#morita you godsend

[thenextchapterbegins]

The Three pillars attack

@voxiiferous​ {mentioned}

In the new highrises of pride built in the newly acquired hitachi territory. The silicon dreams of the future are discussed. As neon and silicon adorn those below.

Gier guld sits head at the table, to his right sat komai and various other presidents, and to his right sat various corpo leaders. “Turn to page 414 as we begin our formal attack into the pride district and more importantly vox.” The various sounds of papers shuffling. “Komai take the lead. This was your idea after all.” Komai  Kenichirō the man from manchuria, when he was alive, broke guangdong into the perfect state before his untimely death was the perfect canidate to lead the new growing territory in pride.

Komai could be described as the poor man’s vox. Like the media overlord he too unlike many from greed was constructed of electronics but unlike vox he was not built with majestic pieces of the future his head was an old crt tv head, a cheap suit and prosethetic hands and feet. put together by a hard unknown torso some believe to be rusted metal.

Yet he stood grainy face with the same charamastic charm as his real life. 

“Thank you gier and thank you fellow members of the board for allowing me to represent our grand ring of greed. The plan is simple but devastating we are engaging in a three pillar strategy to dismantle vox from his place. Thanks to giers earlier visit we can assume vox is entering a rapid state of defense, he will spread his arms to try and protect his many assets but in doing so will leave himself widely weak to our attacks. As we turn the page we will see our first pillar or first strike will be on the tv and phone industry. We will offer a new alternative to pride. Satelite tv..thanks to our reaches into the human world we have managed to mangle a way to hijack the satelites of the human realm into hell allowing the citizens of hell to finally unshackle themselves from voxitechs many programming and give the people of pride the tv they once watched once alive. Various plans and tiers will be offered to allow different tiers of programs available but even the cheapest options will be a godsend to those sick of vox-specific programs.”

Komai grainy smile spreads on his screen. “we will offer a new phone line offering 5g services. A slightly faster internet, more download space, less prone to over heating, various fixes to vox’es relatively cheap products...that break in a week and you have to buy new ones. We instead will instill a efficient and care to our products make our consumers feel like they are more then just a number. That we wish to see them happy with our products we find that instills them more to buy more of our goods at greater prices. Also on the next page we will offer attached to gier insurance services a way to break out of contracts....with legal help if needed. We need to crush vox in every avenue and his contract business is brimming with people just aching to get out and into new waters.”

“The next pillar will be the food industry, we will provide cheap but quality food to the basically starving populace of pride. Our many connections to the many rings means prides food shortages is a hand wave. We will offer new factory work to provide various canned, meats, spices, etc. A food revolution if you will. We expect it will cripple vox’es already small food industries. A smaller strike to the first but this is more to endear ourselves to pride and the next page the pillar the last strike. Transportation.”

“Pride is a city much like...americas new york i am told, more focused on cab’s then cars. Traffic hell, we will order several ordniances to see an improvement to prides overall highway structures, implement subway systems, release a new affordable car to increase people driving instead of taking cabs. A total rehaul to the...urban planning of pride. We of course mean that much demolishing will occur of the current city but morita has convinced much of the board to allow re-housing projects...and assisted in much of this first planning.”

“I remind that this first phase is a bit unorthodox to our normal systems but pride is so fundemtnally broken we need to help it a bit...and reminder that we will see profits drop during this period but we are not attempting to generate profits during phase 1. The point of phase 1 is to endear pride to us, crush vox’es influence and gain large swathes of prides territory. In phase 2 we will use the poweresses of our other presidents to bring pride to the speed we want and bring profits skyrocketing.”

Komai sits back down as the board claps as the speech ends before gier raises a hand before lifting his drink. “Well said komai, well then gents. Let’s drink to our continued success and to our continued PROFITS!”

[lilac-melody]

LipxLip Romeo Novel Chapter 2

I do not own anything, I am not a professional translator, so take my translations with a grain of salt!

Masterlist here

The next day, when class was over and he left school, Aizou went to his favorite musical instrument store in his uniform. It was a small shop on a narrow street behind the station.

There was a karaoke shop next door to it, and lively sounds leaked during the daytime.

Morita’s Musical Instrument Store was the name of the store.

