Honestly! There you are, my prince!
I've told you not to call me that when it's just us.
Don't tell me you plan to run away this late in the game.
No. It's just that, I'm afraid I'm not used to wearing costumes.
There are foreign dignitaries gathered at the site as well.
I sympathize that your inauguration was moved up,
but this still fully falls under the royal family's duties.
Grand Master Bilin of the Knights.
Do you think the world will change today?
Yes.
Our country has also made colossal investments in R&D for this Project.
Today, the Earless will vanish from this world.
If not, we will perish.
Yes, that day, everything would change.
"You Made Me Realise"
Everything was supposed to have changed.
3 o'clock. Abnormal Noise detected.
That color... No mistake about it.
But why?
Charging in!
I see them!
--What? --Huh?
Is this an inevitability?
Or is this coincidence?
And on the whole, dumbfounding!
It's been a while, Three Witch Sisters.
Come to interfere with our sacred ritual?
Doesn't the she-knight of a fallen country have anything better to do?
Oh, my, I'm honored that you remember me.
Has it been so hard to forget the scar I gave you all those years ago?
I will sew that mouth of yours shut this very instant!
You grave robber!
A pushy witch is no different than a man getting hammered at a pub.
No one will like you!
It is not our way to do the dirty work ourselves.
However!
Cheeky.
Where's my analysis?
Analysis complete.
Here she comes.
Now!
Feed Me With Your Kiss.
Now then...
You have some explaining to do, Chelsea Girl.
A UFO?
It's not... a dream...
What?
Wait, wait, wait! I don't remember everything clearly.
Calm down, Echo.
First, we fell from the train, right?
After that, I met the three sisters in the forest and then...
Don't look!
Stop being a moron and put those on!
What?!
Where are we?!
Okay, it looks like they're finally awake.
There are no issues with the boy's health.
He's originally from Liverchester.
As for her, no hits.
You missed again!
That's amazing. Your punches aren't connecting at all.
Oh, shut up. I couldn't help it.
At the time, it looked like there were a whole ton of them.
And they kept hassling me, saying weird things...
Equipment that can manipulate illusions, huh?
There's so much depth to them if they can do stuff like that!
What are you so impressed for?
If it ticks you off,
just get them back twice as good the next time you see them.
It isn't like that. It was...
What?
It's burnt out?!
Oh, man! What the heck happened for it to end up this way?!
You should just go home already.
Huh?
I'm saying that you should go back to Liverchester!
Huh? Go back? What's this all of a sudden?
Miss Mu, currently aboard as a guest, please come to the bridge immediately.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh, no, no, no. Uh, wai... Hold on a second.
Sorry.
So? You had a fight with your boyfriend?
We were not fighting.
And he is not my boyfriend in the first place.
Anyway, let me formally introduce myself.
We are Tremolo Technologies.
We rely on the Noise the Earless produce
to collect abandoned Equipment wreckage from all around the world
and examine them.
I'm Bilin Valentine and I serve as the deputy director of this place.
I am Mu.
Um, Ms. Bilin...
Why did you save us?
Would you mind bearing with me while I tell you an old story?
Ten years ago now,
a large-scale Fest was held with a certain country serving as the venue.
An historically unprecedented, large-scale operation to wipe out the Earless.
Various countries served as sponsors
and famous Players from all over the world came together.
If the Fest was successful,
it was supposed to rid this world of the Earless.
But if you just consider the outcome, the operation was a massive failure.
A huge army of the Earless appeared in response and to subdue them,
many Equipment were reduced to scrap.
As the chief participant,
our country naturally ended up being held responsible.
For triggering a war devastating enough to change the world,
the price we paid was the loss of our precious homeland.
Why are you telling me this?
The Fest failed because one single Player went rogue.
The Player, who was the most powerful of them all at the time,
was Jimi Stonefree.
That. The Core Part that you have is exactly the same as his.
Save you? I did nothing of the sort. I took you into custody.
Now, Mu, it's my turn to ask the questions.
Just who are you?
Wow, this place is incredible.
But what the heck was that? Suddenly telling me I should go back...
Aw, man, a rectifier tube is burnt out.
I could fix it easily if I had a replacement part, but...
