View source for 2024-04-23: The 'Fire/Drive' is 'Gone/Here', and I Remember It 'Best/Least': The 'Closing/Opening'

{{Cutscene
|cast=Leila Misakiyama
|location=Fujiyokidai, Nouvelle Tokyo
|date=2025-04-23
|summary=A day in the mundane, peaceful, unwavering, unbending, routine, ordinary, everyday, unimaginative, banal, repetitious, unvarying, unsatisfying life.
}}
{{PhaseAndTurn
|phase=2
|turn=1
}}
==== 06:00:00 AM ====

The ring of the alarm clock is a familiar one. There’s no joyous tune, no particular noise other than the artificial cacophony coming from her phone. Rise and shine, the shapeless form under the bedsheets slowly rising up after the 4th ring. A wordless yawn from the pinkette, blearily blinking for a few moments. 

An alarm shut off. Another day ascertained while checking her own schedule. Checking the weather. Brush one’s teeth. Get dressed. Set the open-back headphones to charge, take off the closed-back ones from their charging station. Avoid looking at the computer monitor. Practice tonight. Check other things. Gaze at oneself in the mirror, note any blemishes to cover up, hair ties to secure those twintails. A small drawer pulled open, next to the triple-locked case with the hairdryer. Today felt like a ring day. A gut feeling. One, two, three…Black ring earrings up the outer ear, properly secured, properly sterelized. Everything else in place. 

One final look in the mirror, sizing herself up with a silent nod. Good enough for the day. The stare ligers for a few more seconds than usual, purple eyes twinkling with a renewed motivation. “Right.” One smack, two smacks on the cheeks. Put that smile on! Yeah, perfect. Nothing wrong there.

A quick check of messages…Really should meet up with that kid of papa’s date again. It’s starting to sound serious enough, what with seeing a few magazines for “Perfect Date Spots” and “How To Propose!” around the place…

==== 07:05:00 AM ====

Food. Toast. Butter. A bit of fish, a bit of coffee. Not too much, lay off on the spices. Keep the voice clear and remember what the manager said. The dance routine is in the phone: References, a minor example recording, the beat to follow along. Keep at it, day by day. You were chosen for this, somehow. A chance whim into something more, something in your current day-to-day life. The apprehension, wonderment, and skepticism still feels fresh.

…The food’s delicious, though. Don’t think much about it. It’s good. Palpable. The mind is elsewhere, mulling over the days ahead and the pieces in place. Check. Check. Jacket. Check. Schoolbag. Check. Emergency lists and maps for shelters. Check. Phone numbers written physically. Check. Wallet. Check. Closed-ear headphones slung around the neck, charged, wireless. Check. Spare cash. Check. Inspiration journal, graph-papered, pencil included slipped into the outer pocket of her jacket. Check. Extra battery pack. Check. 

“I'm heading out.” Papa’s working, mama’s living elsewhere. The voice reaches no one.

Onto the familiar unknown.

The walk to school is a familiar, habitual trip. The mind continues its lackadaisical journey as the feet take steps along the rote. Eyes flicking upwards, tracing itself along the hallowed buildings of Tokyo-3. Impatiently shifting weight from one foot to another asthe cars whizzed by before the train station proper, finger idly tapping at her headphones. A phantom rhythm in the head, a foot tapping out a beat to an unknown, unwritten song. Keep it in mind. Journal pulled out, a few words and notes scribbled. Words and shorthand scribbles, vaguely readable to even the writer. Red light into green, stepping forward a few with the last scratches fueled with hurry, stashed back in. Train, train, train! 


==== 07:35:00 AM ====

Barely making it. Hyperefficiency is great until they turn neurotic about leaving right on the dot. She can’t complain, what with a good spot to allow the mind to wander. A few deep breaths. Fewer and fewer breaths needed each and every day. The evening training was working, adherent as it was to timings, turns, and general movements of her body.
<blockquote>

'''[STATIC]''' 

Click.

SSSS.[ERROR: output undefinined, see line\]

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wPZ_czkLM8 - Human Love CHHF 2023 - Shiro Sagisu 

Click.

'''[STATIC]'''


</blockquote>
The familiar rumble of a train to accompany the backdrop of the city. Out and around, passing by place after place. It thunders by, stopping, starting, stopping, starting. The doors open, a crowd stepping out, another crowd to replace those who’s destinations were not here. Leila’s gaze drifts over every so often, watching the commute while fulfilling her own with every incoming second. 

Journal. Pen in hand. Scribble. Shut. Put it away. A few words. Don’t look at the prior pages. Not on the train. Headphones. The minute chatter of the world seals itself away, a few taps on her phone. Click. Click. 

