Diesel/Story

Spoilers!*"Your greatest villain Drake shall warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD!"*The following article or section contain **spoilers!** Viewer discretion is advised.

Overview**Story**VoicelinesGallery

## Behind the Scenes

###

Kim Yoo-rim

###

Jenny Yokobori

###

Rie Takahashi

## Description

The leader of Infinity Rail squad who has a heart of gold. Always seen with a smile on her face, she has a sunny disposition and enjoys cracking jokes. Once you get to know her better, she slowly reveals a more caring and mature side.

She loves singing, and she even claims that she had been training to be a pop star in the past. but unfortunately she is completely tone-deaf.

She has fondness for kids and thinks of her squad mate Soline as her little sister. She always carries a bag of strawberry candies tied around her waist and helps guide lost passengers to their seats.

### Nikke Backstory

The leader of Infinity Rail who has a heart of gold. She always carries a bag of strawberry candy and helps guide lost passengers to their seats.

## Story

### Background

In her past life as a human, Diesel used to work in the AFX, along with the other two that would later be known as Brid and Soline respectively. However, a bombing occurred instigated by a terrorist, sabotaging AFX and resulting in numerous casualties including Diesel and her younger brother as well as Brid and Soline. All of the deceased female during the attack eventually became Nikkes who work in the railway.

### Character Story

#### Episode 1 - Strawberry-flavored Platform

After a long and exhausting couple of days, the commander waits for the train to arrive at its next stop so he can go home. Being too tired to even walk, he decides to take a rest on a nearby bench. While lying down, he notices someone looking at him, but can't identify them before he passes out. It turns out the person observing him is Diesel who was worried about him since he was sleeping on a bench of all places. She offers to carry him back to the Outpost herself, but he just wants to sleep so she agrees to respect his wishes. Like a mother caring for her child, Diesel comforted the protagonist allowing him to finally get some rest.

During his slumber, he hears someone singing about strawberry candy badly so now he has a headache. Eventually, he gets so annoyed he wakes only to learn Diesel was the one who was assaulting his ears. A nearby child also complained about her singing, and though she shared she had dreams of becoming an idol when she was their age, she promised to stop. She offered to give them some strawberry candy, but they preferred grape candy. She does manage to convince them to try it and while they would rather have grape candy, it didn't taste that bad. After everyone noticed the nightly commute, the child found their mom and left to reunite with her. The commander was confused as to how he ended up in the terminal, but all she said in response to that was he looked cute while he was grumpy, something he apologizes for. She didn't mind it since he looked cute. Now that he got enough sleep, he was ready to go home. He asks Diesel if she would accompany him, but she needs to get some rest herself and help lost kids or other sleeping grown-up friends. Before he leaves, she feeds him a piece of candy. After she walks to the platform, the protagonist finally returns home.

The following day, the sleepy head was hearing noises in his slumber again only to wake up to the Counters in an argument. Anis and Neon were fighting over what to watch on TV, but after asking them why they and Rapi were here, they revealed Diesel told them about what happened last night and she wanted them to check on him. After making sure he was healthy, the commander overheard on the news that the Memorial for the AFX Train Terrorist Attack Victims was being held soon. Nearly 500 people died in the attack by Heavenly Ascension and they were all civilians since military personnel used a different train. Neon figures the Infinity Rail Nikkes would surely attend and the Counters would join them. Rapi also shares that Infinity Rail itself was formed after the attack to protect civilian transports. The event created a national holiday to honor those who lost their lives.

#### Episode 2 - The Memorial

The protagonist returns to the Ark Express Terminal to find Diesel but with no luck. He does find Soline however who was also aware of his previous encounter with her teammate. She proceeds to chastise him for sleeping in an unsanitary place and he tries to clear up her misconceptions about him. He asks if she knows where her leader is, but she warns him now is not a good time to see her because she and Brid are in an argument. The protagonist wants to help out and she sends him her way. Soline herself has work to do and didn't want to witness her teammates fighting.

Cutting to Diesel and Brid's discussion, the former intends on attending the memorial since she has never done so before while the latter understands that this is something she was never capable of doing before. Diesel would always oversleep so she ended up missing it every time. While she blames this on her laziness, Brid knows there's more to it than that and is aware Diesel has been having sleeping problems for the past few days which explains why she's spent the last few nights wandering the platform. She knows the attack affected her too and is fine if Diesel decides to skip the memorial. Diesel herself was one of the victims who died in the attack and Brid was the only person who knows. Because of that, she is more determined to attend. She was aware Brid would get bombarded by other staff and government officials for Diesel's absence (none of which knows they are Nikkes), so she wants to go to put their concerns at ease and so her friend can be left alone. The leader reminds her that she and Soline were also casualties in the attack, but despite that, only Diesel never attended the memorial. Brid feels responsible for what happened because she was the conductor at the time but Diesel felt that wasn't true. Brid was willing to respect Soline's wishes should she not want to attend and was offering her leader the same courtesy. She didn't want her friend to push herself, but she had made up her mind. All Brid can do is respect her leader's resolve and she tells her to wake up on time before leaving.

The commander arrives as Brid departs. As she did for him in the past, he wanted to check up on Diesel. She was surprised to see him since he doesn't visit often and she apologizes for what he witnessed. He wanted to express his gratitude for what she did for him yesterday. She was touched by his generosity and was willing for him to make it up to her by going on a date with her. She also suggested this to lighten the mood. With the two in agreement, they set off to spend the day together.

#### Episode 3 - Big Sis

On their date, Diesel decided to play Ark Rangers with some kids. The three saw her as their big sister while the commander was their big brother. Since he had nothing to contribute, they pretended he was the Ark's Elevator. He noted that they seemed to be having fun until Diesel chastised him for talking as an elevator. He then takes the kids and picks them up assuming his role. They were glad the two played with them and were given the nicknames Strawberry Sis and Elevator Bro.

