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Fairytale Beginning
From the rooftop, dozens of stories high, the cars and people on the ground are like specks of dust.
- Voice on the Phone
We've strengthened security around your home, Miss Nyamu. Until the situation is under control, please refrain from going out if at all possible.
- Voice on the Phone
With the kidnapper still at large, the agency prefers you scale back your activities for the time being out of safety concerns.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Scale back my activities...?
- Voice on the Phone
Just temporarily. We're sifting through new prospective partners to ensure your absolute safety.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
But my fans...
- Voice on the Phone
Miss Nyamu, you are now one of Lungmen's biggest stars. You need to recognize your own popularity a bit more.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
But...!
- Voice on the Phone
Use this time to get some well-deserved rest, or do something you enjoy.
- Voice on the Phone
—Just stay put.
- Voice on the Phone
I'm going to hang up now. The L.G.D. wants to talk with us again.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Stay put, stay home, huh...?
Nyamu looks around her home—
If it could even be called one.
The massive TV in the living room, which only ever has one viewer.
Someone comes to make the bed every day. It never looks anything but factory new.
Suddenly, something catches her eye.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Found you...
Perhaps it was not that she had forgotten them; perhaps she just did not want to look for them.
At some point, she chose to abandon them of her own accord.
A set of drumsticks, lying in a corner of the bookshelf.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
(Tapping drumsticks together) ...One, two, three, four.
- Nyamu Yūtenji
...Wow, that was awful.
- Wizened Voice
You let her go.
- Wizened Voice
You defied my orders.
- Umiri Yahata
I broke the terms of our contract this time. Here is the penalty fee.
Umiri pulls out a bag of gold coins, and places it on the table in front of her boss.
- Wizened Voice
...You're rejecting me.
- Umiri Yahata
I think it would be best if we stayed hirer and contractor.
- Umiri Yahata
I work better as a lone agent. If I want a partner, I have my bass.
- Wizened Voice
No. You want to go back to Francis and his people.
- Umiri Yahata
......
- Umiri Yahata
I've had quite a longstanding interest in their musical parties. Sorry, but I won't be taking a seat at your bigger-stakes table.
- Wizened Voice
Hahahaha... When did I ever say you'd have a seat?
- Wizened Voice
You've only ever been a chip.
- Umiri Yahata
—!
- Wizened Voice
And a chip not in the hand is worth nothing.
With those words, the door slams open, and Umiri finds herself surrounded by multiple burly brawlers.
Umiri turns back to look at the boss, and is greeted by the glinting end of a barrel.
The island is about to disappear into the distance.
- Uika Misumi
......
- Enthusiastic Boatman
What's wrong? You've been staring at the island this whole time.
- Uika Misumi
I thought I heard someone calling to me...
- Enthusiastic Boatman
Haha! Must be hearing things. Nothing in these waters except the sound of waves and fowl.
- Enthusiastic Boatman
(Glances) Lotta luggage there. Headed to the city to strike it rich?
- Uika Misumi
...I'm looking for someone.
- Enthusiastic Boatman
Ain't that the damnedest thing. You're not the first one to say that...
- Uika Misumi
What...?
- Enthusiastic Boatman
(Loudly) These waves are getting rough...
Above them, darkness has started to creep into the sky.
- Enthusiastic Boatman
(Even louder) Watch out... grab... railing...
But it is too late.
A wave crashes down on the deck, and sends seawater flooding into the cabins.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
Wrong... wrong... wrong!
- Mutsumi Wakaba
This guitar sounds... wrong.
But she knows why full well. A classical guitar could never make the sound of an electric.
- Mutsumi's Father
(Quietly) It's awful late, Mutsumi-chan. Won't you get some sleep?
- Mutsumi's Father
(Quietly) Look, at least just unlock the door...
- Mutsumi's Mother
(Quietly) We'll sit by your side and tell you bedtime stories, just like old times.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
...No.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
Not unless you tell me... where Saki went.
- Mutsumi's Mother
Well, we don't know either...
- Mutsumi's Mother
Maybe she went off and found her own happiness, somewhere else?
- Mutsumi Wakaba
...You're lying.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
Saki's not like that.
There is no response from outside the door.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
Saki won't change so easily. She wants me to return to Ave{@nbs}Mujica—
- Mutsumi's Mother
You mustn't change so easily either, Mutsumi-chan.
Somehow, Mutsumi's mother is standing behind her.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
—!
- Mutsumi's Mother
This isn't just your dream. It's ours too.
- Mutsumis
We are all Mutsumi.
- Mutsumis
This is our dream, together. Where we can all truly exist, where we all find happiness.
- Mutsumis
Mutsumi-chan, you don't need Sakiko. You only need us.
- Mutsumi Wakaba
No...
- Mutsumis
Let's be—together—forever—and ever—okay?
- Mutsumi Wakaba
No—!
- Sakiko Togawa
Ten minutes left...
