Paradox Live Stage Battle "WILL" - Part 1
Anne: Evening!
Yohei: Welcome.
[sfx: footsteps]
Yohei: You're here alone? That's a new one.
Anne: It's because I'm on my way back from my part-time.
Yohei: 'Part-time'? ... ah, that's right, you work at Iori's place, right? Well, what'll it be.
Anne: Lemme see... hmm... how about a cocktail? I'll let you decide what you want to make, Kabayashi-san.
Yohei: You got it.
[sfx: drink mixing]
Yohei: Here you go.
Anne: Ooh! It's such a pretty pink color!
[sfx: drinking]
Anne: It's so good! It's sweet and sour and refreshing and it's got a really nice aroma, too! What's this drink called?
Yohei: It's a Jack Rose. I thought it'd suit that whole glamour and elegance vibe you've got going on.
Anne: --?
Yohei: Hm? Why are you making that face?
Anne: Kanbayashi-san.
Yohei: Ah?
Anne: Could it be you're trying to hit on me~?
Yohei: Don't say stupid shit.
Anne: You totally were~.
[both laughing]
Yohei: Good job on your last stage battle. You guys are getting better.
Anne: Hehe, well, thank you very much. TCW were super cool in you guys' last round, too. You were able to keep your usual sound, while still innovating with a whole new more aggressive approach.
Yohei: Well, I don't want that brat to go on treating me like a stodgy old antique who can't keep up.
Anne: You've still got a chip on your shoulder about what Hajun said that one time, huh?
Yohei: 'Course I don't. On the contrary, it's thanks to him saying that that TCW was able to keep evolving. ... anyway. That AMPRULE kid, Yeon Dongha. Ain't he your Yeon's little brother?
Anne: Ah... mmhm.
Yohei: What the hell's with the bad blood between those brothers, then?
Anne: I don't know if I'd call it bad blood per se? It's more like he's got this really laser-focused grudge against Hajun for some reason. What can I say? It sounds like Hajun's got a really complicated home life, you know?
[sfx: Anne setting glass down]
Anne: Family's really complicated, isn't it?
Yohei: Sure is, huh.
*
Ryu: Yaaashahahaha~ Black-Spotted Demon King DX~! You're sleeping in Ryu-kun's bed tonight~!
[sfx: the meow of a cat being yoinked]
Ryu: That's fine by Shikki, right, Shikk-- i?
[sfx: smartphone tapping, Ryu getting in Shiki's space]
Ryu: Shikki's been staring at his smartphone for a while now. What's so interesting?
Shiki: Ah-- mm! I've been trying to find a video.
Ryu: A video?
Shiki: I heard that a video got uploaded of Rokuta-kun, from 1nm8, playing a street piano.
Ryu: Rokuta plays piano!?
Shiki: Yeah. He's really good at it! I heard him play when he visited the store a little while ago. It was a really nice song... [tapping] ... ah! I found it!
Ryu: Lemme see, lemme see! Ryu-kun wants to listen too!
Shiki: Give me just a second, I'll play it now. [tapping] Eheh...
[sfx: recording of the song from the 1nm8 SHOWDOWN drama being played by Kei and Rokuta]
Shiki: Ah... it really is a really pretty song... it feels like really pure water cleansing my heart.
Ryu: ...
Shiki: It has this sense of... clarity? 1nm8's music gives me kind of the same feeling...
Ryu: ...
Shiki: ... huh?
[sfx: tap, music pausing]
Shiki: Ryu-kun?
Ryu: ...
Shiki: ... Ryu-kun?
Ryu: ......
Shiki: Ryu-kun!
Ryu: -- ! Eh?
Shiki: Are you okay? You look like you're not feeling well...
Ryu: ... eh? ... ah... ... uh-huh! Ah, uh, no, it's a good song!
[sfx: mew]
Ryu: See? Black-Spotted Demon King agrees!
[sfx: meoooow]
Ryu: As expected of a space cat! He says he can sense the feeling of the cosmos in it!
Shiki: ... space cat...?
