Part 34: One Last Shot
(Music: Intermission ~The Deepening of the "Night")
(Music: DARKNESS)
: Hey, y-you're...!
: Excuse my appearance. I seem to have lost my body.
: You're the ghost who's been saving Lynne all evening, aren't you?
: Y-you knew about me all along?: Of course. What else would explain all those unnatural things happening?
: If you knew, how come you didn't do anything about it all this time? And how come you decided to save us all of a sudden? I thought you wanted to get revenge on us?: ......I don't really know...
: Please! You gotta tell me...I need to know...
(Music: Chained Past)
: S-Sissel! Look at you! What happened?
: I can't hold on to that image of myself any longer.: You can't remember who you are?: That's right. I came all this way tonight, trying to chase down my lost memory. For quite a bit of tonight, I thought I was you, Sissel...: "Sissel"...? My name isn't "Sissel." ......I bet you'll remember really soon. Who you are...and who I am, too.: What?!
: They got us good. It's all over for this submarine. Its engine room is destroyed. There's a hole in the hull, and it's sinking as we speak.
: What are you doing here? I thought you had a deal with those people?: They betrayed me. I was a fool to trust them. They already have what they wanted now.: The Temsik fragment...: I didn't know they had it all figured out.
: You mean, they figured out the source of your powers?: Yeah...that meteorite's radiation has two effects on living creatures. It gives power, and time.: If you don't mind, we'd like to hear more.
I hope you like exposition parades, because that's 90% of this chapter! Let's start by hearing about the power effect of the radiation.
: These ten years...I've been watching that junkyard superintendent do his research. And I think I've kind of got some of it figured out. The meteorite's radiation gives spirits special powers.: (Like possessing and manipulating objects...)
: And in my case, swapping objects!: Exactly. Apparently, there are individual differences in the powers we get. And it seems these powers change as time goes by.: They do?: Yeah. My powers have changed over these past ten years. At first, I could only manipulate small living creatures. Now then. How do you suppose we got these powers? It's simple.: It is?! How, then?!: In a nutshell...we died while exposed to the energy emitted by the meteorite -- its radiation.: That's what does it? Dying while being exposed to the radiation...?: On that day ten years ago...a fragment of that meteorite pierced my heart, and I died.(Music: PROVIDENCE)
: Hey, wait a minute! Is that how I got my powers, too?: You know, you might be right...!
: You're right! (So...that must mean...I must've died in the presence of the meteorite's radiation, too...)
: Again, I think this "time effect" is centered around the theme of death, but it's not all that clear.: (So the fact that I can return to four minutes before a person's death is another effect of that meteorite...?): ......one of the characteristics of that meteorite is its ability to replay the moment of death.
: Replay the moment of death...? Argh! This is all so strange and confusing. I can't take it all in.: It makes about as much sense to me as anything else!: Yeah, strange and confusing...that just about sums up the object that pierced my body that day. Thanks to that meteorite fragment, my very existance is a contradiction.: What do you mean?
: That day, when the fragment pierced my heart, I lost my life. However, because it remained inside of me, that fragment continued to constantly regenerate my body. In other words, my body was constantly cycling between the moments that seperated my "life" and "death.": Whaaat?!: My body's vital functions stopped ten years ago. But my body's "time" is perpetually stopped at the moment just before death.: Time...just stopped, huh?: So I simply existed, not really alive, and not really dead. That pretty much sums up these last ten years for me, ever since that incident in the park. My body hasn't aged a day. My hair hasn't grown an inch.: (Come to think of it, that old pigeon guy mentioned something...he said he couldn't cut this guy's body with the scalpel...): So I guess, as soon as an incision was made...his body would be regenerated...wow...
: I wanted to get revenge on the people who stole our lives.: "Our" lives?: ...as part of the deal, I made those guys promise to cooperate.: "Cooperate"...? You mean the kidnapping?!: It all went fine...I manipulated the justice minister and made him issue the execution order. But I thought he might call off the execution at the last second.: So that's why you wanted his daughter kidnapped...: But they kidnapped the wrong girl.: Little did I know...they had their own reasons for cooperating with me.: Huh?: Their objective was to wipe out everybody who had to do with Temsik.(Music: Towards Nothingness...)
: And, as it turns out...
: So they stole my Temsik fragment, and here I am. But they had one more, final target...
: Me...?
