bakemonoremy

Location: ES Underground Live Stage

Kohaku: (Ngh~... He’s as nasty as ever, that Madara-han.)

(Like givin’ a sword to a something-or-other*, huh. That’s what ya get when ya give power to someone who lacks all regard fer consequences an’ keepin’ the peace with his surroundings — someone who’s got nothing to lose.)

(Seems like stories about children who’re given immense power are popular in this country, fer example in manga an’ such.)

(But in reality, if ya were ta give a child who has no control over their emotions such power, they’d start killin’ any parent, teacher, an’ classmate they find even the slightest bit odious in cold blood.)

(With strong power comes strong responsibility.*2 Ya can’t give weapons to a child who hasn’t learned this lesson yet.)

(Nah, Madara-han must’ve learned this thoroughly from a young age, an’ yet he still wields his power however the hell he likes. That’s what makes him so much trouble.)

(He’s actually the kinda person we*3 oughta have subdued right from the start.)

(Yet here I am, havin’ joined forces with someone like that, wearin’ matching clothes an’ actin’ all buddy-buddy with him. Life sure is strange that way.)

(Whatever. At least our investigation’s gonna progress a lil’ like this.)

(We followed the thread that’ll lead us to our real target, the vice prez — an’ that thread is Valkyrie, who seem t’have had some shady dealings with him.)

(Madara-han was real meticulous an’ got all our ducks in a row. Immediately after Valkyrie’s live, when they were already exhausted, he hit ‘em with a challenge to a bout right in front of their fans.)

(Valkyrie couldn’t refuse it. Even if they were at their limit, an’ in no shape to do another live.)

(Prideful an’ conceited as Valkyrie is… they musta felt that, once they got challenged like that, they didn’t wanna disappoint their fans by showin’ ‘em the disgraceful sight of ‘em takin’ to their heels in shame.)

(Or rather, that’s the situation Madara-han set up ta induce ‘em to act the way he wanted.)

(He stirred ‘em up plenty, an’ even abused idol techniques like callin’ out to the audience from the stage to rile ‘em up.)

(He trapped Valkyrie in a situation they couldn’t escape from, an’ forced ‘em into a bout — a live showdown with favorable conditions fer us.)

(It seems as if quarrel-like bouts between idols like this one are outta fashion these days. But when it’s all said an’ done, violence is the quickest way ta resolve things.)

(“Violence doesn’t solve anything” is just a wild tale that the people in power tell the subjects they secretly control through violent authority and other means in order to keep ‘em in check so they won’t try an’ turn the tables on ‘em.)

(It’s nothin’ but the squeals of the pigs who fatten ‘emselves up by slurpin’ up the lifeblood of the kiddos who believe this nonsense.)

(The oh-so-mighty humans domesticated all other beasts or turned ‘em into fodder, an’ traded their own fangs and claws fer systems of violence*4.)

(By mobilizing forces like language, money, laws, gods, and many others — we trampled over all those other beasts an’ became the lords of creation, the rulers of this planet.)

(And mere animals who are unaware of this simply become food for the mighty humans.)

Madara: Could it be that you don’t even understand why you lost — Shu-san?

Shu: ………

Madara: There are many reasons for your defeat. First of all, you shouldn’t have accepted our challenge to a match you had nothing to gain from.

I bet wanting to show off in front of your fans played a part in that, but it’s also just not in your nature to laugh it off when someone picks a fight with you, so this outcome was, well, inevitable.

But you know, even a professional martial artist can suffer an embarrassing defeat against a mere layman if he’s completely unprepared, both mentally and physically. All the more so if his opponent is armed with a knife… a weapon.

Kohaku: (Ah, looks like Madara-han was thinkin’ roughly the same thing as me. So he was fully aware that he was swingin’ his sword at an unarmed person —)

(A far cry from how someone who fights fer justice is s’pposed to act.)

(Well, we ain’t on the side of justice, though. The first time we stood on stage together as Double Face, we established that we’re just the “slightly lesser evil”.)

(So, like the villains we are, we’ll do anything to win.)

(Right after Valkyrie accepted our challenge, I went an’ abducted Kagehira Mika-han in secret, ta put some distance between the two. Although he probably doesn’t even realize himself that he was abducted —)

(Before our bout, on the pretense of wantin’ ta touch up my make-up, I asked ‘im to show me the way to the dressing room, actin’ like I didn’t know the layout of the place since I’m new at this.)

(Kagehira-han, bein’ the soft soul he is, intended to be kind to a junior from his agency — An’ so he nonchalantly left the stage.)

(At that time — an’ it really was just a moment — Madara-han shot down Shu-han.)

(While me an’ Kagehira-han were away, he started the bout an’ brought it to a quick end. He exchanged the audience members under the pretense of wantin’ a fair match —)

(And instead filled the arena with fans who favored him, before startin’ a 1-on-1 fight with Shu-han.)

(‘Course, Shu-han couldn’t back out of it at that point, since his pride would never let him pull out of a challenge he’d declared accepted.)

(He can’t even argue that he didn’t agree to the audience members being exchanged, since it was his own blunder not to ask about the details of the match before acceptin’ it.)

(Furthermore, compared to Madara-han who’s been solo all this time, Shu-han ain’t used to carryin’ a performance by himself.)

(On top o’ that, it’s usually a characteristic of Valkyrie to construct elaborate stages ta perform on, but the battle called fer ‘im ta improvise a song right off the bat instead —)

(Despite all of this, it seems like he put up quite the fight.)

(Still, in the end, as is customary fer DreamFes’, the audience votes decided the outcome, an’ they declared Madara-han — an’ by association, Double Face — the winner.)

(But that’s only natural. There was no way in hell Shu-han was gonna win, what with how ‘is strong points all got crushed an’ he was forced inta this situation against his will.)

(No matter how mighty Valkyrie are as idols, there’s just no way they’re so overwhelmingly strong as ta be undefeatable come rain or come shine.)

(Couldn’t say if it’s ‘cause ya’ll were intoxicated by all yer past success or what, but y’all forgot about this simple fact, an’ that’s the reason ya lost.)

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* Kohaku uses the saying “like giving a sword to [a madman]” which can be considered a sensitive expression, so he avoids saying the “madman” part. To a JP reader it would be obvious that this is the expression he’s avoiding to say directly, though.

*2 Kohaku elegantly sidesteps Spiderman copyright by ever-so-slightly misquoting the famous “with great power comes great responsibility”.

*3 Kohaku is using “we” to mean “we, the Oukawas” again, I reckon.

*4 Kohaku uses a polsci/sociology term, 暴力装置 (lit. violent device) which refers to “a form of violence that is organized and institutionalized by state power”. This refers to the military and police, as well as in a broader sense all public authorities with coercive power such as the government itself.