Banri Settsu/Fruits of Intelligence

Pyraminx Challengers

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

	*PUZZLE SHUFFLING*
Banri	……And done.
Taichi	You can do even ones that aren’t cubes! As expected of Ban-chan!
Azami	The solo exhibition will go smoothly with this.
Banri	‘Course. Though I won’t be doing just a demonstration this time, I have to instruct the visitors how to do this too.
	It’s one thing to do it, it’s another to teach it. It’s not something everyone can do that easily…
Misumi	…..Hm! Hm! I knew it, there’s a triangle here!
	*DASH DASH DASH*
	*DOOR SLAMS*
	Found it! Triangle, triangle~!
Taichi	UWOH!? THAT MADE ME JUMP!
Azami	Misumi-san. Hang on, by “found”, you mean…
Banri	This pyraminx I’m holding?
Misumi	Yes! That golden triangle! It’s so cool-looking!
Juza	…Misumi-san, this one tiramisu’s yours, isn’t it?
Misumi	Ah!! Thank you! Sorry for making you carry it for me!
Azami	You guys went out together?
Taichi	That’s quite a rare pair.
Misumi	I was out hunting for triangles, and then I found this one store had a signboard that showed a really pretty triangle!
	It was right after that that Juza came along~
Juza	I’ve been planning to buy the new tiramisu item that the cake shop was selling. Their signboard mentioned it was their featured product.
Taichi	So that was the case!
Azami	Makes sense.
Misumi	Then just as we were about to land home, I started sensing the presence of a triangle, so I left my tiramisu in Juza’s care before dashing here!
Banri	There it is, that triangle sensor.
Misumi	This is a little different from the triangle rubik’s cube I gave you for your birthday before, isn’t it?
Banri	Yeah. We talked before about how Kumon, Tenma, and I were gonna be part of this hands-on experience one-time exhibition themed around Ancient Egypt, right?
	The part I’m in charge of is a demo-and-lesson on these pyraminx puzzles.
	That’s why I bought one that’s close to the design we’ll be using for the event to use as practice.
Juza	Oh right, Kumon mentioned about the event.
Misumi	Sounds just as fun as I thought it’d be~!
Azami	But just as Banri-san mentioned earlier, it’s not something that visitors would be able to easily solve in one go, right?
Taichi	It’s not that Ban-chan’s explanations are hard to understand, but it does feel like it’s a lot harder to grasp once you try it yourself.
Misumi	Then let me help out!
Banri	Help out?
Misumi	I’ll act out like one of the visitors you’ll be teaching~! I wanna play with the triangles too!
	I wanna try my best to complete it, so please help me out if I get stuck somewhere!
Azami	If we get a lot of people to help out this way, then it’ll be easier for Banri-san to teach us and correct our mistakes.
Taichi	Count me in too! Getting to learn the special tricks to solving a rubik’s cube would be one more step to me getting popular!
	You should join us too, Aachan!
Azami	Ha? Me? Guess I don’t really mind…
Misumi	Then what about you, Juza~?
Banri	Mr. Butterfingers here? This is impossible for him.
Juza	If your explanations are lousy, then of course no one would be able to learn.
Banri	Say what now?
Azami	There they go again.
Taichi	Well let’s all still try our best! We should ask around and see if there’s anyone else willing to join with!
Banri	Just how many people are you planning to pull in? Guess I gotta get some more pyraminx if this is what we’re doing now.
	One more thing— As for my tour guide role, I’ll be playing Thoth, who’s apparently the “God of Writing”. Maybe I should also try keeping a record of the names of the participating challengers, as well as those who completed the puzzle.
Taichi	Hey hey, Ban-chan! There should be a prize for anyone who solves the puzzle, right?
Misumi	A triangle prize~!
Banri	Huh? You want a prize?
Taichi	It’ll get me even more rarin’ to go if I know there’s a prize on the line!
Misumi	Same same~!
Banri	…… Can’t say no to that. Well, it’ll also be thanks for helping me out, so I’ll think of something once you do solve it, alright?
Misumi	Yippee~!

