Wh-what happened?
Jeez! Wait up, Kaito!
Not in your dreams!
Hey! I said to wait up!
Kaito!
What is this...?
What am I seeing?
Us... from ages ago?!
Could this be akin to the illusionary world Kaito told us about...?
Indeed, it is.
Jin!
Welcome to Amgine.
Or rather, to my world, Phi-Brain children.
Then he’s--?!
Orpheus!
There’s no escape ‘cause I’m now believing my fate so there’s no runaway
It’s Okay If I Can’t Solve Puzzles
I can see you clearly knew we were one our way to Amgine.
What’re you up to, Orpheus?!
What do you hope to gain by showing this crap to us?!
That’s an...!
As you have rejected the Armlet of Orpheus,
allow me to show you the extent of a Phi-Brain’s power!
Where the blazes is this...?
Aren’t they...
Kaito’s mom and dad?
You bastard!
Stop it!
Dad! Mom!
Wait, Dad! Mom!
Kaito?!
You can’t come with us!
This is a puzzle! It’s a PUZZLE!
So I’m going with you.
Thank you, Kaito!
There's no puzzle I can't solve!
Kaito!
I can’t breathe, Dad! Mom!
Dad... Mom...
Pull yourself together, Kaito!
M-Mama...
Hey! Wait for me, Freecell!
I’ll have you know that’s my pendant!
Too bad! I want it!
Really! I can’t tell you “no.”
She isn’t wearing a Ring!
How do you like it?
Thank you, Mama!
I’m the one who should be thanking you.
You may not remember this,
but when they were about to put the Orpheus Ring on me,
you started to bawl your little head off.
And that’s when it hit me: This is dangerous! I mustn’t put it on!
I’m able to happily enjoy life now all because you protected me.
Thank you, Freecell.
Mama...
By interfering with the past, I can change the future.
This is the true power of a Phi-Brain.
I won’t buy that you can mess around with the past!
This is all bullshit!
I just don’t know the trick behind it!
Really?
Darn it! I can’t solve puzzles!
What’s it take to solve them like you, Kaito?
Guess!
Hey, what am I supposed to do here?
You’re so hopeless.
I solved it!
You did it!
I solved a puzzle of my own!
Solving puzzles feels really great! I never knew!
Uh-huh! Uh-huh!
Puzzles are so fun!
Keep teaching me how to solve them, Kaito!
Nope! From now on, you’ve gotta solve them by yourself.
Huh?
Challenge harder and harder puzzles and solve them on your own!
You’ll have loads more fun that way!
Really...?
Nonoha solved a puzzle...?
How long are you gonna make us watch this stupid show?!
You’re wrong. This isn’t...
Itou Residence
Hello, this is the Daimon residence.
Yes, right...
What?!
Kaito, Nonoha is...!
Nonoha!
Kaito...
Are you all right?
Nonoha, what happened?
I got a tummy ache after I ate too much.
Oomph.
Are you all better?
Well... nuh-huh.
I forgot how to solve the puzzle...
What?!
And here you taught me how!
D-don’t let that get to you!
I’ll solve ALL of the puzzles for you, Nonoha.
Really?
Uh-huh! It’s a promise!
So get well soon, Nonoha!
’Kay!
Cross your heart, hope to die, stick a thousand needles in your eye!
It’s a pinky promise!
I loved watching you solve puzzles, Kaito.
I wanted to watch you solve them forever and ever and ever.
But then you said you wouldn’t let me watch anymore.
It made me sad and lonesome...
So I ate my heart out!
I think that’s when I truly stopped being able to solve puzzles.
I had completely forgotten about this memory.
No, I had put it out of my mind.
It’s a memory you had put out of your mind...?
Then what is this...?
Without a doubt, what you have seen were your pasts.
And by interfering with those pasts, I have altered those worlds.
However, I am not yet perfect.
I am only able to let you see your true past and recreated realities.
But if I become a perfect Phi-Brain,
I will transcend time, obtaining power that surpasses that of the gods.
The power to interact with the past to change reality!
If you had realized all it entailed,
would you still have cast your Armlets aside?
These Armlets select those
worthy to serve as my vessel and forges contracts with them.
That is what they were made for.
What?!
By wearing the Armlet, the bearer’s emotions are scraped off.
It forcibly releases the bearer’s brain to the limits,
encouraging him to develop as a Phi-Brain.
Now take this.
As you are now, you should become Phi-Brains shortly upon donning the Armlet.
You have the capacity!
That is something countless geniuses yearned for,
but could never obtain!
They lacked the capacity to surpass the gods!
You just wanna turn Kaito and Freecell into
Phi-Brains so you can steal their bodies!
I won’t let you do that!
I may need their bodies, but I have no intention of stealing their lives.
What do you mean by that?
As you are well aware, Jin Makata’s mind has not vanished.
It is right here.
Phi-Brain children, all I ask is that you accept my mind into yourselves
and lend me five years--no, one year of your lives.
One year?
What do you hope to accomplish in a measly year?
Having been born on this world,
you must challenge the gods and surpass them!
That is the path mankind is meant to follow.
Make your choice, Phi-Brain children!
Do not make me waste my time.
If I so chose, it would be no effort at all for me to erase Jin Makata’s mind.
If I became a Phi-Brain, I can save Jin!
And that’s not all!
I could change the past.
I could save Mom and Dad!
And then I could...
Kaito!
Hey, Kaito!
