With a slightly clammy hand, Hikaru Tada grasps the handle of the large switch next to a fuse box on the wall. Most of the other volunteers at The Smile are packed into the maintenance room along with him, like sardines in a tin — a good dozen pairs of prying eyes staring daggers into his back as he casts one final glance at the sheet he taped on the inside of the box’s door. He struggles to decipher his own handwriting, to be honest, but it’ll be fine, right? Even if he pulls this lever and nothing happens, it won’t be terribly embarrassing, right?

Midori: (from the darkness outside the maintenance room, her voice echoes right past the whispering and muttering of the volunteers) What’s the hold-up, slowpoke? Just flick the damn switch already!

Tada: O-One second… this says 230 volts, right? (he squints at the notes) I… probably got that right.

Alice: Come on, man. You’ve checked everything six times already. It’ll be… (with a sigh, she pushes through to the front of the crowd and promptly pulls the lever, much to Tada’s protest) … fine.

Suddenly, the entire venue springs to life, from the cosy lights on the tables in the back to the colorful neon signs on the walls, resulting in a joyful cheer from Midori as the other volunteers pour out of the maintenance room, gasping and gawking at the fruits of their labour. When an exasperated Tada joins them, flanked by Alice, Midori runs up to him and grabs his hands, jumping up and down.

Midori: We did it! We did it! It works! It’s… (she promptly kisses him on the cheek) … You’re a genius! (with a giggle, she runs up to the bar area)

Tada: (he turns beet red) … I-I guess I am.

Alice: (she chuckles as she prods Tada’s side) Told you it would work.

Midori: (she returns, carrying three bottles of beer, which she hands out to Tada and Alice) You good with beer, Alice?

Alice: I can have one, probably. (she produced her glucose meter from underneath her shirt and checks it) One or two.

Midori: Now it’s a party! (she raises her bottle — and her voice) To The Smile, everyone! To the return of good music to this godforsaken town! And to the last time I’m gonna have to have takeout pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the foreseeable future! Cheers!

Tada: … S-Shouldn’t we wait until everyone arrives before we start drinking?

Midori: They’ll have plenty of time to catch up! Bottoms up — (she puts the bottle to her lips, but Alice stops her)

Alice: Could you at least stay sober until Yui gets here? She’s as much a part of this as we are.

Midori: Oh… I thought she was like… not in a partying mood.

Alice: She just has an appointment with a study path counselor. She’ll be here any minute. (she checks her phone) In five minutes, to be precise.

Tada: … That message was sent five minutes ago, actually.

Alice: … Don’t look at my phone, dude.

The bell on the door jingles, and Yuzuki peeks in. She looks a little sheepish that she’s arrived before everyone is here.

Yuzuki: Hello… did I miss anything? 

Alice: You missed not everything blowing up.

Tada: T-That was never going to happen!

Yuzuki: Well congratulations on finishing the renovations! It looks great.

Midori: Well if even you approve, we must’ve done a really great job!

Alice: That’s the kind of stuff you keep to yourself, Midori…

Yuzuki: It’s not like I’m a renovations expert… if there’s no unfinished floors or cockroaches crawling around I wouldn’t know what to criticize. 

Midori: And that’s also stuff you should keep to yourself, Yuzu!

Yui: Yo, don’t mention cockroaches, it’s bad luck. (Yui saunters in, looking as if she had just fought a war. Dark circles lined under her eyes. The reality, of course, was that she had just fought three wars over the course of the last eight hours.) Midori, beer me!

Yuzuki: … Y-you been getting on okay coming back to classes, Yui? 

Yui: It, uh… (She sighs heavily) It was a fight, but if I bust my ass, I can get through the year without flunking out.

Yuzuki: (A sigh of relief) That’s good… honestly, they should be sliding everyone a break right now, after what’s happened in town.

Alice: If anything, the fact that most of the term happened off-campus could be Yui’s saving grace. She can watch the recordings, hand in the assignments… If she’s up for it, of course. (she looks at Yui, somewhat worried)

Yui: It’s a challenge! Besides, it’s a healthy way to distract myself from, um… ‘nightmares’ I guess. But uh, yeah, I’m up for it. First class back, I’ll be there.

Alice: We’ll get coffee on the way there. Plus, those practical exams you’ve already got in the pocket.

Yui: It’s a date. (After giving Alice a reassuring smile, she looks and subsequently vanishes into the crowd) Oi! Midori, beer me!

Yuzuki: (She waves, then speaks quietly to Alice) How have things been going for her? 

Alice: (she lowers her voice) … She talked to Mei last night.

