Made in Abyss Side Story Chapter 004

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'''How are you? Somewhere - Cravali''' is an extra chapter before the sixty-third chapter of the Made in Abyss manga series.

Synopsis
The chapter begins with an introduction to the Delver Tavern, the Plummet Pub and two new characters: Cravali and Tepasté. While Cravali is shown to eat many bowls of the same dish, Hamoroge Bowls, Tepasté asks him if he doesn't get tired of it to which Cravali states he has a soft spot for this dish.

Tepasté also asks him if he would like a quickie with her after having finished eating but Cravali declines stating it would be bad for his mojo, which leads to Tepasté also ordering a bowl and shortly afterwards noting the presence of Umbra Hands in the pub to Cravali.

As Cravali takes a glance, the presence of the Umbra Hands, the Subterranean Bandits, and Hablog are shown. Cravali wonders if "Shroud" are also among them, to which Tepasté points out Gyarike is sitting at the leftmost chair. Gyarike notices Cravali and Tepasté observing them which prompts Cravali to greet them with his personal greeting, "Dyaho-de", to disarm the situation.

Then, he notes being impressed that Tepasté was able to recognize them without their masks to which she replies that the way they walk and their voices are all distinct. Tepasté then shifts the conversation to the mess on their hands left behind in the 2nd layer. Cravali replies that there is no way it could have been hidden and from the looks of it several First Grade Artifacts were visible; plus fearing they most likely will be found out on their next delve.

Tepasté wonders in return if the "Shrine Maiden" is okay to which Cravali replies that they will try to get more information later. Cravali asks in turn about "the others", to which he is informed all they have to go on are the contents of a letter. Tepasté also asks if he thinks it might be a "Nest."

Hablog overhears this conversation and wonders if they are talking about the big joint delving project that is coming up. As the conversation progresses, Tepasté wonders if any of the White Whistles will take part in the big delve, Cravali tells her that no mention of Special Grade Artifacts were made and Hablog will be in charge of this delve as he has a knack for it due to being broad-minded and on these big delves even sworn enemies work together.

The conversation is interrupted by Yelme who appears to be drunk. He then tells Tepasté this tavern is no place for Non-Delvers, remarks she doesn't seem to be from around here, and notes that the abyssal twist in her hair can only come from diving deep in the abyss. As such, he asks if she's merely hiding her whistle and if she could just show it. Tepasté teasingly replies she shouldn't do that here, not that she minds doing it in public. As she leans in, she threatens Yelme to currently have four prior criminal offenses and teasingly states how it would be a shame if he were to get banned from delving or even demoted to a lower whistle rank again. She also highlights to be aware of his group affiliation as a Subterranean Bandit. Tepasté attempts to stab Yelme's hand with a metallic claw on her hand, which he avoids but is hit by a chin jab of her and stomped on the foot while avoiding the claw.

As he staggers over, Cravali catches him and places him on his lap. He tells Yelme a proper greeting is important as it is the basis for communication. The Hamoroge Bowl ordered by Tepasté arrives and Cravali feeds it to Yelme while elaborating on the dish and noting it works well against tipsiness from drinking too much on an empty stomach.

As he feeds it to Yelme, Yelme asks for Tepasté's name to which she energetically answers back, though she doesn't think they will meet again.

While making their way through Orth after they left the pub, Cravali and Tepasté note that the people they saw will be part of the big delving expedition. Cravali wishes to depart before things get complicated and thus they would leave via the abandoned factory route into the Abyss by sunrise for their illegal last dive.

He then notices that a few things are missing from his pockets. Tepasté mocks him for letting someone related to a white whistle to take a nap on his lap. As the scene shifts back into the pub, Yelme notes that Tepasté had a really keen eye and Cravali also didn't give him much room to work with which caused him to only be able to steal a few scraps. Zapo notes Cravali to be a genius solo delver and as he picks up a note Yelme managed to steal, neither Simred nor Yelme can make sense of the note reading "Faraway Nest" to which Zapo is surprised they never heard of that.

