Sarazanmai Novel 1 Chapter 6 + Epilogue

Chapter 6: Haruka

Yes, it happened last night.

“I’m glad our zombie is such a tenacious one this time.”

Reo was in a good mood, fiddling with a photo as the elevator rose. The man in middle of the photo, Nioino, hadn’t disappeared.

“Indeed. Now I can finally leave my post.”

Reo’s expression soured at Mabu’s comment.

“What? …Maintenance again?”
“Yes. It is my lifeline after all.”

Whether Mabu had noticed the precipitous drop in Reo’s mood or not, he was operating exceedingly normally.

“Hah! That’s a good one! You just like doing things that make you feel good, don’t you?!”

Reo spat, his words brimming with distain, as the elevator came to a stop.
They were back in their usual police box.
And Mabu began walking toward the door, without a moment’s hesitation.

“Don’t be ridiculous. What good will come of prioritizing personal feelings?”

After Mabu’s figure melted into the inky black of night, a brown fist hit the wall of the police box.

“As if you would know the first thing about that[feelings/putting feelings first]…!”




“Good morning! Happy every day! Even happier with lucky selfies! Azuma Sara, dish!”

Things were less cheerful than usual as Asakusa Sara TV played in the living room. Haruka hadn’t started eating his breakfast and just silently stared at the TV. His father, watching the situation, asked a question.

“Have you heard anything from Kazuki?”

Haruka’s mother, holding her coffee cup in both hands, shook her head.

“I got a message saying he was staying at Enta’s last night…”
“Huh… You know, now that you mention it, he does look a little like her.”

Haruka’s father was looking at Sara dance on the TV.

“Yeah, maybe that’s why he got so obsessed with her…”

“Now, then, today’s lucky selfie item is…”

Haruka’s parents couldn’t see his expression from where they were.

“Oh my, my~? It’s a sachet again today, dish…”

In Haruka’s lap was the headdress of Kazukis’ Sara costume. The real Sara had picked it up after Kazuki ran the previous day and handed it to him. Haruka’s heart didn’t even quiver even though his beloved idol was right in front of him. He just thanked her and Sara calmly nodded.

“Well, I wish you good Saraluck today as always!”

“…Kazu-chan.”



“Crunch, crunch crunch, crunch crunch, crunch crunch, crunch crunch…”

In the kappa square, Toi and Enta, who were still in kappa form, were at a complete loss for words. Kazuki was stress eating a massive pile of cucumbers.

“Crunch, crunch crunch, crunch crunch… Cucumbers are delicious! So much better as a kappa than as a human!”

Toi looked on at Kazuki, who was in higher spirits than he had ever seen so far, with pity.

“He sure lost it fast…”

“That’s what we call a kappa’s high, kero. It’s a symptom that can happen when [a human] remains in kappa for m for an extended period, kero.”

Keppi had given up too.
Kazuki was still stuffing his face obsessively with cucumbers.

“Being a kappa rules!”

To-ton, ton, ton, ton…

“In the east corner Kazuki of the sea~ In the west corner, Entayama~”

Keppi announced sumo-referee style, standing in the ring that had appeared in the middle of kappa square along with the brisk beat of a taiko drum.

“Face your opponent~”[this sounds like some sumo thing, I’m not super familiar with]

Enta, who had a topknot now, came to his senses as he did the ceremonial stomp.[I’m sorry I don’t know shit about sumo terms, especially in English]

“Sumo doesn’t have anything to do with this, does it?”

Kazuki, with the same new hairstyle, joined him in the ring.

“Oh it has everything to do with this!”

[Kepi makes a sumo call to initiate the match, I gave up on trying to make it English]

And thus the final round between kappas Kazuki and Enta began.



The two kappas grappled, struggling against each other with all their might.
They started sweating.
Drip, drip… the kappas’ sweat hit the arena floor.

“Ahh, haa… Kazuki’s skin is rubbing up against mine…”

In contrast to Enta’s expression of ecstasy, Kazuki was serious about trying to win.

