Please Save My Earth #3: Memories of the Moon

Episode 3: "Memories of the Moon"

Tamura Meets Rin
Tamura walks into the old harbor building to find something completely unexpected: a young boy in overalls, standing in the moonlight, playing with a blueprint case. "What are you doing in a place like this so late at night, kid?" he asks. Much to his surprise, the boy answers, "Come on, Tamura-san. I don't think you understand. You're not who I asked to see."

Rin w/ blueprint Rin proceeds to tell Tamura what he wants done. He wants "Raozou-chan" (Matsudaira) to rebuild Tokyo Tower according to his specs. When Tamura acts reluctant, Rin explains to him that he doesn't understand his situation yet. Plus he knows Tamura's one weakness: no matter what he does, Tamura will still think of Rin as a nice little kid, precisely because he's only a child. "Even if I do this to you..." he says, then throws Tamura against the wall with his powers. With an ironic smile, he tells Tamura that he won't kill him. "I'm a pacifist at heart. But I will break some of your ribs." And he proceeds to do jus that.

Haruhiko Disappears
Ayako is treating Haruhiko to dinner, and is asking all the appropriate questions and making sure he enjoys his meal. Suddenly, Haruhiko feels ill. He tells Ayako, who looks desperately for something for him to throw up in. A vision of Tamura's predicament flashes across his mind. His chest begins to hurt, and he wonders what's wrong. When Ayako turns around to him, he has literally faded from sight.

After having broken Tamura's ribs, Rin promises to call an ambulance for him and leaves. Just as he's floating above the building, he notices someone approaching on the ground. He stares in amazement as he realizes it's the dark-skinned teenager he bumped into at the store. Haruhiko, equally amazed to find himself suddenly at the harbor, stares up at Rin until Rin disappears. Haruhiko runs into the building, where he finds Tamura. The injured man has enough presence of mind to wonder, "It's you, Haru-chan. Why are you here?"

Blueprints
Ayako is ranting about Haruhiko first getting sick, then disappearing, then getting a call and finding that Tamura is hospitalized. Taking it in stride (he's obviously somewhat used to Ayako's mannerisms), Tamura reflects that Haruhiko's new uniform looks good on him. He thanks the boy for saving him, which embarrasses Haruhiko.

"How did you know I was there?" Tamura asks the one thing that's bothering him. "I'm not too sure myself," admits Haru-chan. He turns around and tells Tamura he saw the boy who did this. Holding out the blueprint case, he mentions that he found it next to Tamura, and that they look like the blueprints for Tokyo Tower. But "This is strange. Very strange!" he thinks aloud. "These designs are so sophisticated, it shouldn't be possible for Earthlings to..." He cuts himself off, suddenly realizing what he's saying. Haruhiko thinks and remembers where he'd seen something similar before: in his dreams of the Moon. But they're only dreams...

Date
The new school year starts, and Alice finds herself now in classroom 1, while Jinpachi and Issei are in another room. She feels a little lonely, but a classmate, Suzuki-san, asks her if she wants to join the choir together. Suzuki recommends it as great therapy for someone quiet like Alice. Alice agrees, but has to decline immediate action, as she already made plans for the day.

On her way out, Alice is stopped short by Rin, who demands to know, "You going out? You've completely forgotten about our date, haven't you!?" Upon reflection, Alice vaguely remembers promising Rin a date, but had in fact forgotten it. When Rin wants to go with her, she refuses at first, but he insists and she gives in.

Rin and Jinpachi stare at each other. "Sakaguchi-san, what IS this?" Jinpachi asks. Alice apologizes for bringing Rin along. Jinpachi then tries to dissuade Rin by telling him he would be bored by "grown-up talk." Fortunately, Issei intervenes before it escalates. (In the manga, Issei and Rin run off, having more fun together than with the others.)

Daisuke, Sakura, Jinpachi, Issei and Alice meet again, with Rin in tow. They talk about the fact that they still haven't heard from Shion or Shukaido, even though they've run ads in different magazines. Sakura then brings up a new subject: "Have you seen signs of your special abilities?" she asks them. She means ESP. According to her, Gyokulan, Mokulen, and Shion were all fairly powerful ESPers, while Enju was herself a telepath. She points out that this has, in fact, been proven, since Jinpachi and Issei shared the same dreams. Most likely this was Issei (Enju) reacting to Jinpachi's thoughts. Jinpachi himself is puzzled by this, as he doesn't seem to have any powers (he has forgotten about what happened during the fight).

