"Hey, senpai," you say, walking through the still, cartoon city, Shibutani at your side. A certain question's been nagging you since the fight, and you're worried there might not be another opportunity to ask.
"Hmm?"
"Were you really the one that started the Yatabuya?"
Shibutani heaves a sigh tinged with deep exhaustion.
"Ah. That. It's not necessarily a part of my life that I look back on fondly. I still have a lot of mixed feelings about it. But I did bring it up, so I suppose it would be rude to pretend I hadn't.
"Yatabuya was never meant to be anything like it was today. I'd even hesitate to call it a 'gang.' It was simply a nonsense word that my friends and I used to refer to ourselves. When I was little, I used to think there was a yokai that haunted my bedroom, and when it would stand over me as I was about to fall asleep, that was the sound it made as it breathed – 'yatabuya'. Awfully silly, now that I think of it, but that was the inspiration."
"Eh, it's not that silly. I used to believe the same thing," you say, desperately casting about in your head for any concrete memories of your childhood. It certainly sounded familiar.
"Yeah, so did I," adds Koharu. "I mean, most kids probably thought something like that."
"Hmm. I suppose so," says Shibutani, nodding. "Anyhow. My friends and I were children looking to establish an identity that others would respect. We thought an intimidating name would do the trick, on top of the fighting, the smoking, the motorcycle peelouts in the parking lot…run of the mill stupidity from a bunch of wannabe bancho who read too much manga."
Shibutani pauses, and runs his hands through his hair. Every now and again, Rin sneaks a quick peek over her shoulder at him – she's listening, too.
"We were stupid, but never cruel. Only the strong were worth our attention – I guess you could call that our 'code,' if anything, but we made a point not to prey on anyone who wasn't looking for trouble. What is a man without his honor, after all? We were happy for things to continue like that; it gave us a place to belong. And then they showed up."
"Taishi and Chikara?"
"They took a keen interest in me and my boys, and asked a lot of questions. We were initially distrustful, but they took a shine to them after Chikara was able to beat them down all on her own. That was the way it went – you couldn't get a good measure of someone until you'd traded a few punches. However, I could never bring myself to believe that their interest was harmless. It was something about their eyes – soulless and calculating – that told me to remain wary.
"Then, one day, my boys showed up with those tattoos." Shibutani jabs a thumb at the sword-in-fist on Rin's neck. "Now, we weren't model citizens by any stretch of the imagination, but we never had any desire to emulate real criminals. We had a large argument over them that day. In the end, it turned out that Taishi and Chikara had urged them to get the tattoos, and if I wasn't going to follow suit, then they were done with me…"
Shibutani trails off, retreating into his own thoughts.
"I should have fought back. Or at least done something other than walk away. Maybe things would have turned out differently. It's ironic that the one time I elected not to solve a problem with my fists was the one time I should have."
He sniffles, and his face tightens in an effort to hold back tears, an ugly expression that doesn't suit his usually stoic demeanor.
"I have to thank you, Tetsuo. You and your friends." he says.
"Huh? Why?"
"If you hadn't told me about the Book of Avalon, I would have gone the rest of my life believing that my boys had truly abandoned me. It makes my cowardice sting all the more, but at least now, I know that I have the means to save them. Until the bastards who stole the Yatabuya out from under me are brought to justice, I won't rest. And I certainly won't shed any more tears. So again, thank you."
"For what it's worth, senpai, I'm glad you ended up with us. Don't know what we'd have done without you," you say, taken aback by this sudden outpouring of emotion.
"Okay," says Koharu, "you guys need to pull it together. If the testosterone around here gets any thicker, I'm gonna choke on it. Nisekao, how far away are the others?"
"J-Just past here," he says, pointing toward a short underpass in front of you.
Once you reach the other side, the sound of the others' voice reaches your ears. Gin, Mariko, Hayate, and Yoko are gathered around the garage door of a large warehouse, looking awfully frustrated and not at all like they've caught the Dreamweaver.
As you approach, Gin looks up from his tablet, and Chiime comes to rest on his arm.
"There you are. Was beginning to think we'd have to come looking for you. Guess you got rid of 'em?"
"More or less," you reply, which feels like a massive understatement. "We're gonna have to start taking them more seriously, though."
