Automated message from cellphone:
You are out of your calling area.

Mikako:
When I was younger, I believed what I was told--that when you called someone, they would be there. That they would hear you.
But I call, and I never reach anyone.
Hello... is... is anybody there? I'm so... lonely.
Noboru? I'm coming home, okay?
Where am I? Oh, that's right. I'm out of area.


Mikako:
Noboru, wait!

Noboru:
Hurry up.
...Well, how'd you do?

Mikako:
How do I always do on finals?

Noboru:
All right then. Guess that means--same school?

Mikako:
I hope so. I hope so...

Noboru, look! It's beautiful.

Noboru:
Yeah.

Mikako:
Is it one of ours?

Noboru:
Cosmonaut, UN Army's. The Lysithea, I think.

Mikako:
Yeah.

Noboru:
You know, I saw on the news that's the ship that's going after the Mars attackers.

Mikako:
The Tarsians.

Noboru:
Hey... do you remember what it was like before the war?

Mikako:
No.

Noboru:
I'm sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.

Mikako:
No... it's all right.

Noboru:
You sure?

Mikako:
Yeah. Look, I just have to tell you that--
So, where do you wanna eat?

Noboru:
The bus stop?

Mikako:
Um... yeah.

Noboru:
We'd... better hurry.
So, are you gonna keep studying kendo?

Mikako:
Um.. I don't know.

Noboru:
You should.

Mikako:
You're better at it than I am. Sometimes I can't even lift the sword!

Noboru:
That's not true. You should keep at it. You're strong, y'know?

Mikako:
You just wanna be in the same class with me.

Noboru:
What are you talking about?
We should... get home soon.

Mikako:
Yeah, you're right.
Noboru, look!

Noboru:
Tracers

Mikako:
So pretty.

Noboru:
I know.

Mikako:
Look up. That's me.
I’m gonna be up there someday.


Mikako:
There you are!
Come on!

Dear Noboru,

On Mars, it was non-stop training. These ships are massive, and it is so hard to learn everything that controls them. And I used to bitch about my sword in kendo class! But you know me--I’m top in my group.

The sightseeing here is fantastic. It's so strange seeing these things in real life. You can take a picture of something and it never does it justice. I think about that sometimes, when I see a picture of you.

The Tarsians killed everyone in the first survey unit here, but we've managed to retrieve some of their own technology. It may give us the edge we need.

The Lysithea is amazing, home to me now. By the time you read this, Mars will be just a memory. We're at Jupiter now. My God, the clouds! But the flux tube between Io and Jupiter--you have to see it to believe it.

Noboru:
It’s her. She was... a friend of mine in school. I thought we would be together later but, well, things change. She's on Jupiter now--army. And me? I bombed the Self Defense Force; looks like vocational school for me. I don’t have a job, don’t have a goal. She was always so strong, and I was strong when I was with her. Now I’m weak, until her messages arrive, then I get weaker.

Mikako:
Finally leaving Jupiter. You know these messages are monitored, and our final destination is classified, so, listen, it will take longer…

Noboru:
…and longer for these messages to reach you, and this one should take, what, half a year?

Both:
Still...

Mikako:
...call me; I know this 20th-century airmail isn’t perfect, but it’s all we've got.

Noboru:
Two semesters down, and still no word. Every day the same thing.

Automated message from cellphone:
You have no messages.

Noboru:
Every day I make a vow: Don’t check today, just wait a day or two, then check.

Automated message from cellphone:
You have no messages.

Noboru:
Every day, the same message… no message.

Mikako:
Dear Noboru, I’m at Pluto now, the end of our system. It’s been six months since I left Earth--I’m talking my time. The Lysithea armada has followed the Tarsian survey all the way from Jupiter, but still no sign of them. I have to be honest, I almost wish we never found them at all... then I could come back to you.

Lysithea operator:
Tarsians confirmed at 12 o'clock, distance: 20,000. Tracer unit one to four, prepare for dispatch.

Mikako.
My God! It's them. This is it!
My turn!
Oh God!

