Stray Celluloid

<⁠To all of our guests, welcome to our banquet hall…⁠>

It’s time for your first performance…! I hope it goes well. I’m so nervous!!

(If I’m gonna be honest, the Evening Team members aren’t the most cooperative… So I’m relieved to see that they at least all showed up on time.)

Ugh… I wanna get outta here. My stomach hurts…

Tao-kun, are you okay…?

Chiefy, I’ll keep an eye on Taotao! So don’t worry about him. ♪

Taotao, let’s calm down, okaaay? Deeeep breaths!

Raito-san and Kuguri-san, are you two doing alright? You’re not nervous?

I’m all good. ♪ I’m excited for the show.

Nervous? Who do you think I am, cica?

(I’m a little worried about how they’ll perform, but these two don’t seem to be too concerned… What about Kinari-kun?)

(…It’s a little awkward to ask him. I never expected Kinari-kun to be arrested for murder.)

(How should I approach this? Ugh, I can’t believe I’m acting like this. I only asked him about it because I was prepared to accept him no matter what he did…)

……

Your dancing is not as put-together as it should be, so your goal for tonight is to get used to being on stage.

Aw, Nayuuki, don’t be such a meanie right before the show! That’s not what a good manager does.

<⁠I now introduce to you, visiting us from HAMA: Ev3ns!⁠>

(Good luck, you guys…!)

Good evening, esteemed guests. I’m Kitakata Raito, the leader of Ev3ns. We’re here tonight to put on our first performance as a group.

I’m Chihiro! The smiley cutie of Ev3ns! ♪ I hope you enjoy our show tonight!

Who the hell are you?! We didn’t ask to see any idols tonight!

This is a banquet hall! How ‘bout you just show us some party tricks instead?!

Haha, exactly! C’mon, put on a show!

Tch, they have terrible manners… Let’s just ignore them and start the musi⁠—

Hm, since we’re idols, should we do as they say?

(No, you moron…!)

A trick? Ooh, can I do the thing I did on my show? I’m gonna borrow your spoon real quick, mister.

Oh, you’re gonna go for it?

Hup, hup, hup! Here we go, five-spoon juggling!

That’s how you do it, kid!

(HRMMM… Chii!! He’s so amazing…! He does everything with a smile! Chihiro, the smiley cutie of Ev3ns…is a true idol!!)

(Huh…? Is that…our head warden again?)

The rest of you gonna just stand there and watch or what?!

Taotao, can you do your card trick? I think they’d like it but…you don’t have to.

!

I can… I promised that I’d show you. Um, does anyone have a deck of playing cards I can borrow?

My name’s Kinouchi Tao! I’ll show everyone some magic tricks!

Oh, sounds good. I got a deck. Go ‘head and take it! Here!

In that case, allow me to join you. ♪

(Kuguri-san can do card tricks too?)

Pick a card, any card. Then you can put it back in the deck…

I won’t touch any of the cards. Allow me to try and guess which one you picked.

It’s the king of diamonds!

Woaaaahh!! He’s right!!

Taotao, that was totally awesome!

Haha…

(That one had a pretty obvious trick to it, but at least it’s holding up…)

Hmm… Then I suppose I should try…some card juggling.

Now, open your clouded eyes and look closely. Can you tell whether this is fake or real, dear drunkard?

Woah, what’s goin’ on?! The cards are marchin’ around on their own!

That’s a crazy trick you got there, kid!

Haha, I’m so very glad you enjoyed it, dear drunkards.

(Huh…? That’s more than just a simple magic trick! I have no idea how he’s doing that… How’s he making those cards move?!)

Now they’re all just doing tricks… When are they gonna be able to perform?

Hm. I can’t afford to lose. I suppose I’ll…strip naked!

R-Raito-san?!

Stop, you moron! Are you forgetting that you’re an idol?! *kick*

Gh… Oh, that was a nice kick, Nayuki! If you’re looking to brawl, then I’ll accept!

Woah! They’re doin’ martial arts now!

C’mon! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Fine. I’ll end this here…! *kick*

You’ve gotten better, Nayuki!

Thanks, I had a good teacher…!

