Volume 1 - CH 3.2

Part 2

Pretending the face-off with Moffle never happened, Seiya made his way out of ‘Moffle’s Sweet House’.

I must admit, that was very well-maintained…

Seiya wasn’t lying when he had said earlier that there was no need for additional cleaning. The attraction wasn’t small, yet he’d been diligently cleaning and maintaining the place. Moffle must have decided to do it all by himself, seeing as how there were no plans to hire a maintenance crew.

Seiya had checked Moffle’s records at work, and realized that he worked overtime several days a week. He must have been cleaning the place even after hours. He’d always looked down on Moffle’s attitude since meeting him for the first time, but it appeared that he was actually serious about his work. The only two problems were his stubborn mindset and unwillingness to cooperate.

But that was only to be expected. To be fair, Seiya was still reluctant to work with Moffle. It was as natural as a baseball team wanting to trade away a foreign player. At any rate, just what was Moffle going to do after receiving such orders? He’d have to observe his skills a little more.

All right, next up…

Seiya resisted the urge to yawn, and got on his bicycle parked at the back stage. He had a certain place he wanted to visit before the meeting with the various department heads at 9. As he was looking at a staff map east of the back stage, a cast member called out to him.

“Ah, Kanie-san! Good morning!”

There was still time before the official shift started, so the cast member had yet to change into her work attire. She was wearing a down jacket and denim pants, and her silver hair was covered with a fur hat. She was like a beauty from Europe, though her smile and bowing were very Japanese.

Who was she again? I know I’ve met her a couple of times recently, but I can’t seem to remember.

“Oh, apologies! My name is Muse, a cast member of Aquario.”

“Ah.”

I remember now. She was the fairy who asked the question during my inspiring speech. She was wearing a costume with wings on her back yesterday, so I didn’t recognize her appearance.

In other words, Muse was a resident of Maple Land too, though she seemed more like a student preparing for her entrance examinations.

“Good timing. Do you know how can I get to the south section of this park?” Seiya asked while pointing at an empty spot on the map.

“Yes. The southern area is opposite from the primary attractions of the park. You have to cross the footbridge or the underpass to get there. The underpass is currently used as a storage area, so it’ll be hard to traverse by bike.”

“Guess it’s the bridge, then. Got it.”

Just when Seiya was about to get on his bike again, Muse stopped him.

“I-I’ll show you the way! It’s easy to get lost there.”

“That’ll help, but don’t you have work to do?”

“There’s still some time left. This way!”

Seiya ended up letting her guide him. Muse had a rather conservative appearance, but she seemed to be an outspoken person. She must have picked up the trait. Aquario was a musical theatre, after all.

Midway, Seiya asked, “How long?”

“Sorry?”

“How long have you been working here?”

“Ah…I-It’s only been about a year. I used to work as a back-up dancer at Highlander Fujimi.”

Highlander Fujimi was a theme park located at the outskirts of Kanagawa. It is said that its performances were more like the shrieks of faulty machinery rather than singing and dancing. It was ironic that residents of a magical realm led meager lives switching from one job to another. A tragic fate, indeed.

“Hey, Seiya-san. May I ask you a question?” asked Muse.

“Shoot.”

“C-Can we really do this? I mean, 100,000 in two weeks…”

“Absolutely,” Seiya replied quickly.

Of course, it was a lie, but he couldn’t afford to lower the morale of his cast members.

“In fact, I’m heading south to inspect the area. A lot of preparations need to be made, you see.”

“Is that so…”

Muse was still a little doubtful, but her voice concealed traces of hope in his answer.

“How was yesterday? Did it turn into a massive gossip session after I left?”

“Of course not… Actually, there were people who were unhappy about your conduct, but everybody understood that you’re their only hope, and thought they might as well rely on you.”

“I see.”

Muse did not seem like the type to hide or twist people’s words. There was no need for Seiya to use his ability. In fact, he did not use his ability at all yesterday, not even against Kurisu Takaya from Amagi Development. After all, he only had one attempt, so he should not resort to rash decisions.

But then again, it could have just been his style.

Even for gun-based action games, Seiya was one who would refuse to use powerful weapons. He’d conserve his grenades and rocket launchers, and would make full use of every bullet aiming for critical hits. Of course, spraying was out of the question. As a result, he’d have plenty of leftover ammunition even after defeating the last boss, making his play style somewhat wasteful. Perhaps the conservation of his power could have been a result of his habits…

“Over there.”

As she’d said, the footbridge was located at a rather remote location. Seiya pushed his bike up the slope designed for wheelchairs and headed for the southern area.

Even from the height of the bridge, much of the place could not be seen, for an overgrowth of coniferous trees that had grown to unbelievable heights enshrouded the land. And an enormous structure could be seen beyond the foliage, casting a shadow large enough to be mistaken for a hill.

“I take it that this place isn’t used anymore?”

“From what I’ve heard, yes. This was once used as a campsite and athletics square, but it appears that it has since been abandoned.”

Although there was pavement leading in, it was filled with cracks and wilted plants. The rotting signboards covered in ivy had the words “Waku-Waku Campsite” and “Gather around! Sportive Square!” left behind. It was certainly unbefitting for these to be referring to the ruins ahead.

“I’m not sure why this place was left behind, either.”

“It was once an attempt at expanding the park,” Seiya added, recalling the contents of one of the documents he received from Isuzu.

“An expansion, you say?”

“This park used to be very popular, and yielded staggering profits during the economic bubble spanning from the end of the Showa era to the dawn of the Heisei era. This was the planned location of the expansion of a ‘2nd park’ before their revenue was crippled following the bursting of the bubble.”

