FLCL

Having mustered up his courage, Naota entered the living room, where his father's body lay on the floor, with his head still at a grotesque angle and his eyes wide open, staring ghoulishly at the ceiling. Naota didn't have to check for a pulse; this body wasn't breathing. It definitely wasn't the body of a living thing.

Exactly as Amarao had said, however, it seemed that Naota hadn't committed murder. A green, sparkling liquid that resembled some type of oil oozed from the corpse's head, which meant that the corpse wasn't human; it was an android. No one could've predicted that Haruko would've brought such an extraordinary thing into the house.

'That damn housekeeper,' Naota sneered.

Upon hearing a vague noise coming from the closet, Naota forcibly pulled open the door and was surprised to find a mummy. Actually, it was a man dehydrated like a mummy. That must've been Kamon, his real father.

The father-like mummy turned to Naota and laughed weakly.

He's still alive. HE'S STILL ALIVE!

'Ahhhhhh!' Naota hugged his father's shriveled body joyfully, kicking the android onto the balcony and running into the bathroom.

Naota was thinking about dehydrated food, like dried Shitake mushrooms, which could be revived if water were added to them. Relying on the same theory, he sunk Kamon into the bathtub, turned the tap on full blast, and poured water onto his father's body. It was possible that a ridiculous solution would work in a ridiculous situation. It was ludicrous, but Naota's simple, direct method was right on, and Kamon quickly revived.

'The returned,' Kamon whispered. 'I'm thirsty.'

Naota took a breath before realizing the reason for his relief and the reason his brain was no longer stressed wasn't because he wasn't a killer. It wasn't the relief of having escaped a crime, either. It was because he was happy. His father was alive and he was happy. The distress he'd felt before was because he couldn't come to terms with the sudden loss of his father.

'Your father wasn't useful for Haruko,' Kamon said serenely. 'She asked if she could borrow my head and, delighted, I agreed. But it seems as though I died for a while.'

Naota was speechless.

'Haruko really is out of the ordinary,' Kamon commented, wearing an unusual expression of good cheer as he glanced up at Naota from the bathtub. 'Well, Naota, it seems as though you love your real father.'

Naota felt a bit spiteful after hearing his father's last remark, but his displeasure couldn't suppress the happiness he felt when he saw Kamon's sunny face staring at him.

Dad's here. He's alive, right in front of you, Naota told himself.

Suddenly, the sound of a motorbike roared from the backyard. It was a noise Naota was extremely familiar with.

It's her! Still irate, Naota ran from the bathroom to give Haruko a piece of his mind, but as he hurried to get to her, he tripped over the android Kamon that was still on the balcony and fell into the garden. 'Ouch!'

Haruko was on her Vespa in the garden, still wearing her baseball uniform. 'You should be careful, running around like that.'

Gazing at Haruko's happy-go-lucky face, Naota asked, 'What's with this robot father?'

All of a sudden, the upper torso of the android sat up and spoke: 'If Naota sees, there's going to be trouble.'

Haruko violently kicked the imitation Kamon, causing the android to short out and collapse again. A lid on its bare chest opened, revealing the internal electronics.

'Oh, Haruko, I asked you not to leave any marks,' the android said.

The chest marks the android had tried to hide hadn't been love bites—they were a panel.

Naota inadvertently smirked, but in truth, he felt like laughing and crying at the same time. When he thought about it calmly, however, he knew it wasn't the appropriate time for either. Surely this housekeeper who'd changed Naota's father into an android was more dangerous than a housekeeper who merely fooled around?

'Who are you really?' Naota asked.

'I'm a manifestation of your boyhood desires.'

'Stop messing around.'

'Takkun.'

'What?'

'I saw Takkun first, right?' Haruko smiled.

Enraptured by Haruko's smile, Naota's heart skipped for a second—and only for a second. Idiot, what are you thinking? he scolded himself.

Naota quickly changed the topic for fear that Haruko could read his thoughts. 'Do you know about the satellite falling?'

Amarao had said an artificial satellite was going to fall on Mabase. Even scarier was that the satellite was a bomb, and the only person who could avert such a disaster was Haruko Haruhara. Considering there was a massive bomb about to explode right on his head, why wasn't Amarao more panicked?

'Doubleheaders take a lot out of you,' Haruko remarked. 'Better tell the hometown fan it'll cost him.'

The mock satellite steadily hurtled toward Mabase.

It wasn't a typical man-made satellite, and it didn't have a normal descent. As it plummeted, it began to break up, taking the shape of a metal globe. The fact that it resembled a round, implosion-type nuclear weapon was the reason the satellite was so dangerous.

The satellite was the ultimate airborne bomb, adjusting its friction with the atmosphere using simple gravity controls as it descended toward its target area. Most of it had been constructed in Japan, and the satellite's fuse and gravity control modules bore the logo of MM.

There was very little time left before it would collide into Mabase.

The bomb was set to detonate when it came in contact with the Earths surface and had stopped for one fiftieth of a second.

Meanwhile, in an underground surveillance room, Amarao and his team were monitoring the satellite bomb's descent.

'I think we should file a complaint to the Brotherhood,' one of the female operators called out.

'No,' Amarao replied. 'This satellite bomb was set up so we could use it in case of an emergency. Raharu is simply using that.'

'Raharu?'

'Galaxy Space Police Agent Raharu Haruha, a terrifying woman. She's using the satellite bomb as a pickoff throw against Medical Mechanica and the Japanese government diplomats.'

Everyone remained silent, but they were naturally growing increasingly frantic on the inside. The truth was that they didn't have the spirit to sacrifice their own lives for their mission, and they knew the underground room they were in provided no shelter.

One of the other monitors displayed a careening Vespa ridden by two people. The scooter was being driven by Raharu—Haruko— and behind her, Naota was clinging on.

The operators' hearts were frozen, knowing their lives depended on that strange pair.

As a result of the satellite's gravity controls, the sky above Mabase had started to become stormy.

On top of one of the houses, a carefree high school girl gazed up at the storm clouds gathering overhead. It was Mamimi, and next to her was Canti. Together, they studied the swirling black formations.

By some unknown means, Canti was able to display the satellite's descent on its face monitor, which impressed Mamimi.

'Oh, Lord of Fear, you're very late!' Mamimi exclaimed with regard to the satellite. 'I wonder if we'll get tomorrow off school.'

Without replying, Canti switched the display to show Haruko and Naota, who'd finally reached the baseball field.

Mamimi wore a curious expression. 'Takkun… what are you going to do?'