Episode 5: "The Lovely Ocean"
Yo Kuronaka
"Geez. Didn't think anywhere could look worse than the town, but it looks like a bomb went off in here."
The inside of the Lovely Ocean indeed had seen better days.
The floor was a sea of broken chairs and tables. Not even the bar had escaped, having been broken in twain.
The fluorescent light bulbs that hung high above them were all smashed in, their light long gone, while the walls were a ghost of peeling wallpaper.
Toward the side was what remained of a Japanese-themed area.
The tatami mats had been torn out, the folding screens' frames were all broken into several pieces, and the once lovely kotatsus they were furnished with had all of their legs destroyed.
Tsuruko Semba
"Do you think something happened to Kazuki and the others?"
Tsuruko's face was a show of pure worry, her eyes searching around for any sign of Kazuki.
They found none.
Tsuki Iroha
"Hellooo! If you're here, Kazuki, say something!"
Tsuki yelled, her voice echoing through the empty building.
A reply came, but it wasn't Kazuki.
Cat
"Meow."
Tsuruko Semba
"Oh! A kitty!"
A grey cat peered at them, approaching from within one of the broken-down kotatsu.
It seemed rather comfortable and used to the company as it nonchalantly trotted toward the group, sitting before them and licking its paw.
Tsuruko Semba
"Aww! He's such a cutie! You're so cute and fluffy. Surely you don't mind if I pet you real quick?
Tsuki Iroha
"Heh. That little white patch on your head almost looks like a baseball cap.
Heehee. Would you want to play XB with us?"
Tsuki and Tsuruko were entranced once the cat entered the picture.
The smiles on their faces almost reached their ears, wide as could be as they pet the soft fur of the now loafing cat.
Their worry over Kazuki was briefly forgotten as they cooed over the little creature.
Tsuki Iroha
"W-Wait! This is no time to get distracted! Hey, Mister Kitty, do you know where Kazuki and the others are?"
Cat
"Meow!"
The cat meowed back.
Next thing they heard was a set of footsteps resounding deep within the restaurant.
Kazuki Aoyama
"So you're the ones making all that noise."
Koishi Kohinata
"You made it here! That's great!"
Kazuki and Koishi appeared before them.
Thankfully, the both of them seemed safe, showing no signs of injuries.
And like everyone else, they also boasted mysterious numbers above their heads.
Kazuki's being 1,170 while Koishi's was 860.
The meaning of the numbers, however, still eluded them...
Tsuki Iroha
"Kazuki! Koishi! We finally found you!"
Yo Kuronaka
"Were you here this whole time? Why didn't you come out when we came in?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"We had no way of knowing that it was you all who'd made it here. It pays to be cautious and not showing ourselves immediately was a way to look out for our safety."
Yutaka Gotanda
"Heh. Same Kazuki as always."
Yutaka couldn't help the smile that formed across his lips. Kazuki's familiar bite was welcome these days.
Kazuki Aoyama
"Long time no see, Gotanda. Didn'texpect you to be playing babysitter, but I appreciate it."
Koishi Kohinata
"Umm... Who are you?"
Right. Koishi hadn't met Yutaka before.
Yutaka Gotanda
"My apologies—I should've introduced myself right away. I'm Yutaka Gotanda. Let me give you my business card."
Kazuki Aoyama
"Let's not get carried away here. I know you business people like playing the long game, but time is of the essence here. You can look for the card later."
Kazuki stepped in to cut Yutaka short. The latter looked back at him, stopping himself midway from reaching for a business card.
Yutaka Gotanda
"Right you are. So, why don't we begin with a debrief of the current situation?"
Yutaka pushed his glasses with one elegant finger, eyes sharp behind the lenses. They narrowed.
Yutaka Gotanda
"I'd particularly like to know where the rest of the Minato Tribe is. Not to mention the mess this city's become now. What in the world happened here?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"Trust me, I wanna know just as much. This is how Koishi and I found things."
Kazuki's gaze shifted, falling on the little furry friend lounging on the floor.
Kazuki Aoyama
"What I can tell you is this little guy's name. He's Nekomaru. The only member of the Minato Tribe that's left. I've tried reaching out to everyone else, but I lost their contact information."