After the kids left, the protagonist appeared more tired than when he was fighting the Raptures. As a reward for his hard work, he was fed another piece of candy. He senses that Diesel is good with raising children and she shared that her love of kids stemmed from her younger brother. She revealed to him that they both perished during the AFX Terrorist Attack, and while he feels bad for her loss, she claims her trauma to be a distant memory. She felt the need to get something off her chest and the protagonist is willing to listen.

On the day of the attack, Diesel and her brother had a full day ahead of them. Their first stop was to obtain "Choo Choo Splendamin", a specialty of the ARK Express sold only at the Royal Road Station. He never had any before and desperately wanted to try it. After hearing Andersen lived nearby, her brother also wanted his autograph. He wanted to be a commander once he grew up and was a big fan of his. Unfortunately, he wasn't the easiest person to find. Diesel questioned if the commander also idolized Anderson when he was little, but he reminded her he was not her brother. She noticed that while the two weren't the same age, he would be around the protagonist's age if he was still alive and would probably be as handsome. After taking a closer look, Diesel felt the two looked more similar than she thought. She asked if he could call her "Big Sis," but he didn't seem up for the idea. After her protests because of his refusal to call her that nickname, she thanks him for helping her air out her thoughts.

Diesel was ready to return to the station, but the protagonist decides to indulge her once and calls her his Big Sis. This immediately caused her to whip around with a surprised look on her face. She was acting strange, but promised he didn't have to do that anymore. She admits that his response freaked her out, but he had no grievances with her actions. After their interaction, Diesel understood why Brid was worried about her. She was still not over losing her brother so she forcibly sleeps through the Memorial to not relive the past. The commander thinks what she feels is completely reasonable and assures her she can skip the Memorial if she's not up for it. Even though she was unable to go the previous times for similar reasons including one time where her teammates had to carry her there only for her to faint upon arriving, this has caused them to be defensive towards their leader. This time, she wants to attend the Memorial so she would no longer have to hide behind Brid anymore. More importantly, she wants to visit her brother. He is confident that she will make it this time.

The next day, Diesel oversleeps and misses the Memorial again.

#### Episode 4 - The Life We Live

Diesel was having a nightmare where she relieved the terrorist attack that took her brother's life. The protagonist arrived to cheer her up and had a full day planned for his "Big Sis" (addressing her as such was the only way to awaken her). She figured the memorial ended, but he was ready and eager for them to have fun.

Once the two reached Royal Road, he did confirm the memorial was over, but they had a date with some "Choo Choo Splendamin" to take care of. After ordering three, she admitted to never trying it before. One bite filled their mouths with a cool and refreshing sensation, a pure mix of sweet, sour, and saltiness. The two now understood why it's so popular. The commander asks Diesel for suggestions on what they should do now and she realizes they were on another date. She warns him letting a girl lose on Royal Road is a terrible idea, but he is willing to deal with the consequences.

The two visit a toy store where she checks out some Ark Ranger miniatures she might buy for the kids. She offers to get him one, but he declines. She can definitely tell he's a grown-up. Diesel decides to get them for herself. Their next stop is a candy store to obtain some more strawberry-flavored candy. She reveals she used to make them herself since they were her brother's favorite, but after he got angry at her for over feeding him, they agreed to get some every once and a while. After taking some candy, a familiar tune is broadcasted across the store. Turns out the song Diesel sang before was an old jingle that the store ran. It was discontinued for a while, but she's glad it's being aired again.

Once the night begins to set, the two share they had a great time together and Diesel was glad to be able to forget her worries for a while. She asked if this date was something Brid put him up to but that wasn't entirely the case. Earlier that day, she and the protagonist noticed Diesel hadn't woken up yet. He suggested that she should go to the Memorial while the two hung out together. He confesses that he planned this day out so she could experience the day she would've had with her brother had things turned out differently. As a finishing touch, he gives her a Commander's Manual signed by Anderson himself. The protagonist shared he had trouble explaining to him that the autograph wasn't made for him specifically. The realization of the purpose of their date caused Diesel to cry, but her commander was here to console her. After hugging her tight, she manages to calm down. For the first time since the incident, Diesel is ready to visit the memorial now that the protagonist is with her.

#### Episode 5 - New Dawn

While visiting another memory, Diesel relived her brother's final moments before the attack. The two reached the monument before midnight so Diesel was ready to pay her respects. After locating her brother, she apologizes for not visiting him for so long and places everything she got today underneath the monument. All she could do now was pray for his forgiveness and mourn with tears dripping down her face. The commander described her as being still like a sculpture.

Now that she was finally able to pay her respects (and since she thought the commander was bored), Diesel was ready to call it a day. She was glad to finally make her peace and she promised to visit him again. He was proud of her, but after she remembered he called her Sis to wake her up earlier, he became embarrassed claiming he had no choice in the matter. She teases that he was lying and truly enjoyed her as his sister, but as of right now, she no longer wants the commander to act as her brother. That's because if they were siblings, there was something she would be unable to do with him. She proceeds to kiss him and thanks him for helping her through this. Though his reaction was a bit of surprise to her, she assures him she's fine now. Diesel hopes he will continue to be with her and her brother in the future and he promises to do so. She considers herself a fish on a hook for being enticed by the commander's charm. After thinking she's still struggling, she kisses him again, certain the two are going to be together for a long time to come.

As the sun begins to rise, the two bask in the dawn's glow with a brilliant smile stretching across Diesel's face. As the two take their leave, the train that lost its destination embraces a bright new dawn.

## References

Notes

References
1. ↑ Story, Chapter 24. Cutscene: "Right to Revenge."