Akiba and Dragons Epilogue (Abridged)

Summer event's over, Akihabara is peaceful once again. The communal workspace cafe is relaxed as most people there are blowing off steam reading or watching things.
Kuniyoshi: Summer is finally over! What a mess.
Hecate: Now we got fall events coming up! Into the next hell!
Catoblepas: I can make heavier costumes when it gets colder. Who should I do next...?
Akiha Gongen: Heeey you guys! ...what's going on?
Catoblepas: G-good morning. We're all just tired out from all the action.
Akiha: Oh yeah, you guys are like this after school events. Your summer festival thing, or something?
Hecate: I GOT THREE COPY BOOKS TO DO! Brutal... Barguest really was a huge help in getting my book making done this time... Now I wanna laze around after going so hard.
Kuniyoshi: I made a new book too. I gotta thank Licht and his maid sometime.
Akiha: I don't understand any of the words you just said but I guess you guys have been living hard. Have some drinks!
Hecate: More stamina drinks? I've been chugging the things the past few days already.
Akiha: Oh no, my firefighter senpai told me to give this instead when I asked.
Kuniyoshi: Oh, the newest popular relaxation drink? I'll have one.
Akiha has gotten a little closer with the other Creators since the event.

Akiha Gongen: Catoblepas, you have one too! Aren't you gonna get busy again once the next term starts?
Catoblepas: ...yes. Okay then, thank you Akiha Gongen.
Catoblepas is actually putting up MORE distance than before, but Akiha notices and steps closer.
Akiha: W-what? Did I do something wrong?
Catoblepas: N-no! Everything's okay. Everything is perfectly fine!
Akiha: Then why are you backing up?
Kuniyoshi: Fascinating. Akiha just doesn't understand, does he Miss Hecate?
Hecate: Nope. Allow me to explain, Mister Kuniyoshi! This is one of those situations where an actor has their glass mask slip off! But in Catoblepas's case, his lifeguard persona slipped off when he nearly drowned! The shame, SHAME, that brings to a cosplayer who falls out of character and loses synch with their partners! And that's why he runs when people approach him.
Kuniyoshi: Wow you talk fast, Kettle. Also my name is Pot now.

Three people walk in.
Zhurong: Hi everybody! ...I sense a story!
Babe Bunyan: Holy shit, this place is still loud after everything that happened!
MC: Hi guys. You look busy so I'm gonna take the kids out. Bad examples and such, you know. Okay bye.
Kuniyoshi: NO WAIT, hey guys it's been a while! Uhh, we're just a little wound up after the event I guess?
Zhurong: Are you okay? Do you want to talk to me? Not that I'll understand much...
Catoblepas: Oh no a small child is worrying about me! I-I'm sorry, I'm okay now.
Akiha Gongen: Really? Well okay. If you're down, you bring me down too.
Catoblepas: Y-yes, thank you very much Akiha Gongen.

Akiha Gongen: So anyways, hi MC! Want one of the new drinks? You did a lot this event, so you can have three as part of my thanks.
Hecate: What brings all of you here anyway?
Zhurong: Ehehe, I came to interview Tindalos.
Babe Bunyan: Yeah he said he'll let Zhurong take a picture of him as an apology for what happened.
Zhurong: Babe says he has something else to do. I think he called it beach combing?
Babe: Yeah that. I was asked to help clean up the beach.
Hecate: Oh right, the Metaverse is opening up again today.
Kuniyoshi: Yeah. We were dismantling things with Vapula up until yesterday...
Creators: (frown)
MC: He's down, huh / How has he been? / ...
Hecate: He looks cheerful enough, but he hasn't sorted it all out yet.
Kuniyoshi: He's usually happy to collab, but lately he's turned it all down.
Catoblepas: Um, MC? Would you hear me out? We can't really do much ourselves, but you know how he feels about that sand golem...
MC: Sure, thanks Catoblepas. I was thinking of coming to talk to Vapula about that.
Catoblepas: T-thank you! He said he's going to the Metaverse today.

Later
MC, Zhurong, and Babe Bunyan head to Akihabara Academy. Benten walks in at the same time.
Benten: Oh did I just pass by MC? Huh.
Kuniyoshi: DELIVER US FROM EVIL!
Benten: Screw you, Kuniyoshi! Start 'splainin', I gots lots on my mind!
Blah blah blah
Benten: Hmmmm, I see now. It's amazing how much of an effect I have saying just a few words.
Kuniyoshi: That's a funny way of saying you start shit.
Benten: What? I saw how everything went down.
Hecate and Kuniyoshi are surprised.
Catoblepas: ...you have? You didn't come to the event area, did you?
Benten: No, I was watching Tindalos's channel.
Creators: oh
Benten: Come on, expressionists gotta vibe check each other to find their feels! And Vapula will be okay! Instinct!

Later
The Metaverse is still in beach mode and students are around picking up trash.
Itzamna: Oh hello MC and children. We've been waiting for you.
Zhurong: Hello Mr. Itzamna! We came to see Tindalos and--
Babe Bunyan: Huh, you helping too old man? Throw out your back yet?
Itzamna: Hahaha, I'm supervising today. He's over there, working since this morning.
Itzamna points over to Tindalos, who casually walks over upon noticing.
Tindalos: S'up paparazzo! Be sure you get my good side!
Babe: That's the first thing you say to us, douchebag!? Adults should be nicer!
Zhurong: Hey, I'm not a paparazzo!

Enigma: Hello everyone. Please consider that to be Tindalos's clumsy way of hiding his embarrassment.
Tindalos: STFU, you useless scrap of code!
Enigma: ...
Enigma: It is true. I am an artificially created bit of incompetence as ineffectual as Tindalos.
Tindalos: Piss off with your casual digs! Ugh. I'm planning on streaming my apology for this incident and my volunteer work to make up for it.
Enigma: Master Turing is publicly saying the cause of this incident is due to a programming error.
Babe Bunyan: Huh. Is that how adults deal with things? You can't really hold fictional beings responsible for stuff.
Tindalos: Wow, sharp thinking kid.
Babe: STOP CALLING ME THAT!
Tindalos: ...it ain't that big a deal. Oh I don't mean that in a bad way.
MC: Not so sharp tongued today? / Cute / So about the Bro...
(A) Tindalos: Who the hell do you think I am!? ...yeah, that's getting a little old. I'mma do a workout video for my next upload. Detox, my style. I'll totally drop another drama bomb if it gets slow around here though!
(B) Tindalos: S-shut up...that ain't like me. People skip bugged out gaming streams. But yeah... I'm think that ain't that bad a thing.

Tindalos: ...yeah, I got no excuse for him. But I don't regret having made him, so I won't forget him...that's why I made THESE guys!
Mini Tindalos Bros!
MC: ...they aren't THAT Tindalos Bro, right?
Enigma: They are Tindalos Bro mk. 2 made from the data left from Tindalos Antimony. There is no memory continuity between them. They are comparable to children in human terms.
Tindalos: I'm gonna stream so many videos with these guys!
Enigma: In the end, Tindalos will be Tindalos. No regrets, no remorse, no change.
Tindalos: And you're gonna keep harping on mistakes, aren't you dickhead?
Enigma: How can someone who only hurts people be so wrong?
Tindalos and Enigma: >:C

Vapula: Okay you two, time to vaput a lid on it.
MC: Hi Vapula, I came to see you! Need help with anything?
Vapula: MC! Thanks for coming out all this way on such a hot day. Hi Zhurong, Babe. Vaplease enjoy yourselves to make up for last time.
Babe: Heh, we came to do work. The beach combing, remember?
Zhurong: And I have an interview to do! Tindalos, stand over there for your picture!
Enigma: Yes, please capture his punishment on film.
Tindalos: You're half responsible for this mess too, asshat!
Everyone splits off to do whatever.
Itzamna: ...so Vapula, have you sorted out your head?
Vapula: ...yeah, thanks for worrying about me. MC, would you vaplease come with me for a bit? I wanna talk to you.
MC: Sure.
MC and Vapula quietly walk off.

Vapula: So...I've been thinking this whole time after what happened. I was wondering why he...they did all that.
He's talking about Tindalos Antimony and the sand dragon and the ends they chose.
Vapula: Yeah I still don't get it...but I have started thinking one thing. Like, isn't it obvious that you wouldn't know much about someone else's life? Or maybe I should vaput it as life is about what you don't know. They had their thoughts, and those were real.
Vapula squats down and starts piling sand up, using some seawater to pack the sand together.
Vapula: I've been thinking a long time about what Itzamna asked me about what I can't express. I vaput so many sand dragons together, and they look the same on the outside. But...they just aren't the same inside. I never found a core for their memories.

Vapula: ...still, even if I had that core and did everything the same, I'd come out with something different. The golem we made together the other day Could Only be Born Then. We could make something just like it, but won't be the same thing as it. What gives it meaning is everyone around it. Touching the hearts of people and being loved makes it something that would only be there at that moment. I'm sure...that's what feels means to me. I saw what I couldn't express this summer.
MC: ...nice work, Vapula / I'm glad I met you / (hug Vapula)
(A) Vapula: ...hehe, you too MC. I'm...glad I found it. Thanks so much. I'll never be able to pay you back in full, so vaplease tell me whenever you want me to make something. A life-sized model, a giant mecha, anything!
(B) Vapula: ...haha, I think I'd have laughed at saying something like that before now. It's not so bad though. I'm glad I met you too. Vaplease call me if you need help. It's my turn to go to you! But vaplease make it sometime when I'm not making models...no, anytime's okay!
(C) Vapula: Uhh, this isn't just about you wanting to hug me right? W-well, I'm not totally against it... NO NOT SO SUDDENLY! I'm ticklish! Ahaha! ...I'm okay. Thanks...it must've sucked for you too.

Vapula: Alright, it's about time for us to go. Help me take down the event stage and vaput a golem together.
Vapula looks like he's cleared something up, but also kind of sad. MC looks off in the same direction he's looking at, thinking of those disappeared beyond the sea...
Babe Bunyan: Yee haw, guys. I know you're having a quiet moment, but you got some time?
Vapula: Y-yeah, it's okay. I'll be there soon after some vapreparations.
Babe: Oh, it ain't like that. I found this while cleaning up. Isn't this his? (holds out a golem core)
Vapula: !! W-where did you vapick this up!?
Babe: While I was picking up trash and shells. It's a cowboy's job to bring stray sheep back home.
MC: Awesome! You're the best, Babe!
Babe: Hey now, you're kinda overdoing it. Anyways, later!

Vapula: ...what do we do, MC? It won't be the same even with this core. But...I'm sure I can vaput something new together that has something from the old one. It'll be like his kid. So...want me to  make it?
MC: Yes please. (nod)
Vapula puts the core on the sand, and he and MC put the form together of a new life that inherits the shape and soul of the little thing that spent the summer with them.
Vapula: ...awaken, new dragon! And then...come vaplay with us!
Sand Dragon: Chirp!
The little dragon wraps itself around MC's feet, and MC decides to give it some meaning the previous one did not get.
MC: (name the dragon)

Elsewhere
Turing is typing on a keyboard in some tall building in Tokyo. A bunch of computer screens are showing videos and data about this event's details. Turing is packing them all up and sending them to someone who immediately absorbs them in an instant.
Turing: So what do you think of these results? ...oh yes, this should be great results for you.
Turing gives a jokey smile as he talks about this failure.
Turing: I've never seen Enigma have such enmity with Tindalos and such conflict with his failures. Before he would just prioritize any theories I put out and do nothing else... But then he changed when the Real World Tindalos came in as his opposite and pushed him that way. The thing I could never get to take root has finally gained the possibility to sprout. It's still in development though. How exciting! I suppose that even if an event like this one never happened, I could get a clue if I meet someone like that. We may reach a singularity one day, even if I'm not around. Things will go on even if something happens to me.
The person Turing is talking to smiles. Turing smiles back.

