"Murakami, we have a problem," Makashima
said without preamble.
"When don’t we," Masaki sighed. And it
was true, the people who had chosen to fight against Chronos
always seemed to be on the wrong end of Murphy’s Law. "What is
it this time?"
"You know as well as I do that we need
to leave this place as quickly as possible," Makashima said
calmly. "Are you sure that the only way out is through Takeshiro
village?"
Masaki knew why Makashima was asking
that particular question. Their first and last trip through
Takeshiro village had been a complete fiasco, involving the
discovery that Sho had lost his ability to Bio-Boost, a running
battle between them and several teams of Zoanoids, and the
slaughter of said Zoanoids by Guyver III. It was only later that
they found out that Agito had been forced into revealing his
identity in front of Dr. Balkus and several other Zoanoids.
Sho had gone on to regain his abilities
as Guyver I, but only after Aptom had nearly killed Mizuki in
front of him. All of this was running through Masaki’s mind as
he tried to think of some other way that they would all be able
to escape this place without having to go through Chronos’
deathtrap again. In the end though, Masaki was forced to concede
the point.
"No. I’ve been through this area in the
past. The only way out of this valley is through Takeshiro."
Makashima sighed, looking only mildly
annoyed. "Yes, I thought that might be the case. Leave it to
Chronos to set up a perfect trap," he sounded rueful. "We should
start preparing to evacuate this place as soon as possible."
"I know," Masaki said, nodding.
"I’ll inform the others," Makashima said
over his shoulder as he walked away. "By the way Murakami,
where’s your son?"
"I don’t want to talk about it," Masaki
said flatly as he turned and headed for his room. He didn’t see
what else Makashima did, since his back was now turned toward
the Dark Guyver, but Masaki could hear his retreating footsteps.
The empty hallway helped Masaki not to
think about the things he didn’t want to remember, and focusing
on another task helped as well. Once he stood in front of the
door to ‘his’ room, Masaki remembered that he had been carrying
the stuffed tiger Kaji the entire time that he had been
conversing with Makashima. A weary almost-chuckle forced its way
out of his throat, both for the fact that he had forgotten about
the toy almost completely, and for the fact that Makashima
hadn’t made a single comment about it.
Cradling the stuffed toy for a moment
the way he would have cradled his son, Masaki opened the door to
his room and looked around for anything in there that was his.
The only items that he had brought in with him, though, were the
containers for the extra ammunition that his Zoanoid Buster
took. The case for the Zoanoid Buster itself was just visible
along with the others under the bed.
xXxXx
Sho was just starting to gather up the
very few possessions that he had been able to bring to the
remote cabin where they had been staying for the last two weeks.
His mind wasn’t really on the task at hand, though. Instead Sho
was thinking about how quickly the world could change, without
even the slightest bit of warning. Sho was pretty sure that it
wasn’t that long ago that he had been just a normal student, but
at times it could feel like all that was a lifetime ago.
As Sho carried the few pieces of
clothing that were all that he had managed to bring with him,
Sho wondered for a moment whether or not he wanted to bring the
Chronos jumpsuit that Agito had stolen for him to wear. On the
one hand, it was a tangible reminder of the failed mission to
rescue his father; but on the other hand it was also a very
useful disguise. Who knew, there might even come a time that
they had to infiltrate Chronos again.
In the end, Sho decided to keep the
jumpsuit and helmet that Agito had given him, at least until it
became obvious that he didn’t need them anymore. Rolling the
jumpsuit into a small bundle, Sho stuffed it into the helmet and
tucked the helmet itself under his arm. Leaving the room where
he had been staying, Sho only hoped that they would be able to
escape this time. As pretty as this valley was, it still held
too many bad memories for Sho to ever really be comfortable
staying.
Leaving the room, Sho passed Mizuki in
the hallway. Mizuki had also collected the few clothes that she
had been able to bring with her. Fewer now, after Aptom had
destroyed the outfit she had previously been wearing. In fact,
the clothes Mizuki was wearing now had been borrowed from Shizu.
