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This will be a collab project between...
drumroll please....
Me! (Shinoki) and TTLuver497 Ruka-san!!! The first between us two! Not that sure yet, but it seems that the next chapter will be written by her. The origin of this fic, well, a drabble in my one-shot drabble topic... Yups, go read that if you wanna know~~ Ok, no more advertising and dun-dun! The prologue is down there! Hope you enjoy~ (Me: I think I'm being too peppy)
Directory:
Tengoku Crusade:
Prologue(This post)
First (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1210711#msg1210711)
Second (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1211301#msg1211301)
Third (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1219066#msg1219066)
Fourth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1220929#msg1220929)
Fifth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1229497#msg1229497)
Sixth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1231626#msg1231626)
Seventh (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1234482#msg1234482)
Eighth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1236008#msg1236008)
Ninth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1237092#msg1237092)
Tenth | Part 1 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1237357#msg1237357) | Part 2 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1237523#msg1237523)
Eleventh (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1241302#msg1241302)
Twelfth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1242543#msg1242543)
Thirteenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1255379#msg1255379)
Fourteenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1272402#msg1272402)
Fifteenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1276403#msg1276403)
Sixteenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1277523#msg1277523)
Seventeenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1278069#msg1278069)
Eighteenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1278414#msg1278414)
Nineteenth (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1278827#msg1278827)
Twentieth | Part 1 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1279254#msg1279254) | Part 2 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1279519#msg1279519)
Tengoku Revolution:
Prologue (Day 1) (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1279832#msg1279832)
Chapter 1 (Day 2) (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1279861#msg1279861)
Chapter 2 (Day 3) (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1280057#msg1280057)
Chapter 3 (Day 4) (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1282362#msg1282362)
Chapter 4 (Day 5) (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1282381#msg1282381)
Chapter 5 (Day 6) (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1322124#msg1322124)
Chibi Adventures
Episode 1 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1256389#msg1256389)
Episode 2 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1272583#msg1272583)
Episode 3 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1276428#msg1276428)
Episode 4 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=36033.msg1278258#msg1278258)
Prologue
Heaven, a place not like that described in religion and such. Hell, an evil place not like that described in religion and such. Midgard, it is not the place that was once portrayed in mythology. At the very top lies the Kami-zone, and at the very bottom there are the fallen walls.
In the Kami-zone, there resides the throne of the center. The warriors around her are called the Kami-7, humans yet godly, the angels of the heaven. Next, the 9 gatekeepers of the realm, keeping out the weak from the holy land is their job.
Every year, during a period called the Sousenkyo, also known as the crusade, a battle for the promotion, a battle for the heavenly grounds occurs. Midgard warriors attack, hoping to break through the gatekeepers to attain heaven. Those fallen in the hell fight to enter the competition once again and hope to win.
Many fall, many rise, many are replaced, that was how it worked. Even as the Kami-7 changed, even as the Midgard warriors changed, even as the fallen walls rose again and fell again, for 6 years, there was an absolute center. That center’s name was Maeda Atsuko. Only her right hand had ever managed to challenge her, but Maeda had decided to step down and become a spectator separated from this side of the world.
As she left, a gap opened up. This year, the crusade, the Sousenkyo, it would be different from before. The sousenkyo of XX13 would become a turning point for this world. The groups, AKB, SKE, NMB, and HKT, as the crusade began, their fire lit on and it started, the 5th had begun.
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Interesting competition of angels...
Are you based on this year sousenkyo or last year once..?
Or original?
Whatever it is, can't wait see
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Interesting prologue
Can't wait to find out more about it
Good luck on writing this fic \^0^/
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roto-san: Thanks! But the credit for this chapter goes to TTLuver-san~~ Seems that she told me to post the chap.
cisda83: truthfully, I have no idea anymore~~~ but enjoy~~
First
In an old, rundown village named Akihabara, everyone works as hard as they could to make today's pay. All of the villagers and their families work at the same time, every day, all day, until the night when they finally finish and eat whatever they have left or what they found. They live in the dust, miles away from a large wall that separates them, from the rich land and wealthy men and women on the other side.
Many dream of going there, to the other side of that wall, but none succeed.
But, there is one girl who never gives up. One who exceeds her work above the rest, in order to hopefully one day reach her impossible dream of making it to the top.