“Come at me with all you got, Enta!”
“K-Kazukiii…”

Their kappa skin was getting progressively wetter.
Squish squish squish…
Dribble dribble dribble…

“I-I can’t… go on…”
“You’re pathetic, Enta! Aren’t we the Golden Duo!”

Kazuki thrust his knee between Enta’s legs and pushed up.

“Aaaaah~~!”

Enta was tossed spectacularly out of the ring.
At which point Enta realized.
This had been another one of his fantasies.


“Enta!”

But the fantasy didn’t end there.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Kazuki was holding out his hand.

“Huh? Is this part of my fantasy too…?”

He pulled on the stick of gum Keppi had suddenly offered. [I think I’m missing a joke here]
And snap! His fingers were caught.

“Ow! It’s not a fantasy?!”

Sumo referee Keppi bowed reverently.

“Being a kappa is the best!”

“Kero!”

As the kappa locked arms and began to dance, they saw Toi behind them sweeping the ring.




“And now for the news, dish. The ‘Asakusa Scented Bag Incident’ continues from yesterday and is being investigated as the work of an organized crime ring in Asakusa.”

The screen outside the Asakusa tourism center was reporting on last night’s incident.
Toi looked up when he saw it and muttered,

“Hey, if it’s still making the news today, is it still happening now?”
“It couldn’t be… Oh crap!”

Enta abruptly shut his mouth when he started answering without thinking.
In the flurry of everything that had happened, he had forgotten that they were in a big fight up until they got abruptly turned into kappa.
Toi didn’t seem to be particularly concerned about it anymore, and Enta’s decision to avoid him entirely seemed like the right choice.

“Hmph!”

Toi just rolled his eyes at Enta’s very deliberate attempt to ignore him.

“I know! No one can see us when we’re kappas, so doesn’t that mean we can get into Hanayashiki for free?”

Enta made a very Enta-like suggestion as the four of them arrived at the little park where that public bathroom was.

“Oh, found a ball!”

Enta started playing with a soccer ball someone had left behind.

“Isn’t this…”

Kazuki smiled and answered Toi’s comment,

“Yeah, this is the bathroom I always used to become Sara. Man, what an idiot I was to dress up as an idol girl! Hilarious, huh!”
“Well, you were trying your best in your own weird way.”
“Enough of that! Alright, let’s go have some fun! I love being a kappa!”

Toi sighed at Kazuki’s transparent attempts to feign cheer.



Meanwhile, Enta was pretending to play with the soccer ball, all the while working on an elaborate plan. Even if Kazuki was just feigning his good mood, he was a lot more energetic than usual.

“Today I might be able to get Kazuki to accept my pass real naturally…”
“Hey, Enta!”

He turned around and saw Kazuki running toward him.

“Pass to me!”
“Are you sure? You said you had nothing to do with soccer anymore…”
“Oh but I have everything to do with it! Let’s bring back the Golden Duo!”

Enta responded without hesitation to the words he’d been waiting to hear for so long.

“Kazuki, catch..!”

Enta kicked the ball high in the sky and Kazuki jumped, landing a magnificent overhead kick on it.

“Enta! My Miracle Shot is aimed right at your heart!”

The next instant, the projectile, fired from Kazuki’s golden right leg, nailed Enta right in the stomach.

“Gahh…!”

The ball, however, didn’t change course and shook the goal net.
Toi, who was playing goalie, looked frustrated.

“Nice shot!”

Even as he coughed up blood, Enta was happy.

“Haa, oh no, this isn’t good. My fantasy went too far again…”

As Enta was snapping himself out of his day dream, Kazuki called out to him.

“Hey, Enta!”
“This is it, just act natural, real natural… Kazuki, catch!”

The ball made a fwump when Enta kicked it and flew through Kazuki’s unmoving legs.

“Sorry, I’m just headed to the bathroom.”

Enta’s shoulders drooped when the ball bounced off the wall.

“It’s never gonna happen, huh…”


As he stared at the bathroom door locking, he heard a voice at his back.