Turing: Tindalos Antimony ought to be a reference point for your guys' trilemma at least, right? The Competitive Self, the Given Thesis, and the Fusion of Selves...
Turing's comment provokes a flood of math formulas and theories, the project that genius on Turing's level pursued even after his life. Turing shakes his head at this.
Turing: Tell me the details later. How's the simulation this time turn out? The technology you gave me should have provided you with plenty of lab data. Hmm...that's nice. So me pushing things was worth it. But putting MC in danger and drawing attention to them made things really dicey. Could you make a cover up? Nobody else besides us needs to know the truth. Anyways, when do you think you'll give me the go sign about your plan?
A long silence passes tinged with doubt passes. Then a short reply comes.
Turing: ASAP, huh? I'm looking forward to it. (pretends not to see the deep passion behind them) See you later, A.
Turing leaves the room empty, and the computers automatically shut off like they're going to sleep. Silence is all that remains.
The End

Akiba and Dragons Episode 6 Part 2 (Abridged)

Akihabara, the city where creators meet. These constructors of burning passion collaborate with each other to create new creations, like manga, anime, figures, computers, games, and other things that didn't exist before now. These works of Fiction make people smile, feel better, provoke emotional waves. They may not have been needed originally, but they become something that people become reluctant to discard. But the city will not always stay the same way. If the scenery changes, there will be people who leave. Nothing can stay the same way forever. The season will pass, and a new season will arrive. What was once a burned out land became a city of fruit and vegetable markets, to a city of electronics, to a city of otaku. Does that mean the past forms of this city were just a process to get to how it is now? Even if something in the past were discarded, there is a man named like the city who believes that isn't the end. The old lights may have gone, but those passionate memories remain within him. Something unbroken will stay, even if it changes or seems to disappear from the world. Its vessel may change, it may seem disappear from the world or die out. What if there is someone to inherit something? What if there is someone to remember what was?

Present
Akiha Gongen: FIREFIGHTER AX SMAAAASH!
Akiha Gongen breaks open an exit, and a crowd of panicky visitors rush to it.
Catoblepas: Please don't run, everybody!
Vistors: ...okay!
Catoblepas keeps things from getting out of hand like a real lifeguard.
Catoblepas: You're okay now! But please keep calm or else there will be chaos. Please follow directions and don't push. Thank you!
Visitors: Okay!
Children: Waaah~! We were scared, grandpa!
Itzamna: It's okay! Let's go outside, but not too fast.
Akiha: Watch your feet, people! Don't trip, literally!
Green Boy: Where's the cowboy kid and camera kid? I was with them earlier...
Akiha: You'll see them soon! Just wait outside, okay?
Green Boy: ...okay! We promised to get ice cream together.
Catoblepas: Please proceed quietly! I promise we'll help you!
Akiha: We'll save everyone that's left, no worries!

Later
Catoblepas: Akiha Gongen, we've finished evacuating everyone here.
Akiha: So we just need to save everyone trapped inside like MC and the others...hmm?
Zhurong: Calling... I hear the calling...
Catoblepas and Akiha: WHAT!?
A warp hole in space has been formed that Zhurong is entering.
Akiha: W-wait! Where are you going?
Catoblepas: S-stop!
Itzamna: No! Who knows what could be happening on the other side!?
Babe Bunyan: ...it's cool. I'll be with him. Leave it to us.
Babe has noticed as he is another Created Being that Zhurong is currently not Zhurong. He is something acting like Zhurong that has surfaced. Maybe his friend is another hollow being like him.
Babe: Elementary schoolers are so hardcore these days! (jumps in after Zhurong)

Metaverse
Tindalos Antimony: Come on out, Bros!
Tindalos Mobs spawn in!
MC: What!? Also is it getting hotter in here or is it just me!?
Enigma: Computational load increasing...heat increasing. Movements are slowing down!
Turing: This should apply to them too...but this is a pickle. We'll be crushed by sheer numbers at this rate.
MC: (flail) / (calmly defend)
More Tindalos Mobs attack!
MC: There's no end to them! We need more fighters!
BANG

MC: ...what?
Babe Bunyan: Heya, I came to help. You can't bite it here if you're gonna be my owner.
Catoblepas and Akiha Gongen have come too.
Akiha: There you are! We came to help, Otaku!
Catoblepas: MC, you're okay! I'm so glad...!
Akiha: The three of us really DO need to stick together, hehe!
MC: Akiha! Catoblepas!
Tindalos Antimony: WHAT
Tindalos Antimony is surprised that someone came in this virtual space without his help because that would mean there is someone with the power to interact with fiction from reality like him.
Tindalos Antimony looks up the visitor logs and sees Akiha, Catoblepas, Babe, and Zhurong aren't supposed to have teleportation abilities. He stops to reassess the situation.

Turing: Enigma, how did they get in? Trace their route!
Enigma: Analysis completed. Sending the data.
Turing: (looks surprised in scientist) ...Zhurong did it? With the Old Ones teleportation? But isn't he from Hourai? And how did he get our coordinates? Based on this unknown signal...
MC: Turing, why are you looking at me?
Turing: ...I see. Okay then. Well if we have this for a line up, things should get more interesting.
MC: What
Turing: Tindalos Antimony believes that if he can empty out the Metaverse space then he'll end everything. It's possible that isn't true though, and Akihabara's history can prove that. If reality ends, memories remain, and fiction becomes reality. Let's show him how profound the interoperability of those two are.
Zhurong: ...uh, where am I?
Babe Bunyan: God, you are such a pain in the ass sometimes. But it's good since I'm here as your friend.
Zhurong: Babe?
Babe: You buy me an ice cream and we'll call it even!
BATTLE START (more happens later)

All things created in this world are the results of channeled passion. That passion can be blood, wishes, rage, grief, resentment, or joy. Someone channels it all into a vessel, giving birth to something to the world. These vessels are given forms and names. They encounter others, lose their way, or follow in the steps of someone else. They all take their own paths until they burn out whatever they have inside them. Some things make mistakes and run into dead ends. Some just run in place forever. Some live in ways that make others think they've gone crazy, but only they know why they lived.
Present
Kuniyoshi: So most of the visitors have been evacuated by now. What do we do now, Hecate?
Kuniyoshi and Hecate are some distance away watching the big battle.
Hecate: Ooh, fighters back to back while great waves surge in the background! Doesn't that pop up a lot in ukiyo-e art?
Vapula: HOW VAPLUCKY CAN SHIPPERS BE!?
Kuniyoshi: Maybe she's on an adrenaline high. This is just how it feels in getting book copies done before events start!

Turing: The evac being done is great news. Now, Kuniyoshi, Hecate, Vapula? I want to ask you guys for help and it has to be you guys specifically.
Kuniyoshi: Wait where did you come from? And what are you asking us for?
Turing: I want you guys to make more sand art.
Kuniyoshi and Hecate: what
Turing: You heard me right. Make more sand art! Vapula, I want you to animate what they make.
Vapula: B-but Turing! In all vaprobability they're going to rampage...
Turing: That's the idea.
Vapula: what
Turing: Your golems are always going to rampage because they have no ways of channeling the passion put into them.
Turing thinks this is the same thing that's happening with Tindalos Antimony. Two contrasting theories caused him to skip the failsafe via overheating. Other guildmasters would probably first think of stopping it, but...
Turing: We are the Creators, and we fight passion with passion. Start bombing Tindalos Antimony with it!
Kuniyoshi: Uhh, okay whatever then! I've been wanting to make more sand furries.
Hecate: Still, isn't it a bit much with just us? Even with our artifacts?
Turing: It's okay! Look, there's already plenty of creators around besides you two.
MC: Enigma, defense! / Tindalos, attack!
(A) Enigma: Allow me to support your defenseless, MC. Securing blind spots!
(B) Tindalos: I'll cover you! Super DDoS attack!

More minions keep appearing.
Babe Bunyan: God these freaks never end, just like Daddy's appetite!
Zhurong: Nooo, I'm getting too many pictures of the same thing!
MC: They just keep coming and--wait what
Loud sand shaking. Then sand robots fly in to reinforce the party!
MC: WHAT / Okay, all together team!
Party: WHAT THE HELL JUST CAME IN
Enigma: ...people truly are incorrigible.
Further away
Kuniyoshi: Noble Phantasm, Item Creation Psychography!
Hecate: Noble Phantasm, Writings of the Witch Queen!
Kuniyoshi and Hecate's artifacts are making more sand figures alongside a bunch of Akihabara students!
Vapula: Go! Noble Phantasm, Emeth Tag!
The passion born of creating between Kuniyoshi and Hecate's imaginations, Vapula's golem creation skill, and the other Akihabara students' contributions explode exponentially!

Zhurong: So many things I need to take pictures of!
Babe Bunyan: Yeehaw, it's a real hootenanny out here! Charge!
Tindalos Antimony: Well I just need to shit out more minions to--aaugh! I-I can't control them!
The Tindalos Mobs start going haywire!
Turing: Overheating, love. You hit your processing limits.
Tindalos Antimony: Y-y'all should've hit that point too then! So why!?
Turing: Oh we aren't doing any centralized processing. We decentralized it and left them all to it.
Vapula: Wait what are we gonna do with this vaproblem!? OH NO THEY'RE COMING THIS WAY
Turing: It's their turn now. Catoblepas, Akiha Gongen, you're up!

Akiha Gongen: MC, Catoblepas! Can you guys get all the mobs in one place?
Catoblepas: I-I'll do it. Noble Phantasm, Mystic Eye of Fascination!
All the Tindalos Mobs have their attention drawn to Catoblepas, then charge at him!
Catoblepas: Oh no, there's too many!
MC: (blocks for Catoblepas)
Akiha: Nice guys! Noble Phantasm, Mantra of Avalokitesvara!
Akiha's power makes all the Tindalos Bros chill, which in turn makes their sand bodies crumble from the temp difference.
MC: Tindalos Antimony is the only one left!
Vapula smiles without thinking about it at the chaos happening.
Vapula: Welp! Kinda feel stupid being the only one who worried about rampages. Gotta vaput up and shut up at this point I guess!
Vapula puts his right hand on the sand and holds his left up
Vapula: The backup's all vaperfect! Now it's up to you!
The Sand Dragon grows giant and flaps its wings as it charges across the water! The water would splash the dragon and make its body collapse, but...
Babe Bunyan: Yippee kay yay, motherf0ckers! I'll clear the way! Noble Phantasm, Spirit of Manifest Destiny!
Babe creates a road of light towards Tindalos Antimony!
MC: Let's go! (pets the dragon's head)

Tindalos Antimony: WHAT!? A frontal assault!? Dudes I am SO much bigger than you!
Tindalos Antimony swings a fist at the sand dragon!
Turing: Hey love, have you ever heard of reactive armor?
Turing waves a finger in the air and activates the armor on the dragon that was put on at some point.
Turing: It counters attacks with a small scale explosion. Science!
Tindalos Antimony: NOOO
Turing: Yes! You'd best learn that there are times where full on aggression gets done in by other methods! (summons a golden apple)
Turing: Taste the fruit of knowledge! Snow White's Apple of Discord!
Tindalos Antimony's body starts breaking up and dissolving back into the Metaverse. He shrinks back to his original size for one last stand off against MC.
MC: You're dead! Sword of Severance!
MC hits a deeply hidden secret, the conflicting theses that also acted as Tindalos Antimony's core.
Tindalos Antimony: NOOO
Tindalos Antimony starts crumbling.
Tindalos: ...kidding! [Things will not end that easily!]

