Well...
time for work.
Ah, right.
Phos! I know you're here!
Phos!
Master Kongo is looking for you.
Why is that?
Beats me.
Wait, you don't think...
maybe Master wants me to join you all in battle.
I highly doubt that.
I see even an ace like yourself is worried about what I might be capable of!
"Might" be capable of?
Do you still not have a job?
Morga!
Goshe?
We don't have time for this!
There's sunspot activity in the sky to the south.
It's small, but we need to alert Master Kongo!
All right.
In that case, let's just fight them off ourselves!
What?!
Don't go getting haughty!
It'll be fine!
We need to cut the Master a break sometimes.
That one is older than appearances suggest.
You hurry on back now!
Jerk.
Acting busy and all that...
Okay!
Today's the day, then.
Ah! Gotta make the right impression.
Perfect! Cute!
Dignified!
Phos is as lively as ever, huh?
I just hope Phos won't cause trouble.
Reporting!
Come.
You called for me, Master Kongo?
Yes.
Phosphophyllite, I at last have a job for you.
We can handle this.
Yeah.
Oh!
Master, just a little while ago, Morga and Goshe said they saw one of the Lunarian sunspots.
But since it was small, they both...
Master?
What?!
That didn't stop it?!
And look at the color of those arrows...
That's got to be from when they captured Heliodor!
How could they do that?
It's perfect.
Let's take back every last piece!
They come to harvest us as jewelry.
While their hunters sweep down in countless numbers from the moon,
there are but 28 of us.
The skilled among us work in pairs. Some keep lookout.
Some fight.
Each of them has their own skills which they use to fulfill their goals and help one another.
But you seemed fit for none, and I was at a loss.
With your physical condition and incomparable clumsiness,
I could find nothing to rely on you for.
Why not just have me fight, then?
Fight, you say?
Well, I mean, that's the only thing we've never tried, right?
You would do best to give up on that.
Yikes.
Looking out for your elders, are you?
Here it comes! Fall back!
It's far too early for that!
You fools!
Oh dear.
You are particularly fragile.
You have a hardness level of only 3 and a half.
Simply brushing into someone is more than enough to break you.
And what's more, you're a peppermint color the Lunarians are fond for.
To overcome all those weaknesses,
you would need to be able to wipe out an entire army in one fell swoop.
You would need to be stronger than myself.
Not gonna be doing that!
Which is why I decided...
That you should compile our encyclopedia.
Wha-?
What?!
You're going to spill!
That sounds so boring!
Quite the contrary.
By compiling an encyclopedia, you will both preserve the present and prepare for the future.
It is an important role which requires both creativity and intelligence.
The key to battle is a keen eye.
If you wish to fight, first train your eyes through this task.
I know you're just trying to trick me into it!
You're just about the only one who would dare talk back like that.
You've sure got nerve for someone who does nothing around here at all.
Who asked you!
But it is that very frankness of yours that is needed for this task.
I am counting on you.
Need any help?
Nope.
You put my legs on backwards last time, so no thanks.
Hmph, haven't forgotten that, huh?
Hey! Stop!
Don't you have an encyclopedia to write?
No one's ever going to need it anyway and it's just a pain to deal with.
Sounds just like you!
Oh, shut up!
Tell me, Rutile...
What is it?
Helio got turned into all of this, but if we get all of the pieces, you can reform them, right?
Of course.
Our very bodies are home to microscopic organisms, you see.
Thanks to them, even if we break into pieces,
as long as we collect enough parts, we can be put back together.
It's a wonderful characteristic of ours seen in no other living being.
But thanks to that, we have grown completely incapable of giving up on anything.
There you are. Good as new.
Let's head back out there, then.
Watch it!
You're the one who would break if we bumped into each other, you three-and-a-half!
Oh, I'm quite used to it, O Great Seven.
Take me wi-
Absolutely not!
You have to!
If I hadn't told Master Kongo, the both of you would be out on the moon right now!
Don't forget it!
Rutile, you sure you can't make Phos' body as strong as the mouth and vice versa?
Come on, just get me out of this awful job, would you?!
You really hate it that much, do you?
Of course! I want a cooler job!
Want to trade places, then?
I'm not quite so pitiful as to take what does not belong to me...
is what you probably thought I'd say!
You were mistaken!
That's heavy, you know!
Maybe this will teach you a lesson.
I just finished putting you back together...
Oh, thank goodness!
I didn't think you'd really take it!
Hey...
You were hoping it would hit me, weren't you?
You got me.
Jeez. All right.
Fine then.
My only friend here...
is you.
Right, so...
Let me guess, "What is an encyclopedia anyway?"
Woah, it's blank?!
Don't peek!
You put all your effort into not doing it, huh?
I'm amazed.
No! I'm just working out a greater overall concept!
I heard that encyclopedias are supposed to categorize everything in nature itself.
Goshe!
Like how, though?
Maybe recording all the bugs and plants along the shore?
Gonna need more than that.
I guess we already know about all the important stuff, so maybe the unimportant stuff?
Almost there, give me more!
We aren't really all that familiar with this stuff, sorry.
Lookouts like us always have our eyes on the skies...
Cinnabar might know, though.
Cinnabar...
Why don't you go ask?
I can't do that!
I can't even get close to Cinnabar!
We've never even spoken to each other!
But Cinnabar might know more than us.
Anyway, good luck on your wild discoveries, Master Scholar.
Master Scholar...
All right!
Idiot.
Cinnabar, huh? Nope.
I should probably ask Master Kongo instead...
Nope, that'd be even worse.
Half a day of lecture at least.
Still, I'm not really getting anywhere on my own.
I wouldn't mind making some big new discovery, though.
Okay!
The Master Scholar must be open to the opinions of others.
