Made in Abyss Side Story Chapter 004

'''How Are You? Somewhere 4 - Cravali' is the fourth side-story 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 to have 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. Shortly afterwards, Tepasté notes 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.

Cravali is 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. Cravali fears that they will most likely be found out on their next delve.

Tepasté wonders in turn if the Shrine Maiden is okay, to which Cravali replies that they will try to get more information later. Cravali asks about "the others", to which he is informed that all they have to go off of 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. He remarks that she doesn't seem to be from around here, and notes that the abyssal twists 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 show it to him.

Tepasté teasingly replies she shouldn't do that here, not that she minds doing it in public. As she leans in, she threatens Yelme, who currently has four prior criminal offenses. She teasingly states how it would be a shame if he were to get banned from delving, or even get 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 hers 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 drunkenness from drinking too much on an empty stomach.

As Cravali feeds 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. They agree to 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.

The scene shifts back to the pub, where 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. He picks up a note Yelme managed to steal. Neither Simred, nor Yelme can make sense of the note reading, "Faraway Nest." Zapo is surprised they have never heard of the place before.

The scene shifts again to Hablog returning to Jiruo after greeting patrons of the pub. He then asks Jiruo if he ever heard of the Shrine Maiden or the "Nest". Jiruo replies that he only knows of them 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 from the 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 is the Delve General Leader of the project. Simred is the Forward Expedition Party Leader, and Gyarike is the Lead Strategist.

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

As Hablog shines his headlamp into it, he remarks of the many Storage Vessels on display, 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. They guess that it will be at least several weeks of work to recover everything, along with the time it takes to dig routes for the Blue Whistles. Gyarike factors this to at least three months in surface time.

Hablog questions Simred about the situation of the lookouts. Simred tells him they have one of the Seeker Camp's big Telescopes set on their location. Hablog further notes that he can see no Special Grade Relics, as far as he can tell. Gyarike notes that whoever made this hole most likely took them, if there had been any 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 Seeker Camp to activate a high Glowstone signal for better visibility. They will also need to determine whether this area is prohibited, as well as inform Ozen that they will need her help as soon as she returns.

Hablog then remembers the dialogue he overheard from Cravali. Astonished as to what he may have found, Hablog examines a Funeral Ticket and speculates Cravali 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. She asks if he will be able to make it to her location. Cravali tells her that he busted his leg. Tepasté tells him that his rope is still with her. Cravali tells her to go on ahead, as their "pursuer" is most likely still coming after her.

Tepasté 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. He tells her to save that hard-headed, brittle attitude for when things get tough.

Teary-eyed, Tepasté 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 still works. 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. Tepasté 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. Tepasté notes that Nishagora's barbaric nature is an act.

Character Appearances

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

Bestiary Indexing

 * Unknown Creatures

Referbacks

 * Hablog instructs Peijin to bring Professor Irabam to them. Peijin was previously mentioned by Gyarike in Chapter 27 as one of the moon whistles who were given the task of planting the burning agents in place, who he says weren't able to return in time.