Amagi Brilliant Park: Volume 2 (Premium)

by Shouji Gatou

  “Wh-What is it?” Muse froze up as she noticed Isuzu’s intent gaze.

  “Nothing. Please continue.”

  “But when you stare at me like that... Isuzu-san, are you a ‘yuri’ type?” Muse blushed and wriggled in the face of Isuzu’s silence. “I-Is that why you invited me here? I’m flattered, but I really think we shouldn’t... I... I... when I feel you gazing at me, as naked as the day I was born, I... I...”

  “......” Isuzu waited for her to finish.

  “Well, I just don’t think... I’m just not into that kind of thing...” Muse said in as neutral a voice as she could manage. She sounded exactly like a high school girl who, after horseplay in the bath got a little too intimate, came back to her senses and said, “if we go any further, we won’t be friends anymore.”

  But Isuzu’s gaze didn’t falter. “...I see. I don’t entirely understand what you mean, but I must ask you to continue. It’s imperative that I properly integrate into bathhouse culture.”

  “Oh. Is that what it’s all about...? I’m sorry,” Muse apologized. “But things aren’t actually that rigid here. You just need to wash off like normal, okay?”

  “Understood. I’ll wash off in my standard manner, then,” said Isuzu, who promptly started scrubbing herself off. To herself, she thought: I want to soak in the tub as soon as possible.

  Muse just let out a sigh at first, but after a little while, she whispered to her again: “But Isuzu-san... Despite what I said, during scenes like these, we probably should do things that create a ‘yuri’ mood. You know, to boost sales?” Muse proposed, for some inscrutable, 4th-wall-breaking reason of business.

  “...What kind of yuri mood, exactly?” Isuzu inquired.

  “You know. Getting all flustered, like I was at the start,” Muse explained. “‘Oh, Isuzu-san, your complexion is so clear’ and ‘Oh? You’re making me want to tease you a little, too. Take this!’ and stuff. And then we squeal and giggle and such...”

  Isuzu ceased her lathering and gazed at Muse with unforgiving indifference. “You are capable of saying some very disturbing things.”

  “Oh, come on!” Muse protested. “Don’t stab me in the back!”

  “I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but over-the-top boisterousness will bother those around us,” Isuzu told her primly. “Anyway, we’ll continue this discussion in the bath.”

  “That’s not fair. I—”

  “Enough.” Isuzu waved her hand dismissively, and then headed for the bathtub. Just to be sure, she checked the reactions of those around her: this time, nobody seemed upset about the idea of her getting into the hot water. She also put the wet towel on top of her head, as instructed.

  “Ahh...” It felt wonderful. The word ‘permeating’ was surely meant for times like these. Immersing her body in the water filled her with a sense of all-encompassing bliss.

  Isuzu remembered hearing that her family line had kappa blood in it. Perhaps that was why it felt so good to have a wet towel on top of her head? Was that also why she liked cucumbers so much?

  Ah, but never mind that. This was heaven.

  “But we can’t go to public baths forever, you know?” Muse said, interrupting Isuzu’s reverie as she lowered her own lily-white frame into the bath. “This place does cost money, even if it’s only a little. And... I don’t think the cast can keep tightening their belts forever. We need to find a way to work up the money so that people can take baths whenever and for however long they want them.”

  “Yes, you’re right...” Isuzu whispered, gazing up at the ceiling. “We have no money. If things don’t change soon...”

  While everyone else in the park was budgeting hard—Isuzu and Muse spending their pocket money at the public bath; Latifah sneezing as she washed herself off with cold water—Moffle, Macaron, and Tiramii were enjoying a massage at Amagi City’s most luxurious spa.

  “Ahh, yes! Yes! Right there, fumo!”

  “Yeah... put your back into it, ron! More, more... yes, yes, yes!”

  “Hey, hey, lady! You’ve got a nice body, mii! Can I get your email?”

  The three rotund, two-heads-tall mascots were lying on the massage tables, moaning ecstatically. On top of the base entry fee of 2,500 yen, an hour-long massage was 7,000 yen; it was indulgence on a level that would make even a well-to-do salaryman think twice.

  “Oh, enough! You silly boy. Don’t tease an old lady!”