Huh? Something new?
I only know about the stuff I use.
But hey, I want to fix this chair, so could you just hold that there?
Oh! Nice timing, Phos!
Can you model this for me?
I heard you're working on an encyclopedia...
We're running low on hemp this year, so don't go wasting paper!
I know all about glues and powders, but you want something no one has used before, huh?
Ah.
Cinnabar out on night watch might know something if you ask.
Oh come on!
Wouldn't you know more than anyone?
Are you just brushing me off cause you're busy, you quack?
That mouth of yours... Perhaps it's in need of an emergency operation.
Ew! Don't use that hand!
I mean, I know Cinnabar walks every nook along the shore, but it's always at night, right?
Can Cinnabar even see anything? The rest of us are no good at night.
Indeed, the rest of us feed off the sun and are not built for the night, which makes things dangerous.
But Cinnabar...
Cinnabar's endless silvery poison pulls in the faint night light and allows for patrols at night.
But...
The Lunarians have never shown themselves at night.
What? Then why even have a lookout at night?
No matter how unlikely, that is Cinnabar's job.
If you do go out there, be careful.
It's not like I want to go visit.
You probably know this already, but...
If any part of you comes in contact with the poison, light will no longer pass through it.
It will have to be chipped off of you.
And you will lose all the memories held within those chipped pieces.
Hey, you!
Quit wasting time on that useless job of yours and help me discover something grand!
Wow! You'll let me help you, O Great Master Scholar?
Indeed.
And just like that, I'll make Cinnabar my helper.
Then I'll finish the encyclopedia, make some grand discovery,
earn everyone's admiration,
and then everyone will realize I must have what it takes to join the battle.
Oh yeah, that's it!
Benito!
Now I do believe your room is right next to Cinnabar's.
Lead the way!
What's your deal?
That one can't control the poison, you know?
Maybe it was just too much to bear, but Cinnabar's been gone a long while now.
Benito, are you sure it wasn't because you said something mean to my little helper?
Of course not!
Who do you think I am, you?
And what do you mean, your "helper"?
Give up while you're ahead, Phos.
I know that, for Cinnabar, poison is like breathing for us,
and that we have to stay away so as to not cause trouble.
But still...
just being near Cinnabar leaves me uneasy.
Cinnabar's a bother just by existing...
Who would have thought anyone could be worse than good-for-nothing me?
I don't get why Cinnabar would even do a job no one cares about or is even concerned with.
Not at all.
Why not just quit?
Nowhere to be found.
Come on, help a Master Scholar out here.
Cinnabar, where are you?
If you aren't out on this cliff, that means you're either...
out in the ocean or up in the sk-
Why would anyone come at twilight, I wondered, but of course it's you, Three-and-a-half!
Damn...
Now why?
My breathing kills the grass and earth itself...
I don't want to ruin any more.
I don't want to be seen anymore.
Not like this...
I don't want to fight...
I don't want to-
Cinnabar!
I never asked for help...
Cinnabar...
I'm the weakest out of all 28 of us...
Hardness: 2.
There.
I've chipped away all the contaminated spots.
Do you remember who I am?
A quack doc.
Perhaps it was worse than I thought.
Let's carve that right out of you.
An excellent doctor!
Well that's the best I can do.
I've never had to be chipped before.
Have you forgotten anything?
I don't really know yet, but I definitely won't forget today...
Cinnabar didn't want to fight, but still saved me.
Indeed. Quite shrewd.
Unfortunately, the area there is now stagnant.
The water, flora, and fauna will be of no use for some time.
Phos, the truth is...
Cinnabar is incredibly bright and gifted,
but because their touch brings ruin, we have no way of handling it.
So we have forced Cinnabar out into the night.
Is that all we can do?
Rigorous, meaningful work is the best medicine against questioning one's place in the world.
We cannot die, so we must simply face these problems as they are until we eventually find an answer.
Or perhaps you'll find a place for Cinnabar for us?
You're looking for a major discovery, are you not?
How am I supposed to do that?
Even you and Master Kongo couldn't think of anything else, right?
Tell me, though, where did Cinnabar stay during the day?
Just sort of appeared when I went up that cliff to the north.
The Cape of Emptiness?
Yeah, there, at just the right moment.
The Cape of Emptiness is the most dangerous of locations and where Heliodor
was stolen away from us.
I can't imagine Cinnabar would stay there long...
Oh, Phos.
Dia...
I'm glad to see you're well.
Do be careful out there.
Yeah...
I don't know.
I guess I might as well jot it down.
Hey.
Cinnabar...
Haven't you had enough already?
Th-this is my job! I'm not here by choice!
And why are you even here again anyway?
This is a dangerous place where we lost Helio, you know!
It is.
And I...
I'm just waiting here, for the day they come take me away.
At least on the moon they might make use of me.
I've been waiting, but they never come.
Yet the second you arrive they show up.
Must be nice.
Desired even by our enemy...
There are two species along the south beach.
Three species on the Twin Shores.
One in the Inter Plain.
One on White Hill.
I don't know if any are major discoveries, but I've seen unnamed, unused plants out there.
Rutile came out to treat me this morning.
That's all you need from me, right?
Now stay out of my way.
Help me! Please.
No thanks.
F-fine!
Well, I'm going to find something better than the night watch that only you can do, then!
So just...
...stop saying you're leaving for the moon!
You hear me?
Hey.
Are you all right?
What then? What is it?
What can only you do?
I knew something sounded way too loud out here.
Phos forgot this, huh.
How careless can one get?
You big dummy.
Not my problem.
You big dummy.
This handwriting is horrendous.
And these pictures are just as bad.
What's even written here?
I want to be free of the night.
But no. I can't trust them.
This stupid thing...
But still...
I don't want you to go away.