by Shouji Gatou
“Ah...”
“More specifically, we’ll have to cut you guys, nell.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Don’t get mad, nell,” he pleaded. “Just hear me out. I’m saying...” According to Dornell-senpai, they were going to have to cut half of the speaker channels. But they couldn’t take out Moffle-senpai and the park’s other main characters, and they needed sound effects and music... and the announcer channel was important, too... Which left the scene in which we appear (in a place a little ways away from the central stage) as the one that would have to be removed.
Hmm. I understood. We could appear in the show, at least, but we couldn’t make sound. It was the kind of scene where, if we weren’t careful, the guests might hear the sound of the motors of the elevator instead.
“I’m really sorry, nell! But I’ve been thinking about the structure, and that’s the only place we can cut! Please, try to roll with it!” Dornell-senpai was practically groveling.
I quickly crouched down beside him to try to comfort him. “I understand, really. Please calm down...”
“Kobory-chan!” he wailed.
“I’ll let everyone know,” I reassured him. “Please, don’t worry.” To be honest, balancing our Elementario performances with the live shows was kind of a burden as it was. Muse-san, Salama-san, and Sylphie-san were all trying their hardest, but we were also exhausted.
We couldn’t even go out on our off days; we just laid around at home and slept. We’d talked about the four of us going somewhere to hang out, but we could never go very far. On our most recent day off, we’d had some tea at the cafe in front of Amagi Station, then immediately split up. We would have been better off staying in bed. Given all that, while it was a shame to get cut out of the live show, it was also a bit of a relief.
“Thanks a lot, nell! But it’s not for sure just yet...”
“Huh?”
“It’s just what will happen if we can’t solve the equipment issue,” Dornell said. “If we fix it, you’ll be able to perform, so don’t be disappointed just yet, nell.”
“Ahh...” What in the world... These sorts of ambiguities are the hardest things for a performer to deal with. You want people to just say ‘no!’ when it won’t work and ‘yes!’ when it will. It’s hard to get your feelings in order, otherwise.
“It’s possible it might still work out, nell. So please, nell. Make sure everyone in Elementario knows the situation, nell!”
“O-Okay...” I agreed shakily. But then, what should we do about the next few weeks of practice? I guessed that we’d just have to keep at it... It was really uncomfortable.
“Ahh... It’s trouble, nell...” Dornell-senpai muttered, ignoring my own concerns. “It’s times like these I wish the fairy would come again...”
“The fairy?” I questioned. This again?
“Yeah, nell. Remember that trouble we had with the first live show in April, nell?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “That was very difficult, wasn’t it?”
“There’s a theory that it was the fairy that came along and fixed it, nell. We were still struggling to figure things out when the problem just righted itself. We still don’t know how it happened, nell.”
“I thought there was a problem with one of the connections?”
“Maybe so! But I think it was the fairy who fixed it, nell! It’s the only way it could resolve itself at such a perfect moment!”
I’d never liked the idea of asking for divine intervention when things got tough. I thought people should fix technical problems themselves. But seeing the desperation in Dornell-senpai’s eyes made me hesitant to point that out.
“...Anyway, I understand the situation,” I finally said. “We’ll keep it in mind, so for now, please focus on making the new live show a success.”
“Thank you! Thank you, nell! I’ll take you to Kurobe Dam some time as thanks, nell!” I forgot to mention it, but Dornell-senpai is a dam geek. Yes, a dam... geek. I supposed that Kurobe Dam must be a pretty good dam if he was recommending it. I wasn’t sure why—maybe something to do with the amount of water it stored, or the views of the release? Dam Manga artist Inoue Yoshihisa would probably know. The Spirit of Water, Muse, would also probably get it, but as a Spirit of Earth, I was completely in the dark.
Still, it seemed like this was something I should express gratitude about. “Okay. If we can make time,” I told him.