Oh! Good morning, Nonoha.
Don’t “Good morning!” me! Sheesh!
Here, take it! It’s your lunch.
You forgot it AGAIN!
Oopsy!
That poor lunch your mom packed is gonna start crying!
I get it, I get it! I’m just preoccupied with last minute cramming.
Is the puzzle championship coming up soon?
Yeah! I’m totally gonna take home first place this year!
I’m gonna win the All-Japan Puzzle Championship!
Nope, nope! I’m going to win this year’s championship.
Freecell!
You can get the same place you get every year,
Forever-Third Kaito.
Shut up! This is the year I’m going to defeat both of you!
Oh? I look forward to seeing you try.
Try as you two might, I will still come out in first again this year.
Rook!
I won’t let you get away with boasting like that forever, Mr. Student Council President!
Class is about to start! Run!
It’s the principal and Mr. Makata.
Jin!
I’m looking forward to your training session at the Puzzle Club after school today!
Hey, Kaito! Didn’t I tell you to call me “Mr. Makata” at school?
If you became a Phi-Brain, you could make this a reality.
You could also erase your painful past...
If you became a Phi-Brain...
If I became a Phi-Brain...
Wanna give it a shot?
Eh? You sure?
I wonder if I can do it...
This is wrong...
This is WRONG!
Wake up!
Round 2!
Crush!
Ow, ow, ow, ow!
What was that for, Nonoha?!
Those images weren’t showing the real us!
What?!
Sure enough, we can’t change the past!
We may have been through a lot,
but we’re who we are now because of our pasts!
I got to meet you, Kaito, and you, Freecell,
because of everything that’s happened!
Nonoha...
It’s okay if I can’t solve puzzles!
It doesn’t upset me any!
Just getting to see Kaito and everyone else solve puzzles...
That alone makes me happy!
Thank you, little me from back then.
Because of what happened, Kaito is still a puzzle-loving fanatic.
Shut it!
Mama...
Nonoha, it’s as you said.
I’m here because of that past...
Yeah!
The memories we share with everyone--
They’re what make us who we are now, Orpheus!
I’ve made my mind. I’m not gonna become a Phi-Brain!
What?
Changing the past?
That’s an ability I can live without!
Mankind is meant to follow a path to surpass the gods?
To hell with that!
Orpheus, I won’t let you have your way!
I will defeat you! And save Jin!
Do you think you can do that?
You bet! There’s no puzzle...
I can’t solve!
Are we... back?
Kaito Daimon...
You acted differently than foreseen,
eliciting a different conclusion from the future I saw...
How fascinating!
Does this imply the future is filled with undetermined elements?
Then so be it.
Enigma, how is its progress?
I take it you’re referring to the Puzzle of God?
The operations are running smoothly.
Glad to hear it.
Jin!
The strain... was too great...
Jin!
Jin, hang in there!
Man, that shocked me!
I never expected him to show me a memory I’d forgotten all about.
Yeah, he surprised me as well.
So a Phi-Brain can transcend time, huh?
But one thing puzzles me...
Huh?
It’s something Orpheus said.
What did he mean when he claimed he only needed our bodies for a year?
Why is Orpheus so impatient?
Let’s put more ants in his pants!
Let’s go! I’m gonna hit up those puzzles he’s prepared!
I’ll solve any puzzle he’s got laid out
and blow all of his plans to smithereens!
Kaito!
Yeah, let’s go!
Without Kaito and crew, the academy is pleasantly quiet!
But there’s no way I can stick around, huh?
Not after “Mr.” Orpheus picked me out.
Galileo.
Huh?
Antoinette?!
Tada! Tickets to Amgine!
You--!
Not going? We both know better.
Sheeit, Mistress Erena!
Are you all right?
Yeah, I’m fine.
Jin! You’re Jin, aren’t you?
You’ve had me worried sick!
I thought you wouldn’t come back to me!
I’m sorry...
This is wonderful... Truly wonderful!
But my time is limited.
I can only remain myself for a little while.
Raetsel, keep away from me.
Have Kaito and the others do likewise. They must not get near me!
What?
You must not give Orpheus a new body.
If he remains in this body, eventually he will perish!
Wh-what are you saying, Jin?
I’ve reached my limit. This body’s at it’s end...
No! Tell me that’s a lie, Jin!
When I go, I’ll take Orpheus down with me.
So, Raetsel...
No, Jin! Don’t say things like that!
I’ll figure something out!
Indeed? Then would you become a Phi-Brain?
I will take anyone.
In order to become the perfect Phi-Brain,
the concept of sacrificing all of mankind does not concern me in the least.
It is all part of the puzzle to surpass the gods!
What is that...?
The Puzzle of Trials that Orpheus has prepared for us.
Will you gain the ability to defeat Orpheus if you solve all of his puzzles?
Beats me! I’ll just have to give it a shot!
Puzzle time... Let’s begin!
Welcome to POG Air! I am your pilot, Bishop.
We’ll be in the Republic of Amgine shortly!
Please hang tight, Freecell!
What?! Master Rook is...?!
We have an emergency! Our plane will be changing course to POG Japan!
Say what?!
Next time, “Because You Were Watching.”
Because You Were Watching
Socks are in the second drawer from the bottom, Master Rook!
Someone, please get me off this plane!
Master Rook!
Brainiac! Root Gakuen
~Waiting Under the Philosopher’s Tree Fin Art: Akeru Otsuki