Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo had to beg for a day off from school, although sensei didn't want them to miss out on their education. But Nobita's disappearance had worried him, and he hoped that the boy would be found soon.
Just days after Nobita went missing, news of the missing boy spread throughout Tokyo, with reports and missing posters everywhere. Nobita's mother was still in the hospital; she had fallen into a coma. Nobita's father, Nobisuke, had to leave work early every day to take care of her.
Dorami received a picture from a police station and CCTV footage near the busy streets of Tokyo, which gave the group a clue about Nobita's last whereabouts: An orphanage. He seemed to be carrying a large green bag, unknown to what it was filled with. The group decided to keep their fingers crossed and investigate.
"I've been wondering..." Suneo suddenly spoke as the group walked towards their destination. "Absolute knows Nobita, right? Shizuka says that we have 5 days to find him before he gets killed, but Suneo trailed off, his mind seemingly trying to process the events that had happened so far.
"But?" Giant nudged Suneo to continue.
"Absolutely acts as if he knows Nobita, and he keeps taunting us like he knows Nobita's whereabouts. If so, then why wait 5 days when he could just kill him now?" Suneo asked...
They all felt dread crawling up in their throats as they thought about it. Why would Absolute not kill Nobita and wait 5 days? Was it to give them a head start? to play with them? Either way, they had an orphanage to investigate.
Absolute stopped in his tracks, making Riruru bump into his back. Absolute raised his eyebrows as he saw Nobita in front of a lamp post, the boy's fingers gently caressing the missing poster of him.
"Does the entire state know I'm missing?" Nobita whispered to himself, Absolute gave a sigh as he walked to where Nobita was standing."
"It looks like you're famous." Absolute gave a slight smirk as he tore the missing poster from the lamp post, crumpling it before throwing it away. "Nobita, there is no time to waste. They're going to find you if we linger here too long." Absolute reasoned with him, hoping to get the boy moving, but Nobita's gaze was glued on the crumpled missing poster.
"I think this is a bad idea."
Absolute raised an eyebrow. Had Nobita said that his idea was a bad idea!? What's with him all of a sudden?
"What are you talking about?
"I think I should go back. They're all worried." Nobita suggested, afraid to look at Absolute's gaze. They had come this far, and he finally decides to back out. ...A sudden chuckle from the boy made Nobita look at him in surprise.
"What are you talking about? Do you want to go back? to them?" Absolute said in a questioning tone
"They're all worried. Maybe I should." Nobita suddenly stopped as his throat went dry. Absolute's gaze penetrated him as his seemingly permanent smile disappeared from his features. The Absolute here was different compared to his cocky and smiling counterpart.
"No, I won't let you." The boy growled as his eyes seemingly glowed red. His aura suddenly felt dark and cold, which made Nobita's spine shiver.
Absolute noticed Nobita's frightened expression, realizing what he was doing. He took a deep breath and calmed down as his cold aura disappeared. "Nobita..listen to me."
Absolute walked slowly past Nobita as the boy made no move to back away from him. "This is all a lie." He pointed it out as he turned back to look at Nobita's expression.
Nobita raised an eyebrow. A lie? "What do you mean?"
"They are caring about you. Look, Nobita. Just face reality. They don't care about you." Absolute said, emphasizing "don't" in his sentence.
"But if they didn't care about me, they wouldn't be out here looking for me."
Nobita made a point, but Absolute shook his head. "That's what they want you to think. Remember what they did to you? "They made you suffer. They beat you up. They treated you like trash." Absolute pointed out, "And the only reason they're searching for you? is to release their stress. They want to take you back to make you suffer again..beat you up again..and again.
Nobita's eyes widened as he thought about it. It was true. They did treat him like trash. So, what does that mean?
"Yes, Nobita. All the adventures and good times you had with them mean nothing. And trust me. I've experienced this thing before, so I know how you feel." Absolute answered as if he could read Nobita's mind on what Nobita wanted to ask next. Absolute slowly walked back to Nobita and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"The world is a cold and cruel place," he said as he slowly made his way back to Riruru, "but if you want to go back, I won't stop you." Absolute trailed off as he turned back to face Nobita. "So choose Nobita..it's either going back to those so-called family and friends..or come with me..your partner.."
Absolute gave a smirk as he extended a hand.
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"Yes, the boy was a strange one. I found him knocking on the door once and he handed me a bag. It was filled with books and toys. He said he'd like to donate them to the children of the orphanage." the caretaker answered.
"Do you know where he is now?" Shizuka asked, but the caretaker shook her head.
"No, but he did go in that direction, probably on his way to the famous sightseeing spot on the hill." The caretaker answered, immediately lighting up the group's bumped-out mood.
"Thank you very much..." Doraemon thanked the group as they made their way in the said direction.
"Why do you think Nobita would go to the hill?" Giant asked as he scratched his head, "If he wanted to go to the hill, does that mean he wanted to commit suicide? The group thought of the same thing and felt their hearts fill with dread.