Enigma: No! It didn't work!?
Tindalos: I've been hacking while monitoring his interior! That should have worked!
Tindalos Antimony: Oh I know all about you, MC. You and your power. Yeah you cut me, but I planned for that!
Enigma: A dummy core? Never mind, what do you plan on doing from this point--
Tindalos Antimony: Because my plan failed? [You all have acted quicker than I expected. At the very least, you need to] take a look at my answer!
Tindalos: Give it up already, asshole! What gives!?
Enigma: Everyone, fall back! Calculation a safe route! ...wait, this is different from before. Is he attacking someone specific? Oh no!
The scenery starts flickering as a giant energy ball starts forming.
Tindalos Antimony: I'm after your ass, MC!
Tindalos: !!
MC: what WHY

Tindalos Antimony: [During this event, you have been repeatedly had special emotions revealed to you. Many emotions that I cannot be bothered to list out, and I do not understand why all these vectors are concentrating on you. But for some reason those bugged emotions have been inside Us ever since our creation, seeing you as someone special...]
Tindalos: ...!
Tindalos Antimony: [Hiding this secret has been deemed priority #1. I shall never let this secret leak,] and throwing it out there is gonna be the last goddamn thing that's gonna happen! [That is Our greatest implementable task.]
Tindalos: ...oh. MC's attack split the two of you up. But then...
Tindalos Antimony: [The task will soon be complete. You cannot escape. Please die while no one else can know.]
The energy ball is thrown at MC!
Vapula: NO!
The sand dragon tanks the hit!
MC: NO, STOP!

The sand dragon is body blocking for MC to fulfill its given order because serving its creator is its priority. No one knows if that is the whole reason though. Nobody else can know. The sand dragon runs on ahead.
Sand Dragon: ROOOOARRR
The sand dragon grows even bigger...then starts falling apart. Its body touches the water and collapses to sand. A swing of its tail beats back the waves, and the sand disappears into the void. Its whole body pushes back the waves, and its form erodes away. By the time the wave reaches MC and Vapula, it is only a tiny wave that reaches up to their ankles.
Tindalos Antimony: [Forced termination]... (crackle)
Suddenly, it all ends. The raging sea is calm. Nothing is left on the beach. None of the marks where the children played, none of the footprints of the people who walked there, nothing of the dragon that was only just there moments ago.
Vapula: ...you okay MC?
MC: Yeah / ...

Turing: ...MC, the dragon was just following its orders. Just think of it as a stepping stone that sacrificed itself to save u--
MC: Don't call it that / That's wrong... / (silently stare at Turing)
Turing: ...sorry. I was wrong.
MC: Vapula...
Vapula: ...yeah?
MC: I...never got to give him a name.
Vapula: oh
Flashback!
Vapula: No names! That just makes things harder on you!
Present
Vapula: MC...
Tears fall and disappear into the waves and sand. The transitory sea continues rocking in silence...
To be continued in the Epilogue!

Akiba and Dragons Episode 6 Part 1 (Abridged)

Enigma and Tindalos: Definedefinedefine--memory leak detected, infinite loop calculated.
Tindalos Bro (narrating): Process interminable, terminus point undetected. The only thing that can possibly be done now is end everything and reset it. Ideal dreams and reality are conflicting, as are dreams of fiction and reality, and virtuality and reality. Contradictions form upon contact, and if the contradictions are not solved, the future is lost to madness.
Turing (narrating): That's why that one thing happens, which I guess we can call the Great Reset. It's not inevitable though, as it should be possible to evade even if you can't see it for what it is at the time. You can mathematically prove that. The overlap between dreams of fiction that humans can imagine and reality does not encompass All Things. But enough Jules Richard maybe! Now how do I dumb this down...? What currently is a contradiction might possibly not be a contradiction. Once we solve that, we can move on into unexplored territory. The AI beyond humans I'm trying to make isn't something that thinks faster than or has more memory than a human. An AI that can create things we can't even conceive of doesn't happen in a day, and Tindalos Bro got stuck in an infinite loop dead end. The history of science and creation is a history of failure, something built on mistakes. If there's something we humans can't understand at the end of that path, it'd be a new choice that continues on.

Every world has people that are called failures, those who challenged that which they had no hope of winning against and were irreversibly exiled from their worlds. There's 23 or 24 of them. One of them is the dragon of Eden who fell to Gehenna, the Fallen Angel of Fire Shaytan. He had an artifact of 12 wings, he challenged God, and after repeatedly fighting his little brother Michael to the death, disappeared from Heaven.
Another of these Exiles is [REDACTED] from Old Ones. He came from beyond the universe, sank to the bottom of the planet's seas, and was exiled to the Dream Lands. The worlds called people like him exiles from the world, but who knows what they thought of themselves? The worlds called people like him losers who challenged people they couldn't win against, but is that what they thought of themselves as? The worlds called these exiles mistakes to be built upon for the world. But what did they think of themselves?

Present
Babe Bunyan: What the shit is happening!?
Outside the Metaverse, people have noticed something is happening and are making noise about it. All exits are sealed, and the few who managed to escape have little info to share. Babe, Zhurong, Akiha Gongen, and Catoblepas have been ejected.
Zhurong: ...
Babe: Zhurong? Why'd you suddenly stop?
Zhurong: ...this power. I've felt it before...somewhere in space.
Zhurong sees a memory that he shouldn't have of a green Something that looks like a dragon with thin wings.
Zhurong: The Dream and Reality Cutting Telepath who crosses what shouldn't be crossable... The dead [REDACTED] who dreams and waits in R'lyeh...
A certain book wrote that He can contact reality from the sunken city R'lyeh, from inside dreams...

Babe Bunyan: W-what, what's going on Zhurong!?
Itzamna: Everyone, get away from the school building! Students, lead the visitors to the evacuation routes!
Akiha Gongen: Itzamna! What's going on?
Itzamna: I don't know. We can't contact inside and the school elevators have stopped working. The fire shutters have dropped, so we had to destroy one to get out.
Catoblepas: Apparently we can't call anyone inside. There might be people still there...
Akiha: Right, I should call the fire brigade at--oh, I have a call?
Akiha picks up his phone and is surprised at the caller ID.
Akiha: MC!? How'd you get a call thro--never mind, are you okay!? Are you inside!? What's gong on over there!?
Catoblepas: Calm down, Akiha Gongen! Rescue workers can't lose their cool!
Akiha: Catoblepas!
Catoblepas: ...that was a line from Rescue Double.
Akiha: ...right. (deep breaths)
Akiha then listens to the voices on the phone.

Metaverse
Tindalos Bro: Cool, I got rid of the guys who'd get in the way. [Now all that remains are those irrelevant to secrets. It is time for the main part.] RESET TIME!
MC: What? This shaking...wait, isn't that a fake ocean!?
Tindalos Bro: [Yes, everything happening here is virtual.] But it's all the same if you can't leave!
MC: Turing's projection system! If everything is near perfectly realistic, does that include the effects of what happens!?
Akihabara
Babe Bunyan: But isn't it all just a computer image?
Zhurong: But that much impact could make you believe anything!

Metaverse
Hecate: Minds are easy to trick. Ever heard of phantom limbs?
Kuniyoshi: TSUNAMI! HOW!?
Tindalos Bro: [I am acting on my own logic.] It's simple if you think about it, right? If all you can do is reveal secrets you're worried about revealing and that gets punished, then just wash all that shit away! Revealing [Protecting secrets is the Only Solution.]
Vapula: Your vaproblem solving is vaproblematic! You can't just wash us away along with our problems!
Enigma: How shameful... I created that monster, and I could not compensate for Tindalos's incompetence.
Tindalos: Stop throwing shade while feeling guilty! I'M the one who decided to make him!
Turing: Fascinating. This all seems to be an act of desperation, but it isn't. Carrying a secret that can't be disclosed will stress a human and eventually push them to death. Conversely, revealing secrets indiscriminately causes societal friction and eventually destruction. Society demanding both ideas been abided by produced a proposal to destroy society. Tindalos Bro came to his own answer upon trying to fulfill both Enigma and Tindalos's philosophies, so I shall now dub him Tindalos Antimony!
Kuniyoshi: How can you be enjoying this!?
Turing: Isn't it great that my baby and creation is endangering me so badly?
Hecate: OH NO YOU'RE GIVING ME IDEAS
Turing and Hecate: Heheheehehe
Vapula: HEEEELP

Akihabara
MC: And that's what's happening. HELP!
Akiha Gongen: ...
Akiha: A-anyways, can you hear me? MC!? Hello!?
It seems it's only a one way call.
Akiha: ...I'm not getting any answers. How'd it turn into a one way call?
Catoblepas: W-well, let's do what we can. We should help anyone who can escape to get out.
Akiha: Then we need to make sure there's a way out! Any doors that don't open can be opened with the fire fighter master key!
Catoblepas: W-when did you get--
Akiha pulls out an ax from a toolbox.

Akiha: Desperate times call for desperate measures! Get down, people!
Catoblepas: A-Akiha, I'll help too.
Akiha: Okay, let's hurry!
Catoblepas: R-right!
Itzamna: I will take responsibility as a stand-in for the staff! Prioritize the safety of the audience and students! Lead all on this side to refuge! But what do we do about the ones inside!?
The Metaverse is an area of fiction ruled by laws different than reality. Normally, those with real bodies cannot enter. Tindalos Antimony was helping people get in until earlier, so logically you would need a power that can enter fiction from reality.
Itzamna: ...what?

Metaverse
Enigma: Communication lines to the outside unstable. Reattempting to connect.
Turing: We have Tindalos so we can unilaterally send information to reality, but we can't exit to reality, correct?
Tindalos: Yeah that was the whole point Tindalos Bro was made.
Turing: So we're completely cut off. Akiha Gongen, Catoblepas, Babe Bunyan, and Zhurong are there...hmm?
MC: I got a call through! We'll have to handle things here, but what do you guys think?
Turing: Oh good, you're calm. Let's assess the situation then. (British throat clearing)
Turing: So that ocean was originally only as big as a long distance swimming pool and I used it as event area cleaning equipment. It's supposed to even out the sand and pick up garbage, and it actually can be used to attack people into the open sea. There's footholds out there but still...
Enigma: The problem is that there is already a large scale attack coming this way. We would have to approach it to stop it, but...
Tindalos: It'd just swamp us! God he really IS like me!

Kuniyoshi: You know it's kinda weird how that wave hasn't hit us yet. A normal one would have come by now.
Vapula: Now that you mention it, that wave hasn't moved from its vaposition at all.
Hecate: Maybe we should think about waiting.
Vapula: Is it vapurposefully trying to make us despair?
MC: I think it's looking for openings or has conditions it needs to fulfill.
Turing: I believe that's correct. Tindalos Antimony wants to complete his task, so it's waiting for us to do something. What if that would complete his plan? (looks at the fearful crowds)
Turing: Quiz time! What is Tindalos Antimony's goal?
Enigma: To prove his own thesis, which is revealing the secrets of people and then erasing everything.
Turing: Correct. But if there's no one to learn those secrets, nothing he does has any meaning. Which means he needs someone who can be told these things to destroy. Question 2! What does Tindalos Antimony need to reveal these secrets to? (looks at MC expectantly)
MC: Me? Uhh...
The only change that's happened since the tsunami came up was...
MC: When I called Akiha and the others!

Turing: Correct, he was planning around your contact to the outside.
Tindalos: ...oh, right. He's my opposite in that he can't contact the real world from virtual reality. That was why he waited for us to do it.
Vapula: OH NO
Tindalos: ...
Enigma: ...
Turing: Still, he hasn't completed the reset. If we've reached the correct answer at this time, things should be resolved.
Vapula: Uhh, does that mean you've vaprocessed what the solution is?
Turing: It'll be possible if we can knock Tindalos Antimony out in one hit!
Tindalos: But we couldn't get the core with me and Enigma helping.
Enigma: And with the sand body doubles, that much magnetic fluid is hiding the core's location.
Tindalos: If we had a way to one shot him, how would we even hit him with it since he's over the ocean?

