Wonder Game - blue bird, red queen 12

Location: Wonder Game Stage

Ibara: “Ahahahaha ☆ How delightful and thrilling, this thunderous applause!¹ Are you all having fun?”

“Well, too bad! The hour of dreaming ends now!”

Ibara: “I’m sure you’re all sick and tired of this already, but alas, it’s the time for the heel² to appear!”

“Cease the whispering! Straighten your backs! Stand at attention, shut your mouths and listen, salute~! Now then, everyone, it’s the “Red Queen”'s grand entrance!”

“Tonight, I will lay ruin to this stage once again with the march of my bright-red heels! Ahahahahaha...☆”

Natsume: (...WhooPS, it’s already time for the headliner to appeAR. Speaking of whiCH, Mr. Saegusa disappeared for a momeNT, but that's part of the program so it wasn’t unexpectED.)

(ActualLY, looking back at “Wonder GaME”, I didn’t get to participate in most of IT...)

(I keep getting caught off guaRD, but the others are probably already used to these thinGS.)

(Eden appointed themselves as the role of the villain of the stoRY, the “Red QueEN”, this tiME.)

(It’s a role whose primary function is to end the story that’s been repeated every day for the past two weeKS.)

(At the lives that marked the conclusion of each dAY, “Alice” always lost against the “Red QueEN”.)

(It’s a pre-established harmony in a wAY, but Eden gained those victories on their own meriTS, even without any match-fixiNG.)

(The defeated “Alices” pile up in a miserable heap of corpsES, and instead of waking up from her dream like Alice does in the original stoRY…)

(In other worDS, instead of growing up into adults like she inevitably would if she lived in realiTY, “Alice” repeats the same story in her dreams over and ovER.)

(WeLL, if “Alice” had won one of the matches in these two weeKS, it would’ve meant that “Wonder Game” would be over and left unfinishED, which would be a problEM...)

(So whatevER, I guess it’s fine like thIS.)

(I just wonder why Eden went out of their way to play the villain roLE… The role that everyone hates the moST?)

(Watching the protagonist lose over and over again must be stress-inducing for the vieweRS, but the catharsis they’ll feel once it is resolved will be that much more intenSE.)

(Or to put it another wAY; while this is only the natural progession of the stoRY, those guys will ultimately meet certain defeAT.)

(Are they sacrificing themselves in order to lead this project to succeSS…?)

(In that caSE, that’d be a commendably professional determination they’ve got theRE, but do they really have the admirable disposition necessary for thAT?)

(It’s the only logical conclusiON, but I can’t help feeling strangely uneasy about IT…)

(While it reminds me of the path my Nii-sans of the “Five Oddballs” once choSE, I just can’t picture Mr. Saegusa in particular to be the owner of such a noble soUL.)

(HowevER. The other dAY, the student council president asked “that” of ME. Just when I wondered what business the high and mighty student council president-sama would have with me that would make him walk all the way to me on his own two feET…)

(What he did was tell me about Senpai’s career plans mixed with idle taLK, and then he said thIS: “For my sake, and for the sake of the future of the idol industry, there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”)

(“During the last “Wonder Game” live, I’d like you to throw the match against Eden.”)

(In other worDS, he was suggesting a match-fixiNG. Didn’t he learn his lesson regarding those kinds of methods the hard way with Trickstar?)

(Of courSE, I have no intention of doing as I was toLD. If anythiNG, it made me think “Don’t mess with ME!”, and inspired me to want to win against Eden at any coST.)

(What the hell do you mean, “For my sake”? There’s not a single thing I want to bestow upon yOU, who crushed the “Five Oddballs” to death underfoOT! In your dreaMS, you corrupt politiciAN!)

(....Thinking thIS, I forgot myself in my anger and threw myself into my woRK, forgoing even sleep to increase our chances of winniNG.)

(But the student council president isn’t stupID. He must’ve known that I’d react like thAT. Which meaNS, he actually meant the opposite of what he saID, like a mirrOR… That’s the only logical conclusiON.)

(He actually wished for us to win against Eden.)

(And the one behind it aLL...  If I had to guess from his manner of speakiNG, he was probably asked to do this by Mr. Saegusa of Eden.)

(Or rather than being askED, this was probably the result of some negotiations between thEM…)

(But even if I deduce it this fAR, our movements won’t chanGE. I can’t do the opposite of what he really wants me to do just because I hate the gUY.)

(Because in tuRN, that would mean throwing the match against EdEN. WhiCH, at least superficialLY, would make it look like I’m doing what the student council president asked me to DO.)