“We can’t let him keep doing this.”

Enta snapped back at him.

“I don’t need you to tell me that… I know!”


Enta and the others arrived in Sumida River Park.

“There’s a really good cucumber spot just over there! You like cucumbers, right, Kazuki?”
“Yeah!”
“What’s a cucumber spot…”

Just as Enta was thinking his plan was working a little better.
Kazuki stopped in his tracks.
He was looking at––

“Nyantaro! Come out!”

Haruka in his wheelchair and his father.

Tk, tk, tk, tk, tk…! [kazuki’s kappa feet slapping against the ground]

The remaining three grumbled as they watched Kazuki off in the distance.

“He ran away…”
“Figures…”
“Kero…”



“Sorry for being late with your food, Nyantaro.”
“Mrow~”

Nyantaro meowed as he chowed down on his food, seemingly to say he didn’t mind.

“Hey, Nyantaro, Kazu-chan’s gonna come home, right…?”

But neither Nyantaro, or anyone, could answer that question.
Haruka suddenly pulled out his phone.
Nyantaro had just started to nod off after he finished his meal.

“I hope this reaches him…”

Haruka whispered like a prayer and hit the send button.
Some noise ran across the phone screen and a red heart mark appeared.

“Huh? When did I download that app…?”

At that point, a large shadow came over Haruka.

“Who’s been a bad boy?” [as an aside this is echoing Haruka's sort of out of place comment when he chased Kazuki down before the accident––asking if Kazuki was leaving because he was "bad"]

He looked up and saw a man in a police uniform standing there. He had brown skin, jagged teeth and a daring smile––it was Reo.

“Mr. Policeman…”


Reo leaned up against the wall and started eating ningyouyaki from the paper bag he had with him.

Haruka asked anxiously, “Are you going to arrest me…?”
“What makes you think that?”
“I stole Kazu-chan’s smile away…”
“Who’s Kazu-chan?”
“My big brother. He hasn’t come home since yesterday…”

Haruka had the headdress in his lap when he confessed that.

“Huh, sounds like you and me are in the same boat. He left me yesterday too…”
“Are you a bad boy too, Mr. Policeman?”

Haruka’s words felt like an attack to Reo for a moment, but he quickly laughed it off.

“Hah! As if! He’s the bad one. He’s been betraying me all this time with that calm look on his face. He’s like a doll that’s had all his emotions drained away…”

Reo squeezed the now cold ningyouyaki in his hand.

“I want Kazu-chan to smile…”

“…Huh?”

Sensing Haruka’s gaze on him, Reo turned to look him in the eye.

“Then why don’t you show me…? Whether the door deep in your heart is desire… or love…?”

Reo held his big hand over his head. And Haruka’s eyes slowly closed.

“The future belongs to those who have connected with desire…”

Just as Reo was picking up the sleeping Haruka,

“Hissss!”

Nyantaro woke up and started hissing at him.

Reo glanced at him and muttered, “Back off” under his breath.

“Meooooow!”

That’s all it took and Nyantaro went flying through the air.
Reo picked up Haruka and vanished from the riverbank without any interference.



“Snap out of it already!”
“No!”

Toi and Keppi looked on as Enta and Kazuki argued in an infinite loop. Kazuki was clinging to a flowerbed along the river bank and Enta kept trying to pull him out. Over and over.

“Let me go! I have nothing to do with Haruka anymore!”
“You know, Haruka has been… [so worried] about you this whole time… Gah!”

What finally put an end to their loop, was Nyantaro falling from the sky. Nyantaro landed neatly on Enta’s head and frantically started cleaning himself.

“Nyantaro! Why are you here…?”

Kazuki was astonished when he got back to the pier. [er like that little wall where Haruka always sits]

“Haruka… is gone…?!”

Haruka’s wheelchair sat empty where he had just been. And in the outside seating area of his usual coffee shop, Kazuki’s father was passed out on the table.

“You’re dad’s knocked out!”
“Tch, who could’ve…!”

