Volume 11

What do you believe in? When the visit to Aiko's mother turns violent, she and Punpun skip town. Back home, Seki's relationship with Shimizu continues to crumble. And while Pegasus struggles with doubt, Wada finalizes his own plans for the Great Despair.

Chapter 111
Shimizu has a vision of a daruma finally hitting the ground and buildings exploding nearby. Pegasus tells him that is what will come one month from now if the Dark Spot remains. While they walk to her home, Aiko warns Punpun that her mother is not the most agreeable person. Aiko is excited for the life they'll have together, however plain. They'll buy lots of spices and a dog. Punpun kisses her, tells her that whatever she wants is fine because he will protect her. They reach her doorstep and walk inside.

Chapter 112
Punpun and Aiko enter the home to find Mitsuko wearing Aiko's school uniform in front of a web cam. She closes the laptop and asks why Aiko isn't at work. Aiko says she's moving out but will send money every month. Mitsuko suggests they talk about things over tea, and when Aiko moves towards the kitchen, Mitsuko says she will do it, since Aiko is abandoning her crippled mother, and crawls out of the room, underwear still around her knees. She returns with the tea and asks how the two met. Aiko says he's an old friend she met again at driving school, but Mitsuko scoffs since Aiko specifically chose a far-away school to not run into any peers. Aiko's always been a liar, ever since she was little and lied about wetting her pants, or two years ago when she lied about passing a shady modeling audition. Aiko says she really did pass the audition, and Mitsuko smacks her. The point is that Aiko has no common sense and needs Mitsuko to look out for her, rather than inconveniencing Punpun. Family is the only thing you can belive in. Aiko tells Punpun this is pointless and gets up. She will decide for herself what to believe in. Mitsuko pulls a kitchen knife from under the tea mat and leaps up. Punpun grabs Aiko out of the way, but not before her shoulder is slashed. Mitsuko turns to Punpun, and the knife stabs the wall beside his neck.If I'm crazy, then the rest of the world is even crazier. -Mitsuko

Chapter 113
Mitsuko sarcastically asks Aiko why she changed her clothes. Aiko rolls away to shield herself, but Mitsuko stabs her in the side. Punpun is frozen. Aiko gasps out apologies over and over. The eternally amused God appears to a cowering Punpun and dares him to act. He tackles Mitsuko and wrestles the knife from her, grabs her Mr. Cosmos figurine and hits her face until she is bloody. Mitsuko reaches for a pair of scissors and shoves them into Punpun's leg. He squeezes his hands around her neck and tells her to die. The rain echoes outside. Punpun sits over the body, hands bloody, and tells Aiko everything is okay now.I know I've been waiting a looong time... for this moment. Hello, Punpun. -God

Chapter 114
The sound of heavy rain fills the silence between Punpun and Aiko. A deliveryman knocks at the front door. Punpun pulls the scissors out of his leg, washes his hands, and answers. He returns inside, feeling surreal, to find Aiko stabbing Mitsuko's dead body. She asks what's in the package. He opens it. A vibrator. Aiko laughs, cries a little, and laughs harder, blood splattered all over her face and hands. She hugs Punpun and he asks to see her wounds. She lays on the floor while Punpun uses her sewing kit to stitch up her stabs.

Chapter 115
Yuuichi speaks into the phone of how different his life might have turned out had he ran away with Yagi. He hangs up when Midori stirs and asks her if she's thought of a name for the baby yet. He suggests Kibou, meaning Hope. A teenage girl named Rie chats on the phone about borrowing her mom's moped, when Pegasus passes by her bedroom door. She hangs up and walks down the hall, to see her mother hunched over in the front room. Pegasus holds a hammer, and her mother, the lady who accused Manager of stealing, screams at her to run, bleeding from her nose. Rie clings to her mom and cries. Pegasus tells her not to worry, since the vibrations of the world can harmonize once the Dark Spot is gone. The woman shouts at Pegasus to look into his conscience and not harm her daughter. Stricken, Pegasus runs out the door, yelling that no, no, no, he intends no harm. He muses to Wada that perhaps the world is plainer than he thought, perhaps he does not understand the nature of the Dark Spot. Wada tells him there is no time for doubts; Pegasus is the man closest to God, and he has a duty to go into space. Aiko awakes from a nightmare of peeing herself in high school, only to be reminded of the real nightmare of Mitsuko's body wrapped head-to-toe in duct tape.Aiko: Wait, I'm not dreaming anymore, right? Punpun: ...This is reality. Aiko: Right... Reality, huh.

Chapter 116
Aiko drives the car through the night rain until they reach the woods. She holds a lantern while Punpun buries the body. They get in the car and continue on. Punpun tells Aiko they should return home, live normally for at least a while longer before they move. Probably no one will even notice or care Mitsuko is gone. Aiko says her cult friends will. She's not confident she can lie to them. He tells Aiko to go to the police, then, to report him. He can bear any punishment if it means saving Aiko. But not simply to protect her conscience. He gets out of the car and begins walking. Aiko gets out and holds onto him in the rain, begs him not leave her alone. Punpun laughs. So this is who he is in the dark...

