City Series:Volume7a Chapter4
Chapter 4: Classic[edit]
2000 winter
Page 1[edit]
- Walking
[Sarah walks through the city]
It’s Christmastime.
Even in the US, the holiday spirit arrives in SF first.
After all, that holiday spirit is represented through the art style.
These days, the Christmas trends are all retro.
It was on Christmas about 100 years ago that work began on building the clocktower. This was apparently the mainstream art style in SF at the time.
Bendaughter was brought over from England and she was finetuned while the largest tree in the city was chosen and remodeled into the clocktower. The work didn’t end until spring.
That’s why most of the city looks so retro this time of year.
Some of it takes some doing, but we can get past that with one simple phrase: “It’s Christmas.”
Page 2[edit]
- Friend
[Closeup of an angry woman]
I arrive on the top floor of the clocktower and start to enter Bendaughter’s room, but she runs out and hides behind me.
“What is this?” I wonder as an angry friend and Singlehorn appear in front of me.
[Bendaughter hides behind Sarah]
- Singlehorn
[Closeup of an angry Singlehorn]
Page 3[edit]
- Anger
[Angry Singlehorn]
- Dispute
[Yelling Sarah]
- Ummmmmm
[Frustrated Singlehorn]
- In Triumph
[Smug Sarah]
I asked what was going on and learn the City Hall wanted to do a Christmas interview.
It is true she gained emotions this year and can hold a real conversation.
But does she remember the past? She remembered me, but what about 100 years ago?
She apparently didn’t want to answer questions about that.
- Ah…
[Singlehorn stares at Sarah]
- Beretta!!
[Beretta climbs onto Bendaughter’s shoulder]
Page 4[edit]
- Get Out of Loudness
Singlehorn takes a look around the room.
He sees the Japanese on the wall scrolls and partition curtains and decides to say something.
“Do as you wish. I have to greet some visitors.”
He must not have been thinking about the same thing as me.
I don’t get it.
Still, I drag Bendaughter outside with me.
It’s snowing a bit.
Beretta chases after us wearing Bendaughter’s hat.
[Sarah and Bendaughter leave through a partition curtain]
Page 5[edit]
- Overlook
[Sarah, Bendaughter, and Beretta in a hat walk through the snow to a ledge overlooking a building]
Bendaughter looks a little down, so I take her with me toward the busiest part of town.
We arrive at the city’s local museum. It should have things from 100 years ago.
I tell Bendaughter that.
“My memories from back then aren’t very clear. They’re so vague.”
“Not surprising when you had to get them all from one screw.”
Only after saying it did I realize how tactless that had been. To try and smooth things over, I invite her to take a look inside as a guest.
Page 6[edit]
- Museum
[Sarah, Bendaughter, and Beretta in a hat look at a museum exhibit]
It’s a big place inside. Big and cold compared to the snow festival going on outside.
There are a ton of exhibits, including dragon fossils and actual airships.
It all proves this city existed long before I was born.
I lose track of time.
Pages 7-8[edit]
- One
[Sarah tries to find Bendaughter]
I also lose track of Bendaughter.
Where did she go?
And I’m supposed to be the one showing her around.
[Sarah approaches a corner while a confused man approaches it from the other side]
Someone appears from the side. A Japanese man. Would it be insulting to call them anime people?
He speaks to me in awkward English.
“Excuse me. Do you work here? I am lost.”
- Two
[Sarah apologizes to the man while walking away]
Sorry, but I don’t work here. And I’m lost too.
I tell him as much and then move deeper into the museum.
[Sarah and Beretta in a hat run through the museum]
Beretta leads the way in Bendaughter’s hat.
He has good instincts at times like this, so I know to follow him.
- Finish
[Sarah and Beretta in a hat skip through the museum]
After turning a few corners, I find her.
She’s standing in front a large picture frame.
After I spot her, she turns toward me with a worried look on her face.
[Closeup of Bendaughter turning toward Sarah]
“I’m in this photo.”
Pages 9-10[edit]
- The Past
I look and see it’s a group photo taken 100 years ago.
At the base of a giant tree, several people are lined up in front of a preliminary build of Bendaughter.