(Oh no… Now the Kitakatas are fighting each other. Nayuki-kun, this is getting way too out of hand…!)

I should do something as well.

Ah! Kinari-kun, you don’t have to…

I have…a magic trick. I, Azekawa Kinari, will now remove my arm.

Plüss, are you…?

WAAAAAAGGHHH!

The hell?! What’s with the sudden gore?!

Wha⁠— You…took off your arm?! Are you okay?!

(This isn’t good! We have to find a way out of this!)

And that was the Ev3ns magic show!! Thank you so much for coming! Let’s go! It’s over!

The food here’s SO good! ♪

We didn’t get paid, but at least we got a free dinner. That’s pretty lucky.

Processing flavor data… Ingredients, umami, saltiness…

Kinyari, what’re you muttering about? Here, Chii can feed you. ♪ Say “ahh…”

Mm? Ahh?

It’s a Beppu specialty. Is it yummy?

Mrm… *munch, munch…*

Kinyari, you literally look SO adorbs with your little cheekies! Can I take a pic? I wanna make it my homescreen!

Mhmhmrhhrmrhm. (If Master accepts.)

Chihiro, you fed Kinari way too much food…

Oita is well known for its high-quality seki horse mackerel and seki mackerel. I’m glad we could have it here. The chicken tempura’s delicious too.

*sigh…* That went terribly. I didn’t expect our first show to fail so badly…

I was part of the problem myself as well. I’m very sorry, Chief. I’ll take responsibility for everything…

It’s okay, there wasn’t anything we could’ve done… You weren’t the only one at fault, Nayuki-kun.

It was such a good opportunity for the team to perform… I’m so sorry for the trouble.

Nayuki, it’s all in the past now. Worrying about it won’t change anything. I had fun.

*sigh*

But, like, Kinyari, are you okay? Is your arm back to normal? What was that thing all about?

I didn’t expect this to be brought to light so soon.

I’ll talk about everything, but keep in mind that this is top-secret information, so keep it within the team.

Huh…? Is this about Kinari-kun?

……

This is Azekawa-kun’s user manual. It was given to me by President Oguro before we left for Beppu.

Android…? Kinari-kun’s an android? But wasn’t he in a human prison?

The fact that Azekawa-kun is an android is classified as a top-level secret by the government. So don’t tell anyone about this.

Top-level secret…? Wait, what?! Kinyari, you’re a robot?

Azekawa-kun is an illegal android. He’s not registered with the government.

There’s a law stating that the government manages android model numbers. If I recall, you can figure out an android’s model number by their face type and body build.

He’s an original model that was created in the likeness of his developer’s late son. That developer has already passed away…

!

(Hold on. Is that why he looks exactly like him…?!)

Late son… I guess that means he died…

So he’s a stray android and the only one of his kind?! That’s very exciting…!

*sigh…* Since he’s an android, he needs to be charged to operate… I was handling it, but now that you all know about this, you should do it.

I’ll do it. ♪ Is that okay, Kinari?

Approval from Master required.

(So that’s why he did that whole Master registration thing at the airport… He does everything I say because of that…)

I’ve known since I felt the waveforms from you, plüss.

…I resonate with your arms.

Ah, Nayuki-kun, hold on…

I heard from Kinari-kun yesterday that he…got arrested for murdering someone…

……

Is… Is that true?

Yes. Azekawa-kun killed his developer.

!

To be specific, his developer fell terminally ill, and Azekawa-kun cut off his life support.

But…that’s not really murdering him.

I think some people would argue otherwise. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s the first android to ever deliberately kill a human.

If this gets out, people might start rallying for all androids to be banned. So the government is keeping it a secret.

Can’t the government take him in? Or are they refusing because he’s a stray?

I’m sure their officials don’t want to get involved with him. If they handle things incorrectly, they could cause a lot of conflict, so I think they’re trying to turn a blind eye to everything for now. But that’s just my guess.

He thinks that you’re his master. That’s the best we can get for now.

Chief, I’m sorry to do this, but I’ll leave Azekawa-kun to you.

……

(Kinari-kun killed his own developer who was practically a parent to him… Why would he do that…?)