Ryu: Ahahaha! Haven't you heard? The epic tale of the Great Space Warrior Ryu-Kun rescuing Black-Spotted Demon King from the villainous space admiral's home base?
Shiki: Didn't we pick Spot up off the street?
Ryu: You wanna hear it? Wanna hear, wanna hear!?
Shiki: I suppose it doesn't matter if I want to hear it or not, does it...?
*
Allen: Hey, Hajun. Are you done with your report for Saimon-sensei?
Hajun: Indeed. I turned it in two days ago.
Allen: That's so early--!
Hajun: You should turn in assignments well before the actual due date. That's just common sense.
Anne: I turned mine in yesterday, too. I'm really putting the effort in for Saimon-sensei's class, you know?
Allen: So I'm the only one who has to turn it in during class?
[sfx: paper rustling as Allen pulls out a hard copy of his paper]
Anne: What on earth? If you're done with it, why don't you just email it to him?
Hajun: You went to all the effort of printing out a hard copy... what decade are you living in, exactly?
Allen: It just feels weird, like I'm doing something wrong, if I'm not turning in a paper copy. [flipping pages] There's definitely a tactile element to it, you know? It's important to be able to feel the texture of it. You can really feel how much you've written and how much effort you've put in, right?
Anne: Now that you mention it, you always start out writing on paper when you start working on songs, don't you, Allen? And if you don't have paper on hand, thne...
Hajun: I caught him writing on a tablecloth the other day, you know. With permanent marker, no less.
Allen: Hgck--!
Anne: I mean, better there than on the wall again, right?
Allen: Sorry... ... huh? Is Sensei running late today?
Hajun: We haven't received any messages about class being cancelled...
Anne: That's super weird. He's usually totally punctual.
[sfx: footsteps]
Announcement: [over speaker] To the students in the linguistics class: due to extenuating circumstances, Saimon-sensei has had to cancel class on short notice. He asks that students who need to turn in their reports due today submit via email.
[sfx: footsteps]
Allen: Eh!?
Hajun: And after you went to all the effort of printing it out, Allen.
Allen: [sigh]
Anne: I wonder what's up with Sensei, though...?
Allen: Maybe he caught a cold?
Hajun: Our stage battle is coming up soon, too... that's not like him.
Anne: Maybe Kanbayashi-san will know what's up. I'll ask him, he's probably already at the bar right about now...
[sfx: phone tapping, ringing]
Anne: Kanbayashi-san? So, hey, Saimon-sensei cancelled class today, and we were wondering... ... huh? ... right. ... ... okay. We'll come over to the bar ASAP.
[sfx: Anne hanging up]
Allen: What's up?
Hajun: Is something the matter?
Anne: Ryu... ran away from home.
Allen and Hajun: Ran away!?
*
Allen: So you still haven't found Compla Daima-- I mean, Ryu?
Yohei: Yeah. We checked everywhere we thought he might be, but no dice. Saimon and Shiki are still out lookin' for him...
Hajun: It certainly seems like you're making a big deal out of him being out of the house without supervision. He's not a child, you know.
Yohei: We wouldn't be worried if he were just goin' out. He goes out on his own in the middle of the night all the time, but he's always back by the next afternoon with some kind of excuse about how he got lost following a stray cat or somethin'.
Anne: So what's making you worry this time...?
Yohei: Because of this.
[sfx: Yohei pulls out a letter]
Yohei: He left this letter behind and vanished.
[sfx: rustling]
Allen: [reading] "Ryu-kun remembers now. The people who have been kind to him will only end up getting hurt because of him. If he stays with you any longer, he'll only cause even more suffering. He's nothing but trouble. And so, Ryu-kun will disappear."
BAE: ...
Yohei: You know what Ryu's like, yeah? His head's full of fuckin' butterflies, so where's all this "I'm nothing but trouble" crap coming from all of a sudden?
Hajun: It certainly doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd put in writing.
Anne: Hajun.
Allen: But it does make you wonder...
[sfx: door opening, bell ringing]
Saimon: ... oh, you're all here.