Toi started running around the area looking for anyone suspicious. At which point, Kazuki’s phone got a message.
Their kappa shells were basically a portal to another dimension, and anything important placed inside it would be safe, even from water. Kazuki opened his shell, took out the phone, and was shocked by what he saw on the screen.

“Brrrrrrrrring! Brrrrrrrring!”

Suddenly Keppi turned into a black rotary phone that started ringing.

“Ew gross!”
“What is it now?!”

Keppi pulled the receiver off his head and took the call while Enta and Toi watched.

“Yes? Hello, kero… Yes, yes… Understood, kero.”

Click! He hung up and then announced,

“I’ve gotten some information from a reliable source. …Yasaka Haruka has been kidnapped by the Empire Army, kero.”
“Are you serious?! The Empire Army has Haruka?! …Wait? Empire Army?”

Enta was confused by the dangerous-sounding and unfamiliar term.

“The Empire Army are the enemies who destroyed the Kappa Kingdom, kero…”
“What are they after? Why did they kidnap him?!”

Toi wanted answers.

“…To kill him and turn him into a kappa zombie, kero.”

Two of the boys were taken aback by what Keppi said, but,

“I’m not gonna let them!”

Kazuki shouted.

He was practically a different kappa than he had been before, as his eyes gleamed with strength.

“I’m going to save Haruka…!”



When Reo got back to the police box, Mabu had already returned from maintenance.

“Reo, where were you? And who is that child… I believe you were told not to take any unsanctioned actions.”
“Hah! You’re one to talk.”

Reo couldn’t hide his irritation with Mabu anymore.

Haruka was still asleep when Reo sat him in a chair.

“We’ll open this door for you…”

Reo ignored him and pulled out his gun. Mabu didn’t say another word.

“Desire?”
“Or love?”

A large taiko drum appeared above Haruka.


“The otter empire?!”

Enta’s hysterical voice echoed down the Sumida River at night.

“We kappas have been in a long and drawn out war with the otters, kero.”

They were in an area of the river surrounded by a semi-circle of aquatic plants.

“Come with me, kero.”

Splash! Keppi dove into the river.

The crescent shape wall seemed to go on forever.[depth-wise]
The plate on Keppi’s head shone, lighting up the area in front of them, but they couldn’t see the bottom of the river.

“Why did we get dragged into this?”

Toi asked, trying to think through the situation.

“Because what both forces have been stealing… is the desire energy that is stored in shirikodama, kero.”

Suddenly, faded images started to appear on the wall.
It was an illustrated history of the kappas and the otters.

“Once the Otter Empire robbed the Kappa Kingdom of all its desire energy, they set their sights on humans, kero…”
“So does that mean you’re the last of a fallen kingdom…?”

At some point, the shaft turned into a tunnel, and they surfaced from the water.
The light from Keppi’s plate was the only thing illuminating the dark tunnel.

“I am the only one who can produce the ‘Plates of Hope’. If the Empire found out about me, they would try to kill me, kero.”



They could see the light of an exit in the distance.

“Waaaaah!”

When they went through the exit, they found themselves inside a large structure. Suddenly, gravity lost its hold on them and the kappas were launched into a seemingly bottomless ravine.
On closer inspection, the structure, with a big white frame around it, was transporting an immense number of boxes. Almost like some kind of large distribution warehouse.

“What is this place…”

Keppi answered as he fell with them.

“The Otter Empire’s secret base, kero!”

Keppi’s tentacles wrapped around Kazuki and the others.

“Whoa?!”

And the next instant Keppi had turned himself into a parachute.

“Where did they take Haruka…?”

“They pack everything into boxes, kero.”

“You mean we need to check all of these?!”

“We don’t have that kind of time!”

“What the?!”

While Toi and Enta bickered, Kazuki was thinking.

“What about…”

He pulled his phone from his shell and placed a call.

Briiiing… Briiiiing…

Toi and Enta watched with baited breath.

“Please ring…!”



He could hear a phone ring somewhere in the distance.

