FLCL

The flickering star was actually a static satellite more than twenty-two thousand miles up in the sky. The reason it was moving was because it'd taken a direct hit and its orbital control systems had been destroyed.

Ever since the stationary satellite had first been launched into orbit, its speed and trajectory had been fine- tuned by its internal control system. The satellite had been programmed to change course or make alterations to its position, if necessary; however, the machine was no longer taking orders from the ground and was out of control. It was because of Haruko Haruhara.

In an underground room beneath Mabase City Police Station, twenty-four-hour surveillance was being conducted on the man-made satellite. Monitors and computer screens were lined up on the wall, and numerous operators were adroitly dealing with the displayed data. The people present had been working in the monitor room with no rest for several weeks, but they weren't police employees; they'd merely borrowed the police facilities as a war room.

'Commander Amarao, we've now completely lost control,' reported one of the female operators to her superior, who was sitting at the back of the room.

The operator's superior scowled upon receiving the information. He was the eyebrow man who'd bought bread from Naota's house the previous night. Commander Amarao was a member of a public safety organization that served as a special advisory council to the cabinet. The organization was known as the Department of Interstellar Immigration Bureau by the people involved.

'TTR, target tracking radar, image feed live,' stated the report as an enlarged satellite feed was displayed on the monitor.

The satellite had a baseball stuck in it, which, of course, was the home run ball Haruko had hit far into the blue sky during yesterday's game. None of the players had noticed, but the ball Haruko hit had broken through the atmosphere and traveled into space, hitting the satellite above Mabase. It certainly wasn't something that happened every day!

'Part of the position-control jets, remote access, and communication antenna took damage. The operations unit took a direct hit.'

'Atmospheric entry: double-zero sixty. Descent beginning.'

'Predicted point of impact?' Commander Amarao asked, frowning.

It was late that night, and the residents of Mabase, unaware of the menace threatening their lives high above their heads, slept peacefully as they always did.

In the Nandaba house, Naota, who'd been sleeping in his room, was awoken by the sound of a cat's cries. When he glanced at the balcony, he saw Miyu Miyu. He listened blankly to the mewing for a few moments, but then his cat suddenly stopped and ran off somewhere on a whim.

Naota tried to go back to sleep, but his head itched because of the bandage. During the game, he'd been hit by Haruko's ball and had wrapped a bandage around his head. The impact had only left a bump, though, and it didn't hurt.

Naota got up to remove the itchy bandage. The ball that had hit his head was probably thrown at it intentionally and could've been quite dangerous, but at least there wasn't a horn coming out of his head this time. Remembering back to when he and Haruko had finished batting practice earlier, Naota recalled that Haruko had hugged his head and said, 'Yours is the only head that works.' That must've meant that his was the only head robots would come out of.

Naota guessed that it was because of those incidents that Haruko had come to live at his house, but no matter what, Naota was happy and believed that Haruko's primary reason for being there was definitely him.

Maybe I don't really dislike her, Naota thought.

Glancing up, Naota noticed that Haruko wasn't on the top bunk. They both had gone to bed and said goodnight, but her bed was empty. According to the clock, it was almost midnight. Where did she go?

Naota feared the worst when he spotted a light shining from his father's room. The bakery opened early. What could his father still be doing up at this hour, unless… Terrible scenes floated through Naota's mind.

HARUKO IS IN MY FATHER'S ROOM?

But wait, Naota told himself, Haruko isn't sleeping in her bed, and my father's light is on in his room. That doesn't mean anything. Dad could've forgotten to turn off the light and Haruko could be in the bathroom.

HARUKO IS IN MY FATHER'S ROOM?

Naota heard something that sounded very much like Haruko's voice.

'Oh, you're so bad!'

There wasn't any doubt about it—it was coming from Naota's father's room.

Naota couldn't help but listen, standing stock-still.

'Haruko… Haruko…' Kamon repeated in a gasping moan.

Suddenly, Naota's ears started ringing. 'Owww!' he howled as he grabbed his head to try to alleviate the violent, surging pain.

Bursting through the bandage, another horn emerged from his head.

'Marker beacon confirmed,' the female operator in Amarao's monitor room called out concurrently with the events transpiring in the Nandaba house.

An extreme wavelength was being displayed on one of the screens. Using a simulator, the girl immediately displayed the area where the satellite was predicted to impact. 'I have it. Right hand monitor.'

Amarao stared at the screen and muttered, 'I knew it—Mabase.'

'Classification: half-active pulse wave. Something is guiding the satellite's descent directly into Mabase.'

After hearing the report, Commander Amarao narrowed his startling thick eyebrows.

Chapter 3

After that horrific night, things continued to worsen.

The next morning, Naota couldn't stand seeing Kamon's and Haruko's faces, so he left the house straightaway.

It was the day of the second game between the Martians and the Fragments, but Naota didn't have any desire to go, so he slowly walked toward the bank near Mabase Bridge, where he bumped into Mamimi. She was the same as always—a high school girl without anything to do.

They started 'playing' in the morning.

White steam poured from the MM factory on the hill and slowly spread across the sky, robbing the world of its color.

Day after day; I'm always in the same place, always looking at the same scene, and repeating the same things over and over again, Naota reflected. Will I be able to go somewhere else someday?

Mamimi drew on Naota's back with her finger. It was the beginning of an innocent game where he had to guess what she'd written. The first thing she drew was a character for 'ta,' probably for the first character of Tasuku's name.

Someday, somewhere, just like my brother… Naota started to say to himself.

All of a sudden, the sound of an approaching motorbike engine interrupted their game.

'Oh, it's Haru!' Mamimi exclaimed happily.

Naota had left the house so he wouldn't have to see Haruko, but she'd seen the two of them and stopped nearby. She was wearing her uniform and appeared to be on her way to the baseball field.

'The game's started already! Are you doing unwholesome things again?' Haruko asked.

At that very moment, Mamimi was hugging Naota from behind. Indeed, for a young boy to be doing what