Something,
will you forgive me for being a
bad big brother?
'Kay.
I...
love Killua.
Don't make the same mistake.
And you should apologize to Kite, not to me!
You didn't clearly say if he's dead or alive,
but either way, you should apologize!
When apologizing to a friend, there's a rule.
Do you know it?
Huh?
No, what is it?
You promise to do things differently next time.
And you keep that promise, no matter what.
Uh-huh.
Salvation x And x Future
She had red hair just like yours.
I shot her because
I knew that the scumbags pursuing her
enjoyed keeping their prey alive to toy with.
After my rebirth as an Ant,
I realized that I was doing the same things I'd done before.
Before I was reborn this way, my job was to get rid of people.
When ordered to, I pulled the trigger.
I spent the rest of my time yelling at people.
It was a job anyone could do.
A ridiculous cycle that continues even after rebirth.
I wanted to give her an escape from that cycle.
I didn't know exactly how it all worked,
but...
I felt that if I let them capture her, torture her, then kill her,
the cycle would repeat itself.
A dull life in the middle of nowhere,
but one lived in peace and quiet...
Until that life was suddenly ended by mindless violence.
I pulled the trigger
with a prayer that she would escape that cycle.
Regardless of my actions, the Queen ate hundreds of humans.
And when they were reborn, only a few could remember their prior lives.
It's possible that most of the human souls managed to safely escape.
But I wanted to do something.
I wanted to feel like I was helping them escape.
If you're inside that body instead of her,
that probably means she escaped,
and I still haven't run into an Ant
who's told me I killed them in their prior life.
Perhaps they were all able to escape.
Before all this happened, I didn't believe in the human soul's existence.
I believed that humans had
the same worth as flies or fleas, and that they only lived and then died.
That the ego was nothing more
than a bug that arose because the human brain was slightly more complex.
That there was nothing after death.
Our bodies simply decomposed, turned to dust, and scattered.
I believed those tiny fragments had no purpose.
But now, here I am.
And I'm repeating the cycle.
My appearance is completely different,
but I'm doing the same stupid things as before.
It made me think.
I may be a fool, but I won't deny the things that I know now.
And I don't want to ignore the things I don't understand.
I died.
I died, and my body was broken into tiny pieces.
But that wasn't the end.
The fragments that I believed were too small to retain any meaning
possessed a power I could have never imagined.
Particles no larger than pollen from our perspective
have enough energy to impact our health
tens or hundreds of millions of years later.
And our DNA, which is even smaller,
contains the vast amount of information that comprises us, all within a double helix.
And that infinitesimally small size is a necessity for
the birth of the enormous space known as the universe.
Just because something is small does not mean it produces less energy.
The soul is probably small, but it has enough energy to repeat the cycle.
Does that mean I was reborn to continue that cycle?
I don't know what the future holds.
So this is nothing more than speculation on my part,
but something inside told me that I mustn't repeat the same things again.
I'm guessing that I'm forced to repeat all of this because
there was something I failed to provide my soul with while I was alive.
You know how the body
moves more slowly without the soul's encouragement...
In my case, I've always been driven by the thought
that I can't let things stay this way.
I know it isn't right.
I will repeat the cycle,
while thinking that I have to change things.
Because I made the wrong choice.
My target shouldn't have been that girl.
It should have been the ones pursuing her.
It's no big deal.
It just means I was the biggest scumbag of all.
The price for cleansing a tainted soul was too heavy,
so I avoided that.
While selfishly praying that her soul would escape,
I was desperate to avoid getting hurt myself.
I shot her to protect myself.
And now, I'm trying to save myself again by confessing my sins to you,
the one who inherited her appearance.
Really...
I'm a hopeless case.
I appreciate your listening to my story.
Wait. Don't run away.
You come with me.
Forever.
You'll stay with the person you shot,
living life the only way you can.
This is your duty.
You have no choice.
No one will allow you to take your own life
and hit the reset button.
You must live and apologize to me every day.
I'll keep you so busy, you'll never have time
to worry about what's right or wrong.
You will apologize to me
and do the work I tell you to do,
as you devote your life to me.
If you forget your current resolve and slip,
I will kill you.
So you can focus on living.
Kite, you have a visitor.
Let them in.
Kite?
Yeah.
Sorry.
Come. Sit.
Sorry for what?
I wasn't able to fight by your side.
I wasn't
strong enough.
But...
Next time, I'll protect you!
It sounds like you did some crazy stuff to defeat Pitou.
Yeah, I almost died...
However, that doesn't change the fact that you defeated an enemy I couldn't.
I suppose I can soothe my ego by telling myself
that my judgment was correct.
But I wouldn't be here now without help from Killua and everyone else.
I didn't make it here by myself.
It appears that we both needed more training.
I heard that you met Ging-san.
Did you talk to Ging?
Yeah.
You should go back to him.
I understand what you wanted to say.
I'm glad you came to see me.
If I need help, I promise to let you know.
Say hi to Killua for me.
We're friends now.
So right now, go back to Ging-san.
Okay.
Sorry.
Sorry for what?
I was trying to take the easy way out by running away from everything.
No matter the pain, I will keep living.
So when I die, I'll feel I did the best I could.
Ging!
I'm waiting atop the World Tree.
I tried to stop him...
Yeah, he didn't say that he would wait for me here...
It's huge!
This is definitely the tallest tree in the world.
The World Tree stands at the city's center,
at a height of 1,784 meters.
Humans are still unable to build a taller structure.
Climbing the tree is not forbidden,
but you must pay a fee and sign a written agreement.
You can reach the 500-meter point by elevator or stairs,
but after that, you'll be risking your life.
Every year, around 3,000 people attempt the climb,
but 94% fail to reach the 1,000-meter point, and turn back.
Another 4% are forced to pay an extremely pricey fee to be rescued from the tree,
and another 1% fall and die.
Which means that, each year, only about 30 people make it
to the top and return safely.
So...
This is as far as we're going.
Yeah.
Be careful.
Yeah.
Killua, thank you for everything.
Yeah.
Well,
after you told me you would defeat Pitou alone
and that it was none of my business,
I was pretty depressed!
I'm really sorry...
Brother!
Well, you apologized.
And I think I can say I'm only here with
Alluka now because of the time I spent with you.
She's the one who healed you.
Huh?! Is that true?
Why are you telling me now?
You should have told me sooner!
Sorry.
We don't want too many people knowing about this.
You know, it's sort of a complicated family thing...
Come with me!
Alluka, can you tell Something to come out?
Yeah.
She has the power to grant any wish I make.
Any wish?
Because of that power, she was locked up in our house.
But thanks to you, she's outside now.
And I'm prepared to spend the rest of my life protecting her.
We should be the ones thanking you.
'Kay.
N-No way...
I should be thanking you!
This is no good. If we stay here any longer...
Yeah.
I'll be traveling to all kinds of places with Alluka.
I'll e-mail you from time to time.
Me, too.
If anything comes up, let me know.
I'll do the same.
Yeah, I will.
Since you owe me a lot...
Say hi to your dad for me.
Yep.
I want to go with you, but I have to watch Alluka.
And you haven't had a chance to talk alone yet.
See you around.
After I've had my brother all to myself for a while, I'll set him free.
Will you hang out with him then?
Hold on!
I'm the one choosing to hang out with him!
Isn't she a great sister?
Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, you're in second place.
Kite said that no matter where we go,
we'll always be friends!
Yeah!
Bye!
Later!
Next time: Past x And x Future.
I'll introduce you to Ging eventually!
Yeah, that's a promise.
So until we meet again!
Yeah!