- Children
Bye, Miss Iris! Bye, Miss Bena—
- Bena
Bye-bye, bye now!
- Bena
You be good children, just like you promised!
- Children
We will—
- Vigna
Iris, Bena, all set? In that case, let's—
- Sakiko Togawa
Wait!
- Iris
Miss Sakiko...?
- Iris
I thought you wouldn't come...
- Sakiko Togawa
*pant*... *pant*...
- Sakiko Togawa
Iris... the necklace...
- Iris
N-Necklace?
- Sakiko Togawa
In your left pocket—the necklace in the little box that keeps the nightmares away!
- Iris
What are you talking about, Miss Sakiko? I don't... what?
Iris reflexively reaches into her pocket, and is surprised to indeed find something in there.
- Iris
Sakiko... you don't actually have precognition, do you?
Center stage. Mutsumi lies in a pool of blood.
- Mother
My child! Oh, my child!
- Mother
Help her! Somebody!
- Director
What's wrong? Is she hurt?
- Female Lead
Poor girl! She's dead! How horrible!
- Male Lead
It's all a trick! She's not dead. How could she be dead?
- Other Actors
(Noisy chirping)
- Other Actors
(Excited chirping)
- ???
Cut!
- Morpheus
...You're an abysmal actor, Wolff.
- Wolff
Sorry. Acting's not my forte.
- Corettons
(Merry laughter)
- Morpheus
Oh, and you think YOU were any better?!
- Corettons
(Panicked crying)
- Morpheus
This won't do. I'm still short of actors... I need one more...
Morpheus stares daggers at the center of the stage. There, a blue-haired girl sits, eyes closed, but brow furrowed as ever in struggle.
- Corettons
(Dismayed chirping)
- Wolff
It's a Siracusan play. Caused quite the controversy, in its opening run.
- Morpheus
True and false, false and true, why does everyone tie themselves in knots over which is which?
- Morpheus
Human beings have too strong a need to know everything down to the core.
- Wolff
Perhaps, it's the very thing that makes them human.
- Morpheus
......
- Wolff
I'm sorry. I spoke out of line again.
- Morpheus
No... Wolff. You're fluent now.
- Wolff
Maybe it's all the rehearsals lately... Then again, maybe it's not the rehearsals, but the things I've been seeing. The sort of things that grow a heart a size or two.
- Morpheus
Can a woven creation have a 'heart'?
- Wolff
The books tell of a metal man who gained one. Perhaps I can too.
- Morpheus
Tut. Shouldn't have let you read so much... I liked your stuttering better.
- Iris
She has no 'heart' anymore?!
- Bena
I can patch her back up, but without a heart, she'll never leave this place again...
- Bena
You decide... decide Morpheus's fate.
- Morpheus
(Oh, Iris... oh, Bena...)
- Morpheus
......
- Morpheus
Alas. It would be better if you didn't talk.
- Morpheus
If only, if only, everyone was like me...
- ???
Morpheus. It's time we ended this farce of yours.
Upon the stage, where a doll slumbered, now a doll stands.
- Morpheus
What? Excuse me? How?
- Morpheus
This isn't right! No, how could you—
- Sakiko Togawa
I made myself clear. I will not be leaving my companions until I have awoken them.
- Morpheus
Well, I'll give you two choices—
- Morpheus
One! Get out of my sight, right now.
- Morpheus
Two! I trap you under layers and layers and LAYERS of dreams, and you stay lost in Limbo forever.
- Sakiko Togawa
I decline.
- Morpheus
You think you can—?!
Sakiko reaches into her pocket.
- Sakiko Togawa
(Yes. It's still there.)
Iris's necklace has accompanied her through layer after layer of dreams, and it has followed her here.
Now, she will save Ave{@nbs}Mujica. She will save everyone.
- Sakiko Togawa
Our bet is still on.
- Sakiko Togawa
In their dreams, I saw their innermost thoughts.
- Sakiko Togawa
Even as their wishes came true one by one, they found no happiness in it.
- Sakiko Togawa
They are no hypocrites for it. They are simply still in doubt.
- Sakiko Togawa
As the founder of Ave{@nbs}Mujica, I pledged to them that I would take responsibility for their lives.
- Sakiko Togawa
From the moment I uttered those words, our fates became inseparable...
- Sakiko Togawa
My role is to show the path to lost dolls. I will lead them through the fog, for I must.
Center stage, Sakiko Togawa stands. She casts her eye over her slumbering companions, then returns her gaze to Morpheus.
- Sakiko Togawa
They, and you... are no more than lost dolls.
- Sakiko Togawa
In the moonlight, the doll takes on a temporal life.
- Sakiko Togawa
Awaken—
- Morpheus
Stop her!
- Corettons
(Terrifying roar)
- Sakiko Togawa
This is our dream. Therefore, we are its Master.
- Sakiko Togawa
We will become as we want to be!
