This is... the house I lived in a long time ago.
What is this about, Orpheus?!
This puzzle has transcended time and space.
It is the Time Maze!
Change your past and seize...
the future where you become a Phi-Brain!
Even If Something’s Missing
If I realized back then that the POG was keeping an eye on me...
I solved it!
Kaito, it’s dinner time.
Hey, Mom! What’s that?
Huh?
Orpheus is showing me another one of his fake pasts...
No, that’s not right! This is...
After Mama and Daddy died, I lived on my own, just like that.
If only I had met Jin sooner...
Excuse me...
I seem to have gotten lost.
Jin! But why?
Did the past change to match what I was thinking?!
I’m sorry, Kaito.
Kaito!
I get it.
What’s wrong, Mom?
He wants us to get through this maze
without letting it consume our hearts, doesn’t he?
The puzzle contains... whatever pasts they desire?!
Exactly! That is what makes it the Puzzle of God!
How am I supposed to go about solving this puzzle?
But I have to solve it!
I must save Jin!
They were fakes...
They weren’t my mom and dad...
Mom and Dad didn’t lose their lives, but...
Are you sure?
Didn’t you love them?
Are you sure you want to let them go over this?
Raetsel?!
Kaito Daimon!
Kaito Daimon’s past is overlapping with mine.
It’s a promise!
I’m holding you to this promise!
I can’t believe we’re going on a journey with Kaito Daimon!
Did Raetsel wish for this past?
Or did I...?
I solved it, Jin!
So did I! Lookie!
Oh! You two are good!
This feels nostalgic.
I don’t care to change the past anymore,
but I wish we coulda hung out with Jin like that forever...
Jin, you look like you truly are enjoying yourself...
Jin!
That’s right. Throughout our journey, Jin was always suffering in agony...
I didn’t know...
I’ve never seen Jin suffer like that over solving a puzzle, not even once.
Here.
No fair! You gotta give me something!
I’ll give you something next time, Kaito.
Why not now?! I want something!
If we continued to travel like this, Jin would never have left me...
Jin! Kaito!
Huh?
What is it?
Will the three of us be together forever, just like this?
Huh? Of course we will!
Yeah! We’ll be together forever, Raetsel!
Right, all three of us...
Raetsel, this is where we part ways.
Why are you leaving, Jin?!
Is he going to solve the Puzzle of God...?!
Is he leaving to battle Count Pythagoras?!
Kaito, you’re coming with me.
No!
J-just me?
I want you to see this through to the end, Kaito.
Take me with--
Raetsel!
You’re missing something, so I can’t risk taking you.
Jin, why would you say such a thing?!
I don’t want this past! Why am I seeing it?
Let’s go, Kaito.
But...
Wait, Jin.
Why, Jin?
Raetsel, has the past consumed your heart?!
You’re leaving me behind again...
How dare you abandon me...!
Pull yourself together, Raetsel!
I won’t accept this...
I won’t accept this!
Raetsel!
What happened?!
I’m all the way back here again!
What’s going on?
Are you sure?
Raetsel!
I get it! She plans on redoing her past!
Starting here!
Raetsel, this is where we part ways.
You’re missing something.
You’re missing something!
No!
You need to stop, Raetsel!
Jin, what the heck is Raetsel missing?!
Here.
What’s this?
My good luck charm.
I’d like you to keep it from now on.
When I’m challenging a Puzzle of Fools...
Not good! At this rate, it’s going to consume me!
Raetsel, you’re missing something.
Raetsel!
No! No, no, no!
I will NEVER accept that!
Not again...
We’re back here again!
Are you sure?
Didn’t you love them?
Are you sure you want to let them go over this?
Raetsel vanished?!
Good morning...
Good morning!
Good morning.
What is this all about?!
Her desire to reject that bitter memory
has caused Raetsel to deviate from the flow of time.
She has deviated from the flow of time?
Raetsel is no longer in one of the past worlds.
She is in a fabricated world that she created to protect her own mind.
Her heart has been completely consumed.
No one can contact her there.
Likewise, it is impossible for her to ever come back.
Then that would make this puzzle’s winner...
Kaito Daimon.
Wanna tag along?
You could come with me.
You have a gift with puzzles.
What’s goin’ on?
Doesn’t this Jin know about Raetsel?
Have you been traveling by yourself this whole time?
Yeah, that’s right.
That’s why I’d like a talented partner such as yourself.
Does this mean Raetsel chose a past where she never met Jin?!
Come on! Let’s go together.
Kaito!
I had a kinda weird dream.
A dream? What was it about?
I don’t remember.
More importantly, did you fill that out?
Fill what out?
The questionnaire about your future plans.
Didn’t you say it was due today?
What? You still haven’t filled it out?
