Chapter 50: Bright tomorrow

12:35 PM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 31st…

"… Hey! Zarashe! Where's Miquel at?"

"Huh? I don't know, Tozukana – san! Haven't seen the guy around!"

"… Whatever. I'll go play Tetris! I need distractions!"

"It'd seem she learnt not to speculate aloud! Right, Lily – san?"

"Yeah. We should be glad of it, Beta."

Zarashe and Beta X had been standing in the deck of Purgatory, looking out at the seas when Tozukana appeared; Zarashe gulped and stepped back after answering; Tozukana turned on her heels and headed away towards the central tower; Beta X whispered something to Lily.

"Behold! M tried to use a book written by his Boss as anesthesia for the "Metralla" and his buddy. He claimed he couldn't get past the second page without falling asleep out of boredom and because he thought it was a dull book." Video Man's voice rang out.

"Really… That bad it was?"

"And that wasn't all! M was told to distract them somehow while he gathered proof. He sneaked inside, and heard someone! He hid inside a cupboard. It turned out the three of them were playing hide and seek and they'd hid inside of the cupboard. They began to shoot F seeing how he wasn't as dead as they thought he was. He had to buy a new shirt given how his ended up being a mess."

"No wonder." Zarashe muttered.

"What's this… noise?"

Qong came out of one of the small buildings in the deck along with Tom; he was as dull as always while Tom was stretching.

"Video Man, ya know."

"What are they saying today?" Tom asked.

"Just listen."

"By all the…! What's going on in here?"

"Nothing, dudes! I'm just a freaking bad guy and I did that cop in… You need to hide me!"

"Consider that done! We need though guys… Come inside, dude!"

"The matter's been solved! I disposed of the corpse!"

"Good guy! So? Did you throw it into the nearby garbage container?"

"No. I put it inside of s sack and threw it at the bottom of the port."

"W-w-wait a min! Be right back! A thousand blistering barnacles! I gotta hurry it up! I hope I get there before the worst-case scenario happens…! Luckily, I carried my male siren disguise along! There he is! It'd seem he's still breathing! I'll quickly undo the knots! Boss has a weird face: he's all purple-tinted! I just gotta hope I made it on time! Up we go! Well yeah! I think I made it on time to avoid the worst-case scenario! The fountain pen I lent him hasn't rusted yet!"

"No way! He just rushed there to save his fountain pen!? And he left his Boss in the water!?" Tom asked in disbelief.

"You miserable Bedouin! You desert rat! Abandoning me at the bottom of the harbor…!" Burner Man roared.

"Boss! You didn't tell me to bring you up, so…"

"How stupid." Qong grumbled.

"Doesn't he have a brain to begin with? Isn't it obvious you gotta save a person's life?" Tom cursed.

"Blame the guy and not me." Video Man replied.

"Oh my. It'd seem there's a party going on, big boys."

Ikada joked, by leaning against a building, and crossing her arms.

"Keep at it!" Sandra encouraged.

"Let us hear more."

Agoras promptly walked in and adjusted his glasses to the correct height.

"By Lestrade! This is amusing." Victor joked.

"As long as it is good for the morale…" The "secretary" muttered.

"Alright! Come back inside and see if you can find any evidence! I'll be waiting here while hiding!"

"Like the owls! Boss! Wouldn't you know? They tasked me with a job!"

"Good! That means they don't suspect you! And what job is it?"

"Guess it, Boss!"

"We can't." Agoras protested.

"Charwoman! I know he's a man but he disguised as a charwoman because they wanted him to be the butler!"

"Intriguing." Ikada snickered.

"I bought all of the stuff! I guess you'll give me a better and hotter job?"

"But of course, son!"

"Chef this time around!"

"Chef? Why not…" The "secretary" muttered.

"Supper's ready~! Let's go see if those guys liked my cooking! It'd seem the answer is "no" though"…

"They were throwing up?" Victor guessed.

"Boss! I got another job!"

"What now? Do you need to do someone in?"

"Not someone… Something! You didn't see the face they had when eating my soup! I'm fed up! Can't you think of any new plans?"

"No! The only new plan I came up with was switching HIDING SPOTS!"

"Monsieur M threw the soup into the garbage bin where F was hiding at?"

Noir joined them, along with Legato, who was in a good mood.

"You're rather picky, aren't you? You had to hit me on my sane eye!"

"Use a sleeping drug on them! I'll go fetch the evidence while they nap!"

"Sounds like the usual plan…" Zero's hologram commented.

"Whoa. What a gathering." Zarashe muttered.

"Guess we all wanted to have a good first impression of the views from Purgatory, ladies and gentlemen…"

Hades joined the group while stuffing both hands on his coat's pockets.

"Can I participate too?" Freeze Man asked.

"I'll join in too." Dark Man announced.

"Good! Give it a try."

