What has tomorrow become?

It eats away at the few that survive it, let alone the few that die of it. Max continues to watch the onslaught of fire, the night was kept awake, the Tetsu Kabe was synchronized with the air raid. Fearlessly shooting down the chained line of fire, taking advantage of its high vantage point over the buildings.

He wore his earphones, trying to fall asleep, trying to muffle the sounds.

"Maybe they were right, haha, I would come to eat my own words, my amusement for this machine was temporary..."

Perhaps today, the moon isn't darker, yet pitch black.

Another morning passed by, still feeling like nothing more than a repeat of the other day, except worse. The strikes continued to worsen, and he cleared off work, customers of his establishment slowly dwindling. He took a stroll around downtown, empty streets that used to be flooded with students, now leave nothing but room for air.

The boy stood in the middle of the street, leaves flying by, and the constant sound of the wind was spinning in his ears. Yuki messages him, sharing about her canceled flight to leave the country, she is terrified, and her words were reflecting her face. He viewed it, thought nothing more of her, and left the road.

Max enjoyed the serenity, his rejection of the outside world had become his life. The empty cafes made him smile, the emptiness made him feel at home. His world had color, his eyes saw beauty in a distorted manner, protrusions of nothing more but existential dread that filled the void in his heart.

Dairue calls Max, his voice noticeably in tears.

He heard the news of Kenji's death, cardiac contusion, an unknown rupture during their failed operation, had fatality injured his heart. In years, today had come the day of Dairue's very own collapse. Max looked blankly at the cracks within the cement, the drain. he couldn't say a thing.

"I am attending his wake tomorrow, if you wish to come along, we're free to do so..." Dairue invited him, Max could only say "yes", there was nothing he could say that could describe how he felt, how he acted over the phone. The boy left, and he continued roaming around the street, downtown had never been so empty.

Moments he'd close his eyes while walking, moments he'd stumble upon nothing more than another person, Kenji's death left him hopeless as if there was no bigger picture, they were all fragmentary images that kept themselves attached through a thin layer of tape, the adhesive that never lasted the test of time.

"Why is everything and nothing happening?! Why is it nothing good? But everything else...?"

His life was uneventful, everything had happened around him, over beside him, there was no impact on him. Max continues to avoid it, choosing not to be in the center, yet to run away from the circle itself. He wished not to be part of it. not to be part of anything, flailing his arms around like a kid.

The night is on his tail again.

Max continues walking, downtown is populated again, and the nightlife was at its most extreme during days that kept the living daylight, dead. Walking by many of the pubs, Soran stands next to the door, holding up her advertising material.

"I recognized you already, Max. This is not somewhere you'd usually go... Haha, I am not a prostitute by the way..." she reached out to him, yet after handing out a flier, she saw his face, dark maroon hair, overgrown hair, it was Max.

"Oh... Today is just an exception, I needed a break. Maybe it's best I leave you here, goodbye." He tapped her shoulder and went in the other direction.

"Hey, where are you going?" Soran left her signboard, following Max's direction.

"Somewhere, I don't know where to go..." Max answered, facing away from her eyes, trying to avoid a conversation

"Come with me!" she excitedly tugged on his hand, trying to convince his path to go with her.

"No, I've been with you enough times to see where these kinds of things go..." Max was done with her, regardless of how many times they meet, how many times they see each other again, she was over her.

"Aw... That's okay, you have fun then, ill go now, goodbye Maxy!" Soran walked back to her post, sighing of defeat, continuing her job alone.

Max was walking, his smile was faded. satisfied with having no reason or direction. He killed his desire for people, that everything was less than what it seemed, thinking nobody was compelling enough. To his mind, everything was at the mercy of his hand, and he was ready to cut off society for a shot at peace.

"It's nice and quiet when nobody knocks on the door."

He walked back home, going past Soran's workplace, hiding from her. She looked yet and decided it was best to ignore the lonesome man. He went back home, thinking about Akemi and her smile, another useless pile of tears, spent on a person that was long gone.

The boy dreamt of the coast, a city in the night, and lights that took colors for granted. The river ran into the dam, bridges that crossed the line between water. A paradise far from where he was, a new goal in mind.

His dreams did not last, for today he must attend the wake. The sun was barely up, his alarm read "8:00", and he left his room's door open while he entered the shower.

"Something new, well there you go, somebody died... Something new? There, sleepless nights full of gunfire..." Max scoffed at his wishes, how easily they backfire on him, how quickly things go downhill.

Dairue waited at his doorstep, sitting on the small steps, he was always looking at the ground.

"Let's go...? Dairue felt lighter with him around, and even in disagreement, they still found each other as friends. Max was bothered by his days, as if they never changed, as if nothing was ever happening, to wake up for the same old routine.

"Dairue, you ever feel that the days go by, too fast?"

"Time's been slow when you're in a room all day long, why?"

"Maybe it's just me then, I feel like I've been repeating everything."

"Yeah, so have I, somehow we got different outcomes..."

They kept to themselves, Raiden waited in his car, his eyes were sunken, tired, and torn. He greeted Max, trying to lighten his face for the boy, yet they both settled to keep quiet for the rest of the ride. Max kept his head leaning on the window, remembering how their incident with the church went, the voice of Kenji's concern, still fresh in his mind.