Gin glances towards his sister as though he's not sure whether or not to believe that, but a couple of emphatic nods from Rin get the point across.
"Lovely. Well, we'll worry about that when they pop up again. We've got more pressing issues on our hands."
"It doesn't look as though you've captured the Dreamweaver," Shibutani says.
"Ehh…technically yes?" says Hayate with a shrug. "I mean, she's definitely not going anywhere else at this point."
"…What does that mean?" asks Koharu, giving him a skeptical, half-lidded stare. "Is she in there?" she asks, indicating the warehouse.
"Not anymore," answers Yoko. "Try…up there."
Following the direction of her index finger, you trace a line with your eyes up above the warehouse, through the night sky, all the way up to…
"The Moon," says Rin, incredulous. "Well that's impressive. How'd she manage that?"
"With a rocket ship," Mariko says, mimicking takeoff with one of her arms. "When we caught up, we saw it blast off through the roof. She must've been keeping it in here."
"We were going to take a look inside, but we thought we'd better wait for you instead. Not that I'm expecting to find much that'll help, but…" Gin turns his palms up with exasperation.
"We don't have much of a choice, do we? It's not like we can leave here empty-handed. Let's get this door up," you say. However, Rin's already one step ahead. Galahad rips the garage door out of its frame with his psychokinesis and crumples it into a ball like wrapping paper.
"After you," she says, bowing you inside.
Inside, the 'garage' proves to be more of a hangar, a sprawling space taller than it is wide. There's a wall of screens set along one side of the room, some showing closed-camera feeds of various parts of the animated city, others displaying difficult-looking readouts and menus. Next to it is a modestly-furnished living area, complete with a plush sofa, table, and fridge – all in bright pink, of course.
However, most of the space has been devoted to the preparation and launch of a couple of towering, pink rockets, one of which has already departed, judging from the circular scorch marks left in the concrete. The remaining rocket is very little like the ones you've seen on television and in books. It, like most of the other equipment in the room, boasts a highly stylized, older design – a stout, conical body propped up by four curved fins, with glass bubble windows protruding from the hull. It must also be capable of a very controlled launch, considering nothing else in the hangar has been vaporized by the previous takeoff. You suppose that the Dreamweaver can bend those sorts of rules however they like.
"You weren't kidding," says Koharu, running her hand along the smooth, metal exterior of the rocket. "She really did take off to space."
"Nice of her to leave one behind for us, though," says Rin. "Not that I'm complaining, but why does she need two?"
"This one's marked 'Auxiliary,'" Hayate notes, tapping the word painted in small letters next to the rocket's entry hatch. "It's probably only here in case of an emergency, like if the other one breaks down. Works out well for us, though. Let's get after her."
Hayate reaches for a handle, but the hatch doesn't have one. Upon further inspection, there doesn't even appear to be any button or switch that would open it, either.
"Orrr maybe not. How are we supposed to get in this thing?" he asks, scratching at the back of his head.
"It might be related to the equipment up against the wall over there. I'll have a look," says Gin.
As he investigates the screens, he eventually latches onto one of them and begins tapping away at the keyboard beneath it.
Peering over his shoulder, you ask, "Did you figure it out?"
"…I think so. This one appears to be related to the rocket controls." He points to the screen, which shows a wireframe model of both rockets. One of them's dimmed out. Next to the models are a series of options displayed in a disgustingly pink, saccharine UI bursting with flower and star motifs.
"There we go, 'Prep Launch'. That's the one we want, right?"
"Well, yeah, but it's not doing anything. Maybe it's password protected? But then again, if it was, there would've been a prompt…not that we'd know the password anyways…" muses Gin, cradling his chin between his thumb and index finger.
"Can't you hack it or something? You're really good with computers and stuff," Yoko says as she collapses onto the sofa.
Gin's brow furrows. "No. I'm good with robotics and software. I don't know the first thing about actually hacking. Honestly, this is ridiculous. There's no way a Shadow like her could have designed a system with any kind of sophistication."
Everyone's eyes then turn towards Nisekao, who puts up his hands disarmingly. "D-Don't look at me. I can use a computer, but I don't actually know all that much about how they work."
But then, Mariko, who's been standing near the rocket, pipes up. "Hey, something opened up."
