Banri Settsu/MANKAI Treasure

Treasure Hunt: BANRI

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2Part 3

Banri	(Looks like this is all the sparkling water they have left. Guess I’ll go ahead and take them all.)
	(Hm? This new milk tea product…)
	(This must be the tasty one that Nee-chan has been mentioning. Maybe once in a while, I should try——)
	……
	(Or maybe not. Something as stupid sweet as this shit is sure to be the target of Hyodo’s sweet tooth. He might even drink it without asking.)
	(I’ll just grab some gum then…)
	Geh…
	(The register’s all crowded. I’m gonna line up anyway but damn….)
	……
BANRI. convenience store rn. yall need anything? got 3 mins
taichi nanao Cola!
Itaru Chigasaki double that order
Banri	(There’s the usual instant replies…. Oh? Someone rare has entered the chat.)
Hisoka the marshmallows with that chestnut cream filling
Banri	(Is there something like that ‘round here? ….Sweets aisle, sweets aisle…)
	Ah, found it. This must be it huh?
Citron Salt Flavored Special Edition Rice Crackers frm UmeJirou
Banri	(A code… No, is this the name of the snack?)
	(Talk about fancy, this stuff. Never mind that— So he can actually send texts with barely any typos after all.)
Banri	I’m home.
Taichi	Ban-chan, welcome home!
Banri	The hell is this mountain of sweets?
Kumon	Muku brought back a bunch of souvenirs from his amusement park trip, so now everyone’s having a dessert party~
Muku	You can have some if you’d like, Banri-san!
Banri	Oh… Thanks then.
Muku	Ah, speaking of… It seems like they’ll be doing Zombie Run Night again this year. There were posters about it all around the park.
Izumi	Zombie Run Night! That sure brings back memories!
Banri	I’m guessing they’re taking freshmen from our course to join in for part-time again.
Azami	Hohh… If they’re doing it again I might wanna join in. Last time was a good experience after all.
Kazunari	I’m gonna be meeting the prof who’s in charge of the contact desk there soon. Want me to ask them for you?
Azami	For real? That’d be a big help if you could. Thanks, Kazunari-san.
Citron	Banri, welcome homey! Did you get us our snacks?
Banri	These, right?
Citron	Thank you very much!!
Hisoka	My marshmallows?
Banri	Here you go.
Hisoka	Thanks.
Muku	Citron-sama, Hisoka-san! Please help yourselves to some souvenir treats!
Citron	Ohh, these also look delish! I’ll have some!
Hisoka	….I’ll eat them with the marshmallows.
Banri	I’ll grab some too. There’s a report I gotta finish by tonight, so I’ll have these with coffee to keep me up later.
Azami	Like hell you’re staying up. You’re got the photo shoot for your birthday bromide soon.
Banri	Ohhhh, right. There’s that coming up too.
Taichi	If we’re talking about the birthday bromide, that also means the treasure-hunting project, right!
Kumon	Banri’s always going to escape room games with Chikage-san, so he’ll probably find the treasures right away.
Muku	Then the ones in charge of his presents this time should make the hints extra difficult.
Banri	Feels like the goal of the project is a lil’ different now. Well, either way, I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of hints I’ll get.
Izumi	Alright. Here’s the project’s main camera, and your first hint.
Banri	“Belting King♪” ….?
	The hurdle’s too high right off the bat. What’s the point of a BD gift treasure hunt if I can’t find it?
Izumi	Uhm… Would you like me to give you another hint? On the house?
Banri	(Belting…. King…… Maybe there’s a vital clue in the words themselves…. Which only means…)
	……He didn’t make any translation error on this, did he?
Izumi	…..Fufu. I’m in no authority to say anything.
Banri	With the way you're answering, there must be no other person than him.

