acdrop

Hey, you. Yes, you.

There's no one else here.

I know.

Are you the one who tagged the wall out there, along main street?

You're trying to get away on skateboard?!

Hold up—You've got the wrong idea! I'm not a cop!

What do you want, then?

I just wanted to ask, do you want to join a graffiti art competition?

Haha, very funny. You expect me to believe the city's encouraging vandalism now?

Here, check this out.

A pamphlet?

If you're worried about me grabbing you, I'll just leave it over here. You come get it yourself, alright?

City... street culture... festival? Graffiti contest, skateboard racing, parkour expo, rap battles... and a huge prize pool? And they're gonna broadcast it live?

Did everyone on the city council's brains collectively short-circuit or what?

Don't ask me, they just hired me to do publicity.

Yeah right.

What kinda hired errand boy chases people down alleys, shouting 'hey, you, yes, you' at them?

Just a habit from my other line of work.

So you <i>are</i> a cop.

Off duty. For now, I'm just passing out flyers for some extra cash.

If you're interested, take it and sign up. When you register, be sure to get them to write down the number here, and that'll give you access to free mineral water through the whole competition.

And that's how you get your cut?

...Listen, girl. You don't like getting questioned? Well, neither do cops, off duty or otherwise.

I—

If you're not interested, then scram. I don't have time for your little detective game. If I didn't need the money, you can bet I'd be giving you an earful for the vandalism.

(Pats the police officer's shoulder)

My bad, I should've known not to pry.

So, I just sign up at this place here, and hand them the flyer?

(Nods hesitantly)

Are they still open?

You're all set, Miss Aciddrop. Do you have any other questions?

Whose idea was it to hold a competition like this anyway?

Representative Cooper of the City Council wants everyone to gain a deeper understanding of our young folks and their street culture.

At the same time, it's also a way of encouraging the youth to participate in the construction and maintenance of the city.

Gotcha. So it was this Cooper guy's idea, right?

More or less.

So is there anything else? If not, you're holding up the line...

Oh, one last thing.

The guy who gave me the flyer said he'd get paid if I signed up with this number.

That's right. As long as you show up to the preliminaries tomorrow, we'll send the money to his account the next day. If you make it to the finals or even place, he'll get an even bigger bonus.

Are you also interested in helping promote the competition?

Just curious.

That's fine. You can see here how much we pay.

...They're throwing around this kinda money just to sign people up? This Cooper guy must have mad cash.

(Smiles)

That's time! Now, we'll have Mr. Cooper and the judges evaluate the pieces from this group of contestants!

The contestants are free to move about the venue until evaluations are finished!

Hey!

...Who, me?

Who else? I'm Alba, what's your name?

Just call me Aciddrop.

Not from around here, huh? Did you join for kicks while on a business trip or something? ...And why do I get the feeling you're just gonna take home the whole thing?

Hey now, don't sell yourself short. I like what you've done with that, uh...

Ink.

Yeah, the way you used ink for the whole black and white look is pretty sweet.

My grandfather was Yanese. He used to dabble in some Yan-style painting, and even taught me a little when I was young. I got bored of it after half a month, though.

But I went to study under him again for the past three months, just for this competition.

All that, just for today?

All that, just for today.

Rad.

Please stop, you two. You're about to enter the parkour expo area.

My bad, my bad. Mind if we take a peek? We'll just stand over here.

As long as you don't trespass into the venue itself, that's fine.

That the parkour guy over there?

Must be. Looks damn impressive too—

A backflip? Is this gymnastics now?!

C'mon, dude! You got this!

But... ain't he just a regular old gymnast?

Huh?

He's pulling off all these fancy flips and somersaults, but his drops and rolls need some work...

Is that important?

'Course it is.

He's gonna wreck his knees if he keeps landing like that.

Huh... I still don't quite get it.

Contestant Grayson's final time was three minutes and seventeen seconds, a new record for this competition!

After retiring from the gymnastics team, Mr. Grayson became the founder of this city's Parkour Association. Let's all put our hands together for his outstanding performance. At the same time, we also welcome all young folks to join the association!

(Whispers) An association? Since when was parkour a career?

Do you think that Grayson guy cheated?

Nah, he won fair and square.

But something about it's just... not cool.

Anyway, let's head back and take a look around.

...Skateboarding contestant... seventh place finish... Skateboarding Association opens every Saturday afternoon...

...Prize... advanced division... breakdance scoring procedure... a more formal competition format, with more rigorous standards...

I think I see what you were getting at now, Aciddrop.

There's something wrong with this whole so-called street culture festival.

They keep going on and on about these associations—

...Alba...

Huh?

...Aciddrop...

...are the contestants who will be moving on to the next round. Please return to the graffiti art competition venue for the explanation of the next round...

(Whispers) Representative Cooper, the finalists are here.

(Clears throat)

To all our dear finalists, I am the organizer of this competition, Cooper.

We put this event together rather hastily, so we would like to apologize in advance for any less-than-satisfactory experiences you may have during the competition.

Hastily? Haven't you been publicizing it for months?

About that... Indeed, my inexperience as an organizer seems to have brought many of you a subpar experience, for which I apologize.

The reason I gathered everyone here is to make an announcement, and express my apologies through my actions—

We will hold tomorrow's graffiti art competition on one of City Hall's walls!

This spark an uproar.

You serious? You're not just messing with us?