Next Door - Open World Chapter 2
Oct. 28th, 2020 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shivalriesSeason: Summer
---
[Cafe COCHI]
Tsukasa: Well, that's indeed what happened.
I could not leave the situation to fester, so, sword in hand, I made haste to capture Leo-san and secure complete control of his schedule.
Arashi: Overprotective much? But I kind of get why you'd feel that way. I thought we might need something like that too.
Tsukasa: Right. He might be taking some distance from us, but Leo-san's actions affect us all.
To be quite honest, we simply cannot have him gallivanting about so recklessly. I can't tell what drawbacks this would have for both Leo-san and us, his comrades.
This really has been left alone for far too long.
Last year, Leo-san seemed to have such a difficult time after returning to Knights, and yet I made the selfish decision to stop him and drag him back onstage—
So now that he's graduated and passed on the crown, I thought to let him have his freedom.
But I was the fool for leaving him unchecked.
From now on, I shall reject his desire for freedom, ignore any of his protests, and have him obey my every last order.
Arashi: Geez, it's barely been a few minutes since you said we're equal like the knights of the round table.
Tsukasa: ...Well, it was but a jest. Leo-san seemed highly averse to the idea, after all, and even I would not deign to control someone like that.
Besides, strictly speaking, Leo-san technically hasn't done anything wrong.
He was simply a villain's unfortunate tool... I feel it'd be too cruel to place all the blame on him and deprive him of the freedom which should be guaranteed to everyone.
The punishment simply does not match the crime.
Ritsu: But then, what are we gonna do?
We can't let Tsukipi~ run loose, nor can we control his life... But we can't just do nothing, either.
Tsukasa: Precisely. Leo-san's problems are Knights' problems. I wish to solve them with all our combined efforts.
Our Yumenosaki conquest has been in the works since spring; for better or for worse, it is now largely complete.
We have some breathing room, and the monetary support gained via Double Face has allowed our agency to recover somewhat.
There must be something we can do.
The Producer Association can now forcibly intervene in our affairs, so I'd hoped that we could leave Leo-san's management in the hands of someone trustworthy there.
Ritsu: Well, Anzu would definitely be the person for the job. I'm sure Tsukipi~ would play nice with her, too.
But since the association is supposed to be a neutral party, it might be hard to get that set up.
Anzu might agree to it, but I dunno about everyone else. Besides, if the Producer Association loses its original meaning, that would spell trouble for every idol affiliated with ES.
It's supposed to serve as our unbiased referee, but if that goes away, then the only thing waiting for us is a merciless war, ending in the survival of the fittest.
Tsukasa: Most likely, yes... War is easy to start, but exceedingly difficult to end.
And the ones whose role it is to end wars—our arbitrators in the Producer Association—need to retain their significance and impartiality.
Ritsu: We're like the United Nations.
We can leave the recovery of NewDi to the producers—as it's on the verge of collapse, this would simply mean turning a negative back to zero.
They would never allow, nor are they able to, conspire with NewDi to take down, I dunno... CosPro, for example.
Plus, if Anzu were to start acting like a personal manager for any one idol, that might throw a wrench in the association's neutrality.
We'd see people accusing them of playing favorites and backing only certain agencies and idols.
Tsukasa: Right. And after all, this is very much Leo-san's personal matter.
It may be difficult to seek aid from Onee-sa— Anzu-san, who now holds an important position in the association. That would certainly draw some sharp gazes from the other agencies.
Arashi: Yeah... Anzu-chan doesn't seem very good at working in those sorts of organizations, by any standard.
That was probably the case with Double Face, too.
Mama was always trying to make it alone, but Anzu-chan wanted to put him in a unit—
So in exchange for listening to her selfish request, apparently he made some pretty unreasonable demands.
I watched that Marble Cast show that Double Face debuted on, but...
After getting a little glimpse of what was going on behind that, things started to fall into place.
If my guess is right, then it's impossible that Anzu-chan approved everything that went on there, no matter how you look at it.
She must've thought it was a little fishy, like Mama had her deftly wrapped up in his schemes.
And yet, as a producer—no, as a girl who really likes Mama, she did as she was asked.
...Though I wouldn't know how true that is without asking Anzu-chan herself.
That girl can work miracles on occasion, but most of the time you just can't leave her alone.
Tsukasa: Fufu, is this about her and Trickstar?
Let's talk about us Knights for now...
...About our former king, who has stepped down from the throne into the wilds, and yet still has an enormous presence that none can ignore.
...At long last, we are within arm's reach of the aspirations we have been building toward all this time. We must proceed with caution.
We may have stumbled over an unexpected obstacle, but let us move forward, elegantly cleaning up our problems as we always do.
(Or so I say, but... what do we do? We can't even begin solving this if we don't find Leo-san, but the problem lies in what comes after.)
(I summoned Sena-senpai in a rush, as I believe Leo-san would listen to anything he says...)
(But based on that call earlier, it seems it will be a while before he arrives.)
(We'll have to do the best we can by ourselves until then.)
(After all, we should have arrived at a future that allows all of us to be happy, without having to cut anything away from ourselves.)
(I don't want it to be a pipe dream—just a little fairy tale.)
(I wish to repay the trust and love that was given to me. On this crown that has been entrusted to my very soul, I swear I shall face this hardship with all that I am.)
---
T/N: Tsukasa's "sword in hand" is metaphorical, but he used an expression with swords in the Japanese, which I thought was adorable...
