Story Reader / Festival Event Story / Once in a Blue Moon / Story
...
Entering the Quiz Hall, both Noctis and Kamui look worn out.
That's fast, Kamui... And I take it that Noctis is here under your escort?
No way. I beat him by eight millimeters.
I'm not even going to try to argue with you about that. I came here to say that both of us have decided to quit.
Doesn't make any sense for us to go now since Nanami is already there with Gray Raven. Argh, talking about working for nothing.
Well, I hated the idea of breaking this to you gentlemen, but the card you're looking for isn't even at WGAA.
I know, but I thought we'd swing by anyway as required by the mission.
...
...
Standing right by the entrance, Noctis looks back at Wanshi as Wanshi looks at him. For a good few moments, the two remain motionless.
Aren't you going to go back?
Someone asked me to follow you around because they aren't feeling too happy.
...
The guys from the Engineering Force already had the server... Wait, aren't they from Cerberus and Strike Hawk? Why are they standing where the entrance guards are supposed to be standing?
They came for the card that the Gray Raven Commandant had lost.
I see. Did you tell them about the scanner...
The person working at the front desk stands up right away to put his hand on his friend's mouth.
But it's all too late.
The scanner? What scanner?
Like a caiman waiting downstream for its prey, a gigantic machine keeps its mouth open as the conveyor belt carries piles and piles of papers into its mouth.
Right beside the machine is a member from WGAA—who hasn't stopped grabbing the cards off the conveyor belt. He's been working at top speed but still misses a bunch of cards that go straight into the machine's mouth.
I'm sorry. I really should have checked what I took from the table...
Taller than the average adult human, the machine is a scanner that WGAA uses when they need to bulk scan documents.
The Golden Age was a peaceful period of time indeed, and people during this period of time produced an enormous amount of documents on paper—something that put the Archaeological Team through excruciating suffering when they were out collecting them.
Churning away as it swallows down all the cards, the scanner is redolent of a binge eater whose appetite knows no end.
Seeing the machine churn away relentlessly, one can only imagine how the inventor of it must have lost their mind having had to personally process all the documents manually before the machine was invented.
And now, WGAA has decided to put the scanner into good use, what with there being a shortage of manpower to cope with all the festival cards.
They plan on making an electronic copy of each card and sending them out—and will only get around to sending out the actual cards when they have enough people to help them do so.
This isn't your fault, Ayla. I shouldn't have let our commandant leave a personal file lying on the table like that...
Don't take it so hard, Ayla. If you ask me, I'd hold our commandant partially responsible. None of this would have happened if Commandant had just given the card to us personally instead of letting it sit on the table.
After looking through each and every single card in a box, Nanami operates Power to put the box back where it was.
I've checked all the cards here but didn't come across the missing card.
Same here.
Same...
Which leaves us with the documents sitting in the storage box that have been scanned already, and...
Lucia, do you recall the size of the file? If we know the size of the file, I can just filter the search by size to see if any of the scanned documents match it.
Lucia is deep in thought trying to recall the size of the file.
Then, a particular letter comes into focus.
It looks exactly like that...
Says Lucia as she points at a letter sitting on the conveyor belt.
Everyone looks at where she's pointing—and sees a gray envelope rolling at top speed on the conveyor belt.
The WGAA member is the first one to make a move. Throwing away all the cards in their hands, they reach straight for the gray envelope without a moment's hesitation.
With a flop, he lands on the conveyor belt.
Nanami follows suit. She operates Power to slam down on the conveyor belt—except the card slips away from under Power's hand because of the mound on either side of the conveyor belt.
Right when everyone thinks all is lost, Lee thrusts out his right hand and clutches it by a corner.
He's got it!
No, not yet...
Along with the other letters, the file has now reached the edge of the conveyor belt—and is only seconds away from being sucked through the feed of the scanner.
And so begins a tug of war between Lee and the scanner. The feed of the scanner itself isn't as much an issue as the possibility of the letter being torn apart if he tries to pull it out forcefully using his power as a Construct.
...
Right when Lee tries to pull out the card ever so carefully, he sees a long letter stuck at the feed that can't seem to decide whether to stay or to go.
In, and out. In, and out—on goes the cycle from which the letter can't seem to escape...
And when the cycle speeds up... it all of a sudden appears as though the scanner were sticking its tongue out and then retracting it.
Lulalulalulalulalulalulalula...
For God's sake, are you teasing me or what...?
Hey, easy there. It's a machine.
Impervious to the conversation, Lee continues trying to drag the letter out bit by bit...
Until an announcement comes on.
This is a special announcement for passengers sitting in the back rows. We'll begin ascending in five seconds to cope with an emergency. Enjoy the flight.
Wait, what?!
Hold on to something!
Lee, however, is still hard at the tug of war, seemingly impervious even to the announcement.
Any moment now...
5... 4...
C'mon...
3... 2...
...
1!
Piece of cake.
BOOM!
When the scanner suddenly slants, it almost shakes Lee off.
Seeing what's happening, Nanami quickly moves Power's arm in an attempt to catch Lee, who's now sliding toward the back of the plane.
Wait, watch out for that button!
Eh?
Except it's too late.
With a beep, the light at the end of the plane goes from red to green.
Everybody, hold on to something!
What's going on back there? What in the world are the guys from WGAA trying to ship this time?!
Not sure. Probably had a bit of a situation from the ascension... Wait, why is the passenger door open?
Power holds a protrusion in the cabin with one hand—while holding Lee, who's getting sucked out of the plane, with the other.
After buckling themselves up, people begin intercepting the boxes that are moving in each and every direction so they don't end up ramming into Lee and Power at the back of the plane.
And as all these are unfolding, the scanner is still busy at work. It swallows the letter Lee was holding and, after scanning it, spits it into the storage box on the other end.
Right then, the colorful confetti sitting in the box next to it all gush out as they're sucked out of the cabin.
In all sorts of colors, the confetti passes Power by before crashing Lee square in the face. Then, finally exiting the cabin, they paint a colorful stroke against the otherwise pitch-black night sky.
Scanning complete!
With the announcement, the scanner falls quiet immediately.
