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----
[Ogami]

Alright, alright, calm down-- Jean-Paul probably didn't MEAN anything by that whole "I'm one of you" thing, he was probably just, y'know, venting his frustration at being verbally castrated...


[Ogami]

... even though Iris HAS proven herself capable of tearing asunder the barrier between dimensions and importing souls willy-nilly to cram them into stuffed animals, and there's the fact that I'm pretty much an endangered species in every parallel dimension ever, and...


[Ogami]

...


[Ogami]

Welp, better keep going with those nightly rounds before I once again start dwelling too much on how close I am to dying at any one moment in time.

----



-- Office. If there ever was a master of getting so piss-drunk that you can't remember your own name, it's Yoneda.



Don't sweat it, Yoneda is always in at the exact moment that anyone knocks on the door to the Manager's office. It's a special power shared by old men-managers everywhere.

[Ogami]

Um... it's Ogami...


[Yoneda]

Oh, sure. C'mon in.




... it kind of figures that the only time Yoneda is dead serious about something is when he's doing something absolutely trivial and/or against the rules.

But that's what makes him the badass old man that he is.

[Yoneda]

Ayame-kun's been gettin' in our way lately, but not this time!


----
[Ogami]

Wha-- you killed her!?


[Yoneda]

What? No, no, nothing of the sort! What the hell do you think I am?


[Ogami]

S-sorry, it's just that the way you said that kind of--


[Yoneda]

I just shot her full of horse tranquilizers and stuffed her into a closet somewhere. She won't notice a thing.


[Ogami]

--just scared me shitless.

----

[Yoneda]

Let's go, c'mon, follow me!!


[Ogami]

Yessir!


I guess we'd better enjoy this while we can still remember the meaning of the word "enjoy".


----


----
[Ogami]

But... shouldn't we still have a padlock to get through? I don't see one on the door at all, so unless you just--


[Yoneda]

Aah, that? I--


[Ogami and Yoneda]

--went at it with a crowbar until both the door AND the padlock broke.


[Yoneda]

Haha! Damn, Ogami, how'd you guess?


[Ogami]

... I'm starting to get a handle on how you conduct business around here, sir.

----

[Yoneda]

It looks like Ayame-kun hasn't thought this far ahead yet!
... it's open. Let's go, Ogami!!


And the game fades to black for a good long while.



Sometime Later...



Awww, isn't that cute? They're bonding.

[Ogami]

Honestly, Manager, you're being too rambunctious... you're embarrassing me...


[Yoneda]

Whazzat, Ogami... I mean, you were pretty amazin' yourself.


[Ogami]

No, I'm not quite there yet... I didn't have any idea what I was supposed to be doing...


[Yoneda]

Heheh... that's 'cause you've gotta get used to that. I'll drag you along again next time!


----
[Ogami]

I'm still amazed that you managed to fit a trip to a bar, a strip club, and a karaoke joint in under five minutes.


[Yoneda]

I knew that you were a busy man, Ogami! Places t' see, people t' talk to, nightly rounds to do...


[Ogami]

... l-looking at the door to the theater, sir, it's probably a good thing that we did this in five minutes.


[Yoneda]

Aah? Why d'you say that?

----



----
[Ogami]

Call it a hunch, sir.


[Yoneda]

Well, m'boy, all good things must come to an end SOME time.


[Ogami]

Like our lives, sir?


[Yoneda]

... it was nice knowing you, Ogami.

----

[Ayame]

Welcome back, both of you.


[Sakura]

... Ogami-san? You look like you're having fun, huh.


And as we all know, fun is not allowed at the Grand Imperial Theater, as evidenced by the fact that almost EVERYONE dropped what they were doing in order to come out and participate in the verbal thrashing of Ogami and Yoneda.

Are they worried that Ogami and Yoneda's absence is leaving the theater unprotected or something like that? Hell, the place is probably SAFER without the two of them around to get under the feet of all the immensely strong women running around.

[Ogami]

Wagahg! Ayame-san... everyone... this is... um...


Despite his relative inexperience and the fact that he's still at a VERY early stage in his career, Ogami's months at the theater (and in the company of many angry women) have conditioned his reflexes to an amazing degree:



[Ogami]

I, I'm sorry. I won't do it again...


He knows exactly when to bend at the knees and grovel like the fate of Japan depends on it.

[Sakura]

Honestly... don't do this kind of thing again!


[Ogami]

I'll reflect on what I've done...


And he scrapes by without losing any trust with everyone involved, though he's not out of the firestorm yet.

[Yoneda]

To think that you'd bow your head over somethin' like this, 's shameful, Ogami...


Though...

[Maria]

Manager... did you happen to say something?


[Yoneda]

N, no, nothing...



... Ogami's as good as saved when Yoneda puts himself up to the chopping block.



[Ayame]

I hope that you'll learn from this and show more discretion in the future.


[Ogami]

Yes... I'll be careful...


[Yoneda]

Tsk... that you'd set this kinda trap...




[Yoneda]

Gargh!?




Ogami's home free, everyone in the theater's forgiven (?) him, and Yoneda's in for the longest lecture of his life.

... all's well that ends well!



More commonly known as the Cafeteria.



[Ogami]

.............?




[Ogami]

Er... who was that person just now?


This came after a moment's silence as Ogami struggled to think of something a little more polite than "who the hell was that sketchy bald guy who was just running around the theater like a stalker long after the place should've been locked down tighter than Maria's gun collection?"



[Ogami]

Scouted out!? Th, that means... you're going to another theatrical troupe?




[Sumire]

Since the other troupe had sent forth someone from the government, they were probably quite serious.


Or, y'know, they were probably aware of how delicate this whole "all our actresses are actually super robot pilots" business is.

[Ogami]

So you might go to a foreign theatrical troupe, Sumire-kun...


----
[Ogami]

(GodDAMN this is bad this is bad this is bad we'll be down a pilot AND tracts of land and Japan will be that much more screwed without her Koubu around to help kick ass and it'll be a lot more quiet without Sumire around to help kick MY ass and scream at me and... and...)


[Ogami]

(...)

----



I think I know JUST how to handle this.

[Ogami]

Okay then, good luck!




[Ogami]

To think that you'd be scouted out by a foreign theatrical troupe-- isn't that amazing!?




[Ogami]

You don't have to worry about the Imperial Theater at all, so just fly out overseas!! Everyone's cheering for you!



----


[Ogami]

Hahahahaha...




And Sumire's trust level shoots through the roof.

... goddamn, it's really not as hard to handle Sumire as I'd thought it would be.

[Ogami]

Hahahahaha...


[Sumire]

Now then... I shall be going back to my room now.


[Ogami]

Aah, you must be tired from today's events. Rest well.


[Sumire]

... incidentally, I turned down the scout's offer quite politely. Now then, I bid you good night.




[Ogami]

Sumire-kun... that was just too mean...


... which kind of makes this on par with everything we already know about Sumire, so let's just move on.


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