Ariadne - Prologue

[bakemonoremy]

 

Location: Seisou Hall Dorm Room (Crazy:B)

HiMERU: ………

Kohaku: Hm~? The design on these socks doesn’t look familiar. Hey, whose socks are these?

Niki: Oh, those are mine! I bought them recently ♪ Don’t they look sooo delicious? The yellow-green color of them reminds me of kiwis!

Kohaku: Oh, so they were yours, Niki-han. Kiwi-colored, I’ll remember that.

…Still, I can’t believe everything ya own is based on food. Though I reckon there’s a more apt comparison than kiwis fer these.

Whatever. I’m more interested in why we’re suddenly bein’ forced to pack overnight bags. Rinne-han just sprang this on us outta nowhere, so I reckoned I’d ask while we’re doin’ it.

Niki: Hey, I wanna know that, too! The way he suddenly told us to pack up… Don’t tell me he’s planning to flee the country with us in the dead of night?

Tell us the truth, Rinne-kun. Did you stoop so low as to dip into our unit funds this time?

Rinne: Pff, as if. This is for a gig, alright?

Niki: A gig…?

Rinne: Yep, and the location for it is in the countryside!

CosPro usually tends to be stingy with the job offers for us, but we’ve been given a rare work opportunity this time. So, regardless of what you guys’ve got goin’ on, I’m havin’ ya drop everything and draggin’ yer asses on location straight away!

Niki: Huh?! So we’re packing our bags for work right now?!

I don’t wanna~, going away for work sounds so tiring!

Rinne: Ya sure about that, Niki? There’s lots of local specialties to be found in the countryside, y’know? Don’t tell me you wanna stay behind and watch the house when ya could be out there eatin’ your fill of ‘em?

Niki: What?! In that case I’m coming along! A hundred percent!

Kohaku: What a calculating fella. Well, whatever. I’m just glad to hear that we’ve got work.

HiMERU: — ……

Rinne: Oi, what’s with the melancholic vibe?

Broodin’ over something again, ◼◼?

HiMERU: ……! Amagi, why do you know “my” name…?

Kohaku: Aww, ◼◼-han, didja really think ya could keep that a secret from us?

We know everything, ◼◼-han. Even that ya became an idol to take HiMERU’s place.

Niki: I already noticed it back when we formed Crazy:B! But Rinne-kun told us to keep our mouths shut for a while, ‘cause it’d be funny ♪

HiMERU: No… There’s no way “my” real identity has been leaked—

Niki: Nahaha. You really hadn’t noticed?

Even our fans and the idols at ES aaa~ll know about it!



HiMERU?: Impossible…! You’re lying, right!?

Kohaku: It’s very possible, actually. You were the only one in the dark about alla this, ◼◼-han…

Niki: Man, we were all looking forward to when you’d finally realize it~♪

Rinne: You’re such a fuckin’ laughingstock, ◼◼. You really had yourself thinkin’ ya fooled everyone ♪ 

But now there’s no need to pretend anymore, ◼◼.

HiMERU’s a thing of the past now. From today on, you’re one of Crazy:B, like us!

Oh right, we’ve also been preparin’ a big live show to reveal your real name, ◼◼! You’ve gotta make your grand debut ♪

HiMERU?: Stop it! I didn’t become HiMERU for this!

To say nothing of the fact that I don’t have the slightest intention to become a spectacle for all of society to see—!

https://imgur.com/4ToZrrR

Location: Pitch Darkness

HiMERU: ...Ah!?

A-a dream…? And what is this place…?

Kohaku: Ya seemed ta be havin’ a mighty bad dream there, HiMERU-han. Yer drenched in cold sweat.

We’re in the middle of a long tunnel right now. The blackout curtains of the studio bus are closed so our sleep wouldn’t be disturbed by the lights outside.

HiMERU: What a poetic atmosphere. In truth, one might even say that it’s so pitch-black in here that it’d be believable if you were to claim that everyone inside this bus has died in an accident.

So once we are out of this tunnel, the view outside will show the Snow Country* — No, the countryside where we’ll be filming, yes?

