Listeners (LISTENERS)

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"

"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?