Everyone rushes over to have a closer look. Sure enough, a small panel next to the hatch has slid open, revealing a square of glass about the size of one's palm and a thin speaker.
"Hey, I know what this might be. It's one of those handprint authenticators, like they have for secure areas in sci-fi movies and stuff," you say.
"…Which is bad. Because if it is, it probably means only the Dreamweaver can use it," adds Yoko.
"So what? We just pack it in here, then? Let's give it a shot, see what ha-" begins Rin, but she's quickly interrupted by a familiar-sounding voice, its high, grating tone made slightly tinny by the speaker.
"Hewwo! I see you'we twying to use Hoga-chan's special wocket ship! Well bug off! You'we not awowed!"
"Hey, what the hell? Can that little rat see us?" asks Hayate as he looks around the hangar.
"I'm not a wat, you meanie! I'm Hoga-chan's bestest fwiend and Mystical Ally, Iseult! And yes! I can see evewything fwom up hewe!"
"Yeah, whatever, rat. How do we get into your stupid spaceship?" Hayate continues, undeterred.
The speaker goes quiet for a second before Iseult speaks again.
"Hmm…you'we all vewy bad people…buuut…if you weawy want to get beaten by Hoga-chan that badwy, maybe I can wet you," says Iseult, but its voice adopts a disconcertingly threatening tone.
"Oh? Just like that? A likely story. What's the catch?" asks Shibutani.
"A catch? Ooh, you'we perceptive. Thewe is a pwice. If you want to use Hoga-chan's wocket, you'll need to give it some fuel. How about…your happiness?"
"Happiness? The hell does that mean?" you say.
"Exactwy what it sounds wike! Hoga-chan's a vewy important person! I can't just wet you fowwow us for fwee."
"I don't like the sound of that. You shouldn't trust these little magical critters as a rule of thumb," says Koharu.
"Then how do you think we should get in?" Hayate retorts. But before Koharu can open her mouth to argue, he goes on. "Now, before you get upset, I agree with you. That little weasel is mad sketchy. But we're not the ones making the rules here. Someone's gotta do it, right?"
"Are you volunteering, then?" asks Gin.
Hayate throws his hands up and shuffles backwards. "W-Well, hold up – I was just saying…"
"Right. Not quite so simple, is it?" Gin replies with a roll of his eyes.
"You could always just give up and weave, you know. Hoga-chan's a good powice officer – it's not wike you have to fight her."
"Okay, screw this."
Rin pushes her way past everyone and slaps her hand on the scanner. Everyone goes silent and stares.
"Rin! What are you-"
Gin darts forward and reaches to pull her arm off of the scanner, but she slaps him away with her other one.
"Don't interrupt it, idiot. It's already started."
A small humming begins to emanate from the pad as the machine does its work. Whatever it means to drain someone's happiness, it's not immediately evident from Rin's face. She clenches her jaw slightly, but holds firm. After an unnaturally long minute, the humming subsides.
"Fuewing compwete. You actuawy did it," Iseult remarks with some surprise. "Well then. I suppose we'll see you soon. Not that it will change anything."
There's a loud hiss, and the rocket's entry hatch slides open, releasing a short ramp onto the floor. Rin steps back from the scanner, and everyone pauses, waiting for something to happen. However, she doesn't faint, or clutch her head, or even wince in pain. She doesn't even appear to be bothered in the slightest. You weren't sure what you expected it to look like to have your happiness drained, but for nothing to happen…
"Hey…you alright?" you ask. She simply shrugs in response.
"I guess. I mean, I'm a little irritated we had to do this in first place, but aside from that, I don't feel any less happy."
Gin regards her skeptically. "And you're sure about that?"
With a frown, Rin says, "Positive. I'm okay. Let's just get in the rocket and get going already. We're wasting time."
Gin doesn't seem convinced, and frankly, neither are you. But in spite of this, you follow the others up the ramp and into the rocket.
Inside, the ship is sparsely outfitted, with just a few harnesses attached to the wall and a bucket seat in front of the controls. The control panel itself is similarly simple, and perfectly suited for someone who doesn't normally fly spaceships – there's a screen for displaying a preplanned course and a large red button marked "LIFTOFF." Hayate can't contain his laughter when he sees it.
"Heh. Space flight for dummies, huh? 'Press big button, space ship go up!'"