Chapter 117
Aiko asks Punpun where they should go. She doesn't want to return to her hometown, and she has no idea where her dad went after leaving when she was in middle school. Punpun babbles on about the answer to his low self-esteem is realizing that everyone in the world is scum, just like him. Some people should definitely be killed off. Aiko notices blood on his shirt and suggests they buy a new one, when she begins to feel sick. She has another nightmare of peeing herself in her high school class, and wakes up in their hotel room to find she has wet the bed. She takes her underwear off, and Punpun suggests they go to a hospital. She says killing someone just isn't right, and Punpun covers her mouth. She bites his finger, drawing blood, and he punches her on impulse. He doesn't need her to tell him that. She looks up, now missing the same front tooth as in elementary, and begins to sob. Why did things turn out like this? Later, Punpun asks if she'd like to go to Kagoshima.

Chapter 118
Pegasus wonders if he's just an average person after all and ruminates on the nature of the Dark Spot. Perhaps it moves from person to person, perhaps he imagined it, or perhaps... it's in everyone. The world is going to end... Seki's girlfriend demands a reason for his breakup, and he shrugs. He knows she's started smoking, and he knows she's been cheating. She cries and threatens to tell her dad. The next day, he finds out she told his boss, her dad, that he hit her. On the way out of work, Seki tells his coworkers he's quitting. He daydreams about going far away, maybe to another country, when two goons sent by his boss pound on his door. Shimizu gets a phone call from Numata that she's organizing an emergency meeting to cheer up Pegasus. His phone rings again and he picks up mindlessly. It's Seki, asking why Shimizu's been ignoring him, and inviting him on an all-expenses-paid trip to Thailand. In the meantime, though, he needs to stay at Shimizu's place. When Shimizu still says nothing, Seki tells him to have some faith. Shimizu tells Seki the same. On Shimizu's way out, his mother waves goodbye. When he asks if she's really there, she disappears.Seki: All you need to do is believe in me. Shimizu: ...I want to believe in you, but... you never believe in me... *beep*

Chapter 119
The members of the Pegasus Ensemble hope to inspire Pegasus by telling him how he's inspired them. Seki meets Wada to accept the button-pushing job, under the condition that it doesn't harm anyone. Wada explains that the Akashic records, an infinite music box in the shape of the universe, is singing an unstable tune, and those chaotic vibrations will destroy the world on July 7. The Pegasus Ensemble aims to engrave the song Tsubasa wo Kudasai into the Akashic records to restore harmony. Seki points out that if they want to save the world, but if Wada wants to prove to the world that Pegasus accurately prophesized the apocalypse, he has conflicting interests. Wada admits this is why he cannot allow Pegasus to make any more prophecies. Years ago, Wada planned to make a pop sensation out of a man who recorded a murder confession over a porn video, but the plan never came to fruition. He gives Seki his advance pay and tells him he should spend the time he has left with the one he loves. Seki says he's lost that chance. Shimizu thanks Pegasus for believing in him, and Pegasus finally stands up.Wada: Let me ask you, do you believe in the existence of a divine and all-knowing being? Seki: Of course not, that's ridiculous. Wada: Exactly. But humans need something to believe in. [...] For example, money, dreams, or relationships. Whatever it is, humans cannot live but blindly pursue these things despite the fact that none are remotely universal in nature.

Chapter 120
Pegasus stands, filled with the good vibrations of his Ensemble. These hard times are just to test his belief. The rain continues where Aiko and Punpun sleep in the car. She asks if he will kill her, too, someday. He tells her to go back to sleep. She wakes up to find him wandering around outside and tells him not to leave her alone. They sit together under the stars, and Aiko wonders if they'll be able to see the milky way this Tanabata, like when they were kids. She asks what he'll wish for if they see a shooting star, and he responds he'd wish for shooting stars to disappear forever. They stop at a small diner in the tourist town. In the restroom, Punpun catches his reflection, and it looks like God. He hasn't changed at all.

Chapter 121
They travel on, idly sightseeing as they go. Punpun gazes at Aiko's bruised smile and thinks no, his life has not hit rock bottom. Perhaps he should let his emotions flow freely from now on. Aiko returns from changing her bandages in time to interrupt his gazing at two girls. In a cafeteria, she notes that they have none of the necessary forms to rent a place or even change their suspicious license plate. She further explains that trust is the only thing holding them together. Since he only needs to look to her, wouldn't that be easier with just one eye? She holds her fork to his eye, and Punpun agrees. Sachi works to meet the deadline for her manga serialization, when Miyuki calls. Sachi admits she didn't go to the abortion clinic after all, and Punpun wasn't home when she went to talk to him. Miyuki says they should look for him, but Sachi thinks she's overreacting. She needs to focus on her manga right now. She needs to focus on what matters. She gets dressed and calls Mimura to ask if he knows where Punpun's been. Aiko lets the fork clatter to the table, dotted with blood. Punpun calls her a stupid bitch and tells her to do it right. Aiko crumples. She can't. She loves him.