The otter suddenly came bursting out of Enta’s nostrils. “How foolish. But we’ll still take those four plates…”
BANG!
The creature’s head was suddenly blown off by a bullet, giving it a warped silhouette.
“Not on my watch!” At some point, Reo retrieved the other four plates. The sign on his gun currently read Attack.
The now-headless otter floated up through the air and turned to face Reo. “What an otter surprise. What’s this about, Reo? You don’t care what happens to Mabu?”
Up until now, he’d been controlled by those words. That ended today.
“I don’t need that puppet! I’m going to use these plates to bring back the real Mabu!”
“What an otter fool you are. Allow me to enlighten you,” said the otter. Static ran across its body.
A long, thin bridge stretched high over the cylindrical floor, with pillars standing all around it. At the end of this bridge stood Mabu, facing the otter. “Now, Mabu,” it said. “It’s time to make your wish come true.”
Mabu fell gently backward, pulled by gravity. There was nothing beneath him but air. Below, darkness opened its jaws to swallow him up. Lying in wait for its prey at the bottom was a taiko-shaped engine spewing pitch-black flames.
It all happened in slow motion.
Even in moments like this, Mabu’s heart pulsed in a perfectly normal rhythm. It would never thrum again as it once had.
I thought being near you would be enough for me. But if I can’t have your heart again, then I want to at least fulfill this selfish desire of mine, Mabu thought.
Mabu’s plummet into the large taiko drum housing Black Keppi lasted only a few seconds. The closest person watching it happen was Reo. His mind went blank. He even forgot to breathe. Despite how light Mabu’s body looked, it still obeyed the force of gravity as it fell.
Slowly, Mabu turned his head to face Reo. The latter couldn’t peel his eyes away.
Stop it. I don’t want to look. Stop. This can’t be happening.
Mabu stared straight back at Reo the whole time. Then, for just a second, right at the very end…he smiled.
“Mabuuuuuuuuuuu!”
Reo’s cry tore through the air, just as it had once before in the past.
Scene 4
“VERDICT: Desire. Mabu: Transform.”
Mabu’s transformed Zombie body was transported to the Azuma Bridge.
Reo was utterly confused. “I don’t get it! What is he thinking?!”
What was the purpose of this? How stupid. Was it Reo’s fault?
“That’s up to you to find out, ribbit. If you’re prepared to see Mabu’s desire for yourself, I can help,” Keppi said quietly.
Is he telling me to do what I think he is? Reo wondered. All by myself?
“Shit…” Reo aimed his gun and shot at the restraining device holding Keppi hostage. Then he whipped himself around and leaned his butt out. “Do it now!”
Keppi shouted, “Sing that song!”
A familiar pain shot through Reo’s butt, one that he hadn’t felt for a while.
Reo landed inside Azuma Bridge’s Desire Field. A large number of Mabu’s ningyo-yaki were being gathered on top of it. The Mabu Zombie was at their center, his back facing Reo as he
sipped away at his green tea. The cup was Reo’s favorite, one with the word Desire written on it.
Reo sang the odd lines of the song while Mabu’s voice cut in periodically to join him:
There is something I have to take back.
—Our connection.
Before the person I like figures things out, there’s something I must take back.
—Our connection.
Something no one else can find out about.
—This secret.
Long ago, back when Reo and Mabu were still Keppi’s servants, the three of them would perform Sarazanmai. They could never have known back then that the future would lead them here.
“Kappature it!” Keppi’s voice brought Kappa-Reo back to his senses as he dashed toward Mabu Zombie.
Their song continued:
You and I
—Should be connected together.
Desire, confirm the meaning
Of life.
—Burst open.
Swim through life, grab success.
—You can believe that
This is love.
Serve up your soul on a plate, stack them up
Catch the ball.
—Pluck it out.
Mabu Zombie got down on all fours. All preparations were complete.
Make my wish come true.
Sarazanmai!
Hardened with resolve, Reo propelled himself through the air, heading straight toward Mabu Zombie’s butthole. “I kappatured it!” he shouted as he claimed Mabu’s shirikodama. The sphere felt cool in his hands as he stared into it, and he handled it carefully so as not to drop it. “So this is…his desire.”
