level_act45side_08_beg

From the rooftop, dozens of stories high, the cars and people on the ground are like specks of dust.

We've strengthened security around your home, Miss Nyamu. Until the situation is under control, please refrain from going out if at all possible.

With the kidnapper still at large, the agency prefers you scale back your activities for the time being out of safety concerns.

Scale back my activities...?

Just temporarily. We're sifting through new prospective partners to ensure your absolute safety.

But my fans...

Miss Nyamu, you are now one of Lungmen's biggest stars. You need to recognize your own popularity a bit more.

But...!

Use this time to get some well-deserved rest, or do something you enjoy.

—Just stay put.

I'm going to hang up now. The L.G.D. wants to talk with us again.

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.

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.

(Tapping drumsticks together) ...One, two, three, four.

...Wow, that was awful.

You let her go.

You defied my orders.

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.

...You're rejecting me.

I think it would be best if we stayed hirer and contractor.

I work better as a lone agent. If I want a partner, I have my bass.

No. You want to go back to Francis and his people.

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.

Hahahaha... When did I ever say you'd have a seat?

You've only ever been a chip.

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.

What's wrong? You've been staring at the island this whole time.

I thought I heard someone calling to me...

Haha! Must be hearing things. Nothing in these waters except the sound of waves and fowl.

(Glances) Lotta luggage there. Headed to the city to strike it rich?

...I'm looking for someone.

Ain't that the damnedest thing. You're not the first one to say that...

What...?

(Loudly) These waves are getting rough...

Above them, darkness has started to creep into the sky.

(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.

Wrong... wrong... wrong!

This guitar sounds... wrong.

But she knows why full well. A classical guitar could never make the sound of an electric.

(Quietly) It's awful late, Mutsumi-chan. Won't you get some sleep?

(Quietly) Look, at least just unlock the door...

(Quietly) We'll sit by your side and tell you bedtime stories, just like old times.

...No.

Not unless you tell me... where Saki went.

Well, we don't know either...

Maybe she went off and found her own happiness, somewhere else?

...You're lying.

Saki's not like that.

There is no response from outside the door.

Saki won't change so easily. She wants me to return to Ave{@nbs}Mujica—

You mustn't change so easily either, Mutsumi-chan.

Somehow, Mutsumi's mother is standing behind her.

This isn't just your dream. It's ours too.

We are all Mutsumi.

This is our dream, together. Where we can all truly exist, where we all find happiness.

Mutsumi-chan, you don't need Sakiko. You only need us.

No...

Let's be—together—forever—and ever—okay?

No—!

Ten minutes left...

Bye, Miss Iris! Bye, Miss Bena—

Bye-bye, bye now!

You be good children, just like you promised!

We will—

Iris, Bena, all set? In that case, let's—

Wait!

Miss Sakiko...?

I thought you wouldn't come...

*pant*... *pant*...

Iris... the necklace...

N-Necklace?

In your left pocket—the necklace in the little box that keeps the nightmares away!

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.

Sakiko... you don't actually have precognition, do you?

Center stage. Mutsumi lies in a pool of blood.

My child! Oh, my child!

Help her! Somebody!

What's wrong? Is she hurt?

Poor girl! She's dead! How horrible!

It's all a trick! She's not dead. How could she be dead?

(Noisy chirping)

(Excited chirping)

Cut!

...You're an abysmal actor, Wolff.

Sorry. Acting's not my forte.

(Merry laughter)

Oh, and you think YOU were any better?!

(Panicked crying)

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.

(Dismayed chirping)

It's a Siracusan play. Caused quite the controversy, in its opening run.

True and false, false and true, why does everyone tie themselves in knots over which is which?

Human beings have too strong a need to know everything down to the core.

Perhaps, it's the very thing that makes them human.

I'm sorry. I spoke out of line again.

No... Wolff. You're fluent now.

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.

Can a woven creation have a 'heart'?

The books tell of a metal man who gained one. Perhaps I can too.

Tut. Shouldn't have let you read so much... I liked your stuttering better.

She has no 'heart' anymore?!

I can patch her back up, but without a heart, she'll never leave this place again...

You decide... decide Morpheus's fate.

(Oh, Iris... oh, Bena...)

Alas. It would be better if you didn't talk.

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.

What? Excuse me? How?

This isn't right! No, how could you—

I made myself clear. I will not be leaving my companions until I have awoken them.

Well, I'll give you two choices—

One! Get out of my sight, right now.

Two! I trap you under layers and layers and LAYERS of dreams, and you stay lost in Limbo forever.

I decline.

You think you can—?!

Sakiko reaches into her pocket.

(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.

Our bet is still on.

In their dreams, I saw their innermost thoughts.

Even as their wishes came true one by one, they found no happiness in it.

They are no hypocrites for it. They are simply still in doubt.

As the founder of Ave{@nbs}Mujica, I pledged to them that I would take responsibility for their lives.

From the moment I uttered those words, our fates became inseparable...

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.

They, and you... are no more than lost dolls.

In the moonlight, the doll takes on a temporal life.

Awaken—

Stop her!

(Terrifying roar)

This is our dream. Therefore, we are its Master.

We <i>will</i> 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.

Be assured that in the face of all your efforts, I can hardly rest on my own laurels.

Despite all our hardships, we came back together and put on a masquerade that belonged to <i>us,</i> didn't we?

I want to write a song—

About our struggles, and the possibilities of the future.

We are a band. Our destinies are one.

This is my answer.

Put down the guitar, Mutsumi-chan.

You're our princess. We'll be by your side, whatever you do.

—Cover her ears!

(Hugs guitar tightly)

You're not me...

I miss Saki...

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.

Time we put an end to this, Umiri...

What? What's this song...?

AAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

Umiriiiii!

Francis...?! Where did you just drop in from?!

Sakiko told us all about it! We're all just figments of your dream, ain't we?

Why would you go and believe her nonsense...

No! Don't you see, everything makes sense now!

We trusted you unconditionally because you made us!

Now that I've accepted it, I feel so light, so free. Umiri, I could do ANYTHING right now!

There isn't much time! You've gotta get outta this nightmare!

But how am I going to...?

It's your dream! You've gotta know!

But once I leave, you're all going to...

When'd you start getting so hung up on crap?

Don't you worry! Me and my brothers, we'll think of you when we hold our parties!

...Got it!

Go!

Don't let her get away—!

Umiri grabs her bass guitar case by the handle, bends her knees and lowers her center of gravity—

I'm—outta here!

Umiri, our sister! <i>Buon viaggio!</i>

Miss Nyamu...!

A song that none of them have ever heard is blaring at maximum volume.

Yet there is nobody in the room.

Call the security firm!

S-She started streaming!

Good morn-nyamu-nyamu, everyone! Nyamuchi here~!

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!

Whoooo! Feeling good!! Now this is one way to remember Nyamuchi the rest of your lives, huh?

And if you do get to hold onto any memories, remember one thing—

Nyamuchi is the drummer of Ave{@nbs}Mujica—Amoris!

(My memories... they're fading, piece by piece...)

(The last trace I had of her... it's being erased...)

(That song... that song...)

(A song of the soul...)

(I say... you're mine... you're mine...)

(Look... you're so close, yet still...)

(Light...)

(You're like light...)

(You always had the power to make people gather around you, basking in your light and warmth...)

(That's who you are... Saki-chan.)

Performing, shouting your heart out, again and again, never to stop.

...I apologize.

I apologize, for the countless times I've hurt you all.

But here and now, I want to see you more than anyone—I want to see you as you really are.

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.

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.

Let us commence the world of Ave{@nbs}Mujica anew.