A flashback kicks in of Crowne's past where she is desperately trying to tell some boy in her class to stop what he's doing. Her classmates sighs about how uncute she's being and tries to say it's no big deal. He says no one else is around besides however many of them are there since there's at least three people present, and ugly laughs about how he's thought she was hot for a while. He's not a fan of her personality, but he sees her as a woman and he just can't get enough of that. Crowne demands that they untie her and threatens to beat them all up, and a guy responds by hitting her in an attempt to make her shut up.
Crowne narrates a bit about how she's in a study room for one of the top class engineering college on Earth. She's usually in there studying every day undaunted by how often she's told she wasn't girly, but now her pride as a woman was under threat of being crushed. She struggles to get out of the ropes binding her, but the guy there says she should sit still or the machine she's apparently strapped to will tear her arms off. He doesn't actually want to kill her, because he's not into dead chicks. Crowne calls the guy a rat bastard, and she briefly considers actually letting the machine maim her so she can get away. It's surprising to her how she's actually thinking of grafting prosthetics to herself in that scenario because letting the guy have his way would be too humiliating.
At this point a random faculty member happens by and interrupts, asking what the hell is going on. Crowne's would-be rapists are surprised by this development and attempt to run, and Crowne describes the teacher as the life teacher she respects as a researcher and human. Some time later, the teacher tells Crowne that the boys have all been expelled, so she can relax. He offers to have Crowne transfer to his lab if she'd like, and he makes a point of saying she'd join as a researcher worth respecting and not as a girl. He'd like to see her push her drive for researching further. Crowne then wonders what would have happened to her if she didn't meet that teacher there. Maybe she'd lose her arms, start hating men, start hating that she was a woman, and then maybe she'd go on to hate the world.
Back to the present, Yoshiori is getting up after getting his ass shot into a wall, mad at Monomasa's interference. Monomasa doesn't say anything, so Yoshiori starts demanding to know what he's doing. He accuses him of joining up with you guys and starts accusing him of betraying Exio when Monomasa finally decides to cut him off with a denial, shouting loud enough to shock Yoshiori.
Monomasa tells Yoshiori he has let his blood run to his head and that he shares his hate for the one who took Exio away. However, he tells Yoshiori to not mistake who his enemy actually is. Crowne and Procy may resemble the attackers, but they are still different people that Yoshiori is throwing senseless violence at. Yoshiori is stunned silent before deflating in despair. You either ask if Yoshiori has finally calmed down, note how quickly things wrapped up, or ask about Exio being taken away in shock. A and B have some extra lines of Akashi agreeing and saying Monomasa (I think) is strong before Mokdai moves the plot along to ask about Exio being taken away.
Either way, Ryekie says he caught that part too and loudly asks for an explanation. Monomasa looks down quietly for a while in silence, and when he eventually looks up again he starts off apologizing to Procy and Gomeisa, then all of you in Parallel Flight. Monomasa looks over to Yoshiori, so Yoshiori mumbles his apology for going after the wrong guy and says he'll pay for the damages he caused. Procy yells that Yoshiori is definitely paying for the wall and furnishings that were broken, and Crowne while slightly shaken says she's fine since she wasn't actually hurt. Procy gets slightly shamed at that and says he won't charge Yoshiori for his medical fees, but he asks about what happened to Exio too.
Monomasa says he'd prefer to not get you guys involved with that, but he's not actually sure you guys are uninvolved. Huckle is surprised and asks about Crowne and Procy being involved, and Crowne says she doesn't remember doing that nor does she have a reason to do so. Monomasa says that's natural since she was uninvolved with the abduction itself. Sui asks how those two points can go together because she doesn't get it, so Monomasa says someone else would be more appropriate to explain it.
Monomasa calls over to someone hiding by the bar entrance, and Melide reveals herself. Mokdai, Akashi, and Yoshiori react in recognition of her, and Yoshiori walks up to Monomasa with his fists balled. He demands to know why the two of them ran away and threatens to attack if they won't say. Monomasa looks away and answers that there was no other option because Exio had chose to do things this way. Melide starts apologizing as she cries, which surprises Yoshiori into looking like he got smacked in the face.
Huckle starts narrating what happened earlier to everyone, saying two strangers appeared at the hideout while Yoshiori was escorting the rest of you out. One was an Observer who looked a lot like Crowne while the other was something that looked like Procy but whose status as a person was questionable. Once they arrived at the deepest part of the hideout they started attacking. They were clearly after Exio and were out to kill him. Monomasa fought back against them, but the Observer was so powerful that they could keep powering Not Procy up despite not streaming the battle. When Exio realized Monomasa would be outmatched, he signaled to him to do as he was asked beforehand.
