01 underground theater

underground theater
Story	Matchmaker
Date(s)	October 6th, 2005
Location(s)	Seaside Park Bayside Towerland Regional Adjustment Bureau
End Card	Heroes and Villains
Moon Color	Yellow
Release Date	October 3rd, 2005

"01 underground theater is the first chapter of the Matchmaker story of The 25th Ward: The Silver Case and the fourth chapter of the game as a whole. It introduces the Regional Adjustment Bureau and their role in maintaining the other of society in the 25th Ward.

Summary

October 6th, 2005, 02:08pm
The branch opens with Shinkai Tsuki and Yotaro Osato, two members of the Regional Adjustment Bureau, at the Seaside Park. Tsuki critiques Osato for the way he ate his lunch set the other day, eating the parts individually instead of together. Osato says it’s just a habit from when he was a kid, but Tsuki says that he needs to fix it since their job is to create the general flow of things. Tsuki also brings up the way Osato was eating a Mont Blanc, but Osato points out the building they need to go to before he’s able to finish this thought.

The two arrive at the Bayside Towerland complex. Outside, Osato gives Tsuki a fake HCU ID card and says he made an appointment using the name "Shiroyabu", a member of the 25th Ward Heinous Crimes Unit. When he explains that they’re going to go in and speak to the diver and surviving delivery men, Tsuki corrects him and says that they’re going to check out the room of the girl who was murdered first (which he told him yesterday) and that he's going to take the whole night to talk about the 'Mont Blanc thing'.

They enter the building and give the door boy the fake ID, telling him that they’re part of the HCU and they still have to finish cleaning up the scene, and that they made a request about three days ago. After clearing the name with them, the door boy tells them the building administrator is bedridden so they’ll have to go to the room themselves. They head to the elevator, discussing what kind of places they live in on the way (Tsuki lives in a one-room apartment, Osato lives in a newly built two-room-plus-kitchen apartment and doesn't have to pay rent since the landlord is a relative) and then go up to the 75th floor of Area 7.

02:29pm
Tsuki and Osato arrive at the room of Milu Yuzuki. They discuss what happened to her; she was mistakenly adjusted by a delivery man despite being marked "Not Applicable" for adjustment, and then a few days later a woman named Sakaki from the HCU was killed in this room by another delivery man during an investigation, initiating a standoff between these two sides. The HCU has sealed up all information regarding this case, but the gossip magazine 25-Today has gotten close to it with an article about reports of a possible UFO landing at the Bayside Towerland. To Osato's surprise, Tsuki admits that he's actually a regular reader and has an interest in the supernatural. Even though the scene has already been cleaned up, Tsuki wants to look over it because he thinks the HCU investigations are garbage. They don’t find much while searching; Tsuki finds books indicating that she was into fortune telling and zodiac, and Osato finds a rare CD from one of his favorite bands, Death Valley Bomb. While looking through a zodiac book, Tsuki notices a memo with a phone number written on it and concludes it must’ve been placed there after the HCU did their sweep. He goes to call the number and orders Osato to trace it.

A woman’s voice is heard on the other end, who asks if they're 'next up on stage'. She talks metaphorically about a performance that's about to begin, saying that it's all being led by the star of the show, Kamui, and that “KAMUI WILL KILL THE LIFE” before hanging up. Osato says that the trace was unsuccessful, leading to points all over the ward. The two realize it’s almost time to meet with the diver and they decide that they’ll have to report on the call later. Tsuki thinks to himself that the caller sounded like Sakura Natsume, but there’s no way it would be her.

A short cutaway shows Ishiki hunched over on the phone, who says that "it's all cause and effect".

03:05pm
They arrive at the diver Kamoguchi’s room, who peeks through the door and appears to be on high alert. He lets the duo in and asks them where Iijima and Sakashita are. Tsuki tells him that those two will arrive later, but they wanted to talk with him one on one first. They discuss the incident with the delivery men and the HCU, but Kamoguchi says they’ve wasted their time and that he already reported that he has no idea why the delivery men went off the rails. They say that in that case he’s failed at his job since it's the divers' job to watch over them, and he's a top suspect since their system shouldn't have failed. Kamoguchi then explains that this place has been permeated by a weird sense of pressure recently that he can’t explain, but he can feel that there's a powerful presence nearby. The delivery men went off the rails shortly after this presence was felt, and even Kamoguchi himself felt physically immobilized by it. Since he's still visibly agitated by this, Tsuki tells him to calm down and suggests they go back to the bureau to talk things out, asking Osato to ‘escort’ him. In response, Osato shoots Kamoguchi. Tsuki freaks out, asking why Osato did that, who replies that he thought Tsuki meant 'escort him to the next life'. Tsuki berates him, saying that they were supposed to bring Kamoguchi in for cerebral inspection, and he worries that the delivery men who they're supposed to meet will get frightened and take desperate measures if they find out about him being dead. Osato decides to try and hide the corpse in a dresser and does so as there's a knock at the door, making him rush the task.

This turns out to be Iijima and Sakashita. Tsuki lets them in, but they immediately question where Kamoguchi is; he tells them that they sent him off to the bureau already to fill out some paperwork and ask them to come back with them. The two delivery men are suspicious, believing that they killed Kamoguchi. Before arriving, they received a strange phone call from a man saying that they need to be careful or they’ll be taken out, and this paired with Kamoguchi not being there is why they’re on edge. They’re also resistant because they had nothing to do with the HCU conflict and only survived because they were out working on another case. Tsuki and Osato assure them that nothing is going on and to come back to the bureau, and they reluctantly agree to leave. Before they're able to, though, Kamoguchi’s corpse falls out of its hiding place. Osato adjusts Sakashita and Tsuki once again yells at him for being an idiot. Before Tsuki slits his throat, Iijima tells him that he had bad chills during the phone call and that Tsuki's going to die soon. After, Tsuki points out that there are now three corpses on the floor, and Osato’s lighthearted reply leads him to ask if he wants to be number four. Osato makes a call to the cleaning department and then the two receive another call, but this one is from Iijima’s phone. After ringing for a bit, the answering machine takes the call. The person on the other end asks if “they’re both dead” and says he is speaking to whoever may be listening. The voice says that the 25th Ward is done and that they need to prepare themselves. They determine that this must’ve been the mystery caller Iijima had mentioned, and they take the phone. Maejima, a member of the cleaning department, arrives and jokingly threatens to arrest Tsuki and Osato before lamenting that having to deal with this many adjustments at once makes his job harder. He then briefly inspects the bodies, applauding Osato's work but reminding him that adjustment needs to be dealt with carefully, and he points out to Tsuki that Iijima died with a weird smile on his face.

06:10pm
At the Regional Adjustment Bureau office, Tsuki meets with chief Tetsuo Kiryu who is disappointed that the original mission was not carried out and says that since Osato's still a rookie, Tsuki should be keeping him under control. Tsuki apologizes, saying that he should’ve talked to Osato about “the Mont Blanc thing” (which Kiryu doesn’t understand). The chief then reminds him that he needs to take care of Osato since he isn’t a regular employee. They then discuss the mystery phone calls and the mention of Kamui; Tsuki requests to continue investigating this case. Kiryu agrees with him, says that's not going to let anyone “kill this life”, and says that their job is to "save the life".

The chapter closes with a short segment that explains the functions and hierarchy of the Postal Service, the delivery men, the divers, the cleaning department, and lastly, the Regional Adjustment Bureau. This system was used to successfully uphold order within the ward, but recently, everyday life had begun to change.

Heroes and Villains