Track 6
Mountain Cabin
(F-For now, we somehow made it back to the cabin, but…)
...
(Raitin’s just been staring blankly into his coffee cup… He hasn’t moved a muscle…)
…Hey, Raitin. Can I ask you something?
Why were you mad AF back there? You finally met the Yeti… A real UMA that you’ve been searching for all this time... Weren’t you s’posed to be, IDK, hype-hype-hyped?
...I apologize for raising my voice just now. But…that Yeti was a fake.
You…said that…earlier, too…
How can ya be so sure it’s a fake tho?
Real Yetis…have reddish-brown fur. That white Yeti we saw was nothing more than some glorified mascot built off the fictional stereotype of the “Abominable Snowman1.”
Wait, are you FR?!
I am. Now, I realize it sounds absurd to say this with such certainty when I’ve never even seen one in person before. However... Every single white Yeti ever sighted has officially been documented as fraudulent.
Worse yet, most of those white Yetis were the work of crooks trying to clout-chase or make a quick profit—scumbags who deliberately pretended to be UMAs or staged evidence just to fool people.
As a matter of fact, I once encountered a scam ring that used UMAs as bait for exactly that kind of con. I ended up single-handedly shutting their whole operation down.
Wait, wha?! You gotta spill the tea ‘bout that…!
S-Sshhh…
UMAs aren’t meant to be exploited like this. UMAs are—
Pure romance!
Schcrunch!
...!
GYAAAAH–! He crushed that aluminum cup flat!
Raitin…
(I get it now... That’s why Nayuuki was against this from the start…and why he kept warning us not to get caught.)
(He knew fake UMAs were Raitin’s biggest trigger…!)
....
...Yo, hold up. Where’s Yodaka-san? If he’s still outside, isn’t that kinda bad?
Oh–uh, I’ll go check on him! You guys stay right here, alr?!
Chihiro leaves the cabin.
O-okay…
...Iiiiii’m gonna hit the bathroom for now!
Akuta follows after him.
Mountain Cabin
Ah! You made it back, Yodachosu…!
Oh my. What’s the matter, Chihiro? You’re in quite a panic—whoa.
This way, this way!! Things have gotten seriously bad!
Chihiro leads Yodaka somewhere quiet to talk.
...I see. So fake UMAs are a landmine for Raito.
What do we do now…? We just wanted to make him happy, but we ended up making him pissed instead…!
This is a difficult situation, yes. But I’m sure he’d understand if we explained that we never meant any harm…
Someone approaches them.
Called it~! So that’s what’s going on!
Ah… Aa-ta?!
Mountain Cabin
…
...
...I’m sorry, Kiroku.
Eh… Why…are you…apologizing?
I despise frauds on principle, of course... But more than anything, Kiroku, I was just hoping I’d finally get to show you the real thing...
N-No…You don’t…need to…apologize for that… Raito-san.
Besides, um… Just…searching for the Yeti…was fun…and it gave me…many ideas…
Is it okay…if I…keep drawing…? Maybe…if I open my sketchbook…something new…will come to me…
...Yeah. Of course it is.
Kiroku picks up his sketchbook and tries to start drawing.
...U-Um…
(...No good. Nothing comes to mind. My hand…won’t move…)
...You don’t have to force yourself. Perhaps I just ruined the magic by burdening you with all this.
Ah…
You’re a good kid, Kiroku.
Raito pats Kiroku’s head.
I’m going to step outside and get some fresh air. You just take it easy and rest.
Mountain Cabin
Sigh…
(...Hm? I hear voices coming from behind the cabin… Is that Chihiro, Yodaka-san…and Akuta?)
Raito starts walking toward them.
What’s everyone talking abou—
Ah?!
...That white costume…is—
The PR had to do research on this, so they are dragging everyone into it as well. As familiar a term as it is, the “Abominable Snowman” apparently stems from a 1921 English mistranslation of the Himalayan term “Metoh-Kangmi.” Members of the 1921 British Mount Everest Reconnaissance Expedition heard the term from their local porters after seeing large footprints in the snow, and later described the tracks to journalist Henry Newman. Newman mistranslated metoh (“man-bear”) as “filthy” or “abominable”. In Western media, it soon came to symbolize a white snow monster, which became the stereotype of what a Yeti is supposed to look like.