver, though, Sho knew that he wouldn't stay calm. This calm he was feeling was especially fragile, and he would only experience it while he was still in the Guyver's protective armor. Once he was out, once he could function as a simple human being again, Sho knew that he would inevitably break down and cry. It was just that simple.
As the Guyver disengaged, leaving him standing in the street wearing the clothes that he had borrowed from Ryan, Sho closed his burning eyes and sobbed. He barely noticed when something soft wrapped around him, but he was at least mildly grateful not to have landed on the cold, hard asphalt. Feeling something touching the back of his head, and something very similar wrapped around the middle of his back, Sho tensed for a moment.
Then he remembered just where he was and who was with him.
Ryan was the only one who could be doing this for him, and Sho was thankful to have the younger Guyver's support. Even though he didn't really understand what had happened to Mr. Murakami – and there was no way he ever could, since he hadn't met Mr. Murakami before Chronos had taken him – but it still meant a lot that he had someone to depend on now, of all times. When Sho started hearing people talking, and more than that when he heard Ryan talking back, Sho started to wonder what was going on.
He couldn't understand many of the words, of course, but from those few that he could make out, and from the one of his voice, Ryan seemed like he was happily surprised to see these people. That was good; if Ryan was happy to see these people, then that meant that there was less chance of them being Zoanoids. Especially since none of them sounded like they were transforming and attacking.
Pulling away so he could see what was going on around them, Sho caught sight of the group of firetrucks and ambulances that had pulled up as close to the two of them as they could get. None of the vehicles could manage to get close to them, what with the giant hole that had been blown in the road that led to where they were standing. In fact, the entire surface of the road had been pockmarked by their battle.
The surface they stood on was battered and scarred, and some of the fluid from the dissolved Zoanoid corpses hadn't completely evaporated yet. Sho had to wonder what it would look like to someone who hadn't been there from the start of the battle. Someone like any one of the people who were staring at them now. Looking over at the man who was presumably trying to talk to him – he was facing Sho and looking at him, anyway – Sho found that he looked a lot like Ryan. He had the same red hair and green eyes; the jaw was square where Ryan's was more rounded; and the hair had been cropped closer to his head. There was also a smattering of pale reddish-brown dots on his cheeks and forehead. They were even on his chin in places, and Sho didn't know what to make of them.
+Ryan, do you know that man?+
+I sure do, Sho; this is my dad, Norman Crouger. I'd formally introduce the two of you, but there's that whole language barrier we'd have to work around. Not to mention how I'd even know your name in the first place.+
+I guess there is that,+ Sho acknowledged, still trying to pick up on what Ryan's father was trying to talk to him about. It almost sounded like he was trying to ask him something. +Why would your father be here, Ryan? Did they call him from work when they found you? And… is something wrong with him?+
+This is his work, Sho. My dad's a firefighter. And what do you mean, is something wrong with him?+
+His face,+ Sho said, not wanting to offend Ryan but worried that there his father might be sick. +It's covered in these tiny, red dots. Is – does he have some kind of skin disease?+
+Wow, you really need to get out more, Sho. You've really never seen someone with freckles before?+
+Is that what they're called?+
+Yeah.+
+Why don't you have them then, Ryan?+
+I inherited Mom's fair skin, which can be really annoying at times, since whenever we go to the beach I end up having to slather on massive amounts of suntan lotion, or I end up turning red as a freshly cooked lobster. We only go once every two years, so that makes it a little easier to deal with, though.+
+Oh,+ Sho said, not quite sure how else to respond to what Ryan had just said.
He was glad that nothing was wrong with Ryan's father, though. When the three of them started walking, Ryan's father guiding them forward almost like he was their bodyguard, Sho looked around. There was now a gathering of reporters – he could tell by the fact that they had cameras and microphones and were shouting what sounded like questions at them – around them. Some of what looked like the local police were attempting to hold them at bay, and Sho was grateful for that.
The fact that he couldn't understand very much of what they were saying notwithstanding, Sho really didn't feel like talking about what had happened today. What he really wanted, more than anything else, was to forget that it had happened at all… It was odd that he hadn't even heard the helicopters landing, though he had to admit that he'd been a bit preoccupied with what had happened to Mr. Murakami and all… Sho bit his lip, trying not to think of that. It wouldn't help anyone if he started crying again.
They had reached an ambulance by now, and Sho could see Ryan's father discussing something with the paramedics. He could also feel Ryan standing next to him with an arm over his shoulder, and he wondered why Ryan hadn't gone with his father.
+What's going on, Ryan?+
+Dad's saying that, even though neither of us have any injuries, we really can't ride home on the firetruck. He's trying to get us a ride on the ambulance. It's not going over so well.+
+Why not?+
+Well, Dad's always said that 'normal'-type doctors don't tend to respect the opinions of a fireman-paramedic like him. It sounds like it's some kind of stupid authority issue; Dad's arguing him down, though. We should be able to get a ride home soon. Well, a ride back to my house, anyway.+
+That's good.+
Watching as Ryan's father continued to argue with the ambulance driver, Sho tried again to pick out some of the few English words that he could remember from his time at school. But either he had forgotten more than he thought, or he had just never learned any of the words that Ryan's father and the doctor were using.
The gestures and the body language, however, were something that he was a bit more familiar with. He could tell that Ryan's father was either angry or just severely annoyed with the doctor who drove the ambulance. Sho was more willing to believe that he was just annoyed – he wasn't yelling nearly enough for Sho to think he was angry. Finally, the doctor seemed to give up, stepping aside and letting Ryan's father move toward the ambulance. Nodding in what Sho took to be satisfaction, Ryan's father turned and walked back to where he and Ryan were waiting for him.
He and Ryan talked about something in English, and Sho managed to pick out a few words of the conversation. Something about home, and a car, and mother? Maybe Ryan's mother was going to come home? That brought up the question of why she hadn't been here in the first place. Sho was sure that his mother would have come to get him if she'd heard that something like this had happened – that is, if she'd still been alive to hear anything at all, Sho mused, sighing.
When Ryan's father started leading them toward the ambulance, Sho looked over at Ryan. He seemed a bit resigned, and Sho started to wonder why. Neither of them had been captured by Chronos, and Ryan was even getting to go home now. What about that sounded so unappealing to him?