Yuzuki: Oh, right, she’s down in the Dreamscape… I guess it must be hard for her…

Alice: Yui’s been fiddling around with the Soul Lantern lately… She planned to bring Mei back with it — I don’t really get the logistics of it, like, it’s not like she’s been keeping a dead body in our freezer, but… It didn’t go as intended. Plus… Our juniors are getting involved. They’re probably just worried, but… Niko tried to get in the way, Shinju’s come to me with questions, and Aoi told me Hanako’s swung by the gym as well.

Yuzuki: Ah… (She takes off her glasses, looking up at the lights) We’re supposed to be like their senpais, being strong and setting an example for them… not making them have more worries. (She sets her glasses back on) I know she might think she could maybe just steal some of this killer’s victims, but it’s not so easy as just using any old dead body, right? 

Alice: (she shrugs) No clue. I’d like to think it’s not as easy as that. With Cecilia, she had a body that was… vacated under very specific circumstances. But I honestly don’t know. Maybe Yui thought she could pull it off with how her power’s grown. Hell, maybe she can.

Yuzuki: That’d be great I guess, but… I wouldn’t want to live in some dirty, scruffy homeless man’s body. And I know people think the homeless are kind of the bottom of the societal barrel but I don’t think that means you can just grave-rob them for free. 

Alice: Hey, maybe there was a young girl among those victims. In this city, you can never be sure. And I’ve definitely seen people our age out on the streets.

Yuzuki: Oh yeah, like that “Zero” kid who came by a couple times… there’s no way that was his real name. Hope he’s escaped all this chaos.

Alice: God… Or that the Bureau didn’t send him off to the gulags or wherever.

Midori: (she pops up behind the two, seemingly out of nowhere) … Send who to the what now?

Yuzuki: (She flinches) Geeze, you scared me! Just an acquaintance of ours who was out on the streets. 

Midori: You people have a lot of “acquaintances” who mysteriously vanished off of the face of the planet, huh?

Yuzuki: They didn’t vanish mysteriously, they’re just not here anymore. Like that American boy who went back to America. 

Alice: He went back to his home planet.

Yui: Larry? That asshole? (Beer in hand, Yui rejoins the others) Good riddance. 

Yuzuki: O-oh. What made him an asshole? 

Alice: Being seventeen, I guess.

Yui: That, and leaving me with like a half-assed note on my pillow when he got a ride back to the States. Son of a—

Midori: Oof. Owch. Holy shit, man. And I thought I’ve had it bad with guys. Guess Japanese guys at least try not to be this blatant, huh?

Alice: Can’t exactly fault anyone for latching onto the first chance they get to skip this godforsaken town, though.

Midori: I dunno, man, this place seems like paradise compared to the States. It ain’t exactly Whimseyland over there! Unless you like, literally go to Whimseyland.

Alice: You do know there’s a Whimseyland in Tokyo, right?

Yui: Nah, American guys at least pretend to care for four years first. So that was fun, I guess. Man, fuck guys…

Midori: Tell me about it! 

Alice: (sardonically) You do, in fact, tell us about it all the time, yes.

Midori: Pah! As if you’re above falling head over heels for a jerk. Would be the first woman I’ve ever met who’s never had her heart broken by some dick-for-brains troglodyte!

Alice: No comment.

Yuzuki: Um, well, I haven’t. Not very popular with the troglodytes over here…

Midori: You gotta stop confirming all of my worst assumptions about you, Yuzu…

Alice: Only you can insult people like that and get away with it, huh?

Midori: Speaking of getting away with stuff, don’t just act as if I didn’t just have you dead to rights, Rinju! I’m not leaving here until I know all about your first heartbreak.

Alice: Better call your folks to bring you a sleeping bag and fresh underwear, then.

Midori: (she rolls her eyes) How come Yui can tell me everything I wanna know about friggin’ magic being real, but you won’t tell a soul about your past, or those scars you have, or your family, or heck, what happened to the rest of your band?

Alice: Not every story is a fun drinking party with the girls kind of story, Midori. It’s not like I want to be aloof.

Midori: S-Sorry… I just… I wanna know what happened to my favourite band.

Alice: We were not your favourite band. Please. I like to think you have taste.

Midori: Not beating the aloof accusations there!

Alice: (curt) Does alcohol just make you hell-bent on pissing people off?

Midori: … Least it doesn’t make me piss on people. I’ve seen that happen, too. (her sheepish grin is met with nothing but disapproving stares from the others) Okay, I’ll be quiet.

Yuzuki: Y-yes, I know you’ve had some trouble finding a drummer… anything else? 