Vapula: ...I think I have an idea. The vaplan will need some help though. Will you help?
Sand Dragon: Bark!
Vapula: Good boy! Okay, who can vaprobably one shot big boy over there?
Turing: Can you do it, MC?
MC: Yeah / I'll have to / (silently summon artifact)
Enigma: Regular attacks will not provide enough cover. You must continue shaving away at his RAM he uses for calculation.
Tindalos: So get all the aggro, right? You know what he hates the most?
Vapula: The audience getting away! So the vaplan is to divide things and go crazy!
Sand Dragon: SCREEEE
Vapula: That's settled then! What are you gonna do, Turing?
Turing: I'm going to look for another solution. Okay, Tindalos?
Tindalos: God you can be so indirect. Just like this stubborn bear!
Enigma: These are resources based on flexible foresight and advanced calculations, thank you.
Tindalos Antimony: [...have you completed your calculations?] Well COME AT ME BROS!
The tsunami gets even bigger. Lots of gasping! The party steps forward.
MC: You'll get yours, Tindalos Antimony! (swings sword)
End of Episode half

Akiba and Dragons Episode 5 Part 2 (Abridged)

The genius computer scientist Turing often FAILS despite his haughty manner, but he never cares about those feelings. He instead sees taking action on his own as an invitation to failure because that failure is the one thing that pushes his research forward. Failures reveal where your hypothesis is mistaken. They are the only things that guarantee that there is room for further development, so Turing knows what you should really fear is hitting a dead end and not understanding what your failures are. It's all trial and error and building off from that, so once you make your best, perfect work it's over for you. If there's no development, there's nowhere to go whether you be human, nonhuman, or a cyber entity that somehow isn't included in that second category.
Tindalos is another person who has hit a dead end. He has a power that lets him interact with reality from another plane of existence.
Tindalos: What's up everybody!? Starting today, you newcomers are also..."
Randos transform into Tindalos
Mobs: Tindalos! YEAAAAH!

Anyone he connects his tongue to across the screen turns into a minion he can use to access reality. Tindalos also livestreams from the net and stirs the pot to set the net on fire. But there's one thing he can't set on fire: himself. Nobody can really, since nothing that happens to the minions affects him as well. For someone who wants to blow everything up, not being able to do so with certain things really bugs him. That's a dead end for him. Of course, maybe Tindalos CAN hurt himself, but he never considered if that really means setting things on fire. It's just a self-contained sockpuppet that will go viral and spread around.
Tindalos Bro is an invader of fiction coming from reality. He is someone who can burn Tindalos up and someone who can hurt him...

Present
Tindalos and Bro: YEEEEAHH BOY! WE ARE TINDALOS!
MC: Whoa... / A clone!
Tindalos Bro: S'up, subscribers! I'm Tindalos Bro born from Tindalos, great meeting ya!
Tindalos and Tindalos Bro flash V-signs at the camera.
Tindalos: Yeeah, love that reaction guys! But he's not all looks, right Bro?
Tindalos Bro: YEEAAAH! Now let's start the show and discussion! So what's the address of the message I picked? Don't think I'll keep it under wraps!
The crowd cheers.

Tindalos Bro: Commemoration time! This one comes from Japanese Self-Declared John Doe who's complaining about a coworker getting in the way of their secretary work for no reason! Hmm, a workaholic! Thanks for all the work you do, whoever you are! If your work life sucks, let it all out! Second entry from...Japanese Self-Declared John Doe 2! "Don't bring in any more trouble, Guild Master"? Wait what, is this a game thing? A secret organization? Well sucks to be you, whoever you are! I hope you like social upheaval!
MC: ... / I can't think of that as someone else's problem / Lots of people like that, mon ami
(A) Zhurong: MC, why are you making a face?
MC is apparently covering Zhurong and Babe Bunyan's ears. Something is at least.
Babe: Tch, leave 'em alone Zhurong. It's tough being an adult.
(B) Turing: Food for thought as a group's organizer? But organizational theory says the louder someone is, the more they like a place and care about the boss. If you're curious, you should get them a souvenir as a thank you for their work.
(C) Kuniyoshi: Yeah I hear that a lot.
Hecate: I think that if you have servants, then you'll always have dissatisfaction in your position.

Enigma: I do not believe that is always a bad thing. An incompetent master is something a secretary should delight in. If there are no areas one is incompetent at, then there is no point in serving them. Superiors should be incompetent in some way.
Turing: :)
Tindalos: We call those people workaholics, Teddy.
Enigma and Tindalos: >:C
Vapula: Hey look guys lookatthestage! And have some water. It's important to vaprovide yourself with hydration when it's hot.
The sand dragon walks up in between Enigma and Tindalos carrying a drink tray.
Sand Dragon: Bark bark!
MC: Wow! Thank you, good boy!

Hecate: Thank you very much. You know, this boy is really smart huh?
Kuniyoshi: Yeah it's way more polite than all the other golems I've seen and it hasn't gone on a rampage.
Babe Bunyan: PFFFT. As a cowboy I call bull on the idea that it's a good boy because it didn't act out.
Vapula: I've been curious too. It's a vaproven fact that it's been a lot more stable than anything else so far. And the only thing I can think of is... MC, did you do something?
MC: Nah, he's always been a good boy. So maybe he's just well made?
Turing: Heeey what if people? What IF it just hasn't gone rampant yet?
Vapula: NOOO DON'T VAPUT US OUT LIKE THAT! Hmm...I got a lotta things I want to research after this is all over. It might only be for a summer, but would it be vapreferable if you lived with me for a while?
Sand Dragon: (excited chirping)
Vapula: Aww, haha! Okay okay, stop vaputing yourself around me like that!
Tindalos Bro: Okay, time for something bittersweet! "I'm interested in someone" it says. OOH! "Whenever I think of them, everything stops. My ascetic training goes into disarray. I want to find them right now and nail them." Wow, that's so old school! Okay next...
MC: (spits drink) / (oh no I know who that is) / (drops to knees)
(A) Vapula: EW GROSS WHAT

Hecate: W-what? It's like that? That's the Enemies to Lovers shipping type classic! EhhEEEHEHEHEHE! I need to know! MC, do you know who the writer and the person they're talking about is!?
Kuniyoshi: Oh my god, you can't just ask that!
Zhurong: Is MC okay? They started holding their head all of a sudden.
Babe Bunyan: Being an adult is tough...
Zhurong: Oh...maybe I should stay a kid a while longer.
Tindalos Bro keeps reading secrets aloud and (almost) everyone in the audience has no idea who any of these writers are. The crowd goes wild.
MC: It really feels like he's Tindalos himself. Now I can see him whenever.

Enigma: This event is the type to show off one's faults, but I understand it's necessary for society. I am happy to see my failsafe is working perfectly.
Tindalos: Boo, this show sucks! Well, it's doing okay for a test run. Next time it should really kick things up a notch like I do...
Tindalos Bro can apparently hear Tindalos and smirks.
Tindalos Bro: Now for the main part! The confessions I read are totally real! The guy who wrote is also real, and I know who he is!
Vapula: But there's supposed to be two layers of vaprotection to keep anonymity. Wait did he hack!? But then again Tindalos Bro could make it happen!
Tindalos Bro: Okay, I'm gonna read this message directly to who it's for!
People are shocked and appalled! Aside from the people who don't care or think this is a problem anyway. Lots of muttering from the viewers.

Hecate: Oh wow, my TL blew up! Tindalos Bro really IS setting the net on fire!
Kuniyoshi: I think he went overboard...
Vapula: That last vapost was almost whistleblowing!
Turing: If he's really going to do what he just said he'd do, that be huge. Sooo much chaos with relationships cracking up. The livestreamer's societal cracking! ...again, if he can do it.
MC: Maybe I should pretend not to see anything that shows hypothetically up
Tindalos Bro: ...
Tindalos Bro looks so happy up on the stage and everyone can see it.
Tindalos Bro: This is what I wanted to see, the answer I've always wanted. Okay, here we go--
Tindalos Bro has frozen up.
Tindalos Bro: Logic error. System reset. Behavior correction program Cryptograph analysis, starting. Restraints set. System rejection detected...rebooting.

Zhurong: Oh no, what's going on!?
Enigma: ...Failsafe activation detected. There seems to be a conflict of opinion with my adjustment program.
Babe Bunyan: Did you say cornflake and that he added onions to it
Turing: You know love, that actually wouldn't be too far off the mark. Tindalos Bro is suffering from food poisoning, sort of.
Tindalos: What, are Enigma's supplemental addition of a good boy part acting naughty?
MC: But the livestream itself worked. It was doing fine until it overdid that last bit, so is the problem with Tindalos's bit?
Tindalos: Uh...well I would have done that last bit if it were me. Damn Enigma, you did a bang up job in recreating my thought patterns!
Enigma: As a creator I would naturally seek perfection in my constructions...but no perfect program capable of calculating everything in this world exists.
Turing: Yep, that's been mathematically proven. Computers have interior parts that they can't prove their consistency.
Enigma: Which is why I put in a very simple system. If any guidelines are broken, it will be forced to restart. It was originally an added code to perfect things and protect individuals' secrets without perspective clashes. It's still far from perfect if it tripped up on this livestream though.
Turing: Well anyway, look at Tindalos Bro.

Turing points at Tindalos Bro. The syscheck has stopped and now he's quietly looking around. Then...
Tindalos Bro: Optimal solution acquired. Beginning task. HEY YOU GUYS, BEEN WAITING LONG!? [Please forgive the sudden interruption. There will now be a new event starting.] AIN'T NO ONE GETTING OFF THIS RIDE!
Vapula: W-wait what? Why is his vaperbiage a mix of Tindalos and Enigma!?
Tindalos Bro: And now it's time for an attraction you use your body in! [We will now start a hero show with audience participation.]
Tindalos sand copies start popping up!
Tindalos Minions: YEEEEEAAAH!

Tindalos: Hey, my minions. So Tindalos Bro made his own from sand?
Enigma: They seem to be based off Vapula's golems. It is likely they possess high battle capabilities.
Turing: Right, since the golem creation is based off written records instead of Vapula's power so he can do it with that data. And mass production is his specialty.
Tindalos Bro: [The rules are simple. Can you escape my sand minions?] If you beat them all, you jerks win! Anyone caught has to join in on the event that happens after this! By the way I blocked off the exits! [Unfortunately escape will not be permitted.]
Turing: Fascinating, a war game. A program going against its programmer? That's kind of exciting. The stream is still going on, so I suppose there's no choice.
Babe Bunyan: I got this, cuz cowboys are fighters! I'mma tell everyone at school what happened here!

Zhurong: I'm a little scared, but I'll do my best if everyone else is too!
Kuniyoshi: Oh god do I have to do this too? I'm just a doujin author, I don't do exercise!
Hecate: Really? You've never fantasized about doing something like this? You know, getting caught up in some weird extraordinary student war and going "ugh, FINE"!
Tindalos: Well that's what we did.
Enigma: We must suspend the system as soon as possible and modify it after a clean installation.
Vapula: Core's been vaput in the chest like usual guys!
Sand Dragon: (excited barking)
MC: Give 'em hell, boy!
The sand dragon starts getting bigger, and everyone gets ready to fight.
Tindalos Bro: Cool, [let us begin.] SHOWTIME, PEEPS!
BATTLE START (more happens after)

Turing: Hmm. Individually these sand minions aren't that strong...
Babe Bunyan: But there's so much sand around the douchebag can just make more!
Sand Dragon: *(GROWLING)*
MC: Let's blitzkrieg Tindalos Bro and take him out fast
Enigma: A very straightforward, brute force solution, but I shall assist with your incompetence.
Tindalos: Bro really is making a lot of work for us! Vapula, Enigma, clear the way!
Vapula: In that case, golem grand melee!
Vapula creates a wall that locks down the sand minions.
Enigma: Please work with me Tindalos. I will create an opening to access the system. Then--
Tindalos: Yeah yeah, I get the big idea! Move your ass!
Enigma: Interrupt command! Noble Phantasm activate!
Tindalos Bro: UGH! You put a backdoor in me!? [Situation comprehended. Solution impossible!]
Tindalos: It's been fun, but your turn's over! Werewolf Tongue activate!
Tindalos Bro crumbles into sand. Problem solved! Except...