Riiiing… Riiiing…

Where though? Which box was it…?

Among the seemingly endless boxes flowing on conveyer belts was one with the word “Spring[Haru]” written in the heart on its side.

“I found it! It’s that one…! Ah?!”

He had finally found Haruka’s box when it fell from the conveyer belt into a big pile of boxes being carried away by a red crane.

“Haruka!”

Kazuki and the others chased after the crane. They slid down the frame of the structure, running as fast as their little legs would carry them, but the distance between them and the crane only grew.

“Ah! Stop!”

Kazuki, who was at the head of the pack, abruptly stopped.
The scaffolding was broken.

“What do we do…”

Toi grabbed Kazuki by the nape of his neck and tossed him as hard as he could.

“Hmph!”

“Wahh?!”

With a slap, Kazuki landed on a piece of scaffold that continued where the other one was interrupted.

“Hyup!”

“Gfu..”

Toi was tossed after him.
Kazuki shouted when he got up.

“Enta!”

Enta held Keppi up and waved him around.

“Go, Kazuki! Don’t give up on Haruka!”

It was a battle against time.
Kazuki decided to charge ahead.



Suddenly police lights and sirens went off.

“The gate…!”

He could see an iron gate coming down ahead of him.

“Damnit…!”

Toi did an impressive slide and got right under the gate.

Ka-thunk…!

Kazuki and Keppi managed to get through the small gap in the gate that Toi had made.

“Kuji!”

But the next second a sturdy fence had come down between Toi and Kazuki.
Toi said, forcing a smile, “Jinnai and I will catch up to you…”

The utility elevator Kazuki and Keppi got on started to descend.

“You can still get him back… So run!”

Kazuki thought over Toi and Enta’s words in the elevator.
He couldn’t waste their feelings.

Ka-chnk…

[this is going to get confusing from this point because this is a chase scene + weird Ikuhara visuals]
The elevator arrived and Kazuki tumbled out onto a giant, cylindrical floor.
A long bridge spanned the whole area.
And the crane carrying Haruka’s box was just descending from above.
Just as the crane reached the bridge it stopped in mid air.
It was surrounded by some kind of taiko drum like engine burning black flames.
It seemed almost like some kind of sacred ceremony.
Kazuki started running across the bridge and got so close to the crane.

“Haruka… I’m almost there…!”



And that was when it happened.
Ka-chink…!
With that merciless metal sound, both ends of the crane opened.
And the next instant, all the boxes in the pile went flying.
It all seemed to be happening almost in slow motion, Haruka’s box fell into the gaping black maw of the abyss right in front of Kazuki’s eyes.

“Haruka! Harukaaaaa!”

Kazuki’s shout was sucked up into the floor and vanished.

Puff, puff, puff…

One by one the flames of the taiko drum engines went out.
Almost like lives being extinguished.
Kazuki stared blankly and crumpled to the ground.
Toi and Enta froze on the scaffold on the other side.

“No way…?”
“Damnit…!”

Kazuki was white as a sheet and that’s when the voice came from behind him.

“Do you want to save Yasaka Haruka, kero?”

He turned around and it was Keppi.

“Can I…?”
“If we transplant your shirikodama, you can, kero. That will bring Yasaka Haruka back to life, kero.”
“…Really?”
“You have no other options, kero.”


Before Kazuki could say anything, Toi shouted from across the room.

“Wait! What happens if he loses his shirikodama? Won’t he die like those kappa zombies?!”

Enta reacted to the comment too.

“You can’t! I won’t let you!”

Keppi had gotten up on the end of the crane at some point and started to explain.

“Humans are connected by the shirikodama. If they lose it, they can’t connect with anyone, they’ll be knocked outside the link to the world, kero.”[that last bit is probably a big key phrase and I probably handled it badly so here’s the JP 世界の縁の外側に弾かれる]

Kazuki mumbled back Keppi’s words.

