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Chapter 97: Shu Amiguchi 7 (FINAL)
Let’s finish off this human-shaped sack of animated slime’s story so we can have it out of the way.
Shu drops his schoolbag on the ground.
At this rate… They could just take me away, and nobody would ever know…
Looks like we won’t be talking to Miyuki…
Consider Yuki Takamiya
(So she was watching me this whole time? On behalf of that shady outfit? Is that why she approached me at all? Yuki-chan…)
(I’m the one who approached her. And she has to keep an eye on me?)
Consider Yuki Takamiya
(So she’s been monitoring me this whole time? She’s actually some secret-service government spy? That’s crazy… Also, not gonna lie, weirdly hot.)
I see Shu has his priorities in order, as ever.
Music: The Chills (Yoshimi Kudo)
Oh, there she is.
He’s going to try to have me eliminated.
What?
There’s so much I still don’t get here. I need a real explanation.
I know. But I had to hack my way in to reach you. My connection won’t last long…
Use Tetsuya Ida on Miyuki Inaba
You mean Tetsuya Ida?
Yes.
Why is he after you?
Because I’m helping you. I was right. He’s trying to reset Project Ark.
He wants to reset it? …What would that do?
The world would be destroyed by kaiju. Everything will be gone. They want to start over… They want to restart this world from the beginning. They’ve done it before. And a reset means you would be erased, too.
You’ve already seen them…
…… You mean those things in my dreams?
The Sentinels were built to fight those kaiju. To defend the world you call home.
Use Outer Walls on Miyuki Inaba
That means we’re in some huge spaceship, right?
……
Why does all of this exist? Why cover up the truth?
There is a supercomputer hidden below your town. We call it Universal Control. It has led you to believe you live in Japan, in a certain historical era.
Why?
Possibly to make your lives easier. Possibly to make you easier to manage. Even I couldn’t tell you the real reason.
You still don’t know who I am? You and I have met many times in your dreams…
Here it comes.
Use Miyuki Inaba on Miyuki Inaba
Yes… and no. Miyuki Inaba is a disguise. You should know what my real name is… Please, give it some more thought…
Use Yuki Takamiya on Miyuki Inaba
…Miyuki? Oho! Are you… Yuki-chan?
No… I’m not Yuki-chan. Shu-kun… You really don’t know? We’ve met in your dreams. Please think a little harder…
Use Tetsuya Ida on Miyuki Inaba
You’re not Tetsuya Ida, are you?
Uh… You… might be overthinking this…
Ha!
Shu-kun, please… We don’t have much time… Please, give it some more thought…
All right, let’s get to the real answer, which I’m sure a few of you keen readers managed to guess already:
Use Tomi Kisaragi on Miyuki Inaba
You don’t mean… you’re…
Music: Staring Into The Void (Yoshimi Kudo)
You finally realized… This is how I got past Universal Control. I sang on an inconspicuous broadcast, with all my heart… Just like I used to.
But a different Tomi Kisaragi from the one in your world. I’m not human anymore. Just data on a computer.
Like Morimura, then…?
But that’s exactly how I can still help you.
Consider Miyuki Inaba
(She’s been reaching out to me… Using my TV set to break through the walls that separate us. She’s the Tomi Kisaragi I saw in my dreams… The Tomi Kisaragi who has no body left… Just a mind inside a machine.)
He’s at Sector 3’s terminal. Help me, Shu-kun. If we don’t stop him, he’ll erase me.
What should I do…?
Inside the outer walls…
I can already tell this is gonna be a huge mess… No, no… A girl has asked for my help! I can’t just run away from this. I’ll go. And I’ll figure out the rest when I get there.
Onward to adventure!!!!!
Music: Hard Pill to Swallow (Kikuchi Yukinori)
…Or not.
Shinonome-senpai…?
I broke the lock.
With that gun?
There was an agent, too. I put him to sleep.
Are you with this shady spy bureau, too?
Yes.
Look at this putz trying to lay on the charm. Ugh.
I need your Sentinel.
My Sentinel?
Call it here.
…That’s a thing I can do? I have no idea how.
But I’ve got something I need to do.