Is this what you need?
"It's better to burn out than to fade away."
Who was it that said that again?
Y-Y-Y-You... Are you...
You are him!
The young lion of the Equipment builder world!
That was a long time ago.
A-A-Autograph, ple--
Calm down, lad.
Right now, this is the issue, right?
Lad, did you build this amp yourself?
Uh, uh, um, well, I'm from a backwater town called Liverchester
and we get scrap parts from all over the place,
so I cobbled together parts I picked up
and tried to make it by copycatting things I've seen...
Um, well... What?
Liverchester!
Huh?
That makes sense. So you grew up in that town.
I see.
But to build an amp like this out of junk parts...
You got a name?
A name?
Your name.
Echo... It's Echo Rec.
Echo. Yeah, that's a good name.
I'm Kevin Valentine.
I know!
Call me Kevin.
"It's better to burn out than to fade away."
But even if it should burn out, repair it and it can be used again.
That's where an engineer's skills really have a chance to shine.
Isn't that right?
Amnesia, huh?
Go ahead. You don't have to believe me.
Oh, I wouldn't make any unwarranted assumptions.
But I also can't exactly allow you to roam free, either.
B-But...!
That's just how dangerous that power is.
So much so that, if you use it in the wrong way,
it could very well destroy the world.
Besides, if you have no memories, you also have nowhere to go, do you?
And no reason to be in a hurry to leave, right?
That is true, but...
Kevin!
It doesn't need to be plugged into the amp?
You didn't know?
As long as the Core Part responds, you can activate the Equipment.
Who is that?
Our director. He hasn't been out of his room in four years...
--Four years?! --Here he is, out for the first time in forever, and for what?
--And what's with him?! --I had no idea! Wow!
He has no clue what I'm going through, looking all goofy and happy!
Why do men like fiddling around with gadgets so much?
Seriously! If they like it so much, they can go eat iron filings!
Men are so self-indulgent, you know?
Well, we can be just as bad, too.
That's true, too.
What will you do?
Where will you go?
How will you destroy the world?
Excuse me. Would it be all right if I got some rest now?
What? I don't mind, but...
A Player dug up from the scrap heap, huh?
It's like some fairytale.
It sure surprised me, too.
Seriously, how could she have gotten mixed up in there?
And so, you ended up becoming her partner?
About that...
She actually told me to go back home.
I see. Well, you do that sort of thing a lot when you're young.
Listen to me, lad.
With women, setting the right mood is everything.
First, kiss her. And then--
I think you might have the wrong idea here?!
And what about you, Mr. Kevin? You used to be a Player, right?
What's this out of the blue?
The Crimson Belle listed in the Players almanac was for two people.
But right now, Ms. Bilin pilots it by herself.
Why did you step down?
It's a fine thing that you're so studious.
As you say, the Sue is meant for two.
I built it to pilot it with her.
It was selfish of me. I became scared.
You mean of fighting the Earless?
That's part of it.
But the reason I stepped down...
She's a knight. For her country, she'd even lay down her life.
That scared me more than anything.
More than losing my country.
The reason people split up is usually something along those lines.
Either you don't want to hurt the other person
or you don't want to be hurt yourself.
Okay, it's done.
Echo, what's this amp's name?
Its name?
If it doesn't have one, you have to give it one.
For everything that's brought into existence,
it's only once they've heard their name that they can feel alive.
Mu?
Yeah.
So, would you mind if I called you Mu?
Yeah, I like it.
Can't sleep?
I seem to keep finding things to think about...
Letting the wind blow around me like this,
I can almost feel like it was all just a dream.
Like a Daydream.
As if I'd daydreamed it all.
Like maybe in reality, there are no Earless in the world anymore
and we're actually living our lives without having to fear the darkness.
That's nothing but a pipe dream.
A cold thing to say.
You've become scared of losing him, haven't you?
I don't know where you came from or why you lost your memories,
and honestly, I'm still suspicious of you.
So, think of this as a fellow Player just talking to herself.
Fighting against the Earless, there are times when I hear their voices.
It's all in my head, of course. It's not their real voices.
But I feel like they're looking to me with intense yearning.
More. More. Rain your passion down on us so hard
that it drowns out all reason and anguish.