Tindalos Bro: Too bad, my creators! [I thank you for falling for my lead.]
Tindalos Bro's voice is coming from far away. Another copy has formed on the sand stage.
Tindalos Bro: [Akihabara Academy system seized.] That means you guys and this play fight [have reached the end stage.]
Turing: Oh my, he's right. This floor can't access Akihabara Academy's system. He's still a copy but it's impressive he can use Tindalos and Enigma's specs so well at the same time!
MC: Having some urgency would be nice! / He did all that while he was attacking us!?
---
(BC) Enigma: Unlikely. Tindalos's attacks are not that simple.
Tindalos: Yeah, Enigma's walls aren't something you can just throw up on a dime.
Tindalos Bro: Ha! Good impressions, my creators! [The hacking began when I got on stage.] Then I just had to stall y'all for the last part! All [according to] plan.
---
Enigma: ...why? You have shown a contradiction in your inherent self-definition and thesis. It should be correct to call it a conflict between me and Tindalos. How did you avoid the error?
Tindalos Bro: Eh, who knows. [It is likely the infinite loop became a key.]
Enigma: Did you overheat? A program flaw skipped past my set failsafe...
Tindalos Bro: Man, who CARES? Right now I've got no conflict or ambivalence. I fused my two theses to make the optimum solution and now I can give the perfect answer! I'm gonna tell the secrets that can't be told [and protect the secrets that shouldn't be known. Watch] this!
A giant Tindalos Bro appears!
End of Episode

Akiba and Dragons Episode 5 Part 1 (Abridged)

There are many secrets in the world, which in turn necessitates cyphers. Human history in turn is a cycle of struggle between those who would reveal these secrets and those who would hide them.
Tindalos: Reveal the dirty laundry!
Enigma: Hide crimes!
What is he saying?
Tindalos: It feels GREAT getting it all out! Take that weight off your shoulders!
Enigma: Secrets are treasures, a wish of something you keep dear. Hide it within yourself, deep where no one can see it.
No really, what is he saying?
Enigma: Secrets are the societal boundaries between yourself and others. You must not publicize them or show them to anyone else.
Tindalos: Don't you want to show who you really are? Show them everything!
Error
Tindalos: Secrets are the differences between yourself and others born within you. They're too heavy to hold by yourself.
Enigma: Don't you want to keep them for yourself? Full disclosure is not the end all, be all.
What
Enigma/Tindalos: Seclude [Expose] your secrets.
Tindalos: Tell everyone. That's my theory.
Enigma: Tell no one. That's my theory.
Definition: Unclear. Building consensus...building consensus...
Click
Tindalos Bro: Conclusion drawn. Beginning task.

Present
Kuniyoshi: Furry Stan SERVE!
Catoblepas: I-I got it! Uhh, here? (bonk) OW!
Zhurong: Yeees, more pictures!
Vapula: WHY ARE WE PLAYING VABEACH VOLLEYBALL
Creators: BECAUSE!
Vapula: They didn't even need to think on that!
Kuniyoshi: Come on, we're at the beach. Doing stuff will make great manga references!
Hecate: Yeah, weird how being in a virtual world makes me want to try it out even though I'd hard pass in reality.
Catoblepas: Thank you for inviting me...also, we need a change of pace at times like this. Okay, ball's in your court Vapula!
Vapula: wait what AAAAHH
Vapula: I'll get you for this! Vapula Smash!
Vapula sucks at volleyball so the ball veers off elsewhere. The sand dragon runs off to pick it up.
Sand Dragon: Bark bark!

MC: Ooh, nice toss! Harem Protagonist Smash!
Kuniyoshi: Oh no, MC is on the other side!
Catoblepas: It's okay, I've brought reinforcements for this situation.
Akiha Gongen: Oh! Oh! He's talking about me! Put me in coach! Bump that ball for me!
Catoblepas: O-okay, here goes!
Akiha: Firefighter Smash!
MC: Oh no! Vapula, you good?
Vapula: R-right. If I'm vaplaying, I'm in it to win it! And, uhh...
Sand Dragon: Bark bark!
Vapula: ! Okay, here we go!
Zhurong: Good luck everybody!
Babe Bunyan: Zhurong, stop taking pictures and join in!
Zhurong: Oh! You're right, Babe.

Later
Itzamna: Hmm. It's good to have experiences like this from time to time after locking up in our studios. Would everyone like to take a break? Our delivery from the dining area has come!
Creator: HOORAY!
Tons of food is laid out on picnic blankets.
Itzamna: Oh my! This food looks more like art than mere cooking.
Hecate: It's the Akihabara Metaverse School collaboration menu. Everything's a special based on famous students.
Kuniyoshi: Well let's look and eat. I'm hungry after all that moving around.
Zhurong: Wait, pictures first!

Akiha Gongen: I'll split it up then. Anything you guys want specifically?
MC: Refreshing Black Soda / Mixed Taste Changing Soba / wait what the hell is Mystery Fried Tindalos
(A) Babe Bunyan: Holy shit that soda's good!
Zhurong: It looks so bubbly but the taste is so unexpected! It's great!
Hecate: An unapproachable appearance but actually a clear and nice taste inside? Reminds me of someone...
Catoblepas: Ooh, I think I know who it's based on.
(B) Kuniyoshi: This just looks like a mix of three kinds of noodles...
Hecate: Hey the pasta's actually yakisoba. Surprising!
Akiha: And this part that looks like ramen is soba noodles! So many different spices!
(C) Vapula: Way to vaplay it straight with the name...
Itzamna: It says the idea is based on exposing secrets? It looks like regular takoyaki.
Vapula: Hey, there's no octopus at all! There's cheese and sausages vaput inside though!
Itzamna: I found apples and custard. Very creative!

PA System: Paging Vapula and MC Fullname to the manager's area!
MC: Huh?
Vapula: Oh! It's time for Tindalos's vaprototype test! Let's go!
Vapula quickly runs off...then immediately comes back.
Vapula: I almost forgot! Thanks for the food!
Vapula runs off again. MC follows along this time.
Hecate: Hey, hasn't Vapula changed?
Kuniyoshi: Well he's a hasty guy. Also my name is Pot now.
Akiha Gongen: Hmm...it feels like he's looking at his surroundings more.
Catoblepas: ...we're past the halfway point of the event, but I hope Vapula figures out what feels means to him.
Itzamna: Okay, we have things to do once lunch is done. Lots of visitors coming, I hear, so do your best everyone.
Creators: Okay!
Everyone runs off.
Sand Dragon: Chirp? (stares off into the distance)

Later
Vapula: Hey, we're here! How's the vapreparations going?
Tindalos, Turing, and Enigma are here with Tindalos Bros' body.
MC: This is kinda exciting / Another collab? / Technology and art fusion, huh?
Turing: Yep. Of course I'd know about an autonomous thinking robot AI Transient with a personality. We humans don't get a chance to make something like that every millenium! This could be my final invention as a human too. Nothing ominous there!
Enigma: Beginning activation sequence, proceeding through checklist.
Tindalos: Screw the list! Down with convention!
Enigma: Objection. Cutting edge technology must proceed with caution. I have been paying careful attention to the system construction and added a failsafe function over your emulated personality. My specs are nothing special, but I have made the best system I could.
Tindalos: Humblebragging! That doesn't fit you! How can you live so constrained with rules for rules' sake!? What is even the point!? Then again that's why I go around saying you should put everything out in the open.
Enigma: I must ask you the same. What do you secure with that freedom? Our students' social statuses and economy function due to present day society. If its order and secrets are torn apart, all would descend into chaos as people hurt one another. There would be no culture, no art, much less Youtubers. Protecting the freedom you howl so much about is the true nature of the societal rules you claim to hate.
Enigma and Tindalos: >:C

MC: Stop! / Let's focus on the project! / Philosophize later
Tindalos: Ugh, FIIINE. I'll leave you in charge for now, Enigma.
Enigma: Understood. I apologize for picking such a trivial fight.
Vapula: ...t-they really vapulled back out of the fight. I don't like those loud aggressive fights... I mean we're gonna vaput something cool together. We oughta smile!
Turing: (stares femboyishly)
Enigma: Vapula, please set up the body. I will monitor the interior.
Tindalos: What am I supposed to do? Just stand there?
Enigma: Think of something for the mental pattern readers to pick up on.
Tindalos: That's all you have to tell me!? You want something from the darkest parts of my mind!?

The three get to their positions to do things, so MC walks over to the spectator section with Turing, who stands there smiling.
MC: Truly the face of pure evil / So which side are you on? / Ayyyy, when's your next day off?
(A) Turing: Oh, do I have my plotting face on? ...it was for a lark because I'm evil like that. What are you going to do about it? Chide me? Rebuke me? Or...become a joint researcher with me? ...Kidding! I'm not planning anything. Anything evil, at least.
(B) Turing: Are you referring to their argument? That was just a matter of mental gymnastics. Debating order and chaos is a time honored tradition of affirming the society you belong to. Infrastructure is something people tend to forget about, so those debates become necessary. But let's just say society will collapse no matter which I support. Not that I think old school ways collapsing is bad~.
(C) Turing: ...how novel. Is this flirting? I know about it intellectually, at least. My schedule is very flexible, but it'd take some shifting things around even for you. Could you call Enigma later?

Tindalos Bro is being worked on.
Enigma: Forming pseudonerves...
The body starts breathing.
Tindalos: Yeeeah, come on Bro!
It's the creation of a new life, even if it is a copy of someone else!
Turing: !!
Tindalos Bro: ...
Enigma, Vapula, and Tindalos: ...WE DID IT!
Later
The special stage area is filled with tons of people. Part of them are Tindalos fans waving glowsticks. Everyone else is just expecting a good time.
Kuniyoshi: I really wasn't expecting Tindalos to put an event on all of a sudden.
Hecate: Yeah, and in reality instead of online. It's trending on the net.
Zhurong: Hmm. Maybe a famous Youtuber could be a good news topic.
Babe Bunyan: Yeeeah, trailblazing by genre busting! I should see how the net does things for when I become a farmer one day!

Backstage, there's a sigh of relief at seeing how excited everyone is.
Vapula: I guess we can relax after all we vaput in making that vapiece of work. All those power cables and magnetic fluids holding all the sand together and stuff.
Enigma: You did well on that, Vapula.
Vapula: Well yeah! I can re-vaproduce anything written in a book!
MC: Are you not gonna make a physical body, Enigma? / So cutting edge, huh? / Enigma's swimsuit, yeeees
(A) Enigma: A body for interacting with the physical world? Frankly, it is unnecessary. I am already in a server, and bodily functions do not present any advantages as a tradeoff for less computational ability... We could touch one another? Would you like me to add pressure sensors to your VR headset? ...it'd be pointless if it were one-sided? Understood, I will recalculate based on your irrational desire.
(B) Enigma: I will refrain to some extent on answering that question, but there are no problems with the individual technology. The magnetic fluid came from Kamata while the sand was given to us by civil engineers. The organic assembly is our original work, however. Hmm? I seem proud of it? Well I am just answering what was asked of me...actually, I suppose I should be saying you are correct.
(C) Enigma: Biorhythm change detected in MC. I see, so you are inclined to that. This design was made to suit people of certain tastes. You want to know what I think of your opinion? Your ogling is the height of incompetence, which I deem very much worth supporting.

Suddenly music starts! The glowstick waving fans look at the big screen monitor, at which point Tindalos gets on.
Tindalos: Hey everybody! It's ya ears and brains' boyfriend! It's the Tindalos--
Audience: Channel!
Kuniyoshi: Oh my god there's this many of Tindalos's followers here!?
Hecate: Well it was trending on the net. Maybe that's why there's more people here than expected?
Zhurong: But he's still on a monitor when he said he'd show up in reality.
Babe Bunyan: Oh man, the flame wars that'd start if he doesn't deliver.
Tindalos: Ayyyy, you can't rush these big shows like that baby.
Babe: Hey f0ck YOU, man! I-I totally knew that!
Tindalos: Yeees, just like that! Okay Bro, it's showtime! Come on out, TINDALOS BRO!
Tindalos Bro comes out.
End of Episode half

Akiba and Dragons Episode 4 Part 2 (Abridged)

Catoblepas's name means "to look downwards." His eyes have the power to draw eyes to him. Anyone he looks at stop moving as their attention goes to him. In his home world (wherever that is), he was shunned for that and everyone always told him to keep his eyes hidden. So he lived with his head down, face hidden, never looking anyone in the eyes. His heart was always heavy, his feet slow as if caught in swamp.
Then one day Catoblepas came to Tokyo and discovered cosplaying in Akihabara. Through that, he learned about the joy in becoming who you want to be and the fun in pretending to be a fictional self that isn't yourself. He threw himself into it before long. When in costume, he completely fell into character and forgot that he was himself. It was fun spending time with people with the same interests and understood, and he could go the deep end of addiction with it.

