It was all disappearing. The memory of Kazuki’s fat-ass cat eating the weed he had painstakingly grown. The memory of when he dressed up at Hanayashiki and held hands with Sara-Kazuki as the two searched for the feline. The memory of Sara-Kazuki’s inability to properly slurp down soba noodles when he came to Toi with his plan for kidnapping the real Azuma Sara. The memory of Enta telling him how he liked the flavor of Sobakyuu’s noodles. The memory of his secret with Chikai being leaked to the other two after they retrieved a shirikodama. The memory of how he railed against Kazuki after the latter was in shock over his brother finding out that he was dressing up as Sara, and how he and Enta had gotten into it immediately afterward.
“Stop…”
Toi liked the time they’d spent just chatting casually after school.
“I don’t want to lose it all…”
Though he reluctantly agreed to join their soccer practice, part of him really looked forward to it.
“Kazuki… Enta…”
At some point, spending every day with the two of them had just become natural to him.
“I don’t want to lose what’s precious to me!”
The tears that threatened now burst out of him.
“Saraaaaaaaaaaaa!” Toi shouted out in as loud of a voice as he could manage, straining his throat. As if in answer, he could hear two other voices joining him.
“Saraaaaaaaaaaaa!”
“Saraaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Toi extended his hands outward. Something warm grazed his skin—Kazuki and Enta’s hands!
With their hands held together, they refused to let go of their desires. Together they cried, “Sarazanmai!”
Keppi suddenly appeared in response to their voices. “Ribbit!” He broke through the Oblivion Field and sucked the three of them up, spitting them out in their kappa forms above Asakusa.
“Okay!” said Kazuki.
Enta looked over at him. “Kazuki!”
“What’s our plan?” Toi asked.
As the three of them fell, Kazuki held a pristine blue friendship bracelet in his hand. “We still have this bracelet.”
Kazuki’s own ten-year-old self was still standing at the base of Azuma Bridge four years ago. He wasn’t sure if this was the right answer or not, but regardless, whatever they had lost, he wanted to fix it.
“We’re going to deliver this friendship bracelet to my younger self!”
Keppi transformed himself into a parachute and latched onto the three of them.
“D-d-d-d-d-d-darkness!”
The space around them fissured, and Black Keppi appeared. Azuma Bridge warped into a Desire Field.
“It’s time for me to come to terms with my own despair, ribbit. This will be your last Sarazanmai, ribbit!”
There is something we have to take back:
Our connection.
We don’t want to pretend it never existed.
There is something we have to take back:
Our connection.
We won’t let anyone take it from us
Ever.
“Kappature it!”
You and I are supposed to be connected.
Kappa-Kazuki and his friends sang together as they sprinted toward his younger self. In the sky above, Keppi and Black Keppi were locked in a fierce battle. The otter underlings swarmed around them, trying to impede Keppi, as well as Kazuki and his friends. The situation was dire—the Kappa Zombies they faced before now didn’t even compare. Even so, they couldn’t give up.
“Otterly impossible…” The otter appeared in front of the three injured kappa and began singing. “I won’t allow you to connect to your desires! I am a concept!”
An enormous taiko drum came smashing down on the three of them.
“Gwaaah!”
They were sent blasting through the air, but they still managed a complately graceful landing, where they struck their usual poses.
The boys could still fight.
They hadn’t given up.
They were still connected.
Burn on with passion.
Cast away common sense.
You can take your bets on the truth.
Serve up your soul on a plate, stack them up
Catch the ball, pluck it out.
Grant our wish,
Sarazanmai!
“Ribbit!”
Now that Keppi had the upper hand in the aerial battle, his black counterpart was making a run for it. Keppi aimed for Black Keppi’s butt and launched himself through the air.
Fusion: Commencing.
“I’ve captured my desires!”
As if in response to Keppi’s cry, the plates with “A” marked on them that littered the entirety of Asakusa suddenly all floated into the air.
Kappa-Kazuki and his friends rushed to get to his younger self’s side. “Just a bit farther!”
Darkness suddenly fell, as if someone pulled a curtain over them. “Otterly impossible!” The otter had swollen up in size, growing into a giant that now fully encompassed the bridge.
“Dammit, it’s so dark I can’t see anything!” Kazuki cursed.
Even the distant silhouette of Kazuki’s younger self was swallowed up by the shadows.
A sparkling pair of silver rings flew out of Keppi’s shell as he fused with Black Keppi. Light arced across the sky like a falling star, crossing over the Sumida River. The ring expelled a brilliant flash of light as Reo and Mabu appeared, clad in black military-like uniforms. They gripped each other’s hands firmly and yelled together.
“Don’t let go!”
“Of your desire!”
As if in response to their voices, the plates came cascading down like a meteor shower onto the bridge. They stacked one behind the other, radiating light that illuminated a path for the boys to follow.
“I can see the way now!” Kappa-Kazuki declared, his eyes on their final objective.
Toi and Enta lifted the other boy up as they raced down the path. “Make sure it gets to him!”
The three of them were connected, with Kazuki at the front of their line as they hurtled through the air toward the younger Kazuki. At last, the fully repaired circle—the friendship bracelet—made it into the palm of his tiny hand.
Fusion: Complete.
“We’re connected!” Keppi declared, as he and his dark counterpart merged.
The world was once again connected.
“I am an otter… I am a concept…” The outline of the enormous otter began to blur as his entire silhouette dissipated. “Farewell. It seems it was…otterly possible after all.”