It's so silent… it's making my head feel empty.
Adam sighs as I look at everyone.
They're just resting… Yuri is staring blankly into the distance, the kids are watching everything they can see, and Yoku is driving.
The automaton, which seemed so dangerous… didn't even notice us.
I guess it was too big for its own good.
Looking around the destroyed city…
Sigh
What am I even doing? Am I holding onto hope or something?
Did I wish for something to be seen at the top of this city?
Why am I doing this?
Am I just being hopeful?
Why should something this bad… have something good at the end?
Why do I truly want to keep going?
In the end, this world might just destroy itself anyway…
Kiseki points ahead.
"There. A shortcut. There's a pulley thingy that transports you to another place."
…?
What does he mean by that?
Yoku follows, driving the kettenkrad down the stairs.
We stop at what looks like… a train station.
"Wait… isn't that a train station?" I ask.
The kids look puzzled. "What's that?"
"Well, uh… it's a thing that takes you to another place. On the ground, I guess."
A train arrives, opening its doors to let the kettenkrad in.
It's still functioning. Somehow.
But everywhere, dead automatons litter the ground.
Lights flicker, barely hanging on.
After a few hours, we arrive at another station—inside a huge building.
Wires, robots, and machines lie in mass.
A production facility, now dead and cold.
Cracks run through the walls.
Mechanical trucks, tanks, artillery… rusting and ruined.
Then Yuri speaks:
"Hey… I'm curious. Why were you two kids alone when we found you?"
"I don't know," Kiseki replies quietly.
"It's been days. Our parents were on the other side… then they abandoned us.
I only heard guns and explosions."
Wait—
The war is still going on…?
Adam clenches his fists.
I thought they were almost extinct…
Why do they still need war?
What's the point?
He remembers Ishhi… massacring the robots with those monsters.
Was it pettiness?
I'd go crazy too, if someone locked me in a hole for years, starving, drinking dirty water…
Was I wrong?
She was crazy, after all.
But… humans aren't that bad.
…
Hours pass. Nothing but darkness.
We decide to eat together on the kettenkrad.
We're starving.
Yuri just stares, not wanting to waste a single bite.
Then suddenly—
[Automatons detected 50 meters away]
"Hey—there's a robot up ahead!" someone shouts.
The group stiffens. Yuri's eyes sharpen.
Kiseki shakes his head. "No… let's go back… I—"
Too late.
They're here.
Dozens of automatons emerge—armed with guns and laser drones overhead.
They scan us. Identify us.
And open fire.
Yoku reacts instantly.
Drives hard, dodging between metal bars and broken concrete.
"I think we're gonna die!" he yells.
What the—
This… this is a futuristic apocalypse.
Who the heck thought making combat robots for war was a good idea?!
Above me—
A drone dives.
I see it—too late. I cover myself.
Boom.
It explodes in my hands.
A deep inch-deep wound scorches my palms.
It hurts.
It hurts more than the cold.
More than burning your feet.
I've never felt pain like this.
True agony.
"AHHH!"
I scream.
The group realizes the danger.
Yoku drives harder, bumping into narrow beams and smashing past obstacles.
Am I gonna die here?
Thoughts crash in my mind.
Even after all the near-deaths… I'm still afraid.
Some droids manage to shoot the back of the kettenkrad, but the plating holds.
Then—
A hole in the facility.
Yoku drives straight into it.
We fly.
Crash.
Land hard onto the roof of another building.
The drones lose track of us.
They scatter.
We… survived.
Barely.
I'm exhausted. I don't want to keep going.
Yuri silently grabs the suitcase, stitching up the burned hole in my palm.
Wraps it in bandages.
Time passes.
We're safe. For now.
We drive past something strange—
Large metallic boxes, side by side.
Names etched into their sides. Some boxes have trinkets inside.
Yoku goes to grab one.
-_-
"Hey… this is a graveyard."
"Well… it would've been ours if we didn't escape."
Most boxes are filled with junk. Or books. A journal. Nothing useful.
"Nevermind," he says, and we keep going.
"So this is where they put you when you die…" Yoku murmurs.
"I guess so…"
Yuri speaks again.
"The Doctor never put us in those things.
We're either recycled… or tossed into the trash."
[Okay, I'm not that evil]
Yoku frowns.
"Why do we even need graves?"
Adam winces.
"To be remembered, I guess."
"Do you get something from being remembered?"
"Well… your family remembers you."
That was a lie.
I don't even remember my great-great-grandfather.
What's the point of a fancy grave, then?
"What does death feel like?"
…
Silence.
I… don't know.
I haven't experienced it.
So why do I fear it?
Wait—
Are we exposing these kids to all this?
Ugh… I'm gonna shut up.
Are they already used to this?
Then Mino speaks:
"Hey, mister… is it better to die rotted and exposed…
Or to rot in a grave where no one sees you?"
Yoku: "Kid that's a stupid question… Just do what you want"
Closing as the sun sets red…