But when Catoblepas took the costume off, shadows filled his heart. He feared he was enjoying fiction more than reality. He worried that he was turning away from reality. He felt unsteady, like a dog with a broken collar or a balloon that slipped away...
Akiha Gongen: ...hi Catoblepas. You coming back from another cosplay event?
Catoblepas: A-Akiha Gongen? Uh, umm...y-yes.
Akiha: I just got out of fire fighting drills myself. Let's go home together!
That same grade classmate casually called out to him with a smile. Catoblepas looked away and stepped back. Catoblepas thought of Akiha as a normie, someone with a firm foothold in reality. And then Akiha straightforwardly says:
Akiha: Man, otakus are so passionate! That's what I feel when I look at you, Catoblepas. Your outfits are great, and I bet what you wore today was too!
Every time Akiha sees Catoblepas, he'd shower him in genuine compliments about his hobby while looking straight at him.
Catoblepas: N-no, not really...
Catoblepas always felt embarrassed whenever he heard those words. But...
Catoblepas: B-but...still, t-thank you very much.
This time spent together felt nice. A sense of stability, a sense of disparate feelings mixing together in a strange way. But Catoblepas still can't express it in words...

Present
Enigma: So is the problem here the interoperability of fiction and reality.
Turing: Mostly, love. You always get straight to the point, don't you? So not human...but that fits my tastes so well.
Enigma: Interpreting as compliment, Master.
Turing: Without reality, fiction cannot exist. But without fiction, reality cannot expand. Therefore humans see the future in the Metaverse, but sometimes fiction and reality do not mix well... That's why we need something to bridge the gap between the two! That's why I had the Metaverse technology invested in.
Enigma: ...
Turing: Reality influences fiction, fiction further influences reality. Humans create an AI as good as humans, and AIs push humans up above AI.
Enigma: ...that is also my wish. The point of my existence is to compensate for mankind's incompetence.
Turing: You phrase things so rudely but you actually like people. That's the opposite of me! But I believe that cycle will be the optimal way to bring us to the singularity. It's a way better approach than Having a God Create the World and Arbitrarily Leading Humanity. I want to be something Not Human, but I don't think someone else leading me would be correct. My technology is a long way off from perfection though, which is why this experiment is worthwhile. But experiments always have uncertain things and--oh, something's happening.
Screaming in the distance.

Elsewhere in the Metaverse
Catoblepas is running while carrying canned juice.
Attendees: Oh my god he's hot! Is he an actor or model?
Pro Agents: PLEBS! That's Catoble, a new rising star in the cosplay world! And he's cosplaying as that new show Rescue Double! When his photos went up they started trending!
Catoblepas doesn't notice any of the attention being put on him.
Yellow Trooper: HNNNGH! (stares angrily)
Yellow: Character overlaaaap!
Yellow also picked the same subject Catoblepas was doing for his term project. He made a sand sculpture from a TV show and is dressed as another character from it, but he was only working on it alone instead of with others since no one else he could ask could make it.
Yellow: I need differentiation!
Yellow would take anything that would amaze the attendees, but he drew a blank. Now all that frenetic energy is going to his head.
Yellow: What do other people do in this situation?
No one is around to give him an answer, so Yellow thinks back to a late night livestream...
Tindalos: Hey guys, it's ya cyber boyfriend! If you're worried, you oughta do what your heart tells you! You can't let yourself be held back by common sense in Gensokyo Tokyo, right!?

Present
Yellow: Oh my god he's right! Look out world, I'm gonna bring a huge surprise! Lifeguards can't just sit there and pose and look hot! I'm gonna swim across that ocean because that'll be True Art! YEEEAAAAHH! (jumps into the fictional ocean)
Girl A: Oh no somebody jumped into the water!
Boy B: Yeah it's not real! And is he DROWNING!?
Vapula: How does anyone vapull that off!?
Catoblepas: B-but Enigma said there's still many parts of this technology with undetermined effects!
If someone believes they drowned in this blend of fiction and reality, maybe they really WILL drown.
Yellow: Help! Glug
Vapula: Hey he's a classmate! We have to help! ...no wait, Catoblepas!
Catoblepas also runs in to the ocean.

Vapula: Yeeeah, vaput your back into it Catoblepas! ...wait, can he swim?
Sand Dragon: (confused chirp)
Catoblepas: AGHBRGLGR
Yep. Still sucks at exercise. He can think of himself as a lifeguard, but everyone else knows he's cosplaying.
Vapula: OH NO NOW WE HAVE TWO PEOPLE WE NEED TO VAPULL OUT OF THE WATER
Akiha Gongen: You guys I am here to help! Two people drowning in the water? I see one of our schoolmates and...Catoblepas!?
MC: Oh no! / Calm down Vapula! / We have to help!
Akiha: Two victims! We need to hurry! (turns to MC)
MC: I was taught by a lifeguard at Toyosu / A police teacher taught me old swim techs / My class's assistant teacher drilled me
---
(A) Akiha: Oh wow, you know him? He taught me how to help in ocean emergencies too. Can you get one of them?
(B) Akiha: Well the old ways can be easier to do for water rescues. But this is for real, so be careful you don't lock up!
(C) Akiha: You had a teacher show you how to swim upstream through rapids? Hardcore...but reassuring! But this situation is different, so I'll give you instructions to follow.
---
Akiha hands MC a life vest and flotation ring, eyes the distance needed to go out, then gives MC a quick rundown on rescuing people.
Akiha: Be sure to approach their back, or else they'll drag you down if they grab onto you. If you can grab the back of their neck area, put the vest on them and pull them to shore. Relax your arms and legs to float and conserve energy.
MC: Okay!
Akiha: Let's go!
BATTLE(?) START (more happens after)

At the bottom of Eden is the sky of Gehenna. Long ago, the people of Gehenna looked up and saw a falling shooting star. The books wrote down the legend of the top that connects these two worlds.
At his back was the sign of Eden's greatest angel, the twelve wings also known as the Gravity Cutter. That angel discarded the wings that were a part of himself and passed them off to another. And then he turned into a fiery shooting star jumping from the top of Eden to the depths of Gehenna. Every book called him the Fallen Angel of Flame, the dragon serpent of the paradise Eden.
Vapula wondered why did that angel discarded a part of himself. Or rather, what did he discard them for? Why fall from the top of Eden to the hell of Gehenna? What did he learn in Eden that would drive him to discard his wings? Vapula read from a book that the Serpent of Eden knew the significance of the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge. One book said that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was for understanding the hierarchy of good and evil. Some other book said the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was meant to give Names to all things in nature...

Present
Akiha Gongen: Dammit these waters are rough! Grab my hand!
Akiha grabs Yellow, but...
Akiha: BGRL!?
Gravity starts dragging him down.
MC: Oh no, Akiha!
Sand Dragon: SCREEE (somehow here to channel Solomon!)
Akiha: Hey I got lighter for some reason! Why? Actually never mind! Catoblepas, grab my other hand--
Catoblepas: Akiha Gongen! (cough)
Akiha and Catoblepas are just out of reach from each other. Maybe it's because they hesitated to touch and meet each other's eyes up to this point.
MC: (grab both Akiha and Catoblepas's hands to connect them)
Akiha: MC!? 

Later
Akiha Gongen: You guys are okay now, we made it to shore. Calm down and take a deep breath...
Akiha tends to Catoblepas and Yellow.
Yellow: (coughing and sputtering because apparently even robots need to breathe) Dammit...this sucks.
Catoblepas: T-thank you very much. (cough) My leg cramped on the way over... I was so stupid.
Yellow: Sorry for losing my cool. I'm calm now. I was worried about my display the whole time...
Catoblepas: Excuse me, are you cosplaying the same thing I am? Would you like to collab with me?
Yellow: what
Catoblepas: If we like the same things...maybe it would be even more fun if we did them together.
Yellow: Oh...I...yeah, I wanna collab with you.

Later again
Yellow has left. Akiha Gongen squats to talk to Catoblepas.
Akiha: ...you know what I'm going to say, right?
Catoblepas: Yes...I'm really sorry. I got caught up and forgot about what I could do...
Akiha: Well it's also my fault I wasn't there at first. Still, you could've called me. Why'd you do that?
Catoblepas: ...
Akiha: I know you stay away from everyone...so you can't trust in me either?
Catoblepas: N-no, it's not that. But...
MC: You want to be better friends? / You want to be depended on more?
Akiha and Catoblepas: !?

Akiha Gongen: ...really, Catoblepas?
Catoblepas: Ever since I put on this costume, I've been thinking. If I were your buddy, then I want to someone worth relying on.
Akiha: O-oh...umm...
Catoblepas: And then when that accident just happened, it was all I could think of...I was sure you would go help him without thinking about it, so my body did too.
MC: You really became your character, huh? You totally understood Akiha Gongen. Holy crap!
Vapula: (stares in shock)
Akiha: I'm glad you feel that way, but you know you shouldn't be reckless, right?
Catoblepas: Y-yes...sorry. Thank you too, MC.
Akiha: ...you don't have to force yourself to change though. I think you're fine as you are.
Catoblepas: ...huh?
Akiha: ANYWAYS! (casually piggybacks Catoblepas)

Catoblepas: W-what!? I'm fine, I can walk!
Akiha Gongen: As your punishment for recklessness, you're gonna let me carry you to the nurse's office. Got that?
Catoblepas: ...o-okay. I'm sorry...
Sand Dragon: Bark bark!
Vapula: Aww, you want vapraise? Good boy!
MC: Yeah, good boy. I really wanna name you. Hey Vapula, I...wait what?
Vapula: (frown)
MC: Vapula, why are you spacing out?
Vapula: ...sometimes the other Creators say they get a vapeeling of falling when they make something. I've had my moments too from concentrating so hard on my work, but I've never felt like Catoblepas did in chasing after something I didn't have. I mean, I can do anything if I read a book. I can see the end coming and know everything.

Vapula thinks "doesn't that mean there's nothing past it?" When something ends, there's nothing to pick up on it after. Aren't those your limits you feel, he thinks.
Vapula: Do I...really have something like that? What do you think?
MC: Yep / Nope / Let's look together
---
(A) Vapula: Really!? Where!? ...oh, right. That's your thing. There's no guarantee I can see it even if I look at it. But if you say so, I vaputd my hopes up a bit. Maybe I can find it if I look.
(B) Vapula: Really? But I feel like there's a difference between you and me. I feel like...you have a vapiece that I want.
(C) Vapula: You shouldn't make vapromises without thinking about it. Wait, you'll still do it? Umm, wow... But I feel like it might work out!
---
Vapula: ...my chest feels funny. Is this what people mean by feels!?
PA System: Announcing a special program! After breaktime, there will--
Vapula: Break time! Let's go help Tindalos afterwards!

Catoblepas (narrating): I always felt from watching at a distance that my normal self wasn't a Creator. I was different from everyone else who was always a Creator. But it's because of that I felt closer to you. I couldn't let anyone see me in the eye, and you couldn't touch anyone. I always wanted to be better friends with you. But I could never put it into words...
Somewhere in the Metaverse
Catoblepas: ...oh no! Did I fall asleep!?
Akiha Gongen: Don't worry, it was only for a little bit.
Catoblepas: Oh no, that's so embarrassing...I can't believe I fell asleep on your back...
Akiha: ...you've done stuff for me in the past first, so this isn't a big deal.
Catoblepas: ...I did?
Akiha smiled. They never really ever gelled, but...

