Pooled knowledge
My idea, to my own slight surprise, goes without a hitch. It's a delightful surprise after all the endless troubles recently. Even the car is dusty but untouched, though I was afraid the Time Eater would break it. But the mollusk had no interest in the thing, to my pleasure.
I don't want to pay the car rental if it breaks, even with the Arc's money…
The car's accumulator allows Leaf to charge his own electrical devices as well. But this only makes him uncharacteristically melancholic.
"I don't think it would be good for me to talk with people outside," he says quietly. "It's not the time for. Things… aren't right. Please do it without me. I will wait just there." He gestures to the side of the courtyard.
"Alright," I smile at him, feeling a pang of pity in my chest. At least these two are alive, or (in case of Lizard, if he dies again) could be made alive. I hope that after all this they will go home to live normal lives, whether in the Arc or not.