godwhisperer | Gundam, Last Note

Read well, for this letter is the final message of the Ice King Ascendant, the Demon who Conquered Time, Gundam Tanaka!

I have paid Critter's price for a new day with my blood, but I have broken no rules, for I have delivered to you the last of the hunters. Find that wolf hidden among the sheep who chose my name. Once it became clear the succubus' host intended to choose me, no wolf could resist such easy prey. Fukawa is likely of rabbit kind, but any others...view them with suspicion.

Well, wolves! Look now into the jaws of my final trap! The noose is close around your necks, waiting only for the rabbits to tighten it!

Yet should my life have meaning...rabbits, I implore you to proceed with caution. In the end, days on this planet are more precious than the lives of wolves. My final request - now that the wolves have been delivered to you, you will cease to view them as wolves or yourselves as rabbits. We are all men here, yes, even the body of Gundam Tanaka...in truth, my deepest secret, is that I too was born of a human woman, and my kinship to you flows through these veins that have been emptied. My human half is deceased now, but lives on in these words.

Men hunt beasts, and men hunt men...yet for a beast to slay a man is an act of desperation. Make no mistake. Critter is our hunter, and seeks to separate the weak from the strong and culls our numbers one by one! Make no decision but the decision that strengthens our pack - the pack that is made of rabbits and wolves alike. I believe it will be necessary to sacrifice the hunters, but only once the dead have shown us all they have to show. In the mean time, do not allow either hunter or prey to achieve victory.

Those deemed wolves...you as well. Show mercy. Do not slay the gentle ones who seek a gentle end. My sacrifice leaves you in my debt as well, and that is the payment I demand.

Heed these words, and free the souls of the vanished from limbo, or vengeful spirits will haunt you in turn.

Madoka Kaname, Touko Fukawa...the beasts that rely on me are entrusted to your keeping. You will find instructions within my journal. Whatever else, those guiltless beasts will leave this place.

[The note is placed on top of Gundam's journal.

Inside his journal, the notes are all written very strangely:]

Luos ruoy eb lliw ecirp eht ro, sesoprup live rof desu eb ot ton si segap eseht nihtiw dnuof noitamrofni eht - eraweb! Yerp fo ylpmis elor, AKANAT MADNUG dellac eno eht fo sterces eht gninrael fo yhtrow flesruoy nevorp evah uoy. Enod llew, egassem sti dedoced dna lanruoj siht dnuof sah revemohw ot.

[Even if you do decode the message, most of what is written is pretty incomprehensible - magical looking symbols drawn in the margins, names and phrases that sound as though they were pulled either out of an occult book or out of a manga, interspersed with comments about hamster feed and the breeding cycle of rodents.

There are a few scraps of what might be relevant information, some of it clearly from early in the game, but others more recent:]

Seihport rieht era sevlow eht fi ,sretnuh eht ylurt era ohw? Llew sa yhport a edam era sdaeh rieht dna, retnuh ton, flow dekram era srotaderp daed eht tey, yerp dekram era stibbar daed eht. Gninaem siht dnim ot gnirb osla moor yhport eht ni sdaeh eht. Yerp gnitnuh rotaderp a naht stsaeb gnitnuh namuh a ot srefer ylnommoc erom tub, rotaderp a ot refer yam 'retnuh'.

...

Rettirc -

Ygrene ruo no deef ot skees ylerem ti spahrep. Yaw emos ni ytinamuh ruo retla ot skees ,esle ro...noitcurtsed namuh no tneb iakoy...tirips lufegnev? Kcap eht fo noitcurtsed eht skees ti tey...gnihtolc s'tibbar ni flow a stneserper ti spahrep ro. Flow a ron tibbar a rehtien si rettirc? - Derutan laud. Flow a sa tpecxe oediv no raeppa ton seod. Tibbar fo ksam a htiw tub, dlihc a sa sraeppa. Slamina fo noitcetorp eht skees tub, snamuh setah.

Meht mrah ot thguos evah ro mrah ohw esoht etah snamuh esuaceb elbissop ylno si noisivid eht. Noisivid s'rettirC no desab seiceps owt otni detarapes era ew eveileb ot emoc evah ew tub, stibbar dna sevlow ton era ew. Stiart namuh ruo fo egatnavda ekat ot skees ti. Yalp ot snamuh rof eno si emag siht.

Ot ton su eriuqer selur eht tey. Sevlow dna stibbar sa snoisivid ruo tegrof tsum ew. Namuh si dertah ni gnuoy rieht yals ot tub, uoy mrah yam ohw erutaerc a yals ot larutan si ti. Ecnaegnev rof osla tub, noitcetorp rof nials sevlow.

...

Emag siht taefed ot efil ym dnepxe ot yrassecen emoceb yam ti.

[At the end, however, are about twenty pages written completely normally. They are instructions to care for the hamsters, Ace, and Pascal, explaining what they eat, where Gundam has stocked 10 days worth of food for them, what time the hamsters should be put in their cage, how to set up Pascal's heat lamp, and what their daily diet and exercise should be. It is incredibly detailed. At the end is one last message, written in Japanese.]

Madoka Kaname,

It is my hope that this will not be a burden to you. You are the only one I can think of who they felt at ease with, and they will not survive here in the wild.

These creatures live short lives, and as such may only have two years remaining. Please ensure they are taken to the care of one who will make their remaining days happy. Please also help me keep the promises I could not see through myself, and ensure Ace and Pascal come to no harm.

Thank you,

Tanaka

[There are two cute, scribbly doodles of hamsters next to this note.]