Looking into the glass door, the owner, Morita-san, seemed to be serving customers.

(I’ll talk to him later...)

He went up the outer stairs from the side, taking out a key from his pocket and inserting it in the door and opened it and went inside.

There was a narrow corridor, and if you go in the back, there was a room of about six tatami mats.

A thin light entered through the gap between closed curtains. Aizou looked at his guitar case and bag and opened the curtains and windows. While letting fresh air in, he started cleaning.

The room seemed to have been used as a lesson room for music classes before, and there was a piano in the corner. It had been ever since.

Although he didn’t use it, Aizou still dusted it.

After cleaning, he gazed at the room while drinking water from a plastic bottle.

He met Morita-san in his first year of junior high school.

On his way home from school, he found this shop on a different back road. He casually stopped by, because he remembered the guitar his dad had played. He had looked at the acoustic and electric guitars lined up in the showcase. That was when a large person in an apron came out. Morita-san.

“Did you want to get started playing guitar?”

“No...I just wanted to look at them...”

It wasn’t as though he wasn’t interested. However, he couldn’t play the guitar at home anymore.

Morita-san took one of the guitars out from the showcase and played it for him.

None of the guitars were cheap enough to be bought so easily by a middle school student, but everytime Aizou came to the store, Morita-san did not hesitate to let him play.

Aizou had been so happy, he started stopping by almost everyday on his way home after school.

Because of Morita-san, he had pulled out his guitar with the broken strings that had been shoved in the closet.

He was dying to play it, and even though it was about closing time at the store, Aizou still ran to the store while it was raining, clutching it in his hands.

“This...please fix it...”

Morita-san, who had been closing up, was surprised to see Aizou soaking wet outside.

Aizou’s eyes were huge.

He had watched Morita-san work on exchanging the strings while listening to the sound of the rain outside of the store.

For some reason, his chest hurt and he couldn’t help the tears that spilled down his face. He tried to hide his face with the borrowed towel.

Aizou still remembered clearly that he kept crying silently until the work was finished...

_

Aizou set the water bottle on the window ledge and took his guitar from the case. While preparing the guitar, his mouth loosened to a small smile.

“I’ve been playing since that day...”

By the time he was a second year junior high student, it became difficult to stay at home, and he was often immersed in this shop.He had even started to keep track of the store and help with the maintenance of the instruments.

Aizou never told Morita-san about his home life, but he must have had a good guess about it.

He couldn’t bring his guitar home, after all. If he played it at home, his mother would get angry.

So Morita-san had lent him a room that had been completely used as a storage room after it stopped being a classroom.

Of course, it was only on the condition that he “go home properly” sometimes.

Since then, Aizou’s been in this room almost everyday. He sometimes stayed the night, but he went home about every two days.

Without the room and the guitar, Aizou was sure he would be more subservient.

When he saw the audition recruitment advertisement, he thought about the song competition that he had participated in when he was a kid. 

He had stood on the brightly lit stage, the people in the audience applauded with a smile, and his parents and older brother were proud too. He felt exhilarated and joyful. It was a feeling he had forgotten for a long time.

He would definitely call that moment happiness.

He wanted to stand on stage again. He wanted to sing in front of people again.

Despite the urge, he thought, “I can’t be an idol...”

He wasn’t good with girls, and he had a bad reputation.

And yet, he wanted to be an idol who made noise with the children of fans.

He was confident in singing and dancing, but it wasn’t something he could do on his own. With that in mind, he was motivated to auditioning, hoping something may change.

He wanted a chance. He couldn’t see the future, he didn’t know what he wanted to do and kept getting lost.

Only the audition seemed like a hopeful ray of light.

On stage, people may need it.

Some people may be happy to hear his songs.

He was determined, so he applied that day.

And after passing the audition, he felt the world around him change. It wasn’t without anxiety, but the expectations were high.

Aizou adjusted the guitar pegs to match the sound. He started playing a song and humming it. He felt better than expected today, as he was usually feeling sluggish.

He stroked the guitar.

Aizou then started playing the guitar, while tapping to the rhythm with his feet.

👑

When he finished with the guitar, he walked down the outer stairs and noticed he was humming a song he was lately crazy about.

