The soldiers are fighting against the monsters that are causing havoc. In contrast to the earlier fight, the soldiers are able to deal fatal damage to the monsters, and eliminate them entirely. Still, the clear sky and the screams of the monsters are two pieces of the tragedy of the town.
Takumi is still looking out of his window, while being concerned about Hirono.
„First, Hirono shows up at my door with a strange appearance and power, and now weird things happen in this town. I should've stopped Hirono. I'm pretty sure that Hirono is involved in this mess, I should've stopped him. It's my fault if something happens to Hirono. I will never forgive myself if sonething happens to him, never."
Takumi looks at the gas mask again, and takes it in his hands.
„Something is seriously wrong with this world. If Hirono decided to take off on his own, then I can do this same. I won't let Hirono take this whole mission on his shoulders and leave. I don't want to leave Hirono alone anymore."
At the Space Station 59, Zakumi is sitting at his office, while a soldier brings food into his room. Zakumi likes to eat as much fat as possible, because his blue aura burns a lot of calories during the process of being active. While beginning to eat his burgers on his plate, more are brought by other soldiers.
„The prisoner will be sent to the Space Station 8, and I will be the one taking him there personally. I want to be there when they announce my promotion. When I'm gone, the town needs to be protected by you guys. I won't return probably, so don't disappoint me. Train harder than before and kill every threat that comes across you way. It's been almost four months since I've been assigned here, I can't believe that it was actually worth being patient in this town. I will get rid of every monster in this world.", and keeps on eating his burgers.
Takumi quietly steps each step of the stairs going down, while holding onto the gas mask. He decided to go out and check out the town with his own eyes. He already called Hirono multiple times, but was not able to reach him at all. The phone of Hirono was shut off. Takumi stops at the entrance of the house, and waits there for a minute.
Am I brave enough to step out the door? Am I brave enough to face what's on the outside? Am I brave enough to risk my life? I was covinced that I was able to do this, but I'm scared. It's impossible for me to step out of the door. I don't have anything except the gas mask that would ensure my survival. I am nothing compared to Hirono.
Takumi turns his back to the door and leans onto it, slowly sliding down, sitting on the floor. He knows that he's too weak to do this, and that was the part that hurt the most. Takumi was not able to move one bit from his current position.
The last monster is being killed by the soldiers, and the town gets quieter. The blood of the monsters are spread everywhere, while the ruins of the houses are left by Zakumi. An announcement happens all around the town through the security machines.
„Dear inhabitants of our beloved town, we hope you are safe and sound. We unfornutalety have to report unpleasant news. As you saw and felt earlier, an unknown source caused an explosion and created an earthquake, causing a little fear in everyones heart. The source has been eliminated by the Space Station, and there is no need to be scared anymore. We don't know if the unknown source will cause another earthquake again, but don't be afraid! We, the Space Station 59, are here to protect everyone living inside this town! Please be aware that the lockdown is still ongoing, even though the mist disappeared by the unknown source, the poisonous gas is still in the air. We are deeply sorry for any damage on personal objects or any injuries caused by the earthquake. If there is an emergency, please call our services for any support. We will be there for you. Be safe and stay out of the gas. Your Space Station 59."
All inhabitants of the town are relieved by the message of the Space Station 59. Even though a moment of fear appeared in everyones hearts, the announcement of the Space Station 59 relieved their minds. Once again, the Space Station is the hero of humanity. But the truth was different than what the people were believing.
After some time, the fog already covers the whole town again. The routine of being in the lockdown continues. At the same time, Zakumi prepares his departure, and packs his stuff. He repeats his last order another time to protect the town from monsters, and gets into the transporter. Hirono is in the back of the car. He is still unconscious. The burn marks are still visible, and nothing was given to Hirono to cover his body. Hirono was chained down like an animal. Zakumi starts the engine of the car and drives. He leaves the Space Station 59, the town and everything that happened in here behind. Zakumi drives while having a big smile on his face. He exits the town, but at the same time the fog as well. The nature in green can be seen again. Trees in different colors, flowers in different shapes, animals walking, eating and sleeping and the clear sky of the end of the summer. The so called doomed world doesn't look as chaotic with the beauty of the nature as it was described. Zakumi is driving through woods, roads filled with hills and through rivers. It's a long road to his destination, the Space Station 8.
The door bell rings, when Takumi is inside his room. It's the routine delivery of the security machines. Each day, in the morning and in the evening, the security machines bring groceries to each house. It's always the same delivery. Rice, bread, vegetables and fruits. In the morning fish and in the evening meat. If there are special requests, like not wanting to eat meat or fish, or wanting to have chocolate for example, it can also be requested. Takumi is sitting in front of his computer, and tries to catch up on the news. News are brought by the Space Station staff every day. The internet inside the contaminated regions is limited, it sometimes doesn't work. Takumi is trying to find out the source of the recent incidents, but no news about them are reported on any news page. Forums are speculating about some outer space beings causing damage to the world, but nothing was revealed from the side of the Space Station. Takumi looks at his phone, but Hirono still hasn't called him. He shuts his computer down, and heads downstairs in the kitchen. He looks out of the windows, and sees even more security machines patroling on the streets. The mother enters the kitchen as well, but Takumi doesn't realize it.
„What are looking at?", scaring Takumi all of a sudden.
„You've been acting weird since this morning. Did something happen? I know that you're concerned about Hirono. Did Hirono still not call you back?"
„I was just worried about the situation that is happening at the moment. This kind of explosion never happened before. I hope that everyone's alright."
„You heard the announcement of the Space Station, everything's under control. They will protect our peace and good living."
„I don't think that this can be called good living. We are literally trapped like rats."
„What's gotten in you all of a sudden? I don't know you like this."
