black

Nageki and Hitori, untangled from The King’s wreckage, and I, fall through the stars.

135

We touch down in a field of silver grass.
It is like nothing we saw inside the egg, or in the beautiful dream kingdom.

136

ryouta5

Hiyoko!

hiyoko

Ryouta!
I’m so glad you all made it out okay!

ryouta5

Yeah.
And we knew you’d get out just fine, Hiyoko.

And… you too, Nageki. You did really well. It must have been hard.

nageki6

I’m fine.

okosan5

Cooooooooooo!
(Nageki is tough! He has the soul of a buff, manly man!)

yuuya5

I don’t want to think about where we’d be right now if you two hadn’t broken through back there.

I’m really quite grateful.
Thank you, Nageki.

nageki6

…right.

137

sakuya4

Hmph! You call yourself a hero of justice, but you can’t even get by without relying on your juniors, can you?!

yuuya5

Well, that’s a little harsh.
I’d never seen anything like this before, either– can’t you cut me a little slack?

sakuya4

Hmph. You are too sloppy!
You never manage to do anything without slipping up.

But… I suppose there is no harm in considering there to be some value in your efforts to come rescue us.

yuuya5

Why thank you.
That alone makes all of this worth it.

mirukaku2

Merry Christmas!
(Miru and Kaku will praise you, too!)

Merry Christmas!
(GJ! GJ!)

ryuuji4

Hey there! Looks like everybody’s together again!

hiyoko

Oh, Mister Migrant!

138

shuu5

ryuuji4

Aww, come on! Do you have to look so angry, old friend?
Your forehead’s gonna end up permanently creased!

hiyoko

Wait… you know the Doctor?

shuu5

No, we’re complete strangers.

ryuuji4

Ouch… that’s cold…

Anyway, let me introduce my new friends!
Over here, guys!

139

hiyoko

!

More of the pushy peasants!
I’ve heard enough out of you lot!

ryuuji4

Don’t worry! They’re all going back to being migrants, like me.

citizen4

Aaaah, my shoulders are so stiff!

That was a long nap… man, I could eat a horse!

Wow, what a dream! Wow!

140

Hey! Don’t go stealing my lines!

nageki6

…the birds The King had absorbed?

ryuuji4

Yeah, that’s them!
We’re all going back to wandering the night sky.
You too, of course!

141

king11

I don’t want to! I’m scared…!

Where’d he come from?

hiyoko

Mister King, you’re way too quiet! I didn’t even realize you were here!

king11

I’m so tiny now… just leave me alone…!

ryuuji4

That’s no good.
If we left you on your own here, you’d just do the same thing again, wouldn’t you?

Besides, traveling the stars isn’t that bad! You don’t need to be scared.

king11

You’re lying!
You don’t know where the train will go either, do you?!

ryuuji4

Nope! That’s what traveling’s all about!

king11

Waaaaaah!

hiyoko

You made The King cry, Mister!
You meanie!

ryuuji4

Wait, you mean me?!
Since when am I the bad guy?!

nageki6

It looks like you are now.

ryuuji4

L-look, I’m sorry, okay?
I didn’t mean it like that… uhh…

When we return our names to the stars, we’re leaving on a journey into the night.

We make all sorts of memories while we’re alive, right? Good ones and bad ones.

All that baggage is too heavy. We can’t carry it with us into our next lives.
So we journey through the night sky, letting our memories go a little bit at a time.

king11

I don’t want to!
Forgetting is scary!

ryuuji4

But if you keep clinging to your memories, you can never be reborn.

We’re like stones washing down a river.
You might start as a big, jagged lump, but as you keep washing along, you get worn down until you’re round and smooth.
The sparks as your corners chip off are what make the stars shine.

And when you’ve journeyed through the night sky until you can’t get any rounder, you turn into an egg and fall back to Earth.

king11

Back there again?!

hiyoko

Don’t you want to be reborn, Mister King?

king11

Noooo!
I don’t want to go through all that again!

ryuuji4

Come on, it won’t be all bad!

…well, I guess it might be. You never know!

king11

Waaaaaah!!!

hiyoko

You made him cry again!

142

143

conductor1

The King’s Station!
The King’s Station!

Leaving on a journey? Heading home? This is the line for you, either way.

This is the Earth-Southern Cross line, that’s right.
The train to Earth will be coming next.
Don’t get on the wrong one!

citizen4

It’s the train!
Come on, before it leaves!

Come with us, Your Highness.
Oh, would you like a caramel?

king11

-sniff-…

ryuuji4

Beautiful scenery! Jolly companions!
What a wonderful day!
Come on, let’s go.

142

ryuuji4

…oh, right!

138

ryuuji4

I completely forgot!
Come here for a second, old friend.

shuu5

…please, don’t act so familiar.

ryuuji4

Let me give you a present before I leave!
As proof of our friendship.

Hmm, give me a minute… what do I have…?
Sorry, I can never keep my things straight.

shuu5

Indeed.
You’re always picking up useless gew-gaws, and you never put them in order.

ryuuji4

Uhh… ahh, here we are!
I picked this up in Orion’s Belt.

It’s a fossil!
Look at it! Isn’t it cool? It’s huge!

shuu5

…are you a child?

ryuuji4

Hey, geology is fun, too!
You should try going on an excavation sometime. I bet you’d love it!

shuu5

I shall… keep it in mind.

Their chemistry murders me.

144

ryuuji4

And you!

ryouta5

…?
Me?

ryuuji4

Let me give you… this amber.
Isn’t it pretty?

ryouta5

Err… yes, it is. But why are you giving it to me?

ryuuji4

I actually meant to give it to you a long, long time ago…

Sorry, I’ve got to go.
Take care of your mother, okay?

ryouta5

I…

142

conductor1

All aboard for the Southern Cross!
We missing anybody?

nageki6

…what about me?

