Friend or Foe

"This train is super-awesome!" Tsuruko exclaimed at the top of her lungs excitedly. "An intercontinental railroad! It even runs through an underwater tunnel to get to Four. So amazing!"

"Sure is..." Rosa sighed in a dispassionate manner; it was made obvious that she wasn't very fond of trains. "If anyone needs me, I'm gonna be in the bathroom...Why do we need to take to the blasted railways, anyway?"

Giselle tapped her shoulder, reminding her, "Well, we took a vote. Kaguya, you, Deen, Zanma, and I voted we fly and Tsuruko, Excellen, and Gary voted we take the train. So," she growled unhappily, "we're taking the train."

Tsuruko, out of nowhere, slung her arm around Giselle's shoulder. "Don't say it like that! Say it like," her voice became squeaky in excitement, "We're taking the train!"

Gary glanced around, looking at the beautifully designed interiors of the carriages. "I can certainly see why some people call trains cruise ships on rails."

"I'm gonna go check out the front!" Tsuruko yelled out; her voice was somewhat cacophonic and shrill—as usual; she ran off with her arms fully outstretched to the sides like the wings of an airplane—full of energy as ever.

"Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy—" Tsuruko was sprinting like a bird; heading from carriage to carriage—until she reached the front, a single car with an open roof; from above, she could see numerous birds in flight, with the rustling of trees. It was a truly beautiful sight—Tsuruko was enthralled with nature, and wished to see it bloom, creating a stunning world where people could live happily.

"Heh, surprised to see you here, girlie." A familiar—and chilling—voice called softly to Tsuruko; it was....

"...Super Galaxy King?" Tsuruko glanced over her shoulder in shock.

The woman in front of her was a young woman in her mid-twenties—she appeared strikingly similar to Giselle Mercury. She had pale-fair skin and red blushy cheeks. Her eyes looked to be a powerful purple while her hair appeared to be a pale-silver colour. Her white hair loosely flowed outward and seemed to be about waist length. Her attire, was rather surprising—neither battle-ready or armoured, the woman wore clothing that had a summer feel to it, consisting of an orange tank-top with a white floral design at the bottom, khaki-colored capri pants, and orange socks with white hems. Finishing her attire was cream, black and yellow shoes with black laces. The Super Galaxy King, Kirika Hotsuin, calmly threw her arm up half-heartedly.

"Um, hello!" Tsuruko waved, glossing over their previous encounter. "I'm Tsuruko Sejren! Can you tell me your name?"

"Oh, my..." she put on a fake look of shock. "We didn't introduce ourselves last time. Name is Kirika Hotsuin, Super Galaxy King, Virgo Symbiote, yadda yadda, how ya doin'."

"Nice to meet you, Kirika!" Tsuruko smiled.

"It's nice to meet you, Tsuruko!" Kirika's eyes remained completely shut as she patted the seat next to her. "Sit down, why don't ya?"

"Uhm, I have a question!" Tsuruko raised her hand, fidgeting around. "What did you mean by "I am the apex of evolution?" hmm? And, two questions, actually! ...Why did you kill my father?"

Kirika showed slight surprise momentarily—only to brush it off. "What do you think, yourself?"

"Uhm, are you saying through your actions, something will happen and it's somebody else's fault?" Tsuruko raised a valid point.

"Oh, it's already happening!" Kirika cackled out-loud, not even bothering to hide her obviously broken laughter.

"That's true." Tsuruko looked on, still deep in thought.

"You're not bad, not like those other stupid fleshbags. You actually thought about what I said." Kirika gave Tsuruko a round of applause slowly, grinning audaciously.

"It's actually been bothering me a bit since we met last, and if something's bothering me that means it's really bad!"

"That's right! You're not half-bad, especially for a human. Yeah, things are really bad on Earth Land, and maybe they should be changed, am I right?" Kirika continued, "Oh, here's a quiz! When does a planet have the prettiest shine? Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick..."

Tsuruko threw her hand into the air once more, ready to answer. "I know! It's around five in the morning!"

"Buzz!" Kirika blew a raspberry. "Wrong! It's when it's destroyed."

"Oh, that's it." Tsuruko sighed in disappointment. "One last thing!" Tsuruko wouldn't stop with the questions. "Are you having fun right now?"

"Fun really is tasty, you know?" Kirika talked about "enjoyment" as if it were food.

"Are you full?"

"Mmm, not even close..."