They arrive after a silent trip, Max kept writing on paper, keeping track of the moments to think about something else.

The room was empty, the lanterns that lit the sides, flowers all around his picture frame. His cremation was missed, Raiden couldn't help himself, his tears were of reverence, a profound idea of Kenji's legacy. Max entered the room, his expression dropped to the floor, and the paper kept itself safe and sound as it fell.

Seeing the frame, he couldn't help it, the tears couldn't flow. Dairue's sorrow followed, seeing an image of his greatest subordinate, the one who stood true and loyal by his side, nothing more than ash. Hyperventilating, barely able to contain his whaling cries, barely able to contain himself from falling to the floor out of misery, out of his mind.

Dairue left the room, the frame was too much for him to handle, too much to bear and see for his own fragility. Max went up to the frame, offering the single letter he wrote from his ride.

"To say goodbye, too much, it's not the end from here. Though I have never gotten the experience to make more memories with you, I will not back down. For the glory of your name, to the public, I shall reveal my findings. With the little evidence I have, till our ends meet, I will see you again soon."

Raiden read his letter, his face knew that Max had something to offer, that their future may fall on him. He tried not to think much of his final line, yet he wished to do the same. Raiden politely asked Max for a single piece of paper and borrowed his pen. He drew a smiley face, two smiley faces that symbolized him and Kenji.

Both of them left, telling the management to keep the letters pasted on his jar. Dairue never got to write, yet he planned to take his ashes home.

"Max, the evidence you speak of, what did you find?" Raiden immediately asked, wanting to help with his plan to expose to the public eye what they saw.

"That maybe I have an idea of what they are, an assessment of what they can do." Max was hesitant, yet he wasn't backing down from telling both of them.

"I don't want to hear it for now." Dairue went back to the car, sitting in the backseat, desperate to forget everything.

"Grief hits him hard every time, it will be a problem if he doesn't wanna be a part of this anymore..." Raiden worried about Dairue's lack of involvement, that their leader was willing to back down.

"He led all of you, it's taken a toll on him, that it never ends with just one death, he wants nothing to do with this anymore. Why him? Why not you, Kenji, anybody who's old enough?" Max knew that children couldn't take it, the burden they must carry, one they cannot accept the same way as most people who've grown past them.

"Because he knew the most, he was capable, we all knew that. Now that I think about it, I wish we didn't, there were too many things happening. I couldn't lose myself, Sachibana needs me." Raiden knew how painful it was, his regrets of doing nothing, broke Dairue as the months of constant decline kept going, and going.

Max gave him every detail, every little form of description he could squeeze out of them. Every little thing, even the flowers that moved with the walls, every inch of the "beast" he so described, every little idea that people rejected for seeming "unreal" he spoke.

To Raiden, it was a tiny glimmer of hope, it was the small thing that they needed, a puzzle piece in the ever-growing confusion. He listened intently, to hear the shifting tides, the tunnel, the perseverance of how they were able to fight something they didn't know about.

As they spoke, another airstrike occurred, this time the barrage was continuous, never giving the Tetsu Kabe a break. Everyone kept inside, the staff simply hid under tables. The two went into the car, seeking coverage in case something was to break, in case something failed.

The masses distrusted the Tetsu kabe's proficiency, believing its abilities to be a hoax, child play to the rockets. Yet again, it proved successful, deflecting the continental fire for a third time, burning the few debris that tried to make it down. The smoke was thickening in the air, the past few attacks have left the city in a foggy haze, almost as if it was storming.

No rainfall was found, only the gray fog that faded away as the barrel reloaded.

Raiden started the car, the windshield made the Tetsu Kabe, just barely visible. The hexagonal patterns on his dome were much more prominent close by. Its defensive stance stood prideful over the rockets, its success rate was very much at full capacity.

"Do you trust that thing?" Raiden asked Max, almost seeking an answer contributing to the negative appeal of the public.

"What?" Max asked, Raiden proceeded to point his hand at the Tetsu Kabe. Max opened the car windows, seeing a closer look made him fantasize even more about being able to control one of the turrets.

"I trust enough of it, but only because it kept my mother safe, if it can do that, it can probably keep anyone safe." Max's answer gave Raiden a new perspective, he always doubted its potential, that it was a flawed excuse for a placebo effect.

Raiden drove Max home, he left and bowed goodbye. He wondered to himself why Yasu and Yuari, never attended the wake. Thinking about inviting them for a visit to the newly kept ashes, to accompany Dairue's bleak days. He was burning himself out by making people content, knowing how crucial it was to people.

He started planning out what he would do the next day, trying to make a simple change in his life, trying to make sure that everyone was happy. He sat on the couch and opened the news, the television was showcasing the air strikes in Tokyo. Tokyo's night attack was barely a thing, nobody gave mind to it, and everybody was used to the noise.

Max watched closely, seeing how easily it repelled even such a large barrage, his admiration grew even further. The sheer sight was enough to convince him to stay, a new desire to pay a visit to Tokyo for a day.

Perhaps Tokyo can spread his rumor like wildfire, that Tokyo was enough to give him a chance.