Paradox Live Stage Battle "DESIRE" - Part 2
Allen: I'm back.Anne: How'd it go? Did you find your metal?
Allen: I couldn't find it anywhere.
Anne: [sigh] Come on...
Allen: [sigh] Don't tell me KANATA actually took it...
Anne: What have I been telling you this whole time? Why are you so trusting?
Allen: You saw their performance the other day, didn't you!? The kind of person who could make songs like that would never steal!
Anne: You really think you understood KANATA so well you can say something like that?
Allen: ... no, I don't...
Anne: Come the fuck on! Ah, come on! We're going!
Allen: Going? Where?
Anne: To wherever cozmez live!
Allen: But we don't know their address--
Anne: I've figured out more or less where they are. Don't understimate the power of my connections.
Allen: Ah... you're really something, Anne.
Anne: Save the gratitude for later! Get ready! Do you think I'm doing this for your sake!?
Allen: R-right! ... where's Hajun?
Anne: He went out. This has got nothing to do with me, he said.
Allen: That sounds like something he'd do...
Anne: It does. He's heartless. If anything ever happens to Hajun, I'm not lifting a finger to help him.
Allen: Do you really think he'd ever ask for anyone's help?
Anne: ... heh. You've got a point.
Allen: Right?
*
[sfx: birds cawing]
Anne: What's with this awful smell...? This place is even more of a dump than I was expecting...
Allen: I mean... it is a slum, after all.
Anne: Well. Complaining won't solve anything. We still have to find where they are.
Man 1: Goddamn, so damn loud...
Anne: --!
Man 2: The hell's this? This ain't no place to play tourist. I'd get out if I were you, before y'get hurt.
Allen: We're just trying to find someone. We don't mean to be a bother to you guys.
Man 1: You already woke us up. You're already being a bother.
Man 2: Yeah. Give us some money to make the problem go away. All the cash you got on you should do fine-- and all the pretty lady's got, too.
Anne: And if we said "no"... what, exactly, are you gonna do about it?
Man 1: We'd just take it, obviously.
Allen: This isn't good...
Anne: Ugh! It's all because you stupidly got your stupid metal stolen that we're in this stupid situation! What are you gonna do now, stupid!?
Allen: Stop staying stupid! How long are you gonna stay mad about this!?
Anne: No shit I'm still mad, stupid!
Allen: There you go again! Phantoms are just part of the staging at the end of the day, right? We'll be fine as long as we put everything we've got into the main dish-- our music!
Anne: And then what? Do you think it'd be alright to serve fancy French food on paper plates as long as it tastes good?!
Allen: ...I... I mean, yeah! The important thing is that the food itself tastes good!
Anne: Stop fucking around! If there's no aesthetic, then we're not going to be able to highlight what's good about the main dish!
Allen: No way! The main dish itself is what matters!
Anne: Staging!
Allen: Main dish!
Anne: Staging!
Allen: Main dish!
Man 1: Uh... excuse me...
Anne and Allen: WHAT!?
Man 2: ... nevermind... it's nothing...
Anne: Hey! Hold up, you guys!
Man 1 and Man 2: Y-yes!
Anne: What do you guys think?
Man 1 and Man 2: [mumbling noncommittally]
Allen: Which is more important!?
Man 1: ... ah, weren't you guys supposed to be looking for somebody? How's that working out for you?
Man 2: Yeah, yeah. Who're you looking for?
Anne: ... now that you mention it, yeah, that was what we came here for. What? Are you guys going to help us?
Man 1: Yeah. Whatever'll make you leave.
Allen: Ah... got it. We're looking for these twins-- the ones in this picture.
*
Kanata: Hey. ... ... Nayuta.
Nayuta: Hmm?
Kanata: Are you still mad?
Nayuta: No. I'm not angry.
Allen: [distant] It's around here, right?
Anne: [distant] Why would I know? Just keep going.
Allen: [distant] But what if we're in the wrong place?
Anne: [distant] Agh, you're a pain in the ass!
Nayuta: Huh? What's that? Did something happen?
Kanata: Shh! ... it's BAE...! How did they find us...?
Nayuta: Hah?! What are we gonna do?
Anne: [through door] We know you're in there! Give us back the metal, and fast!
Allen: [through door] Hey! I already told you, we don't know for sure if they actually stole it!
Anne: [through door] Cram it! Allen, why aren't you doing more? It's your metal, isn't it?
[sfx: Anne and Allen continue to argue in circles]
Nayuta: Hey, Kanata. Shouldn't you just give it back?
Kanata: No way in hell I'm going to just hand it back over because they asked!
Nayuta: For real, Kanata... [sigh]
Kanata: ... look. We can talk about it after we lose them.
Nayuta: Fine. Got it.
Anne: Hey! Are you gonna answer us!? Come on! Do you WANT us to beat your door down!?