I notice a few things of interest, so I polish up the photo.
[Bendaughter and Sarah look at the photo]
I was right.
I recognized someone on the left side of the photo. That four-armed man is a somewhat younger Singlehorn.
Dislords live far longer than humans, so he must have known her for a century now. Long before I was born.
I also focus on the Asian man on the far left of the photo.
Everyone else is facing the camera, but he is facing Bendaughter.
And he looks familiar.
Page 11[edit]
- A Calling Card
[The man from before (who looks a lot like the man in the photo) holds out a calling card with Singlehorn behind him.
- Tear
[Bendaughter sheds a tear]
Before I could continue my thought, I was given the answer. It was that Japanese man from before and Singlehorn.
“His great-grandfather worked with Mr. McWild to construct her 100 years ago. He was an excellent transfer student.”
The man greets us and hands a calling card to Bendaughter.
[A closeup of the calling card saying:
Classified City – Kure
Souun Clock Store 28th Generation
Fujiura Tetsu]
- Merry X’mas
Did that tear come from her memories?
But something in there must be the real reason behind her love of Japanese things and that hat Beretta currently has.
Do I have something like that inside me?
Can I create something like that inside me?
I don’t know.
But I feel like going outside. The festival must be getting really exciting by now.
I also have a feeling Bendaughter will be willing to do an interview with my friend and Singlehorn now.
What will I do?
For now, I think I’ll enjoy a Merry Christmas.
[Sarah and Beretta look up into the snowy sky with Bendaughter and Fujiura’s silhouettes in the window behind them]
The end of image.
Finish
Kawa-Commentary[edit]
Chapter 4: Classic
- General
Benny’s past. The art style is the same one used for the Osaka game’s backgrounds, but with no perspective to make it even more storybooky. For some reason, this is one of my more favorite chapters overall.
And for some extra information, Fujiura-san was accompanied by a pair of bodyguards, Kujou Kugiri (from the Osaka game) who joined GASAS to help out and her leader Ikeda Kouichi. They greeted Singlehorn while they were there.
- Page 1
You can see IZUMO and its rival company HANKO in the background. They both had scandals in Osaka during 1999, but they appear to be recovering.
- Page 2
Plainy’s post is in the office. Army works in maintenance and Sarah works on site. They think of themselves as a single team when they work on a job.
- Page 3
The Hyper Ben clocktower doubles as an observation platform, so after playing in the park below, you can eat dinner at the restaurant there. Sarah can sometimes be seen dropping down out the window, so that must give the diners quite a fright.
The background here is the lobby for those facilities and a simplified lobby for visiting the new Benny. There is also a vending machine and a bulletin board with notices from City Hall.
- Page 4
Benny’s floor tends to have a Japanese style out of respect for her rights. Or rather, for her tastes. That curtain being pulled back is meant for a hot spring, but she has it because the thick material makes it work as audio equipment. You can find the same thing in Benny’s hangar.
- Page 5
The museum was originally just the main building, but a left annex was built and then it continued to grow from there. It’s a common enough thing in the real world too. It’s also built to let in as much natural light as possible.
And if you look at the footprints on the upper right, you can see Sarah is walking pigeon-toed…
- Page 6
It’s covered up, but there is an LCD panel on the wall showing an explanatory video. And if you look to the right of Sarah’s leg at the bottom, you can see an old aerial ship model.
As a side note, this background was based on the Tsukuba History Museum I helped out at back home. (I helped build and maintain their steam train and Tamamushi-gata Hikouki.)
- Pages 7-8
The background already looks a lot like an abstract painting at this point, but I’m going to stay strong and provide some commentary. Panel one shows the exhibition booths. Panel two has explanation LCD panels and counters. They use headphones. Panel three has a transformer(?) and such, so it must be the safety area with a fire extinguisher and decorative plants.
- Pages 9-10
We have proof Benny didn’t always wear glasses!
I think she damaged her eyesight by reading her songbook in such a dark place. And she just kept using them as a habit after her upgrade. That would mean she could have preserved her eyesight by not reading any books, but could she really stay put for 100 years without reading?
- Pages 11-12
What, you expect me to make a joke here?
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