“I promise, nell! You’ll love it, nell!” I didn’t really want him to promise, but the conversation wasn’t going to end unless I smiled and agreed. That dam must be far away, though, right? We’d probably have to stay the night, wouldn’t we? Staying in a hotel with my boss... I wasn’t really a fan of the idea.
“Um, anyway,” I said. I should be going...” I left Dornell-senpai, who was still bowing and scraping on the floor, and the MCR, behind. I wondered why I was hearing so much about “the fairy” today?
On my way home, I got a message from our head of administration, Tricen-senpai. Tricen-senpai had apparently been worrying about content for the PV that would be going out in September, and he wasn’t sure what to do with Elementario. Regarding, well, you know... The sexiness of our costumes, and whether he should push it, or play it down to make it more family-oriented... That was the dilemma he was facing.
《Yeah, I’m struggling. The fairy arranged things last time in just the right way, but...》 Tricen-senpai told me in his message. More about the “Fairy,” huh?
《What do you mean?》 I replied.
《The truth is, the last PV we put out was not entirely my work. I went through a lot of trial-and-error until I hunched over and passed out.》
A normal person would refer to that as “pitched over.”
《Then I uploaded the video, although I had little faith in it.》
《Ahh...》 I replied.
《I fell asleep, woke up, and looked on the video site once more, though it took substantial courage to do so... After all, in the version that I edited, I had worked hard on Isuzu-chan’s panty shot, Salama-san’s cleavage shot, and such like.》
《......》 I had nothing to say to that last statement.
《I was even worried that perhaps I had overdone it. ...Yes.》 Tricen-senpai really was a creep. He was casually turning us into sex objects.
《Um,》 I typed back.
《No! Please, do not get the wrong idea! I, Tricen, was forced to hunch over in indecision! That is why it was a struggle to decide if I should upload that video!》
But he had still uploaded it... Tricen-senpai’s concerns were probably more along the lines of “Will men dig these particular shots?” than any matter of taste.
《Kobory-san. Are you angry?》
《No.》 I was lying, of course. I was, in fact, a little angry with him. 《Anyway, what was that you said about a fairy?》
《Yes! Exactly! Let’s get back to the subject. The morning after! Trembling in fear, I watched the video I uploaded the night before... and it was fixed brilliantly!》
《The PV, you mean?》 I asked.
《Yes! The PV’s content had been brilliantly moderated! Thanks to that, we managed to avoid blowback from the local mothers. Thinking back now, I think that was the platonic ideal form of that PV!》
Tricen-senpai was asserting that a video, tinkered with by a complete stranger without permission, was “perfect.” That seemed like a problem in and of itself, but...
《I have never been witness to such a miracle before. Ashamed as I am, I find myself thinking, “I wish the fairy could visit me again...”》
《I understand how you feel, but...》 I responded. 《I don’t think it’s right to rely on a total stranger like that.》
《Hmm. I’m forced to hunch over from the harshness of your words, Kobory-san.》
《I’m sorry. But I’m really not sure what to say when people talk to me about these “fairy” things.》 Maybe it’s because we were talking over text, but my tone was coming out a
little more pointed than usual.
《You are indeed correct, yes. So... what should we do? Should we push the sexuality, or the family appeal?》
《Let’s see,》 I typed back. 《I think you should show restraint.》
《What do you mean?》
《I understand wanting to push sexiness, but I don’t think it’s good to have it be on screen for too long. The longer it’s out there, the greater the risk that you’ll upset the women watching the video. If you keep just a little sexiness for a small period of time, that should be okay. Just scatter cuts of one or two frames in about three locations, and that should do it.》
《Ahh...》 he replied.
《Not so little that it feels subliminal, but if it’s just twelve frames it should be enough that fathers sick of dealing with family-oriented stuff will go snap to attention, I think.》
《I see! How educational! But Kobory-san, where did you learn such things?》
《Oh, nowhere special. I just watch watch a lot of movies and TV shows and such.》 Anime ones, of course. Sometimes, even now, when I’m exhausted from work, I search job offers in the anime industry. I’ve always sort of wanted a job as an editor. Of course, I’d never quit my current job... I think hobbies should remain hobbies. I’m not naive. The job hunt is just kind of a daydream.