Kohaku: You’ve got it. Still, talkin’ about everyone in here dyin’ sure is a bad omen. Just what kinda nightmare were ya havin’, HiMERU-han?

HiMERU: — Oh, it was trivial. A nightmare of no importance.

Niki: Beef tongues~!

HiMERU: ………?

Niki: Beef tongues… beef tongues… *smack smack*... ♪

HiMERU: So he’s talking in his sleep. How misleading.

Kohaku: Beef tongues are all Niki-han’s been talkin’ about lately, huh. I get that he’s really looking forward to those*2, but we’re actually here fer work, right?

HiMERU: — Indeed. Seeing as Amagi’s explanation wasn’t very helpful, HiMERU ended up having to ask the vice president about it.

Surely you remember the job we had with that honey maker*3 before? HiMERU heard that a regional TV station endorsed us after seeing that.

Since then, they’ve been most ardently pushing for Crazy:B to come and promote their regional delicacies for them.

Kohaku: Oho… So that’s what went on behind the scenes. An’ here I was sure they were sendin’ us to a farm so we could get some hands-on work experience.

We’d take even the most trivial jobs, after all. But in this case, I reckon the Sun’s been witnessin’ how hard we’ve been workin’.

HiMERU: — Hmm. HiMERU wonders about that.

Kohaku: ? Sounds like there’s some hidden meaning in yer words. Something on yer mind?

HiMERU: The view outside the window has been on HiMERU’s mind for a little while, yes.

Kohaku: Outside the window…?

Rinne: …Don’t tell me you were so excited about the rare chance to go on a trip that’cha didn’t notice, Kohaku-chan?

Kohaku: Not you too, Rinne-han. Since when have you been up?

Rinne: Oh, just now. Figured I’d better rest while I can so I don’t run out of steam during work.

The bus seems to be slowin’ down, so we should be arrivin’ soon.

Kohaku: Arrivin’ soon…? Weren’t we supposed to get there in the morning? But it’s still so early that the sun ain’t even up yet…

Rinne: Come on, guys, doesn’t any of this strike ya as weird? With the way these blackout curtains completely block out the view, with not even the smallest crack to see through—

HiMERU: If you noticed it too, you should’ve said something sooner, Amagi. Studio buses aren’t our usual mode of transport — due to that, it took HiMERU a while to figure it out.

Rinne: Gyahahaha ♪ But don’t they say the road to misfortune’s paved with good intentions?*4 In that case, the road to fortune must be paved with bad intentions ♪ 

In other words, this is the kinda job that shows hints of bad intent behind it — my gambler’s intuition told me to take it!

HiMERU: What kind of unscientific reasoning is that…— Well, HiMERU believes he ultimately would’ve made the same choice, but he wishes he’d at least gotten a chance to mentally prepare first.

In any case, we lack the necessary information to deduce our client’s true intentions.

Kohaku: Ya two are talkin’ like ya know it all, but what’s even goin’ on? I ain’t got the slightest clue!

HiMERU: You’ll see when we get off the bus. And indeed, it seems like that very bus has just stopped.

Please go and wake up Shiina, if you would. We’re going to find out what situation we’ve gotten ourselves into.

Niki: Ngh… Huh, where are the beef tongues?

Rinne: Come on, Niki, we’re on the move! Gotta stay in groups during excursions, didn’t they teach you that in school?

Niki: Ngyah!? Don’t kick my butt right when I only just woke up!

What is it with you! And those are some big words from someone who never even went to a school!



Location: Inside the Labyrinth

Kohaku: W-What the dickens is this place…?!

HiMERU: A man-made maze — No, perhaps one should describe it as a labyrinth. HiMERU has never set foot into a place like this before either.

But it seems that we have been tricked and brought here under false pretenses.

—————— 

* Snow Country (雪国) is the name of a novel that happens to begin with a scene of the protagonist riding a train to a remote onsen town.

*2 Beef tongues are a regional specialty of Sendai.

*3 Honey Bee Scout Story

*4 They don’t say that, actually. The correct idiom is, in both English and Japanese, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”.