Wonder Game - blue bird, red queen 14

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Wonder Game Stage

Ibara: Fufu. In retrospect it’s kind of a funny story... But originally, I had a more violent strategy in mind than this, you see.

By making use of this “Wonder Game”, I was going to be more bold in seizing the initiative regarding that new agency.

Natsume: ...In other worDS?

Ibara: Natsume-kun. I was going to use you for my convenience, in every sense of the word.

I asked His Excellence and His Highness about the tragedy you experienced as a member of the “Five Oddballs”, and I've gotten a good grasp of what happened.

Naturally, you must harbor a grudge against fine, who hurt the people dearest to you.

It’s what I deduced from the conversations I had with His Excellence and His Highness, and I verified it myself.

Hatred clouds people’s judgment. Which means that if you go head-to-head against us, who have former fine members in our ranks, the chances of you behaving recklessly is high.

Natsume: ………..

Ibara: I was going to make you lose yourself in your anger. So I sneakily hid your costume, made you remember the tragedy you experienced in the past by bringing it up in casual conversation, and so on…

And in order to corner you even further, I asked His Eminence to stir the pot a little and employed a number of other schemes as well.

Natsume: ....So all of that was part of your plAN, Ibara-kUN.

Ibara: Allow me to answer that with a “yes”. Well, judging from the onstage chatter I overheard, you were way more preoccupied worrying about His Majesty’s career path.

Due to that, among other things… You are currently not in your top form, so to speak. Taking down an opponent who is in a state of confusion would be an easy feat, in fact, it wouldn’t even pose the slightest challenge.

His Eminence asking you to participate in a match-fixing would have been the last straw for you…

Working yourself into a frenzy, you would then come challenge Eden, since we have former fine members in our ranks.

However. There is no way a reckless daredevil with no strategy or anything of the sort could defeat Eden. At this final performance, we were going to attain a magnificent victory over you.

Indeed, we planned to beat you black and blue.

It would have at least relieved some of the humiliation we experienced during “SS”, and once we’d have established our superiority… It would have been even easier to make His Majesty submit to us.

Of course, we need him to perform brilliantly at the new agency from now on.

Which means that we needed Switch to lose in a way that wouldn’t tarnish His Majesty’s good name in the least.

So the cause of your loss would have been the reckless actions of the “Oddball”, Sakasaki Natsume.

It goes without saying that the crowd would boo us out if the villains won, so we planned to gloriously transform into “Alice” at the last moment during this performance.

All while making a face as if we had no other choice, and, well, that would’ve been a wrap ♪

Natsume: ...Guess you were targeting me even more than I thougHT.

Ibara: Indeed. For us at Eden, with the former fine members among us…

It’d be best if the “Five Oddballs” remained filthy villains deserving of scorn in the eyes of people, regardless of whether this reflects reality or not.

We would have publicly humiliated Natsume-kun by showing everyone his disgraceful behaviour and all the trouble he causes those around him… And it’d have been all over for you.

Everyone is swept up in optimistically making the idol industry a livelier place, when you, one of the “Five Oddballs”, would suddenly be exposed to act in an unsightly manner.

Surely, everyone would say the same thing. That the “Five Oddballs” are no good after all.

That only terrible things of no value get buried and abandoned in the past, and that they can only look forward to the new strength that fine and Eden will bring in the future.

Despite everyone talking about it as if it was in the distant past, the subjugation of the “Five Oddballs” only happened about a year ago.

In fact, it still remains vividly in the hearts of people, especially those with ties to the industry.

That’s why it’d be an easy feat to sway their hearts to put their faith in us, the people who shoulder the responsibility of the new era.

You were going to be the offering we’d have sacrificed for the sake of our brightly shining future.

Natsume: ….Are you telling me you were going to defile the “Five Oddballs” even furthER, as though you were kicking a corpSE?

Ibara: Why, you’re not a corpse, are you? If the results of my investigation aren’t mistaken, there is a survivor among the “Five Oddballs”!

I may have been barking up the wrong tree, but I thought I’d be doing you, the cherished child they protected until the end, a favor by coming to kill you off!

And with that, fine’s war would have finally been over. Without any lingering regret left, His Excellence, His Eminence, His Highness and His Majesty would finally be able to move onwards, to a new battlefield.

One of the winning conditions of a war is to “annihilate the enemy completely”. I love war, which is why I thought I’d join the battle, even if I was dispatched too late.

….But in the end, I didn’t get to have any fun whatsoever. His Excellence got mad at me, telling me “Our war is long over”.

It didn’t look like that to me from an outsider’s perspective, but it must be the case for everyone involved.

My gravest error was being unable to grasp the complicated, mysterious emotions and states of mind of these people, and misreading them.

In my folly, I tried to create smoke in a place with no fire.

From now on, I plan to stop involving myself in silly games like this and go back to focusing on my own war for my own sake. This detour ends here, the time for pleasant dreams has come to an end.

Natsume-kun. Seeing as driving you into a corner in order to defeat you was a foolish act that was not just pointless, but only served to bring His Excellence’s wrath upon me…

And since I’d like to avoid stepping on a landmine, I will abandon this plan in its entirety.

Which is why I don’t know the outcome of this match. The others are all just doing as they please now, and going all out.

They are merely innocently enjoying this last game… Before they become adults.

And I think I will do the same. I have taken everything I needed to take, so I am satisfied for the time being.

Whether I like it or not, I will have to work once I am an adult. It’s fine for me to get engrossed in this game now, while I can still remain a child, right?

Come, Alice, let’s play… Within this dream.

Until the time comes when we become adults.

“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”

Natsume: …..AhaHA. He just onesidedly went on and on about his side of the stoRY, and then went right back to playiNG. He realLY, truly is a chiLD. What a cunning gUY~.

In the eND, he didn’t say a single word of apoloGY.

Tsumugi: Ahaha. Compared to honest, good kids, once you become involved with twisted, bad kids, those are the more endearing ones, huh.

Natsume: ….Are you talking about the Student Council PresideNT? Or mayBE, about ME?

Tsumugi: Who knows, I wonder which one it is ♪

More importantly, no matter how you look at it, it’s ill-advised to keep leaving Sora-kun to face off against Nagisa-kun and the others all by himself.

In fact, it might’ve been Saegusa-kun’s intention to pull the both of us away from the frontlines--

In which case, we’re in trouble. If we don’t turn things around, we’ll really lose. And if the villains win, the story won’t come to an end. Let’s work hard towards victory, as protagonists should.

Natsume: ...YeAH. You’re rigHT. Shall we turn over a new leaf and face them head-ON?

Tsumugi: Yes! Just we always do, in our style… Let’s bring this story to a happy end! A happy end is what I always wish for!

Natsume: AhaHA. “And so, the two of them lived happily ever after”, hUH.

Tsumugi: ? Sora-kun included, there’s three of us, though?

Natsume: I know that alreaDY, you dumMY~ ♪

“♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”

Tsumugi: “~...♪”