"Mm~.... Yossha!!!!!!" she screams as she holds up the biggest fish she's caught in several weeks.
She laughs to the top of her lungs as she holds it by her tail all the way back to her home. Alone. No family or friends. Just her.
"Tadaima~," she says even though no one is there.
She throws the flopping fish into a bucket of dirty water so it can swim with the other fish she's caught and leans up against a wall, sinking to the ground and sighing.
"Today was hard work, too..."
She curls up and sinks her face in between her knees.
"I can sell these fish and make a fortune. Then, I can finally get to the other side of the wall. Mom. Dad." She grips onto her golden locket, her only treasure and last momento of her family. "Just watch. I can do it."
She looks up to the skylight that has been in her ceiling for who knows how long. All she hopes is that her family can see their only daughter prosper.
"I will!" She stood up to her feet again with her hand in a fist. "I will, or my name isn't Sashihara Rino!"
*CRASH*
"Keep it down in there, Sashihara!!!"
Rino looked at the rock that crashed through the already broken window and looked at the message carved in it.
"Hurry up and die!"
"Mou..."
She threw it outside where other messages she got had piled up and sat down on her dirty mattress on the floor. She dusted it off and adjusted the hay stuffed in it, cause it was sticking her. She slowly laid down and covered herself with the rough hay blanket she had to make all by herself.
"I'll show them. I'll show everyone," she whispered before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
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"Sashihara, bring it over here!"
"Urghh... Ha... Haa.. H-hai!"
Rino grunted as she carried the heavy bucket of her fish, all alone, and finally reached the wealthy man in front of her, waiting at the market she ran in town. She finally dropped the heavy weight in front of him and caught her breath.
"Haa... There. That's my biggest catches... Haa... They're all yours."
"Good. Now, as promised, here's my half of the trade." He pulled out a sack that jingled from the rich coins inside it. Real gold coins. "I believe this should match the amount looking at how big these are. Thank you for the hard work again, Sashihara."
"No biggie. Thank you, sir!" She took the bag and bowed in front of him.
"Now then, I believe I shall take my leave. Good day, Sashihara."
"Goodbye! Thank you again, sir!"
She happily watched him leave and ran back home as fast as she could. However, when she got home, she saw someone rummaging through her drawers and cabinets.
"Hey! What are you doing here?!" she screamed.
The burglar quickly stopped and pulled out a knife aimed at Rino. Rino was now shaking as the man kept it aimed at her and he slowly went for her sack of money. She slapped the knife out, but he grabbed her and pinned her to the ground. He managed to release the bag from her grasp and even rip off her necklace.
"No! Not that! Anything but that!"
She kicked the guy right in between his legs and caused him to topple over. She grabbed the necklace, but he was able to run off with the sack.
"You're not going anywhere! That's my pay!"
She followed him through the entire village down a path she's never gone through before. They went through a path in the forest and ended up inside another building that had no existent roof and was torn down badly. Rino was able to catch up and tackle him, and they fell. The sack untied itself and the gold coins scattered as the bag hit the ground.
Rino quickly got up and picked up as many coins as she could, but the burglar pushed her away and got the remaining stash and ran off no where to be seen again.
"And don't you come back again!!!!" Her screamed echoed through the empty forest as she finally realized where she was. It was a broken, torn down church.
She put her necklace and pay in her pocket and looked around to try and find her way back. As she looked through the entire area, she heard a small sound.
*Cling*
When she turned her head around to look behind her, she saw a shiny object on the concrete chair in the center of the room. She walked over and saw a small ring. It was a pure shining gold, with small silver glistening diamonds circled around a beautiful red ruby.
Slowly, she picked it up and saw it's perfect shine in the sun. Without even thinking, she slipped the ring onto her middle finger.
And then...
*Gleam*
"Eh?"
The ruby started glowing and pulsing intensely making the entire area glow brightly. She covered her ears as loud church bells echoed in the area and hurt her head. As she fell to her knees, she finally caught her breath as the noises stopped and everything calmed down. She raised her head and looked around to make sure nothing happened.
Everything was empty and still, until...
*SLAP*
"How could you?!"
Rino whipped her head back and saw two people arguing. One of them was incredibly tall, like a model, and the other was a lot shorter than her and had squirrel-like teeth. But, that wasn't what caught her attention.