"Shukaido"
Rin as Shukaido

Sakura then talks about the possibility of revealing themselves to the scientific community. With their knowledge of an alien race, they could be a real sensation. Daisuke mentions that he has thought of this as well, but from a different angle. "How does this fit with the theory of evolution?" he muses. Is it Neo-Darwinism or Neo-Lamarckism? He is brought out of his wondering by the retort, "Not likely!" Everyone stares in surprise as Rin begins to expound on the various theories and why they don't fit. He eventually concludes that science is inadequate to cover all the possibilities, since all of them have regrouped against astronomical odds. Obviously they cannot discount the will of Sahjareem.

"Who are you!?" is the one question everyone has. "Oh, sorry. I haven't introduced myself yet," Rin calmly answers. "I'm the seven-year old reincarnation of Shukaido." Amidst the surprised shouting and questioning, he proves it to them by describing pertinent traits of each of their other selves.

Shusulan: Had a quick temper and a habit of going putzoon!, or snapping easily. She had to be tranquilized a number of times.
Hiragi: Had six bald spots on the back of his head.
Gyokulan: Cried when he had his ears pierced; his earring helped him control his ESP powers.
Enju: Her favorite Earth foods were grated daicon and fried asparagus.
I wonder how they got any Earth foods on the Moon?
Mokulen: Always said she wanted to be part of the Earth's living, breathing air.

Rin goes to Alice and sits with her. "I didn't know you were Mokulen," he chides. He is rudely interrupted by Jinpachi, who desperately pounds the floor, asking "Hold it, hold it! How come you're the only one who's a kid here!?" But Rin calmly answers that this is his second reincarnation. He had died quite young in his first one.

On their way home, Alice stops and looks up at the sky full of storm clouds. Concerned, Rin asks if anything is wrong. Alice responds with her own question: when did Rin realize he was Shukaido? Was it from the fall? Alice feels horrible, thinking that she may have cause it. But Rin reassures her that the will of Sahjareem is not to be denied; what will be, will be. This doesn't help Alice, who is so depressed and uncertain that she declares: "I may not even be Mokulen-san! I'll stop going to these meetings!" It begins to rain. There is a quick flashback of Shion looking at Mokulen, thinking that if only Mokulen could stay by him. Then Alice asks Rin why he didn't mention their "engagement" to the others. He tells her it would have embarrassed her. Then in a sudden gesture of affection, he tells her they should go home; that she'll catch cold if they don't.

Disaster
The scene is the base on the moon. Hiragi is pained as he tells the assembled group, "Listen, all of you. Gyokulan is dead." There is a moment of stunned silence before Enju begins to cry in despair. Everyone reacts in shock. Hiragi is stricken by remorse and blames himself, belittling his own leadership. He questions the decisions he made, the most important one being to enforce the rule that prevents them from going to Earth.

Mokulen reminds them that they shouldn't lose hope, that they still have the Earth. But over the next few days arguments of all sorts break out, with various people advocating going down to Earth.

Then Shusulan contracts the disease. She suggests taking the capsule (apparently they all have some sort of suicide capsule, or Shukaido is able to give them something). Mokulen becomes so angry at this that she tells Shusulan, "If you keep saying things like that, I'll ram this dirty water down your throat," as she waves the bucket of water around.

Mokulen is trying to console a distraught Shukaido, who is kneeling on the floor, moaning, "Shusulan's dead. Hiragi. And Enju." Mokulen tells him that he did all he could, and reminds him that they must keep living for their late comardes' sake.

Justice
Shion apologizing

Later, Shukaido catches up with Shion in the hallway to tell him, "Shion, looks like I'm infected as well." He is very ernest when he says, " So this may sound strange, but you should be happy." He goes on to explain that he may have found the vaccine to the disease, and that at least Shion and Mokulen will have a better chance of surviving. He asks for Mokulen's whereabouts, in a hurry to administer the vaccine. But Shion stops him.

"I'm so ashamed," he confesses, "I've misjudged you terribly." He pleads with Shukaido, "Forgive me." But Shukaido can only look on in horror as he thinks to himself, "No! You're wrong!" At which point, Haruhiko wakes from his dream.

Jinpachi's Feelings/Issei's Confession
"What? Joined the choir!?" a startled Jinpachi asks Alice. Alice's friend pokes her head into the conversation and tells him to stop bothering Alice. Jinpachi tries to tell Alice that the day after is Sunday, the day for their "Moon meetings." Alice can't make it, though, as their choir has practice on Sundays.

Later Jinpachi relates the story to Issei with his thoughts: that Alice plans on not attending the meetings. "So what d'you think?" he asks, knowing Issei's answer will be the same as his own. "It's probably all right," replies Issei. "See? You think so, too." Then Jinpachi stops short as he realizes his answer and Issei's are not the same. When he demands to know what Issei means by that, Issei responds with a question: "What are we trying to accomplish with these meetings?" When Jinpachi doesn't answer, he tells him he expected as much. As far as Issei is concerned, he doesn't know what the others think they're doing, but he's not interested in letting his past life dictate his actions in his current one. And maybe Alice feels the same way. "Poor girl. We shouldn't force her to attend," he concludes.