Nekomaru
"Meow..."
Tsuki gave the cat a gentle stroke between the ears as it let out a soft cry.
She probably sympathized, also being separated from her teammates.
Yutaka Gotanda
"I see. I suppose there's not much to do without their contact information."
Much as concern plagued them all, the matter would have to be shelved until later. The Minato Tribe would have to wait.
Yo Kuronaka
"That aside... You said you found Sui, right?"
That was why Yo and the others had come to Minato City, after all. They were chasing Kazuki's lead.
Though Zero had blocked their communication over NINE, he couldn't stop them from hearing the details in person.
Tsuki Iroha
"Where is he?! Is he okay?!"
Koishi Kohinata
"I...guess you can say he's okay."
Kazuki Aoyama
"Too okay, if you ask me."
Koishi and Kazuki both cast their eyes away from the group, awkwardly staring at the floor rather than them.
Tsuki Iroha
"Wha... What does that mean?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"Let's start at the beginning. Have you memorized the governing rules yet? So... Tell me, 'Who is the King?'"
Tsuruko Semba
"Huh? What does that mean?"
Tsuruko's confusion was etched on her face, confused as to Kazuki's words, recited as evenly as one might recite a spell. And then...
Yo Kuronaka
"Wait, are these... ranks?"
A massive screen appeared before them.
On said screen were inscribed many names, accompanied by numbers.
As Yo walked up to it, the names scrolled upward until they landed on his name.
71,097 — Yo Kuronaka — Commoner
He understood the number being his rank, but the 'Commoner' part confused him.
Just as he thought on it, the screen disappeared, taking away the commoner label with it.
Kazuki Aoyama
"You should have the rules already memorized, but—"
Tsuki Iroha
"Wait, wait, wait! We don't know anything about any rules yet!"
Tsuki stopped Kazuki, who was all but ready to launch into an explanation under the assumption that everyone had information they were lacking.
Koishi Kohinata
"Huh? Didn't you see the app on your phones when you arrived? It should've explained everything pretty clearly..."
Tsuki Iroha
"Oh! You're right! We totally forgot to open it, so we didn't see anything."
They swiftly moved to open the app up, finding within it a video titled 'The Governing Rules of Minato City!'.
Their earlier concern at the state of the city had distracted them. They'd completely overlooked the app.
Kazuki Aoyama
"I'm frankly shocked you made it through the city without even checking it out. You're lucky you made it here in one piece."
Tsuki Iroha
"Well, we got a little carried away..."
Tsuki mumbled out an excuse in response to Kazuki's cutting remark.
Tsuruko Semba
"Welp! No use crying over spilt milk! Let's just watch the video now and get the lowdown on the rules."
Kazuki Aoyama
"Wait, don't. That thing's annoyingly long—probably on purpose. It'll be quicker if I just summarize."
Kazuki looked deeply annoyed as he begun his explanation.
Kazuki Aoyama
"To start, the name of this city's governing rules is 'Minato Rankingdom.'
To put it in simple terms, the city operated under a ranking system. You're given one the moment you set foot in the city's perimeter.
When you want to see the current rankings, all you have to do is say, 'Who is the King?' and they'll pop right up."
Having said those words, the ranking screen appeared yet again.
As Yo stood in front of the screen, it yet again scrolled until it stopped at his name.
71,097 — Yo Kuronaka — Commoner
Kazuki Aoyama
"The number to your left is your position while the label to your right is your rank.
There's four ranks total: King, Noble, Commoner, and Beggar. And, of course, as there is only one, the King is the ruler."
Yo's rank was that of a Commoner, then.
In fact, most of the names in the ranking list had the Commoner label attached to them.
So the majority of the player base were commoners, then.
Kazuki Aoyama
"But, being realistic, there's really only three ranks. Beggars are all effectively ran out."
Tsuki Iroha
"As in they have to leave the city?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"Did you already forget? The governing rules are no mere game. It's a battle for survival. Those who rank as Beggars are...eliminated after a few minutes."
Tsuruko Semba
"No..."
