After The End
Chapter 1 (of 1...?): Recompense
Summary: A year after the ending of Savers, Masaru reflects on his choice with an unlikely conversation partner….
Disclaimer: Me? Own something? Are you out of your mind?
Warnings: Spoilers for Savers/DATS up until the very end of the series, not including the movie. Includes crack theories based on a 'what if', so don't expect too much. Said crack theories explained in ending notes… sort of.
The flames had started dying down, leaving only the embers to cast light upon the small camp. A few things were visible in the fading light: a sleeping bag, a knapsack, a pot and the remains of a meal, an unconscious Agumon (who rolled over and started muttering about fried eggs), and a young man.
The only being awake, he stared at the fire, his face surprisingly pensive. Amber eyes flickered with the glow of the remaining fire, and his hair, recently cut back to the chin length he preferred, was left out of its pony tail to dangle in his face. A small bandage across his cheek was the only evidence of the scrap he and his partner had gotten themselves into earlier that day and the resulting treaty that had been made.
It was times like these, as few and far between as they were, that he began to regret his decision. When Agumon wanted his mother's fried eggs (which he couldn't make for the life of him), when he needed to cut his own hair (something that either his mother or sister would always take care of), when he had gotten into another fight—which healways won—but had been injured enough to need a bandage (which he seemed to suddenly have a low supply of)…. When all these factors, and sometimes more, came together, he regretted the choice he made.
To put it simply, Daimon Masaru, member of the Digital Accidents Tactics Squad, or DATS, partner to Agumon, was homesick.
He couldn't blame anyone but himself for it, of course. He had made the decision to join their partners instead of staying back, which he very easily could have, maybe should have done. Masaru looked over at Agumon and a small smile crossed his face. Of course he couldn't have just let Agumon go—he was his follower! And a good leader always takes care of their followers, no matter what crazy situations they might end up in (the cake incident was one such situation that came to mind).
That still didn't keep him from missing his mother, Sayuri, or his sister, Chika. It especially didn't keep him from wanting to talk to his father, Suguru, again. After ten years they had finally been reunited, and he had just thrown it away. Of course, Suguru had encouraged him, but it still felt like a kind of betrayal.
…would it be another ten years before he saw his family again?
…then again, with the state that the Rift was in, would DATS ever open the gate again? Would he be stuck here for the rest of his life? One year had already passed so quickly… how many more would go by?
He would have to get used to living like this, otherwise he'd probably drive himself insane before long (though Chika and the rest of DATS might say he already had some brain damage). Getting to know the forest sounded like the best idea—a year here already, and he still didn't know the landscape well enough to be able to survive for much longer. He wondered if the forest was hungry, because that was an awfully loud crunching sound it was making… wait, a crunching sound?
With Agumon still sleeping, Masaru whirled around to where the crunching was coming from. The forest wasn't liable to eat them… was it?
"I thought you would be more on your guard, Masaru."
He relaxed slightly at the sound of the voice, though he refused to lower his guard. As had been proven in the past, familiarity did not automatically equal ally, especially with a Royal Knight. "Excuse me for sleeping."
"It is wise to always have one of you on guard. You cannot fight an enemy while asleep… or captured."
"At least I didn't let myself get frozen."
The voice paused before stepping into the clearing, the tall and mainly white knight's amour glinting in the faint light. "That was a… tactical error. One, however, that worked in your favor, both then, and against Yggdrasil."
Masaru paused, then patted the ground beside him. "I don't feel like fighting. Sit."
The knight did, crossing his legs easily and, to Masaru's surprise, silently. With all that amour, he should have been a lot louder….
"Don't feel like fighting? Is that not the reason you came here with your partner?"
Masaru didn't look at him, his gaze having returned to the, by now, almost-pile of ashes. "I came here to help restore the Digital World and to maybe help it and the Human World to work together… with my fists."
His companion chuckled, lifting a stick to prod the fire back into life. Masaru stopped him before he could, and then returned to staring at it. The other stared at him strangely, studying the slightly rugged if fairly neat countenance beside him. Like a light switch turning on, the knight realized what Masaru had not said.
"You miss your home."
Masaru didn't respond, so he took this as an opportunity to continue his train of thought aloud. "You miss your home and you're not sure if you'll ever be able to get back… and this saddens you."