“Outside the link… to the world…”

“Indeed. It would be like the human known as Yasaka Kazuki never existed in the first place, kero. All of the memories, events and things associated with you will disappear, kero.”
“What! That’s even worse than dying!”

Enta shouted at the horror of it.

“Will that mean all the kappa zombies we defeated will be undone too…”
“No, you can’t do it, Kazuki!”

Kazuki didn’t respond to Enta’s cries.
Instead he asked Keppi something.

“So would that mean… Haruka’s accident wouldn’t have happened either…?”

Kazuki flashed back to that day in his mind.

“…You are correct.”

A small smile formed on Kazuki’s lips as he hung his head.

“Oh… Huh…”

Kazuki shot up, he had no more doubts.

“I want you to give my shirikodama to Haruka.”

His voice was quiet, but both Enta and Toi heard him.

“Understood, kero. Then jump into that abyss, kero. …Click.”

Keppi pushed a button and the crane transformed into a large hoist.

“I am holding onto your shirikodama inside my body, kero. In order to transplant it, its connection to you must be severed, kero.”
“…Okay.”
“Kazuki! Stop!”
“Don’t you move a muscle!”

Enta and Toi shouted and came running.
Kazuki slowly reached for the chain on the hoist. The cold of the metal cleared his mind.[oh shit we pulleys]
That’s right, I was always on the outside of the circle to begin with… Everything would have gone well if I hadn’t been around…
He thought back to what Haruka had told him.
“Kazu-chan, you and I are connected from beginning to end in a big circle.”

He looked back as he put his foot into the hook on the end of the hoist.

This is my last chance… To make up for the fact that I can’t connect.[つながれない僕が、つぐなうための……。]
Click.
Kazuki hit the down button and the hoist began to move with a metallic sound.

“…Don’t worry. Haruka will forget everything and walk forward into the future. And Enta, you’ll forget me too…”
“I don’t want to forget you! Stop this, please… No! Kazuki!”

Toi hurried after Enta.

The hoist kept moving down.

“Tch! We’re too late…!”

Toi had pulled the emergency break.
But Kazuki’s figure just continued to get smaller.

“Kazukiiiiiii!”

Enta’s cry echoed in the darkness.


A flash of fire burst forth from the muzzle of the gun.
The bullet Toi had fired hit the mechanical part of the hoist.

Creeeeeeeek…!

The chain that was lowering reacted violently and started to roll up.

“Wa-wawawaaaa?!”

Kazuki was thrown off the hoist into the air and dropped right in front of Enta and Toi.

“Kazuki!”
“Are you okay?!”

They grabbed Kazuki’s hands and tried to pull him up.
Once they got him up they saw he was breathing.

“Haa…”
“Give me a fucking break…”

The two of them could finally catch their breath when Kazuki said softly, “…Why.”

Kazuki had a dreadful expression on his face.

“Why did you get in the way?! This is what I want so just leave me alone! It would be better if I never existed.”

Smack…!

Before he could even finish talking, his right cheek burned with the impact of the hit.

“If you have enough time to spout that nauseating bullshit, think of another way!”

Toi shouted, clenching his fist.

“Yeah! I’m not going to let you disappear, okay!”

Enta climbed on top of Kazuki as he lay on the ground.

“Guh…!”

Enta dangled a blue cord i front of Kazuki’s eyes as he groaned. It was the good luck band Kazuki had thrown away.[as an aside I’ve only been translating ミサンガ this way entirely because I can’t spell it in English and am too lazy to look it up]

“How…? I threw it away…”
“Haruka entrusted me with it! He hasn’t given up on you! He believes in you!”
“Haruka…”

Kazuki touched the band with trembling fingers.

“Determination: love. Box: to be returned.”

An announcement suddenly boomed through the floor.
Keppi noticed something at the bottom of the pit from his vantage atop the crane.

“Oh? He’s still alive, kero.”

One little box was dangling from a red crane that rose from the darkness.

“That’s Haruka’s box!”

The crane moved into another room.

“Harukaaaa!”