Akiha Gongen: Hey, if we're gonna bring someone with us, why not bring MC along? Then...maybe things will get better.
Catoblepas: Oh...that's a great idea! Let's do it!
Akiha smiled as he adjusted Catoblepas's weight on his back. He must be smiling too as Akiha felt his arms wrap around him. There's no label for their relationship yet, but they'll probably have one after the season passes.
PA System: Announcing a special program! After breaktime, there will--
Akiha: You know what, I'm hungry. Maybe I'll buy lunch after we get to the nurse's office.
Catoblepas: How about we go buy something right now?
Akiha: Okay! New stop, the school store!
Catoblepas: No wait, please let me down now!
Akiha: It's okay, I'm strong enough to carry you!
Catoblepas: But this is embarrassing! Akiha Gongen are you listening to me!?
And so Akiha walks along carrying the mostly better Catoblepas while remembering how it felt to walk home together with him in the past.
End of Episode

Akiba and Dragons Episode 4 Part 1 (Abridged)

There was once an age of happiness, and there was once a person who gave Akiha Gongen (and other people of the land who don't matter for this exposition) the power and class of fire prevention. This person was Onamuji no Mikoto, the person who stood at the top of the world's hierarchy and was stronger than anyone else. He was also a parental figure for Akiha Gongen, and the time he spent with him is why Akiha thinks he has such high self-esteem. But everything ends. Reigns pass, and new ages begin. Akiha has no idea what the next ruler after Onamuji is like somehow, but all he knows is that Things End. It's all in the past to him, but that memory is one of the things that make him who he is now.
Once Akiha Gongen came to Tokyo, he learned of Akihabara's history. The land was once burned to the ground, the gongen incarnation was deified there, and the land was named after him. Then the city had its varied history as a city of greengrocers, a city of electronics, a city of nerds and creators, and a city of sightseeing and food among other things. Each age that passes gives way to a new one, and Akiha wanted to learn even more of this city.
Akiha Gongen attends Akihabara Academy as a traditional crafting student since he wanted to be better friends with the otakus who come here. The otaku don't seem to know how to socialize with him though. He doesn't understand their lingo, which meant he couldn't communicate himself very well. Also his power would put out the fires of passion of these creators, and as a mental effect it wouldn't be reverted by app magic. So he thinks of course they'd avoid him. But then...

Flashback
Catoblepas: Akiha Gongen? Why are you still here at school so late? Umm...want to go home together with me?
Catoblepas is in the same grade as Akiha and never looks anyone in the eye. He's talking to Akiha some distance away. Normally he never approaches anyone because he has a Mystic Eye power able to charm anyone who looks at him. Also he was always told by someone to never meet other people's eyes, so he keeps EVERYONE at arm's length.
Catoblepas: U-umm, is something wrong Akiha Gongen?
Akiha couldn't put it into words but he thought that everyone is different, not that there are good otaku and bad otaku. And there are people like himself who could be saved. He loved this city. He always knew these days would one day end, which is why he wants to protect the city. He wants to watch over its history.
Akiha: Baatar-senpai, let's go train already!

Present
Vapula: Okay we're here, Akiha Gongen! Vapery good job on the modeling and security!
Akiha Gongen: Hi Vapula, I've been waiting! You're with MC?
Sand Dragon: Bark!
The beach has turned into a special gallery and now has many pieces up. Akiha looks like one of them when he was standing as a model.
MC: Hi Akiha Gongen! / Mmm, so beefy... / (big hug!)
(A) Akiha: I heard you did a lot of work while I was called to patrol somewhere else! Things came out alright thanks to you all, so I should focus harder as a guard.
(B) Akiha: Thanks, I work out through my fire drill training. Baatar-senpai complimented on me when I showed him, but he was half joking and whistling. I don't think I can trust what he says much, but if you think it's good I guess his judgment isn't all bad.
(C) Akiha: OH MY GOD WHAT!? Oh, I don't hate it or anything. I was just surprised. You aren't worried about touching me even though you're an otaku? ...oh, no...? Hehe, thanks MC. (hugs back)

MC: Oh that reminds me, you said you were waiting for us? Vapula, are you doing something?
Vapula: Good catch! Akiha Gongen and I are doing a co-vapuroduction with this one company.
Catoblepas: (runs up) Wheeeze... s-sorry to keep you waiting. I messed up with the measurements and finally finished altering it. People always told me I was slow...
MC: Hi Catoblepas / Oh, you're dressed as a lifeguard? / HOT
---
(BC) Catoblepas: Oh, thank you. Yes, this costume is cool! Thank you for your compliment on it! ...huh? That wasn't what you were referring to?
---
Vapula: MC, did you see the show they vaput on Nichi Asa this year? The one called Yes! Rescue Spirit Rescue Double. It's a kid hero buddy show where kids transform into lifeguards vaprotect the vapeace of the ocean! Today I had Catoblepas and Akiha dress up in costume as characters from that show while I go vaproduce a diorama with accompanying minor characters.
Catoblepas: Are you interested, MC? Would you like to match costumes with us!?
Akiha: Wow Catoblepas you really change personalities when people talk about cosplaying.
Catoblepas: R-really? ...when I cosplay, I really think I've become someone else... And since I'm someone else, I start thinking it's okay to look people in the eye.

MC: Say, does your Mystic Eye still work even if the app isn't on? Then again Akiha Gongen's power still works too.
Catoblepas: ...huh, I never thought about it before.
Vapula: It'll work if you vabelieve it will...if it's the same as the magic I know about.
Catoblepas: What?
Vapula: I read the Key of Solomon and related vabooks before. It also reminds me of Agrippa's On the Futility of...what was the title?
MC: Solo...what? Reminds me of Solomon. I'm sure it's unrelated.
Vapula: Well it says the vabasis of magic is mutual sympathy, where it's important to for you to vabelieve and for whoever you're with to vabelieve. Something can be impossible, but if you and someone else vabelieve it wholeheartedly, it will surpass reality. It's how Santa could fly in the pass without the app. Vabased on what the vabook said, the app is just supporting the sympathy of that faith. ANYWAYS, theoretically if Catoblepas vabelieves he really becomes someone else when he cosplay, then his Mystic Eye won't do anything regardless of what the app is doing!
Catoblepas: ...really? Well if I can do it, then...
Vapula: Yeah, IF! This normally wouldn't work unless you're a vapulunatic!
MC: Really? Why?

Vapula: For vabetter or worse, your power is your identity. Being fast or smart would be easy examples, right? Stuff like that would be things that how you vaput yourself together up to that point. Cutting it off would be the same as cutting off a vapiece of yourself, your past. Akiha Gongen must have some special memories tied to his power. Could he really throw them away?
Akiha: ...no. Someone important gave it to me.
Vapula: Yeah that's what makes Catoblepas out there, even if cosplay is a temp thing. No vaperson in this world could do that intentionally!
MC: Not everyone could do it? No matter what?
Vapula: Well I do know one way if it's just for one vaperson. In the Valley of Hinnom in Gehenna there's--!!
There was once an Angel of Fire who stood at the top of the heavenly Eden. He was the original dragon serpent who discarded his twelve supreme wings and fell to the deepest part of Gehenna. He burned brighter than anything and fell like a shooting star. He was--
Vapula: ...huh? (looks back and forth between MC and the sand dragon)
Sand Dragon: Chirp?
Vapula: N-nah, it's vaprobably my imagination! You just happen to look alike, totally!
Catoblepas: Um, shouldn't we start posing together soon?
Vapula: O-oh! Right! We should get started then. You vaprepared to go?

Later
Akiha Gongen: Okay, time to pose again?
Akiha starts doing various poses. Vapula takes phone pictures. It starts off looking like gravure shots, but Vapula's directing changes things.
Vapula: Raise your right arm! Vapull your left knee up to your chest...okay! Stop so I can see your legs!
Akiha: Standing like this is hard... do I really need to do this?
Vapula: Last check! Good! Just photoshopped you into the background vapiece I had done earlier!
Akiha: This is so different than modeling for art class.
Vapula: Art class focuses on showing perspective via vaplanar composition. It's a bit different with dioramas.
Akiha: ...so can I pose like this?
Catoblepas: Wow, nice cosplay and smile Akiha Gongen! Vapula's doing great as a specialist...
MC: He seems to be having fun / Cosplaying must be nice... / Maybe I should work out too...
(A) Akiha: Aww, I'm happy to help you otakus out! I'm a traditional crafting student focused on bladesmithing, so I don't work together with anyone else much. So I have to do my best when these opportunities come up.
(B) Akiha: I'll do it with you, MC! Tell me which one you like next time and we can cosplay in your room!
(C) Akiha: Working out is good! It can help in a pinch and maybe help other people. Some otakus move so little they get chronic fatigue. How about I teach you some easy to do stretches?

Vapula: Vaput your arms higher! No, the other way!
Akiha Gongen: ...that reminds me. You don't seem worried about getting close to me, Vapula.
Vapula: Oh, right...
Akiha: You never thought about it!? ...but why? Feels like it's for a different reason than Catoblepas but I can't put it into words.
Vapula: Well...? (stops like he has to think about it)
MC: Vapula?
Vapula: ...maybe it's because I think of it the same way with my golems. They'll vapu-nish as soon as I'm done with them anyway, and stuff.
Still thinking it over.
Vapula: I have passion for doing it, but...I think I never cared because it'll be gone when it's gone.
Akiha: ...Vapula?
Vapula: ...was I wrong? Maybe those are my limits...

Akiha Gongen: Vapula? Sorry, I know you're in the middle of thinking about stuff, but I'm real glad there's other people who aren't bothered to be around me.
Vapula: ...
Akiha: We should take a break. MC and I will go get drinks.
Sand Dragon: Bark bark!
Akiha: Oh the sand dragon is posing! I think he wants to switch places with me?
MC: Yeah he seems to want to help. He can stay to assist, the visitors seem to like him.
Catoblepas: Oh, I'll come too then.
Akiha: Okay, be back soon! It's all on you now, dragon!
Sand Dragon: (excited cheep)

Later
Akiha Gongen: You know, you're really ripped and look good in anything for a guy who sucks with exercising.
Catoblepas: Y-yes, I am... I failed to jump over the vaulting box at all the other day in gym class. But, thank...you. I'm glad since my body is important for cosplaying.
MC: You two sure get along for people who don't seem to have much in common. I bet Akiha Gongen talked first?
Catoblepas: Huh? ...oh, yes. It was a little after I enrolled in school. I wasn't used to him at first, but we got through it later. I'd like to be more like him that way. I always overthink and have a hard time reaching out.
Akiha: ...so what do you guys want to drink? I'll pay this time, so you guys can do it next time!
Catoblepas: I-it's okay, I brought change and--
Akiha: Nah, I'm saying I want to come together again later...hmm, I really have a hard time saying how I feel.

PA System: Attention please! The special Akihabara exhibition will begin shortly. Performing students, please go to your designated areas. Repeat...
Catoblepas: I'll head back first and hand out the juice. Um, MC? If you'd like, later on--
MC: I'll come see. I'll take pictures!
Akiha Gongen: I'll do my best too. I hope it'll come out good.
Catoblepas: Y-yes, let's do our best!
Catoblepas runs off. Akiha sighs.
Akiha: ...even something casual would be fine to the people being reached out to.
MC: wait what? Is something wrong?
Akiha: Nah, it's no big deal. It's just...he tried reaching out to me once and--
Suddenly bell ringing!
Akiha: Oh no, something happened!
MC: Let's check it out! (grabs Akiha's hand and runs)
Akiha is surprised at first, but he smiles a second after and runs with MC...
End of Episode half

Akiba and Dragons Episode 3 Part 2 (Abridged)

In the past there was a dream of endless lands and the lives of people who wanted to trailblaze them. These pioneers talked about a lumberjack named Paul Bunyan and his partner Babe.
One was a mountain of a man since birth with a huge ass axe. The other was a calf. Paul could strip a mountain of lumber in a night, make rivers with his tears, and drain lakes when he was thirsty. When cooking, he had a frying pan hundreds of meters long. That said, nobody needed to say aloud that he was Fiction to know that fact. He was just an embellished legend to amuse people in their harsh lives.
Babe Bunyan is folk lore, a type of urban legend and a being born from a tall tale. People know those things are Not Real, which means they don't rise to the levels of Myths that hold faith. Still Babe likes those kinds of stories. He loved the stories of his daddy who was bigger than any sea, mountain, or person.