Sakiko Togawa slowly raises a hand, and her clothing begins to transform.
She recalls the Originium Arts she learned in her dream; the songs she wanted to write.
As she has practiced countless times before, she casts down a firm finger—
Upon a white piano key.
The note rings clear in every corner on and off the stage, and bids the threads holding up each doll fall slack.
No longer puppeted, they fall to the expanse of the stage one by one.
- Sakiko Togawa
Be assured that in the face of all your efforts, I can hardly rest on my own laurels.
- Sakiko Togawa
Despite all our hardships, we came back together and put on a masquerade that belonged to us, didn't we?
- Sakiko Togawa
I want to write a song—
- Sakiko Togawa
About our struggles, and the possibilities of the future.
- Sakiko Togawa
We are a band. Our destinies are one.
- Sakiko Togawa
This is my answer.
- Mutsumis
Put down the guitar, Mutsumi-chan.
- Mutsumis
You're our princess. We'll be by your side, whatever you do.
- Mutsumis
—Cover her ears!
- Mutsumi Wakaba
(Hugs guitar tightly)
- Mutsumi Wakaba
You're not me...
- Mutsumi Wakaba
I miss Saki...
- Mutsumi Wakaba
Somebody, help...
- ???
Honestly, what do I do with you?
The 'Mutsumis' throwing themselves at Mutsumi suddenly crash to the ground one by one, as if marionettes whose strings were cut.
- ???
I'm on your side, Mutsumi-chan. I'll listen to your deepest desire.
The fully-armed brawlers are closing in on Umiri.
- Wizened Voice
Time we put an end to this, Umiri...
- Wizened Voice
What? What's this song...?
- ???
AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
- Francis
Umiriiiii!
- Umiri Yahata
Francis...?! Where did you just drop in from?!
- Francis
Sakiko told us all about it! We're all just figments of your dream, ain't we?
- Umiri Yahata
Why would you go and believe her nonsense...
- Francis
No! Don't you see, everything makes sense now!
- Francis
We trusted you unconditionally because you made us!
- Francis
Now that I've accepted it, I feel so light, so free. Umiri, I could do ANYTHING right now!
- Umiri Yahata
......
- Francis
There isn't much time! You've gotta get outta this nightmare!
- Umiri Yahata
But how am I going to...?
- Francis
It's your dream! You've gotta know!
- Umiri Yahata
But once I leave, you're all going to...
- Francis
When'd you start getting so hung up on crap?
- Francis
Don't you worry! Me and my brothers, we'll think of you when we hold our parties!
- Umiri Yahata
...Got it!
- Francis
Go!
- Wizened Voice
Don't let her get away—!
Umiri grabs her bass guitar case by the handle, bends her knees and lowers her center of gravity—
- Umiri Yahata
I'm—outta here!
- Francis & Brothers
Umiri, our sister! Buon viaggio!
- Assistant
Miss Nyamu...!
A song that none of them have ever heard is blaring at maximum volume.
Yet there is nobody in the room.
- Assistant
Call the security firm!
- Flustered Guard
S-She started streaming!
- Assistant
...?
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Good morn-nyamu-nyamu, everyone! Nyamuchi here~!
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Your girl's soaring through the skies of Lungmen right now! Haha, and I've got a LOT of patrol cars behind me in hot pursuit!
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Whoooo! Feeling good!! Now this is one way to remember Nyamuchi the rest of your lives, huh?
- Nyamu Yūtenji
And if you do get to hold onto any memories, remember one thing—
- Nyamu Yūtenji
Nyamuchi is the drummer of Ave{@nbs}Mujica—Amoris!
- Uika Misumi
(My memories... they're fading, piece by piece...)
- Uika Misumi
(The last trace I had of her... it's being erased...)
- Uika Misumi
(That song... that song...)
- Uika Misumi
(A song of the soul...)
- Uika Misumi
(I say... you're mine... you're mine...)
- Uika Misumi
(Look... you're so close, yet still...)
- Uika Misumi
(Light...)
- Uika Misumi
(You're like light...)
- Uika Misumi
(You always had the power to make people gather around you, basking in your light and warmth...)
- Uika Misumi
(That's who you are... Saki-chan.)
Performing, shouting your heart out, again and again, never to stop.
- Sakiko Togawa
...I apologize.
- Sakiko Togawa
I apologize, for the countless times I've hurt you all.
- Sakiko Togawa
But here and now, I want to see you more than anyone—I want to see you as you really are.
- Sakiko Togawa
The destinies of Ave{@nbs}Mujica are one. I bear the weight of your lives on my shoulders, and so I will stake my life to protect you.
- Sakiko Togawa
I beg you... all of you, wake up.
Midnight. The twin moons hang high in the night sky. Now is the hour of the dolls' awakening.
- Sakiko Togawa
Let us commence the world of Ave{@nbs}Mujica anew.
