After the Blood Moon Fades/Story/The Hidden Pendulum Clock

(TBA)

Script

Transcluded Script

This section contains story script that was transcluded from the game with the help of OCR tools to avoid human-made mistakes as much as possible. Generally speaking, it shouldn't be altered unless the in-game equivalent has been changed. Any typos or other errors that are also present in the game are to be retained on the wiki but can be marked via {{sic}}.

Chinese and Japanese romanizations and translations, if present, are unofficial.

Last updated: July 23rd, 2024

Characters Present

Captain

Sirin

Rita

Himeko

Bronie

Start

Captain

✦

What is this place?

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Just a moment ago, a surge of energy similar to magic teleported us here.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Teleportation? I actually feel more like we’re returned to the starting point of a loop.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Rita, are you suggesting that once we got here, we became trapped in a loop where every time we reach that building, we get teleported back to the starting point?

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

It’s just my conjecture based on everything we’ve experienced so far.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

So, in other words, the loop hasn’t truly been broken… This force is currently impending our progress.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

But all three pendulum clocks have been shut down.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

What if there are more than three of them?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Huh?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Bronie, have you found anything?

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Those three pendulum clocks indeed interconnected by some mysterious force. But upon calculation, the energy they contain hasn’t reached the expected threshold.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Which means, within the current Sapphire, there might be one or more things capable of controlling the rules of this loop.

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Could it be some hidden pendulum clocks?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

But… I‘về been in Sapphire for so long and never come across a fourth pendulum clock.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Perhaps we should consider another approach-within this world, is there anything that’s beyond the reach of the rules, apart from the pendulum clocks controlling the loop?

🔇 N/A

✦

My words had barely faded when all eyes converge on Himeko in unison.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

You mean… me?

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Indeed, Miss Himeko is the only person we’ve encountered in this world who can remain unaffected by the loop.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Speaking of which, Himeko, I was so focused on breaking the loop that I totally forgot to ask how you discovered that you were in it.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Perhaps it’s because… the events that occurred one day would happen again the next, and the conversation of those around me kept repeating as well.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Can you remember when you first noticed that?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I only realized the loop was there after quite some time had passed, and it took me a while to verify. So, I can’t be certain about the exact moment or place I managed to break free from the loop.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

…

🔇 N/A

✦

As I dashed forward, the taste of blood in my mouth drowned beneath the pungent scent of gunpowder. In the frozen air, my body kept plummeting-echoes of resistance, guilt, and self-reproach reverberated through my mind.

🔇 N/A

✦

An idea suddenly took shape in my mind: “Himeko had been in that alley… Perhaps that’s where she broke free from the loop.”

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Maybe we should investigate the alleys in Sapphire.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Huh? Why the alleys?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

It’s more of an instinct. I have a feeling that we might uncover something quite extraordinary there.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

However, time is running short. If the loop restarts, all our efforts might very well be in vain.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

So, we can’t put all our chips on the alleys. Bronie, given the potential connection between the pendulum clocks, can you use the available data to estimate the whereabouts of the concealed clock?

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Oh, I got you. But it’ll take some time.

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Shall we split up now?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Yes. Since I’ve… investigated Sapphire before, Himeko and I will head to the alleys first.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Sirin and Rita will join Bronie in data analysis here to determine the location of hidden pendulum clock. The area blocked by the forest became accessible only after the tampering of the three clocks. It might have something to do with the concealed clock.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Please rest assured, Captain, Sirin and I will ensure Miss Bronie’s safety while she analyses the data.

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Hmm, I’ll take care of her.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Hey, Captain, how about a little competition to see whether you and Miss Himeko find the hidden pendulum clock first, or we do?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

… See you later, Bronie.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Hey! Don’t go so fast, Captain!

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Hmph, jumping the gun won’t do you any good, I assure you. I won’t be bested!

🔇 N/A

✦

With faint moonlight cast upon the narrow alley, I followed Himeko closely and kept looking around.

🔇 N/A

✦

What am I waiting for? What am I going to say to her if she really shows up? It’s like I have a lot of questions for her, but I don’t know how to start.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

(But she’s not here today.)

🔇 N/A

✦

I shook my head, not knowing if I should feel relieved or disappointed. I started to look for clues as to the hidden pendulum.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Ah, no sign of a hidden pendulum. Nothing special here.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Himeko…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

What?