He stopped by the store, and Morita-san, who was by the counter, smiled at him.

“You’re here.”

“There were customers earlier.”

“Yeah. There’s going to be a meeting in the shopping district. I’ll be back in about an hour. Can you keep the store running?”

“Isn’t that just a drinking party?”

There was no doubt Morita-san was heading to a bar about three houses away, which he calls a meeting. Sometimes Aizou watched soccer or baseball games with the people around there.

“I can’t neglect my neighborhood.” Morita-san removed the apron he had been wearing and handed it to Aizou.

He can’t exactly refuse, as he stayed here often for free.

Besides, he didn’t have lessons today and he didn’t need to do any other errands, so he was free.

“Well, that’s fine then...only if it’s an hour!”

(I’m sure he won’t be back for two hours though...)

Aizou walked behind the counter wearing the apron.

“I have meat buns and steamed buns there, you can have them.”

“I’m not an elementary student...”

While Aizou frowned, Morita-san laughed and shook his head. “You’ve changed a lot.”

“And I’ll keep changing.”

Morita-san left the store, waving. “Anyway, thank you.”

“You’re welcome, old man.”

Aizou looked at the bag on the counter. Inside it were three meat buns and three steamed buns. They were still warm, so they were probably just bought.

“This...I can’t eat all of this alone.” Aizou took a meat bun from the inside and chewed it.

He didn’t have to do anything while in charge of the store. He then remembered he had been given homework in math class.

He took his paper and the textbook out of his bag.

_

He was still working when he heard a nice sound.

He raised his head because of the pleasant noise. He heard it coming from the pianos lined up in the store. Someone must have come in.

(What’s this song...it’s classical...)

Aizou felt like he’s heard it in music class, but he couldn’t remember the song titles. He wondered who was playing, so he moved the half eaten bun to his hand.

It was behind the piano, so he couldn’t see the person’s face.

The moment their eyes met though, a voice cried out, “eh!”

He was surprised by the voice. The other person turned his legs quickly.

Aizou grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Hey...wait!”

Yujiro’s eyebrows wrinkled. He turned around after sighing. There was a paper bag on his arm from a nearby CD shop. Aizou guessed he was on his way back from that.

“...What are you doing?” Yujiro asked with suspicious eyes.

“Looking...after the store?”

“You’re going to give up being an idol and change jobs? You can’t stop now.” Yujiro’s gaze turned to the apron being worn by Aizou.

“I hate it, but I haven’t given up and I’m not changing jobs!”

Yujiro’s sarcasm made him annoyed.

(But that performance, was it really his?)

Aizou looked around, but they were the only two people in the store.

“Oh, sorry.”

As usual, his tone was not cute. But he was getting used to it.

Yujiro’s gaze shifted to Aizou’s hands.

“Why are you eating meat buns? I thought this was a musical instrument store. Are you also selling meat buns?”

“No, I just got it.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you want to eat some..? We have steamed and meat buns.”

Morita-san had got them for him, but he couldn’t eat them alone.

Aizou thought Yujiro would refuse with a stubborn “I don’t need it”, but he tried anyway.

“...I’ll eat.” His voice replied, and Aizou felt surprised.

_

Aizou sat on the counter chair and drank water from his plastic bottle. Looking to the side, Yujiro was chewing with his cheeks puffed and his elbows on the counter.

They had the day off from lessons so he assumed he wouldn’t see Yujiro today.

He sighed and picked up his mechanical pencil. He was still doing homework and wanted to finish it.

“...Why are you looking after the store?” Yujiro, who was looking around the store, asked.

“I was asked to. I’m indebted to the old man.”

“...A relative?”

“No...I’m just someone who rents a room.”

“A room?”

“It used to be a practice room.”

“Hmm...”

Yujiro carried the rest of the bean paste to his mouth and wiped it from his lips with his thumb.

He seemed more sociable than usual.

Yujiro was always indifferent with people, but he was asking a lot of questions. It was unusual, so Aizou had to ask.

“So the piano...do you play?”

“...” Yujiro frowns in a discouraging manner.

“...Are you learning?”

“I played before...I don’t have a piano at home now.”

(What a waste...)

