AI The Somnium Files: Into the Abyssmare (WIP)

Chapter N4-5: L.M.O.

"Ah, Date, welcome back."

Ryujin greets Date as he and Iris walk into Café Vinyl. An older man with short, blonde hair sitting on the counter turns his attention towards Date.

"Date, allow me to introduce my friend, Haruki Kaibara" Ryujin says. "Like Sho and myself, Haruki was also a member of L.M.O."

"Nice to meet you" the blonde man extends his arm. Date shakes hands with him. "So, you're the guy looking for Sho that Ryujin was telling me about, right?"

"Yeah" Date answers. "Do you know anything that can help?"

"Sorry, don't know where he is" Haruki answers. "I know he's back in Japan, but it's been so hard to get any kind of contact with him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Sho is purposefully avoiding us."

"Aww, come on now, don't say that" Ryujin says. "I'm sure Sho has his reasons."

"You're as optimistic as always, I see" Haruki tells Ryujin. "To be honest, though, part of me also hopes it's something like that."

"Maybe with Date's help, we may be able to find him" Ryujin says. "Which reminds me. What brings you back here?"

"I'd like to ask you about your DJ unit" Date says.

"What do you want to know?" Haruki asks.

"I'd like to ask about the first D4 FES."

"Ah, I see" Ryujin answers. "Dennojo would be the best person to ask about that."

"But since he's not here, we can tell him instead" Haruki says. "Back in our day, DJing wasn't as popular as it is now. At least, not in Japan. Dennojo wanted to help spread its popularity and Ryujin and I decided to help out. We were already well renowned DJs, after all. And that's how L.M.O. was formed."

"What about Sho?" Date asks.

"He came in later" Ryujin answers.

"But before he did, Ryujin here came up with an ingenious idea" Haruki says. "He wanted to host a large festival. This was known as the first D4 FES."

"It was just the three of us, but we were able to make it a great success" Ryujin says. "That event is what got the attention of Sho Mitsuhashi."

"I'm still upset that he's credited as the creator of D4 FES" Haruki says. "It was Ryujin's idea, and the second one is what became known as the first."

"That's because my event was much smaller in scale" Ryujin explains. "The idea to turn it into a festival-sized event, that was a proposal by Sho Mitsuhashi. He was both a peerless DJ and event promoter. He was the capstone to L.M.O.'s musical style."

"Yeah, I can't deny the man had talent" Haruki adds. "His input honed and perfected our direction. Intuition, innovation... He was born with it all. Sadly, after the first modern D4 FES, he abruptly left L.M.O. to go overseas..."

"That is all we know about Sho" Ryujin finishes. "After he left, our role as a DJ unit was over. We each sought our own paths afterwards. I ended up opening up this café, not only because I had an interest in coffee, but it also to serve as a place where young talent can practice and hone their skills in our downstairs studio rooms."

"I mostly take care of my niece" Haruki says. "I still produce music on the side, though."

"Dennojo also takes care of a relative" Ryujin adds. "Though, that's probably not part of what you wanted to hear, right, Date?"

So Sho made L.M.O. a huge success, but then left? Why would he do that?

"Ryujin and Haruki do not appear to know the answer. Perhaps it is about time that you ask them about XROSS∞BEAT."