Yutaka Gotanda
"I see the rules here are no less barbaric than the ones in Shinagawa City."
No sooner were those words said was the group reminded of the cruel way in which the Shinagawa Princess Hotel's Manager had been savagely dispatched.
And a game just as brutal was taking place here.
Yo Kuronaka
"So... How are ranks decided?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"They're based on your dominance—the power to subjugate others by any means necessary. Whether that's your social status, your abilities, personal connections, what accessories you wear, etc... All of that is taken into account to calculate your dominance power."
Tsuki Iroha
"Oh, so that's the number above our heads."
Tsuki raised her eyes skyward, looking at the number floating right above her head.
Kazuki Aoyama
"Right. That's your dominance power. Whether you're envious of others, or others are of you; whether you long to be someone else, or are the person everyone strives to be like.
The app measures all of those things, your dominance going up or down accordingly."
Yutaka Gotanda
"Is that really something that a machine can calculate? Is this a new AI or something?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"I wondered the same, but Zero's abilities go well beyond what we imagined.
He takes information such as your looks, popularity, whether you own any luxurious belongings, among other probable things, and through a comprehensive measure of the data produces a number."
Koishi Kohinata
"That's probably how he calculates everyone's starting dominance."
It was hard to believe in something as vague as dominance being quantifiable that way, but whenever Zero entered the picture, logic seemed to always go out the window.
Tsuruko Semba
"But that would mean you're safe as long as you're a Commoner, right?"
Koishi Kohinata
"Not really. Your number will decrease slowly if you don't do anything."
Yutaka Gotanda
"And why would that happen? Do the numbers get reassigned to someone else?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"It's more that you can't really go through life without interacting with someone.
Even if you bought something to eat without talking to anyone directly, there are still people involved in preparing your food.
But it's not as simple as 'you order something, you lose points' and 'you prepare food, you earn them.' It works more like this..."
Kazuki prompted everyone to look at the rankings again. Yo's position, previously being 71,097, had now fallen to 71,156.
Kazuki Aoyama
"Even if you choose to ignore it, you will eventually have to flee for your own safety. Real annoying, huh?"
Koishi Kohinata
"So everyone always goes around engaging in small interactions to assert their dominance."
Then that was what the two girls Yo met were trying to do earlier. They were trying to assert their dominance and take points from them.
How far down would his rank have gone down if Yutaka hadn't stepped in?
Kazuki Aoyama
"Am I forgetting anything...? Oh, right. One more thing. You have to challenge the King directly if you want to become King yourself, but you must be of Noble rank to even do that.
A Commoner couldn't possibly hope to become the King, so even trying will just net you a massive decrease in dominance."
Yutaka Gotanda
"That certainly stacks the deck in the King's favor."
Kazuki Aoyama
"I know, but I guess it's not too different from a normal monarchy. Declaring a challenge beyond one's social status could easily result in punishment."
Yo Kuronaka
"That's the game they're playing. Just another one-sided affair meant to put us down."
Shinagawa City's governing rules had been much the same way. Suck-up☆Layoff☆Survive had been anything but fair.
One person at the top held the overwhelming advantage over the rest. Not much more different than a proper monarchy.
Kazuki Aoyama
"Participating in this worthless game would lose us more than we earn, so we decided to hide here. Away from pointless disputes."
Koishi Kohinata
"All while we're gathering information around the city. But our dominance has been dropping still since we came here..."
Kazuki Aoyama
"So it's about time for us to make our move, so you guys got here at just the perfect time."
Kazuki's quick briefing had brought the group up to speed.
The situation was not only dire, but it was deteriorating little by little.
There would be no way out of this competition for dominance. They'd have to participate in the Minato Rankingdom.
They would need to figure out a way to come out on top of this rigged game.
Yet, more important than that...
Tsuki Iroha
"But tell us about Sui! You said he was okay, didn't you?!"
More than the game, the only thing that mattered to Yo and Tsuki now was Sui.
It didn't bode well that Kazuki and Koishi had danced around the issue earlier.
Koishi Kohinata
"We... We found him. While we were out doing recon."
Koishi's tone of voice was cautious.