The thing that Monomasa was asked to do earlier was to prioritize getting Melide out of the hideout in the off chance someone showed up to attack Exio. Monomasa did as instructed, then retreated from the hideout. Exio however refused to go with them, instructing Monomasa to focus on getting Melide out safely over Exio's own safety. Monomasa chose to comply, and Yoshiori returned to the base soon after that point. By then Exio was already seriously injured.
Yoshiori attacked in a rage, and he actually held his own while relying on Anonymous, turning the hideout to a disaster. But Not Procy eventually outmuscled him and kicked his ass, knocking him out cold. By the time Yoshiori woke up, the two intruders were gone and the only thing on the floor was Exio's blood trail. It's been a few days since then (so frankly Crowne Alter should have been bugging out already unless not everything was sequential), so Yoshiori planned his recovery while looking to reunite with Monomasa and Melide to figure out a way to look for Exio.
While all that was happening, Monomasa went into hiding with Melide while being on guard for signs of pursuit. He kept an eye out for a chance to regroup with Yoshiori as well while searching for Exio. That brings us to today, where Monomasa caught sight of our battle live against Yoshiori, and he came to stop things before Yoshiori would mistake Crowne for Crowne Alter.
Huckle asks if that sums everything up, so Monomasa confirms and says that he prioritized keeping Melide alive. Yoshiori is depressed that he lost and couldn't save Exio, then starts banging his fists against the floor and yelling profanities while Gomeisa is tending to him. Gomeisa has to tell him to stop or else he'll hurt himself further, so Yoshiori apologizes again.
Monomasa thinks about the bloodstains left back at the hideout, saying Exio is a tough guy. He's about to suggest he might be dead when Yoshiori cuts him off and refuses to believe in the possibility. Monomasa sympathizes but points out that Exio is still physically a normal human. Given who he was attacked by it seems unlikely he's alive, and Melide worries over him some more.
Ryekie starts arguing that it's too early to give up, citing the fact that no one has actually seen Exio's body. It'd be wise to look for him, and doing so can make things more optimistic he shouts as he dramatically stands up. Ryekie promises that everyone, or at least he himself, will help look for Exio. Even if he wasn't able to come to an agreement with him, Ryekie's code of justice says he should lend a hand if his life is in danger.
Yoshiori is shocked by this declaration, and Akashi asks Ryekie if he's sure about that. Ryekie assures him that he means it 100%, so Akashi points out how dangerous it is and that the villains already beat Monomasa and Yoshiori. He's worried that they'll beat Ryekie too, even with all his strength. Ryekie asks if Akashi thinks he's weak enough to be done in like that, causing Akashi to deny it in surprise. You are either surprised at how confident Ryekie is, try to point out how dangerous it is yourself, or squee over how cool you think Ryekie is. C gets Ryekie to laugh and ask if you've fallen for him, followed by Akashi getting baffled by you cheering for him.
Anyways, Mokdai tells Akashi to stop since Ryekie's not going to listen to anyone if he's saying that much already. And while he isn't completely on board with an alliance, he's okay with helping out on the search since it's better to have more people involved in things like that. He also argues that a hero agency shouldn't ignore people when the job is to help people. Sui laughs and agrees, saying she was found that way by you guys too. Crowne observes that people helping each other when in trouble fits how you guys act, and you turn to Huckle and ask his opinion.
Huckle agrees with Mokdai over the bit where Ryekie isn't going to stop if he says he's going to help. It's not that he can't tell against doing it, but he doesn't think it's necessary. Doing what's deemed justice is what hero agencies do, so if a hero says they want to help save lives, then he wants to support that as best he can. Procy asks if that means you guys are helping them after all, then sighs about how quick you all are to stick your noses into somebody else's business. He warns that it'll hurt you guys at some point, maybe even this time. Still, that does track with how you guys work, and Procy does actually like that stance.
Melide thanks everyone, and Monomasa says he gets why she's happy but tells her to dry her face by the time they find Exio again. She nods, and Monomasa comments on how weird you guys are after a moment. He still feels a sense of familiarity in it though, back when he was a person and was a hero. He had a sense of justice like that back then too, and he says it was great as he looks at you guys while reminiscing.
Some time later, Procy starts asking who the people who attacked Exio actually are. He's heard the bit where they resembled him and Crowne, and the idea that they could be confused for them creeps Crowne out. Crowne tells you guys that while she doesn't know about Procy, she doesn't have a sister who resembles her that much. Procy says neither does he, nor would they ever have a reason to attack Exio to begin with.
