Magical Astral Investigations Zero (Quest): Episode 1: Monochrome Maze

So, last name Hayabusa? Means Falcon in Japanese.

I look her in the eye. “It was Captain Falcon, right?”

“I know you were named after our school mascot, but even that’s a little much.”

“A little much what?”

“Admiration. Too much can lead you astray, Kotori,” she places a hand on my shoulder. “Make sure you don’t fall into the wrong crowd, okay?”

“Wrong crowd? What are you talking about?”

“It’s better if you don’t know,” she gives me a nice smile. Oh, right, what was my friend’s name again. “...” I scrunch my face up so much that I’m hardly able to see.

“Uh, Kotori? Ms.Hayabusa?”

I’m now a few inches from her face. Inspection in progress. I slide my eyes up and down her slim figure. “Your name…” I start mumbling while doing my best to pay her red face any mind. “Ah, I think I remember now. It’s Black Shadow!”

“No, you idiot! It’s Kuromiya Tsukino!”

She flicks me straight on the nose!

“Owww, what was that for?”

“You really have to ask?”

“Yes, yes I have to ask!” I pet my delicate nose. “What are you doing to your superior?”

“‘Superior’?” she gives this condescending smile. “I don’t remember being below you.”

“Of course you don’t,” I frown. “You never come to practice.”

“Uh,” now Kuro’s face locks up. “T-that’s because I have other obligations!”

“Striving after a destined to fail career as an idol doesn’t count as ‘other obligations’,” I wiggle my finger in front of her face. “It counts as being irresponsible.”

“Don’t say that! I really have a shot!... HEY, wait, why are you throwing my future under the bus?” she’s biting her lip. “What about you? What are YOU going to do after school? I bet you haven’t even started looking into it.”

>”I’ll play sports professionally!”
>”I’ll mooch off of you if you get successful!”
>”A typical nine-to-five! I’m as down to earth as they come.”
>”Your manager.”
>”College!”
>Custom

Seconding

...

>”College!”
Getting a degree or getting partying works well.

>custom I'll draw cars and PUNCH my enemies!

>>”College!”

“I plan on going to college!”

“How do you intend to pay for that?”

“Grants and scholarships!” I grin. “My grades are high enough, and I already got some offers.”

“W-what?” I have a feeling Kuro took me for more of an idiot than I let on. “That’s good. Actually, I’m happy for you… but do you have any back-up plans?”

“I could draw really fast cars then punch my enemies!”

“What do those have to do with each other?”

“I was thinking I could race a car. Like those drag racers.”

“Do you even know the first thing about cars?”

“Uh, they have engines. And they’re loud sometimes. Oh, right, and they make a lot of smoke.”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Okay, what do you know about idols then?”

“Idols? Let’s see… purity is key. You have to be willing to put on a smile even if you have no reason to smile yourself. It's all about appealing to the people through the media," Kuro places a hand to her chin. “You might have to sell away a majority of your time, and walk a fine line, but I feel like I’d have no problem doing that.”

“Why?”

“I don’t have much to live for anyway,” she shrugs. “Ah!” then she throws her hands on the back of the driver’s seat. “Mom, we’re here! Right there! Find a parking place! Quick! Quick!”
________________________

We get out at the Silver Dome. It’s a large construct on the outskirts of Tatsutato that hosts all sorts of big events. It’s been seeing a lot of use as of late since it’s in the middle of summer. My friend here asked me to go to an idol concert with her. I feel like it was her own way of apologizing for being a no-show. I honestly didn’t care much, just hassling her is part of my job as her best friend.

Kuro’s mother doesn’t have any interest in the program, so she’s literally going to sit in the car til the concert is over. I admire her resolve if she can pull through that.

Plenty of people walk from their cars to the entrance to the dome. Most of them are men, which seems to be the target demographic when it comes to this idol thing. There’s a mixture of teenagers and adults dispersed all throughout.

Then there are people like my friend.

“Everday in my lifeeee~ My sunshinnnne!”

She’s snging some cheesy idol song. Doubt it’s hers, so it’s probably Aiko Sasaki’s. “Is this what fans do to those they admire? Sing in praise? Might as well be a cult,” I place my hands in my pocket.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she throws a glare back at me. “You don’t have taste in music.”

“I do.”

“Okay, what do you like?”

>The usual stuff. I think.
>J-pop and metal!
>Wall noise.
>Tibetan throat singing.
>Custom

>J-pop and metal!

>>J-pop and metal!

>>Custom
Classical/orchestral

>Custom
>Electro Swing

youtube.com/watch?v=qb8ToOlkRjI

“J-pop, metal, orchestral, electro swing, and classical. With you constantly hammering it into my head, it’s kind of hard not to get into it,” I adjust my hoodie while we walk.