„It's nothing.", and leaves the kitchen to go upstairs into his room.
Takumi inside his room looks at the mask again.
I don't care how scared I am, I'm going to find out the truth. I will learn the secrets of the gas. Hirono, I'm coming.
Takumi picks up the mask, locks up his door and puts his mask on to open the window. He looks around and sees the security machines still patrolling. Takumi carefully gets out of the window, and quickly climbs down the pipe to hide behind a bush. It's not easy to pass the security at this point, so Takumi waits for the perfect opportunity. There are a few cameras around the streets, but Takumi calculates those as well. He slowly moves inside the fog, while avoiding the cameras and security machines. His destination is the house of Hirono first. While moving carefully, Takumi increases his speed to reach his goal faster. Suddenly, Takumi hears a loud scream. It's a womans voice. It is an agonizing voice of pain. Takumi hears a few more differents screams from more directions. He doesn't know what's happening, and remembers the words of Hirono. Takumi successfully sneaks through the streets to reach the house of Hirono. Takumi can hear people talking the closer he gets. With the mask he's wearing, Takumi has also a perfect vision what's in front of him. Takumi sees two soldiers. Immediately, Takumi hides in the side street, listening what the soldiers are talking about.
„No, we haven't heard anything yet. I don't know how long it takes from hear to the Space Station 8."
„I am still curious. What's special about the Space Station 8?"
„Didn't you hear? There are the most criminal beings in the world, and also people like that guy earlier."
„Yeah, it shocked me to see someone besides our captain to have increadible strength."
„Well, both powers are technically not the same, but their source is the same."
„It must be nice to be able to wield such weapons. We are just soldiers that will never be able to achieve what the captain achieved."
„Unfortunately, it's their former captain. I wonder what the next captain will be like."
„This street is clear, let's move on to the next one. We've been wearing the mask for quite a while. It's the last thing I want to turn into a monster."
Both soldiers leave the street. Takumi is cofused by the conversation of the two soldiers. He immediately gets out of the side street once the soldiers disappear out of his range. He wonders, if the mask he's wearing is actually dangerous. Instead of trying to sneak around the building, Takumi enters the building through the front door. The second he closes the door behind, he takes out the mask.
„What's really going on here?", while looking at the mask.
Takumi gets up to the floor where the apartment of Hirono is. Since the lockdown, Hirono never even once locked his door. Takumi enters the apartment. It's dark. All the windows are closed. The house is clean. There is almost nothing in the fridge. He goes into Hironos room, and sees the remaining of the ripped clothes. It's completely silent. It's been months since he came to this apartment. He looks around, and sees books and games lying on the table. The books and the games haven't been moved for a while, it can be seen by the dust that is lying on them. He tries to call Hirono one more time, but fails to reach him. Takumi is desperate, and sits on the floor.
It's dark outside. Zakumi is still driving the car without taking a break. He wants to get to his destination as fast as possible. Hirono is still unconscious.
Hirono is sitting inside a field of white flowers. In this field, Hirono is skinny again and completely naked. Around the spot he's sitting, giant thorns are disabling Hirono to get out. He can't do nothing but to stay like that. Speechless, emotionless and without motion. As Hirono is like being frozen. His eyes are looking down on the ground, while his arms are wrapped around his knees. His skin tone is pale. It's like Hirono is not even alive. The burn marks, which he got during his fight against Zakumi, are even in here on his body. A few spots on the field of flowers are on fire. Even though the pain is not over, Hirono keeps on not moving.
„You look pathetic. Look at yourself, sitting like an helpless animal, waiting for it's death were it stands. Didn't you want power? Didn't you want to change your life? For what reason did you aquire that power? To be as useless as usual? Are you still the same? You are pathetic."
Hirono is still sitting motionless, while the field of flowers are completely burning away, leaving a field of ash.
„You burned your life away and now, you're burning the lifes of others. You shouldn't have grasped on something beyond you, when you are still weak to handle your weak mind. You will be the cause of the greatest doom, and the doom of your only friend."
The eyes of Hirono slowly roll up, to watch an extraordinary bigger flower get covered in flames.
Hirono slowly opens his eyes. He doesn't feel the burning anymore, but a shivering cold on his whole body. Yet, the pain didn't disappear. A huge blanket is covering his naked body, while he lies on a metallic ground. The place he's in is very dark, Hirono has a hard time to even see the ceiling. Despite the pain, Hirono stands up and tries to move around, but soon realizes that he has nowhere to move. Hirono is being held inside a small cell. There is no strength in him left to lift even his finger to break the bars open with his power. He remembers everything that happened so far, the monsters, how his town was destroyed and how he got defeated by Zakumi. He is no longer able to stand, as the pain is hurting his legs, and Hirono let's himself fall onto the blanket, hurting his whole body with the impact and causing a loud noise.
„You are finally awake. What a pain in my ass to actually sit here and wait for someone like you."
Hirono hears the voice, as he's hurting while lying. It's another prisoner being in a cell next to Hirono, making also Hirono wonder again where he is.
„I don't know why we have to go to such length for someone like you, even though you're not better than us. But what needs to be done, needs to be done. I've been waiting for you to wake up for over a month, you're a quite a sleeper. I didn't sign up to sit and wait actually, what a drag. Now that you are finally able to hear me, listen to my word closely. We are inside the Space Station 8, the biggest Space Station ever. It's also the main station, everything's controlled from this place. You were brought here for one reason, because of your supernatural powers. The Space Station 8 is exactly a place for people like us. There is a lot going on here, you probably got wind of that, but there is not enough time to talk about monster and supernatural powers right now. You will learn the truth about everything when all this is over. Get ready. We are breaking out of here."