: If you weren't there in the park that day ten years ago, I never would've thought of doing something as stupid as taking a hostage.
: O-okay...but I was just a little kid playing in the park.: ......Yeah, I know...: Huh?: Ten years later, and you'd become a detective, looking into Jowd's case. Tonight, I invited you to a quiet spot on the edge of town...it was a trap, you see.(Music: Intermission ~The Deepening of the "Night")
: You never saw my face that day ten years ago...so of course you didn't recognize me.
: Your subconcious resisted me...such incredible power! It was the first time I wasn't able to control somebody completely. The aim was off, and the first shot missed the mark. The junkyard was equipped with security cameras. I knew you'd be wanted for murder. That was my plan, anyway.
: But then...something threw a big monkey wrench into their scheme.
: (I showed up.)(Music: PROVIDENCE)
: I was supposed to meet up with them after that. But then something went wrong...: What happened?: My body disappeared.: (Aha. The inspector in white was responsible for that one.): My precious bargaining chip was in that body. I had to get it back, no matter what. That inspector caused me no end of trouble...: But why were those people targeting me? I never even heard of the Temsik meteorite.: Because you were looking into the Jowd case. They thought you would find out about Temsik sooner or later. And that's pretty much the whole story. The only thing left to do now is wait for water pressure to crush this submarine.: Oh, no...: There are no cores that link from here to the water's surface.: I have an idea! We hook up the phone line and--: There are no communication cables down this deep. They meant for this submarine to be my coffin -- a coffin for the dead. There's no escape.: ......I think I kind of understand now...what you've been feeling these ten years.(Music: Chained Past)
: You what...?: This feeling...cut off from the world, all alone in a submarine...sinking slowly towards the bottom of an endless sea...this must be how you felt all along.: ......
: K-Kamila!
: Is it true? We're stuck here...?: What?! Oh, uh...
: If my dad...if my dad was here, I bet he'd save us...
: Oh, Kamila! I'm so sorry!!!: (Hmm, that's funny...): What is it, Sissel?: There's something I don't understand. Why would they go to all the trouble of detaching the control room?: What?: Why didn't they just steal the Temsik fragment and escape, if that's what they wanted? Why did they have to jettison your body off into the sea?: Hmm...that's a good question. But I guess it doesn't matter why now. We'll never find it again. We have no idea where it was launched to...
(Music: Dead Afterimage)
: Yes, we do!
: This will tell us where Detective Jowd is!: That present from the inspector in white!: That's right! Detective Jowd told me to hold on to it for him. And the bullet is still in this person's body in the command room, right? Then we should be able to tell exactly where it is with this!: B-but...even if we find out where it is, how do we get there?: We should be able to figure something out, between the three of us! With our powers...right, Miss Lynne?!: Right...! Oh, and wait a minute! What about a torpedo...?!: A torpedo?: In any case, it's way too early to give up!: (Hmm. It looks like Detective Jowd is our last hope...): Come on! Let's get started!
Not much to use in here, but as usual, we can talk to everyone else.
: Don't worry. We're going to get him right now.: Okay...I hope I didn't hurt Lynne's feelings...what I said about my dad saving us if he was here...: Oh, don't worry about that! Comments like that just roll right off Miss Lynne's back! She's really thick-skinned!: (Ouch.)
: I'm going to start being tougher, too. I want to make my dad proud of me!: M-Miss Kamila...: I'm sure your dad is very proud of you, Kamila.
: We go find the command room that was launched somewhere into the sea.: What?! How? Just to let you know...I don't like water very much...: According to Lynne...the key to our plan is a torpedo, a kind of "missile.": "Missile"? You have a "Missile" right here!: I...don't think she's talking about that kind of a "Missile." (Now then...where did we see another mis...torpedo?)
: It's there, yeah, but I don't know about calling it a "shell"...: Detective Jowd's watch will tell us exactly where it is.: (Right. He said it was a "radio receiver", didn't he.): There might still be another torpedo on this submarine. If we use it, we can get to Detective Jowd!: That's a brillian plan, Detective.: You think so? Heh heh.: So what are you gonna do, ride on top of the torpedo...?: Of course not! You guys are going to go!: Darn. I kind of wanted to see that...: Did you want to see me drown?!Why do I suddenly have an image of Lynne riding a torpedo like Dr. Strangelove? Anyway, let's fiddle around with the few things in the room. But there's only the latch, and a control panel...