"What about poor me?" Jinpachi asks. Now that they've changed classes, he never sees her except at the meetings. But Jinpachi is scared to tell her how he feels, for fear that it would ruin their current friendship. Issei is shocked. He asks if Jinpachi is doing this simply because Alice is Mokulen. "How should I know!? I just can't help falling for her!" But Jinpachi is even more shocked when Issei explodes. "How could you!?" he yells, "You're obsessed with her!" He turns away and twiddles his fingers, muttering "Poor Sakaguchi-san." His friend can't understand why Issei is getting on his case, until... "Issei, don't tell me that you like Sakaguchi-san, too." Issei has to struggle with his feelings. He knows he's no longer Enju, that he is now Issei. Yet he can't help himself, either. "That's right! I'm in love!" he tells the surprised Jinpachi and runs off, leaving Jinpachi to scratch his head.

Shukaido
At the hospital, Tamura tries without success to persuade Haruhiko to talk about his problems, but Haruhiko only puts it off, promising to do it "next time."

Coming down the stairs from Tamura's room, Haruhiko is shocked to see Rin standing at the bottom. Rin tells him they need to talk, then asks, "You CAN fly, can't you?" He teleports the two of them to a forest somewhere and begins with, "So, you DO know who I am?" Rin addresses Haruhiko by his other name, Shukaido. When Haruhiko acts confused, Rin is surprised. "Maybe I've overestimated you," he says. But what a strange thing, he continues, that Haruhiko should be so afraid of him. Unless it's because Haruhiko is starting to remember the past, and what he did in that life.

Haruhiko denies it: "It's impossible!" But Rin is not to be deterred. "You never vaccinated Mokulen, did you?" he presses. Haruhiko continues to deny it, since they are only dreams. "She came down with it only moments after you died," Rin informs him. At the time, he had thought the vaccine simply didn't work, but after Mokulen died, he realized there were no traces of the vaccine in her blood at all. The revelations are too much, and Haruhiko breaks down. "It wasn't because I didn't want to! I couldn't! I only made enough vaccine for one person!" Rin is righteously sarcastic, praising the other's recall given that he'd just denied any of it was real. Then he is serious again, "Why did you give me the only vaccine?" And now the reason comes clear: "Because you abused Mokulen!" Haruhiko shouts.

Shion's Torment
"And what about the nine years I lived alone after that?" Rin demands. "The living hell of being surrounded by all your dead bodies!? You call this justifiable revenge!?" His thoughts flash back to those times, as he staggered from room to room, looking for some escape and unable to find any. Rin compliments the other on the potency of the vaccine and his knowledge of their personalities. "Her last requests to me were to watch over the Earth to the end and not to take my own life," Rin explained. "And so, I couldn't refuse." Nine years after that, when Shion finally contracted the disease, he laughed and rejoiced. But he was probably already insane by then, Rin conjectures.

And now, Rin muses on another mystery: "We seem to have each other's appearances from before." He asks whether Shukaido had some secret desire to become Shion. For if so, then Shukaido must also have wanted to abuse Mokulen as well. Finally, Rin points out that Haruhiko must atone for his crime: by helping him destroy the moon base. He commands Haruhiko to remember his password. When asked why, he explains that he wants to protect the Earth, and to do so, he must make sure the moon base is never discovered.

Haruhiko's Torment
Outside of the hospital, Tamura's gang& gather to celebrate his release in their usual way. Tamura has to yell at them to get them to be quiet. Ayako notices Haruhiko's mother, Mrs. Kasama, and points her out to Tamura. Mrs. Kasama is embarrassed that she hadn't come to visit, but Tamura reassures her that her son has done so. When he asks after Haruhiko, she begins to weep, prompting him to inquire. At the Kasama residence, all she can tell him is that a few days before, Haruhiko had come home soaking wet and very depressed. Since then, he has kept himself in his room and refuses to come out. Even her husband has had no luck with him. Tamura goes to Haruhiko's room and knocks.

"Haru-chan, it's me. Can I come in?" Haruhiko frantically tells him No. But Tamura reminds him about his "man-to-man" promise to talk. "I'm coming in," he announces and walks in.

Tamura is greeted by an amazing sight. Where the walls of Haruhiko's room should be are stars. Behind Haruhiko's bed is the Earth, with the sun rising behind it. And on the bed is... someone with light colored hair and skin. Someone who doesn't look like Haruhiko. He turns a tearstained face to Tamura, who can only gasp out, "W-Who are you!?"