Part 155: 10/27/09

10/27/09

The Nostradamus crap they were talking about on the TV has already spread.



Loud Student: The people with Apathy Syndrome? Yeah, they are. My friend’s brother’s friend is one too.
Gossiping Student: It’s starting to be a serious problem.
It’s on the news every day now. Oh, and did you see the special program they ran?
Nostradamus actually predicted all of this!
> The first bell has rung…

Junpei wanted to talk to me about something, so we headed down to the shrine.



> When you look closely, you can see a bruise under Junpei’s eye…
Uh… Did you notice? Don’t stare at it so much.
…It’s just a punch.
Did you get in a fight?
Um, w-well, who cares!
Don’t bother asking, okay? It’s really lame! I don’t wanna say it!
> Junpei scratches his head…
Well, in any case…
I don’t think there’s going to be any more photos of you going around.
Thank you!
Huh? Um, umm… Haha.
> Junpei’s face is bright red…
I think… this is my first time.
First time for what?
I thought that if I laughed my way out of everything, I’d never be in trouble.
…That’s why I try to avoid having to be serious whenever I can…
You know those times when everyone sits around and talks seriously?
I really don’t like those, so I’ll goof around…

I’m glad Junpei’s really been thinking things through.



It’s so much easier than having to do stuff like understanding other people.
But after meeting you… and the others, I’ve changed a little.
…Not everything about everyone’s cool, right?
Everybody has parts of them that are cool or lame…
But they’re all doing what’s best for themselves.
After seeing you all like that… I think I got scared.
There’s no way you can understand each other unless you say what you think.
Staying quiet and trying to act cool won’t tell anybody anything.
Seeing someone way smaller than me put everything they have into something…
…It made me ashamed of myself.
I’ve never tried my hardest in anything. I don’t take anything seriously.
That’s why I never gain anything… and why I’m never happy.
…I realized that I’m not living my life at all.
……
Junpei…
Haha, what’s with that face? I can be serious sometimes, too, right?
> Junpei laughs…

I’m glad I was worried about him. He seemed really kind of torn up that this might all be over soon.



In the end, I just wanted you to trust in me.
Like, if someone like you could trust me, then I might be worth something…
…But trying to get you to rely on me to solve this is just wrong.
You’re… an important friend of mine, after all.
> Junpei laughs, embarrassed…
> You sense that Junpei trusts you…

But now I think he’ll be okay.



It sucks that this place doesn’t have any swings.
Don’t you sometimes just get the urge to swing once in a while?
…I used to ride swings a lot when I was a kid.
I’d get close to the sky and think that I could go somewhere else…
Somewhere that isn’t here…
……
That’s what I’d think about when I was on a swing.
…Let’s ride on one together some time.
You know how to get two people on one swing right? One stands, the other sits!
> You and Junpei spend some time talking about all kinds of things…

Mitsuru was going over what would probably happen after we won.



I have so many memories of my time in SEES… good ones… bad ones…
What about you? Did you enjoy participating in SEES?
Yeah, I really liked it.
I hope you always remember the good times we shared together.

We have no choice but to win, really, because things are getting bad.



But, we’re almost done. Peace will return to this city soon.
Let’s prepare for the final battle.

But at least Apathy Syndrome is finally almost gone for good.



Newscaster: One of them has accurately guessed the dates of recoveries and relapses in the past…
He believes that the next wave of recovery will begin on the 7th.

I decided to make Ken an omelette and rice, since he said he liked them and all. Got a bit weird, though.



> He would be happy if you made some for him here instead of going out…
> You decided to make a dish of omelette and fried rice that Ken likes…
> Thanks to your time in the cooking club, it came out rather well!
Huh? Is this… for me…?
Aelita-san…
…Oh, th-thanks for the food!
> Ken begins eating vigorously…
Yep, it’s delicious.
* munch munch *
It’s really good!
> As Ken happily tears into the food, he gets ketchup all over his face…
> …Seeing how happy you’ve made him makes up for all the effort.
Thank you very much, Aelita-san.
* munch *
> You feel that you’ve gotten even closer to Ken…

Especially when he brought up something I didn’t really want to think about, much less talk about.



Whew…
I’m full.
> After finishing the dish, Ken finally relaxes…
> …?
> He suddenly falls silent, though…
D-Do you… cook for other people like this, too?
Um… Like, for your boyfriend?
…Do you have one?
Oh, um, well!
I saw on TV that all high school girls have a boyfriend, so…
Um… I was wondering… if you had one too, Aelita-san.
It’s that…
If you did have one…
I don’t think I’d like that…
……
Wh-What am I saying!?
A kid like me shouldn’t be butting into personal stuff like that!
……

Definitely not something I’m going to make Ken suffer through having to hear about. He… might have taken what I said a strange way though.



You’re… right.
I’m sorry. There’s no point in talking to someone like me about that.
I’m just a little kid. Yeah…
> Ken mutters to himself for a while…
Ah, thank you for the food!
Well then, I should… get to bed.
…Good night!
> Ken quickly cleans up the dishes and goes back to his room…

Well at least soon there’ll be one less layer of drama for me to worry about. I mean can you imagine how much it would suck to have to explain why some weird kid showed up in the room in the middle of the night?



It’ll be a full moon again in just another week.
At last, the 12th one.
…Are you ready?
Regardless of how long it’s been, a lot has happened, hasn’t it?
But, it’s a bit soon to be reminiscing.
How about I come see you once it’s over?
…Be careful now.
> Pharos disappeared…

I wonder if he’ll even be able to do that? Will the Dark Hour vanish right away? I guess we’ll know soon enough…