Let's go Beyond Communication in Root Double -Before Crime * After Days-

TheMcD: May 4, 2013; Monaca / Subject N 2024
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Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

ROKUMEI SCIENCE CITY: 09/10/2030, 16:15

♪ BGM: Family and Friends ♫

There stood a staggering amount of people.

Hyah, it's so crowded.

But we came all this way, so we can't back down now.

Yeah, nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.

Natsuhiko and Mashiro marched into the shopping area in high spirits.

--About an hour later--

♪ BGM: Helper / Theme of Mashiro ♫

Man, I sure splurged, huh?

Oh shut up. You bought too many unnecessary things, you know?

Natsuhiko complained, both his arms burdened with bags. In addition to doing the groceries, Mashiro also stopped by a second-hand toy shop in the shopping area and made some purchases there. She bought old anime figures and magazines, data disks, and other various goods beyond Natsuhiko's comprehension.

Geez. Can't believe you're making me carry all of this...

I couldn't help it! They had so many precious little treasures in there, you know? Like this April 2020 issue of Animaze! It has a special feature article on that one now-legendary anime director~

Mashiro started talking about the ten-year-old anime magazine she just bought.

The director's masterpiece has got to be the national broadcast anime, 'Psychic Girl Beyond*BEYOND'...

Tips posted:

TIP: BeyoBEYO
Category: Fiction

Full title: ''Psychic Girl Beyond*BEYOND''

An animated TV series broadcast by NDK (Nippon Denpa Kyokai) from July to September 2019, based on a radio drama of the same name. 13 episodes. Fans affectionately call it ''BeyoBEYO''. Kirara, a simple elementary schoolgirl, meets a mysterious stuffed animal named Yeti and awakens to her psychic powers to become Psychic Girl Beyond Comni, a ''magical girl'' so to speak who protects the townspeople from a dark secret society.

For some reason, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is listed as part of the production committee in the credits. It aired in an ideal time slot of 6:30-7:00 PM, helping it gain a huge following of not just its target audience of female elementary school children, but also their parents, and even male adult anime fans with interest in the overwhelming movie-quality animation and direction. As a result, the main character Kirara was so universally beloved that she was dubbed ''Japan's little sister''.

Also of note is that the scenario writer for the series had only written two series in total before disappearing from the anime industry, perhaps out of a fully fulfilled creative urge.

And its super-rare radio drama is included on the magazine's supplemental data disk! And there's even 30 pages of precious director interviews and production materials! And they were selling it at list price! How could I -not- buy it!?

Hmm... well, that might be amazing, but I really don't understand its value at all.

That's no good, Natsuhiko. 'You cannot see the treasure that lies before your eyes, and that is what makes you a truly sad human being.'

What's that supposed to mean?

It's a famous quote from 'BeyoBEYO'. In anime episode 13.

We have a blue branch here, with Mashiro at 8 and Natsuhiko at 4. We'll set Natsuhiko's Sense of self later.

One of Mashiro's bad habits was that she frequently quoted lines from anime and manga. But without the context of the lines, they didn't really leave much of an impression. Most of these so-called ''famous quotes'' of hers were like that.

Geez... for an upstanding high school girl, you're such an otaku.

Heheh. That word's been so overused by the general public that it's obsolete now, you know.

You really don't have any hobbies, do you, Natsuhiko? Why not take this opportunity to get your feet wet? I think it'd be fun to teach you everything there is to know about manga, movies, games, and anime... teeheehee...

You don't have to teach me everything. Even I know a little bit. I have watched anime back when I was a kid, you know. Like 'Esper Suit Beyonder', and... uh... 'Beyonder'.

Tips posted:

TIP: Beyonder
Category: Fiction

Full title: ''Esper Suit Beyonder''

An original animated TV series broadcast on NDK from July to September 2019. 13 episodes. The series depicts a boy gifted with the rare ability of ESP who becomes the Beyond Commander (Beyonder), the pilot of a robot driven by human thought, and follows his coming of age journey as he meets and battles many rivals with abilities similar to his own.

For some reason, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) is listed as part of the production committee in the credits. The multimedia marketing effort was successful with its collectible card-reading arcade game, figure sets, and comic versions released alongside the show's airing, creating a big sensation centered on the male elementary school demographic.

Also of note is that the scenario writer for the series had only written two series in total before disappearing from the anime industry, perhaps out of a fully fulfilled creative urge.