The commute is mundane. A quick text to Manager, passing by a billboard: There’s a planned construction. Minor delay. Take the long route, where one doesn’t trip into something more. Into the alleyways, a small hop across the familiar dip, following a predetermined, mentally mapped out route to come out into the main vein, joining the crowd filtering into the school building proper.

<blockquote>
'''[STATIC]'''

In sound and music, sampling is the reuse of a portion (or sample) of a sound recording in another recording. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, or sound effects. A sample can be brief and only incorporate a single musical note (as is the case with sample-based synthesis), or it can consist of longer portions of music (such as a drumbeat or complete melody), and may be layered, equalized, sped up or slowed down, repitched, looped, or otherwise manipulated. They are usually integrated using electronic music instruments (samplers) or software such as digital audio workstations.

: - Amen to That: Sampling and Adapting the Past 

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>

==== 10:28:00 AM ====

A passage is read out, before settling back in. History. Like it or not, she’s paying attention now. The textbooks still bear the stamp of the Federation: NUNE’s logo hadn’t made it all the way around. Even as the titanic steps of the world make themselves known, the shockwaves of that fallout don’t necessarily merit notice until it affects them personally. A finger scratches at that embossed logo every so often. Gone, replaced with another. The textbook itself had to have another edition. Again.

It’s so frustrating.

The teacher makes a minor pause for clarity. The monitor displays the obvious: One of the famed shots of Axis Shock. She can see it in her mind, the moment, the stage. The grand unification of the Earth against the Axis Meteor. A spotlight on the stage, towards the meteor held by ropes and dreams and prayers. The catalyst of them all in the middle, against the dashing man in a mask. Back and forth on the stage, until…The crowd of people pushing the rock, lifting it off.

…

How could anyone cherish that? Push together, watch the world unite after that year of constant news, constant conflict, newspapers sporting some statistic every so often, the large headlines slowly turning into smaller front-page headlines, then…Then what? Go back as normal. The billionaires made off with their Macross ships. The world is still irrevocably changed. Get back to it. The schoolwork and the lectures.

The bell rings.
<blockquote>

'''[STATIC]'''

The Amen Break is a drum break that has been widely sampled in popular music, dating back from before the start of the Universal Century. The drum break lasts seven seconds. It has been used in thousands of tracks of various genres, making it one of the most sampled recordings in music history.

The seven-second sample comes from “a throwaway piece” B-side song to a single. At about 1 minute and 26 seconds into the attributed track, the other musicians stop playing and the drummer, performs a four-bar drum break that lasts for seven seconds. For two bars, they play the previous beat. In the third bar, they delay a snare hit. In the fourth bar, they leave the first beat empty, then plays a syncopated pattern and an early crash cymbal.

Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkU4hsaFglU
<pre>
Tab:
C |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------X-----|
R |x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-x-x---x-x-|
S |----o--o-o--o--o|----o--o-o--o--o|----o--o-o----o-|-o--o--o-o----o-|
B |o-o-------oo----|o-o-------oo----|o-o-------o-----|--oo------o-----|
  |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + |
</pre>
The Amen Break has been attributed to the origins of multiple genres, with nearly every genre of music directly paying homage to this sample at one point or another. It can be concluded that the seven-second sample from a track unknown to time is one of the most influential beats ever recorded.

ADDENDUM: Research into the origins of the Amen Break has concluded that the drummer had not seen any royalties paid for the creation of this sample, and died destitute and homeless while dealing with a drug addiction.

: - Dissecting Popular Motifs: Chapter III - Amen Break (Digital Edition)

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>

==== 11:40:00 AM ====

“A Special Dog? Again?”
“What do you mean again? It’s the second one this week.”
“That’s what I’m saying! Again! Didn’t you say that you’d swear it off after you grabbed the last one?”
“That one had too many pickles. But look, I brought something-”
“A mustard packet.”
“Just put on a bit aaaand.” Chomp. Delicious. Eating with a group had its benefits. “Much better.”
“Uwah, really? You’re still giving it a shot?”
“Better than the same old. How long is that thing going to be on the menu?”
“Until the principal gets tired of it, I guess.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Never ever ever.”
“Never ever ever ever.”
“Never ever never never ever.”
“Never ever never never never eve-.”
“Gotcha~”
“Eat your lunch already.”

A few extra words in the journal. ‘Mundane’. ‘Spices’.
<blockquote>
'''[STATIC]'''

We bring you the Amen Break Generator - a vintage-looking loop player designed for a real-time generating of infinite combinations of this famous break! You can remix the loop with your fingers, use nonstop beat randomizing algorithm and add various DSP effects.

Download now on your phone!

: - Advertisement for a virtual sampling generator - 3rd revision

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>

==== 02:13:00 PM ====

Being seated in the middle-front of the class was always a slightly annoying affair. Too close that the teacher called over you, usually. Too far back to not have immediate notice. Even so, Leila still stifled the yawn coming over her, the jaw straining as she barely succeeded in the effort. Writing. She did enough of that already. How the hell was she going to- Uuuugh, don’t think about it now, concentrate on what the teacher’s saying.

