Chapter 21: Volume 1 - CH 4.3

Part 3

3,411 guests visited the park the next day.

It was only a fraction of what a normal Friday crowd should have been, but this was still unprecedented in the recent years of Amaburi’s history. Also, as of noon, the campaign video had garnered 90,000 views just as Seiya had predicted.

During the morning, Seiya had gotten the people from the local broadcasting company to film the attractions in the park and news of the 30 yen campaign was set to be aired that evening.

“What a surprise! Never knew you’d managed to invite the news company,” said Tricen, who had just sent the crew off.

“I resorted to some old connections,” Seiya explained in a reluctant manner.

“I worked with a lot of producers back then, and these guys had lived through the ages. I’d never thought we’d meet again, but since we’re in such a desperate situation, I gave in and contacted them.”

“Ah, that figures.”

“I know a lot of their weaknesses, you see. Even their relationships with females.”

“I see…”

Tricen did not know much about Seiya’s past, but he at least knew he had a pretty complicated childhood. He decided not to press the matter.

“We’ve got a lot of clients coming tomorrow too. Have you gotten familiar with the schedule?”

“Well, yeah. I’m all pumped up and ready to entertain them…especially the one coming at 11. That Ooishi-san is well-known for her big titties.”

“Maybe I should make you our cleaner instead.”

*

The visitor count for Saturday increased dramatically, probably due to the late night news and the morning television program that featured the park, or perhaps even the announcement video. Furthermore, today would be the first day the advertisements rolled out on the morning newspapers.

Just looking out at the astronomical crowd gave the cast members a morale boost. Tricen and several representatives entered the office and mentioned the huge spike in activity today. Seiya nodded in satisfaction and told them to “keep up the good work”.

However, Ashe, the representative of accounts, came over with a cloudy expression and highlighted the enormous expenses incurred as a result of the aggressive advertising, expressing distaste for Seiya’s inconsiderate actions given that he was only a temporary staff member.

Ashe’s point was valid, but he simply had no room for consideration. He’d said multiple times that a drowning man could not be picky about the plank he was clinging to dear life on.

Seiya could not give any further refute to this, and Ashe continued her protest, “Although our visitor counts are rising, at this rate we’ll never make it.”

“You’re right…I understand your concerns.”

“By the way, why are you requesting a cleanup for the 2nd park which we almost never use? Also, we’ve already cleaned the stadium once at the end of last year.”

Ashe was referring to the stadium that Seiya found with Isuzu and Muse. Seiya had one-sidedly ordered a cleanup of the place.

“Don’t worry about it,” Seiya avoided the question.

“But—”

“It’s just a backup plan. Don’t question this further, there’s no room for negotiation on this matter.”

Having nothing else to say, Ashe stepped out of the office and Isuzu walked in to check on him.

“Looks like you two don’t agree with each other’s actions.”

“She’s going to have to bear with me for the moment.”

“I see.”

Isuzu gave a simple nod and opened the folder she was holding.

“I’m sure you’re aware of our numbers today: 8,168 people.”

That was more than double yesterday’s visitor count. If we keep this up, we might actually—

Not wanting to say this to Isuzu, Seiya averted his gaze.

“Is that so…”

*

It was no surprise that the Sunday crowd exploded in size.

All of their advertisement efforts were really beginning to take effect. The cast members were hard at work entertaining their guests, who in turn made them satisfied with their own service.

Having completed the negotiations with several transport companies, Seiya went over to check on the cast. The cast members were certainly having fun themselves, and their guests were smiling happily. There were still some minor issues to be fixed, but they were doing their best to make the guests believe—

That they would not give up just yet.

After the park’s closure for the day, Isuzu brought over the data on their daily visitor statistics. It barely missed the 10,000 mark, standing at 9,821 people.

*

The following Monday.

Their visitor count took a plunge after entering a weekday once again. After school ended, Seiya came over to check on the development of his proposed improvements. It was then that Isuzu reported their daily visitor count.

“2,688 people.”

“I see…”

It was a weekday, after all. To be fair, the visitor count for today was greater than that of last Monday. However—

2,700 people? However I see it, this isn’t gonna be enough to reach our target. And we’re running out of time. If we had a longer time frame, this 30 yen campaign would be a powerful force to be reckoned with. The efforts of the cast members would also see results. But in order for this to truly shine, we need an extension in the deadline. We can’t achieve much of anything in just 10 days.

The visitor counts were dropping, but the park was relentlessly putting in effort to bring them higher. They were bound to achieve considerable success, but Amagi Development would definitely not wait for that to happen.