Alice: Natsuko’s busy. She’s an adult, she’s got responsibilities that we don’t have because we’re… privileged enough to get to do whatever we want, basically, and she… wasn’t ready to dedicate her life to being in this band and I respect that, and we had a talk about it, and it’s fine. 

Yui: I still keep in touch with Babycakes, by the way. Still gives me free bread, even if she doesn’t need to…

Alice: She’s doing great. It’s ironic that her quitting because everything was going too fast made things grind to a halt, I guess, but—

Midori: I know what’s up with Natsuko, I’m basically your agent. But what the hell happened to Rika. You had a drummer, right? I’ve seen you guys perform like a thousand times—

Alice: I asked Rika to quit.

Midori: … Wh… What? But she was—

Alice: Unconditionally devoted to me, yes. I… (she sighs) I couldn’t deal with that. Somehow, I convinced her that she… needed me to be miserable, so she could be there to cheer me up. Not, like, actively, or maliciously, but I somehow convinced myself that if I wanted to change, I needed to cut her out of my life. And that’s entirely on me… I told her I didn’t want to drag her into the quagmire with me, that she deserved to play with people who shared her outlook on life, but… I guess in the end I only did it because I didn’t see myself in the person she saw me as… and I didn’t know how to fix that.

Yui: To be fair, she was pretty unhealthy about her outlook on you… 

Alice: I… don’t know. I don’t think I was even capable of rationally assessing that back then.

Yui: I’d offer to cover on drums, since I learned how a long ass time ago, but then we’d need a bassist. And uh, then we’re just back to square one, I think.

Yuzuki: The only person we know who seems punk-ish is Hayama-san… I guess you wouldn’t want a minor on the band. 

Yui: If we were like… closer in age, maybe. But I’m not exactly sixteen anymore…

Alice: They don’t need to be punk, they just need to be able to play.

Midori: Yeah, not all music with guitars is automatically punk, Yuzu!

Alice: No, that’s—I just mean, I don’t necessarily wanna set a prerequisite that people have to meet — no “you must be this cool to be in this band” or anything — the band’s image should be shaped by the people who are in it, not the other way around. I don’t care if our drummer is a 45-year-old salaryman as long as we get along and enjoy making music together.

Midori: Why don’t you just hold auditions? You’ve got a venue for it.

Alice: I dunno, that implies a hierarchy, right? As if people need to “prove” that they “deserve” to be in our band, when really, who are we?

Yui: Well, more like “Can you actually play the instrument? Let us hear a bit” I guess. That’s not too bad, right? 

Alice: I suppose if you put it like that… It’s not a bad idea.

Midori: A 45-year-old salaryman isn’t just gonna fall out of the sky into your lap like that! You gotta go looking for him.

Yuzuki: Th-they’re looking for a drummer, not a dating profile… 

Midori: Ooh, maybe I should audition for a boyfriend!

Yuzuki: They call that “speed dating,” I think… 

Midori: Well then, open auditions it is! This place should be available during afternoons anyways. I’ll take care of the announcement on the socials; Alice, you can put up flyers around campus, and I’m sure Tada can arrange for a drum kit. In a month, would that work?

Alice: Hey, whose band is this again?

***

With a sigh, Alice plops down onto the coach in her dorm room, exasperated at the scale of the project she has unwittingly gotten herself into.

Alice: She’s such a handful when she’s drunk, I can’t believe it.

Aoi: (She comes out of the kitchen, with a bow like a servant’s) I finished making some of the snacks. 

Yui: Sweet, thanks. C’mon an’ join us, Aoi! (She sighs, holding a bottle of berry soda) Yeah… I told Midori to lay off, but… somehow she thought I was in a drinking contest with her after a while. But like, I stopped drinking an hour before she caught on…

Alice: (she yawns) I hope you enjoyed yourself, at least.

Yui: More or less. …Let’s see how this intervention all y’all gathered for goes first. (Nonchalantly takes a sip of her soda, voice calm, expression neutral) Y’know… rip the bandage off, an’ all that.

Alice: I resent the implication that the only reason why Yuzuki and Aoi would possibly be here is because we’re staging an intervention… But you’re not wrong.

Aoi: …

Yuzuki: Eh, c-c’mon, it’s not like an intervention… we’re still celebrating… 

Alice: Interventions usually come with ultimatums. But we don’t do those.

Yui: (softly) Guys, it’s… it’s fine, really. I’m not gonna flip out on any of you for saying what you need to say.

Alice: I… mostly just want to know how things went with Mei. I know what you wanted to do, and… since she’s not here, I’m assuming that didn’t go according to plan.