"There's something I wanted to ask you. Kirika, it's a lot more fun to do something with a group than it is by yourself! Starting today, I'm gonna be your friend. Let me know if I can help you with anything!" Tsuruko extended her hand out to Kirika, whom merely hissed like a snake at her.

"You? My friend?" Kirika questioned; suspicious that somebody of an opposing side would wish to develop a positive relationship with her.

"You bet! I'm Tsuruko Sejren, the one who's gonna become friends with everyone in the universe!"

"...Hah." Kirika began to cackle. "Kids are so naïve. The way you believe your values are so absolute...But there are some people who don't need friends."

Tsuruko proclaimed, "I'll show you my way's the right thing someday, and we'll be friends, Kirika!"

Kirika smiled rather subtly at this, before responding, "Tsuruko, I like you, so I'll give you a riddle."

"Please do!" Tsuruko showed her beaming grin.

"What's the sweetest, tastiest thing that everyone loves? Think on it, okay?" She slowly stood up.

"See you later, Kirika!" Tsuruko cheerfully waved.

"...I know how ironic it is, but let me ask you one last thing. What will you do once you hurdle over the wall between humans and symbiotes? Symbiote society and human society are completely separate. No matter how hard a human tries, he can't ever enter symbiote society. There's a huge wall between the two."

"I've done it before! Sion and I can talk like actual people! And Vita Zeppeli, my hero, talks to the symbiotes as an equal, so obviously anyone can do it if they just try hard enough! Maybe there is a wall...but that doesn't mean we can't climb over it!" Tsuruko happily affirmed to the woman.

"Imagine you were able to talk to Joker as an equal, like Vita. What would you say to him?"

"I'd ask him to be my friend! Right now, Vita's the only human who can talk with the high-ranking symbiotes politically. But if more people come along and join him, we ought to be able to change things. The important thing is to do what you can, because, I'm Tsuruko Sejren, the one who will make friends with everyone in the universe!" Tsuruko's determination was unwavering.

"Once you see this world, you'll witness first-hand how truly rotten it is." Kirika casually waved to Tsuruko, as she noticed the train grinding to a complete halt. "Well, I guess this is my stop. I'll see you around, Tsuruko. You may be the very first human whom I respect as an intellectual equal."

"Hey, Tsuruko." Giselle called out—not having noticed Kirika's presence, she beckoned over to Tsuruko, "It's our stop. Come on, let's skedaddle."

"Eh? Kirika is getting off with us?" Tsuruko kept this specific information to herself—for she feared if she didn't, then a ruckus would certainly be afoot. "O-Oh, alright!" While she was sad to leave this beautiful train, she longed to see Four once again; it was the place where she spent her childhood.

"It's Four time!" Tsuruko threw her arms up in the air, screeching like an excited child.

Gary ran his hand through his silvery mop of hair, muttering, "Ah, this place brings back memories...It's like my childhood was yesterday." He glanced around, smiling subtly at the old-timey style buildings. "It's nice to see that Four, unlike Hargeon, hasn't succumbed to the corporate demons of today."

Giselle slung her work-bag over her shoulder. "Well, I'm heading off. I've got private affairs to attend to." As she began to walk off, Tsuruko stopped their supervisor in her tracks.

"Whaddya mean by 'private affairs'?"

"...'Private affairs' mean that it's none of your business right now." Lightly moving to the side, Giselle immediately picked up speed and before Tsuruko knew it, she'd run off.

Zanma sighed, "There Lady Mercury departs, confusing the group dynamics...You children are unaware of how lucky you are to be within each others' sights. During my days as a samurai, I spent numerous decades by my lone self—"

"Tsuruko, let's go!" Excellen grabbed Tsuruko's hand, before darting off like a bullet.

Rosa hissed like a snake at Excellen taking her best friend and ripping her from her clutches. "Oh no you don't! Wait up for me!"

Gary quickly placed his hand on Zanma's shoulder, notifying him, "I've gotta go check something out. See ya soon, Z-man."

"I refuse to stay in one place with a rube!" Kaguya haughtily declared, walking off.

"There's a show I need to see." Deen disappeared like a ninja, leaving Zanma Zaitsuhara all alone.

"But now, I have you all, my dear comrades...!" Zanma quickly turned around—realizing that he was left all alone, the hardened samurai let out a wail of desperation, composing the haiku, "Forever alone, Clunky armour echoes through All of Four!"