Dornell-senpai was a Fairy of Flowers. Many years ago, he’d been the host of the Flower Adventure attraction, but since then he’d spent ten years as a NEET living under the second park, and he’d only recently come back to us. Since the Flower Adventure was now hosted by Tiramii-senpai, he hardly ever appeared in front of the guests anymore, but it somehow turned out that he was a talented stage director, so he was now handling the park’s live shows. He’d helped Elementario out with our staging a few times as well, so I respected him a whole lot.
I replied right away. 《No problem. On my way now.》
《Thanks a lot, nell. I’m in the central stage’s MCR, so meet me there, nell. I can’t seem to get a hold of Muse-chan, nell.》
Muse-san was our attraction’s leader, but she used a certain smartphone service which frequently put her out of range. It was fine when she was in the park, but it was impossible to get in touch with her while she was on her commute back home. That was probably why he was having trouble.
I hurried to the central stage’s MCR (Master Control Room). You can’t see it from the spectator seats, but it’s located on one of the middle floors of Maple Castle and gives a perfect view of the stage. All facets of a show can be controlled remotely from there, and we really couldn’t put on a show without it. It’s a little like the control tower at an airport.
I jogged down the underground passageway and took the Maple Castle elevator up to the MCR. I found Dornell-senpai there, apparently in the middle of a fight with some equipment, connecting and disconnecting a true spaghetti of wires.
“Dornell-senpai?” I questioned.
“Ah, there you are, nell,” he said, untangling himself from the wires. He sounded exhausted and dejected.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m having trouble with the sound system again,” he admitted.
“Again?”
“Yeah. Just like during Golden Week...”
“Ahh...” I remembered. The park had been set to unveil a huge new live show in April, at the start of Golden Week. It had the baffling title of ‘A (AmaBri) Fight Begins! The Moffle that Fell to Earth!’ While it sounded like a ripoff of the first episode of some 90s anime, they had actually put a lot of effort into the show itself, which had been really impressive. It had all come together after days and nights of rehearsal, and we’d put our hearts into it, hoping to show everyone what the “new” AmaBri was all about.
But just before the first live performance, we’d had some trouble with the sound system... Every minute we spent forcing the guests to wait was nerve-wracking. Fortunately, thanks to part-timer Chujo Shiina-san’s beautiful voice, we’d managed to buy time to get the machinery running again... But that nightmare of a first show still hung over us all.
“After today’s performance, I ran multiple tests with the machinery... and there’s a new issue I can’t figure out,” Dornell said. “I’m still looking into it, but... at this rate, we might need to change some aspects of the new show we were planning to open next week.”
“Ah...”
“More specifically, we’ll have to cut you guys, nell.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Don’t get mad, nell,” he pleaded. “Just hear me out. I’m saying...” According to Dornell-senpai, they were going to have to cut half of the speaker channels. But they couldn’t take out Moffle-senpai and the park’s other main characters, and they needed sound effects and music... and the announcer channel was important, too... Which left the scene in which we appear (in a place a little ways away from the central stage) as the one that would have to be removed.
Hmm. I understood. We could appear in the show, at least, but we couldn’t make sound. It was the kind of scene where, if we weren’t careful, the guests might hear the sound of the motors of the elevator instead.
“I’m really sorry, nell! But I’ve been thinking about the structure, and that’s the only place we can cut! Please, try to roll with it!” Dornell-senpai was practically groveling.
I quickly crouched down beside him to try to comfort him. “I understand, really. Please calm down...”
“Kobory-chan!” he wailed.
“I’ll let everyone know,” I reassured him. “Please, don’t worry.” To be honest, balancing our Elementario performances with the live shows was kind of a burden as it was. Muse-san, Salama-san, and Sylphie-san were all trying their hardest, but we were also exhausted.
We couldn’t even go out on our off days; we just laid around at home and slept. We’d talked about the four of us going somewhere to hang out, but we could never go very far. On our most recent day off, we’d had some tea at the cafe in front of Amagi Station, then immediately split up. We would have been better off staying in bed. Given all that, while it was a shame to get cut out of the live show, it was also a bit of a relief.
“Thanks a lot, nell! But it’s not for sure just yet...”
“Huh?”
“It’s just what will happen if we can’t solve the equipment issue,” Dornell said. “If we fix it, you’ll be able to perform, so don’t be disappointed just yet, nell.”
“Ahh...” What in the world... These sorts of ambiguities are the hardest things for a performer to deal with. You want people to just say ‘no!’ when it won’t work and ‘yes!’ when it will. It’s hard to get your feelings in order, otherwise.
“It’s possible it might still work out, nell. So please, nell. Make sure everyone in Elementario knows the situation, nell!”
“O-Okay...” I agreed shakily. But then, what should we do about the next few weeks of practice? I guessed that we’d just have to keep at it... It was really uncomfortable.
“Ahh... It’s trouble, nell...” Dornell-senpai muttered, ignoring my own concerns. “It’s times like these I wish the fairy would come again...”
“The fairy?” I questioned. This again?