"Come on, you two!" Ripperu pleads, pulling my arm.  "We're going to be late!"

"Hey, I can't help it!"  I respond, looking to my left arm being held tightly by Sueka.

(I know I asked if she wanted to go to the museum, but this is ridiculous!)

The "Ageless Museum" of Noria is one of the city's main attractions, but we're only using it as a meeting place with our clients.  The city itself is modeled after European buildings during the Renaissance, mostly First Age Italian ones.  And every wall, street, and building is decorated with recreations of famous pieces of artwork from all ages.  Personally, I like the elven artworks that have a heavy focus on natural beauty, but Sueka seems to like the more social and/or industrial portrayals of the dwarves.  The exterior of the museum itself is modeled as a larger Sistine Chapel to fit all the painting, sculptures, and other art excavated over the ages.  For this reason, it's the largest collection of historical artifacts in the field of artwork.

Can't say Ripperu or Yamiso seem interested.  Ripperu is too determined to get to the concert on time, while Yamiso is still in his concerned mindset over Mydrea.  What does he see in her?

Still, I have some things on my mind as well.  The most obvious is my concern about my first, and arguably most important, mission.

The second is about these "tuneless" individuals.

Last night, when we stayed at one of the hotels here, I asked Ripperu about them.  Though she was initially surprised at my ignorance, after hearing of my background in Terraz, she filled me in.

"As you know," she began to say, "if a person tries to sing anything different than their natural tone genre, it creates a painful sensation in the back of a person's throat.  Rather than our bodies letting us be 'bad' at a different genre, it's more accurate to say we are 'physically incapable'.  Why that is, we don't know, but there are some exceptions to this rule.  These exceptions are known as 'tuneless'.  Basically, not only can they sing the genres of different tones, they can also sing genres that nobody else can sing, such as country, blues, hip-hop, soul, and so on!"

I remember her stopping at that point to take out a poster for the upcoming concert.  Can't say I could put together any human characteristics in the assumed singer's portrait, but I did notice that the reason for this was that the singer was separating themselves into multiple silhouettes.

"Diva-de is the most popular idol right now, and she can sing electronica, indie metal, heavy metal, practically all alternative types, and the same for rock!  That's a record for any idol!  Well, pop too, but...okay, this hasn't been told to the public yet, but according to Pri-Poda, practically everybody can sing nearly all types of pop genre music, most commonly pop rock, because of how commonly sung it was during the First Age.  That's why most idols sing pop."

"Okay..." I said.  "But I have a dumb question.  Tuneless aside, everybody can sing with 'idol' quality.  What makes any idol nowadays so special?"

"Their subtones, mostly.  You can liken idols to actors.  They not only have to sing, but have to have a subtone that will entice the audience in some manner.  Diva-de's subtone allows her to create clones of herself that can act on their own, even if they can't touch anything physically.  She can basically create an entire chorus by herself!"

"And previous idols?"

"The previous top idols were the 'Wavelength Sisters', who basically could communicate telepathically and do flawless duets.  Not that impressive when you talk about it, but their tuneless abilities allowed them to transition between songs perfectly because their minds were perfectly in sync."

"And other ones?"

Silence.

Ripperu sighs.  "Dubstep panda."

And, that's what most of last night was like.

Why is Sueka here then?  Well, she caught the two of us talking and thought Ripperu was "getting too personal", so she's here to "chaperone" the two of us.

"You really should get to the concert, Sueka." Ripperu says.  "We don't want to get you mixed up in..."

"Don't worry..." Sueka says...with her "yandere" expression.  "I'll be just fine..."

(Grip too tight!  Grip too tight!)

Eventually, we make it to the museum.  Luckily for us, I didn't have to part with my blade once Yamiso showed his Keisetsu identification to the guardsmen.  Upon entering the museum, a sensation of awe and wonder passes over me.  So many ancient artworks!  Many paintings.  Many sculptures.  I don't even know what that is over there!  I see that the sections of the museum are separated by age, with subsections based on subject.  Sigka said he was in the "Second Age, Elysium" section, but I think we have time.  We hurried here and arrived with time to spare before our clients come.

Looking at the "First Age, Painting" section, I see many different pieces of artwork.  "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Hokusai.  "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci.  One image that catches my interest is the "Fruit Market" by Lucas van Valckenborch.

"Hey sis," I whisper, looking at this image, "reminds you of Terraz a bit, right?"

She lets go of me and gazes at the picture.

"Kind of hard to imagine a world with rhime.  Even if Terraz was considered behind the times in terms of technology, our abnormal strength and abilities allowed us to produce food for almost an entire continent, while people like these could suppy no more than one small town market.  What's your feelings of this?"

"Barrel!" Sueka says...pointing to a barrel in the right of the picture.

...

Eventually, we make it to the section of our meeting.  I see four dwarves looking at the paintings in the room and, in the distance, I see Yamiso alongside Sigka Faraji.

I can tell it's him all right.  His shoulder-length black hair in his signature dreadlocks.  His darker skin that, if I recall the First Age term correctly, would categorize him as "African".  His lean, 30 year old figure really stands out, in spite of his average height of around 170 centimeters.  He's also wearing his casual attire today, most likely to prevent his usually "teacher" looking suit from getting damaged in the fighting he's been doing.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

And before any misconceptions arise, may I state that Sigka is actually quite intelligent, a rarity amongst animal tones.