Yui: …No, it didn’t. (She takes a swig from her soda bottle) …No sense hiding any of it. Not that I was. Just, no one really asked. …I wanted to bring Mei back. The plan was to keep her soul in the Soul Lantern until a body turned up matchin’ her rough description. I waited for the murders to start back up before making my move. Plan was maybe… I dunno, three or so days tops? Kind of a gamble, but that was the plan. 

Alice: Would it even work with a random dead body, though?

Yui: Figured if I felt a soul vanish fast enough, it’d probably work. Worst case, I just bring Mei back down and try again later. Well… surprising absolutely no one, Mei fought back. Vox Memoria. That’s her attack. She brings out the part of a person that’s “most important” to ‘em. What that exactly means, mechanically speaking, is something I never really understood in time. …What Mei brought out was the Maestro. So, y’know… I lost. ‘Cause even if I beat him in the real world, there’s part of me that’s Conductor enough to still see that blueprint in where I walked. And in that sense, the Forte can’t ever beat the Maestro. …So when I started losin’ the fight, I fell back on my other plan. But even if Mei got clever, she wasn’t strong enough in the moment to give me that, either. So close… so goddamn close.

Alice: … Maybe that’s why Mei doesn’t want to come back. Because that would be a “Conductor” thing to do… Wait, wasn’t she the one who was super into the whole Conductor thing?

Yuzuki: I don’t really get why she wouldn’t want to come back to life, but… if she didn’t want to, why were you trying so hard? She’s still fine in the Dreamscape, right? It’s not like she’s totally gone… 

Yui: It’s… complicated. Mei’s more of a Conductor than anyone realized, especially me. I wanted to bring her back to undo that mentality. …When I brought her in, she found the journal I kept on the Conductors’ history, and… well, she kinda made it her personality. I wanted her to have a more normal life, be a normal person. She grew this… obsession. With me, with the Conductors, and… it gave her this misguided sense of purpose. Like, in her eyes, her life was “over” when I found her. She was ready to let herself become a Witch ‘cause her partner went Witch right in front of her. When I saved her, she started down this “new” life instead of accepting a proper second chance. …Then, when Shiori came to raid the gym, Mei fought to defend it. But the part of her that accepted her life was over, that part came through. She found some sort of noble self-sacrifice for my sake. …And she fought that way. She fought as if she not only was ready to die, but that she wanted to. That… (She chokes up a bit) …That’s why I wanted to bring her back so goddamn bad. And why I couldn’t fucking stand to look at her down there for so fucking long… because once again, once a-fucking-gain, The Conductors won. …The Maestro won. That’s why he came out when Mei used her power on me down there.

Alice: (she clutches Yui’s hand in both of hers) … Mei has… made her choice, but the Maestro didn’t win. He’ll only win when you become like him and manipulate others to do your bidding… Maybe that’s why Mei summoned him, to tell you she’ll carry the burden of his legacy now… That you’re free.

Yuzuki: I don’t think Mei should be carrying that on either… some legacies don’t need to be continued… 

Alice: Well, yeah, but—

Yui: Mei didn’t… “choose” to summon Velare. Vox Memoria works off of the target. In that moment… doing what I was doing, it was… it was Velare that came out of my memories. That’s why he won. ‘Cause I’m… what I’m doing, I… 

Alice: You can stop doing it. You want to— No one needs to tell you to, let alone beat it into you. I mean— (she looks at Aoi and Yuzuki, as if asking for their support)

Yuzuki: Yeah, nobody ever got better because someone forced them to by bludgeoning them. That’s just gonna give someone worse issues down the road…

Aoi: … After you’ve done what you can, you just need time. 

Yui: And that makes sense to me. But… not her. Not my other half.

Yuzuki: I don’t know if you should listen to a Witch on what to do… 

Yui: I don’t have a say in the matter. It’s that… Malefica classic. Gotta keep that power down every now and then. Gettin’ my ass kicked will literally beat some sense into me.

Alice: I… don’t think there’s anyone who can beat you in a fair fight, though. 

Yui: …Cecilia failed, Mei failed… Hanako’s getting stronger, but not enough. Kiwa can’t do it. Mei couldn’t do it. The Captain won’t, neither will Yuzu or Aoi, an’ that’s fine, it’s a big ask. … (She closes her eyes and sighs) …But there’s one person who can do it.

Yuzuki: … Anisa? 

Yui: Heh… not a chance. She lost the will to fight ages ago or some shit. …No, I mean someone who unlocked her Magia… and didn’t lose it like I did.