R.I.P Märchen

26 years prior to the H Age (1992)

November 22: Anika Kiyozaki is born into a familial line of prodigious formula racers.

22 years prior to the H Age (1996)

February 26: Shian Meizono is born to high school students Hayata Meizono and Yurie Chuuza.

June 14: Reiaki Suzubayashi is born to Akihiro Suzubayashi, CEO of a department store franchise, and renowned brain surgeon Tamaki Suzubayashi.

21 years prior to the H Age (1997)

March 12: Hibiki Mitsumiya is born. From the moment they’re born, they’re put into more masculine clothes and their parents refuse to acknowledge their assigned gender.

At age 4, Anika begins her formula racing journey on dirt tracks under the coaching of her mother, former F1 racer Takako Kiyozaki. It becomes instilled in her that taking 1st place was the only thing that mattered in the line of racing.

19 years prior to the H Age (1999)

Rei becomes affiliated with the military’s Development and Engineering Department.

Otome founds the Party of Words.

18 years prior to H Age (2000)

Upon noticing Reiaki’s morbid fascination with bloodshed and monsters in films and playing or acting like the monsters in movies, nannies who have been tasked with caring for her become overly strict on her— borderline abusive and manipulative. Any minor mistakes during music, etiquette, or general education result in severe physical punishment that is left untreated and undiscovered.

April: Shian realizes how easy it is to leave her apartment and randomly wanders into a bookstore, where she becomes fascinated with picture books. Several hours later, store employees realize that she is separated from her parents and one volunteers to help her find her way home.

Shian routinely leaves the house while her parents are too busy fighting each other to go back into the bookstore and becomes a regular for the employees.

17 years prior to the H Age (2001)

January 13: Miku Shirazuki is born.

Anika begins formula racing and testing out formula cars on tracks.

16 years prior to the H Age (2002)

Anika begins signing with a sponsor. Despite being too young to be in F4, the media deems Anika a prodigy and that she will make it to F1.

For the sake of pleasing Takako, Anika gains a reputation for being overly aggressive on the tracks. All of her wins come after making contact with another car, some of which have resulted in the other driver’s career-ending injuries or death. Due to Takako’s manipulation, the blame on Anika gets shifted to another.

June: Nearby police officers find Shian roaming the streets alone. They bring her back to her shabby apartment and lecture her parents into sending her to school.

July: Yurie takes Shian back to the bookstore. While she lets Shian roam about on her own, she picks up a Bible to bring home without purchasing it.

Yurie becomes enamored with Catholicism and repeatedly attempts to rope Hayata and Shian into it, which becomes the basis for more discourse.

December: Yurie forces Shian to be baptised and enrolls her into a strict Catholic school, where she is isolated from the rest of the students.

15 years prior to the H Age (2003)

September 1: Makina Setsukura is born.

14 years prior to the H Age (2004)

Otome and Rei meet.

Hibiki’s parents force them to take on various odd jobs work to aid the struggling family financially. In between jobs, Hibiki notices other students studying in libraries or on buses. They begin to raid libraries and studying out of textbooks in order to catch up to schoolkids their age.

13 years prior to the H Age (2005)

World War III begins.

11 years prior to the H Age (2007)

World War III ends, but armed conflicts continue.

Rei receives a set of blueprints, one for technology that allows objects to transmute and another for weapons that have the capability to attack one's sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system​s. He leaves the military and independently forms a Hypnosis Mic development team.

March: Upon learning that he wasn't Makina's biological father, the man abandons her and her mother, Ran Setsukura.

June: Anika makes her F4 debut.

September 9: Reiaki's brother, Akifumi Suzubayashi, is born. She is smitten with him and vows to make sure he can avoid the caretakers' torture as he grows up.

9 years prior to the H Age (2009)

May: Reiaki, as relief from her nannies, begins taking her stress out on school bullies and delinquents, adding to her classmates' already-existing fondness of her. School authorities wouldn't relay her troublesome and vigilante-like behavior to her parents due to their intimidating high status.

To control her temper, Reiaki begins taking up kickboxing along with various other combat sports.