  The middle-aged woman digging her elbow into Tiramii’s back laughed, her cheeks red. She did have a nice body—good enough that she could appear in one of those commercials for sham diet products. She had probably worked really hard to maintain her figure.

  “Aw, that’s not true, mii! Gimme your address. I’d accept your LINE too, mii.”

  “Be careful, ma’am. He’s a garbage fire, ron.”

  “Yeah, fumo. You don’t want to lose your family, do you?”

  Once each of the three had chimed in, the whole place burst into laughter.

  Unfortunately, the woman had a husband she loved and two high school-aged children, and she had no intention of embarking on that kind of relationship with Tiramii. Still, she seemed to enjoy the flirting. The other two middle-aged masseuses laughed uproariously, and the mascots all left the massage parlor having enjoyed themselves.

  “...Ahh, I feel better. What’s next, ron?”

  “Hmm. We’ve enjoyed a sauna and a massage, fumo. Next up...”

  “Beer and barbecue! Kalbi! Kalbi!”

  “Kalbi! Kalbi!”

  “Kalbi! Kalbi!”

  The three of them roared out loud, then burst into the high-class barbecue restaurant inside the spa building.

  Incidentally, the money for all this luxury had come from a Satsuki Sho horse racing ticket with a 100-1 payout. Tiramii had gotten the tip, Macaron had researched it, and Moffle had put up the money. After much discussion, the three had eventually decided that splitting it three ways would be easiest—and the payout was enough that even the 300-yen-per-slice kalbi barbecue felt like a trifle.

  “Ahh, feels good to be alive. I haven’t indulged myself like this for a long time,” Macaron said, after guzzling his beer and letting out a euphoric sigh.

  “Well, fun is fun, but... I feel a little guilty, fumo.”

  “Mii? Why so?”

  “All those things we did to get up our attendance in March has put AmaBri deep in debt, fumo. Our budget’s in real trouble...” His position of responsibility was making it hard for Moffle to fully enjoy their current situation.

  “How can you be thinking about work right now? Remember where you are, ron!”

  “For now, enjoy the kalbi, mii!”

  “Well... I suppose you’re right, fumo.”

  The three started laughing uproariously again, clinked their mugs together in a toast, and thoroughly savored the taste of the barbecue meat. They didn’t give a minute’s thought to the unhappy bathing circumstances of Latifah, Isuzu, Muse, and the others.

  “Ahh, this is great, mii!”

  “I’m having the time of my life! This is so much fun, ron!”

  ●

  The next week, in the No. 1 building’s conference room—

  “Looks like the fun’s over,” Kanie Seiya said in a gloomy voice. “We don’t have enough funds to run the park. We’re doing everything we can to secure new financing, but at this rate, we won’t even be able to give out paychecks for the month...”

  Isuzu and the most of the cast slumped resignedly.

  It was only the three cast members seated in one corner—Moffle, Macaron, and Tiramii—who rose from their seats with a clatter of surprise. Actually, it was Macaron and Tiramii who did that—Moffle simply crossed his plush arms, closed his eyes and muttered a “Moffu” as if he were expecting this.

  “You’re not gonna pay us?! Did you say you’re not gonna pay us, ron?!”

  “You can’t do this, mii! This is horrible, mii!”

  The two had turned completely pale and were sho
uting at the tops of their voices.

  “Shut up. You can’t get blood from a stone,” Seiya muttered with great irritation.

  “But, but... I’ve got all kinds of bills due! My cell phone, my rent, my credit cards... this month’s paycheck was my last ray of hope, mii!”

  “Same here, ron! I’m already having to live on 500 yen a day until payday... what am I going to do, ron?!”

  As the two babbled over each other, Moffle scowled. “What are you talking about, fumo? We had that huge payday last week.”

  “Payday? What are you talking about?”

  “We won a 100-1 ticket at the Satsuki Sho race, fumo. We split it three ways, so we each got 150,000. We even got a nice little night on the town out of it, fumo.”

  The rest of the cast members leaned forward in excitement: “Wow, lucky!” and “How did you hit the jackpot?” and “Let me in on that action next time!” they buzzed.