They had wings. Beautiful white wings.
"Why did you have to hide it in a place like this out in the open?! ANYONE could find it and take it!!!" the squirrel girl screamed.
"Hey, it's not my fault! When the Saints drop the ring from the sky, it's location is decided at random. No one made it get placed here!" the taller girl yelled.
"Do you know what could happen if anyone puts that ring on?! That was Acchan's ring!!!"
Rino came back to her senses and realize she just stole these girls' ring. She quickly tried to pull it off, but it was stuck. She pulled harder and harder, but it only hurt her hand.
"Only people like us can use that ring! Acchan wouldn't accept anyone else!"
"Listen, it's not HER ring! I've worn it before. YOU'VE worn it!"
"That's not the point. No one can just take it just like that! They need to earn it! And now, look, we've lost it!!!"
As the girls started yelling louder, Rino mustered up her courage and slowly walked towards them.
"...A-ano..."
They suddenly stopped and looked at her.
"I-I'm sorry. I have the ring on my finger. Um, could you help me get it off? I can't get it."
"Wait..." the elder said, coming closer to her. "You can... see us?"
"..Y-yes..."
The two looked at her, screamed suddenly, and ran over to the throne to talk alone.
"How can she see us?! Normal people can't see us!"
"I don't know! What I want to know is, how did she get the ring on and it not upset the Gods?!"
"And HOW can she not get it off?! Humans can accept and decline gifts from Heaven, but I've never seen it work the other way around!"
Rino tried to call again.
"Um, excuse me, I still need help here!"
Suddenly, someone came up from behind and covered Rino's eyes. The stranger pinned her arms behind her back and wrapped a blindfold around her eyes. She screamed, but then her mouth got covered by a hand and someone whispered something in her ear. She stopped screaming and fell asleep in the girl's arms.
"T-Takamina..."
"What is the meaning of this?" the short girl said.
The squirrel teethed girl ran up in front of her and bowed in front of her.
"I'm sorry! This girl, because of me, she..." The elder girl slowly came up and held her shoulder.
"Yuko, it's not your fault. She found the ring and put it on by accident. She said that she couldn't get it off, which means..."
"The Fates have chosen her as the next center."
"But why? She's not related to this at all!"
"The Fates have their reasons for their choices. Remember how everyone we loved most dear had risen and fallen because of the Fates' decisions? Our Heavenly Saints seem to see something special in this girl."
Yuko looked up at her senpai and knelt down to touch the ring on the girl's finger. As she expected, it changed from it's former shape. The ruby was now in the shape of a heart and had golden wings, and the ring was now in a chain-like shape, looping around her finger.
"Mariko-sama... what should we do?"
"For starters, we need to find out who this girl is. If we do that, we might be able to find out why she could put on the ring."
"But we mustn't let her know who or what we are yet. Bring the rest of the Kami-7 over to that place. I'll make sure she won't be able to do anything."
"Yes, Takamina."
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Rino finally woke up, but when she opened her eyes, she realized that she was blindfolded by someone. When she tried to take it off, her hands were tied up behind her back and she was completely tied to a chair.
"Hey! Get me out! Help!!!"
"No one can hear you," a luscious voice said.
"Eh?"
"This place is too far from anyone to find," a beautiful, princess-like voice said.
"It's impossible to reach, even if it seems so close," a higher, almost doll-like voice said.
"The ones who try to find it never do," a cool, yet childish voice said.
"No one succeeds. This place is always hidden from the outsiders," a cute, but also very mature voice said.
"I have no time for jokes! Untie me! I wanna go home!"
"You'll go home. But first, we need to talk to you," a familiar adult's voice rang.
"We want to know a few things..." another familiar voice said.
Rino struggled to get out, twisting and turning to untangle herself. She heard footsteps coming closer and closer to her and felt someone's breath against her skin.
"Just who are you? Why did you take our ring?"
"Is that what all this is about?!" Rino screamed angrily.
"Please, don't get mad. We just want to know who you are."
"It's none of your business who I am!!! Let me go!!!"
No response. They just continued to watch her struggle.
"At least take this blindfold off!"
"No. We can't allow you to see us."
"I've already seen two of you! I know you're in here! Tell her!"
Again, no response.