Lysithea operator:
A block of Tarsians confirmed at a distance of 120,000. The fleet will evacuate by one light-year warp. All Tracers, return to the ship immediately.

Mikako:
No, that's too far!

Lysithea operator:
Tracer 2, return to the ship immediately!

Mikako:
Believe me, I'm trying!
...They're gonna leave me.
Got it!

Lysithea operator:
The fleet has warped out.

Forty-eight hours later, this fleet will take a long-distance warp to Sirius Alpha Beta system using the galaxy shortcut anchor. We will fly through 8.6 light years. We haven't yet found the way back to the Earth. Commander strongly advises all of you: "Don't forget sending word to your family."

Mikako:
Forty-eight hours to write something that will take more than a year to reach him. God! From Sirius, it will be eight years one way. Oh Noboru, don’t forget about me.



Noboru:
Seasons come and go. Now summer's here again. Winter last year I quit waiting for mail from Mikako. A year--who could blame me?

It’s her! She's alive!

Both:
After this, the Lysithea will go into warp drive to Sirius...

Mikako:
...8.6 light years away. By the time you receive this, I’ll already be there. And now it will take eight years and seven months to receive mail... I’m sorry...
It breaks my heart.

Both:
There's so much space between us...

Noboru:
I’ve forgotten how long it was since we last saw each other. To me, a distance that takes eight light years to travel, that's no different than saying forever. You and I drift further and further apart.
I’ve, I--I've had to do some things--do some things differently. I made my heart harder. Colder. Stronger.
I stand before a door that will never open. Still, I knock on it for eternity, and you will remain you… beautiful, young... and I will grow older… I will grow older alone.

Mikako:
We always knew Sirius had its own planetary system, but we are the first, in all of humanity, to see another system with our bare eyes. We are at the fourth planet in the system: Agharta.
Agharta has sky, clouds, seas. It’s quite a lot like Earth actually, but it’s not the same.
It only makes me realize how far I am from you… and drifting farther….

Lysithea operator:
All exploration units from one to twelve: There's still no evidence of Tarsians.

Mikako:
Wow... I wanna be hit by the rain.
I just wanna get something to eat… at the bus stop… with you--
Please get there.
It's me?!

Mikako's doppelganger (child):
So, you've finally come this far, haven’t you?
Painful, isn’t it? But pain is necessary.
You’ll probably be able to go much further you know: other galaxies, other stars....

Mikako's doppelganger (adult):
Will you come with me? I’d like to give you something very important.

Mikako:
I just wanna see him again, I do, just to tell him that I love him.

Mikako's doppelganger (of her age):
It'll be all right. You will see him again.

Lysithea operator:
Tarsians are existing everywhere on Agharta. Encountering combat. Their block exists in orbit and are approaching us!

Mikako:
No!


Noboru:
That summer day, I remember when I thought eight years seemed like an eternity. I didn’t think I'd have a life. But I was wrong. I’m getting on with my life. I live on my own time, and finally, next month, I’ll nail the armada duty I’ve worked so hard for.

Mikako...

It was just two sentences: “Happy 24th birthday. From your 15-year-old me.”
The rest was only static. It’s like a miracle--to hear from her after all this time.

Mikako:
I don’t want you to feel bad about this. I have so many memories to think about.
They’re all I have now. You know what I miss? I miss…

Noboru:
I miss things like summer clouds, and cold rain, with you.

Both:
The smell of your hair.

Mikako:
Every moment we spent together.

Noboru:
The street in the night.

Both:
And the day in the rain.

Mikako:
Oh Noboru, Time was so generous to us, and yet Time is still such a cruel thief.

Noboru:
I just wish he wouldn't have stolen you… Mikako.

Mikako:
Oh no! That's it.

Noboru, we are so far apart, but maybe thoughts can overcome time, and distance…

Noboru:
You mean, do I think something like that could happen?

Mikako:
One thought, yes...

Noboru:
One thought…

Mikako:
One thought...

Noboru:
One thought… what would it be?

Mikako:
It would be…

Both:
I am here.