Chapter 1: Starry Sky
The year is 3230, over a thousand years in the future.
In a time following a massive war that ravaged the Earth, the two surviving young girls, Chito and Yuuri, are traveling across the abandoned factory on the Kettenkrad. Yuuri, the one on the back, loudly complains about how dark the place is, prompting Chito, who is driving in the front, to tell her to be quiet. They have no idea how long has it been since they had seen the light of day before Yuuri pressed Chito into entering a hole in the wall that got them in the darkness. After a while, Yuuri falls asleep, so Chito decides to stop and do the same while bemoaning her hunger. Chito sees a dream of her past, in which she and Yuuri were sent on their way by their caretaker, Grandfather, to escape from their home that was entangled in a fierce battle. The gunshots echoing in the distance are interrupted with a loud bang. Waking up with tears in her eyes, Chito hears munching sounds under the sheet and realizes Yuuri has been slobbering all over her hand while they were sleeping. When she gets it off her mouth, she suddenly feels a light breeze on her wet hand. Chito figures out that they can find an exit through feeling the direction of the wind, so she violently wakes up Yuuri to test out the theory. Sure enough, the pair manages to emerge from the building and is greeted by the bright night sky covered in stars above the industrial ruins. To celebrate their escape, the girls heat up and drink their last can of soup. While observing the starry sky for a bit longer, due to how bright it is for them, they ponder if the rising sun would burn them to death. They are then amazed by the sight of shooting stars in the distance.
Tropes
- Adaptational Early Appearance: The Grandfather firstly makes an appearance in the anime's Episode 1 (Starry Sky/War) via a dream sequence, in contrast to the manga where he appeared much later in Chapters 38-40.
- Chekhov's Gag: Yuuri licking her finger was initially played for laughs at first, until it proved useful when the saliva's direction became a compass with the wind blowing on it in order for both of them to leave the factory.