Shiki: Why is everyone from BAE here...?
Yohei: I was talkin' to them about what's happened.
Allen: Sensei, about Ryu...
Anne: Is there anything we can do to help? [aside] Hey, Hajun, you too, say something.
Hajun: ... ... I would hate for anything to interfere with our upcoming stage battle. Speaking as your opponents, we shouldn't let this go unresolved.
Hajun: ... so, do you have any other leads?
Saimon: That's everything, as far as we're aware.
Yohei: Honestly... we've got no clue where that dumbass could have wandered off to. Trying to follow his thought processes is like trying to understand an alien.
Hajun: ... hm. There's a lot to unpack in this letter, but I believe that this "remembering" might be the key that unlocks it. Did this come out of nowhere? Or did something happen that might have triggered this?
Yohei: Tch... haven't the faintest. He wasn't acting any weirder than usual. He ate dinner like normal, went upstairs like normal...
Shiki: --! Oh, no...
Saimon: Shiki?
Shiki: ... I... I may have done something terrible...
[sfx: Shiki hyperventilating]
Saimon: Calm down, Shiki. It's alright. Please tell us what happened.
Shiki: I...
[sfx: phone tapping, Rokuta's piano song playing]
Anne: Isn't that...
Allen: That Rokuta guy from 1nm8?
Shiki: Last night... I showed this video to Ryu-kun...
[sfx: phone tapping, video pausing]
Shiki: I... acted without thinking... but Rokuta had said that he'd played this song when he was at the Alter Trigger facility...
Hajun: Alter Trigger? Explain at once.
Allen: ... so, then, Ryu and those two guys from 1nm8 were together at that research facility...?
Yohei: The way they tell it, yeah. We didn't know anything about it before they told us.
Saimon: At the time, it didn't seem like Ryu remembered anything about it... which is why we haven't had the chance to ask Ryu about it.
Shiki: And that night, after talking to them, Ryu-kun had an awful nightmare... I can't say for sure, but I think that the dream he had was about his time at that facility. ... if only I'd been able to actually help him at the time... what am I supposed to do? This is all my fault...
Hajun: There's no point in blaming yourself now. But with this information, I think I may have an idea.
[sfx: typing]
Hajun: Between meeting 1nm8, and Rokuta telling you that the music you played last night had been played at the Alter Trigger facility... we may be able to assume that Ryu remembered something about that.
Allen: So who was he talking about when he said "the people who have been kind to him"?
Hajun: Who can say? There's no telling for sure, but perhaps it was somebody at the facility.
Anne: To be clear, we are talking about "someone" at the facility that gathered up children without families and performed inhumane experiments on them, right? Why would he say anyone there treated him kindly?
[sfx: typing]
Hajun: Who can say? It was probably just the proximity, and children are quick to open their hearts to other people... it may well have been someone's job to get close and make the children trust them. ... got it.
Allen: What've you got?
Hajun: A list of locations at which the Alter Trigger company performed their experiments in secret. Of course, this is confidential information never released to the pubic...
Allen: Hah? Then, Hajun, how did you...?
Hajun: The Yoen family has been providing financial backing to Alter Trigger under the table. I obtained a great amount of this information some time ago thanks to that connection. Who ever thought it would come in handy for this?
Anne: I think we'll all be happier if we don't ask what you were intending to use that information for, huh?
Hajun: Using this location as a starting point, and assuming how far he would have been able to get in one day... we can narrow down his location to two locations.
Shiki: Does this mean... Ryu-kun might be in one of these places?
Hajun: Possibly.
Saimon: Understood. Let's begin the search. Given that there are two facilities... we should split up.
Yohei: Got it. I can go check this first place on my motorcycle. Saimon, you take Shiki and go by car to the second place.
Anne: We'll stay here. We'll hold down the fort and be your intel.
Allen: I can go print out the map for y--
Hajun: There's no need, Allen. I'll simply send the location to their devices. Having the information digitally is far superior to analog.
Allen: Hrmm...
