Chanbara Night - The Burden on That Back 2

[rubestie]

Season: Autumn

 

Writer: Nishioka (feat. Akira)

 

Characters: Mao, Ritsu

 

 

Mao: How unexpected~, Ritsu. I had thought you would try to trick me into competing in a battle of wits with you. But to think you would opt to fight me head-on like this instead. Or maybe tricking me into thinking that is just a part of your plan~?

 

Ritsu: Fighting with smarts is my field, after all. Even if I defeated you with something like that, it wouldn’t get rid of the humiliation I experienced after losing the practice match. 

 

Mao: Ahaha. So this is Ritsu’s competitiveness rearing its head.

 

Fine with me. A head-on match it is…!

 

(Wo~w. Ritsu really is amazing. He’s normally an expert in strategy and refuses to do anything that requires him to move his body, but this time he’s actually putting up a good fight.)

 

(Well, if he really hated moving his body, there’s no way he could have made it this far as an idol. Plus, Ritsu is a core member of that Knights.)

 

(I can’t really claim to have much of an advantage right now.)

 

! Woah! How dangerous~. That’s quite an aim you’ve got there~

 

Ritsu: Yup. So you should hurry up and gracefully accept your loss.

 

Mao: N? I feel like you’ve said that line before.

 

--Ah, that’s right. That time when we were kids and playing adventure with wooden sticks. Both Ritsu and I wanted to be the hero.

 

We decided we would have a showdown to find out who was the real hero. How nostalgic. 

 

And that’s when you told me the same line as just now. I can't remember, but which one of us ended up winning that showdown?

 

Ritsu: Me, by a landslide.

 

Mao: Eh~? Was that really it?

 

Ritsu: (No, that was a lie. Ma~kun won by just a little.)

 

--ck!

 

 

Mao: Almost got you~! I was so sure I made it too!

 

Ritsu: (How cheeky~. We were just chatting away, but he was able to hone in his aim on my ornament. If you had been born in another era, you might’ve been able to become a first-class samurai, don’t you think, Ma~kun?)

 

(But that won’t be enough. This is the one battle I can’t lose.)

 

(...Ah, Anzu and the workers from the inn are watching from over there. They’re apprehensively watching over our battle.)

 

(Make sure you don’t miss a second. Each and every one of us is fighting with all their might, carrying our beliefs on our backs…!)

 

(Just a bit more now. Continue down here-)

 

 

Mao: ! Woah!? What!?

 

(I messed up! Did I just trip over a flower pot and lose my balance!?)

 

Ritsu: --This is K.O., Ma~kun!

 

Mao: You’ve completely defeated me, Ritsu. Were you aiming for that all along?

 

Ritsu: Fufu. Making use of one’s surroundings is basic strategy, you know.

 

Mao: Welp, looks like the results are in. From here on, I’ll leave it to you, Ritsu.

 

Ritsu: Yup.

 

Mao: (How frustrating~. Well, I honestly couldn’t care less who wins or loses. Either way the outcome won’t change. But I really do wish my team could’ve won instead~)

 

(Oh. The results were announced.)

 

Ritsu: Thank you all very much. The rule for this competition was “the loser has to follow the will of the winner”. So, allow me to announce the winner’s will. 

 

The inn will be destroyed.

 

--However, we’re not speaking in terms of physically destroying the inn. What we want to destroy are the current concepts associated with the inn.

 

Following that, we will launch a project for bettering the management of the inn.

 

(...Ah. Anzu is panicking something awful. Both the old and the young master’s eyes widened as well.)

 

(I guess that’s to be expected. We’re steering away from the original script, after all.)

 

(Originally, our victory would mean that the old master’s wish of “closing down the inn” would come to pass.)

 

(But the rule simply states that the loser has to follow the winner’s will.)

 

(Since we are the ones who won, our will is what matters. Everything is operating in accordance with the rules of the show.)

 

(We planned this declaration beforehand so that the results would be the same no matter if our team or Ma~kun’s team had won.)

 

(Although I feel a little bad for tricking Anzu like this…)

 

(Well, hopefully she’ll be able to forgive me. I’m sure this path will lead us to the happy ending, you see.)

 

Lastly. Allow me to declare the most important thing everyone will have to adhere to at all costs.

 

We would like for the old master and the young master to sit down together and talk properly to each other. 

 

Please look each other in the eyes, hear each other out, and thoroughly discuss your feelings and thoughts together.

 

Even though you’ve held complete opposite opinions concerning the inn’s future until now…

 

I think you might just discover you'll be able to look in the same direction after all.



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