20th Century Boys Volume 1 : Friend Chapter Six Flag on the Moon - Page 117 - Mother: Ma-kun!! Ma-kun, come out of your room this minute!! Ma-kun!! Masao: (prance) (prance) (swivel) (swivel) Mother: MAAAAAA-KUN!! Chapter 6 : Flag on the Moon - Page 118 - Masao: Oh, be QUIET already!! You just ruined my morning "healing aerobics"!! Mother: Ma-kun!! Masao: You don't understand! You just don't understand! You people don't even understand that you don't understand!! Fools just can't comprehend it. Not that I think they'd ever TRY to. (tap)... Ahhh, time to listen to my "healing CD". (shaka shaka) (shinshiki shinshiki) Mother: MAAAAA-KUN!! - Page 119 - Masao: Ahhhhh, I am being healed... Mother: MAAAAA-KUN!! Chapter 6 : Flag on the Moon - Page 120 - Masao: "Friend", what is true meaning of healing? Friend: That is a good question. It is to be with me. That is what it means to be healed. Audience: *clap clap clap clap* - Page 121 - Man: "Friend", where did we come from? Friend: That is a good question. Close your eyes... There is a field around you. There is our fortress. The secret hideaway we made with grass... That is our secret base... That is where we held hands. - Page 122 - Friend: Now, let us hold hands. That is where we made a pact to protect the world from evil. - Page 123 - Friend: I am Collins. From my position in the moon's orbit, I watched Armstrong and Aldrin land and walk on the surface. I was so close to the ground of the moon, and yet I returned without having trod upon it... I am Collins. Audience: Uh... Ah... (zawa) "Friend" is... (zawa zawa) "Friend" is... - Page 124 - Audience: Crying... [July 20th, 1969] Donkey: Pardon me. Mother: I'm sorry, we're closed for the d... Oh. Kenji! Kenji! Kenji: What? Mother: This boy is your friend, isn't he? Kenji: Oh... - Page 125 - [Donkey came to my house on the first evening of summer vacation.] Donkey: Let me watch your TV. [Apparently Donkey didn't have one at his house.] [My sister had holed herself up in her room already...] [And my father had begun his daily siesta.] Dad: (zzz...) [But we kept on watching the TV.] Mother: That's enough, you two! (slam) Staring at it isn't going to make anything happen. Forget about it! - Page 126 - [But she didn't understand. We HAD to watch it.] TV: *xxxrklzzzt* [Captain Armstrong, Major Aldrin, Lieutenant Collins. These three astronauts landed on the face of the moon in their Apollo 11.] [Humanity would take its very first step on the moon...] [...But there was no progress at all.] [The jumbled, noisy static simply went on and on...] TV: *zzztxkxt* This is a transmission from Kennedy Space Center... Er, the current status of the landing craft is... [That, and the droning, repetitive interpretor's voice only encouraged...] - Page 127 - [The sandman...] [To attack without mercy...] [And so I made a safe landing on the tatami mat.] Cicada: (miiiiin min min) (miiiiin min min min) Kenji: Yo. Maruo: Heeey. Yoshitsune: Hiya. - Page 128 - Kenji: Man, Apollo 11 was totally dumb. Maruo: Yeah. I watched until four in the morning, but nothin' happened. Yoshitsune: I was up till FIVE. Maruo: So what happened after all? Yoshitsune: Did they land? Kenji: Don't ask me. But I think Donkey kept watching... Maruo: Donkey came to your house? Kenji: First he said, "Let's go play", but then he spent the whole time sitting there... Maruo: Ah... Donkey... Donkey: YAAAAAAAY!! WAHOOOOOOOOO!! - Page 129 - Donkey: Yippeeeeee!! Kenji: Donkey!! Wait, Donkey! What's going on?! (wobble wobble) All: Donkey!! Donkey: "This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"!! All: Huh? Donkey: Let's put our own flag on the moon!! - Page 130 - All: Huh? [On July 20th, 1969, Japan Time July 21st 11:56:20 AM, man finally stood upon the moon.] Donkey: I'm gonna go to the moon too!! (zoom!) Kenji: What's up with him? Boy: You know... It was nice for Armstrong and Aldrin that they got to walk on the moon... But I feel so sorry for the one who had to stay in the ship... - Page 131 - Boy: Lieutenant Collins... [1997] Wife: "It's been quite a while since we've talked, Kenji-kun. How are you?" "I am doing fine." "Please forgive me for sending you a letter out of the blue like this..." "Do you remember this symbol?" - Page 132 - Wife: "It was so far in the past, I suppose you've forgotten all about it." "I'd like a chance to take some time and discuss this with you in full." "This is all for today... I'll contact you again." And my husband sent you this letter...? Kenji: Yes... Was Donkey... Oh... I mean, Donkey is the name we used to call your husband by... Was there anything that seemed to be troubling him...? Wife: My husband was never one to tell me about his work... but... Kenji: But...? Wife: He said a former student of his had some kind of problem... Kenji: Former student? - Page 133 - Wife: He was... supposed to be a top-class student, good enough to go to Ochanomizu University... Masao-kun, or something like that... his parents came to talk to us... Saying that he had been getting involved... With some horrible "friend"... or something... Kenji: Ma'am... I... I can't believe someone who would say "I'll contact you again"... Would end his own life. Donkey... He must have been still watching the moon with that. Wife: Yes... - Page 134 - [On my way home, the full, round moon hung in the sky.] [Donkey...] [Donkey wanted to go to the moon...] ["Let's put our own flag on the moon"] [I don't know what kind of flag it was that Donkey wanted to put there.] [I wonder if that original flag from 1969...] [Is still on the moon that Donkey dreamed of.] - Chapter 6 Owari -