July 18: During a race, Anika's car unexplainably spins out of control into another car, resulting in a drastic accident for the two. The crash leads to losing her hearing and right leg.

July 25: One of Anika's competitors in the last race visits her in the hospital. She, with her newfound hearing loss, assumes he came to relish in her misery before his head mysteriously explodes in front of her.

August: In order to sustain the family, Hibiki resorts to working at a brothel.

October: In a group project, Reiaki's group is tasked with making a short film, where she discovers film makeup. She eventually takes up graffiti, illustrating her wild and eccentric imagination through spray paint and cosmetics.

8 years prior to the H Age (2010)

March: Anika graduates high school 1 year early. She officially retires from her racing career and enters university to pursue a career in psychology.

April: Hibiki racks up enough money to put themselves through school. However, the parents use Hibiki's money to register into the middle school as a boy.

Takako joins Chuohku and climbs up the ranks.

7 years prior to the H Age (2011)

Reiaki begins participating in underground fighting rings, easily ranking in win after win. Meanwhile, Akifumi begins showing interest in his father's business.

6 years prior to the H Age (2012)

April 3: Ran remarries to Kiyotaka Okano. Makina gains an older stepbrother, Hiroki, and her full name is changed to 'Makina Okano'.

Ran begins beating Makina regularly.

September 4: A girl with iridescent eyes awakens in a slave trade auction.

5 years prior to the H Age (2013)

April: Anika meets Chihiro. It takes some time, but they eventually begin dating.

May 31: At a school event, Shian's parents cause a scene due to their fighting, leading them to being escorted off school premises and even getting arrested. They eventually get bailed by Hayata’s sister, though the incident becomes grounds for bullying.

June 3: Seeing the living condition of the Shian's home life, her aunt decides to have Shian move into her Minato apartment and transfer to the high school in the area while Hayata and Yurie get their lives together. The bullying from the previous school carried over to the new one.

4 years prior to the H Age (2014)

February 1: The girl with iridescent eyes is placed back on the slave trade market and sold to the Otojouji Family in Yokohama, Japan.

May 12: Miku passes the auditions to Universal Key Entertainment and meets CEO Kakuji Hayashida. Under the condition that Miku pleases Hayashida's sexual urges on demand, she would be guaranteed her dream career.

May 19: Miku meets her manager, Shohei Ikeishi, and moves in to the Universal Key dorms.

Rei completes the Hypnosis Mic.

April: Straight out of high school, Shian moves out of her aunt's apartment to attend university in hopes of becoming a novelist.

April: Straight out of high school, Reiaki moves out of her parents' mansion and into a small apartment, where she also makes the decision to attend cosmetology school.

July 9: Miku releases her debut song, which gains the positive attention of the internet due to her unique idol concept.

Miku wins the title of "Rookie of the Year" at annual award shows, and she will continue to win award after award for years.

3 years prior to the H Age (2015)

April: Straight out of high school, Hibiki rents out their own apartment and enters Chuoh's police academy. They begin incorporating more gender neutral to feminine clothing.

Otome purchases the Hypnosis Mic from Rei.

The military finishes the Hypnosis Mic prototypes.

Rei begins developing the Hypnosis Canceler.

2 years prior to the H Age (2016)

January: Hibiki graduates from the police academy and joins the police force.

Rei completes the True Hypnosis Mic.

August: Reiaki graduates from cosmetology school and begins working at haunted houses.

Ichijiku’s younger sister, Natsume, is murdered. Ichijiku meets Otome and joins the Party of Words.

1 year prior to the H Age (2017)

Ichiro and Kuuko meet.

Samatoki and Sasara meet.

Hibiki fully assimilates into a feminine identity and joins the Party of Words.

The Party of Words stages a coup d’état against the government.

March: Shian receives a phone call which prompts her to abruptly drop out of university and attend training for bail bond. She becomes so engrossed in her new line of work that she abandons her love for reading and anime.

April 21: Reiaki begins posting videos of turning herself into horrific monsters using special effects makeup to the internet and very quickly begins building an audience.