Again, no response. Nearby, Agumon twitched in his sleep, now talking about soy sauce and fried eggs.
The knight's gaze rested on the other digimon for a few minutes, finally taking a deep breath and joining Masaru's staring. "You know… this reminds me of something."
Masaru raised his head slightly, making an inquisitive noise.
"It must be at least a hundred years since, but… yes, this is very similar. I just hope your situation is like the second instead of the first."
"Going to tell me a nighttime story?" Masaru asked mockingly.
To his surprise, the knight didn't rise to the bait, instead continuing with his story. "A young man was brought to the Digital World with a few others. They were given the opportunity to leave, but realized that there was a reason they had been called here, and so stayed. The fought alongside the digimon to defend them from those who wished the digimon harm… except that this young man lost control."
Masaru's head shot up, staring at the knight in surprise.
"Each human had been granted specific powers to help them fight. These powers were in the form of spirits, and each person was granted two: one human spirit, one beast spirit. This young man couldn't control his beast spirit and attacked and almost killed his teammates. He swore to either control this power or to never use it. It wasn't too much later when they were in a desperate situation, and he was forced to use the beat spirit to try to save them. It resulted in them being separated, and this young man didn't know whether he was the only survivor of the blast.
"He felt he was a failure, as though every decision he made was wrong, like he couldn't do anything right. He believed himself to be more of a hindrance to what they were trying to do rather than a help, and tried to go home. DarkTrailmon appeared to bring him back… but, as with everything, this decision had a price."
Masaru was staring at him, riveted now.
"When he returned, it was in the form of a digimon. People stared at him, afraid of him. He tried to find his family, only to realize that it was the day that he and the others had been brought to the Digital World, even though that should have been months previous. He tried to prevent his past self from going, to the point where he almost let himself get killed.
"Eventually, he came to realize that there was a reason these things had happened, and that perhaps there was more to what he was seeing, what he was doing, than he originally thought. He had made the decision once, had paid the price for that choice… and now he was just backing out. He might not have understood everything that was happening, but he knew that, at least, he had to find out what had happened to the rest of his team.
"He found DarkTrailmon again and returned, this time with no fear or uncertainty in his heart, ready to even give his life for the Digital World should it be required. In complete control of both spirits, he was able to save his teammates… and the rest, as they say, in history."
Masaru frowned at the knight. "Was there a point to that story?"
The knight gave him a small glance. "If you had the opportunity to return to your world, right now, would you?"
Masaru was silent, looking back at the flames.
"You made a commitment, Masaru, and so far, you have stuck with it. But, if you are able to go back, and do, will you be ready to pay the price that comes with it?"
Masaru lowered his head, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "I…."
They were silent for a while, before finally the knight's earlier words came back to the human. "You said that something like this happened another time…?"
The knight froze, clearly hoping that Masaru had forgotten that. At the young man's hard stare, the knight was forced to relent. "It's not a story with a happy ending."
"Tell me it, anyways."
"I thought you didn't want to hear any bedtime stories."
"Ignore that comment."
"Then you should ignore any mention of this story."
"Not on your life."
"Or else what?"
"ShineGreymon: Burst Mode."
"…I guess I should have expected that…."
Masaru grinned, clearly thinking he had won that argument. The knight, however, surprised him. "It would be easier to tell if you told me more of your situation."
Masaru's eyes darkened, looking at the almost-dead fire, only a few embers still aglow. "…there's nothing to tell. I miss my family, I'm stuck here… but I know that I won't go back. Not until I know that both worlds can coexist peacefully."
His companion nodded, helmet shadowing his eyes for a few moments. "It is good you have decided that, Masaru. But do you miss your family because of—"
"I miss them," Masaru replied, voice clipped. "For every reason possible." He scoffed, realizing something. "Not that you'd understand. You're a digimon. You don't have family."
The knight froze, though as he wasn't moving much before hand it was hard to notice.
Masaru obviously didn't as he continued. "Well, I guess the Royal Knights are like a family, right? But… you don't have parents or siblings or children."
"If I am not mistaken, you do not have children, either."
Masaru shrugged it off. "I'm fifteen; I'm not supposed to be a father."
"True…."
Silence fell upon the clearing again. Masaru cleared his throat, looking over to his strange companion. "You know, I bet that a lot of people would give anything to have a partner… to even hang out with digimon, like I am with you guys."