Allen: Wait--! Ah, please, come out!
[sfx: door opening]
Kanata: You guys are still here? Beat it.
Nayuta: If you want it back so badly, then here, have it.
[sfx: Nayuta throwing something, Anne catching it]
Anne: The hell is thi-- this is just an empty can!
Kanata: A phantometal would go to waste in you guys' hands.
Nayuta: Just take that home with you and keep on playing house.
Kanata and Nayuta: Later!
[sfx: door slamming]
Anne: These fucking guys...!
*
[sfx: running, water dripping, heavy breathing]
Kanata: Hah... if we cut through this alley, they won't be able to catch up with us.
Nayuta: Yeah... even most of the people who live around here don't know this shortcut.
[sfx: footsteps, door creaking open]
Hajun: My my, what's this? What a surprise. They sure have big rats in this slum, don't they?
Kanata: T-the hell are you!?
Hajun: Who am I, indeed~? Well, whoever I am, I'm no friend of yours, rest assured.
Nayuta: You... aren't you 48...?
Kanata: Dammit...! What are you doing here?
Hajun: Allen and Anne barged into your house. It's no surprise you'd try to throw them off by taking back alleys. With that in mind, then the only places you would go are either here... or the other alleyway. There's a very tall wall at the end of the other alley, so if you're looking to lose someone who's following you, then... it's a simple process of elimination.
Kanata: So this is an ambush... you dirty bastard!
Hajun: My, my, would you like to look in a mirror and say that again? No matter how I look at it, you're the dirty ones here, in multiple senses of the word.
Kanata: Bastard!
Hajun: I thought that my fellow members would be a bit sharper than to be thrown off by that, too... ah! Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
[sfx: Anne and Allen running, approaching]
Hajun: You guys are late. Did you have fun playing tag?
Anne: Hajun...! Why are you here...?
Allen: You came to help us...!
Hajun: Help? Please save the nonsense for when you talk in your sleep. I'm here for the sake of our stage battle. Please don't misunderstand me.
Anne: Hah... for real, you're never honest...
Hajun: Well, then. The air here is awful. I'm not staying. Let's wrap up our business here.
Kanata: ... what?
Hajun: Oh? Are you not going to understand unless it's spelled out for you?
Kanata: You don't have any proof that I stole his metal.
Hajun: ... ahaha!
Kanata: What's so funny?
Hajun: I don't need any hard proof. Why would you run away if you weren't guilty?
Kanata: That's--
Hajun: Please stop making excuses. You speak too much without thinking; you give away your weak points far too quickly. Return it now, and I will not press the matter any further. I've already been far kinder than I should be.
Allen: Wait, did you really...
Nayuta: Kanata...
Kanata: Go ahead and say it then. What's wrong with it?
Hajun: Oh?
Kanata: Amateurs like you have no right to stand on the stage at the Paradox Live to start with.
Nayuta: What are people who've lived their lives totally fulfilled and never knowing hardship doing with hip hop, anyway? Don't make me laugh. How are you going to move anyone with a past like that?
Hajun: Ah, and of course, stealing phantometals from fakes like us is such an admirable way to fight!
Kanata: I have something I need to protect. Something I can't afford not to get. I don't have time to waste on you--
Hajun: So in short, you have absolutely no confidence. You can't imagine you'd win against us fair and square, so you stole from us. What a pitiful way to live. Is that how you've acheived everything else you've done in life, too? Haha. Here I was, thinking you were at least mediocre, but it turns out you're worse than rats.
Kanata: Fuck off! You have no idea what you're talking about!
Hajun: Oh? Am I wrong?
Nayuta: Kanata's... Kanata's songs are the best! Your shallow play-pretend songs are nothing in comparison! We took that metal just to teach red-hair a lesson about the real world. We're just paying back what we've been given by people like you all our lives.
Hajun: Oh, now you're just making excuses, aren't you? KANATA stole the metal because he wanted insurance. And why would he need insurance? Obviously, because he has no faith in you. Am I wrong?
Kanata: That's not--!
Hajun: How very sad. KANATA doesn't have a teammate he can put his faith in. And you-- even your only sibling doesn't believe in you.
Nayuta: -- that's...
Kanata: The fuck you get off lecturing us about siblings!? You have no fucking idea the feeling we've put into the microphones! And you're going to tell us we don't believe in each other?! Don't fuck with me!!
Anne: How are we supposed to know anything about you guys!?
Kanata: We don't even know who our father was! Shitty adults used us to make money by screwing us over!
Hajun: Even if that's true, it's not an excuse for stealing Allen's metal.
Kanata: We have to win!! We've been treated like trash all our lives, and the only thing that finally made anyone recognize us was hip hop...! I don't give a shit about teams or winning titles! I'm going to win the Paradox Live! I'm going to make everyone who's ever looked down on us eat their words! We're going to rise up!