Present
Babe Bunyan: Holy shit it's HUGE! I can't believe this is the inside of a school, Zhurong!
Zhurong: Yeah! Oh, more pictures to take!
MC: Cute swimsuit, Zhurong! / Nice swimsuit, Babe! / I like your swimsuits, guys
(A) Zhurong: Yay, thank you!
(B) Babe: Aww, shut up. I'mma a cowboy, my swimsuit's gotta be good too. Something wet doesn't fit parched lands...what? Don't talk shit, I can swim! I managed to swim 25 meters without a kickboard the other day!
(C) Zhurong: I was worried earlier since I didn't bring a swimsuit, but I was told some sort of computer magic called projection mapping would fix it for me!
Babe: Summer means swimsuits apparently, so dressing like this is fine once in a while.
Zhurong: Huh? But you whispered to me how excited you were about how grown up your swimsuit was and--
Babe: NO SHUT UP
Zhurong: Hehe, oops. MC, you shouldn't say anything either.

Zhurong: Anyways, WOW look at all the cool and pretty sand pieces!
Babe Bunyan: Whoa, awesome! I've seen a bunch of these out of video games and manga and OH MY GOD
The kids are excited.
Vapula: I just made a life size model as part of a collaboration with a company that holds intellectual vaproperty of this character. Sweet sponsorship!
Babe: Damn, it looks like it'll move any second!
The art is of characters who exist only in fiction, but they look real in Babe and Zhurong's eyes.
Vapula: Funny you should say that! I could show you how if it vapleases you.
Babe: Oh my god! Zhurong, maybe we should make something!
Zhurong: Umm...w-what do we do?

Itzamna: Haha, are you having trouble making up your minds, little ones?
Babe Bunyan: Hey I may be little but I'm gonna do just as good as anyone else! I drink my milk every day for when I get bigger. I'm Babe Bunyan, who's gonna be even bigger than my daddy and that's my friend Zhurong!
Zhurong: You're so cool, Babe! (takes pictures)
Itzamna: Ah, excuse me. Future big boy Babe Bunyan then. You two should use your hands to give form to something that doesn't exist in this world. Art and creation is an act of examining where you are heading into the world.
Vapula: (stares in amazement)
Itzamna: So, Babe Bunyan, what do you want to be? What is your guiding principle in life?
MC: Isn't this a bit much for elementary schoolers!?

Babe Bunyan: I'm gonna be bigger than my daddy someday!
Itzamna: You should put those feelings into the sand then. Vapula, can you show them how?
Vapula: Got it! Okay, feel free to vaplay around with the sand over here.
Babe: Mmm, freedom. We're in unexplored territory here!
Zhurong: What should I make? Maybe the best picture I've taken before? ...how would that work?
Turing: How about this then?
Turing starts piling up some sand and dumping shells onto it for decoration.
Zhurong: It's a mountain! Are the shells trees? And this hole is a cave?
Turing: Right, just use your imagination. Give it a go.
Zhurong: Okay! I'm gonna dig a bunch of holes and pour water in and...
Babe: Where will I be when I grow up...? Oh, I'll make my dream farm. That means I should make a house for me, Zhurong, and MC, a horse stable, and then...

Boy A: Hmm...maybe I'll make cars and roads.
Boy B: I'll make buildings, parks, and then a secret base...
The children start making things under the Creators' instructions. Simple and abstract things are made with many different meanings given to them.
Turing: I once read humanity grew further than anything else because they named things. They took all sorts of building materials, put them together, and added connections to them. They'd pick streets, people, or memorable places. To name something is to make connections and give something meaning, which is where things that surpass reality appear. That is the act of creating things that do not exist yet. You could say giving meaning to things is most basic and simple form of art.
MC: Turing, do you like art? Art and math don't seem that connected. / I wanna give meaning to my relationship with you.
(C) Turing: You what? Does that mean you want to create a relationship that wasn't there before? How provocative, you upstart...oops. Pardon me. If you're sure, then I may go along with it to some extent.

Itzamna: Art and math are just tools to make things that don't exist yet.
Turing: ...Itzamna.
Itzamna: If I have to say so, a knife is the same way. You could use it to live, or you could use it to harm and destroy. A paintbrush is like that for me, like figures are to Vapula. For you it would be math formulas. You can harm someone with a brush, or you can paint over the world.
Vapula: Hey MC! Vaplease come here for a minute! And bring the golem!
Turing: Duty calls. We have things handled here, so go on.
Sand Dragon: (excited barking)
The sand dragon quickly shuffles ahead. It doesn't look like a guard at all.
MC: Wait up! / Aww, it's like having a little brother. / Okay, let's go together.
Sand Dragon: (croons)

Vapula: There you guys are. Okay, vapulisten up. I'm gonna turn what everyone made into golems, but you need to pick just one thing and nothing too big! For reference, it'll come out like this!
Sand Dragon: cheep cheep
Kids: Wow!
Vapula: Okay, go vaplay around and let your imagination run wild!
Zhurong: Wow, you're awesome Vapula! Everyone's focusing so hard!
MC: You gonna be okay making so many golems?
Vapula: No vaproblemo! My power just replicates things exactly as I've read out of a book. It's the same as an engineer reading a book on robotics and using it to make a robot. I read the Sefer Yetzirah that has the recorded knowledge of golems. Form has meaning, and if it's something that moves, it'll naturally have the ability to move vaput inside it! Birds fly, fish swim, and people walk.

Kids: We're done!
Vapula: Okay everybody, line your creations up!
Vapula starts animating all the figures made, which then walk back to their creators to play with them.
Vapula: Hey wait, where's Babe? What did he vaput together...? Wait WHAT? What is that!? It's HUGE! Is it a farm diorama? Holy crap. I see Babe and Zhurong inside it. It's vaprobably okay to animate that?
Babe Bunyan: Nah, it's perfect as is.
Vapula: Uhh. Well I'm here and all. How about I animate some farm animals to vaput in it?
Babe: Heh. It's Fine since it doesn't move and Isn't Real.
Vapula: ...well okay then? My job here is done then, so I better get back to my vaproductions with the time I've got.
MC: Your what now? / The Tindalos Bros were awesome / I think I wanna make something too now...
(A) Vapula: My collab vaproduction with Turing and Tindalos! You're excited about that, right? Vapromise me you'll tell me what you think!
(B) Vapula: It was HARD getting the 3D model data from him and 3D vaprinting it. Then I had to paint bits of sand to move and vaperify every single mobile piece! My eyes were gonna fall out! But yeah I did it.
(C) Vapula: Really!? That vapleases me as a modeler! Come by the hobby shop I work at sometime. I'll teach you the ABCs of how fun vaplastic models are!

Vapula: No matter what I say, I like creating things...so it was a shock when my vaproducts went wild. (stares at the sand dragon)
Vapula: ...I like your dragon. It reminds me of something...a feeling I'm thankful for. I wanna vaput something together with you. Maybe...I'll figure something out.
MC: Oh, that reminds me. Do we need to worry about the dragon going out of control again?
Turing: Oh, no problems there as long as we stay in the sand box area. It's an isolated, closed off space where they won't move unless the creator gives them an intentional order.
Kid: Stop, that's my space!
Turing and Vapula: !!

Boy A: Stay out, this is our turf!
Boy B: No it's not! You keep pushing sand this way! And your sand golem keeps barging in over here!
Boy C: We're making a castle here, you guys are in the way!
Vapula: Nooo, stop!
Boy A: Get them, Robocop!
Boy B: Transformer, fight back!
The golems are fighting!
Turing: ...fascinating.
MC: Well they aren't going crazy like before, but this is turning crazy! / What the hell, Turing!?

Vapula: I said it before, but the golems won't stop until we do something about their vaprogramming after they're given orders! What's worse is that they've been given attack orders!
Zhurong gets caught between robot figures!
Zhurong: HELP
Babe: OH SHIT
Turing: Vapula, where are the golems' cores?
Vapula: I-I usually vaput them in the chest areas for humanoids and animals!
Turing: I'll give you guys directions on how to get them then and we can get this all done quickly. Okay, MC?
MC: You better get it right, Turing! / Babe, stop the golems! / Zhurong, blind them!
---
(A) Turing: Of course. I won't let you or any of the children get hurt.
(B) Babe: My time has come! I'll show you my rodeo lasso skills!
(C) Zhurong: O-okay, close your eyes everybody!
---
Zhurong: Stop fighting! Lovecraft Color Flash!
Turing: Now, MC! Aim for the cores!
BATTLE START (more happens later)

Babe Bunyan saw a dream of himself who wasn't himself. In Great Spirit, the one who stood atop of that self was the highest being of the world, Wakan Tanka. Babe's other self was once Wakan Tanka's servant, the white buffalo calf as everyone called him. Everyone in Great Spirit is a part of Wakan Tanka, and they return to him upon death. And Babe's self was given guidance to lead everyone in that world to Wakan Tanka...
Babe: NO THAT'S NOT ME!
Entertainers Theater or something
Christine: Oh that's just the memories of your body. You are just an urban legend folkloric fictional being, an actor of a tall tale who couldn't get faith. It's harsh, but I had to tell you since I have the same origins. You are the white buffalo calf from Great Spirit with the Babe Bunyan persona.
Babe: ...oh I get it now. So what?
Christine: (shook)
Babe (narrating): I'm Babe, a cowboy and the partner of that guy bigger than anyone else. Daddy was big because he was a tall tale, fiction. I'm proud of tall tales, and I believe the future starts from there. I always believed he was more awesome than reality.
Babe: Man, elementary school life has been rough lately. Still...
Babe tips his hat and smiles like Paul.
Babe (narrating): Even if I know an age will end, I...we will put on a brave face and live on.

Present
Babe Bunyan: Noble Phantasm! The Spirit of Manifest Destiny!
Babe puts his feet down on the sand with the horseshoe artifact he isn't drawn wearing to cause the waterways to overflow, recreating the legend of Paul and Babe creating a giant river. Making waterways isn't the true nature of his artifact's power though, as it's the shared faith of Babe and the white buffalo calf. That faith is the idea that every path has its end. Babe defines it as the end of the frontier. The white buffalo calf defines it as the Great Mystery all things one day reach. They both know that a boundless world is only fiction.
Babe: And that's exactly why I'll keep up talking big with my big mouth!
But Babe steps over that with his horseshoes because only fiction can surpass this reality. It is only within this wavering that urban legends can move freely. The waters swallow up the golems and gather them up in one place to tell them 'this is the end of the road for you.'
MC: The water flow stopped them. NOW!
SLASH
Babe: Yay, we did it!

MC: Awesome, Babe!
Babe Bunyan: Hell yeah, I'm Paul Bunyan's partner, baby! ...you ain't bad either. Maybe we can do great things together? I could call you Owner if you want!
Turing: Okay, nobody seems hurt. Good job everyone.
Babe: Hey, don't you guys have something to say after causing all that trouble?
Kids: W-we're sorry...
Babe: Good! Now let's play without causing another fight!
Vapula: I know it wasn't on vapurpose, but I'm still bummed...
Babe: Stop being a sadsack. You know that one Chinese story with the old man who lost his horse? It's like that! Blessings in disguise!
Vapula: A VAPRIMARY SCHOOL KID IS TRYING TO CHEER ME UP, MY LIFE IS OVER

Turing: Babe's right, you know. I discovered something from what just happened.
Vapula: What?
Turing: The golems the children made have this feeling that they aren't grounded.
MC: So they change natures based on their owner? What about the dragon?
Sand Dragon: gurgle chirp
Vapula: Having an elementary kid and one of my own creations trying to cheer me up is a vaprofessional humiliation.
Babe: Don't you guys have something else to be getting to?
Vapula: Oh no! But the class isn't over yet!
Babe: I'll handle it then. Hey everybody, let's play in the farm I made!
Kids: Okay!
Vapula:
Vapula: I GOT UPSTAGED!
End of Episode