act16mini

...Hmph.

Rays of light? Shadows as tall as mountains? Feranmuts?

Who the hell would believe anything so crazy?

These made-up legends are growing out of control. People really oughta stop trying to mess with me.

Ugh...

How about... I finish these goddamn investigation reports and head on over to the Grinning Valley to take a look?

Whaddya think?

If you're planning on going, then of course you have my full support! Even though I don't know anything about exploring or archaeology, there has to be some way I can help!

Huh? Nah, I was asking how you felt about getting kicked out after ten minutes.

Didn't you tag along so I wouldn't lose track of time chatting with my old friend? Looks like I didn't need your supervision.

That's true, heehee.

You know, when you really can't muster a smile... you don't have to force yourself. Even just a bit.

If you're tired and want to vent, I'll make sure nobody sees you.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! I finally found a nice tunnel I can hide in! I'm saved!

Huh?

Hurry. Get your rear in there.

As a friendly reminder, the left side's the sewage pipeline of the scalecis processing factory. I'd hop over to the other side, if I were you.

Thanks a million, Alanna!

Oh, wait. Fancy running into you here.

(Raises an eyebrow)

Um... I can explain...

I think someone's seen through our disguise and is setting up near the checkpoint. Ray seems to have gotten herself tangled up, but... I'm sure she has a way out.

Just a sec. The people chasing you are after us because of what we've done?

Uhh, I'm not too sure about that...

I, I mean, my thing definitely doesn't matter!

I just happened to be hiding in the wrong place, so I got caught up in this Keira's mess again...

Grab the rope, Jerry!

Y-Yeah! Got it – I'll help you throw the knot over, and then you can lower me down!

...In any case, that's the situation, Alanna. Don't worry about me! Gotta run for now!

Did he actually get himself involved, or is he just running because he happened to see someone else running?

But y'know, Potlid, don't you the one next to him looks kinda familiar?

Life really is terrifying. And you can't run away from it, no matter how much you might want to... Well, actually, I've never wanted to run away.

I always went with the flow, safely and securely, along with my thirty-six other siblings and the other three hundred thousand people in the city. After all, you naturally gravitate towards whatever's the most stable.

But I got attacked out of nowhere. I ended up skipping out on my engagement, and now I'm actually on the run with my very own two feet.

I don't know why, but, even as I'm being chased by all sorts of things and running for my life....

––In the end, a door always opens for me.

*pant*, *pant*... Are things getting better or worse for us?

Logically speaking, if there's a nest of metal crabs beneath the sewer, we ought to contact a security officer. That's what it says under the 'beware of wildlife' signs...

Bad news is, we just barged straight into their home in our attempt to escape.

Ha... Ahaha...

I can't feel my lungs anymore...

Don't slow down now! Unless you want to end cut to ribbons by those pincers!

I, I really can't deal with this whole running away thing...

Do I come across as some career criminal who's constantly on the run? I'm just...

...I just wanted people to think I went missing, so I crawled into the bed of my hardware store's delivery truck and went to sleep for a day.

Then, the cargo box ended up getting transported away as usual and I found myself waking up in someone else's vehicle...

And here we are.

You're not a career criminal? Thank goodness, I thought I saw your face somewhere before on a wanted poster.

Oh, b-but I don't mean to say that you look generic or ordinary...

You know, I've had a question my mind. You really went and helped someone you thought was a wanted criminal?

I, I just felt like I had no choice... From the very beginning, I didn't know why those men were even chasing me...

...Plus, I think you're actually a good egg. Same as the ladies who abducted me and brought me here. They're actually pretty decent...

Ugh! So loud...

Hold on, where are we...?

...I've got an idea!

Let's hear it.

Huh? You're letting me call the shots? Th-This is rather new for me...

...Long story short, that sound's the smelting plant's automatic waste filtration and disposal system. I've seen someone falling off it in one of our company ads, he suffered a terrible fracture...

...My point is, if people can fall from it, that also means there has to be a way up. We might be able to climb on top of that thing.

There's no way the metal crabs could chase us up that high! And our pursuers would never expect us to leave the factory. Let's go this way!

You want us to walk across these... rickety platforms that look like they could flip over at a moment's notice? Along these iron slabs that could easily send us flying?

It's not completely impossible! The robotic arms are on a timer! I'll climb up first and look for the control room. It'll be safe, as long as I manually operate the arms!

I saw Alanna driving the transport. The operating lever for this mechanical platform should be just like that vehicle's shifter...

I might be able to pull this off... I just need to give it a shot...

I mean... I can't say for sure if it's going to work or not, but...

I trust you. You can do it. Just go for it.

You trust me? Wait... Not only are you willing to let me call the shots, but you're also placing your faith in me? Dear lord... not one of my thirty-six siblings has ever dared...

But, you're also smart and independent, just like them––

Um, I'm sorry, Keira... But, the platform's taller than I expected... I can't reach... Could you give me a little boost?

A boost? Like this...? Here?

Th-Th-That works too, b-but I was kind of thinking my back or legs or...

Woah, you're strong! Great, I made it up!

Awesome...

(Whispers) And you're nothing like the elders constantly trying to dictate my life.

So what you're saying is, nobody's on to us, and nobody's tracking us.

You didn't kill anyone with this, did you?

Yeah, nah. There were so many things on your shopping list, I didn't have a free hand to draw my weapon.

Alright, as long as you didn't cause any trouble.

*sigh*... I've had more than my fair share of excitement. That incident at the checkpoint was already hard enough on Potlid.

Where'd our resident coward go?

We... Phew, we're finally safe. We actually did it...

Thank you. I really mean that. Thank you so much.

Haha... My timid heart's still ready to jump out of my ribcage... I, I actually followed through with a decision? And such a dangerous one at that?

Quit bashing yourself over the head with your briefcase already. People are staring.

Ugh, sorry... It's just that, I'm a lot more used to going along with other people's plans. I had a big family, and things got pretty loud...

Yeah, I get you. Most people are pretty much the same. Everyone joins in, and things get noisy, whether or not they're actually blood-related.

It's been a good decade since one of my sisters went out to travel across the lands, and a lot of the others don't even remember that she left Rim Billiton.

What I'm trying to say is, it's perfectly normal to be forgotten, just as it's perfectly normal for twenty or thirty people to suddenly remember you at once and start talking about the same things on repeat.

Haha, how right you are...

You know, I skipped out on my engagement today, which is how I ended up out here. It's also why I'm so afraid of getting caught.

Well, actually, the whole thing was foisted onto me because of a little dust-up... But afterwards, I realized that I was pretty happy to be getting out of that marriage.

It hadn't dawned upon me until then that I was really against the whole arrangement!

I don't even know the first thing about the woman I'm engaged to! I just felt like... so many smart people in the family said I should do it, so it had to be the right thing!

Right? I totally get you! The elders in my family always try to push their experiences onto me, and I got so sick and tired of their nagging that I wanted to disappear!

Even though I left the old factories and went to Carrot's to an assembly line, they still packed themselves into a transport for a solid half day just to tell me that they 'found me a proper man.'

If I'd gone along with it, then I would've missed everything that happened today...

Um...

...It's nothing. You go ahead.

Um... Keira, I'm just thinking, the two of us have a pretty good rapport... And, uh, my company recently rolled out a new insurance plan with really broad coverage...

I don't know if you'd be interested or not, but...