"I believe so."
"But I still feel like we're enemies."
"First impressions are hard to change, Masaru."
"We're enemies… but we're sitting here, like friends. And you're telling mebedtime stories. Isn't there something wrong with that?"
"I see this as a time to relax. Yggdrasil was the one who ordered the destruction of the Human World, and as Yggdrasil is no longer our god and that is no longer our order, I see no reason to continue hunting and fighting you. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with this as long as you do not see anything wrong."
Masaru stared at the knight, shaking his head and looking away. "You sound like Tohma with all your fancy words and fancy talk."
"I had a good teacher."
"A teacher?" Masaru whirled around, frowning. "I didn't know digimon went to school, especially Royal Knights."
The knight stared at him, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "We don't. There was another that I used to work with, someone very smart. When we were in isolation, he was one of only two people I could talk to."
"Isolation?" Masaru looked intrigued. "What's isolation?"
The knight made no attempt to stem the flow of cursing from his mouth.
Now Masaru was amused. "Well? What happened that the big bad knight ended up in isolation?"
The digimon looked at Masaru carefully, as though gauging his response… or reliability. "You have a choice: hear about isolation, or about the other, the first, story."
Masaru's eyes widened and he gaped like a fish. Either or? Well, he could always try to get the other story out of the knight at a later date…. But which one to choose?
"…what is the first story?"
The knight grunted, looking pleased that Masaru had let him have his privacy (oh, he had no idea what Masaru was planning…).
"Similar to what you and DATS were doing, when digimon realized in the Human World they needed to be taken care of. Some digimon who realized preferred to find themselves partners instead of the wanton destruction they were prone to causing, and these partnered teams, called 'Tamers', were responsible for doing the deed. Like you, they had to keep the digimon out of sight… unlike you, they didn't have any fancy mind erasure technology.
"There was a government agency who wanted to destroy all digimon in the Human World and put up an impenetrable firewall between the two worlds so that digimon could never go there, and humans could never come here. Needless to say, this agency, Hypnos, did not like the Tamers, and were willing to destroy their digimon and lock away the humans to fulfill their goals.
"As time passed, the Tamers proved a more effective defensive team than Hypnos, and when a group of super-powerful digimon called Devas was able to cross the border with the help of one of Hypnos' anti-digimon programs called 'Juggernaut', Hypnos became a support team for the Tamers. The Tamers destroyed most of the Devas, traveled to the Digital World, saved the Catalyst, defeated D-Reaper… what most Chosen teams end up doing, saving the worlds countless times over."
Masaru grinned at that line, relating it back to what his team had accomplished.
"At the end of it, their was no choice in the matter: the Tamers and their digimon were separated, the digimon returning to the Digital World and Hypnos' firewall put in place to minimize the effects of D-Reaper combined with Juggernaut."
Here Masaru's eyes widened, especially when he noted the emotion in the knight's voice.
"Groups wanted to experiment with the Tamers, see what had made them capable of not only becoming Tamers but fighting the D-Reaper, whereas everything else had failed. Hypnos tried to protect them… but to no avail. These groups worked together, 'arresting' the Tamers and then breaking down part of the firewall, attempting to draw the Tamer's partners through to partake in the experiments. What they did not count on was that strength of the firewall, and realized that they would need help to bring the digimon through.
"They were able to convince one of the Tamers to help them, one who was desperate enough to see his partner. He gladly aided them, even when the others attempted to talk reason into him. Everything worked perfectly… until this Tamer realized what they captors were planning. It was too late to prevent the digimon from coming through, but he was able to sabotage most of the equipment, creating an opening for the others to escape. Two other Tamers were recaptured, but the others were able to get home free and alert the authorities as to what was happening.
"By that time, the three Tamers who had been captured had already had the preliminary tests performed on them, in reference to something called a 'Biomerge', a method of evolution the Tamers were famous for using. They were fused with their respective partners, as well as another of the Tamed digimon besides, sometimes even two other digimon.
"They were then freed in the raid that was performed by the government, but could not cope with their new situation. Humans feared them, even hated them, and they could not function properly in society. Even their families were awkward around them, and the other Tamers, the ones that this had not happened to, were angry at the Tamer that had helped their captors, refusing to acknowledge him. Shunned by society, the three did the only thing they could do…"
"They asked Hypnos to let them go to the Digital World?" Masaru whispered, feeling a cold chill running down his spine.
