24 Hour Happy People

24 Hour Happy People is a short story for Xenoblade Chronicles X written by Kazuho Hyodo, one of the game's scenario writers. The original Japanese text can be found in the Special section of the official website.
This story takes place aboard the White Whale as it traveled through space, before it crashlanded on the planet Mira. In this story, Lin goes on an adventure to find quality meat and gets caught up in an underground Skell fighting ring.
==Synopsis==
===Part 1: ===
This question was on Lin Lee Koo's mind as she talked with Elma at the maintenance dock. The daily food supply on the White Whale consisted mainly of repetitive meals with only cereals and bread at daytime, and mystery meat three nights a week. Although the ship had capabilities for ingredient synthesis, the food choices were poor.
Lin suggests to Elma that food options could be improved. She wants a chance to cook for everyone, and Elma agrees, although she does wonder what Lin wants to make since there aren't many ingredients available on the ship. Lin replies that she knows a few connections that can provide her with some good food.
Late at night, Lin travels to one of these connections in the Fisherman's Alley, a busy back alley with open shop stalls that acts as the source for a lot of illegal and illicit synthesized foods. One such shop was run by a Jan, a famous university professor back on Earth, and Lin visits that one. Expecting to find a friendly older man greet her as he always did, Lin instead finds a young, apathetic man who informs her that management's changed and they don't have anything to sell.
The new manager, Tony News, is somewhat despondent, lamenting that he doesn't have Jan's synthesis skills, or in fact anything at all. Lin, unsure of what to do, decides to leave the store. Unfortunately, a group of gaudy-shirted yet shabby-suited men block her exit. Their leader states that he's here for Tony. Tony calls for Lin to run, but one man puts a gun to the back of her head. Tony unexpectedly lets out a war cry, and Lin reflexively runs away. In the next instant, the store is filled with the sounds of gunfire. 
===Part 2: ===
Lin's life flashes before her eyes, and all she can see is sushi. She finds this disappointing, as she realizes that her most significant memory was that of food. Tony calls out to her to keep her head down and run. As they hide, Tony manages to lose his apathy as he tries to convince Lin to escape. Lin, however, insists they can both escape together.
The two manage to escape into the main street, Lin leading due to her military experience. While the mafia weren't accurate with their gunfire, they were extremely persistent. Even in the open main street, the mafia were out to get them, and Lin was running out of breath dragging Tony with her. Suddenly, a large motorcycle stops in front of her as Lin jumps onto the car-filled road. Its rider, Irina Akulov, recognizes her. They get on and Irina speeds through traffic to get to a safe bar.
At Finnegans Wake, an Irish bar, Tony explains his situation to them. One organization took Jan and Tony's IDs as compensation for unpaid debts while promising to consolidate the debts. But they lied about the debt consolidation, allowing one group of creditors, the group with guns, to take over. Lin glazes over the conversation at first, but Irina states she should be more concerned. Lin states that thanks to Irina, things turned out fine, but then she realizes she's forgotten something very important: high quality meat. She calls for Tony to help her find the vanished owner lest the meat vanish forever.
===Part 3: ===
All food on the White Whale was provided through plantations, or "plants", that even allow for the creation of meat and fish. Official plants, however, did not generate enough food, meaning that people turned to the Factories, illegal plants that generate much of the food. One such Factory, the largest of them all, was known as the Haçienda.
The Haçienda was somewhat similar to the Industrial District of the main city, although this place housed a central bazaar that allowed for street performances and businesses. While the area doesn't receive any official maintenance, it uses its own squad of Skells to expand its area.
Lin and Tony visit the Haçienda, since Lin had a hunch that Jan would come here for work. At a café, they try to find leads as to Jan's whereabouts, but they don't find any clues even as time on the ship reaches midnight. Lin is shocked when she realizes it's gotten that late, and Tony responds that people in the Factories often ignore the ship's time as the Factories run nonstop and the people who live there run on schedules separate from the 24 hour clock.
Later, Lin asks Tony why he's in so much debt. He explains that on Earth, he was a researcher who wrote about life-preservation technology, and that his work's even been implemented aboard the ship as well. But he neglected his family doing his research, leading to his wife divorcing him and taking their daughter with her-several months before the aliens attacked. His life's work allowed him to board the White Whale, but his family would not have that privilege. When he found they weren't on the list of passengers, he spent his money trying to see if they had made it another way or on another ship, and then even more after he lost hope.
Lin responds that even so, Tony shouldn't give up on his life. Even if he can't let go of his past, he should still give things time and try again when he could be ready. Tony stares at her in surprise in response, and Lin realizes she's just repeating what her Skell-piloting teacher had told her. As Tony is about to give further response, the table rises from the ground and everything starts tumbling. Although nobody is in danger, the source of the commotion is revealed to take up a large part of the café.
===Part 4: ===
Both gods and Skells use the human form as a key. Gods were painted like humans in religious paintings to make them more relatable, and Skells were made like humans so that mankind could control them easier. As an extension of the skeleton, they became known as Skells.
This Skell, part of the Formula series, manifested in the café when it descended from a nearby construction site, destroying most of it. The driver had already been sent to the hospital, but the foreman and the café owner were disagreeing over whose responsibility it was to remove the Skell from the shop. The foreman argued that it wasn't his responsibility because according to him, the Skell's owner was a freelancer who simply assumed he'd get a share of the profits. The owner doesn't take it well, and puts a knife to the foreman.