Allen: If that's the case! Then we're the same way!
Kanata: There's no fucking way you're the same! Stop spouting bullshit!
Allen: It might be true that the way we were brought up was different! But... but we were also betrayed, and thrown away, and finally arrived at hip hop!
Kanata: There's a world of difference between us, red-hair!!
Allen: No there isn't!! Hip hop is equal! Who's writing the song doesn't have to matter! You put your pain, the things you don't want to face, into your lyrics, and turn those into your weapon! You force it out to overcome the person you used to be! There's no difference at all!
Kanata: ...!
Allen: That's how I... that's how we've been expressing ourselves all this time, right? The three of us-- and you guys, too!
Anne: Allen...
Nayuta: ... K-Kanata...
Kanata: ...
Allen: I... even without my metal, I intend to fight back with my music. But listening to the exchange earlier... I want to do it with our phantoms, too. As equal hip hop heads, I want to take cozmez head-on. I want you guys to hit us with your wack sound, all of your feelings, at full force. We want to do that to you guys in return!
Kanata: ... t-that's exactly why I'm calling you a fucking amateur! Do all rich people have fucking butterflies for brains or something?
Allen: KANATA... this is my earnest request to you. Please let me fight you as we both go all-out. With the hip hop we each think is best. Specifically because all either of us can do is take hold of our microphones... that's why. Please.
Kanata: ...
Nayuta: [sigh] Hey. Can we go home?
Hajun: What will you do?
Kanata: ... goddammit...!
[sfx: Kanata throws Allen's phantometal back to him]
Allen: KANATA...!
Hajun: My, my.
Kanata: Bring it on. I'll fight you, SUZAKU. Get ready, because I'm going to beat your annoying-ass face in on stage.
Nayuta: Well, they wouldn't stand a chance of winning without that metal, anyway.
Anne: Where do a couple of thieves get off looking down on us like this!?
Kanata: What? You got a problem with us?
Anne: No shit I do!
Hajun: Anne.
Anne: What!?
Hajun: Our business here is finished. Let's go home. I do not intend to make a habit of hanging out in dumpsters. Oh, my apologies! This is where you live, isn't it? Pardon me~
Nayuta: Hah... if you're gonna go, then go. When we see guys like you, it's really hard not to send you packing ourselves.
Hajun: Oh, I'm so~ scared. Well. Shall we go?
Kanata: We're going home, too. Nayuta.
Nayuta: [sigh] Yeah.
[sfx: footsteps]
Allen: KANATA!
Kanata: ...?
Allen: I'm looking forward to facing you on stage!
Kanata: Fuck off and die.
Allen: Ahahah... later!
Anne: Hey! We're gonna leave you behind again!
Allen: Ah, sorry, sorry!
Anne: Ah... for real... I was worried for a minute there. To think that Allen's hip hop maniac tendencies might had have an impact on KANATA...
Hajun: I've had quite enough of his idiocy for the time being, though.
Anne: For real. Sometimes it feels like he'd be willing to die for hip hop.
Allen: I would-- but not until after I take the top!
Anne: Haha. ... ah, Allen. I hope your idiocy hasn't made you forget, but you still owe me all of your gratitude to be paid in full, okay?
Hajun: I agree. At the very least, I think Allen should be on house cleaning duty for the next three months.
Allen: H-hey, Hajun! Just earlier, you said you came for the sake of the stage battle!
Hajun: Regardless of my intentions, the end result is still that I bailed you out. The pysical exhaustion, the absolute mental strain of having to poke around in a slum, and--
Allen: Fine, I got it! I'll do it, alright?
Anne: You sure will do it. Anyway! I'm so relieved! We got the metal back!
Hajun: We did indeed.
Anne: And we're going to go all-out to beat those guys, right? We'll beat them black and blue with our song.
Allen: Yeah. We'll fight with our full strength!
*
[sfx: door closing]
Kanata: That fucking SUZAKU... saying he was looking forward to it? The fuck he get off, looking down on me like that...
Nayuta: Kanata.
Kanata: What is it.
Nayuta: You look like you're in a better mood.
Kanata: Wh-- what are you talking about? I'm so annoyed I can hardly stand it.
Nayuta: Hm. If you say so. ... [giggle]
Kanata: Huh? Nayuta, what are you laughing at?
Nayuta: It's better this way. It's more like us.
Kanata: Shuddup... [sigh]
Nayuta: You didn't have to do anything like that... it's us, after all.
Kanata: ... yeah.
Nayuta: Mm. With our lyrics, our track, and our staging... we're going to win against them.
Kanata: Nayuta.
Nayuta: Hmm?
Kanata: Thanks.
Nayuta: Mm.
Kanata: BAE. Wait for us.
Nayuta: On that stage...
Kanata and Nayuta: We're gonna show them hell.