Citron	You finally came. I’ve grown elastic just waiting for you, you know~
Banri	You’re the one who gave such a difficult hint. Also, it’s “exhausted”, not “elastic”.
Citron	Ohh sorry sorry♪ In any case, let’s get in!
Banri	Hang on, I still haven’t found even one of the treasures yet—
Citron	We’re already here in front of the karaoke place anyway! Just one song!
Banri	Wh– OKAY! Okay, I get it! You don’t need to pull my arm!
	—— —— —— —— FLASHBACK —— —— —— ——
Banri	I’m back.
Citron	Welcome home!
	You’re not as I expected, Banri. You’re a delinquent, but you come back home early like a good kid~
Banri	Huh?
Citron	If I remember right, you’re pretty smart right, Banri?
Banri	Hm? I guess.
Citron	Then I want you to help me out in my Japanese studies!
Banri	Who, me?
Citron	I had planned to ask Itaru or Masumi, but both of them said they couldn’t go.
Banri	I can somehow understand asking Itaru-san, but Masumi? You sure it’s not better to ask Tsuzuru or Sakuya instead?
	And when he meant “can’t go”, he must’ve totally meant he’d rather stay in the dorms than go to a library or something.
Citron	Anyway! Let’s hurry up! Before they change to the night rates…!!
Banri	Night rates……?
	——Wh–H-Hey! Don’t pull me around—
Banri	(...So that’s what he meant by night rates. I see why he wanted to ask Masumi then.)
	But why did you think of karaoke to help you with your Japanese?
Citron	From the start, I’ve been able to recognize Japanese by ear. That’s why I think studying through song is the perfect way for me.
	But it’s lonely to sing by myself. Since I wanted to use the karaoke either way, it’d be nice to enjoy it with someone else too.
	Then, I came up with the decision to take whoever was the first person I’d greet after they arrived at the front door.
Banri	I see.
	(He dragged me along with quite some force, but improving Citron’s Japanese is gonna be important for the theatre troupe too, so…)
	Well, I do like karaoke so I’ll play along.
Citron	Thanks so much!
Banri	You got a song in mind?
Citron	Not quite yet. I want to hear what you’d recommend, Banri.
Banri	Even if you ask me…
	*KNOCK KNOCK*
Clerk	Thank you for waiting, here’s your order for one snack set.
Banri	Since when did you make that order…
Citron	…What do you call this cute, pink snack? It reminds me of cherry blossoms!
Banri	Those are plum rice crackers, aren’t they? They play the CM for it quite a lot on TV.
	“Umeumeumeee ~ Umejirou’s Plum Rice Crackers~”…Something like that. Ever heard of it?
Citron	I’ve heard of it! I’m gonna go sing that one!
Banri	You serious!?
Banri	Yooo, that’s not too bad.
Citron	But there are a lot of parts that I couldn’t sing.
Banri	Well there’s not really a lot of people who’d even know the second part of the song, much less the last chorus.
Karaoke Box	YOUR TOTAL SCORE…. IS 60 PTS!
Banri	Oh it’s been on auto-scoring mode, huh.
Citron	It’s so low…
Banri	Considering you got through the parts you didn’t know, it’s still good isn’t it?
Citron	Absolutely not good! I will sing until I get 100 Pts!!
Banri	HUH!?
	(I mean, I suppose Citron is learning a thing or two along the way. Fine, I’ll keep at it too.)
Karaoke Box	YOUR TOTAL SCORE…. IS 95.7 PTS!
Citron	That’s barely above the 96 pts hurdle! One more….
Banri	…Isn’t that enough?
Citron	It means nothing if it’s not 100 pts.
Banri	Why do you want to get 100 pts so badly? It’s only karaoke, so it’s fine to not get a perfect score, right?
Citron	——
Banri	Besides, it seems like you already got the title achievement too.
Citron	Title?
Banri	Look at the screen.
Citron	“You are… the Belting King♪” …..?
Banri	Seems like if you play a song 100 times, you’ve got the vocal cords to belt it. Thus, “Belting King”.
Citron	“Belting King”... That’s not a bad title. With this, I’ll show them office ranks just for today.
Banri	That’s “forgiveness”. What kind of office ranks do you have the power to give even.
Citron	(Up until now, I’ve always thought it’s supposed to be natural for me to always be perfect in everything. I’ve slipped into that frantic thinking again…)
	….Banri, is there anything you’re bad at?
Banri	…’ Course not.
Citron	Ohh! You must be so precipice then!
Banri	“Perfect”, right. You must’ve made THAT error on purpose, didn’t you.
	—— —— —— —— FLASHBACK END —— —— —— ——
Banri	(...And now here we’re doing the same kind of karaoke together, just like that time, huh.)
	(Well. Except the fact that it’s not under the pretext of studying Japanese anymore.)
	*KNOCK KNOCK*
Clerk	Thank you for waiting, here’s your order for one snack set.
Banri	…Don’t tell me this is the present?
Citron	Oh, but of course not! I’m a celebrity even here, I wouldn’t be that stingy.
	This here is your present!
Banri	An envelope?
Citron	Hurry and open it!
Banri	…Free-time complimentary coupons?
Citron	With this, you can sing to your heart’s content without worrying about paying for a whole day’s session!
Banri	Which part of this is supposed to say “celebrity present”?
	…Well I’m still thankful. I’ll be sure to use them.
Citron	Happy birthday, Banri! Now then, let’s have one song to celebrate….
Banri	Before that, mind passing me the note for the next hint first?
Citron	Oh, I forgot!

