LP00

 

Alright everyone, get out your tissues! Hatoful Boyfriend is back to its most ruthless. There were also be a lot of gifs about this chapter, so if you’re epileptic you may want to download a gif-halting browser extension before continuing.

000

Y… pr… d… we… uld… to… er.
…tho… u… I… ught… y… ne… un… od… me.
…be… ved… ou.
W…
W…y?

W… y… id… you… is… me?


 

Tohri

Wahaha!
At last, the day is come!

001

tohri

The day of my final victory over you…
Isa! Souma!

I know you are here tonight.
My heart flutters just imagining your ungainly form prostrating itself in fear before my new weapon!

Look up at the night sky!
The stars! The moon! They all give me their blessings in this, my decisive moment of artistry!

Nevermind, it seems to have clouded over.

Hmph! Can’t the weather try to read the atmosphere just a little?!
Come on, you ninnies! The star player has arrived at last. Show a little enthusiasm!

Bah, it is of no matter.
Nothing can overshadow my day of glory, now!

Prepare yourself for the end, Isa Souma!

002

tohri2

Nishikikouji Tohri, the Artist, the One and Only, has arrived!

tohri2

Tremble before me, pitiful fools!
Wait, no, give applause for the glory you are about to witness!
Tonight, I unveil my…

Didn’t I just ask for applause?!
What is this silliness?
This is my grand entrance! You must–

003

tohri2

Wh… what… on earth is going on…?

yuuya1

Ah, good Mister Editor-in-Chief! I’m afraid we’re in the middle of a sexy and gradual process at the moment.
Could it wait?

004

tohri2

Hm?!
You two are…

one

Nishikikouji Tohri… right?
As you can see, we’re a little busy.

We really don’t need more problems right now, so just sit tight and hold it, kiddo.

…hm, actually, I suppose you’re not that young anymore.

tohri2

How rude!
I still have my youthful vigor!!!

More importantly, what’s going on?
This is entirely too strange.
Could you fill me in a little, please?

yuuya1

Would that we could.
If anybirdie here does know what’s going on, please speak up.

Everyone gathered here in order to see the total lunar eclipse. And the eclipse started.
So far, everything is fine. It’s just a normal school outing.

But then things went wrong.

When the last corner of the moon was hidden, everyone here fell asleep.

tohri2

Asleep?!

one

Their brain activity is normal.
They’re all experiencing an extended period of REM sleep.

tohri2

REM sleep… so then, they’re dreaming?

yuuya1

It would seem so.

tohri2

What’s the problem, then?
You can just wake them up!

yuuya1

We can’t, and that’s the problem.

one

REM sleep is when the body sleeps, but the brain remains awake.
Normally you can wake someone experiencing it up quite easily, but–

yuuya1

We can slap their faces and shout in their ears all we want, but they don’t wake up.

one

An entire astronomical observation group falling asleep at once… it’s strange, but not unheard of. I suppose it’s a form of mass hysteria.

I’ve heard that in past cases the birds involved have woken up by themselves when the moon becomes visible again.

yuuya1

Unfortunately for us, the eclipse ended a while ago and they’re still asleep.

005

tohri2

Do you suppose the clouds have something to do with that?

one

Quite possibly.
They gathered right as the eclipse ended, so we haven’t seen the moon since before it started.

tohri2

It’s awfully hard to believe.
How could looking at the moon cause something like–

black

 


 

013

hiyoko

Comin’ through!

nageki4

You really need to learn to tailor your speech to the occasion.
You are completely lacking in grace, and quite rude.

hiyoko

The people here are the ones being rude!
There’s something wrong with a place where dawn doesn’t follow predawn!

Nageki and I came to this dream country, the Holiday Star, on the night train.

We got to run errands for mister forward king, and we got to see our friends, and it all seemed like good fun, but–

hiyoko

When morning was coming and we thought we were going to wake up, morning didn’t come!

nageki4

…who are you talking to?

hiyoko

The camera, of course!
These episodes weren’t all released at once, so people have probably forgotten what happened last time.

nageki4

Being so directly aware of the camera seems a little unprofessional to me.

Whatever!
It’s better to give the readers a hand!

hiyoko

Mister King!
Are you in here?!
I’m gonna give you a piece of my mind!

king1

His Royal Highness, The King!

014

king1

Hello. I am The King.

hiyoko

Mister King!
You wretched little blob of lemon yogurt!

king2

…The King was very scared.
Because the human girl had come with a scary face and a fierce voice.

nageki4

He’s shrinking, Miss Tosaka.
Control yourself, before he disappears entirely.

What kind of wimp is he?!

hiyoko

Something isn’t right here, Mister King!
The night isn’t ending, and we aren’t waking up!

king1

The night does not end.
You do not wake from the dream.

hiyoko

What are you talking about!?
Night is followed by a new morning!
And after that a new day!

king1

The King said, the Holiday does not end on the Holiday star.
The Holiday is forever.

The King asked, if a new day were to come, would the Holiday not have to end?
Would that not be strange?

hiyoko

Uhh…

nageki4

We seem to have arrived at riddles.

hiyoko

Aaaaughh…. common sense makes a very poor weapon in debates here!

Well, in that case… how can we get home?

king1

The King said, there is no returning from the journey you have taken.
You should know this well.

006

king

The dead can never return to life.

Where did that come from?!

hiyoko

What do you mean, Mister King?
Isn’t this just some happy dream theme park, or something?

king1

The King said, this is the land of dreams.
This is where birds who have died wait dreaming for the end of eternity.

nageki4

That would make sense for me, but… your majesty, not all of the birds here are dead.

hiyoko

And there’s a living human right here!

