Iori: So, what do you think? They certainly came up with something real interesting, didn't they?
Zen: A team competition... going beyond working just within our own teams and sharing victory with our companions! It's the kind of match that's only possible thanks to the long string of battles we went through in Road to Legend.
Reo: I'm in! I think it'd be fun to work together with other teams. And if you're going to put on a festival, you've gotta have Akan Yatsura there.
Satsuki: For sure! We just gotta earn a shitton of points and show 'em what how much difference our foundation makes, yeah?
Hokusai: I think it's a good idea too. If we win, we get the prize. We could use it for the group.
Iori: I was figuring you'd all say that. That's why I went ahead and told 'em we'd be participating without waiting to ask. That said, I've got another reason up my sleeve.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: ...
Iori: We promised we weren't gonna treat you like kids anymore, so I'm not gonna do that. From here on out, we're talking about adult matters. It ain't gonna be pretty. You still gonna be okay with that?
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: --! ...
Satsuki: It's fine.
Hokusai: We're ready for it.
Reo: Tell us.
Iori: Take a look at this.
Hokusai: --! That's...
Iori: Yep. The old man's notebook. He kept it close at hand all the time back when he was alive. Y'all have seen it before.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: ...
Zen: But after the incident, this notebook wasn't among the items that the police handed back over to us. We looked all over for it, but we couldn't find it. We assumed that someone had stolen it during the raid.
Reo: Then how...?
Iori: The building where it happened was torn down a while ago, since it'd fallen into such disrepair, right?
Satsuki: Ah, right...
Iori: [laughs] The old man put it where nobody would ever find it-- hidden in one of the walls.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: --!
Iori: He was willing to go to some real lengths to make sure it stayed hidden. So I took a peek inside, and I sure did find some things. It was the old man's commonplace book of sorts... something kind of like a journal. Notes about dealings the public can't know about, people he was meeting with, deals involving a lot of money... well, written in a little accounting book, it don't look like the commonplace book of a yakuza boss. [laughs]
Zen: And, of course, the book contained details of his meetings with men from the Alter Trigger company. And the truth that the old man had been trying to uncover.
Hokusai: "Truth"?
Zen: Yes. That Alter Trigger uses children who have no relatives as subjects for inhumane experiments; it seemed he was just on the cusp of finding their secret facilities that aren't marked on any map.
Satsuki: For real...?
Iori: That's why the old man backed out of the deal.
[sfx: tapping]
Iori: It's all right here, cruelty spelled out in plain black and white, about their preying on innocent kids. Even if he didn't know about it, even if he regretted it, he couldn't be forgiven for participating in something so unconscionable... is what he says.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: ...
Iori: He knew even at the time that he knew too much and that his life was gonna be on the line. [sigh] So he hid this notebook in the wall of his office to serve as testament, so that if something were to happen to him, they wouldn't be able to get a hold of it.
Zen: Do you remember how back then, whenever we had to run errands, the five of us would often go out all together? In fact, even that day...
Reo: You don't mean...
Zen: Yes. He was expecting an attack. I can't help but think that he was trying to protect us, at the very least. [getting choked up]
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: ...
Iori: But now is the real story. Now we know why they put out a hit on the old man. The next question is who ordered it. Who's the one actually pulling the strings?
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: --!
Iori: I've got the answer right here in this notebook. It's a real blessing that the old man was so meticulous in what he wrote down. A man who, even if he stayed in the shadows himself, was deeply involved with the research of phantometal, and even in the foundation of Alter Trigger itself, and continued to support their terrible research behind the scenes.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: ...!
Iori: That man's name is Teshigawara Kouzou.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: --!
Iori: The Teshigawaras are still a real influential political family, but while people say that Kousou chose to retire from congress without leaving behind much of a spectacular career, I'm of the opinion that he made a choice to pivot to shadier business. Truth is, he's got a direct line to a lot of politics and finance, and he's manipulating politics all over Japan from behind the scenes. I hear he still commands a lot of respect to this day. Even the prime minister can't say boo to him.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: ...!