Tsuki Iroha
"Then why isn't he here? He's our teammate! You guys should've brought him back!"
Kazuki Aoyama
"...I think it'll be easier if you take a look at the rankings yourself."
Tsuki Iroha
"What? Um, okay. Who is the King?"
Tsuki scrolled through the rankings. Eventually, she came across the name she was looking for. And its rank...
1 — Sui Yakumo — King
Sui Yakumo...
Tsuki Iroha
"What?! Sui is the King?! How?! That's so cool!"
Seeing Sui's name brought a sense of confused joy to Tsuki.
And it was all Yo could do to stop the tears from coming.
Sui was alive. A weight lifted from them, their legs giving way underneath. And that also meant...
Yo Kuronaka
"With Sui as the King, we'll bring the Minato Rankingdom down in no time!"
The King was the one at the top. In this game, no one held the power that he did.
But with the King on their side? Victory was all but assured.
This was it. The break they'd wanted. Everything seemed worth it, now. The pain and suffering...
Yet Kazuki and Koishi didn't share in that. Their expressions shared none of the relief, instead remaining stern.
Kazuki Aoyama
"...I wish I could be happy about this, but it's just the opposite."
Tsuki Iroha
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Tsuki's confusion was palpable.
Kazuki Aoyama
"Well... He's the tyrant currently holding Minato City under his thumb."
Yo Kuronaka
"Wha— What are you talking about?"
Kazuki Aoyama
"The truth, Yo. When we found him, he was in the middle of executing a group of people who'd challenged the King for his throne."
Tsuki Iroha
"No way..."
The air left Yo and Tsuki's lungs.
Sui was killing people. It must've been a cruel prank, right? Sui wasn't perfect, but he was no killer...
Tsuruko Semba
"Are you sure it was him and not someone else?"
Koishi Kohinata
"I... guess it's possible? We didn't get a clear look at his face, but his physique matched Sui's."
Kazuki Aoyama
"His is not a common name, either. Plus, why would someone pretend to be him?"
The name that sat atop the ranks was Kazuki and Koishi's undeniable witness.
All the facts pointed to a foregone conclusion. Sui was the King.
Tsuki, however, was not convinced.
Tsuki Iroha
"You're lying! Sui's not a murderer! It has to be an impostor!"
Kazuki Aoyama
"You could be right, yeah, but we have no real way of knowing that."
Tsuki Iroha
"Then... Then I'll do it! I'll go confirm with my own two eyes that it's not Sui!"
Kazuki Aoyama
"And put yourself in unneeded danger? Did you forget we all here are Commoners? If we challenge him, or he challenges us, chances are we'll have to flee. If we want to stay alive."
After all, only a Noble could challenge the King.
As long as that rule stood, even approaching the King would be too risky for Yo and the rest.
Tsuki Iroha
"But... I still want to see him. That can't be Sui. It has to be an impostor..."
Kazuki Aoyama
"What do you think, Yo? Think he's an impostor?"
Kazuki shifted the conversation away from Tsuki and toward Yo.
And truth be told, how could he answer? He could barely remember anything having to do with Sui.
What little memories he held of him were the few hours they'd spent aboard that fortress in the sky.
Yo Kuronaka
"I... still don't have all my memories back. But I believe that there's something there, between me and him, that I just haven't remembered yet. Something that tells me he couldn't do that."
He couldn't remember much, but he still somehow knew that Sui was a good person. He wasn't a killer.
Scant few memories as he had, he at least understood that much.
Yo Kuronaka
"I don't believe Sui is a killer. That King has to be an impostor, and I'm going to go confirm it."
Tsuki Iroha
"Yo..."
Kazuki Aoyama
"Hah... Guess memories can be overrated."
Yo's response was clearly not what Kazuki was expecting. He scratched his head, shocked.
Kazuki Aoyama
"All right, I get it. We can go and see him, but we'll keep our distance, okay? You can make a decision after that. We clear?"
Yo Kuronaka
"Crystal. It should be fine, right, Tsuki?"
Tsuki Iroha
"Yeah..."
Kazuki Aoyama
"It's settled, then. Last we saw Sui, he was at Azabu 11. Might as well start there."
