Photos (before battle)
After the battle...
... Something sits ill with me.
Amid the sprawl of S Corp.'s Backstreets Distorted with the flash, Aeng-du had her gaze fixed somewhere high overhead.
And at the end of her gaze...
<Are those... photographs?>
... a long line stretched across the open air, photographs hanging from it like laundry clipped to a clothesline.
I mistook it for a <ruby=warding rope>kŭmjul</ruby> at first and gave it little attention...
Yet upon closer look, I saw those pictures hanging from the line. Perhaps they had been strung within the darkroom and remained thus when the Distortion took hold.
Bizarre. Observation of unaffected elements in the space occupied by a Location-type Distortion is most irregular.
Indeed. The items we bore from the studio have already changed into images of various sights of S Corp., yet these alone remain as they were.
<Hmm... Let's take them down and check them ourselves.>
Just as I was wondering if the line was perhaps too high for me to reach, Meursault stepped forward and plucked a few photos off it. And the instant he brought them to me...
We heard another "pop," and again, a bright white flash blinded my vision for a moment.
Good grief. This Distortion likes to change its mind, huh? It keeps switching between S Corp. and N Corp.
This feels like getting caught in a flashbang detonation. My whole body tenses up, then goes slack right after...
The other Sinners were busy grumbling about the Distortion and its sudden jumps, except for Meursault, who stood right in front of me with the photos still held out in his hand.
<Oh. You didn't drop them.>
No.
He gave his usual short answer, then returned his attention to the cylinder he had been shaking. He took the film out of the container and flicked the liquid off it with clean, controlled motions.
Is the processing finally done?
<Wait... We're back here with the lights on now. Is it okay to take the film out?>
Yes. Exposure to light will not damage the film once development is complete and the image is fixed. There is no cause for concern.
<That's a relief...>
I couldn't say I followed all the technical details, but "no cause for concern" was all I needed to hear. Sighing in relief, I held up the photographs so I could take a proper look.
So... See anything odd in there, Manager Bud?
<Uh... There are people in them...>
The people in the photographs all looked different from one another.
If I had to pick one similarity between them, though... They all looked cold and indifferent.
Yeah, that's the City, all right. Ordinary folks you'd see anywhere.
<These aren't like the photos we picked up at the studio earlier.>
<Are these the kind of photographs they use to make Canned Experiences?>
...? What was that...? The scenery around us seemed to ripple just now...
I was about to ask Faust if she'd also felt the strange sensation... but it faded away soon enough. Perhaps it's nothing serious...
... Maybe it was just a spell of random vertigo? Is it even possible to get dizzy when I've got a clock for a head?
No.
Meursault must have noticed that I was out of sorts for a moment, because he seemed to pause on purpose before answering my question.
<No? I thought you said Docugraphers take these photos to put into Canned Experiences...>
Raw ingredients for Canned Experience are handled exclusively by the Grand Magasin Sisyphe. There is no known method for external parties to access them.
<Sisyphe... what?>
Oh, I think I've heard of it. Canned Experiences, right? They're in high demand in other Districts too, but the only brand stamped on them is "Grand Magasin Sisyphe". Same name every time.
I remember some of my classmates bragging about trying them whenever exam weeks came around. Never had one myself, though. I can't really explain it, but something about them just feels kind of... wrong.
<It's that popular, huh...>
The unprocessed base content of Canned Experience, known as "Experience Batter," is supplied to reprocessing factories, where Docugraphers fine-tune the experience's details. Photographs are primarily used for that purpose.
They can fine-tune experience?
An easier example for understanding would be to consider why Docugraphers take pictures of subjects such as buildings.
A purchaser may wish to experience living in a luxurious building that they could never afford. Another may wish to vent out impulses of violence by experiencing the burning of an expensive property.
Demand for haute-couture Canned Experience is increasing by day.
<So that's why the photos from earlier were all fancy buildings...>
Yes, Manager. Conversely, information concerning ordinary experience that can be easily encountered in reality is in low demand.
Then why photograph these residents at all?
Perhaps these were not images harvested for their commodity value, but pure photography in and of itself.
Mayhap they have been captured for a desire to seize a vanishing instant through a lens.
There are people who take photographs, knowing that it would cost an exorbitant sum. I have seen some before.
A staggering amount of money... just to take a single photo. That is, if they could even manage to find a photographer who'd take the risk and help take the picture.
I'm not so crass as to put a price on sentiment and nostalgia, but spending this much money on film rolls... What could have made this investment worth it?
<I'd say...>
<... maybe this isn't just a matter of sentiments. Or memories, even.>
Leafing through the photographs, I quietly expressed my thoughts.
Executive Manager?
<I'm not exactly an authority on Distortions, but I know they manifest through desires or emotions that become warped in bizarre ways.>
<But everything the Distortion has shown us so far points back to S Corp. - that is, the S Corp. from the past that only Kim and Aeng-du would've seen and remembered. These photos, though? They're completely untouched by the Distortion. Doesn't that feel off?>
There must be a strong fixation at play here. Strong enough to slip past even a Distortion...
And if that obsession is something that refuses to let these memories be influenced...
<... I think our next step should be to look for the people in these photos.>
... These photographs are the only un-Distorted, unaltered clues we have.
Dante says it would be advisable to locate the people shown in these photographs.
Ooh~ Good idea! Team Leader did say that we should accept input from the LCB with open arms.
Hey, Aeng-du! Can you get me the Office catalog? We'll probably need to commission an Office affiliated with Seven Association. Let's look for one that can take the request right away...
<... Can someone tell Ezra we're fine? I think I know where to find those people.>
Dante says one of the people shown in the photos has already been found.
What? When? How?!
<Well, guess I'm just having a lucky day.>
I pulled the radio from my waist and switched it on without answering Ezra's question.
D.W.R.C.?
I think she said "Do we regroup, Clock?"
<... That one was especially hard to understand, Ryōshū.>
Heh.
<Rodya's with you, right? Can you put her on?>
Okay.
<Rodya, you there?>
Eh, what? Dante wants to talk?
One sec, one sec... I kinda went overboard with the bread and pastries. My hands are completely full over here.
Pastries? What kind?
J-just one of everything.
Neat! Can you grab extra brioche and baguettes for me, too? Love the ones from that street, they're so good.
Hold on, I gotta readjust the pile if I wanna -
Just throw them on T.F. They're packaged.
Ryōshū! You can't treat food like that, 'kay? Bread has - I mean, bakers have feelings, too, ya know. How do you think the baker would feel if they knew someone was treating their precious babies like trash?
... This scabbard is rattling again for no reason.
A-anyways, Dante, can ya gimme a sec if ya need me to fight? Just need to cram these into my pockets real quick...!
<No, no, it's not a fight.>
<Huh? Then what's this about?>
I took a closer look at the words written on the wicker basket in the first photograph Meursault had brought me.
<Where's that bakery you're at?>