(And thEN, he would be smiling ear to ear when he tells me “Thanks for obeying my orders. I knew I could count on you ♪”)

(Just imagining it makes me wanna puKE! So I have no choice but to wIN… Thinking thAT, I endured the self-awareness that I was moving just like the student council president wanted me TO, and worked myself half to deaTH.)

(But what I still don’t get IS, what does Eden have to gain from all of thIS?)

(You can’t control the student council president that easiLY, which means that Mr. Saegusa must have paid a hefty compensation in order to strike this deAL.)

(But what was the point of IT? It just looks like they made us go all-out and as strong as we can BE, only to set the stage for their own defeAT...?)

(It would mean that WE, who are “Alice” and therefore the protagonisTS, defeat the villaIN, the “Red QueEN”... Following this simpLE, easy plot would end the story beautifulLY.)

(Did they try to motivate us through reverse psychology because they deemed Switch too weak to win against EdEN, who are basically the strongeST?)

(Leveling the playing field in order to avoid making the results seem suspicious to the audienCE, mayBE?)

(All in order to put a beautiful end to “Wonder Game” and make the project a success that wAY?)

(Maybe that was a part of IT, but I feel like there’s more to their motives than thIS…)

Ibara: -- It seems like you can’t dispel your misgivings, Mr. Sakasaki.

Natsume: ….! Isn’t talking on stage a breach of manners for you peopLE, -- Mr. SaeguSA?

Ibara: Fufu. Calling each other “Mr.” makes it sound like we’re complete strangers, despite being the same age. Why don’t we call each other with “-kun” instead?

Natsume: I don’t sweat details like thAT, but you won’t find me going red in the face and refusiNG. I don’t miND, Ibara-kUN ♪

Ibara: I am deeply grateful! This means that we are friends now, Natsume-kun ♪

In any case. In truth, I am about to be very busy, in fact my schedule from here-on out is filled to the brim...

But I would regret it if I were to take my leave without even saying “sorry” to you, when I had already promised that I’d apologise.

Before I leave, I wanted to convey my apologies, as well as my feelings of gratitude, for allowing me to enjoy this game of chess with you! The game will be settled in just a short moment, so would you join me after that for a talk?

Natsume: ...SuRE, I don’t miND. I also have a plethora of things I’d like to say to yOU, as well as questions I want to ask yOU.

Ibara: Splendid! Well then, let us start the final duel ♪

My, what a thrilling game this has been so far! I would have expected nothing less from Yumenosaki, where people spend all their time fighting. You are all truly strong!

I even used my strongest piece, His Eminence Eichi, but you were able to masterfully defy even that!

Natsume: Which constitutes a rule violatiON. That one’s neither a “King” nor a “QueEN”, it’s apparently an “EmperOR”... Such a shameless titLE. WeLL, whatevER.

In the eND, what kind of drawiNG, or dreAM, did you creaTE?

Ibara: My my, you still don’t get it? Shouldn’t it be obvious? It’s hard to believe those are the words of a fortune teller who supposedly sees the world from a birds'-eye view, and has complete control over it!

Natsume: I may be a fortune tellER, but I am in no way a God (an AuthOR).³ The Alice from within his story can never understand the feelings of Lewis CarroLL.

Ibara: How humble of you! This may be true for the Alice within the story… But the Alice Pleasance Liddell who existed in reality should have been able to solve this riddle⁴ to some extent, don’t you think?

Hey, Alice. Weren’t “we”⁵ seeing the same dream (reality)?

Natsume: ………...

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¹ The line he uses here is apparently a reference to a well-known and memed Japanese quote from Kaibaman in Yu-Gi-Oh GX that has been changed a little. While researching this I found many JP fans who said that Ibara reminds them of Kaibaman because of his usual catchphrase (Assault! Invade! Conquer!) as well, so this reference is probably intended.

² Instead of the word “villain” he uses the word “heel” here (bad guy/villain role, for example in pro-wrestling), to make a wordplay with the heels he’s wearing two lines later. Apparently he is a pro-wrestling fan, according to Jun in the !! main story.

³ This is how it was written in the original script, with the kanji saying “God” but the hiragana behind it in brackets informing us that the word Natsume said out loud was “Author”. Ibara does the same thing a few lines later. You could say that one word is what he says, the other is what he means.

⁴ I am sorry to report that this is wordplay between “Liddell” and “Riddle”.

⁵ He uses “ore” here.