The three of them took off running. This time, they were going to get him back no matter what.
There were three massive duct openings in front of Kazuki where the crane disappeared.
The three of them each lept into one without even having to consult with each other.



He slid down the dark, steeply inclined duct alone.
Kazuki had no idea when it would end, so he thought back to what had happened that afternoon.
The moment he found out Haruka had been kidnapped, he had gotten a text notification on his phone.
It was from Haruka.
It was the longest message he’d ever gotten from him, and this is how it opened:

“Dear Sara-chan. This is my last message to you.”

He had written Kazuki a message even after he found out everything.

“Connecting with Sara-chan made every day with so much fun.”
“Since this is my last message, could I tell you a secret I never told anyone before?”

The slope suddenly stopped and Kazuki found himself thrown into a flat plane of darkness.
He got up and then continued to run forward.

“You see, I did something really bad.”
“I hurt someone who means a lot to my dear big brother.”

“No, Haruka… You didn’t!”

Kazuki shouted to Haruka who wasn’t present.

“I was so scared when I chased after Kazu-chan back then. I thought he was going to go far away.”


While Kazuki was running aimlessly, Haruka continued to sleep soundly in his box as it was moved. Tears filled his closed eyes.


“I picked up something Kazuki’s real mom dropped on that day.”

It was that sakura-scented pouch. It smelled just like Kazuki had lately.

“Oh, you wouldn’t happen to be Haruka, would you?”

Haruka, who was younger than he was now, screamed at her frantically.

“Don’t take Kazu-chan away from me! Go home! Never come back here!”


“She just smiled at me and said ‘don’t worry, I’m not going to do that’. Her face looked just like Kazu-chan’s too.”
“After that, Kazu-chan stopped smiling and even threw out his good luck band.”
“I knew it was all my fault, but I wanted to be with Kazu-chan, and I wanted him to smile.”

Kazuki tripped over his own feet.

“Everything Kazu-chan did for me made me so happy.”

Kazuki scrambled back to his feet, and the blue good luck band fluttered around his ankle as he took another step forward.

“That’s why I’m not giving up.”
“I know Kazu-chan will come home. I believe he’s going to smile again!”

Faint light appeared before Kazuki.

“The exit…!”

The place Kazuki jumped out into was––
––a giant garbage dump.

When he looked up, he saw the crane that had Haruka’s box dangling off it, moving to the center of the area.
A strange structure made of several taiko drums was waiting where the crane seemed to be headed.

“There’s Haruka!”
“Kazuki!”

He looked over when he heard Enta’s voice and saw Enta and Toi appearing from their exits.

“We can’t do anything from here. What do we do now?!”

Enta called out to Toi who was at an exit further below him.
Toi looked frustrated, staring at the crane and drums floating in the sky..

“Shit. Is our only choice to backtrack?!”

Suddenly the drums started to groan.
The ominous noise of sharp blades started to come from within them.
Toi could see glimmering shards piling up beneath the drum’s hole.[sounds like the shredder in the child broiler]

“It’s a shredder?!”

The three of them immediately tensed up.

“Haruka’s going to be cut to pieces at this rate…!”

While Kazuki was flustered, Enta looked around the area.

“Isn’t there… anything we can use?!”
“Anything’s pretty broad…”


When Toi turned around as he said that, Keppi suddenly appeared.
After a pause, Keppi abruptly transformed himself into a ball.

“You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, kero. I’m sure it will pain you greatly, since I’m so loveable and cherished, but if you throw m––“

Fwump!

“Eep!”

Toi stomped on the now ball-shaped Keppi with all his might and then kicked it up into the air as hard as he could.

“Catch it, Jinnai!”

“Geooo…!”

The pass went to Enta as Keppi groaned.

“Oof?!”

Enta caught it with both hands and Toi called out to him.

“Pass it to Yasaka! He should be able to stop the crane with him!”
“Huh? But Kazuki…”

At which point,

“Enta!”

When he looked up, Kazuki was looking down at him with a serious expression.

“Enta! …Pass it to me!”
“Kazuki, asked me…!”