"Just what we needed… I gotta be anesthetist! It's done, Boss! However, they didn't fall asleep! They just told me to stuff this crap in the armpit!"

"Why! What sleeping drug did you use? Chloroform? Ether? Ethyl chloride…?" Freeze Man tried next.

"Oh, no! I gave them the draft of that novel you were going to submit for the "Comet" award for them to read…"

"I'm gonna teach you what a "sleeping drug" is! I'm so gonna…!"

"But, Boss… Didn't you tell me to make them fall asleep? I know that everyone who has read your novel has started snoring before they'd even finished the second page!"

"What fools! You need to analyze something to its depth before imparting judgment!" Pharaoh Man proclaimed.

"True." Legato agreed with him.

"Do not get worked over it, man." Beta X sighed.

"Shah, shah, shah! F chased the guy with a large wooden hammer while M used a soldier disguise to protect his head with a helmet!"

"I remembered that the guy once tried on the greatest of his disguises… Cosmos!"

"My. Intriguing." Cosmo Man chuckled.

"As long as they root out any ignorant fools…" Yamato Man muttered.

"Distract them! So I can come in and get that evidence we need!"

"Jeez! Now I gotta be the buffoon as if I was in the court of His Majesty King Sigericus IV of Babylon!"

"Total silence… Mortadelo must be keeping them busy. Yikes! Someone's coming! Gotta hide…!"

"Hey~! Where are you~? Where~? Found you~! The three of you hiding in the cupboard… T-the three of…? But there's only t-two of…" Video Man gasped.

"The guy I threw into the sea!"

"Looks like it wasn't dead enough… Hit 'em hard, hit 'em!"

"No, sir! Don't start to get wild ideas about "wild moths"! I want to buy new clothes and don't mind me! You just had to come up with a game of hide-and-seek! I'm going to hit you and hard for this…!"

"Boss! Did you want me to organize a tennis match in the bathroom or what? You're pretty demanding! Jeez! Boss! We've got a chance to get the evidence! They're distributing the booty from their heists! We just need to take a photo and show it to the judge!"

"Good idea! Make sure they're busy with the booty! I'll take the photo!"

"…One for you, three for me… Two for you, six for me…"

"Dunno, but… I think that multiplying doesn't work like that."

"Counting stamps, eh? Why don't you raise the shutter? You're gonna get fungus in the eyelashes if you don't light up… Whoa! Boss!"

"That guy again!"

"…"Boss"! He called the guy "Boss"!"

"Ops. Not good." Suzuki muttered.

"Yeah. They're in trouble."

"Big trouble." Keitai Denwa chuckled.

"Hah! I was listening to it! This is fun!" Tozukana laughed.

"Don't get odd ideas." Lily sighed.

"By the way, Mr. President… Maybe we should say some words regarding our victory?" Noir suggested.

"Why not! Ladies and gentlemen. Thanks to your joined efforts… Our founding pillar is to contribute to the stability of society. We now look forward… towards a bright tomorrow! The late Serenade would have appreciated this… We'll contribute to make sure his name is not forgotten! For a stable tomorrow!"

Everyone clapped in approval, so both leaders bowed to express their gratitude; they quickly stood up and walked over to the side of the ship looking out towards the mainland.

"By the way. Respect each other's privacies. Do not make odd assumptions out of others. Understood?" Hades reminded them.

"Yikes! G-gotcha, Danna…" Tozukana gulped.

"Roger, President." Qong dully acknowledged.

"Understood, sir." Ikada calmly acknowledged.

"By your commands, sir!" Zarashe saluted.

"Excellent. Remember. If there's some issue, we're open to talk about it and try to find a solution to it." Noir reminded them as well.

"Indeed, President." The secretary nodded in agreement.

"Glory to Golden Star!" Legato rallied.

14:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"I'm home, dear. Huh? My. We've got an extra guest? Ijuuin – kun?"

"Surprise, surprise, Yuuichirou – san."

"Dad! Can you come up here for a min?"

"There's something we need to tell you!"

Yuuichirou came home; he was surprised because Haruka had set the dining table for four persons instead of the usual three; Netto and Saito called out to him from the upper floor next.

"Alright… Coming."

Yuuichirou climbed upstairs and knocked in the room's door before entering; he was surprised to find Saito (wearing human outfit) there.

"Oh. You put on normal clothes because you found out how to turn off the bodysuit program, Saito?"

"Not really. Here."

Saito hugged Yuuichirou and he noticed something when his fingers brushed against his skin; Yuuichirou placed one ear against his chest.

"This body…is real! It's not the "Copy Roid"…! How…? I see! The other "cyborg body"… It was designed for you?"