“Haven’t heard of one of those, but talk about conflicting taste,” Kuro takes a step forward, then pivots to face me, “Why are you wearing that?”

“Because I like it,” I move my fingers around in the single pocket. “What?”

“It’s 31 degrees out here! Take that off!”

“But I’m cozy.”

“Heatstroke!”

“Okay, don’t scream!” I do as she says. The hoodie goes from my upper body to tied around my waist.

“Now our tickets,” Kuro fiddles around in her pocket. She pulls out what she’s looking for. “We’re good. I didn’t lose them.”

“You stripped mine away just after you gave it to me,” I laugh. “You don’t trust me at all.”

“Of course I don’t, not when it comes to things like this,” she grips the tickets tightly as she steps into the back of the line. “Now we wait!”

…
… …
… … …

After at least twenty minutes of waiting in line, we make it into the Silver Dome. With all the people running around and screaming, you’d be lucky to come out of this with at least one functioning ear. “Are you guys always like this?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t we be? This is a meetup of people who all love the same thing. This is the sound of our praise!”

“Cult.”

“Oh, shut up,” Kuro elbows me in the side. “There’s nothing stopping you from getting into it too.”

“Yeah there is.”

“What?”

“Indoctrination,” I say that and Kuro gives me another good blow with her arm. Okay, message received. Joke went a little too far. “Okay, sorry.”

“Glad you apologized.”

“Right,” I look around at the dome of idol fanatics. The more I look, the more claustrophobic I get.

>Go get something to eat and drink
>Take a walk around, the concert won’t start for a while
>Stick with Kuro.
>Custom

>Caravan Palace

>Go get something to eat and drink

Stick with kuro

>Something to drink
>Stick with Kuro
And another vote from someone who can't post is: >Stick with Kuro AND look around (with her) if possible

>Go get something to eat and drink

Part of me wants to stick with Kuro. Another part of me, mainly my stomach, needs something inside of it. “Hey, Kuro, I’m going to go get something to eat. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“You’re just going to up and leave already?”

“Did you not hear me? I said I’d be right back,” I pat her on the shoulder.

“... I better go with you,” she sighs. “You’ll probably get lost.”

“You don’t have to look after me all the time.”

“No, not probably, you WILL get lost.”

“Kuro, listen to me.”

“No,” she takes me by the hand. “Let’s go.”

No way am I going to beat her when she’s like this. “I could go for some noodles.”

“What kind of dome sells noodles? The best you’re going to get is something like a hotdog or a burger.”

“I saw a vending machine outside that had cupped ramen.”

“I forgot those existed,” Kuro blinks. “But isn’t that too far away? Settle for something inside.”

“Alright,” I concede to my friend’s whim. The two of us end up grabbing some fast food closer to the ‘top’ of the dome. It’s got a nice view of the stage, but the sea of people from us all the way to the bottom make it feel really far away.

We’re sitting on some nice stools, waiting for the concert to start. “I feel bad that I sorta made you leave a nicer view.”

“We’re together, so it’s fine.”

“Fine?” I take a bite of my hotdog. “If you say so.”

“What? Is what I said weird?”

“No, it’s okay. Just seems strange that you’d settle for this view.”

“... I wouldn’t say ‘settle’. It has its merits,” Kuro places her weiner back into tray. “We can see everyone else enjoying the concert.”

“Strange way to look at it,” I have another bite. I set it back down while taking a drink of my coke. When I look back to the stage--

“Huh?”

A white blur moves through the crowd.

“Did you see that?” I say, looking at Kuro. I stand up from my seat to get a better look.

“See what?” she turns her head toward me. I point out my hand where I saw the running white thing. “No, I don’t see anything. Maybe you're just seeing things?”

“I saw something there,” my first instinct is to go running after it. Of course, I’m not a kid anymore and this is a crowded concert hall. Not going to get anywhere by just running straight through. I’ll just have to--

“Ruuuu!” that was a weird squeal. I look straight up. That thing that was running on the ground is now up on the ceiling? No, probably one of the support beams.

“What the heck?”

“Ruu! Ruuuuu!” it lets out some more strange cries.

“You hear THAT, right?” I find myself staring at the back of Kuro’s head. She can’t hear me since she’s off in her own imagination. “Kuro, did you hear that?”

“Yes, uh huh,” she puts her hand flat on my face. I lightly brush her off while standing up. Not going to get any help from her now. The concert is about to start.

>Nothing I can do about it. Just going to wait.
>I'll start heading toward the stage.
>I'll find my way to the back of the stage.
>Custom

>>I'll find my way to the back of the stage.

Will call it here tonight. Will continue tomorrow at around 2-4 PM EST.

>I'll start heading toward the stage.

Get a Twitter or something.

A Google search of @thatonebard tells me he already has one.