That's what it sounds like they're crying out for.
I want to rid this world of the Earless.
Even if the world resents me for it.
Even if I lose my homeland, I won't give up.
Those lonely phantoms who writhe and suffer and attack people...
I'll never give up until I've saved every last one of them.
Say, do you know what a Player needs the most?
Talent?
Wrong.
Strength?
Wrong.
Technique?
It's conviction.
It doesn't matter what about.
It's the strong desire to communicate that to someone else.
That becomes the path and the light to guide the Earless.
Even in the face of your fear of losing him,
if there's still something that remains in you,
that might be exactly where your conviction lies.
Oh, Ms. Bilin!
Look after her for me.
What? Uh...
Mu!
Hey.
Finally moving on from being a shut-in?
I had to see how the dream ended.
Oof.
This guy's name is AC30.
It's the very first Equipment I've ever finished building.
I always thought that I'd work in the town I was born in
and just live out my life and die.
That was probably my life until I met you.
That's right. You would've been happier if you'd stayed there.
They tell me I'm real dangerous.
If you stay with me, I'm sure you'll also end up in danger--
But I chose the path to go with you.
What's a little danger?
I don't know who told you what,
but there's no way I'm just going home now.
Mu, I want to go see the world with you.
A lass of light and a lad of Liverchester...
What, oh, what will this do to our Grand Master?
I'm feeling fired up for the first time in forever.
It's been ten years. Care to join me, Mr. Young Lion?
You Made Me Realise.
You're not stopping me this time?
No way I'd stop you. Right?
Now, you two, sorry to intrude on your cozy moment,
but we're looking for a match-up.
That power... Angel or Devil...
Let's see which it really is!
Ms. Bilin!
Whoa!
Are you sure about this?
I have no sense of respect or anything for my elders, you know.
And that's exactly why I want to show you
True Crimson, the most beautiful thing in this world.
And not just because you want to fight?
We can be just as bad, right?
Echo!
Mu!
Three, two, one!
Rave Down!
No problem!
W-We're flying?
It's a little something I added while I was replacing the rectifier tube.
Now that's my partner!
Kids these days get revved up fast.
Don't let me down in front of this junior duo!
Your moves are green, Chelsea Girl!
Damn!
Hey, can't it go any faster?!
Figuring that out is my job!
Good instinct.
But!
Do the Top Boost!
What toast?
Top Boost! The ultimate attack you used before.
To blow away the Earless back in Liverchester.
I couldn't get it to fire, remember?
Focus! I'll make the adjustments!
I was scared.
That maybe I didn't belong here.
That even the reason you'd given me might be taken away by someone.
I...
I want to stay a Player!
Top Boost!
That gleaming light...
Just as I thought. There's no question about it.
But it burns far hotter than it did with him...
You're still so green!
Now, it's our turn!
I Can See It!
But I Can't...
...Feel It!
Amazing!
It's beautiful!
That was amazing!
True Crimson was everything they said it was!
I felt it deep in my bones!
Um, I would love your autograph!
Ow!
So? Will you allow us to disembark?
Fine.
But on one condition.
What? What's the condition?
Since that Fest,
the remaining Players all withdrew to their own domains.
They each hold secrets to Jimi that even I am not privy to.
Meet with them and uncover the truth about that power.
If you can't do that, you'll...
...never be more than the Chelsea Girl. Is that it?
I'm perfectly good with that.
I've had to put up with so much crap thanks to this Jimi guy.
I won't be happy until I've socked him good at least once.
Really, such an impudent child.
Next time we meet, I won't lose!
Thank you for everything!
Say, Bilin.
What is it?
Do you think the world will change today?
Who knows?
Guess we'll have to see.
Hair mussed from sleep.
Lingering on the balcony in the flannel shirt that serves as pajamas.
Look up and the sun is black.
I shouldn't let it get to me.
The thing that's tainted is their hearts.
For my part, I'll put the gun to my temple with a thin smile on my face.
I dislike having to lie to someone.
I would rather people hate me as I am, than love a fake version of me.
Hello, hello, hello?
"Teen Spirit" "Teen Spirit."
"Teen Spirit" Serves you right. Die, Players.