"I don't know..but we gotta quickly-" Suneo was cut off when Doraemon suddenly stopped in front of him. Suneo smashed his nose first into the cat's head.
"Oi, why did you stop suddenly?" Giann shouted... That's when their eyes landed on the figure on top of the hill.
"Nobita!?"
"Let's rest here." Absolute announced, Nobita and Riruru collapsed, both exhausted from their journey. Absolute raised an eyebrow and said, "Gee, we only walked for 3 hours... Don't tell me you two are tired already."
"Says who? We don't have great stamina." Nobita argued and absolutely chuckled as he helped Riruru up. "Perhaps I and Riruru will grab a drink from the stand nearby. We'll be right back." Absolute," he said as he and Riruru went to find a nearby stand to buy drinks. Nobita sighed as he got up and walked over to the hill, staring down. He could have easily ended his life right now, but he didn't want to. Not when he found a true friend to walk by his side.
"Nobita!?"
Nobita heard his name being called out. Oh no, that voice. It can't be. Nobita turned his head and confirmed his fears as he wished that he had jumped off the cliff sooner. He wanted to run, but with the cliff behind him, he had nowhere to run! He needed a place to hide—to run away! Where is Absolute!?
"Nobita! We were so worried!" Shizuka cried, seeing them finally find him. Acting all sad and happy to see him made his blood boil. What kind of sick human beings are they? They did all those things to him, and they have the nerve to act all worried and happy!
"Get away from me!" Nobita shouted, his anger taking the best of him as the group stopped in their tracks, shocked at the boy's sudden outburst.
"N-Nobita?"
'Don't you "N-Nobita" me, Robot!" Nobita growled, "You act all so worried about me. Well, I know how you guys act now. It's no use fooling me!" Never again will he be caught up in their lies. Never again.
"What the heck are you talking about!? We broke our backs day and night just looking for you!" Gian reasoned
"Don't lie. I'm not coming back with you." Nobita spat again as he took a step back, ready to jump off the cliff if he needed to.
"Nobita?" A shy and timid voice called out. "Absolutely asked what drink does." Riruru paused as she noticed the group in front of her and spotted the crazy girl from before. Her eyes widened with fear as she slowly turned back to Nobita. "N-Nobita? "What's going on?"
"Riruru..run.." Nobita warned; he had made a plan. He would jump off the cliff with Riruru, getting to Absolute before these poor excuses for humans got her.
"Doraemon! We need to get Riruru! "We may have clues on what's going on!" Dorami commanded that they needed to solve the mystery that has been haunting them ever since Suneo pointed it out before. Agreeing, the group split up to get both Nobita and Riruru at once.
Nobita dodged underneath Gian's grasp and rolled away to avoid Suneo pinning him down. He had to get to Riruru quickly. Riruru, meanwhile, had time as Shizuka and Dorami slowly approached her, not wanting to scare Riruru even more.
Dodging another pounce from Suneo, Nobita jumped away from a charging Giant, who crashed into Doraemon, with them tangled in a mess. Nobita pushed Dorami and Shizuka away from Riruru with a shoulder tackle, knocking both the girls at once off their feet. Nobita ran up to Riruru to take her hand.
"We've got to move now!"
Riruru nodded, but before they could even move, something prevented their legs from moving. Nobita noticed giant goo had formed on their legs... (A/N: the same glue that stopped Ichi and Chiko. I forgot the name of the gadget. It was in a Doraemon long-story manga.) He tried pulling his leg, but it was stuck.
'Geez, I didn't think you'd show up early," said the voice that made the group shiver. Absolute was now standing before them. "I was wondering what was taking Riruru so long to ask Nobita. It turns out it's just you fools meddling again." Absolute growled. He didn't like Riruru and Nobita immobilized by this group of trash.
"It's done, Absolute. The game is done. We've found Nobita first!" Giant declared, Absolute made an "o' with his mouth as he turned back to Nobita, a smirk on his features."
"See what I told you, Nobita? Searching for you was a game to them. You mean nothing to them."
The group gaped with shock. What did "absolute" mean? .. Nobita's eyes started to sting with tears. "I knew it. I knew Absolute was right. I mean nothing to you."
Absolute blew the group back with a shockwave as he created a dark portal.
"Riruru... Nobita... get in now! we're leaving!" Absolute ordered as he broke the glue with a snap of his fingers. Both Riruru and Nobita were free and entered the portal. Absolute smirked as the portal began to close.
"You all are really annoying..."
"What the hell did you tell Nobita!?" Suneo screamed
Absolute smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. "I told him everything... the truth... now turn back.. .for your journey to bring Nobita back is over." Absolute pointed it out as he suddenly faded away.
The group got up from their fall as they processed what just happened. Nobita was actually with Absolute. Nobita hated them so much that he joined the S-rank criminals. Have they really failed to bring Nobita back?
"No, we're not done yet." Don't give up, guys." Dorami encouraged herself as she pulled something out of her pocket. "Because I know where exactly Absolute will be next."