*
[sfx: typing]
[sfx: mrowww]
Anne: There, there... you must be worried too, huh? Looks like it's gonna rain too...
Allen: I wonder if they've have arrived at the locations yet...
Hajun: I'm sure they'll let us know when they have.
Allen: [sigh] I just wanna know. Hm...
[sfx: Allen pacing]
Hajun: Please knock that off.
Allen: Huh?
Hajun: You've been loitering around for a while now. It's very distracting.
Allen: Aren't you worried at all, Hajun?
Hajun: If I wasn't concerned to some extent, do you think I would bother continuing this investigation?
[sfx: phone buzzing]
Allen: It's them!
Anne: [answering phone] Sensei? What's the news? Have you found him? ... yes, understood. Please make it back safely.
[sfx: Anne hanging up]
Anne: He said they looked everywhere in the facility, but Ryu wasn't there.
Allen: A total miss... that sucks.
[sfx: phone buzzing]
Allen: What?! Again!?
Anne: [answering phone] Kanbayashi-san? We just heard from Saimon-sensei, and... ... you too? Right. Yeah.
Hajun: Anne, you're speaking with Kanbayashi-san, right? Keep him on the line. Put him on speaker.
Anne: Uh... okay.
[sfx: phone tapping]
Hajun: I may have just found another possible location. I've found some deeper information that wasn't in the document I pulled up earlier.
Allen: When on earth did you get all this information?
Hajun: While you were loitering, I put some money to work and got some of my contacts to look into it. I decline to provide any further comment. ... did you catch all of that, Kanbayashi-san?
Yohei: [over speakerphone] Yeah, got it.
Hajun: I've got some coordinates in hand. They're probably fairly close to where you are.
Yohei: [over speakerphone] Roger that. I'll head over there and give it a shot.
Hajun: I'm getting the coordinates on a map now.
Allen: Ah! There's a map now!
Anne: ... but it doesn't look like there's actually a building or anything on the map at those coordinates. Are you sure this is the right place?
Hajun: Indeed. That makes me believe all the more that this is the correct place, if it's a place that isn't even on a map.
Allen: ... I guess...
Hajun: What are you doing just standing around, Allen? Go ahead and send that information on to Kanbayashi-san.
Yohei: [over speakerphone] Yeah, please do.
Hajun: Even if there's nothing on the map, we may find something by looking at a satellite photo.
[sfx: typing]
Hajun: Now, let's pull up an ima--
[sfx: error noise]
Hajun: Huh?
Anne: Huh? What's up with that?
Yohei: [over speakerphone] What's up? Something happen?
Anne: All of a sudden the screen flipped out! It's just filled up with garbled nonsense!
Hajun: My apologies. It seems that at the exact moment that I tried to pull up a satellite image of the location, a very mysterious error occurred.
Yohei: [over speakerphone] What about that map? You still gonna be able to get me that?
Hajun: I'm working on it, but it seems that the blocking in place is quite thorough.
Anne: What are we supposed to do? We barely got to take a good look at the map...
Hajun: With what little time we had...
[sfx: printer]
Allen: Without a moment to spare!
Anne: What on earth is that...?
Allen: While we were looking at the map, I went ahead and printed it out. See? I've got enough for everyone.
Anne and Hajun: ...!
Allen: Heheh. See? It's like I said. Analog is important, too.
Hajun: ... [laugh] Well, credit where it's due, if only this once.
Anne: <Good job, Allen!> [taking paper] Well, I'll go ahead and hand-deliver this map to Kanbayashi-san.
Allen: Huh?
Anne: I'm the fastest driver out of all of us, after all, so it should be me, right?
Allen: --! Anne--!
[sfx: Anne already leaving]
Anne: Hajun, go ahead and figure out a point that Kanbayashi-san and I can meet up! Let us know when you figure it out.
Yohei: [over speakerphone] Hey--!
Anne: Right! Let's go kick some ass!
[sfx: door opening, bell ringing, door closing]
Allen: ... and there they go.
Hajun: Going to deliver a map in person... what decade are we living in?