"I saw a heavenly being a while back..." "It was by the river, in the rain, where I picked up an abandoned kitten." "And only I could see it." "An angel with black wings, which descended to Earth just for me." "What are you doing there?" "Oh, Ta!" "Don't bother me at school!" "Well, you know..." "Who's that?" "His babe, I'd guess." "Yeah..." "That's Naota's girlfriend." "His... girlfriend?" "What?" "What an airhead." "You look kind of stylish this way, with this thing in you." "Cut that out!" "Don't look at it!" "Talk about lame." "Hold still, that's right..." "See?" "It's empty." "No brains." "Must've dropped them somewhere." "Because of you." "It's not my fault you dropped them." "You are so messed up." "Look who's talking." "Sprouting a robot out of your head is a pretty messed up thing to do." "Not only that, but now you've got another one." "This is weird." "It's not normal to grow horns." "And then that horn turned into this robot dummy which is now living in my house." "And it's all because you hit me with your moped." "There's nothing wrong with my Vespa." "Haven't you returned that outfit yet?" "Some people may start thinking you really are a nurse." "Ah, how do you do." "My name is Haruhara Haruko." "I'm 19 years old, and I work as a live-in maid for Naota's family." "19?" "The hell you say!" "But in reality, I am a space investigator for The Fraternity!" "That's a lame name for a band." "Ow!" "Guess again." "We're not going on Star Search." "That hurt!" "Anyway, Miu-Miu lit into you yesterday." "I swear, you don't know anything, do you, Ta?" "It was your fault I got the treatment from that cat." "Well, what is this thing, anyway?" "And how come it can take x-rays?" "It's a Medical Mechanica Robot." "Didn't you know that?" "That's where it was built." "Well, what was it doing inside of me?" "That's what I'd like to know." "What's the connection here, huh?" "Well?" "I can't hardly tell anymore where the truth ends and the lies begin." "I'm surrounded by lies, starting with Samejima Mamimi and Haruhara Haruko." "And then there's these new horns I'm sprouting." "It's too fantastic not to be real." "Lift that bale!" "Since you don't have any futuristic conveniences so we've got to get some use out of you at least." "Oh no!" "Dad, keep it in doors!" "Wrong, wrong, wrong!" "You're supposed to start with that one!" "The neighbors have eyes, you know." "Are you trying to keep it to yourself, just because you found it?" "Does it belong to you?" "It's not normal for a family to have its own robot!" "Well, what's wrong with a family having its own robot?" "Actually, I think it'd impart a sense of arbitrariness to the average household for it to have such outrageous technology as a humanoid machine." "Ideally, you have a family grouping N, composed of various self-directed persons with the plot device of having a robot." "Then you have the social environment M, which makes all of this possible followed by Initial D, a manga which everyone is buying." "Robot Keiji K..." "What is he talking about?" "He's talking about this "Eva" zine which he used to write." "Eh?" "Wha?" "!" "This isn't the first time that robot dummy's gone walking around, either!" "There seem to be a lot of fires happening around these parts lately." "There was a fire yesterday, too..." "Huh?" "!" "He could use a break too." "Isn't that right, TV Boy?" "You're in high school now." "What do you think you're doing?" "I lost my shoes while playing with Ta." "Who?" "Ta..." "You mean him?" "Right." "He looks hungry." "You got anything?" "What?" "He can't eat gum, you know." "He's been abandoned?" "And you saved him?" "Kind of makes me an angel, doesn't it?" "You know, Cantide, the angel of black fire, champion of the weak!" "That's a character in a computer game a dangerous one, who burns towns to the ground." "I think it's cool." "You do have a thing for games." "Won't you stay and play?" "I'm busy." "Seems like you're always busy." "Well, I've got to look out for so many people, after all." "Lady!" "Hey, Lady!" "What make is this?" "It's got parts I've never seen before." "Yeah?" "Have you even got a brain?" "You don't seem to know what's what." "You go tearing around the facility, blowing up all over the place..." "We've got trouble enough right now, without you adding to it." "Word is that last night's fire was arson and before that a nurse at the associated hospital was stripped of her uniform too..." "So many people don't know right from wrong..." "Ow!" "Adults don't do what you're doing!" "Who's this?" "Your little brother?" "We're strangers." "I'm an Earthling, after all." "This is no place for kids!" "People are working here!" "This is no place for people to work." "It hasn't got a single entrance." "You were probably thinking that one normally has no business getting a grade-schooler to vouch for oneself, am I right?" "Now hold it!" "Are you talking about this kid here?" "That's true..." "It's not right!" "Even so, you came." "The rain has stopped." "Allow me to thank you." "With something better than just mouth-to-mouth." "There's no sign of the angel..." "It's the angel..." "It's the angel..." "It really is the angel." "Just like before..." "You don't usually go to the beach, do you?" "Not at this time of year." "It's too cold..." "AHHH!" "Look out!" "Your driving is awful!" "No it's not!" "I don't like being scared..." "especially when I'm not wearing a helmet!" "You've got no brains!" "What do you have to be afraid of?" "The beach was closer than I thought, on that