“Heh… Wait, don’t tell me…”

“?”

“Don’t tell me you intend to finish its construction!?”

“Huh? In just two weeks?”

Seeing Seiya’s perplexed expression, Muse frantically waved her hands.

“N-No, sorry! It’s just that you said you’d create a miracle, so I thought you were making preparations for something big…”

“You’re mistaken. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m no magician.”

Muse looked down in shame.

“You’re right, Seiya-san. You aren’t from our world. I’m sorry.”

“…? M-Moving on, after the economic decline, they cancelled the expansion. The campsite that was nearly complete didn’t garner much interest from the public, so that too was closed. This area has thus been deserted since then.”

There was only so much Seiya could read overnight, so there were many things that he did not know about. As such, Seiya came here to find out more about this place that he had been interested in. Unfortunately, the things he saw here did not seem helpful in his attempt to save the park.

But wait—

After exiting the tunnel of trees, a large structure could be seen. Seiya had thought that it was just a worn-out tanker, seeing its rounded structure. The exterior wall extended high up, with metal pillars densely wrapped in ivy.

“This is…” Muse muttered.

“A stadium, huh?” Seiya continued, looking up at the huge structure. “The one and only building constructed during the expansion.”

“I’ve only seen it from afar and never knew it was a stadium. To think that such a facility was at our park…”

“It seems completely finished, yet has never been used. However, I couldn’t find the reason for them to build this during the expansion from the documents earlier…”

“Because the 2nd park’s theme was set to be sports.”

A different voice could be heard from behind.

Turning around, Sento Isuzu was approaching them, wearing her red uniform. Right after pasting the notices on the gate, she said she had to take a shower and disappeared. Judging by her refreshed appearance, she had to have finished.

“So you’ve been following us all the way?”

“You might not know this, but”—Isuzu caught up with the two and continued—“Muse is actually a pretty popular fairy. Seeing her being brought to a secluded area by the acting manager, it is my responsibility to protect her from sexual harassment as the secretary.”

“Quit talking bad about me… H-Hey, don’t point that thing here, it hurts!”

Isuzu pointed her musket at Seiya who exclaimed in fury. Muse jumped in from the side and frantically waved her hands.

“Erm, Isuzu-san! I didn’t particularly mean to…it’s just out of courtesy and…no, Seiya-san is kinda cool but…I followed him here out of mere curiosity.”

“Appreciate your help in defending me, but it’s obvious that I’m cool.”

“Right…”

Ignoring Muse’s awkward expression, Seiya folded his arms.

“Anyway, she’s only following me as a guide, so put down your weapon.”

Following his orders, Isuzu withdrew her musket.

“What a shame…and here I thought I might get a chance to use the bullet ‘Paradise Lost’ on you.”

“The hell is that?”

“One that’ll cause you to permanently lose your ability to reproduce.”

“Don’t try that on anybody!”

“E-Erm, back to the topic, we were discussing the concept of the stadium, weren’t we?” Muse said with a timid voice.

Indeed, they were talking about the motives of building this stadium.

“You’re right, you said the theme of the 2nd park was sports. Why is that?”

“I’m not sure about the details, either. Apparently, the management wanted to differentiate this from the main area, and planned its expansion as a milestone in its development.”

“I see.”

Seiya looked up at the stadium once again.

It did not have weatherproof roofing, but its size was to be reckoned with; it might even be considered top class compared to those in the Kanto region. It was certainly a luxury, even to the management during the economic bubble.

“So why hasn’t this been used during the last 20 years?”

“I heard they weren’t able to obtain permission from Amagi Development and the authorities. Similar to the bus stop, they cited various reasons like safety and fire hazards and disallowed the operation of this place.”

“Ah.”

Seiya recalled their conversation two days back, where Isuzu explained the reason for the inappropriate naming of the bus stops that had caused guests to disembark in mistake. She also mentioned having her request put off due to “various reasons”. With the public authorities interfering with the park’s matters, this stadium was as good as useless.

“To be fair, this stadium is pretty far away from the train station, and transporting the expected capacity of viewers would cause major traffic disruptions.”

“You’re right. If I were the manager back then I would’ve vetoed the construction of this.”

“It was apparent that Amagi Development had set its eyes on using the southern area of this park as a golf course. The construction of this stadium must have been an attempt at resistance.”

Seiya had a good grasp of the troublesome situation the former management was in. Amagi Brilliant Park received its capital through funding from various investors. In other words, Amaburi’s ‘allies’ were several sponsors and a company named ‘Maple Estate Agency’, while its ‘enemy’ was Amagi Development, a large shareholder in the town’s business.

Maple Estate Agency was real estate agency built by the realm of magic to invest in its property throughout the globe, though the origin of their money was dubious. Nonetheless, Maple Estate Agency was considered to represent Maple Land, and expressed strong interest in keeping Amagi Brilliant Park running.

On the other hand, Amagi Development was a third sector organization built by people of the land, obtaining its capital from the most renowned investors in west Tokyo. It was currently the company overseeing a large proportion of the area.

It could be said that Amagi Brilliant Park had a history of being the battleground of the conflict between Maple Estate Agency and Amagi Development. Furthermore, the tension had escalated throughout the 20 years since the economic bubble burst.

It was Maple Estate Agency, who was desperately trying to save the park, against Amagi Development that aimed to destroy it. Presently, Amagi Development was on the winning side of the contract.

“Do you have any business here?” asked Isuzu.

“Not really. Just figured this place might come in handy some time.”

“I see. There isn’t much time left before the meeting, so let’s go.”