“Well...there’s a piano in the room.” Aizou suddenly remembered the piano in the corner of the practice room. “But I don’t know if it’ll make much sound since it’s left unattended.”

There was silence before Aizou asks, “...would you like to play it?”

Yujiro blinked and stared at him. “What?”

“I’m looking after the store today, but...when we don’t have lessons I’m often here.”

He wanted to take a step forward.

Yujiro did look like he wanted to play it.

👑

Usually, he wouldn’t want to get involved with Yujiro in his private time.

They met at the office almost everyday and went to lessons, but they were just peers. Aizou didn’t know much about him. They weren’t interested.

“Aizou.”

Aizou, who had been practicing the guitar in the room, noticed he was being called and wasn’t wearing the headphones around his neck. The door was locked.

When he moved to the front door with his guitar and headphones and opened the door, he saw Morita-san standing there.

“You have a friend coming?”

“Friend?”

“It’s unusual to call someone in this room.” Morita-san moved from the door.

Aizou then saw someone standing there and said “ehh.”

“I’m sorry, thank you.” Yujiro politely bowed his head.

As soon as Morita-san went down the stairs, his face went to it’s usual unfriendly one.

“He just misunderstood...” Yujiro explained, looking reluctant.

Only Yujiro knew about this room, so Aizou already knew no one else would be here.

(Well...I was the one who told him to come...)

Aizou put a hand behind his neck and sighed.

“...Come in.” He stepped back, and Yujiro entered silently.

As Aizou took him to the room through the corridor, Yujiro immediately walked up to the piano.

(Really, you should have said something first...)

There was a score still on the lid. Aizou got rid of it quickly.

Ah, come to think of it...the two haven’t even exchanged contacts yet.

(Even if I ask, I won’t get an answer...)

Yujiro stared at the glossy black piano for a while. His hand slowly played some of the keyboard after he opened the lid.

“I don’t think it’s tuned...” Aizou retreated to the side as he spoke.

Yujiro, with the fingers of one hand on the piano, started playing while standing. A beautiful sound was heard.

After checking the sound, he muttered. “It’s tuned properly.”

“Is that so..?”

(Maybe the old man does that from time to time...)

A faint smile floated to Yujiro’s mouth.

It wasn’t a smirk that he was used to, but a real smile seemed to spill across his face naturally.

When Aizou plays the guitar, he has so much fun that he forgets the time. The case was probably the same with Yujiro.

He remembered saying there was no environment to play.

(And you put up with it...)

Aizou left the piano and moved to the sofa.

The windows were closed, so he wasn’t worried about sound leaking out.

While listening to the melody that was being played, he picked up and turned over a music magazine.

The sound was soft and gentle. He had the same thoughts when Yujiro played in the store.

Aizou shifted his eyes to the piano.

He couldn’t see his face as he played, as he could only see his back. The person who was difficult to understand and was often indifferent.

(He’s the same as me...maybe)

Aizou liked music. He liked dancing. They were always competing with each other because they didn’t want to lose what they liked.

Maybe for that simple reason...

Aizou looked back at the magazine and turned the page.

He’ll let him keep playing until he felt like stopping.

It was okay to give the room to Yujiro for today.

_

Yujiro hadn’t felt the feel of a piano in a long time.

When he was heading to the station after stopping by the CD shop, he saw the piano in the musical instrument store. He suddenly wanted to hear the sound, though he normally just passed by. So he opened the store door.

(If I knew he was there, I wouldn’t have entered...)

As he played with his fingers, he remembered the surprised face of Aizou.

Yujiro was also surprised at what he was doing.

Apparently, this was Aizou’s favorite hideaway.

And the room was clean and tidy. There was even a blanket, which probably meant he slept here too. The wall seemed to be soundproof, so he could practice his guitar.

The piano was old and the lid of the keyboard was scratched in some places, but otherwise it was in good condition.

He started attending piano class before he entered elementary school.

Before entering the Someya house, there was a piano in the living room of the house he lived in, and he would always sit in front of it and play.

The piano was the first thing that taught him the joy of music.

He had been in the classroom for a few years before he entered his current home, but he never had time to practice.

Besides, he didn’t have a piano at his house now. He hasn’t touched a keyboard since he stopped.

“Would you like to play it?”