You want me to shoot you?
Sounds like we’re on the same side.
Yeah… That’s where the Sentinel’s hidden. …Apparently.
That’s some Sentinel… It must weigh hundreds of tons. How does it fly in the air…? But what I really don’t understand… is how you controlled it without any problems. Piloting a Sentinel damages you. Like what happened to me. So most people can’t operate them.
What? You mean piloting a Sentinel did all that stuff to you? …You know, it’s not too late to turn back…
It is too late.
Easy, I’m kidding. I’m not gonna give up now. A girl’s in trouble. You know where you’re going, don’t you, Senpai?
There are two terminals that have been analyzed so far. Sector 1 and Sector 3. But we can only get into one of them. That’d be the terminal in Sector 3.
Not really sure I’m following here…
Mr. Ida was supposed to take me with him. But he took Takamiya-san instead…
Yuki-chan!? What’s he planning with Yuki-chan?
Oh boy, more of this one-sided infatuation.
He needed biometric ID from one of us. It’s the only way he can access the terminal. But now he’s put the gate into lockdown. That means a Sentinel’s the only way to shift in.
Are you okay…?
What is this place?
Music: Who D-Unit (Yoshimi Kudo)
It’s a… spaceship? What are you talking about…?
Get with the program, Ryoko!
Oh, whoa, uh…
It’s a long story…
I would really like more of characters struggling to explain their own gonzo reveals to each other. I find it very amusing.
This doesn’t make sense. How could there be a facility like this in a tunnel…?
I dunno how, but there is.
Shu just giving up on explaining things, I see.
The one I saw at the park…
Miyuki Inaba hid it here.
Well… Activate it.
Yeah, but how?
How did you do it before?
I dunno… It just kinda happened.
…… What about your activation switch? You should have one somewhere on your body.
A switch?
Where nanomachines were shot into you. That’s where code was injected into your system. So that should be where your switch is…
……
Out of context, very funny line.
I think she got me…
Swipe across it. See if that starts things up.
Here goes nothing.
Activate Sentinel
Music: To the Final Battle (Yoshimi Kudo)
So yeah, I’m in. But for something so big, well… This cockpit looks like a single-seater.
If it shares design elements from No. 14… There should be a maintenance hatch somewhere. From there, I could set the shift destination.
Okay, let me look…
Where is it?
In the back.
Now you just need to confirm it.
Okay. Here we go! This thing better not let us down.
It’s like a world after an apocalypse…
No, it’s in ruins, but… that is our city….
What you’re looking at is Sector 3…
Okay… So there really is more than one enclosure…
It’s down there. The bottom of that hole is the terminal.
Looks like we’ll fit right through… I guess we’re going down.
Consider Miyuki Inaba
(Miyuki Inaba needs my help. I have to stop Ida somehow. Or else… he’s going to erase her.)
Consider Yuki Takamiya
(It doesn’t matter. I don’t care what group Yuki-chan’s wrapped up in. I’m going to save her.)
Aww, how sweet, I guess.
Music: Bleak Pressure (Kikuchi Yukinori)
I suppose this is because I chose Takamiya-kun over you. Those emotional impulses of yours… really do try my patience.
That’s not why, Mr. Ida.
…!
So it is you, after all…
Use Tetsuya Ida
I know about you. I’ve seen a lot of your past.
She’s still transplanting memories, then. Well, I know you, too. Perhaps better than anyone else could. After all, I’ve known you all your life… Ever since I dropped you off as a newborn.
Dropped me off?
Then… you’re saying…?
I’m almost finished here. Just stay quiet for a moment more.
Use Yuki Takamiya on Tetsuya Ida
Let her go!
I’m afraid she’s a vital part of the process. I need her biometrics to access the computer.
There’s something very funny about this sentence to me. “I need her DNA to get on the computer!”
You should know this is partly your fault. Up until now… I had simply been borrowing your ID. But then you had to go and access your Sentinel. Which means authorization has been restored to you.
Consider Miyuki Inaba
(Oh… Miyuki Inaba said something about this. She said she knew me through my ID… Probably because he’s the one she was trying to track.)
