Inside

“Oooh!” was what left Sute’s mouth.

“Heavy Meka Battles...?” Hisoka said while turning to the girl, “That’s the name of it?”

“Uhum.” she nodded, “It looks like it.”

“Heavy what?” Masuyo looked at the girl.

“Heavy Meka Battles or HMB is an anime… and it looks like these two are from it.” Sute pointed at the figures in the distant horizon, “But I need to get closer to be sure… something is amiss.”

“You mean like the uneasiness in my stomach?” Masuyo asked.

“The uneasiness in your stomach?” both Hisoka and Sute frowned at him.

“Yes… my head is aching less, but now there’s something else…” Masuyo rubbed his chest.

“I see…” Sute stared at the ground, “So you two…?” she murmured to herself.

“What did you say Sute…?”

“Hmm…” Hisoka held his chin and then put his right hand on Masuyo’s shoulder: “You don’t have to worry about it, man. It’s your first dive, it’d be difficult to make it without a small pain.”

“Okay then…” “It’s not like it is really hurting that much… 

“If you can walk, we should get closer to those things.” Sute started to move forward.

“Let’s go, Masuyo.” Hisoka followed the girl.

The three started to make their way towards the immense figures, the ground shaking with each of their strikes against one another.

“Huh?” Masuyo looked to the grassed ground, “Wasn’t this supposed to be laminate?”

“What is it?” Sute turned to him.

“The floor… I thought it was laminated.”

“Hmm, you’re right... it is, and was.”

“Hmm?” Masuyo stared at the ground, it looked like grass, but when he blinked his eyes: “It’s laminate again?”

“That’s right, don't get too surprised with weird things happening here." Hisoka advised, "This place doesn't work with normal logic." 

They continued to move forward, Sute leading the way while Hisoka and Masuyo were right behind her. The boy kept looking to his sides, observing the changing floor and the world without a clear end. “Hmm… what are we doing here?”

“We’re getting closer to Syringa and Exprunus.” Sute answered Masuyo.

“What?”

“Syringa and Exprunus are the names of those Mekroxx right there.”

“I’m sorry…?”

“It’s the two ‘robots’.”

“Okay...” Masuyo kept walking quietly.

“You have to interpret what’s going on here to help the person behind this world.” Hisoka explained after noticing Masuyo's puzzled expression, “So you’re heading to the biggest event around here. It should give you a clue.”

“Why do you keep telling 'you'? Aren’t you going to do something, Hisoka?”

“Me?” Hisoka smiled, “I’m here just to watch you! I have to report to the guys at the main building so we can improve the Diving System, besides, since it’s your first time I really want to see how you’ll deal with it, Masuyo.”

“So... that means you won’t help?”

“Hey!” Hisoka protested, “I’m already helping, okay?! And I’m not that good with this part of the job… let’s leave it to the young.”

“As far as I remember you’re just five years older than u… older than me.” “Hmm… how many years does she have? It’s definitely less than me, but...” Masuyo stared at Sute's back.

“If you want to now, you should just ask her.” Hisoka whispered to the boy.

Masuyo turned to the smiling Hisoka, “Wha…”

“CLINK.” a short high sound was heard when Sute stopped suddenly.

“Watch out for your feet, there’s glass in here.”

“Glass?” Masuyo looked at the still changing from laminated to grass ground and saw what she was talking about, various pieces of glass were scattered around the floor, some of them having impossible shapes or unfeasible sizes.

“uuuuun.” a weird sound came from above them.

“Huh…?” Masuyo started to look up when someone grabbed his hand, “What…?”

“RUN!” Sute shouted while pulling the boy.

“Wh…” Masuyo started to voice his question as he ran, but the answer came quickly, a huge bar of metal came down from the sky, followed by something rectangular and blue. They came crashing down right where the three were walking a few moments ago.

“Shit!” Masuyo was involved by a layer of dust, “Aargh.” shards of glass had flown, scraping his body, “Shit!” he after realizing his small bleedings.

“Are you guys… cof cof... alright?!” Hisoka shouted, “Don’t tell me someone disconnected because of this.”

“I’m fine!” Masuyo replied, “And Sute…” he fumbled amid the dust to find the girl, “...she’s here! Huh?” he touched what he thought was the girl’s back and looked at his hands, they had a mixture of blood and dirt. “Sute?”

“I’m here.” the girl spoke while getting up, her face, where the boy actually touched, was now exposed and her sweatshirt was torn, revealing a body pierced by the glass, “Let’s go.”

“Hey... you’re bleeding, are you sure you’re alright?” 

“Yes.” Sute answered with her usual bland voice, “That’s nothing.”

“How can it be nothing? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Of course it does.” Hisoka was the one to answer, “But since this is in our minds, if we’re ready we can assuage the pain, and even make it heal faster than in the normal world.” his condition was worse than Masuyo’s but not as bad as Sute’s

“Hmm…” “I guess that makes sense....” Masuyo observed the girl until Hisoka hurried him to resume his walk.