We… didn’t do anything aside from watching the eclipse, right?

Maybe we got hit by a gigantic meteor? If we died that suddenly, we might… arrive in the land of the dead while still alive?

king1

Sometimes… not often, but sometimes, someone arrives here a little early.

king

But The King is kind, and so is always happy to entertain those who need to wait for proper citizenship.

No, thank you!!!

hiyoko

Let’s leave already, Nageki!

nageki4

Do you think we should?
This does seem like the place for me…

hiyoko

Let’s go back to the school!
You don’t need some pushy King who forces people to stay in his country, either!

nageki4

…indeed.
I can’t say I like it much.

hiyoko

We can get back to the school on the train we took to get here, right?
We’ll go home whether you want us to or not!
Don’t bother to see us off!

king1

The King said, the train will not come.

hiyoko

Why not?!

king1

The night will not end.
There is no station.
And the train will not come.

hiyoko

I… don’t follow the logic.

nageki4

Is that really surprising, given who’s talking to you?

hiyoko

I’ve had enough!
We’re finding a way out on our own!

 


011

…well, that sounded really cool, but how are we going to get out?

The station we arrived it was right around–

nageki3

There’s nothing here.
It’s gone.

hiyoko

Seems so…

Maybe it stops at a different platform when going the other way?
But I don’t see any platform, anywhere.

hiyoko

Umm, excuse me!
Citizens of this land!

citizen

Yes, Miss?

hiyoko

We are perfectly normal tourists, and we came here to sightsee–

citizen

Oh, how wonderful.
This is a very nice place.

You’re welcome to move in.

hiyoko

No, we’re here to sightsee!
We don’t want to stay!

citizen

Is that right? Have you thought about staying permanently, then?

Stop repeating yourself!

hiyoko

What should we do, Nageki?
This is like verbal dodgeball…

nageki3

I think we have to find our own way out, like you said.


 

004

one

And now… we need to figure out what to do.

tohri2

Can’t you just wait for it to clear up again? Even if it doesn’t, shouldn’t sunlight work just as well?

one

No, we can’t.

The music stops.

yuuya1

We’ve got a time limit, you see.

tohri2

What do you mean?

one

Avian brains are unstable things, barely out of a period of rapid, unnatural development.
And right now, everybirdie on the ground here is suffering from a disconnect between their brains and their bodies.

If we leave them for too long, they won’t be able to wake up again.
They’ll be stuck dreaming until they die.

…that said, I don’t know what will happen with the human.

tohri2

What?!
So they’ll all become vegetables?!

Isa! Isa Souma, you cretin!
Wake up!
If you’re going to slip into an eternal dream at least do it after being appropriately awed by my artistry!

yuuya1

I want to head back in.
Do I have your permission?

one

…do you understand what you’re saying, Sakazaki Yuuya?

tohri2

Head in?
Into the world of dreams?

yuuya1

I’m a messenger of dreams. Sounds pretty romantic, doesn’t it?

one

One of the victims, Shirogane Sakuya, is a relative of Sakazaki’s.
Sakazaki can synchronize with his brain waves and access his dreams, if he follows the right procedure.

yuuya1

It’s a very strange thing.
Everyone here is seeing the exact same dream — almost like a field trip for the soul.

Last time I went in I confirmed a few of them aside from Sakuya.
And I suspect if I can spur them into action directly, we can get them out of there.

one

Your job here isn’t to take a hit for your younger brother.
Can you promise me you’ll act with discretion?

yuuya1

…yes sir.
I can.

Leone JB warns Yuuya not to do the thing he does in BBL. He can see your weak spots, Yuuya.

one

Understood.
Your orders, Sakazaki, are to enter the dream through Shirogane Sakuya, extract the people trapped inside, and pull out.

This will only be a success if everyone comes out alive.
That includes you, Sakazaki Yuuya.

yuuya1

Yes, sir!

tohri2

W-w-w-w-w-w-wait just a minute!

What’s in that bottle! Is that stuff legal?
And those are… sleeping pills?!

yuuya1

Yes?

one

He’s about to enter someone else’s dream.
If he wants to get in, he doesn’t have much of a choice.
This isn’t something to do on a whim.

tohri2

Gah…!

This can’t possibly be good for you… don’t come crying to me if you start experiencing embarrassingly personal side-effects!

yuuya1

Everything has a price. If you’ve got a goal in mind, you’d better be prepared to pay up.

one

Here are the electrodes.
I’ll be keeping an eye on the monitor.
You ready, Sakazaki Yuuya?

yuuya1

Yes, sir.

tohri2

Aaaargh…

G-geez!
Fine, I get it!
I’ll help, too!

one

Why are you so angry all of a sudden?

tohri2

I’m not angry!
I just can’t stand being here with you two stealing all the dramatic roles! Let me do something, too!

You want to get rid of those clouds, yes?

one

Can you do something about them?

tohri2

Just who do you think I am?

I am the man once known as “The Crawler”, the former head of the Second Optical Ordinance Division!
And now I go by “The Champion Bad Guy” –I am the greatest adviser in the artistic research sector, Nishikikouji Tohri!

Do you think my new weapon can’t handle a few puny clouds?!

one

I see. Certainly sounds impressive.
How soon can you be ready?

tohri2

Wind speed, air temperature, humidity… Once I’ve collected some meteorological data my calculations will be simple.
Give me twenty minutes, and I shall unveil my masterpiece!

yuuya1

So you’ll be cracking the dream from the outside while I go at it from the inside?
Sounds good.

I’m going under. Adieu!

Part 2>