The knight nodded, looking up to the starry sky. "They did, and they were allowed to go, those at Hypnos at least feeling pity for them. The problem was that the digimon shunned them as well… so they hid. For years and years, their human forms never aging and slowly but surely learning to use their digimon forms. Once they felt confident in their abilities and enough time had passed so that no digimon would remember them as the Tamers, they made a vow to never give in, never give up, and to never show anyone their human forms again, feeling betrayed by their original race.
"They ended up separating, each wanting to pursue their own goals, and have wandered the Digital World ever since, trying to continue the work they had begun as Chosen: protecting those who need protecting, upholding justice, and doing everything they can to help create a peaceful, unified world… or, worlds.
"Their final promise to each other was that, when the Digital World was at peace once again and there was no longer a need for their presence, they would leave the worlds to go their own path and join each other in eternal sleep."
Masaru bit his lip, looking downwards. "So… how would that apply to me?"
His companion looked at him surprised, then smiled faintly. "It's a reverse situation. That one Tamer wanted to see his partner so badly he was blind to everything else, even logic and reason. Don't become like that, Masaru. Be the one who sticks to their goals and beliefs, even when it seems that there's nothing else that can be done."
Masaru pondered this, finally looking up again. "…it sounded like you knew those Tamers."
The knight froze, but shrugged. "It is an emotional story. Perhaps, if you retell it, it would sound like you knew them as well."
Masaru snorted. "Doubt it…." He glanced back at the fire that was about to die out. "…give me that stick."
Amusedly, the digimon handed the human the stick he was about to use earlier, Masaru prodding the fire to life. The flames burned bright once again, and Masaru grinned. "This is my promise," he proclaimed, pointing to the fire. "I will burn as bright as this fire—no, brighter! I will do everything that dad set out to do, and more! I will make the Digital World better again, and one day the two worlds will be able to unite!"
The knight chuckled, standing. "With your fists, of course."
Masaru lifted a fist to show to the other. "How else?"
"Then good luck on your journey."
Masaru blinked, watching the other walk away. "Hey! Where are you going?"
The knight turned around, and Masaru could have sworn he was smirking. "I do not have the night to spend with you, Masaru," he laughed, then pointed to the form of a mountain in the distance. "I have to meet some old friends there… this will be our last meeting, you see, and I cannot miss it. Goodbye, Masaru."
Somehow, Masaru found the way he said that to be a bit final, but nodded his head, standing and lifting his fist to the other. "Goodbye… Gallantmon."
Smiling down at him, Gallantmon lifted his fist as well, lightly punching Masaru's fist with his own. "You will be a fine leader."
As the knight disappeared into the forest towards the mountain, Masaru grinned, turning around and lightly kicking Agumon in the side. "Oi! It's your turn on watch, Agumon!"
"Five more minutes, aniki…."
The next morning dawned bright and clear, Masaru awakening filled with a new sense of purpose. Agumon wondered at his partner's change, but didn't ask. He had noticed Masaru's depression but had learned long ago that it was better to pretend like everything was okay… apparently, though, it didn't matter.
"Today, Agumon, we start again! And we'll do better this year, right?!"
Agumon struck a victory pose to mimic Masaru's. "Of course aniki!"
While the orange dinosaur was startled by the about turn in his partner's personality, he didn't question it. They packed up camp pretty fast, deciding to head toward Jureimon's (1) area of the forest. The ancient tree was always willing to help them decide on the next best place to go.
As they walked, Masaru turned to look at Agumon, raising his fist. Agumon looked confused, then slightly concerned. Could his partner have possibly succumbed to what Chika had been talking about? Had all the fights somehow damaged his head enough to turn him insane?
"Gallantmon dropped by last night."
Agumon's reaction was, to Masaru, extremely humorous (though Agumon himself wouldn't call it funny whatsoever): his eyes bulged, he gulped, choked, tried to give himself the Heimlich maneuver, failed, knocked himself to the ground and rolled around a couple times. He only stopped when he noticed Masaru's laughter.
"It's not funny, aniki! Gallantmon might have attacked you!"
Masaru shook his head, helping Agumon up. "He didn't, though. We just… talked."
Well, Agumon realized, a conversation with a Royal Knight would make anyone act strange. Stranger, in Masaru's case. "About what?"
