()||<BIN>9</BIN><黑屏1>0,10</黑屏1><BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:
()||<BIN>593</BIN><Night><黑屏2><SE1>AVG_Motorcycle</SE1><BGM>BGM_Saga_AVG_Dusk</BGM>:Vroom-vroom-vroom—+As the roar of the bike engine slowly fades away, you and Saki dismount. She takes off the helmet you insisted she wear and swishes her ponytail.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Why did you ask me out so late at night. Our concert's tomorrow, you know.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Course I do, so cut the crap and follow me.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:I've done that, haven't I... Atchoo!+By the way, this place is freezing.
()||:Saki has brought you to an overlook. You gaze into the distance and see dense forest and faraway buildings.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Where is this place?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I got a question, Commander.+After riding with me so many times, what do you think of my biking skills?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...Did you eat something bad?+Are you actually asking me my opinion?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Just answer the question, dumbass! Or do you need a beating first?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Er, you're a great rider, of course.+I had a lot of bikers back in my old workplace...+But you're easily among the best of them... Anyway, since you're asking, I've got a question of my own.+Is it me or are you really bad at braking?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Tsk.
()||:Saki plants her hands on her waist and stares into the distance before clicking her tongue in annoyance.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I can't believe even an amateur like you noticed... I guess old habits die hard?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:What?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:It's nothin'. I got another question, Commander.+What big things have you done in your life?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Isn't this change of topics a little extreme?
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Shaddup. What have you achieved?
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...Well, if you must know... +I guess I've done a few things in my time. There are some things that seem really out of this world when I think about them...
NPC-Saki(0)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Huh... So you really DID do stuff like that before?+How does it measure up to what we're facing now?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:And let me get this out of the way first, if you say our concert is just small potatoes, I'm REALLY going to let you have it.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:What's the point of answering when you've ruled out all my responses...
()||<SE1>AVG_amb_wilderness</SE1>:You smile helplessly and then place both hands on the railing, letting the cold wind wash over you as you look down over the landscape.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:I mean, what's there to compare?+I've lived through a lot of battlefields with my friends by my side.+Those memories aren't going to fade just because I spent time with you.+On the contrary, even if I felt nostalgic about them, I wouldn't disregard the present just because I felt that way.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:If I thought your show was really small potatoes, I wouldn't have gone this far to accommodate you.+How about this, right now I'm having a stomachache... Because I know we can't afford to mess up for tomorrow's show.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Damn, you're smooth. Are you an intellectual or something? Been to school maybe?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Why? Haven't you?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Well, I did go to school, but I didn't learn anything there compared to the outside.+Plus, there were pains in the ass everywhere, so I just couldn't stay on.
()||:Saki waves the question off and looks at you.
NPC-Saki(0)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Allow me to teach you something you won't learn in school.+You just said I was bad at braking, right? +I do that on purpose. No matter when or where, I never think about slowing down.
NPC-Saki(0)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...Uh, that's no good, right? I'm pretty sure that's dangerous riding.
NPC-Saki(0)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Well, when it comes to me—I've always survived by having guts, past or present.
()||:Saki looks down from the overlook as she said this. There are complex emotions in her eyes.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:If you don't keep dashing down the straights, the no. 1 place is only going to get further and further from you.+I won't become soft and weak, not even if I die—That's how I became the boss.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...
()||:You mull over what Saki's not saying and fall silent.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...I think I get the idea.+If you're thinking about braking from the get-go, your mindset goes from valuing speed to safety.+While that might be the right answer for most people, it's just a drawback for you, isn't it?
NPC-Saki(0)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Indeed! I knew I like you for a reason, you DO understand.
()||<SE1>AVG_Wonder</SE1>:Saki slaps you on the back.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Yup! That's my secret of being the boss all this time!
NPC-Saki(4)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:—That is to say, ignoring everything else and charging forward.
NPC-Saki(4)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:But... The fact that it's still dangerous hasn't changed in the least. +Maybe you've gotten by with never failing because of your luck, but it'll catch up to you someday.
NPC-Saki(5)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:...Someday, huh.
()||:Saki doesn't get mad as you "lecture" her.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Do you know why I brought you here?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Didn't I ask you that from the very beginning?
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||<BGM>BGM_Empty</BGM>:That's because this is my deathplace—in other words, I died here.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Because this is your... Wait, what?!
