The Piper at the Gates of Dawn "Reprise"
“…That’s all.”
In a world covered in ruins, everything crumbling and destroyed, Boogiepop’s story ended.
“I see,” Echoes said, nodding gravely. “Nothing can be explained easily. Everything is complicated…”
He sighed.
Boogiepop silently nodded in assent.
It was dawn now. The sky was turning pale.
The air never moved. If either of them dropped something, it would undoubtedly echo without end.
Boogiepop began to whistle, and Echoes began to hum along. He had only heard it once, but he remembered the melody.
For a while, they performed in chorus. No one else was here to listen, and the melody drifted around them quietly.
***
As they did, the world began to change.
The horizon grew indistinct, like an out-of-focus camera. The blur was drawing closer to them, but their performance continued.
Eventually the world was only in focus for a few meters around them, and only then did their song end.
“…I’ve never sung before,” Echoes said, grinning. “It was very enjoyable.”
Boogiepop again produced that asymmetrical expression, half-smile, half-smirk.
“This world is almost finished. We must say goodbye, Echoes-kun, but I’m glad we met.”
“Yes. I am grateful that we were brought together here. I know not what quirk of fate it was, but just as Kirima Nagi carries on her fight, accepting the feelings of those she meets, I am grateful for what fate has done. Thank you,” he said quietly, placing his hand on his chest.
Boogiepop nodded lightly.
The world around them was vanishing quickly.
“Where will you go now?” Boogiepop asked.
Echoes smiled. “I will watch over the world from a distance. No matter what happens to me. Yes…I’m just taking my turn.”
“I see.”
“And you? Boogiepop, what will you do?”
“Well…” he shrugged. “First off, I’d better meet the King of Distortion—he made this world before Zoragi destroyed it. He appears to be waiting for me.”
His eyes looked rather stern.
“And then? You will fight on?”
“Well…” Boogiepop started to answer, but the vanishing of the world had reached Echoes.
His figure went out of sync with this world, blurred, and was gone.
All that remained was Boogiepop.
“…So,” he said, absently.
And, left all alone, he began to whistle once more.
“———♪”
Even time had vanished. Only the hazy light of dawn remained. And there, Boogiepop whistled quietly, his whistle reaching nowhere and no one.
“Boogiepop at Dawn” all over.