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.
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!
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!
Nishikikouji Tohri, the Artist, the One and Only, has arrived!
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–
Wh… what… on earth is going on…?
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?
Hm?!
You two are…
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.
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?
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.
Asleep?!
Their brain activity is normal.
They’re all experiencing an extended period of REM sleep.
REM sleep… so then, they’re dreaming?
It would seem so.
What’s the problem, then?
You can just wake them up!
We can’t, and that’s the problem.
REM sleep is when the body sleeps, but the brain remains awake.
Normally you can wake someone experiencing it up quite easily, but–
We can slap their faces and shout in their ears all we want, but they don’t wake up.
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.
Unfortunately for us, the eclipse ended a while ago and they’re still asleep.
Do you suppose the clouds have something to do with that?
Quite possibly.
They gathered right as the eclipse ended, so we haven’t seen the moon since before it started.
It’s awfully hard to believe.
How could looking at the moon cause something like–
Comin’ through!
You really need to learn to tailor your speech to the occasion.
You are completely lacking in grace, and quite rude.
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–
When morning was coming and we thought we were going to wake up, morning didn’t come!
…who are you talking to?
The camera, of course!
These episodes weren’t all released at once, so people have probably forgotten what happened last time.
Being so directly aware of the camera seems a little unprofessional to me.
Whatever!
It’s better to give the readers a hand!
Mister King!
Are you in here?!
I’m gonna give you a piece of my mind!
His Royal Highness, The King!
Hello. I am The King.
Mister King!
You wretched little blob of lemon yogurt!
…The King was very scared.
Because the human girl had come with a scary face and a fierce voice.
He’s shrinking, Miss Tosaka.
Control yourself, before he disappears entirely.
What kind of wimp is he?!
Something isn’t right here, Mister King!
The night isn’t ending, and we aren’t waking up!
The night does not end.
You do not wake from the dream.
What are you talking about!?
Night is followed by a new morning!
And after that a new day!
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?
Uhh…
We seem to have arrived at riddles.
Aaaaughh…. common sense makes a very poor weapon in debates here!
Well, in that case… how can we get home?
The King said, there is no returning from the journey you have taken.
You should know this well.
The dead can never return to life.
Where did that come from?!
What do you mean, Mister King?
Isn’t this just some happy dream theme park, or something?
The King said, this is the land of dreams.
This is where birds who have died wait dreaming for the end of eternity.
That would make sense for me, but… your majesty, not all of the birds here are dead.
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?
Sometimes… not often, but sometimes, someone arrives here a little early.
But The King is kind, and so is always happy to entertain those who need to wait for proper citizenship.
No, thank you!!!
Let’s leave already, Nageki!
Do you think we should?
This does seem like the place for me…
Let’s go back to the school!
You don’t need some pushy King who forces people to stay in his country, either!
…indeed.
I can’t say I like it much.
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!
The King said, the train will not come.
Why not?!
The night will not end.
There is no station.
And the train will not come.
I… don’t follow the logic.
Is that really surprising, given who’s talking to you?
I’ve had enough!
We’re finding a way out on our own!
…well, that sounded really cool, but how are we going to get out?
The station we arrived it was right around–
There’s nothing here.
It’s gone.
Seems so…
Maybe it stops at a different platform when going the other way?
But I don’t see any platform, anywhere.
Umm, excuse me!
Citizens of this land!
Yes, Miss?
We are perfectly normal tourists, and we came here to sightsee–
Oh, how wonderful.
This is a very nice place.You’re welcome to move in.
No, we’re here to sightsee!
We don’t want to stay!
Is that right? Have you thought about staying permanently, then?
Stop repeating yourself!
What should we do, Nageki?
This is like verbal dodgeball…
I think we have to find our own way out, like you said.
And now… we need to figure out what to do.
Can’t you just wait for it to clear up again? Even if it doesn’t, shouldn’t sunlight work just as well?
No, we can’t.
The music stops.
We’ve got a time limit, you see.
What do you mean?
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.
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!
…
I want to head back in.
Do I have your permission?
…do you understand what you’re saying, Sakazaki Yuuya?
Head in?
Into the world of dreams?
I’m a messenger of dreams. Sounds pretty romantic, doesn’t it?
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.
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.
Your job here isn’t to take a hit for your younger brother.
Can you promise me you’ll act with discretion?
…yes sir.
I can.
Leone JB warns Yuuya not to do the thing he does in BBL. He can see your weak spots, Yuuya.
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.
Yes, sir!
W-w-w-w-w-w-wait just a minute!
What’s in that bottle! Is that stuff legal?
And those are… sleeping pills?!
Yes?
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.
Gah…!
This can’t possibly be good for you… don’t come crying to me if you start experiencing embarrassingly personal side-effects!
Everything has a price. If you’ve got a goal in mind, you’d better be prepared to pay up.
Here are the electrodes.
I’ll be keeping an eye on the monitor.
You ready, Sakazaki Yuuya?
Yes, sir.
Aaaargh…
G-geez!
Fine, I get it!
I’ll help, too!
Why are you so angry all of a sudden?
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?
Can you do something about them?
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?!
I see. Certainly sounds impressive.
How soon can you be ready?
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!
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!