verdantgrove

Location: ES Staff Canteen

Kuro: Well, I’m gonna start with my thoughts first.

Akatsuki’s not doing too hot right now. RhythLink’s a well-established agency, and we haven’t made a name for ourselves yet like UNDEAD’s doin’. So we’ve been goin’ downhill for a while.

But you know that already. We’ve been so out of any notable work that we’re free pretty much all the time— that’s why you’ve been able to go to school like normal.

Even though you were the only one holed up for that movie shoot of yours, that didn’t get in the way of Akatsuki’s activities one bit, yeah?

Souma: Well, umm… That is simply because “KureijiBii” had caused our downfall in the summertime, is it not?1

But we have devoted the fullest extent of our abilities to taking our blunder in stride and recovering from that situation, and thus—

Kuro: You’re not wrong, but I get the feeling that we were already in a tight spot, even before we got stung by those rampaging bastards.

We just went on bein’ unnoticed, and we couldn’t achieve a single thing.

Souma: ..........

Kuro: But I guess ya could say that’s the case for every unit from Yumenosaki that’s now under RhythLink, yeah?

All the good jobs are goin’ to the agency’s veterans, so us rookies haven’t had much chance to get at them.

But even then. UNDEAD and Ra*bits have each managed to earn their place in RhythLink in their own ways.

Well, I’m pretty sure UNDEAD’s only been able to climb their way up ‘cause Sakuma and Hakaze were so good at playin’ their cards right.

Ra*bits was always left in our dust back when Yumenosaki was the heart of things, but even they’ve overtaken us by now.

That’s not just how I feel— it’s the truth. You can see for yourself it in the numbers on the L$ per unit ranking.

Ra*bits have been workin’ really hard, givin’ this their all— and all that hard work’s payin’ off.

But we’ve just been doin’ the same thing as always— and we’re not growin’ at all.

We did have a chance to be in the spotlight for a minute with Vampire Shogun goin’ so well, but that was more an accomplishment for UNDEAD than anyone else.2

Souma: Mm… Though ultimately it was Sakuma-dono who had approached us with his proposal.

Kuro: Pretty much, yeah. We can’t get any jobs by ourselves right now.

Kuro: We’re just like little baby birds, chirpin’ and chirpin’ while we wait for a nice momma bird to bring us our food.

Souma: Little… baby birds…

Kuro: You get why we’re in such a grim situation now?

Souma: Well… I suppose it is not the fault of “KureijiBii”, as you affirmed just a moment earlier. Then, do enlighten me… Why is it?

Kuro: Basically, they’ve just got more than enough guys like us.

Souma: Hmm…?

Kuro: Our biggest selling points are stuff like tradition, and our Japanese style. But they’ve already got more enka singers3 and other traditional musicians than you can count.

This is a long-established agency— if anything, all that traditional stuff’s their strong suit. Like the golden oldies, and all that.

I think that’s why Hasumi chose RhythLink in the first place, actually.

He wanted to put us in an environment where we could make the best use of our abilities, pretty much.

Really is just like him to always be on the offensive. But I like that about him, so I thought it’d be fine.

But ya can see where that brought us.

Souma: ..........

Kuro: Maybe we were just a little too cocky. We were pretty much invincible in every Dreamfes back in the Yumenosaki days and all.

That's why we were so sure we were a big enough deal to be chosen, even when we were bein' compared to the greats.

Souma: ..........

Kuro: But it’s a big world out here. It’s like our agency’s crawlin’ with monsters— those monsters bein’ enka singers who’ve been around for decades on end.

It’s pretty obvious that a group like that’s gonna have a way better reputation and a lot more accomplishments than a bunch of kids like us.

It’s also pretty obvious that our agency’s gonna send all the jobs their way. Or at least that they’ve got a tendency to favor veterans like that.

Souma: I see… Now that you have told me such, I feel as though it stands to reason that that is the case.

The reason why we have not been finding any work is simply a matter of our agency’s standard order of precedence, then?

When listing the order of precedence within our agency, we as Akatsuki are relegated to the very end, yes?

Kuro: Haha. I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’re dead last. We’ve still got lots of fans from our days at Yumenosaki—

So I wanna believe we’d get something out of it if we had a chance to perform.

But we don’t. All those chances are already gone— taken by all those prideful old folks who already have impressive careers.

Souma: Hmm. It is only just that seniority be the judge of precedence, but I had not considered that our agency would go so far as to force us away from the stage in favor of our seniors. How vexing...

Such intense chagrin is a novel feeling to me.

Kuro: Really? Ya know, it’s a wonder we’re even eatin’ together all peaceful like this. The way we grew up couldn’t have been more different.

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TL Notes:

1: Reference to Main Story 2.

2: Reference to Learning from the Past.

3: Enka is a Japanese music genre that consists mostly of ballads, but generally all songs under the enka genre use traditional Japanese instruments and stylistic elements reminiscent of traditional music. It is considered a nostalgic genre by many and most modern enka singers reached their fame in the late 20th century.

Proofread by allegiantheart and Amagiiz.