Taichi	Citron and Mucchan are here now too!
Citron	I’m keen to give a go at this!
Muku	I heard Ju-chan’s gonna try his best for this! Plus Banri-san taught me some tricks before, so I figured I could try this out as well.
Banri	Thanks for going out of your way for this. Now let me write down the names of the challengers and….
	Divide each of these pyraminx puzzles amongst yourselves, and then I’m gonna have you guys try at on your own pace first.
Muku	Okay!
Citron	Let’s do our best!
Taichi	Hrmm… This really is tough….! Aachan, your turn!
Azami	Alright. You sure did a good job scrambling it, though.
Misumi	I matched one face of colors~!
Citron	Misumi made the most out of his turn! Now I’m up next!
Muku	I managed to line up half of one face by chance, but trying to match up the lower blocks is pretty difficult…
	How’s your end doing, Ju-chan?
Juza	…..I can’t get any lined up at all.
Banri	(At this rate, the report will only be left with the participant names— and no winners.)
	(The pyraminx is supposed to be much easier to solve than a regular rubik’s cube, but as I thought, it’s still a huge hurdle for beginners.)
	It’s a lot harder to try and connect all sides at once. So let me teach you the trick behind matching one face first.
Taichi	So following what Ban-chan did, I’m supposed to twist the peak first, and then I connect the top and bottom triangles like so, and then I twist this part back……
Misumi	….I did it! This side is all matchy now!
Muku	Wow! Amazing!
Citron	The power of triangles within Misumi is too strong… I wanna try getting one side connected just as fast too!
Taichi	Looks like mine’s getting close to one full side too….
Banri	How ‘bout moving this part here?
Taichi	….Ah, I did it!! I’m so happy!! Thanks a lot, Ban-chan!
Azami	Nice. Good for you.
Juza	…….
Taichi	Juza-san, if you let Ban-chan teach you, I’m sure you’ll get a better hang of it too!
Juza	…It’s fine. Let me go over this some more.
Banri	You’ll be going nowhere no matter how hard you think about it.
Juza	Buzz off. You’re killing my focus.
Banri	Haa?!
Muku	Uhm uhm….!!! B-Banri-san! Can you give me some advice first?
Banri	Sure thing. So you twist this part——
Juza	……
Banri	(Thanks to everyone’s help, I’m slowly recognizing the wrong patterns I can expect to see.)
	(And the more I recognize them, the easier it’ll be for me to figure out how to help them. I should be able to correct them when tomorrow comes, if there’ll be people who’ll still join in.)
	Alright, time for bed. Hey, I’m turning off the lights!
Juza	……..
Banri	Heeey, you hearing me?
Juza	…Yeah.
Banri	??
	*LIGHTS CLICK OFF*
Banri	…….
	*DOOR CLOSES*
	…..Mm?
	*PUZZLE SHUFFLING*
Juza	…….
Misumi	I did it! I finally matched every side~!
Taichi	That’s amazing, Misumi-san!!
Citron	Ngggh… It’s frustrating, but you really folded that hen!
Azami	Don’t you mean “handled that well”?
Banri	Looks like I can finally put a name on the finished challenger's list. You’re the first one here.
Misumi	Yaaaay~!
Muku	Congratulations!
Juza	…Misumi-san, could I have a go next.
Misumi	Here you go!
Banri	… You plannin' to try ten times more of this or something?
Azami	The challenger list is filled up with just Juza-san’s name. How much is he gonna push for in one day?
Taichi	You can just feel his passion, seeing it lined up like this…..
Banri	Give me a break with this already.
Misumi	Hey hey, Banri! What’s my prize~?
Banri	….Ohh, the prize. Right. Hyodo, hand me that pyraminx.
	*SNATCH*
Juza	—!! Hey, what are you——
Banri	Here’s your prize, Misumi.
Misumi	Eh, really~?!? I’ve been wanting to have this pretty triangle ever since I first laid my eyes on it!
	I’m gonna head over to my room and line it up in my collection!
Juza	Ah, Misumi-san——
	*DOOR CLOSES*
Juza	I was still doing my challenge. Give me another of those pyraminx.
Banri	This is why I said it’s impossible for you. Just give it up already.

Dita