Banri	The next hint…. “Z’s scratch marks”...?
	This hint sure feels like a chuuninbyou wrote it down…. Do they really have any intention to give me a present at all?
Child	Hey~! I wanna go there too~!
Mother	This zombie chase event? You might end up crying scared if you go, you know.
Banri	(Zombie…?)
	…….
	Could it be….
Azami	Nice work getting here. You figured that out fast. I was sure you’d fail on the challenge too.
Banri	Then just give me an easier hint next time while you’re at it.
Azami	Hah. You really are amazing, Banri-san.
Banri	Well…. I suppose the timing’s right too. Or should I say stroke of fate instead?
Azami	I guess I can say the same.
	I’ve been given the job to do the makeup for this year’s Zombie Run Night.
	It just so happened that I also had to come to the amusement park to get the rundown training for it.
Banri	That so? That really is good timing then.
	But did you have to do that kind of thing last time?
Azami	I think that was a special case.
Banri	??
Azami	I’m gonna be formally paid for it this year. In other words, I’m not just an assistant, but I’ll be doing the job for reals this time.
Banri	Hey, that’s awesome. ‘Grats.
Azami	Well… I guess I did get some sort of payment back then too...
	—— —— —— —— FLASHBACK —— —— —— ——
College Student A	Good work today!
College Student B	Phew~ That was so fun!
Staff	Those of you who are being charged part-time and had to make commute expenses, as well as ones who had a hand in preparations, please come over to me for your compensation! Give me your name and your role titles once you do.
Azami	Role names huh…. You guys actually have that?
Banri	Kind of, yeah.
Azami	Banri-san, yours is….
Banri	“Zombie Z.” As basic as you can get.
Azami	You think so? Sounds pretty cool to me.
Banri	More like pretty lame. Though, probably still better than just “A” or “C” attached to the name.
	Anyway, the line’s getting longer. We’d better take our part-time payment too.
Azami	Ah, I’m not entitled to that so you go on ahead. I’ve already gotten my commute compensation.
Banri	……That so? Huh. Alright then.
Azami	I’m still a middle-schooler after all. Plus I’m hiding all this work from my old man.
	I was just asked to help out, but it’s not like I’m looking to get paid for it.
Banri	…Hmmmm. Okay, I’ll just get my share then.
College Student C	Thank you so much for your work on today’s makeup!
Azami	NP.
College Student C	Oh, is that the Mister Handsome Zombie over there?
College Student D	Ah, Zombie Z?
College Student E	Settsu, right?
College Student C	He sure was amazing~ He was even the lead when it came to the prisoner count, so he’s even getting extra pay for that.
College Student E	Actually, we should go over and greet him too, yeah? See you!
Banri	Sorry I took a while. Seems like Director-chan and the others are waiting for us, so we’d better get going too.
Azami	Okay.
Banri	Before that…. Here you go.
Azami	…Is this juice?
Banri	“Zombie Run Drink: Taste so good that it would get even zombies running.” … At least that’s how they labeled their event-exclusive drink. It’s apparently pretty in demand.
	… Y’know, even if you say it’s a question of your age, or that it’s just a little helping hand, your work is still honest work, Azami.
	Even though I’m the one who gave you the idea to join in the Zombie side, but still.
	Point is, I wanna give you this as a reward for all your work tonight. Sorry it’s just a meager one though.
Azami	A reward…..
	Thanks, Banri-san.
Banri	Also, this is just between us, but I really think my compensation was a little too much to have all for myself.
Azami	Seriously? That’s a pretty hefty amount though.
Banri	Only all because I poked my nose in a fellow member’s business too… Well, in a way, it feels like the zombies left their scratch marks on us.
Azami	Weren’t you on the side of the hunters, not the hunted?
Banri	Point taken.
Azami	Well…. For helping with that sentiment, I guess I’ll be taking that reward.
Banri	Sure thing.
	—— —— —— —— FLASHBACK END—— —— —— ——
Azami	Being rewarded for my makeup, and getting me to realize that I worked for it… Both of them are thanks to you, Banri-san.
	It really wasn’t just the fun of acting that you taught me back then.
	That’s why I’m really grateful to you.
Banri	….Wasn’t expecting that from you. But yeah. Thank you too.
Azami	Oh, I almost forgot to hand over the crucial part of this whole thing.
	Happy Birthday, Banri-san.
Banri	A mascot charm? Hang on, doesn’t this guy look a lot like me?
Azami	“Zombie Z” from that Zombie Run was so popular that they made a limited supply of character merch of him.
	‘Course, they got a different guy playing Zombie Z this year. I was told I might be in charge of his make-up too.
Banri	For real?
	(...Even without me realizing it, there was another mark left by that zombie act, huh.)
Banri	(...Oh right, it was mentioned I should take a pic of the presents I received and post them on Inste.)
	*CAMERA CLICKS*
	…That should do it.
	(There sure was a lot that happened today that I hadn’t expected. And there I was thinking that this treasure-hunting thing would be a simple walk in the park….)
	(Things that I’ve said and done… Without even me knowing it, I'd leave my own little marks throughout my surroundings. I’ve kinda always known that.)
	(I’ve had my own experience in the other side— that someone else’s words and deeds have influenced my own. But then the feeling of being told directly by another person that I influenced them….)
	…Yeah, it’s definitely a weird feeling.
	(Maybe I should try to write down something a little more serious than usual for my Inste post this time——)
	*DOOR OPENS*
Juza	Huh, you were already home.
Banri	…Hey, that milk tea—
Juza	This? I heard this new product’s pretty good so I bought it. Not gonna give you a single drop of it though.
Banri	As if I want it….
	….Tch. Good thing I made the right call on not buying something that I wouldn’t normally get.
Juza	??
Banri	Don’t mind me. Anyway, time to actually upload this to Inste and….
POST FROM BANRI.	Mission Clear. Thanks for the prizes. #TreasureHunt #DifficultyHARD

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