  “......” Seiya, meanwhile, slumped over dejectedly. Mascots who were supposed to be bringing dreams to children were betting on horse races and squandering the money? It was all just so seedy.

  “Macaron, Tiramii. Why are you so upset? Even after our little night out, you should have plenty left over, fumo.”

  Their cute plush bodies deflated in shame.

  “I lost it all on pachinko, ron...”

  “I spent every night at a lingerie pub, mii...”

  You two are absolute garbage, all eyes in the room seemed to say. In response, they burst out with excuses:

  “But I was winning at first, ron! I thought I was on a roll after the 100-1 ticket! I thought, ‘I have to hit the jackpot this time,’ ron!”

  “I j-just felt so bad for this one lingerie pub girl, mii! Nobody was picking her and she looked so sad and... I wanted to help her, mii!”

  “That’s enough,” Isuzu ordered them. “Please be quiet.”

  “Okay...” the two mascots sulked, but the threat of Isuzu’s musket quickly silenced both of them.

  “...Anyway, back to the original point: we’re practically broke. And the minute we start bouncing checks or failing to pay the employees, it’s a countdown to bankruptcy. We’ll have to do some finagling to get our labor costs paid... but it’s possible that we may pay late, or in installments,” Seiya explained.

  Ashe, the head of the accounting department, chimed in. “But sir, we’ll also be hiring new part-timers this month. How could we justify that to the rest of the cast? Hiring new people while their own pay is late...”

  “We need those new employees no matter what.” Seiya said, firmly. “If we get can over this hurdle and keep the park alive... we’re going to need them. This is one thing I can’t give ground on.”

  “But we just don’t have enough money. We can’t afford to be late in paying our employees. Someone will go running to the Labor Standards Inspection Office, and the rest will be like mice fleeing a sinking ship... ah, excuse me. I wasn’t trying to imply that you would flee, Moffle-san,” Ashe apologized, as she noticed Moffle making a face. “...Forgive me. It’s likely that we should have kept this to ourselves. If rumors get out, it will make things even worse.”

  Ashe was right. Even if it was a half-assed, failing amusement park, it couldn’t afford to be late in paying its employees. Even rumors about that happening would be a huge blow; they’d be finished. It would invalidate all the hard work they had done in March.

  “Okay, I hear you,” Seiya admitted. “But we can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Consider this a top secret matter that we’re trusting you to keep to yourselves. All right?”

  “......” At Seiya’s words, the group fell silent. Perhaps that phrase—“we’re trusting you”—had united them in purpose.

  “So I want to talk this out with everyone here,” Seiya continued. “What we need is 25 million yen, and we need it in the next two weeks. I’ll take any ideas you have.”

  Hearing this exact number caused the group to sink even more heavily. That went far beyond anything they could scrounge up with horse racing tickets or pachinko jackpots.

  “Any ideas at all. If you think of something, just throw it out there.”

  Macaron tentatively raised his hoof. “Um... we could all play pachinko.”

  “No. Anything else?”

  “Mii. We could all bet on horses.”

  “No. Get away from gambling. Anything else?”

  “Moffu. We could all rob convenience stores.”

  “No,” Seiya scoffed. “Even if we stole 50,000 from each, we’d still have to rob 500 stores.”

  “Then how about robbing a bank?” Moffle inquired.

  “No. Get away from robbery.”

  “Moffu. Pyramid scheme?”

  “Come on,” Seiya said exasperatedly, “nothing illegal. Anything else?”

  “We could open an adult theme park!”

  “Against adult entertainment business laws. Anything else?”

  “Sexy doujins?”

  “Only a small number of us could sell, and we couldn’t make 25 million off of it.”

  “Sexy figurines?”

  “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

  “Hug pillows?”

  “Get away from sex stuff.”

  “Meet-and-greets?”

  “You think anyone would want to meet or greet you?”

  They spent about an hour like that, throwing out half-hearted ideas, but nothing ingenious was forthcoming.

  “Seiya... no one’s going to come up with a way to earn 25 million yen on the spot, fumo.” Moffle said with an exhausted expression.

  “Hmm... Well, I knew you wouldn’t.” Seiya responded flippantly.

  The whole group let out a groan.

  “Then why did you ask, mii?! I’m awful at money stuff, mii!”