“It can’t be helped. I think we’ll do just fine if we maintain this pace till the weekends again.”

“Ah, I guess so.”

Seiya calmed himself down a little, and said, “All that’s left now is to pray for a miracle.”

Isuzu made a stern expression having heard that statement.

*

Tuesday’s visitor count dipped once again to 1,935 guests.

The announcement video’s view count was coming to a standstill, and the other advertisements were losing the people’s interests. The cast members were giving their best, yet their efforts did not yield commensurate returns.

We’re done for.

The only ones suppressing the depressing mood of the other cast members were Moffle and the other mascots, who were doing everything they could. They’d improved their services drastically, never slacked off on the regular maintenance of their attractions, and even tried to spread the word through social media. They’d essentially contributed in everything from the sales to traffic control. And when cast members came crying to them in despair, they’d maintain their composure and give them a pat on their backs.

At the end of the day when Seiya was about to drag his feet through the staff exit, he saw a particular someone standing right in front of the park.

Kurisu Takaya from Amagi Development. A visitor’s pass was hanging from his neck.

“Yo. We meet again, huh?”

All this despite Seiya hoping to never see him again. He probably came to check on the visitor count. The visitor counter at the entrance gate was firmly planted and locked such that it was impossible to be tampered with, designed only to be accessible by Amagi Development and Amagi Brilliant Park. It was hence impossible to hide or fake the visitor count.

“So you decided to help them out, huh? You must really love the park.”

“What I do is none of your business.”

“Those guys must be working hard, considering how they’ve resorted to cheap tricks and advertisement strategies…though it looks like they’ve finally hit a slump. I take it you’re also involved in this?”

Kurisu shouldn’t have known that Seiya was working as the acting manager of the park. Seiya stumbled as he struggled to make something up.

“Nah, I just do the filthy chores.”

“Hmph.”

Kurisu looked at him carefully. He might have figured out that Seiya had used his past connections to negotiate favorable advertising offers.

“I see…By the way, there was truck with the label ‘Yanoguchi Cleaning Services’ that passed by earlier. By any chance, did you hear anything about it?”

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“Not really. Well then, I’ll be on my way.”

Seiya wanted to quickly end the conversation and make his way through, but Kurisu remained persistent and caught up with him.

“But wait, don’t you think it’s strange? Usually ‘Amagi Maintenance’ is the one in charge of the cleaning around here. It’s pretty weird for them to let in a different company’s cleaning truck.”

“How am I supposed to know about that?”

“Well, I guess you’re right. My bad, hahaha.”

He must have caught an eye on the company that the 2nd park had hired for cleaning services. Compared to the other companies approved by Amagi Development, Yanoguchi Cleaning Services’ rates were a bargain. This could be brought up to the authorities, but maybe he might just turn a blind eye on this for awhile—

“The pieces aren’t fitting here. Since last week, there were rumors about this park going around, you see.”

“Huh?”

“That someone had noticed that a smart aleck is behind these…events, Kodama-kun. Oh sorry, I mean Kanie-kun.”

Seiya quickly checked the ID card that he was wearing, and Kurisu snuck a peek at his facial expression.

“Did I hit a bullseye?”

“Strange way of interpreting. What made you think so?”

“Hmm, intuition, I’d say.”

Lies. Definitely ain’t intuition. This man here is sharp. He definitely hasn’t forgotten about my estimate on the amount of money a family has to spend for the park to stay afloat. It’s likely that he noticed a significant change in the park’s operations and came to find out who was behind it.

Seiya began to regret having given such an accurate estimation back then. But then again, the thought of helping to save the park had never crossed his mind, so it couldn’t be avoided.

Wait, hold on. There might be a spy among the cast members. If that’s the case, then he would have already known everything and was merely trying to deceive him.

“Surely you’re overestimating my abilities.”

Seiya revealed a bitter smile befitting of a high schooler who had just been praised as a mature adult. And as Seiya acted, he quickly considered.

Should I read his mind? No, now’s still not the time. I should just use my observations and wits against him.

“I’ll leave it up to your imagination. I’m leaving.”

That line was a lie as well. He spoke his mind without any humility. That was definitely not enough to trick Kurisu, but it should have at least concealed Seiya’s true thoughts.

And with that, Seiya left and called it a day.

*

The next day’s visitor count did not change much, though it was still considered better than the average Wednesday crowd during this season.

