Episode 7

**Day of Rage** / **problems** (怒りの日, *Ikari no Hi*) is the seventh episode of LISTENERS. The ending theme is "Trauma" by Jin sung by µ (Rie Takahashi).

## Synopsis

After running away from the Freak Scene Academy, Nir arrives in Londinium to find a bleak city with two angry youths eager to show up the government's handling of the Earless.

## Summary

A young Lyde and Ritchie are getting attacked by Earless, but Jimi Stonefree manages to come in time and save them. Seeing him, Lyde makes a sketch of Jimi to never forget this moment.

Lyde and Ritchie are getting yelled by their boss and he tells Lyde to pay back what he stole or quit, but Nir shows up and asks them to not quit before they fix her amp. As Nir shows money, the boss turns real soft towards Lyde and asks him to fix it. Lyde manages to fix it fast, but guesses Nir will want to test it and asks her to follow him. Nir ends up testing it and finds it even better than before. She then invites Lyde to board her Equipment and they go for a ride. Flying around, they see Ritchie, who goes to confess to a girl, but gets turned down. Lyde makes a sketch of the girl and while going through his pages, Nir notices Jimi. Returning to the shop, the boss scolds both Lyde and Ritchie for both of them leaving the shop. As he punches Lyde, his sketchbook falls and the boss mocks him for it and attempts to tear it down, however Nir slaps him, telling him he shouldn't handle something important that way. Nir then throws the payment on the ground and leaves the shop, making Lyde and Ritchie come out and call her for a drink. They introduce themselves and asks Nir why is she in the city, but she explains she caused some trouble on her last place and had to leave. Hearing that she doesn't have where to go, they invite her to come with them.

They take her to the place they live with an old woman Vivienne, and explain they lost their parents in the Earless air raids, but Vivienne had taken them in. They show Nir a Londinium's Patrol Squad Equipment they found broken and had taken it. Lyde explains its still under repairs, but when its finished, he wants Nir to pilot it and Nir ends up agreeing. In the morning, Lyde and Ritchie get up early and since they are unemployed now, they spend all their time trying to fix the Equipment.

After working on it for a while, Nir eventually test it, but as it starts, she fears it will go out of control and stops. She asks Lyde why he wants to fix it in the first place and he explains its to stick it to the people in the Tower who control the city. Vivienne asks them to get the Christmas cake and Nir agrees to go. She also decides to buy them some presents and gets crystal snowballs.

A large mass of Earless appear moving as one. Londinium announces that they will be scrapping the West End district in order to guide the giant Earless Queen. The Patrol Squad starts attacking the town. Ritchie and Lyde are in the Equipment. Lyde gets angry that they are doing what they want and wants to wreck them all. A Player plug then appears on his back and he connects it to the Equipment. Nir ends up seeing them and Lyde explains someone a plug appeared on his back. Lyde and Ritchie attack the big mass of Earless and as they pierce a hole in it, they are surprised to see Jimi's Equipment through the hole on the other side. Nir sees the Player looks like Mu and wonders what she is doing there. The Mu looking person then shoots and kills the Earless along with Lyde and Richie. On their funeral, Nir can't forgive Mu for doing that and wonders where Echo went.

## Characters

* Lyde
* Ritchie
* Jimi Stonefree
* Nir
* Tommy Walker

## Trivia

* Outside of flashbacks, neither Echo or Mu make an appearance in this episode.
* Lyde and Ritchie both represent real members of the famous British punk band, Sex Pistols.
* Lyde is named after John Lydon (lead vocalist of Sex Pistols)
* Ritchie is named after Sid Vicious‘ real name Simon John Ritchie (bassist of Sex Pistols)
* In numerous scenes Ritchie is professing his love to a girl in pink. This is inspired by the famous couple of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spunge. Who died together in an apartment. There many theories about their suspicious deaths.
* Nir who represents the band Nirvana appears in this ep as Sex Pistols and Nirvana shared similar views about anarchism and revolution. I think that is why they get on so well.
* When Ritchie quotes the word “bollocks” he is quoting Sex Pistols song Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
* When Lyde and Ritchie attack the Earless Queen they quote “God save the Queen”. A famous song of the Sex Pistols.
* The ep name Day of rage/Problems signifies the song Problems from the Sex Pistols
* In the ep it is Christmas a significant time for the band Sex Pistol's as Christmas of 1977 would be their last concert in England. This is obvious as Ritchie and Lyde die at the end of the ep.
* At the start of the ep when it states the name of the ep the design is inspired by the album cover of the Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols 1977.