It’s nice that you’re carefully considering your future, but...
I’m sorry.
Our student-teacher meeting is next week,
so make sure to submit it before then. Sound good?
Yes.
I wrote that I wanted to go on to college.
I put that I wanna be a nurse!
How about you, Miss Erena?
I think I really do want to become a model...
Actually, I’ve already sent my resume to an audition!
Awesome!
Miss Raetsel, is there anything you’d like to do?
Raetsel, you’ve always been like this.
You get top grades, excel in sports, and could have any guy you wanted!
But you always seem so bored.
That’s not... actually true.
Manager!
Hey, Erena! Quit chitchatting and come hit the track.
Yeah, yeah! I know the drill.
The track team has practice during lunch?
Only when a tournament is coming up!
I’m not about to let victory escape us as long as I’m the captain!
Later! I’ll see you around.
Uh-huh.
I collected the data on all of our opponents.
What?! You’re done already?
Way to go, Cube!
Mr. Gammon and Miss Erena!
Isn’t the romance between a captain and his manager nice?
Someday Mr. Jikukawa and I will be a couple...
But I don’t think you should date your teacher...
I won’t confess how I feel until after graduation!
I wonder what I like...
What do I want to do?
Kaito Daimon hasn’t moved from that location for a while now.
He moved!
Excuse me!
Here. Didn’t you solve it just the other day?
It’d be sad if you threw it away.
How do you figure?
Well, don’t you like puzzles? Isn’t that why you solve them?
It’d be sad if you threw it away even though you like it...
It’s revenge.
I will solve all of the puzzles in the world.
That is my revenge.
Your revenge...?
Is that another puzzle?
Looks fun! Let me try my hand at it.
H-hey!
I’m Raetsel. And you are?
It’s nice to meet you!
Amazing! It’s almost like a secret fort.
What made you start following me around?
The way you were playing with puzzles... I guess.
Puzzles?
I thought they seemed fun.
Nothing else has ever struck me that way before.
I wonder why...
How to Make Puzzles
Kaito...
Kaito... Daimon...
All of them are missing something...
Nuh-huh. They aren’t missing anything!
Uh, but...
Aren’t these paintings incomplete?
Nuh-huh! They’re all done.
Everything is missing something!
Same for people!
Everyone is missing something. We’re lacking something or other.
And that’s just fine!
So there is no need to try and fill those holes in.
If you do, they’ll just get bigger.
If you try to draw closer, they’ll just go farther away.
Isn’t it strange?
Everyone lacks something...
Kaito!
Why did you take off without telling me?
Was I getting in your way?
No.
Then why...?
My mom and dad weren’t my real parents.
They belonged to a certain organization
and were teaching me how to solve puzzles to achieve some goal.
Is that why you’re getting back at the puzzles?
Even now, I’m scared.
Scared someone is going to betray me again.
Is that why you’ve been living by yourself?
Is that why you tried to leave me?
I was starting to enjoy the puzzles.
I used to loathe them,
but when I solve puzzles with you, they’re kinda fun...
I started to lose sight of myself...
I can understand that. I was having fun myself.
The truth is that you like puzzles, Kaito!
You know, I thought I didn’t want to do anything.
Or that I didn’t like anything at all.
I was afraid that maybe I was missing something.
But I had fun...
It’s okay if I’m missing something, isn’t it?
Even if I’m lacking, I still had a good time.
I genuinely enjoyed myself.
Where am I? Where have I been...?
You got completely absorbed into that fake world.
Did you come to my rescue?
How?!
I knew the normal method wouldn’t work.
So I thought super hard that I wanted to take a path
that I’d never follow in the real world.
And that method worked!
It’s a path you’ve never taken before?
I didn’t go with Jin.
Did you actually chose me over Jin?!
After going through a life where I didn’t choose Jin,
I understood how you felt for the first time.
Spending your life hating the thing you loved...
Getting abandoned by the person you believed in...
It’s really painful.
Let’s ask Jin what he meant when he said you’re missing something!
And while we’re at it, let’s give him a piece of our minds!
The real Kaito Daimon appeared inside of Raetsel’s fabricated world?!
I thought you said no one could reach her!
After placing himself in the same situation,
he drew close to Raetsel’s psyche.
Sure enough, you are fascinating...
Kaito Daimon!
Wh-what’s going on?!
Raetsel!
Jin, thank you.
Everything you taught me through puzzles, Jin, is still alive inside of me.
So please rest at ease.
No matter what happens, I swear I will protect the future!
Next up is the last episode, “It’s Insanely Fun to be Alive.”
It’s Insanely Fun to be Alive
Puzzle time... Let’s begin.
Eh?! Wait a sec. I’m supposed to be the heroine!!
Fin Art: Akeru Otsuki