At the same time...

(Where's Hiromu and Ripperu?)

I think I know where Ripperu is.  Think there was a section a bit more BL specific in one of the "sensual" artwork sections.  But I don't know where Hiromu would be.  After all...

He couldn't appreciate most of this art, even if he wanted to.  And...he probably would want to.

I wave to Sigka and Yamiso.

"Hello!" Sigka says in a semi-indoor voice.

I walk over to him, then look to Yamiso.  Yamiso simply turns away and begins to pace around.

"Where's that damn partner of yours?" he asks Sigka.

"I asked him to do a quick errand a while ago on behalf of our clients.  Normally, he doesn't take this long."

(Normally, he isn't "normal".) Yamiso and I think simultaneously.

I look past Yamiso to see Ripperu coming around the corner.  Yep, judging by that expression, she was in that "sensual" section.

"Hey, Ripperu." Sigka calls out.  "Seems you're enjoying yourself."

"Hell yeah, buddy!" she says, starting to breathe heavily.  It's...kind of creepy.

"Please try to get a hold of yourself in front of our clients."

I turn to the paintings in the room.

...

Honestly, I don't know what I'm looking at.  A painting below buildings in the sky and a thick layer of water covering half of the rest of the sky, as if it's a thin layer of a sea.  A civilization similar to that of the First Age feudal era of Japan, with the exception that the land looks like a volcano, with all vegetation the color of embers.  A high-tech city with multiple suns and moons dancing in the sky.  There must be a lapse in time judging by the light streaks made by the moving vehicles.

(What...are these?)

(Just like it says.  These are Elysiums.)

!!!

(You again!?)

(Surely you didn't think I was only going to stick around for one volume.)

(Huh?)

(Don't worry your little head about it.)

I begin to walk down the aisle of paintings, looking at each one.

(Okay...what are these things?)

(Elysiums...worlds created within the Rhoken's faces.)

(Faces?)

(Surely you don't expect me to believe that a successor candidate doesn't know of the faces?  Honestly, Mai even sung about the faces to the children, even though the song was cut short.)

(I don't know what you mean.)

(The Nine.  Remember that?)

I try to recall the song.  I do remember something like that.

(Guess you're in the dark more than I thought.  Terraz didn't help you to learn much about how the Rhoken works.)

(Don't talk bad about Terraz!)

(Fine.  Fine.)

(What're you doing in my head anyway?  I haven't heard from you in a whole week, and you suddenly start talking to me now!?)

(I've got to be a recurring character somehow.  Suck it up.)

(Then answer me this...why should I care!?  Again, who are you!?)

(Think you might have more important things to worry about...)

(Like where you're going.)

(Huh?)

"Whoa!" I gasp, as I nearly trip over something.  To regain my balance, I instinctively backflip...but hit something with my foot in the process.

"OW!" the "object" yells.

As I land, I look down to see the four dwarves from before.  Doubt there's much to explain about what dwarves look like.  They're about three fourths my height.  Though, one does have a pompadour.  I look to the one in front, who is arguably the most handsome looking one of the bunch...and see that I kicked his nose.

"I'm sorry!  I'm so so sorry!  I got captivated by these images, and I..."

"It's fine.  It's fine." the dwarf says.  Truth be told, his tone suggests otherwise.

"Ah, Vorn!" says Sigka.  "Right on time!"

(Vorn-sama?  One of our clients!?)

I apologize even more.  And, after Sigka explains who I am, Vorn-sama seems to calm down.

"Not the best first impression, huh, Oren?" Sigka remarks.

"Don't rub it in.  It was an accident."

"Of course.  I understand."

At least Sigka is reasonable.

Two of the dwarves go to meet with Yamiso and Ripperu.

"Well," says the last dwarf next to Vorn-sama, "where's Hiro?"

"Unfortunately..." Sigka begins to...

Jirijirijirijiri!!!

(Oh, boy...) every one of us, dwarves included, think.

We all go toward the entrance and, by the time the alarm is disengaged, we see that a group of trouble-makers have been pinned down.  A few of them are still struggling, some with knifes and crowbars in their hands, but security seems to have taken control of the issue.  One would hope so anyway, given the value of the art here.

A group of security guards then go over to the people at the entrance, telling them to back up and wait outside until the issue has been resolved.

And practically everybody does...

Save for one familiar individual.

One of the security guards walks up to this man and again asks him to clear the area.  And, as usual, this man isn't listening.  Carrying three grocery bags, with one in each hand and one held up on his right arm, along with a piece of jam-covered bread in his mouth...is Hiromu Limelight.

At 180 centimeters in height and in his 40s with long, straight blond hair down his back, that's one way to tell that it's him.  He's pale skinned, but another thing that makes his figure stand out is his choice of attire.  Namely, his brown, skintight shirt, white hakama, and traditional Japanese scandals with white socks.  But his most distinguishable feature is his eyes.  Or rather, the bandages over both his eyes acting as blindfolds.  Some might think them a kind of visor, but the truth is...Hiromu has been blind since birth, save for his subtone