Finally she felt someone touched the blindfold and untie it. As it was removed, she blinked her eyes a bit to adjust to lighting in the room. She immediately faced a really short girl with beautiful eyes and honey-colored hair. The two were engaged into a staring contest until a young girl with twin pigtails, touched the short girl's shoulder.
"That's enough now, Takamina." Their gaze broke and Rino saw seven girls surrounding her.
"Her name is Sashihara Rino, 20 years old. She lost her family when she was very young, so she's been able to survive on her own for a long time. She works at a fish market and sells her biggest fish to the wealthier people instead of eating her own catch."
"Quite a caring girl, aren't you?" a princess like girl with beautiful pale skin and raven black hair said. Another girl beside her, who looked vaguely similar to her, giggled.
"You got all of that just by looking at her?" spoke a girl with a cat like smile.
"She does more than that, Jurina. Takamina can look into a person's soul and learn everything about them."
"Uwa~ Stalker, much? I might have to learn that so I can stalk Rena-chan~!"
"Oh no, you won't!"
Everyone, except Rino, was laughing. Rino was the awkward silent girl who had no idea what's going on.
"HEY!!!! WHAT'S GOIN' ON HERE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"
Silent again. Rino sunk as she felt she was about to really be punished.
"Oh god... I did it now, didn't I? They're gonna get me. They're gonna spank me really hard and throw me into hell!!!"
"What? We wouldn't do that!"
"Eh? You can read my mind?!" she yelled to the pigtail girl behind her. "Who are you? WHAT are you? Angels?"
"Why should we tell you who we are?" Takamina said.
"Please! I'm sorry if I did anything to upset you. Just PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE forgive me!!!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAASSE!!!!!"
Her scream was so loud, everyone covered their ears. Suddenly, the raven girl glared at her and speeded up to her. She kicked her chair and made it topple over and she fell onto the ground. When Rino looked back to yell at her, she froze up as her eyes gave her this really intense dark glare.
"Uwa~ Yukirin's black character has come out again." Jurina said as she ran behind Rena. Rena concentrated on the chair and moved her hand to make it stand back up.
"Woah!"
"Yuki..."
"...Sorry," she said in a low voice.
"Well, Sashihara, it seems you know too much that we can't just let you go anymore. You'll have to go under our conditions. First off, we need you to remember us. You've already met Yuko and Mariko-sama. The emotionless girl with the pigtails is Mayuyu. The raven haired girl over there glaring at you is Yukirin, and her twin's name is Rena. The little cat girl clinging onto her is Jurina. And I'm Takamina."
"And ALL of you are angels? Wow! You're really angels!"
"Yes, and you grabbed that ring at the wrong time. We're currently in the time of the crusade."
"Crusade?"
"It's a time for all beings of our kind to fight. We each earn our position every year. We fight until the very end, and the last one standing takes the ring as the prize. This ring holds immense power, the power of the center."
"Center? The leader of the clan, basically. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry..."
"Well, because of your little mistake, you're now the center. We still don't know why the Fates chose you, but it's decided. You shall lead us, for now."
Takamina gave a smirk to the tied up girl and unleashed her sword. Rino screamed in fear, but instead of being killed, the short angel cut off all the ropes that suspended her to the chair.
"I will keep watch of you starting tomorrow, so you're free to go," she said.
"...Ah!" She immediately got up and bowed down. "Thank you! And bless you!" she said as she ran off.
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Somewhere hidden in the woods, there is a secret mansion invisible to most. The mansion of the Kami-7. On the rooftop, Mayuyu sits alone, staring up at the clouds blankly. A recognizable shorty flew down and stood beside her.
"Mayu... What's wrong?"
"Takamina... I failed."
"Hm?"
"Because of that idiot human, I... I failed at my chance for center."
"Mayu, you will have more chances."
"I wanted it to be now."
Takamina sat down and hugged the cyborg angel.
"You know, you're not exactly like us either. You're a robot. You were created with that desire from the start."
"But..."
"And you're very important to us..." Mayu was surprised by that statement and turned around, but was more shocked as the short angel suddenly kissed her lips. "And me." She parted and flew off to find the home of her new master, leaving the little cyborg in shock.
Sorry, TTLuver-san, I changed the horizontal line thing cuz it's a bit hard to see sometimes even with two, so I made itm ore solid.