It was time for Enta’s wish to do another Golden Duo pass to come true.

“Pass!”
[more gross Keppi groans]

The Keppi-ball flew straight for Kazuki.
The crane carrying Haruka’s box stopped just over the drum shredder.




“I know you can be a little stubborn sometimes, but you can run straight for the goal, Kazu-chan!”[this is from haruka’s message––english doesn’t have enough punctuation for this shit]

“Nice pass, Enta!”

Kazuki got a running start and lept into the sky.

Ka-chunk…!

The crane opened and started to drop the box.
Enta and Toi solenmly watched Kazuki.

“You can be a little hard to understand sometimes, but I know you’re really so kind and warm.”[also haruka]

“Haruka… I’m never giving up on you again…!”

Kazuki launched one of his overhead kicks.

[more gross keppi sounds]

The Keppi ball hit Haruka’s box with absolute precision.
But in response to the hit, Haruka’s body fell from the box and was tumbling straight into the shredder.

“Kero!”

And the next instant, there was a thunderous roar and the blades of the shredder tore the box to pieces.
The pieces fluttered down and piled up in front of Toi.[note the pieces are described as falling サラサラ]
But neither Haruka nor Keppi were anywhere to be seen.

“Haruka…!”

Kazuki shouted as he looked up into the sky hopefully.
At which point he saw parachute-mode Keppi gliding down from behind the shredder drum.
And in his tentacles was a sleeping Haruka.

“I’m not the only one who’s been wishing to see your smile again either, Kazu-chan.”[also haruka’s message]

“Haruka!”

“You’re right in the middle of that big circle, Kazu-chan.”[haruka]

Kazuki spread his arms wide and caught Haruka as he slept.
His weight and gentle warmth filled Kazuki with joy.

“We did it!”

The three of them shouted for joy in the garbage dump labeled “Love”.[subtle]

“Sarazanmai!”

That night, in the Desire Field on Azuma Bridge.
Kazuki and the other kappa boys performed their greatest sarazanmai yet.

“Just like that!”

They even struck their usually somewhat awkward signature pose with unusual grace.
They weren’t hesitant about transferring the shirikodama this time either.
They didn’t care if their secrets were shared.

It may not have been visible or tangible.
It may have been unreliable and vague.
But the connection that they very clearly had in that moment, was shared among their mixed consciousnesses.



“This really does feel more right after all!”
“You can say that again.”

Enta and Toi, who had regained their human forms, were talking normally in the kappa square.

“You know, um… I’m sorry.”

Enta sincerely apologized for everything up until that point.

“It’s cool… I don’t mind.”

Toi replied as he turned away from him.

Their issues resolved, they both turned to look at the one person left with his back to them.

Kazuki hadn’t said a word that whole time, as he felt his body to reassure himself that he was back to normal.

“…Would you have rather remained a kappa, kero?”

Keppi asked, looking quite beaten up from the repeated blows he’d taken.
And Kazuki answered, his hands groping his own face.

“…It feels so weird. I should be the same as I was yesterday, but everything feels so new…”

Enta and Toi just watched without saying a word.

“But… I am me.”

Kazuki said and turned to the two of them.

“Kazuki…”
“Yasaka…”[He just calls him お前 but yeah]

And what the two of them saw was an awkward, bright smile across Kazuki’s face for probably the first time.
And then Kazuki said for the first time, “Thank you, I’m so glad I have both of you in my life…!”



Epilogue: Reo and Mabu

Reo and Mabu were floating back to back in a massive taiko drum filled to the brim with water.

“Our target was stolen from us and this location was discovered… Your failure has hindered our mission, Reo.”
“Don’t be so mad! That kid had ‘love’ after all. We can’t use that. …Heh, hehe, hahahahaha…!”
“Reo… What’s with you?”

Mabu asked, unable to understand his partner’s intentions.

“It’s all thanks to that kid that I got lucky!”

An image of Keppi rescuing Haruka appeared on a large screen behind them.

“I finally found it. Our hope…!”