Puppet Show Chapter 2

Reminscene * Marionette Puppet Show

This story has 21 chapters. This is the second chapter of Puppet Show.

This story takes place during a Valkyrie performance.

This is happening on the Valkyrie stage. This chapter's point of view is Nazuna the entire time, so I will not color-code it.

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(This time, too, the live performance suddenly starts without even an introduction. It’s as if to say, “if you can’t follow along with us, we’ll leave you behind,” isn’t it?)

(To me and to Mika, too, let alone to the audience… Mentor shakes himself free of everything, and from the very start, goes into top gear.)

(With not even an inch of deviation, it starts as planned, and continues without a hitch.)

(Until the end, the staged performance continues, planned perfectly down to the second.)

(There is no catering to the audience, no flattery, nor any compromise. It’s like a movie made by an obstinate director. Mentor just unilaterally throws “Mentor’s point of view” at them.)

(There is no communication with the audience. They cannot enter into the movie… If they don’t like it, then they can close their eyes and shut their ears, or they can get out of their seats and go home.)

(That is Mentor… No, that is we, “Valkyrie”.)

(With that ethos, despite its polarity, we have come to rise above the other units.)

(Mentor is... not simply arrogant, so…)

(He perfectly plans our lessons… and piles on the effort. He makes even the props for the stage and the outfits, giving care to even the tiniest details.)

(He always shows off his consistently overwhelming quality.)

(At this Yumenosaki Academy, the idols are like depraved royalty.)

(Sitting on their vested interests, they do not strive for anything. Shirking their classes and lessons, they run around playing.)

(But even so, the brands made by the graduates of Yumenosaki Academy… our predecessors... gather huge crowds.)

(Without doing anything, even if they just play around idly, we can attain glory.)

(Rare are the people who can work hard in these kinds of conditions. There are those with natural talent, who show off some wonderful performances, but…)

(Generally, they have rotted away. Mere “imitations of idols” that I can’t stand to look at.)

(They’re a lot with barely any skill or talent, who just have a little good looks on the outside and were blessed with a good position.)

(We... are different. We are even mocked. They wonder what we’re trying so hard for… To the point that they sneer at us, but…)

(We are... putting in so much effort as to sweat blood.)

(Mentor... is serious in that way. You could also call it obstinacy, how he calculates with scrupulous care… Investing in and executing his plans precisely, preparing excessively.)

(Right now, the guests who come from outside to watch us at Yumenosaki Academy are somewhat…)

(I suppose they don’t really want to be moved, or to appreciate any artistry.)

(To them, we present a professional-looking stage performance, with our complete devotion, pouring in all our firepower.)

(Almost all of the audience members, rather, are surprised. They make faces… like “why are you guys trying so hard?”)

(In that opportunity while they are surprised, we strike with our blade, and bring them down.)

(They are all shaken, saying that we are different from what they had heard. That the idols of Yumenosaki Academy were supposed to be like frivolous half-amateurs.)

(That’s right. The other guys are like that. But... We, Valkyrie, are different.)

(Even while the other guys are playing around, Mentor is creating masterpieces with a wild tenacity.)

(If it’s the same price, the audience wants to see something good. They come, again, to see our live performances.)

(Our fame brings us more fame, and we are now at the top of Yumenosaki Academy.)

(Mentor is... a genius. His techniques, his devices, are outstanding.)

(It is precisely because the other guys are slovenly that we look great in comparison, but even so, we became the sovereigns of this Yumenosaki Academy as the fruits of our own labors.)

(The right-hand man of that kind of mentor, chosen as his most favorite…)

(I… suppose I am happy. Even if it is the happiness of a slave, it’s “better” than rotting down to my soul, so…)

(I did not come to this Yumenosaki Academy to... eat delicious things and run around playing, so…)

(We... wanted to become idols, so...)

(Unlike the other guys...)

(We’re not like the others, who are idols in name alone, with neither pride nor ability, smiling frivolously as they just indulge in easygoing pleasures!)

(Those kinds of people, they’re not the idols I admired!)