"Yeah. We didn't tell you back then because we wanted to save the surprise up… From now on, I can be in the real world as a human and as Hikari Saito! We've already arranged everything: all documents regarding my death have been removed and replaced by others which say I was being treated at home with some surgeries performed from time to time… And that now a cure has been found…"

"This is… fantastic! No! Not just "fantastic"… Incredible! What I sought to… You've accomplished it!"

"Yeah! I've written myself into the school too. Mom signed the necessary documents too so… I'm gonna be in Netto's class as a new student!"

"Already!? You're as fast as light, even!"

"Thanks! We've programmed a dummy Rock Man to pretend to be me and thus maintain the illusion…"

"So that's what you've been doing the whole summer? Arranging everything?"

"Exactly! We learn from Oriol to plan in with a long-term vision!"

"Fantastic…! Well then… Welcome back home. Saito."

"Thanks, Papa!"

"The meal is ready~!" Haruka called out.

"Let's go and check out what Haruka cooked for us today. I'm sure she's prepared something special…" Yuuichirou smiled.

"I can smell her spaghetti with meatballs…"

"Come on, Netto… Focus."

Netto began to daydream so Saito pinched Netto's right cheek to snap him outta it.

"Yikes! Alright!"

The trio returned to the living room, where there was spaghetti with meatball served in the dishes, which were still letting off steam; Haruka was standing nearby and had a pleased smile to her.

"Both of them brought the ingredients and helped me cleanse the house today… I'm so glad that Saito found a way to be a normal person again: your promise has been fulfilled, dear."

"Yeah. However… It was through their efforts that they did it: I didn't know anything about it!" Yuuichirou scratched the rear of his head.

"Alright! Let's sit down."

"OK! Itadakimasu~!"

"So! What do you think of the incoming 3rd year?"

"It won't be easy. However, if we give it our best then we'll pass for sure. My grades have been excellent insofar, right?"

"True."

"Since we've studied together I'm sure I can get some pretty good grades too. I'll try not to overdo it, though. I don't want to go and feel like I'm cheating." Saito admitted as he sipped some water.

"By the way… How did the comic's chapter end? You know: the one they broadcasted a while ago…" Netto asked Saito.

"The "Metralla" and his buddy forced them to go to the Mr. Provost's office and they knocked out the secretary, and then robbed everything at gun point! Mr. Provost had the secretary try to sniff their trail while Mortadelo disguised as a knitting lady, while Filemón was inside of the knitted giant sock… "Do you think he's gotten a grudge about us, Boss?"… "Shut up and knit, you nit-wit! I'll teach you about lifting shutters! I'm so gonna teach you!"… That's how it ended!"

"It's good to see they've had fun insofar… They told me the tale too and I can see that they needed it." Haruka whispered to Yuuichirou.

"I know they'll do their best to stay out of danger in the times to come… I'll also try not to overwork myself in the Science Labs too…"

"…and Dekao actually tried to challenge a 4th grade student but lost in just 46 seconds… Meiru and Yaito proved to him how he was just making hollow boasting…" Netto was telling Saito.

"I heard that Meijin – san has taken two weeks of break and gone off to Izu… Obihiro – kun is working with some of the programs we gave him while Blues has started jerk-hunting… Hikawa – kun seems to be alright and he's looking forward to the next year too…"

"Superintendent Oda keeps on saying there's gonna be a duel with "Uncle Moriarty" next given how "Uncle Moran" turned pacifist."

"Uncle Moriarty is next, huh?"

"You know Superintendent Oda: he's a genius."

"Of course. Who else could come up with such good puns?"

"As long as they don't get in your nerves…" Yuuichirou laughed.

"Check it out!"

The four of them finished the meal and they sat around the living room's sofa, looking at a video recording of Purgatory's insides and outsides; the video also included "Kage's" room; it had two beds, a desk, a cupboard and the right-side door, which communicated with the room next to it.

"I'd say that you shouldn't let that room go to waste! If you want to stay there one night, then just tell us! You're big enough to stay in other places when you feel like it. Besides, you have friends there too!"

"Thanks!"

"You've made a rather practical decoration, dears. Shouldn't you try to add a photo or poster to add a personal touch to it?"

"Why not…" Saito agreed with the idea.

"Mail from Superintendent Oda… "Mr. Smith will knock at Mr. Sniff's door and ask for an X-sized handkerchief while saying this town is way too small for the two of them and challenging him to a Mexican stand-off."… Not bad." Netto read up, laughing.

"Guess he got inspired by the Lucky Luke comic I sent him. He'll probably begin to use it as reference!" Saito admitted, laughing.

"Why not? He'll put on a new hat and when he arrests someone, he'll say he's faster than his shadow!"

"I now remembered a slightly old-fashioned motto… "Look forward towards a bright tomorrow"… I think it fits us, really."

"Then let's make it ours. We'll always be looking forward towards a bright tomorrow." Haruka suggested.

"As one chapter ends… another begins!"

THE END