VOTOMS Ep. 36: Love and Hate

Chirico marches across the desert and stops to change his and Fyana’s oxygen containers. Zophie follows them closely and says to herself that she won’t die before Chirico does. She then has a flashback of how her husband and sons were killed while trying to escape from a Red Shoulder attack. She then presses onward, but her oxygen is fully depleted and she passes out. When she wakes up, she finds that Chirico has given her a new oxygen canister. Chirico continues his march and stops when he finds the wreckage of a Scopedog and several other vehicles. He searches for oxygen containers and finds none. He realizes he miscalculated how many canisters he would need, and he’s running low himself because he gave Zophie one. Zophie finds a rifle and tries to fire it, but it crumbles in her hands. Chirico starts walking again and hides when a Balarant aircraft flies overhead. As Zophie climbs a hill, she finds Chirico waiting for her. He tells her there’s no point following him because they’re going to die even if no one kills them. She says that’s fine and can’t wait to watch Chirico die. He gives her another oxygen canister and walks off. Zophie shouts out that she hopes Chirico and his woman die soon. Later, Chirico stops to change Fyana’s oxygen canister, but she tells him to give it to Zophie instead. Chirico keeps walking through the desert and stops to put Fyana down. She tells Chirico that she loves him and that they should just stay where they are. Chirico looks around and spots an area marked with crosses made from machine guns. He leaves the backpack behind and carries Fyana the rest of the way to another area filled with ruined vehicles. He searches a vehicle and finds that it still has power. Ironically, the date it displays is the date he met Fyana on Lido.

Chirico searches the area and finds the entrance to an underground bunker. He explores the bunker and finds many full oxygen canisters He leaves his bazooka behind and grabs several canisters He rushes back to Fyana and gives her a new canister Zophie watches him and enters the bunker after he leaves. Chirico leaves several oxygen canisters behind for Zophie, but she approaches him with the bazooka. She says she’ll be happy to see him die, and he tells her she can do what she wants to him if she helps Fyana. She refuses and says she won’t help a Red Shoulder’s woman. She thinks it’s funny that he has no problem killing other people’s families, but he’s concerned when his own woman is about to die. She forces Chirico to walk away so that she can kill him. As she is about to fire, Vanilla jumps out of Gotho’s jeep and tackles her. He struggles with her for the bazooka until an AT Carry fires at them from above. Everyone jumps into the jeep to escape, and Chirico asks Gotho to drive to the supply station. Gotho drives and reaches the supply station, which is located within a canyon. The AT Carry flies ahead of them and drops a Fatty unit into the area. The Fatty attacks and causes the jeep to fall down several levels. Chirico drives the jeep himself to lure the Fatty away. He jumps over some gaps and lands on a train track with the Fatty in close pursuit. He then shoots the cockpit with his gun and destroys it. They drive to the interior of the base, and Zophie pulls out the bazooka to shoot Chirico. Vanilla and Gotho try to restrain her, but she breaks free and fires at the ground. Coconna attacks Zophie and bites her hand. As they struggle, Coconna yells at her that she isn’t the only one who lost her family in the war. Coconna then smacks Zophie in the head with a wooden plank and cries over how she’ll never see her family again. During this time, Chirico sneaks off and gives Fyana a bath of liquid jijirium. Chirico says that Zophie is gone, and Vanilla tells him he’s going to be old and gray before Zophie ever lets go of her hate. Chirico goes outside alone and thinks to himself that it wouldn’t have mattered if he told her his unit wasn’t on Sunsa when her family was killed because he’d done the same thing in other places. He thinks that saying that would be a meaningless excuse for which she wouldn’t forgive him, and he thinks she would be right to not forgive him.