"Then you'll be handling takeoff, I guess," says Koharu, grinning smugly as she buckles herself into a harness.
"Might as well. I don't see any other controls, so it must know where it's going," you say. "Probably doesn't matter who does it. Wanna do the honors?"
"Yeah…sure," Hayate says, a little deflated.
As everyone gets themselves strapped in, you start wondering about Rin. You still don't believe that Iseult was simply been bluffing. Something must have happened. However, if it did, she's doing a good job of hiding it.
"All right, everybody buckled up?" Hayate calls from the front of the ship. "Here goes nothing!"
Hayate brings his palm down on the button, and the nose of rocket above your heads turns transparent. Far above you, two panels in the ceiling slide back to reveal the starry sky. Then, the entire cabin begins to rumble, and the whoosh of the engines igniting below you fills your ears. Like a cork popping out of a bottle, the ship erupts from the hangar at an incredible speed, pressing your body back against the hull. Through the bubble windows, the cityscape shrinks beneath you and disappears, and within minutes, you find yourselves hurtling through the atmosphere, leaving the planet behind.
"This is wild," breathes Yoko. "Even if it is just a Cloud, I never thought I'd be doing this."
"Yeah. Not really how I expected to be spending my evening," grumbles Koharu, although the fact that her eyes are also glued to the windows betrays how she really feels.
Cloud Five has had a loose relationship with reality so far, so it comes as a bit of a shock when gravity releases its hold on you and your body begins to bob about in your harness. With the takeoff complete, everyone undoes their buckles to revel in the otherworldly sensation of weightlessness.
"Wooow!"
Nisekao breaststrokes across the cabin like a swimmer and pushes off the opposite wall, somersaulting several times in midair.
"I-It's making my head spin! Th-This is amazing! Ooof…"
His face begins to turn pale, so Shibutani gently takes him by the shoulders and pulls him out of his somersault.
"I'd imagine so. I'd also imagine that making yourself sick works the same way as it does in real life. Let's not explore that, shall we?"
"A-Ah. Right."
"Y'know, I was just thinking of something," says Hayate. "Doesn't it take a really long time to get from the Earth to the Moon? Like, several days?"
A few of you exchange nervous glances, but Gin looks unperturbed.
"That sounds right, but I doubt that's how things work here. Take a look outside."
Through the nose of the rocket, you can see the Moon looming large before you…surprisingly large, as a matter of fact. It certainly doesn't look like it's days away.
"It's not usually that close, is it?" observes Mariko. "Although, I guess if I was the Dreamweaver, and I had my secret base on the Moon, I wouldn't want it to be really far away, either."
"Exactly. We should be grateful for that much, at least. At our current speed, I'd say we'll be there in about a half hour, maybe less. We should use the time wisely, and make sure we're ready for a fight. Or," Gin looks about at the others still idly enjoying their newfound power of flight, "at least that's what I'll be doing." With that, he floats off towards the other end of the ship to work on Chiime.
You notice that Rin's been oddly quiet since liftoff, lingering near her harness with a far-off look on her face as everyone else has been exploring zero gravity. Pushing off the wall, you drift over.
"Can you believe him? We're in space, and he's acting like it's no big deal. Crazy," you say.
"Hm."
This close, you start to notice little things that you hadn't earlier, like the dark rings forming underneath her eyes, and the way her fingers jitter ever so slightly against her crossed arms.
"What is it?" she asks, noticing you staring. "I told you already that I'm alright."
"You know that only makes it sound weirder, right?"
She brushes a curl of hair out of her eyes and turns away.
"I'm telling the truth. They didn't take anything from me."
Realization washes over you like a tidal wave, blowing open the doors of memory in its wake. Those words accumulate clarity as your subconscious dredges up the impression of a small, hunched figure, alone in an enclosed space like a restroom stall, hugging itself close with the pressure of an intolerable existence weighing down upon its frail shoulders. In that moment, whenever it was, to extract happiness from it would have been like squeezing blood from a stone.
"You get numb to it after a while, huh?" you say, finally.
She briefly raises her face towards yours, blinking in bemusement.
"Yeah. I guess so."
"Y'know, that's kind of hard to wrap my head around. There's gotta be something that makes you happy."