  “Isn’t it your job to come up with these things, Kanie-san?!” Ashe demanded.

  “Just give us an amazing miracle like last month!”

  They yelled at him one after another. Seiya’s expression curdled at their presumptuousness. What do they expect of a high schooler making 850 yen per hour? Incidentally, 850 an hour was Tokyo’s local minimum wage. Seiya would have been happy to work for nothing, but as a matter of principle, he felt he at least had to take that much. He’d like to give them a piece of his mind about that, but he opted not to—If he told them “don’t put so much pressure on a kid like me” now, no one would ever listen to him again.

  “Kanie-kun.” Isuzu sat down next to him, tugged on his sleeve and whispered in his ear.

  “What?” he whispered back.

  “Shouldn’t you tell them about the Malmart thing?”

  “I’d better not,” he replied quietly. “I really do want any ideas I can get from them, and I also want them to feel some responsibility for what happens.”

  “I see...” Isuzu murmured. She moved away and went back to taking the minutes on her laptop.

  “Ah! That’s right, ron!” Macaron stood up abruptly, hitting the table with his hoof. “Dornell’s cave! Dornell’s cave!”

  “Ahh... I’d forgotten about that, fumo.” Moffle tilted his head as if remembering something. Nobody else in the conference room seemed to know what they were talking about.

  “What’s that?” Seiya inquired.

  “It’s a cave in the second park. It’s mostly been forgotten, but we park veterans still tell a few legends about it, fumo.”

  The second park was a large plot of land to the south of the highway, separate from the park that Seiya was currently running. When the bubble had burst in the early 90s, there had been plans to build a second park there, but money troubles had caused the plans to be shelved. The land was still there, but mostly untouched.

  All it contained was the large stadium which they’d used the previous month. In other words, the “second park” was a park in name only, yet the cast had grown accustomed to referring to the southern plot that way.

  “So, what is this cave?” Seiya wanted to know. “An attraction o
f some kind?”

  “It’s no attraction, fumo. There’s a tunnel deep in the forest there. It’s said to have been there a long time now... it even predates the ‘Amagi Playground’ days, I’d reckon.”

  “Amagi Playground” was the current park’s predecessor: Built in the Taisho Period and enjoyed by people around Tama Ward, it had closed in the early 1970s. Then during the 1980s, Maple Land funded a renovation and reopening, and it became Amagi Brilliant Park, which it remained to this day.

  “What does this cave have to do with our money troubles?” Isuzu asked.

  Moffle’s gaze became distant. “Quite a while back—this was over ten years ago, fumo—we had a Fairy of Flowers named 〈Dornell〉 in our cast—”

  “That’s a rugged name... It sounds like a mobile weapon.”

  And he’d put it in brackets, too, like 〈Arbalest〉 or 〈Laevatein〉.

  “Don’t interrupt, fumo! ...Now, one summer night, 〈Dornell〉 got drunk and ventured out into the second park, fumo. No sinister motive behind it; just a test of courage of sorts, I believe... He took a few mascots with him, and they headed for the cave deep on the grounds.”

  “Incidentally, Dornell was the Fairy of Flowers two generations before mii.”

  “I appreciate the footnote, fumo. But when they went into the cave for their test of courage—”

  “Could you get to the point,” Seiya urged him.

  “Now, hold on, fumo. This is going to sound like a fish story unless I give the proper buildup to—”

  “Just get to it,” Seiya demanded.

  Huffily, Moffle said, “...Apparently there’s a treasure deep in the cave system, fumo.”

  Moffle and Macaron went on to explain the rest: The cave was located between two hills, deep in the virgin forests on the south end of the (planned) second park. Everyone had always assumed it was a bomb shelter from World War II.

  One summer night, the subject of the cave had come up in a discussion between Tiramii’s two-generations-removed predecessor, the Fairy of Flowers Dornell, and some other members of the cast: when you really stopped and thought about it, they realized, it was odd to assume that the place was a shelter. Why would anyone need a place like that here in the mountains where nobody lived? Could it be that the cave wasn’t a shelter, but the remains of some other facility? Dornell and the others then got it in their heads to go exploring, and they headed for the cave in the second park that very night.