Every once in a while, Seiya would check on the mascots in between his tasks. The atmosphere wasn’t as bad as he expected. They were continuing their jobs without hesitation, working to bring liveliness among the crowd of guests while clinging to a tiny bit of hope. The real cast members’ passion and effort had spurred on the regular cast members too. Of course, there were cast members who appeared to have lost the will to work, and Seiya brought them to the backstage.

“Keep up the good work, guys.”

After the park had closed, Seiya spoke to Latifa at the kitchen in the castle.

“The thing is…at this rate we won’t make the mark in time. No matter how hard we try, gathering 40,000 guests to visit by the weekend simply isn’t possible.”

“Is that so…”

Her hands she was using to cook with stopped, and Latifa muttered. She mashed the boiled potatoes and prepared the tools needed to make tomorrow’s croquettes. Her small figure, wearing an apron and holding a huge bowl, was adorable.

“If Kanie-sama says so, then that must be true…” Latifa said with downcast eyes.

Suppressing his urge to put his hands on her slim shoulders, Seiya continued, “There’s something I need to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“What will happen to you if this park closes?”

“I’m not sure myself.”

“That’s…”

“I really don’t know either.”

Saying that, Latifa gave a complicated smile.

“The people from Maple Land rely on Animus, the physical manifestation of the happiness of people, in order to survive. And it is for that purpose that this theme park was built. The problem is that I happen to require a significantly larger amount of animus compared to other cast members.”

“But why? I don’t understand…”

“I’ve been cursed.”

“…Cursed?”

“But first, I need to tell you a popular children’s story from my land.”

Still working on the croquettes, Latifa began, “A long time ago, Maple Land was attacked by an evil dragon. With their land threatened, the kingdom dispatched countless troops to stave it off, but to no avail. It was then a single magician appeared and offered to chase the dragon away in exchange for the princess’ hand in marriage.”

“…”

“Having exhausted all options, the king agreed, and the magician carried out his part of the promise and chased the dragon away. With that, the magician asked to have the princess. However, the king was reluctant to give his daughter away and refused, deploying the army to banish the magician.”

The sight of a fairy-tale-like maiden reciting a fairy-tale-like story was certainly very interesting. It sounded pretty cliché, but Seiya made sure not to reveal his thoughts as he nodded.

“The mighty knights of Maple Land drove the magician to the edge of a cliff. With wounds and scratches all over him, the magician said, ‘I’ll curse your princess for eternity!’ and fell into the abyss. Right after that, the princess fell ill. The girl who was once lively enough to run around the hills became sickly and lost her vision.”

“So that’s the curse you’re referring to?”

“Yes. As I mentioned earlier, we cannot live without a constant supply of Animus. The curse that the magician put on her was one that consumes the Animus within her, causing an Animus deficiency. The royal physicians were unable to remove the curse, but decided that the only way for her to survive would be to bring her down to an Argel that was abundant in Animus.”

“And that Argel happened to be…”

“Yes, this theme park.”

Latifa stopped for a moment and sighed. The aroma of mashed potatoes, meat, and spices filled the room, but the reason Seiya swallowed his saliva was not due to a stimulated appetite.

“In other words, you’re the princess in the story?”

“That’s right.”

“So won’t it be bad if this theme park were to get taken down?”

“I’m afraid so,” Latifa sighed and made a faint smile. “Maybe another theme park out there might take me in, though given my circumstances I do not think I can contribute to the best of my ability…”

“…And you’re fine with that?”

“I do not have a choice.”

Seiya felt like using his magical power that allowed him to hear people’s hearts. He wanted to know what Latifa truly felt.

How can you remain so calm despite this? Aren’t you the slightest bit afraid? Don’t you resent your fate or feel like crying and asking for help?

Seiya couldn’t stand not knowing. It was simple. All he had to do was ask “what do you think about this situation?” and use his power.

How long do I intend to preserve my ammunition? Now would probably be a good time to use my grenade as well. There’s no point in saving them until the end of the game. So use it!

Seiya opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again. In the end, this was all he could manage: “When will you fry these croquettes?”

Focus!

Latifa’s voice could not be heard.

“…These are for tomorrow, so I’ll fry them in the morning. Though if you wish, I could always fry some for now, you know?”

“…Ah,” Seiya gave a vague response, seemingly discouraged.

Looks like I can’t use my power on Latifa. Wait, I might have already used it by accident when she bestowed it on me back then. Well, whatever.

Seiya did not want to pry into her secrets, and he didn’t want to waste his power on something like this either.

“Kanie-sama?”

“Sorry. Two croquettes, please. I’m starving.”

Seiya’s clouded thoughts began to clear up—for he decided that he would not let this park die just yet.

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