June: Shian signs to a bail bond company, where she meets a certain bail bondsman. While they don't befriend each other, they become close and will continue to work together on cases.

September 14: Universal Key Entertainment hires Reiaki as an SFX artist for Miku's upcoming music video, which will become a routine.

Rei completes the Hypnosis Canceler and gives the original Ramuda to Otome.

October: Makina starts streaming, using gaming and chatting with viewers as escapism.

Year 1 of the H Age (2018)

January: H Act is passed, and fighting with weapons is eradicated.

January: The Party of Words wins the battle against the government. The military is disbanded. The Party establishes Chuohku and distributes Hypnosis Mics to those interested.

January: Hibiki is moved to Chuohku's Criminal Bureau.

January: Reiaki makes her first job in a major film, boosting her popularity online.

Ichiro and Kuuko form Naughty Busters, a team under the control of Mozuku’s Stairway to Heaven.

Samatoki and Sasara collect a group of delinquents and form Mad Comic Dialogue.

February 10: Hiroki, along with a civilian, are murdered. Ran and Kiyotaka are left in a near-dead state, leaving Makina barely unscathed in this incident.

While hospitalized, Ran and Kiyotaka are arrested on account of an unspecified charge and child abuse.

February 14: Reiaki begins dating graphic designer Rikuto Todo.

April: Hibiki is tasked with investigating the Otojouji Family under the suspicion that they were carrying slaves, and to apprehend them.

Ramuda makes contact with Jakurai and Yotsutsuji. Ramuda and Jakurai form Kuujaku Posse.

Mad Comic Dialogue and Naughty Busters rap battle one another. Afterwards, they team up to fight and win against Stairway to Heaven.

Otome buys the True Hypnosis Mic from Rei.

May 10: Makina meets Gencho Hosen and is placed in his orphanage in Ikebukuro, where she also meets the Yamada brothers.

August 1: Mozuku’s crew and Hosen take Jiro, Saburo, and Nemu hostage in an act of terrorism. Samatoki and Ichiro meet Jyuto at the crime scene. Ichiro, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai work together to free the hostages.

August 15: Ichiro and Kuuko begin working with Mad Comic Dialogue.

August 20: All victims housed by the Otojouji Family are rescued by the completed Mad Comic Dialogue.

August: The court case for Ran and Hiroki takes place, but they are nowhere to be found. Shian is hired to retrieve them and during her search for them, meets Makina.

September 10: Rikuto pressures Reiaki into moving in with him.

October: Large-scale crimes mysteriously get resolved and large criminal organizations get taken down silently.

November 1: A Ramuda clone brainwashes Kuuko and Sasara. Kuuko tells Ichiro their friendship is over and returns home to Nagoya. Sasara says the same to Samatoki and returns home to Osaka.

November 4: Ichiro and Samatoki battle Kuujaku Posse. Afterwards, Ichiro, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai form The Dirty Dawg.

November 9: Shian starts her own bail bond company 'Mettle Bail Bonds' along with her business partner.

December 25: F1 racer Maaya Kiyozaki adopts Makina, changing her name to 'Makina Kiyozaki,’ in order to use her popularity to damage Anika.

Year 2 of the H Age (2019)

February 20: Maaya introduces Makina to the family of formula racers, including Anika.

March: Anika becomes a licensed hypnotherapist and finds work at a clinic. Later that month, her long-time boyfriend proposes.

The Dirty Dawg conquers Japan. A Ramuda clone places Yotsutsuji into a coma.

May: Anika is serving as a court case witness for one of her clients and Shian is hired to catch a fugitive.

May 19: A Ramuda clone brainwashes Nemu, who then joins the Party of Words.

May 19: Jiro, Saburo, and Nemu are taken hostage, and Ichiro and Samatoki fight over them. Jakurai fights Ramuda over Yotsutsuji. The Dirty Dawg disbands.

May 19: The Party of Words destroys the distributed Hypnosis Mics; at this point, they can no longer be used.

June 20: Shian blacks out and winds up in the hospital.

July 1: Shian reaches out to Makina and seeks out services from Anika for the both of them. Anika accepts Shian but denies Makina.

