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Love's Reunion 29 - Let the Games Begin

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As Sakura finishes speaking, the camera moves above her head and rotates so that we see the edge of the stage between the curtains. ‘Resolution’ from Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is still playing. There is a small set of steps attached to the stage enabling people to walk up onto it from the ground. Hiding among the folds of the thick red curtains is Natsumi, who has been listening to Sakura, Orlando and Chuck’s conversation in horror. She slowly creeps backwards to try and exit the stage without being detected, but we then cut to a close shot of the steps and Natsumi’s feet as she walks backwards. Alas, not seeing where she’s going, we see her foot miss the first step, cutting quickly to a shot of her starting to fall backwards off the edge of the stage.

NATSUMI:         (Falling over backwards) Eeeeeek!

We then cut to a close-up of the big red stage curtain. We see Natsumi’s hands grab onto the curtain – she is then able to use it to hold on and lift herself back onto the stage, saving herself from the embarrassment of falling off the side onto the ground. We then cut to the trio – hearing Natsumi’s scream, they freeze, big blue exclamation marks appearing above their heads with big anime sweat-drops on their brows, and then turn around to see where the noise came from. Sakura immediately goes over to Natsumi with a frown on her face. Natsumi looks scared after nearly falling off the stage and awaiting the trio’s response to her eavesdropping.

SAKURA:          (Trying to remain calm, but clearly angry) Natsumi! What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with the rest of the girls?!

NATSUMI:         (Nervous) Um... er... I... I got lost...

SAKURA:          Hmph. How much of our conversation did you hear just now?

NATSUMI:         Um... m-most of it...

SAKURA:          Hmph. The rest of the girls know about the whole arrangement, of course, but I wasn’t going to tell you for a while – not until I completely trusted you. I’m sure you can appreciate that it is not the sort of information that ought to fall into the wrong hands. Do you promise not to tell anyone?

NATSUMI:         (Very uncomfortable, nervous and hesitant. The music starts to fade away.) Um… w-well… I-I…

Music starts: ‘Nijmegen Bridge’ from Medal of Honour: Frontline. We zoom in as Sakura moves towards Natsumi with what looks like a hugging motion, but we then zoom in even more as Sakura brings her face right up to the side of Natsumi’s head and whispers very quietly to her.

SAKURA:          (Whispering very quietly but with a strong hint of hatred in her voice) Listen. I am the most popular girl in this school. With me as your friend, you can achieve anything. You can have top grades, immeasurable popularity and the hottest boyfriend you want. But with me as your enemy, you will be the female equivalent of Jimmy MacPhail, and I will make your time at this school the most miserable year of your life, with no social status whatsoever. If you promise not to tell anyone what you just heard, I will be your friend, and all of your dreams will come true. If you tell anyone, though... you will be a nobody, just like those three pathetic losers who started this whole thing. Do you understand me?

Sakura stops ‘hugging’ Natsumi and moves back to face her.

SAKURA:          (Glaring intensely at Natsumi; no longer whispering)… Well? Do you promise not to tell anyone?

We cut to a view of the top half of Natsumi’s body. She is trembling slightly, her head tilted down a little, with her fringe drooping down, covering part of one eye. We slowly zoom in. We hear one long note of the music as well as the sound effect of a heart beating, as well as Natsumi’s heavy breathing. We zoom into her face, and we see that the colours making up the insides of her eyes are vibrating slightly and tears are starting to form at the bottom of her eyes (the ‘anime teary-eye vibration effect’). Her mouth is just a tiny white parallelogram. She stares beyond the camera for a few seconds, as the note and heartbeat / breathing sound effects get louder and tenser. She then lifts her head to look past and above the camera and at Sakura (off-screen). It is silent.

NATSUMI:         (Almost whispering) … I promise.

We cut to Sakura, whose angry glare immediately changes to an artificial, saccharine-sweet smile with a ‘PING!’ sound effect. The music ceases straight away and, after a pause, is replaced by ‘Interesting People’ from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.

SAKURA:         (Seemingly happy – almost innocent in her demeanour) Mm-hmm! Excellent! I knew I could count on you, Natsumi! Mm-hmm! And guess what? You’re going to have a special part in today’s show! You’ll be helping me out with my presenting duties!