Masaru grew quiet then, and Agumon bit his lip. Why did he have to ask that?
"Well… really, he just told me some stories. They really helped… but there's one that I just can't get out of my head. It seems so familiar…."
"What was it, aniki?"
Masaru related back the first story as accurately as he could, trying to put into his voice as much emotion as Gallantmon had inadvertently put in his original rendition. Agumon's eyes widened at the end, already seeing some parallels.
"Aniki! Doesn't that sound like those bio-digimon we fought? The ones who worked for Kurata?"
Masaru was want to agree with his partner, but….
"The ending… it's different. Besides, if it was those guys, wouldn't we have heard of this D-Reaper?"
"D-Reaper might just be a code name for something!"
"Then why would Gallantmon act sad for them?"
"Maybe it was an act!"
"It's still a sad story!"
"…aniki…."
"You just… it would make more sense to you if you had heard Gallantmon tell it."
The rest of their trip was in silence, and both were extremely glad to stumble upon Jureimon's clearing just past noon. Masaru grinned up at the old tree as the small digimon that the digimon protected crowded around to glomp and play with Agumon. "Jureimon! Long time no see, eh?"
"Masaru… I… I have some news."
The hesitancy in Jureimon's voice worried Masaru, but he put that aside: he and Agumon could take on, and beat, anything. "What is it, Jureimon?"
Agumon pulled himself away from the crowd of digimon to listen, both waiting for Jureimon to begin.
"It's Gallantmon," a voice behind Jureimon told them.
They started, watching Magnamon and Craniummon appear from the backside of the tree digimon, both looking worse for wear and extremely depressed. "We tried to stop them, but…."
"Them?" Masaru repeated, his mouth going dry. There's no way that… that couldn't be right, could it?
Magnamon nodded, being the one who had spoken. Craniummon, although not shedding any tears, looked about as depressed as a digimon covered entirely in amour could look. "Them. There was a meeting… a battle… I really don't know what happened exactly, but when we got there… the three of them…."
'The three of them...'
"He was one of only two people I could speak to... in isolation..."
'The three of them...'
"The three Tamers who had been captured... something called a Biomerge... fused with their partners... never show their human forms... digimon forms... When the Digital World was at peace once again and there was no longer a need for their presence, they would leave the worlds to go their own path and join each other in eternal sleep."
"I have to meet some old friends there… this will be our last meeting, you see, and I cannot miss it. Goodbye, Masaru."
Masaru turned slowly to look at the mountain Gallantmon had pointed out last night. His stomach dropped and his eyes widened as he gazed upon the sight.
The top of the mountain had been completely blown off, smoke still rising from what was left of the great peak. How he and Agumon had missed that, even through the trees, Masaru would never know.
Agumon looked up at his partner, understanding in his eyes. "You don't think…?"
Masaru gulped, nodding. "They would leave the worlds to go their own path and join each other in eternal sleep…."
As the other digimon looked on, Masaru slammed his clenched fist into his hand, bowing deeply from the waist. "The fire was for you, too, Gallantmon…. I guess Agumon and I will have to bear both parts." As he straightened, no longer with a grin, he turned to Agumon. "At least we know that we're headed down the right path, right?"
Agumon blinked, then grinned hugely, jumping up to hug his partner. "Right!"
As one (mainly because Agumon was still hanging from Masaru's neck) they faced Jureimon and the two Royal Knights, all of which were looking at them strangely. "Before we head off, we want to go and pay our respects to Gallantmon," he told those gathered. "Do you know who the other two digimon were?"
Magnamon blinked, then nodded. "Digimon of legend, one named Sakuyamon, the other MegaGargomon. We thought them to be rumors… and why would Gallantmon be fighting them?"
Masaru grinned, his serious façade dropping. "Maybe they weren't fighting. Maybe they were fulfilling a promise they made."
With Agumon hopping off his back, the partners began to stride confidently towards the mountain (or what was left of it), chatting easily about how they would remember the Knight. Magnamon and Craniummon stared after them, finally looking up at Jureimon.
"Don't look at me. That mountain is out of my jurisdiction," the ancient tree told them.
The two Knights exchanged glances, finally nodding.
"I'll go with Masaru and Agumon," Craniummon finally decided.
"I'll gather the Knights to meet you there," Magnamon replied. "If even Masaru is going to do something for Gallantmon…."