---
< Open World Chapter 1 || Masterlist || Open World Chapter 3 >
---
[Cafe COCHI]
Tsukasa: Well, that's indeed what happened.
I could not leave the situation to fester, so, sword in hand, I made haste to capture Leo-san and secure complete control of his schedule.
Arashi: Overprotective much? But I kind of get why you'd feel that way. I thought we might need something like that too.
Tsukasa: Right. He might be taking some distance from us, but Leo-san's actions affect us all.
To be quite honest, we simply cannot have him gallivanting about so recklessly. I can't tell what drawbacks this would have for both Leo-san and us, his comrades.
This really has been left alone for far too long.
Last year, Leo-san seemed to have such a difficult time after returning to Knights, and yet I made the selfish decision to stop him and drag him back onstage—
So now that he's graduated and passed on the crown, I thought to let him have his freedom.
But I was the fool for leaving him unchecked.
From now on, I shall reject his desire for freedom, ignore any of his protests, and have him obey my every last order.
Arashi: Geez, it's barely been a few minutes since you said we're equal like the knights of the round table.
Tsukasa: ...Well, it was but a jest. Leo-san seemed highly averse to the idea, after all, and even I would not deign to control someone like that.
Besides, strictly speaking, Leo-san technically hasn't done anything wrong.
He was simply a villain's unfortunate tool... I feel it'd be too cruel to place all the blame on him and deprive him of the freedom which should be guaranteed to everyone.
The punishment simply does not match the crime.
Ritsu: But then, what are we gonna do?
We can't let Tsukipi~ run loose, nor can we control his life... But we can't just do nothing, either.
Tsukasa: Precisely. Leo-san's problems are Knights' problems. I wish to solve them with all our combined efforts.
Our Yumenosaki conquest has been in the works since spring; for better or for worse, it is now largely complete.
We have some breathing room, and the monetary support gained via Double Face has allowed our agency to recover somewhat.
There must be something we can do.
The Producer Association can now forcibly intervene in our affairs, so I'd hoped that we could leave Leo-san's management in the hands of someone trustworthy there.
Ritsu: Well, Anzu would definitely be the person for the job. I'm sure Tsukipi~ would play nice with her, too.
But since the association is supposed to be a neutral party, it might be hard to get that set up.
Anzu might agree to it, but I dunno about everyone else. Besides, if the Producer Association loses its original meaning, that would spell trouble for every idol affiliated with ES.
It's supposed to serve as our unbiased referee, but if that goes away, then the only thing waiting for us is a merciless war, ending in the survival of the fittest.
Tsukasa: Most likely, yes... War is easy to start, but exceedingly difficult to end.
And the ones whose role it is to end wars—our arbitrators in the Producer Association—need to retain their significance and impartiality.
Ritsu: We're like the United Nations.
We can leave the recovery of NewDi to the producers—as it's on the verge of collapse, this would simply mean turning a negative back to zero.
They would never allow, nor are they able to, conspire with NewDi to take down, I dunno... CosPro, for example.
Plus, if Anzu were to start acting like a personal manager for any one idol, that might throw a wrench in the association's neutrality.
We'd see people accusing them of playing favorites and backing only certain agencies and idols.
Tsukasa: Right. And after all, this is very much Leo-san's personal matter.
It may be difficult to seek aid from Onee-sa— Anzu-san, who now holds an important position in the association. That would certainly draw some sharp gazes from the other agencies.
Arashi: Yeah... Anzu-chan doesn't seem very good at working in those sorts of organizations, by any standard.
That was probably the case with Double Face, too.
Mama was always trying to make it alone, but Anzu-chan wanted to put him in a unit—
So in exchange for listening to her selfish request, apparently he made some pretty unreasonable demands.
I watched that Marble Cast show that Double Face debuted on, but...
After getting a little glimpse of what was going on behind that, things started to fall into place.
If my guess is right, then it's impossible that Anzu-chan approved everything that went on there, no matter how you look at it.
She must've thought it was a little fishy, like Mama had her deftly wrapped up in his schemes.
And yet, as a producer—no, as a girl who really likes Mama, she did as she was asked.
...Though I wouldn't know how true that is without asking Anzu-chan herself.
That girl can work miracles on occasion, but most of the time you just can't leave her alone.
Tsukasa: Fufu, is this about her and Trickstar?
Let's talk about us Knights for now...
...About our former king, who has stepped down from the throne into the wilds, and yet still has an enormous presence that none can ignore.
...At long last, we are within arm's reach of the aspirations we have been building toward all this time. We must proceed with caution.
We may have stumbled over an unexpected obstacle, but let us move forward, elegantly cleaning up our problems as we always do.
(Or so I say, but... what do we do? We can't even begin solving this if we don't find Leo-san, but the problem lies in what comes after.)
(I summoned Sena-senpai in a rush, as I believe Leo-san would listen to anything he says...)
(But based on that call earlier, it seems it will be a while before he arrives.)
(We'll have to do the best we can by ourselves until then.)
(After all, we should have arrived at a future that allows all of us to be happy, without having to cut anything away from ourselves.)
(I don't want it to be a pipe dream—just a little fairy tale.)
(I wish to repay the trust and love that was given to me. On this crown that has been entrusted to my very soul, I swear I shall face this hardship with all that I am.)
---
T/N: Tsukasa's "sword in hand" is metaphorical, but he used an expression with swords in the Japanese, which I thought was adorable...
---
< Open World Chapter 1 || Masterlist || Open World Chapter 3 >