🔇 N/A

✦

A crow swooshed past Himeko. Had I failed to pull her over, we would have run into a mob of monsters just for touching the crow.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I was so focused on the pendulum that I almost forgot. Thank you…

🔇 N/A

✦

Her face suddenly tightened up.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Himeko? Are you alright?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

“Himeko…”

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Huh?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

You know, in my memory, on that day and in this vacant alley, there was someone anxiously calling out to me.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I worried it might be related to the stuff with the vampires, so I lifted my hand and tried to check the time, only to find my watch was going much more slowly than I remembered. And even creepier still was -

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I knew there was something wrong with the time, and I was sure the watch wasn’t broken, but unconsciously, I had somehow taken it for granted.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

So, the moment when you left the loop was when someone called your name?

🔇 N/A

✦

Himeko stayed silent for a long time while she stared at me.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Himeko?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

… It was you, wasn’t it?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Huh?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

The voice was you, right, sir?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Wait, what did you just call me? You-You remember everything now, Himeko?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Hmm, seems like a lot of things have happened, but I’m not sure that they’re my memories. Perhaps, certain things did happen to me, but I didn’t experience them myself.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Something happened on you didn’t experience it?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

… I’m dead, aren’t I?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

On that day, I, no, she was ready to die when she came here.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

At that time, it was Master Kallen who told me everything about A-872…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

But in the alley, she was the first one to soften up.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

She kept saying it was her fault. I didn’t know what to say to comfort her, and you kept calling me.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

I was worried about you, and I regretted not understanding what you meant when you were drunk on the rooftop. I was trying to find you.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Come on, stop it. Making up my mind was hard enough, and I’m not letting you talk me over!

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Ha, I thought I was ready, and that death was but a moment. It was only then that I got to know that a moment could be longer than a lifetime.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

In that moment there were my dad’s smiling face when I admitted by Caltech at 15, the fiery passion to become a Valkyrie, and the smell of the breeze and beer on the summer night at 19.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Master Kallen told me to take the call, and that I wouldn’t want you to live in regret, so I should at least give you a proper goodbye.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

But you only said one sentence over the phone… You think that was a proper goodbye?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Haha, you’re still childish as ever.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I know you well, your determination and stubbornness, so I said to Master Kallen -

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Let’s end all this, before ol’ hot head gets here.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Because I wanted to die a human. At least when you saw me, I’d still be how I looked when we first met.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Himeko…

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

I tried a million times to find a way to save all of you from the tragedy.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Again and again, I’d reset the time and come here, hoping to achieve a different outcome through my observations and experience.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

…That’s why there are so many different stories about you in my memory.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Sorry, Himeko, there was no way to explain certain things to you back then.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Ha, even if you did, I might still find it hard to trust you, a suspected vampire.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Hahah, looks like living in this looping bubble universe has opened your mind to some strange possibilities.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

So, in the story where I died, the stuff with the vampires did occur, but in the world I now live in, they’re only rumors.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

… Yeah, vampires exist in that world, but in this Sapphire city, she… the vampire hasn’t hurt anyone yet.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

There aren’t any bite marks on the monsters and no citizens became victims.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

The boy we saved mentioned the monsters don’t usually hurt people. The reason he was attacked was likely because we confirmed what he thought about the vampire rumors and it caused a change.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Back at HOMU’s Joyful Dining, monsters appeared because we tried to tell what waiter the truth about this world.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

If I’m correct, the monsters do not come from the vampire infections. Rather, they’re a defense mechanism of this world -

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

When outsiders like us appear, the defense mechanism of this world will activate to remove us.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Sounds like you’ve got a lot of experience with these sorts of things.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

I’ve sene things like this many times.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

So, what is [sic] truth about the vampire rumors?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

I’m not sure. Based on what we know so far, there probably isn’t any vampire in the city.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

So the investigation only came from obsessions in my memory…

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

No. There is no vampire in the city, but the vampire rumors didn’t just pop up out of nowhere - someone has been spreading them only to keep people’s attention from something really important.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

You mean, the rumors are used to cover up the truth that the world is in an infinite loop?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

So, your investigations are not a wild-goose chase, and we’re getting closer and closer to the truth.

🔇 N/A

✦

… Thank you, sir, for telling me this.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Well, if I’m alive in this world, does it mean your observations have made a difference and changed the outcome?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

… Nom there’s still unfinished business for me, and I’ve come here to settle it.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

… It’s about the vampire, right?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Hmm, she might have turned into something I don’t understand, but I made a promise to her and I intend to keep my word.

🔇 N/A

✦

Beep… beep…

🔇 N/A

✦

The communicator interrupted my thoughts. A hologram of Bronie popped up the moment I took the call.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

SOrry to interrupt, but I’ve got good news!