They had to go around the things that had just fallen, crossing small hills and arriving at a plain field where they could see the fight clearly. A huge metallic and somewhat humanoid figure that once was probably black and purple was exchanging blows against one that had a dark blue color and was covered by wheels and pieces of glass.

“So, what is it, Sute-chan? I haven't seen this episode yet.” Hisoka turned to the girl when they stopped to watch the fight.

“It is the fight between Syringa and Exprunus, the choreography is the same at least…” she mused at the brawl, “...but they didn’t have those visuals, Syringa wasn’t this rusted, and Exprunus doesn't have these wheels or shards of glass..." 

“Hmm...” Masuyo didn't understand what she was talking about, but the visuals of the robots were indeed odd. 

"'You can't escape this, Syringa!' 'Escape? What are you talking about, Exprunus? I don't have to escape! I'll end everything now!'" Sute was murmuring something with great enthusiasm.

"Sute?" Masuyo called.

"Huh?" the girl jumped back and looked at Masuyo, "What?"

"Are you alright? It looked like you were saying something weird." 

"Huh?!" Sute blushed, "It should be your imagination, Masuyo!"

"Hmm... yeah, maybe it was." the boy returned his attention to the robots.

"Hmm... hey, Masuyo."

"What?"

"You don't really like these types of things, right." 

"Wait, is this a question?" 

"Hmm... yes?"

"This 'yes' didn't sound very assuring." "Well, I haven't seen something like this in some time, it's not like I have any strong feelings towards it."

"I see..." Sute fiddled with her fingers, "Do y..."

"Hey, guys!" Hisoka chimed in, "I'm sorry for this, but can you leave the chat for later? I don't want to leave without anything! Yoko would get SUPER mad at me."

"Okay... I'm sorry, Hisoka-kun." the girl bowed to him. 

"No problem, Sute-chan! Let's just do our jobs." Hisoka turned to Masuyo, "So, what do you have to say?" 

“Me?” Masuyo pointed at himself.

"Yep."

"Hmm..." the boy observed the fight, "I'm wondering who will win." 

"Yes, that's a good question, what about it, Sute-chan?"

"Huh?" the took her eyes off of the Meka fight and turned to Hisoka: "What?"

"Masuyo asked who will win the fight."

“Oh, it should be Syringa."

"Syringa...?" Masuyo tilted his head.

"Ee... the black and purple one.”

“Hmm… so we should watch it?”

"Oh, okay."

“But we should confirm it...” Sute sat on the ground and started to watch the fight. Hisoka and Masuyo followed her lead.

“It sounds like an excuse to watch the fight. She seems to really like this.” Masuyo thought to himself as he deviated his eyes from the fight to look at the now mesmerized girl. He didn’t enjoy much of watching action scenes like that, and his head was still aching a bit, so it was difficult to focus on the brawl. “Looking at her face is much easier…”

“Yes, it’s the same thing.” Sute said after a couple of minutes, turning to Masuyo.

“Huh? Really?” the boy diverted his gaze.

“Ooh, man! I just wanted to do my job but now I receive a spoiler like that?” Hisoka complained, “It is as if Yoko did that on purpose!”

“Yes, but that can’t be the case. She can’t see what’s going on here.”

“Yep, I know that!” Hisoka sighed and turned to Sute: “So, what are you’re thoughts?”

“Hmm… the fight is the same, the place is different and so are their visuals…”

“What about you, Masuyo?”

“Huh? Me? I can only agree with Sute since I haven’t watched this.” the boy answered.

“Yeah, you’re right, but what about the rest of the place?”

“The rest of the place…?” Masuyo looked around, “It is… weird.” he concluded quickly.

“I’d say disjointed.” Sute voiced her opinion, “What happened earlier doesn’t seem to connect with the main event…”

“Now that you mention it, I guess that you’re right.” Masuyo agreed.

“Hmm…” Hisoka smiled, “I can’t wait to see what you two will conclude!”

“Wait Hisoka.” Masuyo turned to him, “What do you think of this place?”

“I’m sorry man!” Hisoka stood up, “But I’m here just to observe you! Besides, our time for today is already ending!”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“We started the Dive pretty late in the day, so we don’t have much time to stay here.” Sute explained.

“That’s right!” Hisoka continued, “I’ve already sent a signal to Yoko, so she should wake us up at any moment now.”

“Hmm?” Masuyo frowned, “When did you send her a signal?”

“Oh! It was when we were watching the fight! But you weren’t paying attention to it, right?”

“What?” “What is this guy talking about?! Does he think that I’m a creep?”

“Well, since you were concentrated in the brawl you couldn’t pay attention to me, right?” Hisoka grinned.

“Yeah…”

“Okay, then…” Hisoka’s voice suddenly stopped.

“Huh?” Masuyo looked at the space where the leader of the team was standing a second ago, “Hisoka?”

“See you later.” Sute said beside him.

“Huh?” the boy turned to her, but she was already gone. He then started to feel his body get lighter, even though his feet were stuck on the ground, it was as if he was floating. “What..?” he tried to voice something but was interrupted by a trip back to the real world.