Many of the drones were still in a usable state.

If Tanuki were to give their shell some time, he could craft them into a pretty good armor.

They also had components that Tanuki could repurpose for tools.

There were some things that made loud noises when you shook them. They would be perfect for Maduka when she's bored.

Finally, under one of the dead drones, he saw what he really came here for. It was a red, venomous eye, devoid of any light.

When he dug deeper, Exhibition's torn-off face greeted him. Her entire mouth was destroyed and parts of her mechanical brain were sticking out.

It was still intact.

Tanuki let out a sigh of relief.

He reached into the snake's skull and searched around for something. Diablo watched him from afar, still confused by the boy's intentions.

"Did you come back to rob her grave? Ah, I see. I could look around for a shovel, that would help us out. N-Not that I know anything about robbing graves!"

Tanuki stopped. He found what he was looking for.

It was a small cube, full of copper wires and electric parts.

"Do you know what this is?" Tanuki showed it to Diablo.

"Seems like a cube."

"Not just any! If what I heard was true, this tiny cube is the brain of Exhibition. So long it survives, there is a way for Exhibition to come back."

Silence sat onto the mine. Tanuki was so amazed by the tiny cube that he didn't see when Diablo grabbed a nearby shovel.

When he finally looked up, the shovel was coming down right at Exhibition's core.

Clunk!

Tanuki pulled away the core just in time for the shovel to miss.

"What are you doing?!" He yelled.

Diablo looked at him with a blank face.

"You said that the snake still lives inside of that core, so I brought a shovel to kill it. Or… Wait…"

Diablo recoiled.

"You don't want to destroy Exhibition's core? Why?! The thing in there nearly killed you and your friend!"

"I know, but…"

Tanuki fell silent. A troubled look crept up into his eyes, the same he as when he defeated the snake.

He was ashamed, which he tried to hide by turning away.

"I suppose you being my guardian angel means that you've heard everything Exhibition said. Did you hear that part, where she talked about loneliness?"

"Yup. And you shut up her rightly so! Nobody cares about the whiny backstory of someone who's actively seeking to destroy you!"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Tanuki's heart overcame with guilt.

"I did."

"Huh?"

"I did care about her dumb backstory…"

Diablo was thunderstruck.

"W-What are you saying? You were the one who told her to shut up! Hey, am I guarding the right person? Is this Hachiro Tanuki?"

Tanuki couldn't take it anymore. He put his trembling hands before his eyes and hid the tears that escaped from within.

"Yes! My name is Hachiro Tanuki and I'm a total loser!"

He crushed back onto a pile of drones while still covering his face.

He was crying harder than ever before. This was a breakdown too long in the making.

"The same thing happens every time! I try to distance myself from others' problems, but I always find myself trying to help! Is it because my parents raised me this way? Or maybe because I can see myself in others' suffering? When I heard how lonely she was, you know what that reminded me of? Me! Me and my stupid life, spent in complete absence of any friends! You know why I was so angry? I knew that her feelings were akin to mine, that her suffering was one I've known for long, and you know what made me so pissed off? That she had a chance to save herself and she didn't! The opportunity presented itself, I reached out to her and she denied me while also stepping into my face! Why? Why is it always like this? Why can't they just be nice for once? Why are they always so self-centered?!"

Diablo was standing still, waiting for him to finish. She wanted to leave, she could have, but deep down, and that might've been only her morbid curiosity, but she wanted to listen to the boy.

When he stopped speaking, Diablo's body acted on its own. Even though she knew it was the perfect opportunity to leave, she took a step towards Tanuki.

"Go on! Don't let those emotions die inside your heart!"

Tanuki looked up from his palms and a pair of dazzled eyes met his gaze. The girl leaned close to her, so close that he could feel the strawberry smell coming from her hair.

"Go on! Speak!"

"I'm… Uh…"

Something was off about this girl. The way her breathing sped up and that twisted light in her eyes was… uncanny. He has never seen anything like this before.

Despite being creeped out, the anger in his heart was still strong. The words just came by themselves, fueling the growing hatred in his heart.

"Never in my life did I hurt anyone, but here I am, fighting off creatures that most of the time I don't even have a good understanding of! It's like the entire world has turned on me. Worst of all, when I try to tell them I mean no harm, it's like they turn deaf all of the sudden!"

"It makes you feel alone, doesn't it? Like, no matter how much sound you make, no matter how much you talk, your words will fall flat in the drowning depths of despair."

"Exactly!"

"We're colorless fishes, swimming around in a dark pool. We can't speak, just groan at the pain of a thousand liters crushing down on us. You know that there is a surface to this pool and you try to tell the others, but they decline your words to make way for their agonizing screams. You're trapped under a wailing mass of flesh, starving itself in a pitiful dark, so close but obvious of the light."

Diablo's eyes were filled with an emotion so dark, that it seemed like there was no soul beyond. Her emerald eyes seemed less like jewelry and more like a muddy pond, her iris just a dead fish within.

A perverted sickness tortured this girl. Her entire aura smelled from the stench of rotten hopelessness.

Tanuki forgot about his anger as he gazed at the broken soul in her eyes. What made him feel even worse was that no visible sadness accompanied it. Diablo seemed excited about Tanuki sinking deeper and deeper into the pits of depression, hoping that she might find someone who can understand her despair.

In a weird way, this is what gave Tanuki a push towards the light.

After wiping off his tears, he reached into his pocket and put Exhibition's core into Diablo's hand. She grabbed it with excitement.

"You can't bring yourself to break it? Ah, don't worry! I will break it for you!"

"No." Tanuki stood up. "I want you to hold it while we go back to the Gaia Core."

Diablo was left speechless, again. Only for a moment though, which was followed by her freaking out.

"What are you talking about?! Did you not hear what I said before? If you help this piece of scrap it's going to turn on! It will kill you and your friends!"

"I'm willing to give it a shot." Tanuki grabbed some of the scrap lying around and approached the exit.

Diablo was fuming with anger. She clenched the box in her hand, debating whether to break it or just threw it aside.

In the end, she decided to do what Tanuki asked. Not because she thought it was a good idea, but because she wanted to prove she was right.

"Alright! If you want to die so badly then I'll keep your precious box. But when this thing goes on a rampage and tears you to shreds, remember who warned you!"

"Okay, just quit standing around and come already!"

"Hmph! Don't order me around! I'm not a maid, but your goddamn guardian angel! Your survival is in my hands!"

As they walked out of the mine, darkness returned to cover the fallen bots. As the last of Exhibition's lifelines disappeared from their sensors' range, the drones quietly shut down.