I’m Tired of Waiting Every Night
So Yodaka-san’s still at the bar?!
<Yes! Please take care in bringing him back! We’ll all be waiting for you!>
(I’m glad I decided to drive towards Yumejuya…!)
Thank you, Toi-kun. Call me again if—
<Ah, wait! Netaro-san wants to talk to you…>
<Hello? Doudou? An accident occurred on that road, so you’ll be encountering a traffic jam in approximately five kilometers.>
Huh…?
<I will give you special detour directions.>
<Continue southwest for 300 meters. Turn left at the second stop light, and turn right at the end of that road.>
A-Alright…!
<But how do you know all of this?!>
Mmm, because I am connected to you. ♪
Ahead, ahead, jam!
Lailai, aiming for the north star. Puoooo.
<Thank you for coming all this way to see L4mps tonight. You know, I’m actually a pretty unlucky guy.>
<Yeah, or maybe you’re just clumsy as hell.>
<I’m Hachinoya. You can remember me as the guy who played a radio show at full volume in the train because he didn’t realize his earbuds weren’t connected once. And this is…>
<Ryui. Yeah, annoying clumsy fucks like you ain’t a new thing.>
<I thought that I was just losing my hearing, so I kept turning the volume up.>
<The noise-canceling on your earbuds is impressive. The manufacturer did a good job on ‘em.>
<Actually, I wanted to confess something to you, Ryui.>
<Just outta nowhere? What?>
<I spilled a bunch of tea on my crotch during our meeting yesterday, but did you notice that the color of my pants was different before the meeting started compared to after?>
<WHY WOULD I?! I ain’t gonna keep track of what fuckin’ color your crotch is!>
<Oh, that’s good. I didn’t know whether you did notice but you just decided to be nice and not let it leak, or if you didn’t notice at all…>
<If you thought I had a leak in my pants, it’d really bump my rep down a notch. Notch, not crotch, okay?>
<Alright, I get it already! Fuckin’ hell.>
<I was stuck between explaining to you that I didn’t actually pee my pants and just hoping that you wouldn’t notice anything.>
<Y’already lost enough rep from spillin’ that tea in the first place. Might as well throw away what little pride you got left.>
<Then you can throw away yours with me, since you made sure to work out only your right shoulder to look good for that outfit.>
<DON’T FUCKIN’ EXPOSE ME! I’LL KILL YOU!>
Ahahaha! That’s how you do it! Keep it up!
Woah… Hachinoya-san and Ryui-san are actually kinda good at this! They’re firing off pretty sharp-witted jokes and snappy comebacks like it’s nothing…
And they made the bold decision to do it all improv…! I didn’t know we had this kinda talent in our company…
Ahaha! Well, when you’re not playing games, you’re watching comedians, so I’ll take your word for it! ♪
Ahh… Ahhhh…!
Wha— Why’d you stand up all of a sudden?
The train story… I heard it on the radio… This unique…sense of humor… It has to…be… My favorite…joke contributor…DrownedRat…!
Huh?
I’ve never seen this kinda style in manzai before, but I like it! Is this an opening show for the concert?
But I kinda want them to get on with the concert already. I live pretty far away, so I’m worried that I’m gonna miss the last train home…
Hm…
(I suppose this comedy act doesn’t feel too out of place if you view it as a simple side show, but it’s possible that they ran into some trouble…)
*laughter*
(Okay. I thought that our jokes would fall flat, but Ryui’s comebacks are making this work.)
Ryui, let’s keep this up until the chief and Yodaka-san get back.
Alright… I got no idea why they think this is so funny. We’re kinda just havin’ a normal conversation.
I have enough material to last until morning if we nee—
*clunk*
…Huh?
Huh?! The lights…
W-What just happened?!
I am conducting an analysis, but I have not discovered the cause of the issue yet.
Huh? Did the power go out? The concert’s not starting yet, right?
Man, it was just getting good.
When’s it gonna get fixed? The concert’s gonna run even later at this point…
No way, it’s locked…!
Yodaka-san?! Are you in there?!
Oh no…!! I’ve already come all this way…!
If I continue to live like this, I might become a burden on you and everyone else in the company in the near future. I’m…quite worried about that.
Not at all…! You’re always such a great help to everyone. I’d never consider you a burden. And I always want to keep working with you.
…Thank you. That makes me very happy to hear. But I just don’t want to be a bother.
(This isn’t good. If I don’t talk to Yodaka-san right now, I feel like he’ll never come back to HAMA Tours again…)
I need to ask Yunyun-san permission to call a locksmith…!
I can open it.
Huh?! Sojun-san?! What are you doing here?
Boss asked me to help you. He said you were likely to head to the bar without considering that it might be locked. The lock is old and simple, so I should be able to pick it open.
(L-Liguang-san… Thank you so much…! And sorry in advance for breaking in, Yodaka-san!!)
It’s open.
Thank you very much!
Yodaka-san?! Yodaka-san, are you here?! …Huh?
……
It seems as though someone is here to pick you Up. Master, please wake Up.
He’s…sleeping? Huh?
(…I know. Yodaka-san told me that he falls asleep whenever he thinks about his future, so that must be why he’s sleeping right now…)
I know that…but!
YODAKA-SAN, WHY ARE YOU ASLEEP?! PLEASE WAKE UUUUUUUUUUP!!!
…Mm.
You are finally Awake.
…Chief?
Yes, that’s me!
That’s strange… I thought a magic spell had been casted on…the both of us…
It locked us in a time loop, and we weren’t able to open the door to tomorrow to advance forward…
Everything that is certain…only exists in the “past”, and there is no need to head towards the “future”, where you are never sure if you will be happy…
I was…drifting off into the night…between those two…
Well, magic can eat shit!
Huh?
I’ll say it again. Magic can eat shit! Ready, and poof! The spell’s broken!
And let’s open the door to tomorrow while we’re at it! Ready, and poof! It’s open!
……
It might feel safe to be happy with what you have, but safety is all you’ll ever feel.
Always moving forward isn’t the right thing to do either. There are some times where you need to stop.
But that doesn’t mean you need to be afraid of change. Tomorrow will keep coming to you, no matter who you are.
Things are going to change. The future is going to come. And even you can’t run from that, Yodaka-san.
So please just accept it. Accept it exactly the way it is, without being afraid of it. Even if tomorrow ends up being the worst day of your life…
You need to know that the day after that will be the best.
……
It…
(The person I’ve been waiting for this entire time…)
Might have been you…
Alright, let’s go! Chou Un, sorry to push this on you, but please keep watch over the bar! And make sure to change your lock! Thanks to you too, Sojun-san!
Thank the boss.
Master, please take Care.
I’m not sure why I fell asleep. I don’t recall what happened after I finished tending to my tour guests… What caused that?
I couldn’t possibly show myself after being gone—
We’ll talk about it at the venue! Change into your outfit while you’re here!
Oh, and I’m not going to listen to you if you tell me that you don’t want to be a burden again! I mean that, okay?! I REALLY mean that!!
O-Of course.
Phew… But I’m sure that everyone—or at the very least, I am glad to be burdened by you. I finally feel like I understand you.
……
I’m gonna punch it! Safely and within the speed limit, of course!