Melide says Procy and Crowne can relax since the attackers at least aren't their relatives. She thinks the one that looks like Procy is actually a Monster made from some sort of memory record. Procy is shocked at the idea of a Monster that looks like him running around, and Crowne asks if her counterpart is also a Monster. Melide says they were definitely a person, and she felt that they were the same person Crowne is.
Crowne is confused and asks if Melide's saying the person both is and isn't herself. Melide says that in simple words, that would be the case. Crowne's existential weight, connection to the time axis, and position in the world all mirror that Observer she saw. You ask Melide about those stats, so Melide says an explanation would take a while, but every sign pointing to Crowne being the same person as the other attacker is present, aside from them being a different being.
Gomeisa says he doesn't understand and figures his Common/Japanese/whatever isn't enough for that, but Akashi says being fluent still isn't making it easier to grasp. He wonders how a Not-Crowne Crowne can be a thing, but Sui says she feels like she's heard something similar to that. You then bring up the idea of a doppelganger or something similar as you suggest looking into that.
Mokdai floats the idea that the attacker is a Crowne from a parallel world. Ryekie however is confused and says even he knows about parallel worlds being a thing. Pulling out Parallel Weapons from them when transforming into hero mode is one thing, but he's never heard of a person being brought over and asks if that's possible. Huckle says that he at least can't because a path needed for that is bigger than anything he can do. Plus it requires an enormous amount of energy just to bring them over and preserve the time axis. In the worst case, you could fall between worlds and be unable to return.
Melide says that no matter how powerful an Observer is, bringing a person to the world you're in is impossible. Normally, bringing another copy of someone into a world should be impossible as well. Procy is curious about that, so Melide says that if there's two of the same people in the world, Canopus flips out the balance of the world will be upended. The world will try harder and harder to correct this imbalance, and people disappearing when they get eaten by Monsters is one way it does so. It's apparently harder to correct for an extra copy instead though, and having just one extra copy of a person starts causing the world to break. Melide doesn't know how much energy something like that would take, but a normal person would destroy themselves first trying to handle all that. No Observer capable of doing so exists, so it should normally be impossible.
You nod at Melide's explanation, then point out that there is someone who could pull it off as you think of the person who summoned you to this world. You then suggest out loud that the Broker could do it, and Monomasa seems to agree after thinking on it for a moment. Melide also agrees that the Broker could make it happen since he can interfere in many worlds. She has some doubts though, so when you prompt her to go on she says she can't think of why he'd do so. Monomasa agrees that she has a point.
Huckle is surprised at the suggestion of a reason and asks if Melide is saying the Broker has a motive for what he's doing. Melide confirms as such, but she clarifies that she only has conjectures. But anyways the Broker is using Monsters to collect the observational weight of all things, which she compares to View Power, and turning it into energy. Akashi compares the Broker to the boss of the monsters, and Melide says the Broker can destroy the universe if he feels like it. That he isn't means he sees all the worlds as feeding grounds. There's no need to destroy places he can gather observational strength from, which leads back to Melide saying she can't figure out why he'd bring a copy of someone to this world. Melide glances over to you and says that she can come up with an idea if the point is to shake up the world for some other goal though. You are surprised at the idea it may have something to do with you, but Melide decides to back off from it, telling you not to worry about something she just randomly thought about.
Crowne changes the subject a bit to ask what her parallel self is like, wondering if her personality and appearance matches exactly. Melide denies the idea and says that a parallel self isn't bound to be exactly the same even if you're the same person. There are as many parallel worlds as there are choices you've made to be divergence points, so one choice can change the entire environment of things. That's where Parallel Weapons come from.
Ryekie notes that the parallel Crowne was called an Observer while the Crowne here is neither hero nor Observer herself. Yoshiori then complains about how remembering Crowne Alter pisses him off. He refers to Crowne Alter as a guy and says they seemed to look down on all men in the world. They also said they were going to kick Exio's face in because he's a man.
The mention of looking down on men triggers a memory for Crowne, and Yoshiori continues by mentioning that Crowne Alter seemed to hate being a woman. When he referred to them as such, they got pissy. This triggers another flashback for Crowne, and Yoshiori adds that Crowne Alter called him a shithead while using prosthetic arms to hold him down. Crowne is alarmed at that detail, and Yoshiori finishes his recap by saying the monster beat him until he passed out.
Huckle is taken aback and notes it sounds like Crowne Alter resents the very concept of gender. Akashi asks if that's really Crowne and wonders how she could have ever turned out like that. Mokdai agrees and says as far as he knows of Crowne, that doesn't seem like her at all. Crowne just says no, and you look to her in concern. Crowne says if she wasn't saved back then and told those words, she could have turned out the way her parallel self did. The episode then ends with Sui being concerned for Crowne.
No comments:
Post a Comment