NATSUMI:        (Still in shock from the previous interaction) … Huh? M-me?

SAKURA:          (Still lively and happy) Of course! After all… we’re best friends now, aren’t we… Natsumi?

As Sakura says those last few words, we see her eyebrows narrow and an evil glint in her eyes as she stares at Natsumi with her fake smile. We then cut to Natsumi, who looks confused and somewhat afraid as she looks back blankly at Sakura.

NATSUMI:         Oh… yeah…

Orlando then skids in from the side of the screen, in front of the girls.

ORLANDO:         Yo, guys! Haw-haw! I, like, totes don’t want to interrupt your ultra-important girl-to-girl chat, but, like, let’s stop all this talking and get this show started! Haw-haw!

SAKURA:           Hmph. Indeed. The time has come! (To Natsumi and Chuck) You two, come with us.

Sakura and Orlando smile at each other and hold hands before leading Chuck and Natsumi out from behind the curtain onto the front of the stage. We cut to a view behind them as they walk out, where we see a crowd of hundreds of Azalea Park students gathered round and chatting excitedly, waiting for the show to start. The camera focuses on the Goldenbabes, who take up the front few rows of the right-hand side of the audience, and the chavs, who are on the front rows of the left-hand side. The crowd haven’t noticed the group on the stage yet. We then cut to a view of the stage from the front. Orlando and Sakura stand behind a high-quality wooden lectern which is in the middle of the front of the stage, with two microphones pointing out the top. Sakura catches the attention of the Goldenbabes and mutters something in the general direction of the closest one.

SAKURA:          (Excitedly) Mm-hmm! Girls – distribute the material to the audience and prepare yourselves! Oh, and someone inform Chuck’s minions of the plan. We are about to begin!

The Goldenbabes leave their seats. Some of them make their way into the crowd, while others head backstage.

The music fades away and is replaced by ‘Court ~ Guardians of the Law’ from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. We then cut to Satoru, Ali and Jimmy, who are standing among the crowd behind the seating, still astonished at what is going on.

JIMMY:             (Very despondent) G-guys… I never knew all this was gonna happen just so you could get me my KollektorKwestKardz back… nyaah… I... I don’t think it matters if you don’t get them back anymore… nyaah…

SATORU:          (Drained from the afternoon’s events, yet still determined) No, Jimmy. We’ve come this far. I have no idea what Sakura and Orlando have planned… but we’ll get them back, no matter what it takes!

ALI:                 (Invigorated by Satoru’s determination) Yeah! There’s no point turning back now! Imagine if there was a hyper-secret-rare holographic Leviatron card in one of those packs! We could never let you down like that!

JIMMY:              (In tears) N-n-nyaaaah! G-g-guys! No one’s ever been this kind to me before in my entire life! Nyaaaaaaaaaah!

While Jimmy is crying his eyes out, the camera moves over to Satoru and zooms in on his face – he is staring intently at the stage. We then cut to his viewpoint, where we see the foursome on stage, though everyone is blurry and faded out – everyone except Natsumi, who is looking around nervously. We then see Satoru’s steely-eyed expression once more before cutting back to a close-up of the front of the stage. Sakura and Orlando stand proudly behind the lectern, while Natsumi stands awkwardly and nervously next to Sakura. Chuck, grinning menacingly as ever, stands next to Orlando. Orlando, grinning cheesily, moves the bendable microphone on the lectern up to his face and confidently addresses the audience.

ORLANDO:        (His voice booming out of the PA system) Yo! Hello everyone! Your Head Boy, Orlando, is, like, totally in da house!

Sakura smiles smugly as she adjusts the other microphone and begins speaking.

SAKURA:          Mm-hmm! Attention, everyone! Your Head Girl, Sakura Shimomura, is here! We have an announcement to make!

The crowd slowly stop chatting and turn their attention to the stage. They wait expectantly as they gradually reach silence. We then cut back to Sakura and Orlando.

ORLANDO:        This is, like, our first public appearance of the new academic year! So first of all, Sakura and I would like to say…

SAKURA:          (smiling cutely) … welcome back to Azalea Park School!