moped." "The smell of the autumn sea breeze went right through to the back of my sinuses." "It might well have been because my head really was empty, just as Haruko said." "Good thing I followed him." "Ohhh, what if somebody sees it?" "I saw it at the convenience store not too long ago." "Leafing through a naughty magazine." "When was this?" "You're lucky." "Do you think he'll come over to my place too?" "You can't keep pets where you live." "Sameji?" "Come in out of the cold." "I'm fine where I am." "Grandpa doesn't like the fact that she's seeing my brother." "And that's keeping you from inviting her in?" "Well, she said she was fine where she is." "Hey!" "He's back!" "Oh no..." "What have you been doing?" "!" "Canti!" "Canti?" "Cantide, the black angel of fire!" "What took you so long?" "What are you using him to run errands for?" "I told you to get the kind with the pulp in it!" "Huh?" "What's that?" "Give it here." "Now let's see..." "I told you to get the one with my favorite pop idol on it!" "Not you too, Grandpa..." "It's "Bomb", a teen idol magazine." "He's useless." "You're the one who wrecked him." "Hey, Haru, you can't do this." "He's an angel!" "What is she talking about?" "A computer game." "I do sure envy high-school girls." "They don't have to worry about anything." "Well, it's true." "The black wings prove it." "Stay inside now, you hear me?" "Or I'll put you on a leash." "Hey, TV-Boy, did you tape the Thursday TV Special?" "Come on, over here!" "This was a boathouse?" "Something still smells, you know?" "It says "Keep Out"." "Then don't follow me." "Don't worry." "The police have already been here." "They said it was arson." "What, again?" "Again with the arson, huh?" "Probably some housewife did it." "You know, stressed out from doing housework all day." "Nahh." "It's UFOs." "Didn't you see the tabloid photos?" "It's a diplomatic affair." "If they were going to do it at all they should have picked a more attention-getting place to burn..." "The school!" "The school!" "I heard about something like this before too." "Before we started school, right?" "That was ages ago." "Somebody burned it?" "There's still a few ruins remaining." "What's that?" "What the?" "What's that?" "!" "Bullying, I bet." "The bullies got someone around here the other day too." "Which school is that uniform from?" "Shinden High School." "You mean she's a high-schooler?" "Man." "You'd think high-school students would know better..." "Fire Starter is a handheld electronic game." "No one knows when Endsville, the Devil's own city, came into existence." "But it began growing, expanding from the moment of its birth, engulfing the world little by little." "The player takes on the role of the servant of Cantide, The Black Angel who must thwart the growth of Endsville by setting it afire..." "Hey, kid, you see any suspicious characters around here?" "Not me, Officer..." "It was arson, wasn't it?" "There was somebody, and you have an idea who it was, don't you?" "No, I don't!" "It must be a stress reaction." "Brought on by bullying, like I said." "It happened around here too the other day." "Won't you stay and play?" "Some dangerous person is trying to burn down the town." "Word is that yesterday's fire was arson too." "Also arson, huh?" "I think it's cool." "She looks stupid." "Wrong." "It was her, wasn't it?" "No!" "Yep, it was her, all right." "Hold on!" "Where did you go?" "I'm to blame." "It's my fault for not noticing." "Where does reality end, and lies begin?" "How come we've got a talking cat?" "No brains." "Must've dropped them somewhere." "Speak for yourself!" "No, I still can't make contact with him..." "I've managed to co-opt one of the enemy's robots, but it's no use either..." "Oh right, sorry about that." "Get back!" "The embankment..." "Hey!" "Where'd she go?" "I remember the school fire." "It was six years ago." "He saved me." "My brother did?" "No, Canti, defender of the weak." "There were rumors that it was arson but the official report was "Cause Unknown"." "Case closed." "And that was the day that my brother met Samejima Mamimi." "What are you doing here?" "You dropped this." "I BET!" "I'm done with it." "You can have it." "You and my brother went to this school, didn't you?" "You remember the fire they had here?" "Nah, you wouldn't remember." "You were just a little thing back then." "I hated this place." "You..." "I wished it would just go away." "But it didn't work." "I burned the place, but its remains are still here." "Endsville is burning." "Look..." "And now, Cantide, my angel your reward a kiss of blessing." "A kiss." "Wh-What's going on here?" "This one's bigger than the one before!" "Oh no!" "There's some big thing sticking out of you!" "It's so heavy..." "Ta!" "How dare you do this to him!" "Ta!" "Haruko...?" "Mamimi?" "!" "Mamimi!" "Run!" "My brother!" "Ta?" "What are you doing...?" "!" "Let go of me!" "It..." "It ate him?" "!" "You're no angel, you stupid thing!" "Why did you go and eat Ta?" "!" "It's transformed!" "Gotcha!" "Ta!" "You're definitely doing it!" "Ouch!" "You're definitely doing it!" "You're groping all over her!" "You're dripping wet, Ta!" "Everything's been blown away, the school ruins... everything." "And you smell, too." "Uh-oh!" "I'm getting out of here." "Hey!" "What are you two standing there for?" "!" "I didn't even notice the approaching sirens." "I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't." "But I made up my mind then and there that I would stay with Mamimi, and do whatever I could for her."