So all you know is Beyonder! Well, you did love it when you were a kid.

Though I still don't really watch that sort of stuff anymore. I mean, it -is- just for kids after all.

Ahh, how sad. You've forgotten your inner child, haven't you, Natsuhiko?

Natsuhiko smiled wryly at Mashiro's disappointment. --She really got along with Natsuhiko as if she were an easygoing boy his age. But she also had the disposition of a caring elder sister and it wasn't uncommon at all for her to help him out.

(She's a good kid... The only troubling thing about her is her otaku hobbies.)

Her natural boyishness seemed to have guided her in an increasingly peculiar direction as the years went by.

...Well, whatever. More importantly, we should get going soon. We've got a lot to carry, too.

Oh, right. Sorry.

♪ BGM: Languid Hours of Rokumei City ♫

When's the next bus?

Let's see... looks like it'll be here in about ten minutes.

Good. We won't have to wait very long, then.

The two of them stood there and waited for the bus. Mashiro whispered, gazing at the city.

Man, there were so many people here today for a weekday.

I guess it's because the city population itself has been growing recently.

Natsuhiko looked around at the surrounding cityscape.

Tips posted:

TIP: Rokumei Science City
Category: Fiction

One of the cities chosen as government designated top secret cities with the 2016 BC Law. Under the pretext of protecting the secrecy of BC research, a now national affair, several restrictions were put in place. A tall fence was erected around the city's perimeter with city gates and inspection stations. Moving inside or outside the city would now require permission from the government. Surveillance cameras were installed throughout the town, and all phone calls, correspondence, and mail would be strictly filtered. In return, utilities and medical facilities were enriched, certain tax exemptions were made, and public order became extremely favorable for both individuals and enterprises. It was as if the city had become a cradle for its citizens as long as they consented to the rules.

The total population is roughly 180,000, roughly 0.2%, or 360 of them being Communicators demonstrating Ability Level 1 or higher, and 0.5%, or 900 of them having Rank E Aptitude or higher. In 2030, the world population is at 8.3 billion, with an official estimate of 0.002 percent, or 166,000 of them being Communicators. Thus, Rokumei City's Communicator percentage is 100 times that of the world.

Japan as a whole has a percentage twice that of the world (4,800 Ability Level 1 Japanese residents out of a population of 120,000,000). It is still unclear why so many Communicators are born in Japan.

However, it was home to more than 300 research facilities and over 10,000 researchers. It was a research university town leading in Japan's cutting-edge science. The facilities covered a broad range of topics. Some key examples being--

Likewise, Natsuhiko and Mashiro both were beneficiaries of such efforts.

Seems so. Though vou gotta admit. this is a nice citv for us to live in.

Though it was a city of Communicators, the city as a whole hardly had any of the untargeted telepathy conversations that the school had. Misuse of BC was prohibited by city ordinance, with the premises of Rokumei Academy and a certain few other institutions being the only exceptions.

Tips posted:

TIP: BC Misuse Prohibition Ordinance
Category: Fiction

The percentage of Communicators in Rokumei City's population is overwhelmingly higher than it is in other cities, and thus a city ordinance prohibits untargeted telepathy in most situations. The only place not covered by the ordinance is Rokumei Academy campus. Repeat offenders of the ordinance can very well be detained.

Some seek a prohibition on the use of empathy as well, but for various reasons including the scarcity of people who can actually use empathy and the imperceptibility of empathy usage by third parties, no precise regulation is in place, and it is left up to an honor system for empathy users. That said, the vast majority of non-esper residents in Rokumei City choose to live there with full knowledge of what kind of city it is, so nearly nobody has actually been detained as a result of this ordinance.

One or two violations would go overlooked, but any intolerable misuse would soon earn you detention and reproval.

Well, I guess it's a good thing for the city to prosper. Better than being lonely, I guess.

Yeah. I love this city too. It's a town of science and ESP. Doesn't that sound cool, like something straight out of sci-fi? It's an affluent society with high public order. What more can I say?

Yeah... though there is one thing that bothers me.

Natsuhiko gazed at the map provided at the bus stop as he spoke.

And what's that one thing?

Well... to be honest, it's 'LABO'...

Right as Natsuhiko began to speak--

...!?

He spotted something beyond the map and gasped.

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