We cut to the crowd, who clap and cheer wildly (much too wildly…). Many of them are holding signs with pictures of Sakura and Orlando on them and slogans such as ‘Go Sakura! Go Orlando!’, ‘We love you, Head Boy and Girl!’, etc. on them, which we can also hear being shouted by audience members as well. We cut to some inner sections of the crowd, where the Goldenbabes are busy distributing these signs and other fan gear such as giant foam hands with pointing fingers, baseball caps with Orlando and Sakura’s faces on the front, etc, to the crowd, who lap them up. Once the cheers subside, Orlando starts speaking again.

ORLANDO:      As many of you know, Sakura and I were voted by you to be Head Boy and Girl of this school last year, when we had just started Year 10! Haw-haw! This was, like, totally unprecedented – never before had anyone been elected Head Boy or Girl outside of their final year of school! I’m, like, sure you’ll agree that we have done a fantastic job over this last year – haven’t we, everyone? Haw-haw!

The crowd start cheering and clapping again, with shouts of ‘YEAH!’ heard among the cheers. We briefly cut to Satoru and Ali, who are standing in the middle of the crowd. While everyone else is cheering, they watch the goings-on suspiciously.

ALI:                  (Not happy) Pffft. What is everyone cheering for? I can’t remember the last time I heard about anything they actually did for the school that was useful. All they seem to do is just get loads of pictures taken of themselves and strut around the school like they own the place.

The crowd quietens down, after which Sakura begins to speak.

SAKURA:          (Still smiling) Mm-hmm! We truly appreciate your support for us this last year, which is why we thought we’d give a little something back to you in the form of this fantastic student game show! We would also like to take this opportunity to launch our campaign to set another new record – to be re-elected Head Boy and Girl for the coming year! Please join us as we look to create history again together!

A huge banner unfurls itself from the top of the stage background, on which is emblazoned ‘RE-ELECT ORLANDO & SAKURA FOR HEAD BOY & GIRL!’. We cut to the audience, who are cheering loudly again. The Goldenbabes are now distributing signs with the same words on to the crowd, who wave them with gusto. We cut to Satoru and Ali, with Jimmy sitting on the ground next to them. While everyone around them is going wild, Satoru and Ali look on cynically at the stage before them.

ALI:                  (Unimpressed) Tch! This is the stupidest election appeal I’ve ever seen. I mean, their entire campaign is centred on themselves, and they’ve told us nothing about what they plan to do to actually improve the school. I have no idea why everyone loves those two and their friends so much.

We then cut to the stage. A number of the Goldenbabes walk onto it behind the foursome, forming a line. They then smile and pose for the crowd like pop stars or models, waving and winking at them. We then cut back to Satoru and Ali. Ali is hunched over in his zombie-like love trance, with hearts for eyes and his tongue hanging out his mouth.

ALI:                  (Slowly, infatuated) Ehehe… ahhhh… I remember now… mmm… the Goldenbabes…

Satoru sighs and starts repeatedly punching Ali softly on the side of the head, with each connection making a ‘TOK!’ sound like two pieces of plastic hitting each other. It has no effect on him.

SATORU:          Come on, Ali… don’t get sucked in! Snap out of it!

We then cut back to the stage. Sakura and Orlando are enjoying everything immensely.

SAKURA:          Mm-hm-hmm! Thank you! Thank you! We are truly honoured! We are thrilled to be able to count on your support for the coming year! Now, without further ado, then, it is our pleasure to say: let the Orlando & Sakura Games… begin!

Natsumi ends up getting more than she bargained for after discovering the trio's terrible secret, before Azalea Park's Hottest Couple™ finally get the show underway! Yet it seems only they know what on Earth is going on!

~~~

Track 1: 'Resolution' from Hotel Dusk: Room 215. youtu.be/jTDVFgG3eGQ (Unfortunately, I couldn't find a version which looped properly.)
Track 2: 'Nijmegen Bridge' from Medal of Honour: Frontline. youtu.be/xbQTcpfAlCk
Track 3: 'Interesting People' from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. youtu.be/lZAgJQSoTKU
Track 4: 'Court ~ Guardians of the Law' from Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. youtu.be/qyONykH0B3U
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