Meno and Noah: [both sounding like they'd rather be eating broken glass than being a part of this] Please Teach Us, Yofune-Sensei!
[BGM: doofy music for toddler's educational programming]
Akito: Hello! I am Yofune Akito. Today, I would like to explain the despicable Alter Trigger Company such as it relates to the Phantom Live scene. As I am speaking as a former employee, I will try my best to explain things as clearly as possible, so please listen closely until the end, alright?
--The Origins of the Alter Trigger Company--
The Alter Trigger company is actually a medical supply company that was founded some decades ago. Apparently, a particular influential politician made a large investment in it when the company was first established! Although it seems to be the case that they were conducting legitimate research on medical technology for a while, upon learning of the existence of the hitherto-unknown substance known as "Phantometal", they made quite the change in trajectory. They decided to concentrate the company's resources on metal research. Following that, the Alter Trigger Company's research gradually became more and more radical...
--Inhumane Human Experimentation--
The things that the Alter Trigger Company was most interested in were focused around the driving question, "what effects does the metal have on the human body?". In order to investigate this, subjects with no families were gathered at a remote research facility, and were subjected to repeated inhumane experimentation. Many test subjects died as a result of the toll that the experimentation took on them. Natsume Ryu-kun from The Cat's Whiskers, and Itsuki-kun and Rokuta-kun from 1Nm8, are survivors of this research facility! They certainly are the lucky ones, having made it out with their lives! Furthermore, it appears that there are other people who have suffered from the effects of the metal as a result of volunteering to participate in other experiments.
-- The Raid on the Suiseki Group --
Now, naturally, research of this sort requires a tremendous amount of funding, you see. As such, the Alter Trigger Company was raising large amounts of money from companies both domestic and international, as well as wealthy individual investors. The former head of the Suiseki was one such financial supporter; however, upon learning that the Alter Trigger Company was sacrificing even innocent children for their experimentation, it seems that he objected quite strongly. As a result of that... the Suiseki were wiped out, with only five members surviving.
-- The Current State of the Alter Trigger Company--
Such as it was, the Alter Trigger Company was acting with impunity; however, shortly before the inception of the Paradox Live -Road to Legend-, a police investigation was launched, and the company was dismantled with quite surprising ease! However, even if the company has been disbanded, their research persists! The scattered pieces of the Alter Trigger Company are still active, using various identities as cover. And, of course, that "influential politician" is included in this as well!
Oh, yes! Recently, there is a shell company by the name of "Ginsekai" that has been causing a commotion lately; it seems that they were involved in the "kidnapping incident" of one Sugasano Allen. My understanding is that Sugasano-kun is safe, but... it is quite the disquieting story, is it not?
Well! That just about covers everything that I know about the Alter Trigger Company! So, what do you think, Noah-kun? Meno-kun? Did you listen closely to what I was saying?
Noah and Meno: [with the inflection of people who stopped paying attention fifteen seconds in] Hah?
Akito: I see! You weren't listening at all! I guess it was a little bit complicated, wasn't it? [sigh] I wonder if this is how the teachers of unruly classes feel?