Banri Settsu/Almighty Cherished Ambition

The Informant Sets Out

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Banri	I’ll be workin’ as an informant for several days starting today, so thanks for cooperating.
Tasuku	That’s sudden.
Izumi	Could this be for role study?
Banri	Yuuup. The role I’m acting as this time is a jack of all trades, but I mostly play the part of an informant in the show.
	So I got advice from Tsumugi-san who asked how I’d feel about workin’ as an informant.
Yuki	That makes sense.
Banri	So for that reason, if there’s anythin’ you wanna know, write it down anonymously on a piece of paper and put it in this box.
Tsuzuru	Yeah, got it.
Taichi	An informant sounds hella exciting!
	I wonder what I should ask for~!
Banri	(…Perfect, no one’s around. Guess I’ll check if I got a request.)
	Oh, one’s been put in already.
	Lemme see…
	(“I want to know the reason our electricity bill went up”…?)
	Uh, there’s no doubt in my mind this is Sakyo-san.
	But he typed it out with a computer so you can’t tell whose request it is from the writing—colour me impressed.
	(Anyways, if it’s the reason the electricity bill’s so high…)
	(Is it Itaru-san? Nah, but that’s not it if he meant recently.
	Itaru-san’s been using electricity like no tomorrow from the start.)
	I’ll look into it for now.
	(How do I investigate yesterday’s request…)
	Hm?
	(Why’s the manager carryin’ plastic bottles under both arms?)
Manager	Ahh! G-good morning~!
Banri	Yeah, mornin’.
Manager	…So then, excuse me…
Banri	…What the?
Citron	I wondered where he was going with all those drinks.
Sakuya	The manager bought a mini fridge, right!
Citron	Sakyo will get angry if he finds out the manager took our shared drinks. He’ll get a scolding!
Banri	A mini fridge?
Citron	Ohh, Banri!
Sakuya	It looks like the manager bought a second-hand fridge last month.
Citron	But I heard the door doesn’t close properly!
Banri	Oh?
	(A fridge with a door that doesn’t close properly…
	Seems like it’d use up a lotta electricity.)
	(I'll try verifyin' it.)
	Oh, there he is.
	Manager.
Manager	Yes!
Banri	It’s about the plastic bottles this morning.
Manager	Eeeek!! S-s-s-sorry~!
	I-I’ll do anything, so please don’t say tell anyone I took the drinks without permission~!
Banri	I ain’t gonna squeal on you.
	More importantly, I have somethin’ I wanna ask you.
Manager	You’ll keep quiet about it!? Thanks so much~!
	I’ll answer anything you want in return!
Banri	Is it true you bought a used fridge thats door doesn’t close properly?
Manager	That’s right!
	It’s true that the door doesn’t work well, but thanks to that fridge, I can keep cold drinks in my room~.
Banri	So you really did, huh?
	Aight, the reason our electricity bill went up is cause of manager’s fridge.
Manager	EHH!? Our electricity fees went up!?
	I-in that case, it's probably not my fault alone!
Banri	Hah?

Banri	What do you mean?
Manager	Actually, room 205’s kotatsu went missing from the storage room last month.
	It should’ve been put away in there, but…
Banri	I see.
	Room 205, huh…
	*knock, knock*
Homare	Come in.
Banri	S’cuse me.
Homare	Oh my, how rare of you to come to our room, Banri-kun.
	Why, it’s because you wished to hear one of my poems, didn’t you?
	Marvelous, I shall recite the new work I just finished a moment ago…
Banri	Err, that ain’t it.
Hisoka	Zz, zz…
Banri	Oh, the kotatsu was here.
Homare	Yes, were you searching for it?
	It grows cold in the mornings and evenings so Hisoka brought it back from the storage room.
Banri	Right, gotcha.
	(If you combine a kotatsu with a fridge that barely closes, then I mean, the electricity fees would add up, huh…)
Homare	If you wanted to enter the kotatsu as well, then please do help yourself.
Banri	Nah, I heard it was missin’ from the storage room so I just came to confirm where it was.
	‘Kay, later then.
Izumi	This drink tastes amazing!
Sakyo	Yeah, Yukishiro recommended it to me.
	It goes well with the snacks that he told me about while he was at it.
Banri	I’ve topped you up with water, Sakyo-san.
Sakyo	? I didn’t ask for that.
Banri	It’s better to drink water along with your alcohol since you’re not young anymore.
Sakyo	AHH?
	…? What is this?
	“A kotatsu and a second-hand fridge that doesn’t close well”…?
Banri	Geez, you really read it out loud it even though I purposely hid the note in the glass and handed it over so we wouldn't get caught…
Sakyo	Ah? What’re you talkin’ about?
Banri	You made a request sayin’ you wanna know why our electricity bill went up recently, didn’t you?
Sakyo	No, I didn’t.
Banri	HAH!? It’s not Sakyo-san!
Izumi	Ah, that was me.
Banri	Seriously? The client was Director-chan?
Sakyo	What do you mean our electricity bill increased?
Izumi	The truth is, I bumped into Syu-san by chance the day before yesterday.
	And then, to make small talk, he asked if anything happened because this month’s electricity bill was higher than usual.
	Syu-san didn’t seem to mind, but I felt really guilty and I was curious—.
	And Banri just happened to start working as an informant, so I asked him to look into it.
Banri	So that’s what happened, huh?
Izumi	The request was supposed to be anonymous, so I tried printing the request slip out instead of handwriting it.
	I thought doing it that way would have the vibe of hiring an informant, and that it would help with your role study.
Banri	Oh, I see.
	‘Cept, seriously… it’s not good to make assumptions, huh?
	You fail as an informant if you get the client wrong.
Izumi	But you were spot on with the information gathering part!
	I expect nothing less from Banri-kun.
Sakyo	I didn’t even notice the second-hand fridge, or that the kotatsu was being used again either.
	Your information gatherin’ skills ain’t that bad.
CHOICE 1: I can’t wait to see your other requests [+] Izumi I can’t wait to see your other requests. It looked like everyone else was coming up with lots of different favours to ask. When Yuzo-san came by during the day, Citron-kun showed him the box and recommended he should try it out too. Banri For real? It feels like Yuzo-san would ask for somethin’ hard to deal with. But it’ll prolly be rewarding though. Ah well, it was pretty interestin’ looking stuff up. So I’ll do a proper job of investigating the other requests too.
CHOICE 2: I didn’t notice you handed the memo over [+] Izumi I didn’t notice you handed the memo over to Sakyo-san at all earlier. Banri I gave it to the wrong person so it was pointless though. Izumi I was the one who was supposed to receive it, right? That's so cool—I’d like to secretly receive an information slip just like that too. Banri Then I’ll start over and deliver it Director-chan too. Izumi Eh, really? Banri Bet. I’ll hand it over to you in a different form, so look forward to it.
Sakyo	It looks like this became pretty effective role study for an informant.
Izumi	Yeah, true.
	I know the cause of the electricity fees so I feel much better now.
	Thanks for looking into it for me, Banri-kun.
Banri	Yeah. I definitely won't make a mistake next time, so ask me again if anything's up.

Anna