Reo’s consciousness was pulled back in time until he found himself staring at a hospital room in the Otter Empire.
“However, there is one condition…”
Mabu had just awoken. The otter beside him was grasping his hand.
“You must abandon your connection to Reo.”
Those words crashed like a shockwave into Mabu’s ears.
The otter continued, as if trying to convince him. “Connections are poison. If you profess your love to Reo, your heart will explode, leaving nothing behind. Then you’ll never be able to be with Reo ever again.”
“No…” Mabu pressed his hand over the left side of his chest. He could feel the steady beat of his heart there. Yet he could sense no warmth at the tips of his fingers.
“Now, tell me you hate Reo.”
Hate.
Mabu hadn’t used that word in a very long time. Memories from his childhood came rushing back—those wild eyes from when they first met, the way Reo’s brows sank when he first laughed, the way his lips trembled when he was hurt, the strength in his voice when he called Mabu’s name. Each of his facial expressions, too many of them to count, had been so precious that Mabu carved them all into his heart.
I want to be connected to you… I want to live with you… I want to be connected to you… I want to be with you… I want to be connected to you…
Reo…
It’s fine, really.
There’s nothing more to worry about.
“I…hate Reo.” Even he was surprised by how cold his voice sounded. But he had to kill off his emotion, otherwise it threatened to spill over.
“Very good, Mabu. Now why don’t you cook up some ningyo-yaki for me again?”
Ever since then, he felt like he was caught in a dream. Whether it was a dream or reality, he didn’t care.
In order for Reo and I to have a future together, I can’t let go of my desire.
Mabu’s emotions washed over Reo like a flood, threatening to drown him.
“Mabu, you threw away our connection just so you could stay with me?”
“Finally, I was able to tell you…” the Zombie shouted, sounding satisfied, before its body burst.
“Mabu…” Reo was in a daze as the water streamed around him, Mabu’s shirikodama still held tightly in his hands.
A green blob came flopping down beside him, hitting the ground with a thump. “Hurk…” It was Kappa-Mabu.
“Mabu?! Why are you…?!”
“Come on, we have to get that shirikodama to the prince.” Mabu quickly lifted himself to his feet and set off running.
“Hey, wait!” Reo chased after him, still completely confused. The figure racing ahead of him was so familiar.
Who are you? Are you really some emotionless doll that just keeps betraying me? Are you a fake? Or are you…are you…
“Saraaa!”
“Saraaa!”
And then the two of them together, “Sara! Zan! Mai!”
“Leaking.”
Reo’s own secrets and memories began to leak now. He was walking through a sterile white hallway, wearing a casual type of kimono. Months passed since he first awoke and found himself in the Otter Empire, though he wasn’t sure how many. They hadn’t told him how much time had passed since he agreed to the conditions they forced upon him.
And as he waited, walking around, he heard a faint voice. Reo noticed the door in front of him was left slightly ajar. He tiptoed closer and peeked in to find that Mabu was sitting on a bed within.
He was alive. Mabu was alive!
“My wish really did come true,” he mumbled to himself.
It was as if the clouds of gloom that hung over him were finally gone, giving way to sunlight. Reo didn’t care if it meant he was a slave to the Empire. As long as he was together with Mabu—
“I…hate Reo.”
It almost felt as if his heart stopped.
Hate.
That was only the second time Reo ever heard the word come from Mabu’s mouth. “Very good, Mabu. Now why don’t you cook up some ningyo-yaki for me again?” Unable to watch as the otter pushed Mabu down onto the bed, Reo fled.
He ran and ran, but no matter how far he ran, Mabu’s words seemed to chase him.
Hate.
Hate.
I hate Reo.
“The Mabu I know would never abandon our relationship!”
That’s right. He’s not Mabu. He’s not my Mabu!
He’d already mentally prepared himself before he officially met Mabu after his revival. At least, he was supposed to be prepared.
“No! You’re not the Mabu I know! Mabu never had that kind of look on his face!”
“He keeps a cool face, but he continues to betray me again and again. Like a doll, empty of all emotion.”
“As if you could ever understand even an ounce of what I’m feeling…!”
Every discrepancy that Reo found made him bristle. Yet there were perplexing moments when he suddenly felt like this was the real Mabu.