"That's what I'm trying to work out," she says, drawing her legs up close to her. "But there's something up here that doesn't work right." She taps her forehead with a sad smile. "No matter what I try, I just can't seem to put the square block into the square hole. I think that's why I'm always doing so much stupid stuff – there's nothing up here but round holes. I keep thinking that maybe if I try hard enough, I'll feel something eventually."
"But you're still trying. That has to count for something."
"Even if it never works out? You know what they say about trying something over and over again."
"It's either that or giving up."
"…Right. Although…if you keep trying and failing long enough, you start to see a kind of peace in giving up."
The implication sinks its claws into your heart with such terrifying force that you're compelled to end the conversation for fear of what might come next. And yet, some small part of your soul plucks those claws out one by one, refusing to accept such an idea.
"Don't say that. Life isn't always what we want it to be, and yeah, sometimes it's absolutely miserable. But everyone has a reason to keep trying, even if they don't know what it is yet."
"Hmm. So what's your reason?"
The question makes your face flush for reasons you avoid contemplating. Trying your best to compose yourself, you say, "Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but if I had to say something, I guess it'd be my music. I'd like to release an album someday – I don't think I'll become famous or anything, but I just want to have something with my name on it, to prove that I did it. And…there's also people that are important to me, too."
Rin raises her eyebrows slightly.
"L-Like my family! M-My mom and dad. They want me to be happy, and they're always giving everything they have to make that happen, so it's not like I can let them down." You pause. "…And, well, you guys have all become pretty important, too."
"And if something happens, something that takes all that away, what do you do then?" Rin scoffs.
"I…I…" Your mind falters as you cast about for the right answer. "…I think it'd feel like the world was ending. I'd be upset, mind-bendingly upset."
"Then you get it."
"I mean, I think it's okay to feel fucked up if the world gets pulled out from under you. That's not something you get over easily, and I understand that. But I also think that people need to try and get over it at some point, whether it's all the way, or even just a little bit. You need to find a new reason to keep going. If you don't, that's just a waste."
"That's a lot easier said than done," Rin says as she idly wraps a lock of hair around her finger. "Why are you bothering with me anyways, Tetsuo? You've got to have other things to worry about." She cracks a mischievous grin. "You don't have a crush on me, do you?"
The accusation steals the air from your lungs like a blow to the gut.
"H-Hey, don't change the subject here!" you sputter. "It just…doesn't sit right with me that someone thinks they can't be happy. Before all…this happened, I wasn't in a great place, either. But I guess something clicked eventually. I don't think it'll be easy to find a reason to be happy. But I'd still like to help…if you want it."
Rin closes her eyes, letting out a small sigh.
"You sure are different from what I expected." Pushing herself off the wall, she allows herself a small backflip and a giggle. "You know, there was a moment. When I put my hand on that scanner, I thought about some things. Like getting my Persona, going to the lake, trying out 'magic'…and for a moment, I was afraid of what I was doing. And you know what? For some reason, that actually makes me feel better."
"There's always something, isn't there?"
Instead of replying, Rin points towards the nose of the shuttle. "Hey, check it out."
Outside the glass, the Moon has become gargantuan, almost filling your vision entirely. On the surface, you can just barely begin to make out your destination – a star-shaped compound constructed of glass panels. "Probably about time we strap back in, right?" she says.
"Whoa, no kidding!" says Hayate, giving a start as he looks out at the Moon himself. "Let's get buckled up, everyone! I'm kind of assuming this thing knows how to land itself, but…you know."
Secured snugly into their harnesses, everyone braces as the rocket approaches its final destination on the surface of the moon, a small dome just outside the main compound. Once it's just meters away, a couple panels atop the dome slide back to reveal the landing pad, and the rocket shudders violently as its thrusters re-orient the craft for touchdown. For a few minutes, all you can hear is the blistering roar of the engines as they slow your descent until at last, there's a massive jolt as the fins touch ground, and the rocket comes to a shuddering halt.
The two panels close above you, and a hissing noise fills the air, presumably as the dome repressurizes itself. When it finishes, a lively little chime plays to let you know it's safe to disembark. As you all release yourselves from your harnesses, the entry hatch slides open, and the ramp drops to the polished floor. Somewhere in this compound is the Shadow the Yatabuya has entrusted with their plans, and with her – hopefully – some answers.