''Still…''

It’s hard to sit still. The mind already parsing through the plans for later, the oncoming storms on the horizon, the sheer, raging miasma of everything inside. A minute tap of the foot in time with the heartbeat she wanted, keeping quiet as her pencil scribbled away. The sensation of every second ticking along, the usual talks, the usual beats, the usual ways that she was presented information and the usual habits of everyone in the room. That one was starting to doze off. That other one was sneaking a snack. That one’s already checking his phone. That one over there is trying out a new method of notetaking. Thing after thing after thing.

''Just not…''

The same people in the same movements with the same attempts for the same results. The actors were different. The words varied. The attempts, the way they kickstarted themselves, the trajectories of success or failure. Thinking about it is a self-defeating process. Push forward. Hit a wall. Run in place. Push. Push. Push. Until it gives.

…How does it give? The unstoppable force of willpower meeting the immovable object of pure potential inertia. A single person bashes against that wall. A few people. A mobile suit. A Fortress Ship. Those Primeval Gods. Larger and larger. Axis Shock.

What will make it give, even as some lives are improved? There’s a glance outside, heaving a breath before returning to the mindless scribbles of notes, of this coursework. Even if it doesn’t feel important, to be doing it as an action gives meaning.

''Always the same way as it started. The same places.''
<blockquote>
'''[STATIC]'''

i like the usage of the Amen Break as sort of the audio-signature of [CORRUPTED DATA]. even though the rest of the soundtrack is sampling-heavy because it's trying to emulate MOD trackers, the amen break is just... the most sample-y sample. it's been associated with sampling for such a long period that it has this connotation of itself being part-machine, the way it gets pitch-bent until the sampling rate is audible, the error-like drumrolls and repeats associated with Amiga tracking. it's been transformed into artifice, no longer a recording of a drum solo by [DATA REDACTED], it's a tool, a 7-second machine of war. the whole thing is metaphorical fire 

- Comment Source Unknown (Site Deleted)

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>
==== 04:23:37 PM ====

Keep yourself centered! Keep it on beat! One two three four, one two three four, keep it on the beat, keep it fluid, keep that smile, step prance twirl tilt, up down up down, one two three four, balance on the heel, spin keep going stop, read the beat measure, read the mirror, ascend towards the climax, one two three press, explosion pose smile hands, keep steady and done!

It’s a pretend stage for practice. The usual place for dance routines, to watch oneself in the mirror without any effects, any makeup, anything but the physicality of the one in front and the ways one can minutely tweak themselves to appeal to the instincts of the audience. Practice. Dance practice, routine practice, the sort of practice with a phone speaker that’s had its speakers on and off, methods to instill not just the rhythm, but the movements of the song into someone via repetition and understanding.


“Yes, that should be enough for the day. Good job.”

“Yeeeees. Good job.”

“Preparing for that interview?”

“Mhm, those questions should be a piece of cake. Speak from the soul, right?”

“Without cursing. Keep in mind…”


Rules. The rules of the idol stage is different from the rules of the school stage that’s different from the rules of the house stage that’s different from the rules of the world stage that’s different from the stage of wood and mirrors that’s different from the stage of that thing. Rules of engagement, rules of talking, rules of how to properly show oneself on the stage for what people want to see.


“...And most importantly, be honest. Sheryl’s a shrewd woman, and you’re technically her rival.”

“That’s overstating it, isn’t it?”

“Everyone is fighting their own way to be up there.”

“Are you sure you aren’t just being a slight bit salty? Friday’s sooner than you think!”

“...Moving on.”


''She’s so salty about it.''

The thread of thought dies on the vine, huffing out to herself as the fourth bottle of water was downed. Stages, stages, stages. Even the grandeur of ‘space’ is a stage. “Is every fight a stage…?” …Who the hell knew.
<blockquote>
'''[STATIC]'''
<pre>
0:07 Original Sampled Amen 3 Bar Loop
0:14 Hard Amen Riff
0:20 Re-Programmed amen with a different new sounding loop ;)
0:25 Compressed Amen
0:31 Distorted Original Amen
0:34 Amit Amen
0:37 PenduAmen
0:42 Quad Amen
0:45 TRAMEN!
0:54 Hard Wicked AMEN!
0:59 Amen & Klanga
1:05 Apache Loop
1:11 Think Loop 
1:16 ??????
1:22 Amen Roller w/Amen at the tail end of it
1:28 Helicopter Loop
1:33 Hot Pants Loop 
1:39 The Samurai Loop 
1:50 Farout Break
1:53 Brittle Break
1:55 Hater Loop
1:58 Assembly Line 
2:06 Systematix Loop 1
2:11 Systematix Loop 2
2:17 Systematix Loop 3
2:22 Systematix Loop 4
2:28 Systematix Loop 5 
2:34 Systematix Loop 6
</pre>

: - Amen Break Loops: A Compendium (Video Guide Assistant, 5th ed.)