"Hi Mizuki, how are you feeling?"
"I’m fine, Sho. How are you doing? Last
night wasn’t easy on either of us," Mizuki said.
"I’m all right, I guess. Still getting
used to things," Sho hung his head. "I guess things are going to
start up again. I heard we’re going to try to get out through
Takeshiro again."
"Yeah," Mizuki sighed. "I heard that,
too. I hope we make it out this time. I don’t think any of us
could really stand another day in this cabin."
"Yeah," Sho nodded. "And that’s assuming
that none of the Zoanoids find us. We aren’t safe here anymore."
"I wonder if we’ll ever really be safe
anywhere," Mizuki sighed, looking down at the wood floor of the
cabin.
"Don’t worry, Mizuki," Sho said, putting
his hand on her shoulder and rubbing gently. "I can transform
into the Guyver again, I’ll protect you. I promise."
"Thank you, Sho," Mizuki said, smiling
up at him. Sho hugged her.
The two of them had been walking as they
talked, and now they were standing just inside the living room.
The other members of their rebel group were all gathering in
there at this time, Sho and Mizuki were nearly the last to
arrive, followed only by Tetsuro, who had been making absolutely
sure that nothing of theirs was left behind.
"Hey, Sho. I was just going to start
looking for you and Mizuki. Thanks for saving me some trouble,"
Tetsuro smiled lightly, showing that he was only kidding.
"I’m glad I could help you like
that then, Tetsuro," Sho smiled, going along with the joke.
I don’t like to be a burden,
Sho tried to conceal the thoughts that ran through his mind
then, not wanting Tetsuro to see how troubled he still was.
It seemed like all he could do was cause
pain and suffering to the people who were unfortunate enough to
care about him. Whether it was as the Guyver, killing Zoanoids
who were once just normal, innocent people; or as Sho Fukamachi,
the fugitive from Chronos who had dragged his two best friends
into a battle against people who would kill them all without a
single thought. Tetsuro and Mizuki were really too good to be
friends with someone like him.
But Tetsuro wouldn’t understand his
reasoning if Sho tried to explain it, and Mizuki… well it was
kind of nice to have Mizuki around. So, Sho resolved that he
would just try as hard as he could to protect the both of them,
no matter what it cost him in the end. With that decision made,
it was that much easier to help the others to gather up all of
their meager supplies and take them out to Onuma’s car.
Things were mostly silent during the
packing process, and Sho couldn’t help but notice how Mr.
Murakami was staying just a little bit apart from the rest of
the group, trying to avoid even being touched by one of the
others. Sho could understand why Mr. Murakami didn’t want to get
too close to the others, since he himself was trying to avoid
coming too close to anyone else without being too obvious about
doing so.
There was just something about the loss
of a family member that isolated you from other people and made
you want to be alone, or at least that was how Sho saw it. It
was far worse, of course, when you ended up killing that family
member with your own hands. It might not have been something
that Sho had had control over at the time, but it had still been
his hand that had opened the Mega-Smasher and fired it.
Looking over at Mr. Murakami again, Sho
tried to convey his sympathy to the older man without any words.
But, as they all climbed into the car and Shizu started the
engine, Sho couldn’t help wondering if he had been successful at
all. There was a slight jolt as the car started moving, and Sho
leaned back in his seat and gazed out the window at the quickly
passing scenery.
He felt it when Mizuki put her
hand on his shoulder, and Sho put his hand over hers and gently
rubbed her fingers. I really
hope we make it out this time, somehow,
Sho thought to himself.
xXxXx
Commander Gyou, after checking up on the
status of his two little pet projects, was feeling a little bit
at loose ends. He was currently in the cafeteria, enjoying a
large submarine sandwich. He was very glad that the people who
provided the meals in this place had at least had the foresight
to provide something other than Japanese cuisine. It wasn’t that
Gyou was opposed to trying new things, but a steady diet of that
kind of food could get rather boring.