July 2: Anika, afer discovering the levels of emotional and physical abuse Maaya has inflicted on Makina, reports and files a court case against her cousin.

July 29: Reiaki seeks out Yamada Odd Jobs, where she meets the Yamada brothers and a pregnant girl with iridescent eyes, who's introduced as Juri Yumesato. Reiaki drives back to her parents’ manor to find that Rikuto has murdered her family and all of the workers in the manor. Upon the police's arrival, Reiaki is left with several stab wounds and Rikuto with several broken bones and his skull nearly caved in. Rikuto is arrested.

Reiaki begins to sleepwalk.

August: Reiaki holds a funeral for her family. While she keeps a partial share of her inheritance, she gives the rest to Hiroaki's right hand man, entrusting the enterprise to him.

September 28: Reiaki reaches out to Juri and they move in together in Roppongi.

Samatoki joins the Katengumi yakuza and moves to Yokohama.

December 3: Juri gives birth to her son, Ayato Yumesato, prematurely at 33 weeks at Shinjuku Hospital.

December 19: It is decided that the Party will hold the Division Rap Battle.

Year 3 of the H Age (2020)

Ichiro, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai receive microphones from Chuohku.

January 8: Ayato is brought home from the hospital.

February 11: Anika manages to win the court case and become Makina's legal guardian. Simultaneously, Makina decides to change her name once more, to ‘Makina Setsukura’.

Ichiro accepts Jiro and Saburo as members of the Buster Bros!!!

Samatoki and Jyuto accept Rio as a member of Mad Trigger Crew.

Jakurai accepts Hifumi and Doppo as members of Matenrou.

Ramuda accepts Gentaro and Dice as members of Fling Posse.

December 3: Ikeishi and Miku crash their vehicle into a Yokohama container port, where Ikeishi dies on the scene and Miku is declared missing the following day.

December 5: Each division’s preliminary battles begin. Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, and Matenrou advance to the championships.

December 8: Upon seeing how the stress over Miku’s disappearance has affected Reiaki’s sleepwalking, Juri begins searching for leads on Miku’s potential whereabouts, starting at the scene of the crash.

The Party of Words’ headquarters was a professional setting.

A place where a woman would state their business, drop off any information they had, and take their leave. The enormous amount of space — plus the minimal amount of add-ons to the Prime Minister’s office — only aided in the cold, controlled atmosphere.

And yet the women that resided within the walls of Chuohku lived comfortably knowing the men were kept out.

Residing on the top floor of the headquarters was Prime Minister Otome Tohoten’s office, the most protected spot in all of Japan.

The floor-to-ceiling windows cast light over the prime minister, shrouding her cold, aging face in shadows. On the other side of Otome’s desk stood Assistant Prime Minister, Ichijiku Kadenokoji, and Vice Chief of the Administrative Inspection Bureau, Nemu Aohitsugi.

“To summarize,” said Otome’s assistant, “The Queen Card of Minato Division’s R.I.P Märchen had captured the foreign intelligence that was rummaging through confidential information we, the Party of Words, have stored. The hard drive has since been returned to us while she is currently holding the spy at her agency and has begun her interrogation process.” She lowered the tablet and met Otome’s gaze. “Seeing as The Queen Card’s agency operates separately from the police force, we will only receive answers by word of mouth.”

“Good work,” Otome finally said. 

“Thank you, Prime Minister,” Ichijiku replied with a bow.

“That Queen Card moves incredibly fast,” Otome said matter-of-factly. “In the time it took for us to even discover we had an inside threat, she acted first, preventing the spy from leaving the country with our data. She prevented what could have been a worldwide disaster.” Her lashes closed slowly. “How intriguing that a single woman could pull off such a feat.”

“On her show, she describes her skills as no more than a ‘stage trick,’” Nemu chimed in, her voice almost robotic. “However, we’ve been informed by the Minato police department, who have attempted to work alongside the Queen Card, that she reads body languages better than most and that she uses that skill to theorize and deduce everything about everybody.”