Don’t worry. We’re gonna get you out of this.
Amiguchi…
What!? You’ve had like four interactions with her and by all indications she hates your guts!
You know, under any other circumstances, it’d be fascinating. Genetically identical, but our experiences made us very different people indeed. A shame. There is nothing you can do to change this.
*gasps*
So here you are at last. Your singing gave you away. I recognized it instantly. I’m still your biggest fan, believe it or not.
Ida-kun, please. Think this over…
This is a mistake.
I’m afraid you’re the one who’s mistaken. It’s too late. This place will be gone soon enough, anyway. Or do you have some other option to share?
…… Even if I did… You wouldn’t listen to me. Not the way you are now.
Erase her? Please. I love Tomi Kisaragi.
*gasp*
Goddammit, Ryoko. Get over this douche.
But I do need to silence her, as a precautionary measure.
I don’t need to cut off communications. It doesn’t matter where you are. After all, you’re a Sentinel AI now.
And I happen to have command authorization over the Sentinels. All of them up to No. 19.
That’s impossible… Wait, Ida-kun! I’m in orbit right now… I’m watching this all from the command ship’s computer. And I can see everything… I know what’ll happen to that whole area.
Indeed. A new beginning for you and me.
No, you don’t understand…
Force-shutdown Sentinel No. 16.
She’ll be asleep until all of this is over. That’s the last variable taken care of. I think our work here is done.
The shifter lowers into position.
As will you, Shinonome-kun. Come on… You know you need me.
Music: Cognitive Dissonance (Rikako Watanabe)
Ryoko, no!
What a fuckin’ creep, ugggghhhh. They really are related!
We’re leaving. Collect the equipment.
Back then, all those nights in the lab… You weren’t trying to bring her back. You wanted to remake Kisaragi. The way you wanted her to be. Ida… You think we’re the same person? You’re nothing like me. I’d never use a girl as some tool!
Music: Hard Pill to Swallow (Kikuchi Yukinori)
Dammit…
Hell yeah, Ryoko! Never doubted ya!
Right…
Ah shit. On second thought, maybe we shouldn’t have let the girl with severe and debilitating physical and mental trauma handle our only weapon!
Amiguchi!
I suggest you come quietly. Or Amiguchi will suffer the consequences.
……
On it, sir.
Suddenly, Ryoko comes to her senses and begins meddling with the gate!
Did they shift? Yuki…
The sifter lowers into position.
So that’s all set… Then let’s do… this.
The shifter raises again.
*sigh*
You need to take this seriously.
Hey, you wanna do this yourself, be my guest.
Keep it cool. He’s doing fine.
Consider Yuki Takamiya
(Yuki-chan. I promised I’d save her. I’m going after her. No matter what it takes.)
Which means it may be up to us to find our way back home. Probably best to work together for now…
So you guys really have no idea how to work all this stuff?
Our intel suggested it’s just not possible for us. The only ones with clearance and ability are the special minors. But we’ll certainly make an effort.
It’s capable of transporting us across time, correct?
Hell if I know, man. My senpai was the one who set up the time travel. Sure, I can fly the thing… but I’d have no idea how to get us home.
Do they have any real info on how this place works?
Well, it’s a UFO made by scientists of the future. Since before our time… It’s been buried here, deep underground.
Okay, so you’re basically clueless. Sound about right?
*annoyed sigh*
(Dammit… This doesn’t look good. I can’t help Miyuki Inaba… I can’t even go after Yuki-chan.)
Oh, hey Natsuno. What’s up?
Men in black!?
And that’s Shu’s story completed. Kind of an anticlimax, I know.
Tomi has now been unlocked.
And that’s Shu finished. To the board!
We’ve got a few mysteries to remove. “What are the dreams?” has been thoroughly solved at this point, it’s Morimura’s doing. We also remove “Enclosure?” and “Sector 0?” because we’ve gotten pretty thorough answers about those. Finally, I feel satisfied with the resolution of “Alien planet?” as well.
We add a romantic link between Shu and Yuki, ugh.
We also add a black link between Miyuki Inaba and Tomi, because they’re the same person.
That’s all for the board!