In order to stop the fight, Lin and Tony step between them, and Lin states that she'll take the Skell off the property. The foreman explains that the Skell had been modified to participate in the Haçienda's fighting tournament "Bottoming" (), making it unsuitable for construction work. It seems that the grand prize this time is grade-A synthetic Matsusaka beef, piquing Lin's interest considerably. The group manages to get the Skell back on its feet, and Lin takes it to a place where it can be worked on.
Lin manages to rent the Skell from the owner for free, since she offered a discount on repairs and towing. With that Skell, she enters the tournament and starts work on the Skell to prepare it for some "bottling" (, combination of "bot" and "battling"). Lin finds out that Tony's driven Skells before, so she states that Tony should pilot the Skell at the tournament. In point-blank Skell fights, the existence of a corner(wo)man calling the shots from outside and a pilot coordinating with them makes the difference between victory and total Skell destruction. 
Tony is shocked that Lin would have him as the pilot, seeing as his last drive was five or six years ago. Tony said it would be better if she found a better pilot, but Lin responds by saying that this would be something to get him to live life to the fullest again. Tony accepts, although he was still convinced that he'd be a waste, win or lose.
Over the course of the next few days, Lin spends her time building up the Skell with a more balanced frame (even including a secret weapon for fun), while Tony helped collect new parts, with various people in the Haçienda contributing to their efforts. She also manages to learn about the current champion Skell, known as the Crabman. This long-reigning champion was the one that insisted on meat being the prize, seeing as the old prizes bored him. As a food-lover herself, Lin gains the motivation to fight against this connoisseur.
Thanks to the efforts of the community, Lin finishes the Skell remodel and names it the "New Order". She sent a challenge to the Crabman team, and they accepted soon after. The two Skells parade their way to the center of the Haçienda and got ready to fight. Lin tells Tony that all he has to do is make it past Crabman's first set of attacks, and Tony admits to Lin that she reminds him of his daughter, and thanks her for giving him the energy to live again. Lin admits that wasn't the best time for Tony to admit that, seeing as Tony's about to fight for his life at that moment. But at the same time, she decides that there's more to life for people than just eating.
===Part 5: ===
As Bottoming's about to start, Lin starts having doubts. Tony was naturally anxious, and the crowd wasn't making it any better, even as Lin was cheering him on. She feels as if it would've been better if they were given a chance to lose. Unfortunately, Bottoming is one round, and the winner takes all.
The match starts. New Order doesn't. Lin calls to Tony, and he budges—just too late. Crabman dives into the New Order's chest and scoops the legs, causing it to stagger. The Skell's internal systems cause New Order to right itself with one arm to prevent toppling, but Crabman gets the time it needs to tackle again. With their fighting experience, all Lin can do is warn Tony of vague attacks. Crabman 
Crabman grapples New Order again with its pure strength, although it doesn't have the full advantage yet: either New Order's grounded arm prevents Crabman from getting a full push in, or Crabman is just toying with New Order. Lin tries to get Tony to feel the right time to move, but he misjudges his opportunity and punches too hastily. Crabman parries the punch and flips New Order to the ground.
Although Crabman could finish the fight here and now, he's got an audience, and they want more. So Crabman plays along and slams New Order with a set of consecutive hammer chops to rile them up. At this point, Lin thinks the only option is to surrender. But Tony's tone immediately changes. Although he realizes that he let Lin down, he decides then and there that he'd rather fight. He remembered that Lin added a secret weapon during the last bit of construction, and announces that he's going to use it.
With the crowd riled up sufficiently, Crabman prepares to chop New Order's appendages off. It readies its stance, but New Order gets up and punches with one arm. Crabman blocks—but the other arm hits Crabman with a direct hit: Rocket Impact. This punch attack involves a fist packed with explosive rocket fuel, which lights the area.
It doesn't do much damage. Yet Crabman is left open for a split second (due to some past trauma with explosions). Something in Tony changes, allowing him to connect his attacks and knock Crabman out. The match is over, Lin's got her meat, and Tony's got his will to live again.
After the fight, Tony announces he will continue doing Bottoming fights to pay off debt collectors, but also realizing he'll have to find another cornerman. Lin returns to HQ, promising to find Jan for him. Returning to headquarters, Lin throws a big party for everyone, cooking and serving the fake Matsusaka beef (ignoring the fact it was likely made out of insects), and felt rather rewarded.
At the maintenance dock, Lin's spending her time fixing Skells again, having to work overtime due to her absence. She apologizes to Elma for being out for a while, and states that she's got an answer for the old question: "Do people really eat to live, or do they live to eat?"
"Food's always better after a hard day's work. And that's all a person needs!"
==Trivia==
*The title of this story is a reference to the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, a biographical movie about the Manchester music scene. Many of the names and settings in this story are references to real people and places that figure predominantly in the movie.
** is a reference to Tony Wilson, the man who owned Factory Records, which ran The Haçienda nightclub and was the record label for bands such as New Order. 
** The Skell New Order is a reference to New Order, an English rock band formed from the remains of Joy Division.
==In other languages==
Category:Lore (XCX)