: (That water would come gushing in, I bet.): It's such a peaceful mood at the moment. No need to throw cold water on it!: (Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it "peaceful"...)Okay, there's only one option for what to do here. Hopefully the control panel does something useful.
: Why is this machine shoving grapes at me?: Well, this looks like the private cabing of the top officer, doesn't it? This machine is probably for feeding him grapes while he lies in bed.: Oh, it sounds heavenly!: I've been thinking about this for a while now...but don't you think that country's use of technology is just a little "off"...?: (Says the guy who made a deal with said country...): Anyway...it looks like the arm of this machine is a bit busted...
And it's busted in our favor! We now have a path upwards...
...and into an internal phone. The choice here is fairly obvious...and the line to the engine room doesn't even work!
: The torpedo room, huh?: There might be another torpedo left there. I'll go check it out.: Oh, I get it! You're going to use a missile to ram the control room!: Well, I don't know about "ram." We don't wanna blow Detective Jowd up...but something like that.: We'll climb up to the torpedo room, too. "Up" is definitely safer...: Okay. I'll see you there, then.
: There are two tubes, so there should be one left. I guess the first thing we have to do is load it into the tube.: When it comes to missiles, you can count on me!: I'll enter the coordinates of the command room into the torpedo. 
: And I just turned on the backup power. We ought to be able to use the switches now!: Okay. Let's try it!: Good luck!
: I'm just calculating the command room coordinates now. I have to put in a slight offset, though. Don't want to blow it up...: I'm sure Detective Jowd would appreciate that.: Well, leave this to me! Good luck with loading the missile!
: I'll be okay here. I'm not scared.: Leave it to me, Kamila. We'll be back with your father to save you. I promise.: Wait a minute, Sissel!: Wh-what is it?: what you just said...I wanted to say that!
: Thank you, Missile!: We can do it. I know we can!
...well, time to launch that torpedo. Let's flip the switch!
: But I don't think the entire device is broken, though...it would probably work just fine if only I could move this switch...Yes, this is in fact the simplest power in the entire goddamned game. Missile just has to swap the two switches. Why did they even bother putting this in? Fuck if I know.
: There we go! That torpedo looks serviceable.: All set on this end, too! But something's odd...: What is?: The command room. It looks like it's slowly sinking.: Sinking...?: Yeah, like it completely ran out of power. I wonder what happened?: I don't know...but I guess I'll find out.: Right. Okay, hop into the missile! I'll launch it for you.: Okay. Thanks!: I've already set the torpedo's course. It'll head towards the command room where Detective Jowd is. Twelve seconds after launching, it'll pass by the command room for an instant. That instant will be your window of opportunity to jump over to the command room.: Okay, got it. And then we'll find a way to come back and save you. That'll probably be my last task tonight...just hold on until we get back. Okay, c'mon, Missile.: ......: Missile...?: I...I'm sorry. I can't go.: What?: I just can't! How could I leave?! I can't leave Miss Lynne and Miss Kamila behind! I can't do it!(Music: Chained Past)
: Missile...: I swapped the switches so the missile can be launched. You'll have to do the rest, Sissel!: ......(I can't do it, either...I can't ask Missile to come with me after that. I understand exactly how he feels...): I want you to go, Missile.: What...? But, Miss Lynne...!: You staying here won't change our fate. But if you go with Sissel...you might be able to make something happen. And that's our only hope.: But...what if that "something" doesn't happen?! I'll never be able to see you again! Never, ever again! Even I can understand that! I...I couldn't stand that...: Don't worry, Missile.: Miss Kamila...?: I just know you and Sissy can make something happen. I believe you! I'll be right here waiting for you. We'll see each other then. Don't worry!: ......Miss Kamilaaa!!!
: That's a good boy, Missile. Now, are you ready? Remember! It's twelve seconds after I throw the switch!: We're ready.: Sissel?: Yes?: We never found out who you really were...but that doesn't matter now.: All I know is, I'm truly glad I met you tonight. Thank you...for everything.: And I'm glad I met you, Detective.: But we're going to see each other again! Right, Sissy? Right, Missile?: That's right. We promise, little lady.: Of course we will!: I'll never forget you...no matter what happens.: ...here goes, then.: Good luck...friend!(Music:The Last Desperate Struggle)