Oh…

I completely forgot.
We fought The King with all we had so we could all go home, including Nageki, but…

Maybe that’s not where he needs to go.

hiyoko

What do… what do you want to do, Nageki?

nageki6

I…

I want to stay on Earth a little longer.
There’s still so much I want to see.

Maybe this is greedy of me.
Maybe I’m being selfish, like The King.
But–

There are still important things that I need to remember.
I can’t release memories into the night if I don’t have them.

So, I want… time, until I either remember everything, or replace it with new memories.

conductor1

I dunno, kiddo.
We never recommend haunting as a deathstyle choice, you know?
Too easy to go all black and bitter.

hiyoko

You mean Nageki could turn into something like The King?
I really don’t think he would do that…

nageki6

If I start turning bad, I’ll get on the same train as The King.

hiyoko

Is Nageki not allowed to stay with us, Mister Conductor…?

conductor1

Like I said, I can’t recommend it.
But you said you’ve lost your memories?

If you don’t have any ill will left over from your lifetime, you’ll probably be okay.

And mister, you burned up your free pass.

You don’t look like you have any other tickets, so you’ll have to wait until they’re reissued anyway.

hiyoko

So, Nageki can…!

conductor1

For now, he can go back to Earth.

nageki6

…all right.

hiyoko

Yay!
I’m so glad, Nageki!

nageki6

For better or worse, I suppose.

hiyoko

This is definitely for better!
You wanted to go home yourself, after all.

And if the conductor had tried to force you on he would have gotten a taste of my right straight, left uppercut combo, anyway!

conductor1

Hey now, I’m not looking for any trouble!

…what’s a human girl doing at the birds’ station, anyway?
This is all getting kind of weird.

Last call for the Southern Cross!
The train’s pulling out!

135

The train climbs upwards into the starry sky.
I hope The King and the others have a nice trip!

hiyoko

Come on, everyone! Let’s go home!

145

nanaki5


We release our unhappy memories, and are born again.

I can’t escape mine.
I can only go on and make more.
But…

When I touched his wing–

The school bell rings.

nanaki1

And that’s all for your sophomore year.
Take care, everyone!

story13

So that’s the end of the semester… I guess we have spring break now, but we have to plan ahead for exams, so it’s not so exciting.

okosan1

Coooooo!
(Release, aah, glorious release!
Until we meet again, loyal friends!)

hiyoko

I wonder what kind of class I’ll be in next year? I hope we’re all together again.

sakuya1

Hmph, that would promise to be another unpleasantly noisy year.
I hope you all will have learned to behave yourselves by then!

okosan1

Cooo!
(Okosan is always behaving himself!)

sakuya1

You’re the worst of the lot!

ryouta2

Hey, Hiyoko.
Are you doing anything over the weekend?

hiyoko

The weekend?
Aside from Sunday morning TV, no. Why do you ask?

ryouta2

Umm… I was wondering if we could meet up somewhere.

hiyoko

Of course!
Gosh, you don’t have to be so formal, Ryouta!

ryouta2

I guess that’s true. I’ll send you an e-mail, okay?
See you!

 

030

Something crashes.

mirukaku1

Merry Christmas!
(SHOCK!!!)

yuuya1

Have you two knocked another flask over?
I keep telling you two not to go running around the infirmary.

mirukaku1

Merry Christmas!
(Miru and Kaku didn’t do anything!)

yuuya1

Huh?

shuu6

…I’m sorry, my wing slipped.

yuuya1

You’re the last one I’d have expected to see break something, Doctor.

shuu6

I was thinking about… things.

…in any case, I’ve lost my concentration now.
I think I would do well to take a little air.
I shall leave early.

yuuya1

He seems to be recovering a lot more slowly than me.
I wonder if he saw something particularly terrifying in that dream.

Anyway, time to clean this up.
Could you two get me the broom?

mirukaku1

Merry Christmas!

story51

tohri3

Last time my grand plans were swept aside by some unrelated and thoroughly ridiculous incident, but–

Today, I settle the score!
You shall have a front row seat for the (second) unveiling of my wonderful masterpiece now!

Prepare yourself, Isa Souma!
The artistic weapon I shall unveil today is–

one3

 Your target isn’t here, not-so-young kiddo.

tohri3

Wh-what…?
And hey, what kind of name is that?!
I am offended!

one3

Iwamine Shuu went home.
There’s nothing for you to do here.

tohri3

What rotten luck!
This is too much!
Where does he live? I’ll break in through his window if I have to!

story48

anghel1

And here the commander, the Snow-Demon Sage, falls.
Overcome with anger, the Disciple of the Violet Rose, reaches out the forbidden-

hiyoko

Wait, Anghel… didn’t the Disciple of the Violet Rose go across the border to train himself in the last chapter?
Even if the Snow-Demon Sage loses, won’t it take him a while to find out?

anghel1

!
I see… yes, that is correct, Edel Blau.
This is a terrible contradiction! It stinks of the Demon Spores…

This is a little puzzling. I wonder if there was some translation disagreements here. In Absolute Zero, Yuuya is the “Disciple of the Violet Rose”, but who is the “Snow Demon Sage”? Could it be… foreshadowing?!

hiyoko

These Demon Spores sure are scary, Anghel!
Come on, let’s think about how the Disciple of the Violet Rose should make his fall into darkness, okay?

Noooo!

anghel1

Very well. In accordance with the contracts of old!

nageki1

…you two are awfully noisy.
Be quiet in the library.

147

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