In this fifth book of the highly enjoyable series, we remain almost all the time in the Kusatsu region of Japan.
And the reason? Because that mysterious boy that saved Youko last volume lives there.
He cares for her together with Airi as they where close saving her from the inhalation of volcanic gas nearby Mount Asama. She has remained passed out for no less then 3 days, and learns upon regaining consciousness that the boy is called Eight, an android that restored the Onsen center. He had awoken there 5 years ago, and is curious where the humans are now. As he and Airi go collect the motorcycle, they talk about concepts like "friendship", but during the trip Airi gets the car stuck, and sees how Eight can replace damaged parts of his body.
On a food collecting trip, they try to lear Eight on how to sing, and to find enjoyment from a hot spring. Youko discloses she never met onee-chan face-to-face, always communicating through the Touringgram app. As they ask Eight to join them on their roadtrip, he tells them he can't leave due to the regeneration pod of his, while he asks in return if they wouldn't consider staying with him instead.
Airi tells Eight she and Youko will always stick together, but Youko wants to keep travelling in the end, wanting to journey back to the shelter and find a solution for Eight. Eight however decides he needs to put Youko in suspended animation, as Airi makes a discovery near a hotspring. Eight was originally a mass-produced infiltrator weapon, designed to kill humans. He shuts down his emotional thinking, attacking Youko but is obliterated by Airi. But just at that moment, Mount Asama seems to start erupting...
Eight tells them the bigger problem is Mount Shirane, which also is on the verge of eruption with a power witnessed only once in millenia, and urges them to get away as far as possible. He locks himself in to prevent the girls from losing time saving him. As the volcano erupts, he reflects on his directives... only to awaken away from the volcano with the girls. They ride off singing until Eight stops functioning, burrowing him in the countryside after he discovered the concept of "fun".
In a small town, they find a bike store and manage to restore the motorcycle, before being off again to their next destination...
And so yet another small tip is lifted of the veil that covers the apocalypse and what happened, as it seemingly involved androids. Let's wait for the next instalment and see if we get to learn some more then...
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