《Hmm. You have given me very concrete advice, but I still have very little in the way of confidence. Do you think that I, the humble Tricen, could truly be capable of such precision editing?》
《Well... You won’t know until you try, will you?》 I asked him.
《Yes. Thank you very much! I, Tricen, shall do my best, while hoping for the “fairy” to appear!》 It sounded like he was still waiting for someone else to save him, but that wasn’t for me to comment on.
《Well, goodbye.》
《Yes! Thank you for all your help! And Kobory-san, if I may ask, in order to keep my humble morale up, could you write it like “Go!☆ Go!☆” please?》
I typed in the phrase, my actual expression completely blank. 《Go!☆ Go!☆》
《Ah, I am thrilled! I, Tricen, could fight ten years on the strength of your words alone!》
If that was all it took, I could have written ten more Go!☆s. But it seemed like a pain, so I decided not to. 《I’m glad to hear it. Goodbye.》
《Kobory-san, may blessings of the Goddess Libra be upon you!》
《ツ》
Tricen-senpai seemed extremely excited about something. I just hoped he could make a proper PV.
I arrived at my local Moyori Station around 11:00 at night. The shopping street there tended to pack up early, so most everything was closed. I strolled into a nearby convenience store and did a little browsing of the manga magazines. Then I put some bread, a banana, and some milk in my basket for breakfast. I had a candy craving, too, but snacking at midnight was suicide (from a weight perspective), so I refrained and wandered away from the snack corner.
I suddenly realized that I only had 1,000 yen on hand, so I got some money out of the ATM. That’s when I noticed some customers who seemed like a couple flirting in the alcohol corner nearby.
“Huh? You can’t drink that much.”
“It’s fine. I can handle it.”
“You’re going to keep going?”
“I can handle it. I mean it.”
It was a very common, very silly conversation. If I were a more high-ranked Spirit of Earth with the kind of powerful magic that let me rot organic matter, I admit, I would have rotted the drinking snacks in the couple’s basket... maybe mixing in some E.coli bacteria. Of course, I wasn’t powerful enough to do that.
I did have the power to make food rot quicker than normal, and if I concentrated, I could move up the expiration date on the couple’s food from September 12th to September 9th. But that seemed pointless, so I didn’t bother. It would just make me kind of pathetic, and I didn’t want to acknowledge that I was jealous of the couple.
I paid at the register. The part-time worker recognized me and smiled. He was probably a student, and a plain but earnest-looking person. He’d helped me out before when I was having trouble with the copier (though I was very careful to make sure he didn’t see the drafts I was copying). It was a purely solicitous smile, of course, but it gave me a little pang in my heart.
“That will be 755 yen,” he said. As I opened my wallet and searched for a 50 yen coin and a 5 yen coin, the clerk said to me: “Working again today?”
“Huh?” I said, surprised.
“Ah... s-sorry...” he stuttered. “You always come in... at this time, so...”
“......” I didn’t answer him. I didn’t have a 5 yen coin, so all I was able to do was say “sorry,” in an apologetic, fading voice. He seemed like such a good person, but once I was offstage, I couldn’t even force a smile. It was pathetic. I paid, got 245 yen in change, then left the convenience store.
“Thank you for coming!” The part-time worker’s voice sounded louder than usual, for some reason.
On the way back home from the convenience store, I fell into dismal thoughts: the part-time worker might be interested in me. Well, I was probably just being too self-conscious, but for some reason, my heart was racing.
All kinds of fantasies ran through my mind. What if the next time I went to the convenience store, the worker got up his courage and gave me a letter? Or what if I got accosted by drunks, and he came to save me? No, even without that kind of melodrama... what if he just managed to say hello, and started up a little conversation? Of course, that wasn’t going to happen.
