Hello, Pain

**Hello, Pain** (悲しみよこんにちは編, *Kanashimi yo konnichi wa hen*) is a stage in *World's End Club*.

## Summary

Chuko finally recovered from her infection with the medicine Jennu, Yuki, and Reycho brought her. Everyone decided to head east to Nagoya after they were unable to learn anything from the people underground. Pochi volunteered to lead the group, since his game console had a compass function.

That evening, everyone stopped by Kiyomizu temple, where Jennu asked everyone about what Niyan told them about humanity's emotions. While everyone else said that feeling happiness was important, Jennu and Aniki disagreed, and said that they would rather not feel sadness. Jennu talked about how much she had looked up to her older sister, who had shown her the beauty in Hosekizuka Theater. Jennu was intrigued by her sister's passion for Hosekizuka, and got into it herself as a way of getting closer to her sister. One day, her sister's fiancé asked her to come visit him in Kyoto, where she lost her life in an earthquake. Yuki realized the fiancé was Niyan, and Jennu explained that she used to look up to him and tag along on her sister's dates. After her sister died, Jennu held Niyan responsible, since he was the one who asked her to come to Kyoto. As Jennu explained how she was unable to let go of her hatred for Niyan, Pochi asked if she was running from her grief. Pochi said that grief was like the deceased knocking on the heart asking to be heard—it was painful, but important not to ignore. Pochi's words moved Jennu to tears.

Eventually, the Go-Getters Club continued east, where they ran into Niyan by the Fushimi Inari Shrine. He offered an apology for the way he acted underground, and answered more questions. He explained that the flyers were dropped by MAIK's drones to lure people to the underground space in Kyoto. Niyan thought that sunlight could bring a person's emotions back, so MAIK kept them underground and lied about the surface being poisonous. Since Niyan sometimes snuck outside to visit Jennu's sister's grave, he was occasionally exposed to sunlight and managed to keep some of his emotions. Niyan had thought of MAIK's world as a paradise since he never had to feel the pain of losing his love. Tattsun wondered why he visited the grave in the first place if he had no emotions to begin with, and Niyan explained that he heard a voice telling him to go. The voice was from an Otherworlder, a person living in another world that spoke directly into his brain. The Otherworlder explained that MAIK was their enemy, but they were unable to travel worlds to defeat MAIK on their own. The only thing the Otherworlder was capable of was communicating with X-TYPES. While Niyan said he was like a one-way "receiver," X-TYPES were capable of both sending and receiving information from Otherworlders. According to Niyan, X-TYPES were immortal and could be recognized by the "X" on their foreheads. Niyan said he would look for a way to bring everyone above ground, and Kansai was relieved the leader he looked up to was back. However, Kansai felt embarrassed wearing his leader back around Niyan, and took the badge off. Before they left, Jennu asked how he felt, and Niyan said it hurt, but he intended to keep living with the pain.