Iori: He's a real bigshot who can make anyone who gets in his way disappear with the flick of his wrist. [chuckles] And it looks like the old man made an enemy out of him, too.
Reo: And that's why the old man and all the others were killed...?
Zen: To say that it came directly from Teshigawara... isn't quite right. It would have been hitmen who were hired indirectly. If you have that much power, you can put pressure on the police to shut down the investigation after the fact... the perpetrators of the attack themselves probably fled the country. Or it's possible they've already been silenced.
Satsuki and Reo: ...!
Hokusai: ... unforgivable.
Iori: Sure is. So I've never been much interested in taking revenge on a bunch of hired gunman. The only thing I'm after is the head of the man in charge.
Satsuki, Reo, Hokusai, Zen: [sounds of agreement]
Iori: Whatever it takes, I plan to destroy him. He'll never see the light of day again, and I'm planning on doing this right. You understand?
Zen: Yes.
Satsuki: Yeah.
Reo: Got it.
Hokusai: Our enemy is in our sights.
Iori: Well. That's a weight off me. Back to the topic at hand.
Satsuki: R-right...!
Reo: You mean the next battle, right?
Iori: Well, this notebook's the proof that Teshigawara's in bed with Alter Trigger.
Reo: So then, why not go public with this?
Iori: Ain't that easy. A handwritten note left behind by a gunned-down mob boss isn't only not trustworthy, but it might even be treated as outright delusional nonsense.
Zen: Even if we tried to leak the story right now, the story would be suppressed. He has more than enough power to manipulate the existing press outlets.
Satsuki: So what're we supposed to do?
Iori: We need more solid evidence to bring Teshigawara's misdeeds to light and completely eliminate him.
Hokusai: Solid evidence...
Iori: Yep. Gotta hit 'em with a completely unavoidable amount of evidence, all at once, in a way he can't possibly stop.
Satsuki: Can we really do something like that?
Iori: We ain't got a choice but to do it. Even so, I don't think he's gonna be the type to own up and give in that easy. So it's important to take those first steps towards getting revenge. Among all the industries that Teshigawara's got his fingers in, there's Ginsekai^[1]-- in other words, it's a shell company used for gathering funds.
Zen: It used to be a pharmaceutical company, but for some reason or another, they've recently been expanding their business to include aspects of the music industry.
Reo: --! Then...!
Iori: Mm. This new "Ginsekai" has become a haven and hiding place for the employees of the publically-disbanded Alter Trigger. That's what we're thinking.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: --!
Iori: Once this tournaments get started, we're gonna have a lot of the public's eyes on us. So of course, their eyes are gonna be on us, too.
Zen: We can use that to make contact with them. If we can work our way into Ginsekai's pocket, we can gather more evidence. We may even be able to get proof of the illegal dealings that happened after the Alter Trigger company was dismantled.
Reo, Satsuki, and Hokusai: --!
Iori: So how's that? That's what we're going to use this tournament for. But I don't think that's a disservice to the music we make; I'm just willing to do whatever has to be done to achieve our end goal. That's what Akan Yatsura do. That's our purpose. ... [laughs] The same goes for phantom lives; you gotta be willing to put your life on the line for it, or that's as far as you go. You ain't gonna get what you want. Whether it's cheers, glory, money, or revenge.
Satsuki: That's... always been the case, ever since the start.
Reo: That's right. That's why we became Akan Yatsura, after all!
Hokusai: ... still the same as ever. Nothing has changed.
Zen: All of you...
Iori: Looks like you're all ready. We'll get the old man's enemies, and we'll take all the money and the glory while we're at it in equal measure. We'll chase after both and we'll get both! With all our might. We've only got one life, so let's make it a festival! Bright and loud and greedy and without regrets! We'll sing and dance our way through the streets in high spirits! Akan Yatsura are gonna have our fill!
Akan Yatsura: Yeah!

[1] Literally "Silver world", often used to refer to a landscape covered in snow. It appears to be a proper noun so I'm leaving it just romanized. [Back]