Either way, I was probably going to stay away from that convenience store for a while. I just felt awkward, and I could probably avoid the times when that clerk was there. I doubted I’d be able to greet him with a smile by the next time I saw him. I’d just freak out and bow repeatedly and he’d think “that girl is so weird.” Probably... no, almost certainly.
It was always that way. I’d been born an introvert, and it was hard for me to interact with people. I’d decided to work as a dancer, a job so unsuited to me, to try to fix that part of myself. Thanks to that, lately, I was no longer afraid of appearing in front of hundreds of guests. Of course, it helped that I had three friends with me, but... I’d managed to acquire a little courage.
Still, I had a long way to go. No matter how hard I worked, I couldn’t really say “I did that!” Likewise, “that’s my accomplishment!” was something I absolutely couldn’t say. That was why today had been so hard for me. I don’t like to lie, but while worming my way around it, I guess that’s what I’d ended up doing...
That’s right. The “fairy” was me, Kobory. The one who fixed the lighting program in the second park stadium that Wrenchy-kun-san mentioned—that was me. I happened to be there at the time, carrying in some unrelated equipment. I saw Wrenchy-kun-san leave his seat in a panic, and while he was gone, I played with it a little bit. We’d used an old Epson machine in our family inn... and I’d been the one in charge of it. That was back when I was in elementary school.
We used a lot of electronics at home, too, and we had a large open-air bath, so I’d recognized the output problem immediately. I just messed with a few numbers, and soon enough... Thankfully, it was apparently useful, and the stadium was able to function properly. But I couldn’t say “I’m the one who did that.”
I’m also the person who helped Isuzu-san with the want ad she was so worried about. Her want ad—it made it seem like such a boring government job. No one in the wider world was hearing about it. I was worried as well, so I’d ended up posting the link here and there, hoping to see it get spread all over. The design also wasn’t great, so I just messed with the image data a little bit. And while I had a real internal debate about this, I also ended up posting it on various message boards anonymously. (Of course, I never do that for my own doujinshi!)
Thanks to that, the want ad had ended up spread far and wide. Applications had started to fall in May, though... I felt really bad about th
at. If I’d been more careful to follow up, Isuzu-san wouldn’t have had to worry so much. I didn’t tell her that I’d helped with that, either. I probably should have, but I was afraid she might get mad at me...
As for the sound system on the central stage that Dornell-senpai was having trouble with... That fix was also me. The root of the problem at the live show was the same as the trouble at the stadium: the issue was that the catalog data for the park’s equipment was very old. The output of the amps on the stage was a little less than stated, and they couldn’t get the numbers you’d expect from new speakers. There was an average of four speakers at each point around the stage, so if you shut off one speaker in each point, the problem went away.
Sorry. I’m getting a little technical. The point is, I just went to each location and unplugged one, and that had solved the problem. Whenever I notice trouble like that (and I don’t have anything else to do), I like to walk around solving problems. I could have just told Dornell-senpai, “This is the problem!” but my lack of self-confidence held me back. That’s why they’re still having sound problems.
And as for Tricen-senpai’s PV... The truth is, Tricen-senpai sometimes asks me for help and gives me access to the park’s servers. You know, he says, “What do you think of this video? The password is amaburi,” and things like that. I think he forgot we had that exchange (which is also a huge problem in its way...).
But thanks(?) to that, I was given a chance to view the (as yet unreleased) PV he had made. It really was pretty bad. And so, even knowing that it was against company rules, I made a few modifications. I salvaged the earlier video data that Tricen-senpai had saved, and edited it myself.
I knew it wasn’t a good thing to do, but I also thought it was necessary. Of course, that meant I couldn’t tell anyone. It was just another thing I pretended to know nothing about, and I feel really bad about it.
So with one thing and another, at some point, rumors about a “fairy” had started spreading around the park... After that, there was no turning back. I just had to hide it and try to ride it out. I’m sorry.