()||<SE1>AVG_Cloak_Whoosh</SE1>:You're so startled that you stumble back and almost fall down the stairs.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||<BGM>2022_white_valentine_BGM2</BGM>:<size=50>Your... Your...?!</size>
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:What's the big fuss?+You DO know we've all died before, right?
()||:Compared to your reaction, Saki is tremendously nonchalant about it as the decedent in question.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:No... But... Er...+How did you...
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Back then, we were throwing down with another crew.+While settling things with my fists isn't a problem, neither of us wanted our people to get hurt.+So we decided to settle things once and for all here.
()||<SE1>ClothingUp</SE1>:Saki turns around and points in the direction from which you came, then turns again and points downward, on the platform you're standing on.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:We decided to settle it through a game of chicken, and I went up against the boss of the other group.+We'd both ride our bikes to the edge of this overlook and the first person to brake would lose.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...
()||:It is then that you realize something.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...You, you already...
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Yup.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker></Speaker>||:She flattens her lips and leans on the railing.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I braked too late and flew off from the side of this place.+That's what you mean by "my luck catching up to me someday", right?
NPC-Saki(4)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I already knew that.
NPC-Saki(4)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:And you didn't learn a damn thing even after going through something like this?!
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Learn a thing—? Hey! Are you kidding me, Commander?
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...!
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I have never—NEVER—once regretted doing this!
()||:Saki turns on you with a fierce look on her face.
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:That's right, I died. But so what?+<size=50>I WON!</size>
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...So what if you won?! You lost your life too!
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Of COURSE I'd like to live on if I could.+But if I ended up losing because of that, then I'd rather die! That's the most important thing to me!
()||:Saki's spirit has completely overwhelmed yours, never mind that you believe in what is right.+Still, the guts to bet everything for the sake of victory still baffles you.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:...
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...
()||:After a brief silence, you lower your head, lightly tracing the railing with your finger as you look with concern at the drop below.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:...I'm sorry. +After cooling down and thinking about it, the fact that you brought me here and told me all this was because you trusted me, right?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Tsk.+The hell are you saying sorry for, I figured you'd react this way from the beginning.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Then why did you...
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I didn't go out of my way to tell you all this because I wanted you to approve of me.+You thought this was about trust—you're not entirely wrong, but it's way more than just that.
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:No matter what others say, no matter what I have to do, I will never admit defeat.+This is the way I've lived all my life. You're my producer and also my bestie.+So no matter what... I wanted to pass this determination on to you.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:..."Screw everything and charge full speed ahead, right?"
()||:You smile bitterly and sigh.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Looks like I've got a long way to go when it comes to putting the brakes on you.
NPC-Saki(3)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Hah?! So after hearing all that your reaction is STILL to rain on my parade?!+Then what's the point of telling you all that!
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:No, no, I get it. You got your point across. +But being a bestie isn't a one-way street, right? If I listen to you, then you got to listen to me, don't you think?
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:...Tsk.
()||:Saki clicks her tongue, seemingly unable to respond to your words, but she doesn't say anything.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Also, you got one thing wrong..+I don't intend to stop you, BUT I'm going to make sure that your way forward leads you to the right destination. That's what a bestie ought to do.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:...Ah, alright, I get it.+God, there's no arguin' with you when you say crap like that... No wait. I didn't lose. It's a draw at best.
NPC-Saki(2)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Yep. Of course it's a draw. "Who wins" is a question that kids ask... not friends.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Heh.
()||:Saki smiles.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:I don't care about brakin' before I win.+Not when I'm racing and not when I'm performin'.
NPC-Saki(1)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><同时置暗><Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Then whether it's as Saki Nikaido or Franchouchou Member No. 2... + I'll let you be yourself as much as you want. Provided, of course, I think you're going the right way, okay?
NPC-Saki(4)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Try it, then.
()||:You can't help but laugh.
()<Speaker>Commander</Speaker>||:Well, since you've told me all this... Eh, I might as well tell you about it.+I messed up once and got captured by a bad lot.+They interrogated me for important information, and in the end I spun a lot of crap to buy time for myself.
NPC-Saki(0)<Position>0,-190</Position><Scale>1.4</Scale><Speaker>Saki Nikaido</Speaker>||:Eh— What the hell?+I can't believe you were keeping such an interesting story from me!+Come on, fess up! Tell me all about it!
()||:You look up to the starry sky and laugh as you have a long conversation with Saki.+It's true that she gave you a much needed shot in the arm on the eve of your greatest challenge.+—All you need to do is disregard everything and charge straight ahead.
()||<黑点1>: