< Bout for Beside You | Story
Chapter 2: The Mysterious Man, Revealed
謎の男の正体 (? (edit))
謎の男の正体 (? (edit))
Character appearances:
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Live House
Mysterious Man
♪ ————！ ————！ ♪ ————————！！
Kohane
...!
Kohane
(Incredible…!)
Kohane
(Even from just listening, I feel like I’m burning up…!!)
Arata
...Tch.
Arata
♪ ————！！
Akito
(...! He can’t even hold a candle to him…!)
Akito
Shit… This wall’s way too high…
Toya
...Ah.
Toya
(...My fingers went numb? I must’ve squeezed my hands into fists without realizing it, while I was caught up in listening…)
Toya
(To be overwhelmed to that extent--)
Arata
…*pant*, *pant*
Mysterious Man
I see you’ve been polishing your skills, Arata.
Arata
...It stings to hear you say that.
Mysterious Man
Hm? Really? My bad.
Mysterious Man
In my mind, you lot are-- ...No, you’re still just a fledgling singer that’s just taking his first steps.
Arata
...I’m different than I was back then.
Mysterious Man
...That so.
Mysterious Man
--Arata. If you want to surpass RAD WEEKEND, then remember this at least.
Arata
...Eh?
Mysterious Man
(Whispers to Arata)
Mysterious Man
If you get my meaning -- sing with me again sometime.
Arata
...
— Some time later —
Kohane
I didn’t know that man was such an amazing singer…
An
Eh? Kohane, are you saying you know him?
Kohane
Ah, yeah. He’s the man that gave me that advice before, about “seeing myself properly”.
Akito
Wha…! You're kidding me!
Toya
Shiraishi, Akito, just who is that man?
An
That man -- That’s Kotaki Taiga-san.
An
My dad’s former partner. He played at RAD WEEKEND -- No, he’s one of the creators of that legendary night.
Kohane
Eh… Whaaat!?
— Some time later —
Audience
To think he’d come back to town…!
Audience
Who even is that guy!?
Audience
You mean you don’t know!? He’s RAD WEEKEND’s--
Taiga
Alright, I think I’ll hit the road before it gets too noisy in here.
???
Old man Taiga-saaan!
Taiga
Old man? Don’t know many other people who call me that, besides…
An
Old man! It’s been forever!
Taiga
Hey! So it was you, An!
An
Yep! It’s seriously been such a long time, old man!
Taiga
Hahaha! You’ve sure gotten big, huh!
An
I’m in high school, duh. Of course I got big!
An
Anyways, I had no idea you were planning on coming back! You should’ve stopped by the shop or something.
Taiga
Yeah, but I wanted to stop by some old favourite livehouses, so I had some minor business to attend to first.
An
Wanna come to the shop with us now, then? I bet my dad would love that.
An
Plus, I wanna introduce you to my team!
Taiga
Oh, Vivid BAD SQUAD, right? I’ve already heard you lot sing for myself.
An
Eh? You came to one of our events?
Taiga
Sure did. Seems like you’ve been working hard.
Taiga
All your other teammates are looking pretty skilled themselves, too.
Akito
...Th-Thank you very much.
Toya
I’m happy to hear you say so.
Kohane
U-Um…!!
Taiga
Hm? Oh, it’s the little miss.
Kohane
Umm… Thank you very much, for that day!
Kohane
Thanks to you, I think I’m able to see things I couldn’t see before a little better now.
Taiga
Haha, I didn’t say anything much at all, though!
Taiga
But -- that last live. That was good.
An
Ah…
Kohane
Th, thank you so much…!!
Taiga
Then let’s get moving, eh, An. Let’s see if that Ken bastard won’t whip me up some good coffee.
An
Ah… right!
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Vivid Street
Akito
...Psst, An.
An
Hm? What?
Akito
I’ve only seen what Taiga-san’s like onstage, but…
Akito
There was a rumour goin’ around that Ken-san and Taiga-san split ‘cause they had a nasty fight.
An
Eh? Ohh... Now you mention it, I think there was a rumour like that!
Akito
Taiga-san took off real soon after RAD WEEKEND, so I’ve heard that was to blame, but… What actually happened?
An
Rumours are just rumours, right? Yeah, they fought every now and then, but they’ve been close friends for forever, so…
An
(But… It’s true that the old man did go overseas pretty soon after that.)
An
(Did he really fight with Dad…?)
Taiga
Well then, let’s go give a long overdue hello to old Ken, shall we.
An
Ah…!
WEEKEND GARAGE
An's Father
Welcome in. Sit wherever you--
An's Father
…!
Taiga
...Hey.
An's Father
“Hey”, is it. How chummy of you.
An's Father
Since you used to be a regular in here, didn’t you?
An
D-Dad…!?
Toya
...What’s going on?
Akito
Don’t tell me the rumours are true…
An's Father & Taiga
Hahahahaha!!
Taiga
Maannn, that was good!! I always wanted to have a movie-style reunion like that!!
An's Father
So you used to say, since way back. I thought I’d play along.
Taiga
I’d expect nothing less of my partner, you know me inside and out!
Kohane
...Fufu. They seem really close.
Toya
Yes, it seems like it.
Akito
...Jeez, scared the shit outta me.
An
Oh, I see… Thank goodness!
An
Alrighty then, everyone take a seat! I wanna introduce you to the old man.
An
That’s fine, right? Old man.
Taiga
Sure. I feel like there’s more in it for me to go along with one of An’s requests rather than Ken’s.
An's Father
It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other, but you’re making comments like that.
An
Awesome! Okay then, let’s start with introducing you to everyone!