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Congrats to the genius hacker on winning the top prize in the Finding Hidden Pendulums Competition!

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

You found it? Bronie, you’re amazing!

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Uh huh, it’s right where we found the bubble universe was tampered with.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Right! We saw the sudden shift from night to day there.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Bingo! Hey, ROsemary, stop nudging me!

🔇 N/A

✦

Bronie was nudged aside by Rita. Rita began to speak while Bronie mumbled in the background.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Has anything come out of your investigation, Captain and Himeko?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Hmm, Himeko just recalled everything, but she seems to have multiple overlapping memories, and it might be related to me coming here to observe too many times.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Heheh, you’re keen as ever, Captain.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Just like Himeko’s overlapping memories, this bubble universe has generated parallel outcomes due to your observations.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

(And that’s why the living Himeko has the memory of falling down in the alley back then?)

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

The coexisting possibilities have rendered the Sapphire bubble universe unstable, so-

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

It needs to maintain stability through the loop. But who installed the pendulum and made the loop possible?

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Heheh, you’re still in the old habit of asking questions to which you know the answers.

🔇 N/A

✦

I looked up at the boundless dark. In the loop, Sapphire has obsessively painted the heavens with the color of night.

🔇 N/A

✦

Why is the night in Sapphire so long?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

(Is it because it was also a dark night when I made that promise?)

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Since Ether Anchors are special to bubble universes, for this bubble universe, the pendulum controlling the city’s loop is actually the Ether Anchor, right?

🔇 N/A

✦

Seeing that I switched the topic, Rita gently smiled and let it slide.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Too early to tell. We can only say they’re closely connected. After all, there is no Ether Anchor in the pendulums we looked into.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Maybe it’s in the fourth pendulum, or maybe it’s behind the barrier before us. Don’t overthink. I’m sending coordinates of the fourth pendulum to you.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Well, Bronie, before that, I have a question for Himeko.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Huh? Me?

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Heheh, no need to be nervous. I’ll take whatever answer I get. Since you belong to this bubble universe, I think you need to know -

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

The bubble universe is sustained by the loop. If the loop breaks, the bubble universe will become unstable again.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

… You mean Sapphire will be destroyed right away?

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Heheh, not exactly. Just like the others, Sapphore’s bubble universe will slowly decay into oblivion, it might take hundreds of years.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I think, instead of worrying about the remote possibilities, it’s better to give the real living and breathing people in this world their lives back.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Life should keep going forward. Repeating the same day forever… that isn’t living.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Tomorrow, hope, and future… these words have been lost in this world for too long…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

So,, I must break the loop.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

I see.

🔇 N/A

✦

Contrary to my expectation, it only took Himeko a brief moment to accept the fact that her bubble universe would eventually die.

🔇 N/A

✦

Perhaps too many unusual events had prepared her for the worst.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Since Himeko has decided, we should head to the fourth pendulum right now.

🔇 N/A

💬

Investigate.

✦

Once again, we arrive at the spot where we witnessed the transition from day to night. The device still stood there, yet this time, I heard the steady ticking sound: tick-tok, tick-tok… At its top, a delicate pendulum clock had been elevated.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

As we suspected… this is the fourth pendulum clock.

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Hello there, can you hear me?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Wow, Sirin, you surely sound… quite energetic. And yes, I head you. We’ve located the fourth pendulum clock, but why are you and Rita the only ones there? Where’s Bronie?

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Well, she said she couldn’t wait to see your downcast look, so she’s gone to find you already.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Bronie’s come to find me?

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

“He’s definitely going to get sour because I outdid him this time!” Humph, childish. And Bronie called me a kid!

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Thank you, Sirin, great imitation show. However, it’s true that only Bronie can hack into these pendulum clocks.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Hehe, glad to hear those nice words you said about me! We’ll, did I arrive just in the nick of time?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Yep, you’re my lifesaver, Bronie.

🔇 N/A

✦

I glanced up at the pendulum clock before me, and Bronie was expertly tinkering with her equipment nearby.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

It seems that only after the other three pendulum clocks are hacked does the fourth hidden one appear.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Hey, hacker, go ahead and do what you gotta do. We got your back.

🔇 N/A

✦

Himeko raised her sword, cautiously scanning her surroundings. Unexpectedly, this time, there were no monsters in sight at all.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

It’s done! Now the hidden pendulum clock has been cracked as well.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Bronie, you’re unbelievable!

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Humph, don’t forget you’re looking at a genius hacker.

🔇 N/A

✦

*beep*

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

We can enter the building now! It seems you’ve taken care of that pendulum clock.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

That’s music to my ears!