The scene shifts again to Hablog returning to Jiruo after greeting patreons of the pub. He then asks Jiruo if he ever heard of the "Shrine Maiden" or the "Nest" to which Jiruo replies he only knows this from children's games since "The abyssal shrine maiden" and the "faraway nest" are mentioned in Hariyomari's song. Upon hearing that, Hablog seems to have a kind of epiphany and asks what Jiruo can remember at all from this song.

The scene skips forward 14 days later in surface time, to the lowest point of the 2nd layer, the Inverted Forest, the destination of the joint delving project where the forward expedition party have arrived: Hablog as Delve General Leader of the project, Simred as Forward Expedition Party Leader and Gyarike as Lead Strategist.

They find themselves before a large, seemingly ripped away section in the forest which looks like something opened a hole into it. Simred asks rhetorically that his couldn't have been caused by natural causes, Hablog notes nobody ever having tried for this place before and even the scholars to be excited, and Gyarike states that whoever opened this hole must have known of Artifacts existing in that opened section.

As Hablog shines his headlamp into it, he remarks the many Forgetters, which would be classed as Second Grade Artifacts. He further notes that something of this scale will surely make it into Delver history and they will need a lot of man power with it at least taking several weeks to recover everything, along with the time it takes to dig routes for the Blue Whistles. Gyarike factors this as at least three months in surface time.

Hablog questions Simred about the situation about the lookouts and Simred tells him they have the Seeker Camp's Telescope set on this location. Hablog further notes he can see no Special Grade Relics as far as he can tell and Gyarike notes that whoever made this hole most likely took them if any had been there at all.

Gyarike notices fresh vestiges calling it a parting gift and directs the groups attention to something that isn't quite visible for the readers but causes shock to the group. This obscured object for the reader causes Hablog to instruct Simred to tell the the Seeker Camp to activate a high Glowstone signal for better visibility and they will need a determination of whether or not this area is prohibited, as well as informing Ozen they will need her help as soon as she returns.

Hablog then also remembers the dialogue he overheard from Cravali, astonished as to what he may have found, Hablog speculates he may be trying to bring the fairy tale of the Hariyomari's song to life.

The scene shifts again and shows a badly hurt Cravali in the 6th layer. He takes note of having no more feeling in his hand, his left leg being broken, not being able to feel his toes and his rib cage being busted. He is then contacted by Tepasté via a Communication Device and, upon asking if she is alright, she tells him she made it out without any serious injuries thanks to him plus if he will be able to make it to her location.

Cravali tells her he busted his leg and she tells him his rope is still with her. Cravali then tells her to go on ahead as their "pursuer" is most likely still coming after her.

Tepasté humorously remarks that in spite of Cravali praying so hard for their success, luck was not on their side. To this Cravali responds he doesn't really rely on luck and his prayer is just a mental ritual to get prepared as a little game of his. He further tells her that if one doesn't keep a light-hearted mood the mind gets stiff and brittle and for her to remember this important, as wel as saving that hard-headed brittle attitude for when things get tough.

Tepasté teary-eyed replies she will do just that. As their communicators get out of range, Cravali tells her they will meet up in the "nest". Cravali notices that his right arm and everything up from his right ankle stil works so he begins to climb down from his location as he sings the Hariyomari's song. Once he arrives in the location Riko's group would later find him in, he slowly passes away from the exhaustion, his wounds, and dehydration.

The scene shifts back to Tepasté who is running through the 6th layer while worrying about Cravali. But this is quickly interrupted by their pursuer, a member of Hail Hex, Nishagora, catching up with her and threatening to torture her for information as she suspects Tepasté to be one of the "shrine maiden's underlings".

A short exchange between the two follows in which Tepasté tries to attack Nishagora with a Kunai-like relic, which is blocked, and begins charging up a gun-like relic while informing Nishagora that she won't be able to talk if the torture includes breaking her jaw to which Nishagora simply replies after a short moment of thinking that she will just have her write it down then.

Character Appearances

 * Cravali
 * Hablog
 * Jiruo
 * Gyarike
 * Minor Characters
 * Nishagora
 * Simred
 * Tepasté
 * Yelme
 * Zapo

Bestiary Indexing

 * Unknown Creatures