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>
==== 07:38:46 PM ====

A simple phone call while walking home, mildly grumbling to herself. A bit of fresh air, basking in the warmth of nighttime. Not soon enough for the heat to be visibly uncomfortable…Maybe two, three weeks left until the humidity would necessitate taking the train or risk needing another shower.

Her phone in hand, the obvious moniker of ‘taking a call’.


“Yo.”

…

“That again? It’s soon, it’s soon. Friday, I told you already.”

…

“Ah- You know I don’t care abou-” Leila’s voice dies midsentence, sighing out.

…

“Of course I know the bare minimum. Right here.” A light side kick to glance off a vending machine’s leg, the technologically obsolete machine showcasing its wares. ‘TARABAMAN SPECIAL COLLAB DRINK: ON SALE NOW!’ 

…

“Ideas? Of course I do. You think tha- No, no, LISTEN TO ME, DAMN IT. Even if it goes poorly, it’s a step.”

… 

“Just keep doing what you’re doing down there. I’ll pass by again soon, and I can pass you a few more things to check over.”

…

“Jug- Look, just work it out and get back to me if he’s not cooperative, okay? We don’t need him, just what he has.”

…

“Yes.”

…

“Yes.”

…

“I know.”

…

“Don’t blame me if you explode from it.”

…

“Of course you’re going to watch me. I didn’t even need to ask, did I?”

…

..

.

<blockquote>
'''[STATIC]'''

> nah man just give me a beat > i gave you a beat > that beat is the fucking amen break again come on > you can’t just point at anything and call it an Amen Break > AmenBreakShutUp.ogg > alright i get it just lay the hell off > look man all i’m saying is that we need something unique, something new, something no one has seen before > that bullshit again? nothing new is under the sun you know this > i know that but you know what i mean > what > I–V–vi–IV > touche you bastard > i’m not showing off for your friend again i just play some random song with those chords > the secret! > what secret? I told you that months ago > i know but its still a secret > yeah > yeah. you ever think about who’s an actual amen break > like a person who can play it on command? > no you idiot, a person who’s the basic backbone of everything > one person? its one thing to have a music sample, but a person sample is like those char clone rumors > oooohhh there’s a char clone right behind you now > and there’s ghost amuro punching him in the face again > nah it’d be bright > totally bright > he’d punch every char like he did to amuro > slap > that’d be a sight > isn’t that an amen break too > casval! isn’t an amen break person is like a person in the background doing things for others > so what happens if they realize theyre one > i dunno > i dunno either > so the beat totally works then > just send me a new one already > damn it > get slapped nerd > after this announcement alright i got it on the drive

: - Reconstructed text message conversation - December 0097 - Area 11 (Unknown sources)

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>
==== 09:50:12 PM ====

…Tired. Only person in the place again. Shower. Brushing teeth. Dinner was a conbini pickup along with a few home condiments. There’s some stuff ready to be quickly cooked tomorrow morning. 

Every so often, Leila returns to her miniature journal, opening it up and scribbling in. The computer goes unused tonight, the maelstrom of creativity and the ability of a smartphone to quickly check on things providing the mental sustenance for the thoughts within. She can deal with what he wants after Friday passes.

''It needs to come quicker.''

The stop in place while pacing about, staring down at her phone. An unfocused, barely glimmering gaze before closing her eyes, taking a few breaths, and glancing out the window. A girl in her domicile, a town moving, shifting, changing without her. The mental focus shifting from the reflection in the window to the cityscape beyond and back, another sigh released from those confines.

''I need to push harder.''

But even the most stubborn of wills needs sleep, something she only accepts after a few more minutes pacing about, scribbling every so often and setting the journal aside. Sleep, as it had been for the past few weeks, came quicker than she could’ve hoped for.

''So it goes.''
<blockquote>
'''[STATIC]'''

Click.

> output >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKpTjMVMsI - The Fire Is Gone, and I Remember It Best: The Closing - Red Herring

Click.

SSSS.G̷͙͌R̶̰̓̊I̴̢̫͗̈́D̵͙̦̒̀Ṃ̶͗Ạ̷́̈́N̸̜͐͝ [ERROR: DATA INVALID. REPLACE?]

SSSS: q0PV50lxxKB15HaCheOfdGIcbIh60AhTpPa3znCjAw5n6BC7FxsazzpywSBd9WSA

SSSS.[CACHING IN PROCESS]

'''[STATIC]'''
</blockquote>