"We shouldn't be outdone by a human now, should we?" Craniummon finished. The two nodded to each other and went their separate ways.
Jureimon was left with the digimon he looked after, staring between those departing. "I wonder what Masaru was talking about?" He asked his protectorates.
"What are you doing?"
"Going with you."
"Why?!"
"To remember Gallantmon!"
"…don't think this makes us allies."
"I would never dream of it."
Jureimon chuckled at them, shaking his head. "This will be an interesting year…."
"Hey… Craniummon?"
"…yes?"
"…do you know how to carve words into rock?"
"…?"
Notes
(1) I'm using most of the Japanese names (with the obvious exception of Gallantmon if only for the sole reason that I'm used to writing Gallantmon versus Dukemon). Jureimon is the same as Cherrymon, just different names. I like Jureimon... he eesh cool.
Well, that was an interesting piece. Since watching Savers I've wanted to dosomething for it (if only to prove to my friends that yes, I DID struggle through the damn thing). The fact that Gallantmon was in there was just too much for me, especially when I was trying to figure out Gallantmon's appearance in Frontier. Ahaha, I have a thousand and one crack theories about how these seasons can be connected (even if they're NOT), so excuse my insane writings.
In case you didn't get that, the second story Gallantmon mentioned (the one he wanted Masaru to follow) was the first one he told Masaru, so the first story he mentioned (the one he didn't want Masaru to follow) was the second one he told him… which was, by the way, the same story he would have told Masaru had Masaru chosen the 'isolation' story instead, just from a different point of view and possible (definite) fudging of details.
Oh, and in my warped mind, this is just one possible connection. Obviously, Movie #6 never happened, and Takato, Ruki and Jenrya were the three who ended up captured (Takato being the doofus who helped the scientists bring the digimon back, against the other Tamers will).
If you're wondering, I have a rather strange chronological order with this. As the Adventure anime is never mentioned in Tamers (in the English version, anyways… anyone know where I can find the full Japanese? YouTube is severely lacking), it's just the card game and video games, sans anime. Not realistic? Well, we assume that Tamers takes place in our world because of said video games and cards, but I have yet to see D-Reaper trying to take over our world. Therefore, I say it's not exactly our world (it's like one of those alter worlds in the Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Physics and Quantum Mechanics), and so therefore, does NOT have the anime.
This means that Tamers could potentially be the first, 'experimental' group. It makes sense, as the Monster Makers are supposedly the creators of the Digital World and digimon in general. Frontier would be a likely second, as the progression from free-for-all that characterizes the Tamer's Digital World to human versus beasts that is the background for the Frontier is fairly simple (in trying to create peace, they just make it worse… or something like that?).
Then that opens it up for the Savers/DATS, whose goal eventually becomes to bring together the two worlds peacefully… and fails when the Rift between the worlds goes kaput. This goal is finally attained at the end of Adventure 02 (so says the epilogue… which I still hate), so it's a nice progression.
Yes, there are obvious problems with the Savers/DATS to Adventure switch. First of all, the differences in technology. DATS has super-awesome mind erasure pen things (very MIB-esque), while Adventure really looks like it takes place in 1997, 1998 or so. Then again, you never know what kind of high-tech devices the government has and just isn't telling us….
Another one is Masaru and the Royal Knights. Does Masaru ever get out of the Digital World? If he doesn't, when/where/how does he die? Is he even dead during Adventure (you would think so, as with all that fighting going on, he would normally be the first one on the battle field)? What happened to the Royal Knights? Is there a connection between Omnimon Tamers (Move 5), Omnimon Savers (Royal Knights) and Omnimon Adventure? How's 'bout that Imperialdramon? Or the rest: Sleipmon, Dynasmon, RhodoKnightmon, Craniummon and the others (two of which are still unknowns? …hey…!)
Then there's the Sovereign (is it proper grammar to add an 's' onto the end?), and the Angels, and… ah, so many things I could possibly destroy. Erm… figure out?
New! Poll time!
So, quick poll: of everyone who read this (or has seen the end of Savers/DATS), how many of you think that Masaru DOES return to the human world? How many think he lives and dies there? How many honestly don't care, as they have no idea who Masaru is? Poll will be on profile (somewhere…?), please vote. Oh, and review, too. Reviewing makes us happy. Thank you!