“She has garnered the respect of the law enforcement over this past year. The police academy has attempted to request The Queen Card to give their students and rookies some pointers, however…” Ichijiku paused to clear her throat. “She has turned down said requests on account that, ‘the average person is too stupid to comprehend my methods and protocols.’ In fact, we think that this recent incident regarding The Queen Card may be related to this next report.”

As if the Queen preventing a foreign spy from leaking government information alone wasn’t impressive enough, that last statement surely had Otome’s attention.

“Do elaborate.”

Ichijiku gestured to the binder in her arms. “Among the information within the retrieved hard drive was a list of every Party of Words’ officers of varying ranks throughout the years. We believe there might be a match to The Queen Card’s profile.”

The Assistant Prime Minister placed the binder as thick as a dictionary onto the desk. Sticking out of the pages were small, hot pink sticky notes, marking especially important contents.

Using her sharp crimson talons, Ichijiku flipped to the first marked page.

Otome pulled the open binder towards her. She was immediately met with a picture of a girl with pale skin, bright indigo hair that was styled into a messy pixie cut, and cold rose-red eyes. From what was left of the headshot photo, the girl wore a Prussian-blue suit with a white button up underneath. On the top-right corner was the Party of Words’ official stamp. Surrounding the headshot were bullet points, listing out recorded information.

Otome read the contents of the page in her head slowly, taking care to absorb every detail. 

‘Name: Mitsumiya, Hibiki… Born: 1997, March 12th… Birthplace: Chuoh, Japan…’

‘Graduated from Chuoh’s police Academy in 2016… Joined the Party of Words’ Criminal Bureau in 2017… Last seen deployed to Yokohama Division to investigate Otojouji Residency on 2018, April and was declared missing after failing to return to headquarters…’

The rest appear to be a general summary of this person’s background before entering the police force… Otome thought. Even in her head, her voice was just as monotonous as when she was reading the profile presented to her.

She pulled the binder closer to her, continually flipping through the pages. “The general background aligns with other officers under the Party of Words, but this name doesn't particularly stand out… Are you certain that The Queen Card, with all of her achievements so far, and this Hibiki Mitsumiya, a junior detective, are one and the same?”

In a system so vast, whether it was the military that had long disbanded or the government of Japan… Higher ups rarely ever knew the names of the low-ranking officers. All they knew was that when they gave out instructions, officers would obey.

“We don’t know for sure,” Ichijiku said. “However, with what little evidence our investigation unit has been able to gather so far, they seem to be pointing in this direction. We speculate that in the three years she disappeared, she honed her skills by herself before turning into The Queen Card. The most likely reason that her biological information differs from our biographical data is to remain undetected and act independently.”

Otome rested her hand against her hand. To think that a capable woman that works faster than any officers we have ever deployed could have possibly once been a subordinate of the Party of Words… Talent like that we, the government of Japan, no longer have… “A rookie officer who’d made little to no impact for our cause that disappeared after being deployed to Yokohama to investigate the Otojouji Family…” 

“Correct,” Ichijiku affirmed. “And for that reason, the investigation unit believes that if The Queen Card is indeed Hibiki Mitsumiya…” Ichijiku paused, gesturing to the binder on Otome’s desk. “If I may?”

With Otome’s curt approval, Ichijiku flipped through the contents of the binder, landing on a page without pictures. Unlike Hibiki’s profile, the only content the page contained were short bullet points. 

Nemu, who had stayed mostly silent the entire meeting, flinched upon seeing the name on the profile.

‘Name: Juri Yumesato… Born: 1998, April 18th… Birthplace: United States of America… Key features: medium, blue hair (dyed), rainbow eyes, heavily scarred… Was a slave under Otojouji Family until 2018/08/20 after Naughty Busters and Mad Comic Dialogue rescued the slaves and Eisuke Otojouji, Noa Otojouji, and Shinya Otojouji were arrested and placed in (special prison)… Name was last recorded at Shinjuku hospital on 2019/12/03. No other information imputed into hospital records besides name.’

“Then it is plausible that she has encountered Juri Yumesato at least once,” Ichijiku finished.

“The slave girl?” Nemu blurted.