When he was asked this by Aizou, he didn’t reply immediately. He was at a loss. It’d been so long.

However, when he started playing, his fingers moved naturally. It seemed he didn’t forget how to play.

When he was a kid, he was always so absorbed in playing it.

But then there were many others things he needed to do and focus on. He devoted himself to practicing the performing arts. He didn’t want to play anymore.

When he passed in front of the musical instrument store, he saw the piano and suddenly remembered the sound.

The light tone he always listened to.

He wanted to play it, so he had gone inside.

The moment he touched the keyboard, the first feeling that came up was the feeling of love he always felt when he was a kid.

He shouldn’t have given it up for the sake of the performing arts.

People don’t easily forget what they loved doing.

However, the urge probably came because he didn’t have to put up with that anymore. He didn’t have to be tied to his house anymore.

(By the way, what is he doing..?)

It was quiet and Aizou wasn’t talking. Yujiro was worried, and his fingers stopped. He turned around and looked at the sofa. Aizou was lying down.

(He’s sleeping...)

There was a music magazine on the floor.

When Yujiro took out his cell phone and checked the time, he saw it’d been more than two hours since he came here.

He didn’t have a sense of time when he was absorbed in what he was doing. He thought it’d only been about thirty minutes.

The incoming call history from his mother remained. She needed help with the house.

A small, melancholic sigh spilled. It was unavoidable.

He gently closed the keyboard lid and stood up.

He needed to go home now.

He walked by the sofa and called out. “Hey.”

Maybe he was sleeping soundly. He didn’t wake up immediately. Yujiro put his hands on his hips.

(Why...why am I...)

He could kick him off, but decided to use that as a last resort.

He reached out and called his name.

“Get up...”

As soon as he shook his shoulders while leaning forward a little, Aizou suddenly sat up quickly.

There was no avoiding it. Their heads collided with a slam.

“It hurts!” They both screamed and held their bumped foreheads.

_

Yujiro and Aizou, who left the musical store room, were walking away from each other towards the station.

There was still a bump on his forehead.

Yujiro puffed his cheeks in annoyance.

“Never go over to me again...” Aizou glared at him.

“I don’t want to go in there! Not even one step!”

“Why are you angry? You headbutted me!”

“No, the first thing you did was wake up headbutting me!”

Aizou frowned. “Ha?!”

(I won’t wake you up anymore..!)

Yujiro made a face and touched his sore forehead.

“You stone head!”

Both of them got more moody.

“A stone head that was hit by a mammoth in a previous life!”

They both stopped and glared.

They turned away and walked in different directions.

Their destination was the same station, but he couldn’t stand being with him any longer.

Yujiro looked back after walking a bit, and Aizou looked back at the same time.

Yujiro stuck his tongue out as hard as he could towards Aizou, who looked annoyed.

_

As soon as school was over, Aizou headed to the musical instrument store as usual. He thought he’d play guitar for a while because there were no lessons.

“Yujiro’s in the room.”

When Aizou stopped at the store, Morita-san told him this.

Aizou wrinkled his eyebrows as if to say “huh?”

“Hijacked...”

Even though he declared he would never come here again, Yujiro still came on days off from lessons. Thanks to that, Aizou couldn’t enter.

It was Aizou who rented that room. There was no need to refrain, but they’d be together in the same room.

“Yes, I made a new key and gave it to him.”

“Why?!” Aizou put both hands on the counter.

“Is it inconvenient? You should always come.”

“That’s why I’m in trouble if I can come anytime!”

“Are you practicing together?”

“I never practice with him!”

“You two will be idols. Is it any different?”

Aizou struggled with his words. “It isn’t different...”

Morita-san retired to the office, saying “well, make sure you get along well.”

(It was my only room...)

Really though, Morita-san was kind enough to lend it to him. So he really can’t complain about Yujiro coming.

(If I didn’t tell you about that room...)

He supposed he could keep playing.

Aizou’s mom wouldn’t come back today, and school will be closed tomorrow, so he was going to stay here. He could practice guitar when Yujiro leaves.

“It can’t be helped, huh...”

Sighing, Aizou sat on the chair Morita-san had been sitting. He took out his headphones and mobile phone from his bag and started playing songs.

He flipped through a catalog.