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Sadly, it’s not that easy. You’ll know once you return.

🔇 N/A

💬

Enter.

Sirin

✦

You’re back. How did it go?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Thanks to Bronie’s expertise and Himeko’s protection, we managed to avoid being swarmed by those persistent monsters.

🔇 N/A

✦

Returning to the spit where we parted ways with Sirin and Rita, the barrier that once impeded our progress was now gone. However, the open expanse ahead was riddled with the very monsters that had chased us all the way.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

It seems all the monsters we missed on our way back are gathered here, waiting for us. Are we so very sorely missed?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Haha, yeah, what a happy reunion.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Hehe, since they’re all here lying in wait, it means what we’ve done so far has been quite effective.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

So, is everyone ready?

🔇 N/A

✦

Himeko tightened her grip on her weapon, her expression growing solemn as she focused on the impending tough battle.

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

Yeah, like always. Let’s get this show on the road!

🔇 N/A

✦

Sapphire: Exit

🔇 N/A

✦

The opportunity to break the cycle came.

🔇 N/A

< Fight Couatl: Revenant. >

✦

When the monster fell, the horizon began to glow with the first light of dawn. By my side, Himeko lifted her head and stared at the dawning sky.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

… Is it over?

🔇 N/A

✦

With the long overdue sunlight touching my eyes, the boundless dark washed away by the summer sun. Bronie glanced at the time on the equipment and yawned in relief.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Ha… it’s gonna take some time. We can’t say the loop is over, but our work is pretty much done.

🔇 N/A

✦

As the night faded, the entrance to the tunnel nearby emerged in the sun. Things over here have come to an end, but our journey is still ongoing.

🔇 N/A

✦

Himeko reached out her hand trying to catch sunlight.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

It’s a new day, right?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Hmm, with the pendulums taken care of, the loop will end soon and the normal time flow will return to Sapphire.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

I imagined a million times how the loop would ed, but when it truly happened, it felt unreal.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Relax, it’s only a matter of time before Sapphire returns to normal. What’s your plan?

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

My plan? Nothing involving vampires happened in this world, but in my memory, Master Kallen told me A-872’s reasoning.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Whether it’s for the Sapphire in memory or the Sapphire in the loop now, I hope she can shoulder this responsibility… Sorry, sir, she must be important to you, right?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Himeko, let’s go stop her together.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Huh?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

To be honest, I had been investigating her before this, but the more I got to know, the more confused I became about her intentions.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Maybe she had good reasons, or maybe she was caught in a difficult situation… but there’s no excuse for her to run from her responsibility.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

As you said, she’s important to me, so I’ll face the consequences together with her and stop her before it’s too late.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Come on, Himeko, let’s get to the bottom of this.

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Himeko

✦

Yeah! After all, we were the best detective duo in the city. Sapphire’s Holmes and Watson.

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Alright, all hands on deck. We need to hurry. There’s no telling if she’s gonna stir up even bigger trouble.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

Heh…

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Quit laughing like that, Rosemary. It’s creepy.

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

You miss important clues when you’re too hasty, Bronie.

🔇 N/A

✦

Following Rita’s eyes, I saw a gleaming stone where the monsters vanished. It would have been easy to miss if I wasn’t paying close attention.

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

That’s… another Miracle Stone?

🔇 N/A

Bronie

✦

Let me see… uhm it does contain the power to control the pendulums, but…

🔇 N/A

Rita

✦

It’s not the complete Ether Anchor, only a broken fragment.

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

… A fragment?

🔇 N/A

Sirin

✦

So there are more Ether Anchor fragments in this bubble universe? Where are they?

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Argh…

🔇 N/A

✦

The sudden pain interrupted my thinking and everything in view became blurred. I tried hard to breathe and regain control over my body.

🔇 N/A

???

✦

Sir?

🔇 N/A

???

✦

Hey, what’s going on with you?

🔇 N/A

✦

Everything faded away. I heard them calling me, and I struggled to tell them I was fine, but the sudden agony deprived me of the last bit of strength.

🔇 N/A

???

✦

Human…

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

It’s you -

🔇 N/A

✦

The violent dizziness numbed my limbs and once again, I was cast into the crimson mist.

🔇 N/A

???

✦

“Hurry… Go…”

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Luna…

🔇 N/A

???

✦

“Hurry… leave… this place…”

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Where are you?

🔇 N/A

???

✦

…

🔇 N/A

Captain

✦

Where are you? Answer me!

🔇 N/A

✦

Her voice disappeared, and my world sank into darkness.

🔇 N/A

End