Ichijiku whipped her head around.

It was rare for Nemu to speak up suddenly as she just did, let alone say a statement with such bluntness.

Nemu fully bowed. “My apologies for speaking out of turn, Prime Minister, but I don’t quite understand why the Party of Words is still searching for Juri Yumesato after The Dirty Dawg has already disbanded.”

The redhead narrowed her eyes. Typically, the stern look worn by the Prime Minister’s assistant could frighten all the men in Japan. However, when it came to Nemu, there was that hint of worry that was personal and unbecoming of strictly professional statuses.

Nemu… could you already be…?

Otome was the first to respond.

“Nemu-san, correct me if I’m wrong, but everything written on this page here is information pulled from you and one of our Ramuda clones, is that correct?”

Ichijiku closed her eyes. Otome-sama is avoiding the questions again. The moment anything related to that plan of hers comes up, she deflects and changes the subject. She straightened her posture, resorting to her professional front. No matter. I follow Otome-sama and any order she gives me. No matter what.

Nemu straightened up, her expression entirely masking her previous discomfort. “Partially. Ramuda Amemura of Fling Posse had minimal encounters with Juri Yumesato during The Dirty Dawg’s era. I, on the other hand, have inputted everything I could recall, seeing as she has no birth certificate, public records, or any other public appearances in recent years.”

Otome pointed to a bullet point in her binder. “And what of this here?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ichijiku stepped in. “The Shinjuku hospital had admitted a patient with the matching name on that day. Before we could begin investigating, the records of the patient having been there had inconspicuously disappeared.”

“Have we never been able to find any security footage of Juri Yumesato or The Queen Card without her mask on? Not in the street cameras, not within any of the hotels she has performed at?”

“It would seem that those two women are adept at evading cameras…” Ichijiku said. Through her tough front, her confidence in her own statements began to falter. “We are still currently examining as much security camera footage as we can— any footage that dates back to 2018. As of now, we cannot find any recordings of the Queen without her mask and Juri Yumesato remains undetected. The physical description listed on her profile are what was described to us by Nemu, along with the other Party of Words officers and the Ramuda Amemura clone that encountered her that day.”

Nemu began tuning out as Ichijiku’s words blended together in her ears, staring at the binder on Otome’s desk. Meaning we can’t yet confirm if Queen Card is Hibiki Mitsumiya… and Juri-san has been staying under the radar ever since…

It’s only speculation… but the timeline lines up almost perfectly… If we can manage to gather enough evidence to confirm that Hibiki Mitsumiya has become The Queen Card… it might just lead us to find Juri-san.

Otome flipped through the binder slowly, removing certain pages. The sound of the binder’s metal rings clanking open and close each time she removed a paper. With her bony fingers, Otome laid out three sheets of paper on a single layer, fully for Ichijiku and Nemu to see.

Alongside the files of Hibiki Mitsumiya and Juri Yumesato was a third profile sheet.

This time, of a woman in her late twenties with doe-like coral eyes and coffee-brown hair that ombré'ed into aquamarine and rose-pink towards the tips. From what was visible in the headshot, she wore a yellow biker jacket clipped together with an indigo and silver pin in the shape of a puzzle piece.

“If we can bring these three to work under us…”

Otome slowly pushed herself away from her desk, with her chair, swiveling around to face the glass windows that separated the office from the rest of Chuohku. A city made up of only women due to the laws set in place after the coup staged by the Party of Words before H Age.

The Party of Words…

Otome Tohoten’s Party of Words.

From high up on the top floor of the Party of Words’ headquarters, the buildings beyond appeared like little toy bricks— with colors and vague shapes being distinguishable, but any details were hardly visible from the height where Otome stood.

Even beyond the barriers that secluded Chuohku from the rest of Japan, every division within the country was hers to govern.

And yet, it is nowhere near enough. Japan is much too small…

“Not only will the three of them be the answers to the current obstacles that put our goals on hold…” Otome explained. Her dark grey eyes fixated on the city on the other side of the glass. The more she stared at what was in front of her, the more her mind began to picture the cities beyond those walls.