Melée 16

At the same time. In the lobby of the ES Dome

Hiyori: Is this what you wanted?

Nagisa: ...Would it be cruel of me to ask what you mean, Hiyori-kun?

Hiyori: No. I’m just as cruel—here I am, getting anxious and trying to ask you what I should do.

You put your trust in me that I would understand your true intentions.

Nagisa: ...Yes. I believed you would understand the purpose of the oracles.

Hiyori: Not just me; any of the units who made it through the Qualifying Rounds would have figured it out in the end.

It’s a shame, but charm alone isn’t enough to survive in the idol industry anymore. If you don’t have the brains, someone somewhere will chew you up and spit you out.

So everyone here at the Finals will realize it sooner or later: the oracles are our strategy to lose.

I doubt anyone will understand your intention—our intention—in going around and handing them out.

Nagisa: ...You don’t have to include yourself in this and shoulder this burden with me.

...I’ve said it before, but this is my problem.

Hiyori: If it’s your problem, then naturally it’s my problem, too.

Nagisa: ...I know. And that is why it’s a problem.

...You have granted me so many favors, Hiyori-kun; the last thing I want is to repay you with harm.

Hiyori: Nothing you do could ever bother me, Nagisa-kun. You could stab me in my sleep, and I would only shrug my shoulders.

But having said that, I would hold it against you for the rest of my life, probably, if you didn’t let me share your burdens. That’s too cruel.

Nagisa: ...You sound like Eichi-kun.

Hiyori: Sad to say, he and I are very similar. Maybe it’s the fact that our families are alike? Either way, I’m sure he’s come to the same conclusion I have.

Nagisa: ...Tsumugi-kun is on the Red Team. Many other superior idols will likely stand in solidarity against us.

Hiyori: I know. The Red Team has a weapon that we don’t: wisdom of the crowd.

Nagisa: ...Yes. It is said that a ship with many captains will be driven up a mountain. But if God intends to flood the Earth, we must dare to ascend that mountain.^[1]

Hiyori: Don’t go spouting all that religious nonsense. Every time you get on that soapbox, I feel like you’re drifting further and further away from humanity—it’s unsettling.

Nagisa: ...That does not change anything. If one wishes to touch the crown of God, one must stand as His equal.

...And I believe that is something only I can do, as I was found and nurtured by Father, who stood abreast to Him.

...If it means realizing my desires, I would even become God, with or without anyone else’s affirmation.

Hiyori: ......

(Hmm. As always, he’s avoiding the topic with aimless, conceptual talk.)

(I used to think this was just who he is, but now I get the feeling he’s putting on a calculated act.)

(He’s all grown up now, isn’t he? Which is why he’s become so strong, and he’s no longer the ignorant child he was when we met.)

(But I’ll always be just a little older than you, Nagisa-kun. I’ll always know more about the world than you.)^[2]

(So I will walk ahead of you and watch over you to make sure you don’t trip and fall.)

(I decided that the moment I met you.)

(—I need to make sense of Nagisa-kun’s intentions.)

(I’ve helped him with who knows how many problems he’s had as a result of growing up separated from the world. I’m used to this.)

(So he’s handed out the oracles to everyone on the White Team.)

(The purpose of those oracles was to cause our defeat.)

(If we do what they say, our probability of winning any given round is abysmal. And if we keep accumulating losses, we’ll eventually be crushed completely.)

(If we lose, we get no compensation. We’ll have gone through all of this effort in vain.)

(Any unit who went through the hell of those Qualifying Rounds would want to avoid this fate.)

(To put in all that work for nothing would be devastating.)

(But I can’t imagine the idols at ES care much for that sort of compensation.)

(They’re not in this business for the money.)

(Each one of them gets up on the stage and risks their life to obtain something far more precious and out of reach.)

(Maybe it’s the adoration of their fans, or the bonds of friendship...)

(To feel alive and in the moment, or to express themselves, or to crush someone you hate under your boot. Or maybe it’s just politics.)

(The goals vary from idol to idol. Some of them can be satisfied with money...)

(But it’s just one means to an end.)

(So for everyone else, a team victory isn’t their top priority.)

(Most of the units probably don’t care one way or another whether they get the prize money.)

(So they’re all aiming for something other than the money, other than the team victory.)

(If that’s the case, it’s rather convenient for them to have the oracle.)

(It allows them to act however they like to meet their own goals, and they can pass the blame onto the oracle.)

(If they have an accident or make a mistake, they shirk the responsibility by saying it’s because of the oracle we gave them.)

(If everyone comes together to agree on a story and then dispose of the oracle cards, they’ll be able to say whatever they want about the oracles and blame us for just about anything.)

(Mishaps, bad results, and total loss—everything becomes the responsibility of the commanding unit—Eden.)

(Obviously the one at fault would be the leaders who came up with this strategy, right?)

(Under that pretense, and with an escape plan for emergencies, everyone on the White Team can do anything they want.)

(So they can put all their effort into fulfilling their own individual goals.)

(All of the units on the White Team are those who can only display their true strengths in this manner, anyway.)

(All the units will accept the oracle because it’s convenient for them.)

(Everything goes according to the plan their commanding unit written down for them in the oracles—)

(This is the premise they’ll accept for the time being.)

(Though I’m sure they’re all tired of following directions given to them by other people after being bound and gagged by their orders and secret orders during the Qualifying Rounds.)

(Yet they still accept our oracles.)

(Well, it’s just as likely as not that they’ll ignore what’s written in them, but even still, they can’t break the illusion that they are following those instructions.)

(Because this way is more convenient.)

(Unlike Gatekeeper, who was threatening and coercing them to fall in line, we are respecting their free will and simply guiding them to their desired outcome—)

(To serve their own purposes. If that’s your design, Nagisa-kun, you’ve done a wonderful thing.)

(Just like a god who rules over the fates of man.)