Hehe~ Since I'm a collab author, I get to comment on this before anyone else~~ (slaps Shinoki) Well, yeah... I didn't really write most of it... just added like 3 words... literally... nod nod~ TTLuver-san's chapter~~
Ok... yeah... I get that it's shocking... shock... Mayuyu... Taka... New pairing... doki doki... nosebleed (too lazy to get emote)... yeah... Sasshi... LOL...
Well, I'm in charge of the next chapter~ until then! See you~~
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I like your fic... Me want it... :) :) :)
Waiting for your next update... :) :) :)
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Eh... Minami kissed Mayu...
Interesting....
What's going to happen next?
Can't wait
Thank you..
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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wow the kiss scene, interesting pair :cathappy:
good fic, it seems funny, and the pairings, seems will be like this one XD surprises :panic:
greetings!
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this chapter is so funny and cute :lol: :cathappy: :inlove:
yuki and rena being twins.... I love that idea :deco:
takamayu interesting new pairing, i want to see moar!!! :yep: :love:
thanx for the update :cow: :bow:
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Hrm... Well, I'm leaving the comment replies to TTluver-san this time around~~ Just saying~
Chapter 2! (Shinoki)
Second
As there is the realm of the Kami-7, there of course is also the exact opposite. That opposite is Hell, a place deeply separated from the humans and the heavens. Unlike the human realm, known as Midgard to those aware, Hell is made up of 4 territories, Sakae, Akiba, Namba, and Hakata.
Each territory has its group of devils, demons, or such beings, SKE for Sakae, AKB for Akiba, NMB for Namba, and HKT for Hakata. As the size of Hell is a number of times larger than the other realms, the idea of territory disputes never took off. Only during the Crusade period do the groups ever truly interact with each other at large scale.
Residents of Heaven and Midgard aim to attain center during the crusade. The residents of Heaven have the responsibility to protect their positions in Heaven as well as aiming for the center. As the residents of Hell have a close to zero chance of managing to get center, their main goal for the past years has been to drag others down to Hell and replace them.
Being the youngest and the smallest group, HKT’s dreams were large. They had the biggest chance of reaching heaven and of course, they had the largest dreams, to aim for heaven.
“Capt. How’s it going in Hell?” Two girls stood at the entrance of Hell, one had somewhat large ears and the other had a somewhat rounder face.
“Sakura, you don’t really have to ask do you? During the crusade period, the only evil devil of Hell stops with his hellish muchaburi and junk, so it’s all fine and well.” The girl addressed as Capt. replied. Unlike the other two, she had devil horns sticking out of her head and black feathery wings, resembling a raven.
“But HKT doesn’t want to come out just yet because if your wings and horns are seen, people with good sixth senses will throw rocks at you right?”
“Oh, Capt. What’re you doing? Sakura!! Rabu-nee-san~~ Yo! Mentaiko!” Suddenly, even though the conversation had yet to rocket off, another with horns and wings, the only half Russian in HKT suddenly jumped into the conversation and through the gate.
“It’s been some time hasn’t it?” The two that had more human appearances smiled. Other than the Crusade period, the girls left in Hell are unable to leave their realm.
“Hrm… So, shall gather everyone up and begin our battle?”
“Ok! Yosh! We’ll win it this year!” They all cheered enthusiastically.
“But you know… We should probably save the pep talk for when we’ve gathered everyone.” The one addressed as ‘Rabu-nee-san’, Ota Aika, pointed out the obvious, making the others stumble and fall dramatically.
“…Ah… well, let’s go gather Team HKT now.”
Sakura and Aika stepped into Hell dragging the Mentaiko girl along with them. Capt. led the way to Hakata’s main base and HKT’s battle of XX13 has officially started.
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While HKT is hesitant to go into Midgard without plans, AKB tends not to be so wary. As the largest and oldest faction, their ranks are spread throughout the realms, even the former ace was said to be from the AKB sector. Infighting to reach center and heaven does occur, but even if members from Hell come out, they won’t be attacked in most cases.
Strolling around, observing their surroundings, a somewhat foresty area, three girls with grey, feathery wings had taken up the challenge to rise up and win, even if it is only up to the human realm.
The shortest out of the three, Uchida, spoke up. “Shiichan, Myao, do you guys have any plans?”
In response, the others shook their heads. The second shortest, and the only one with black hair, Myao replied, “Truthfully, I’m not going to be staying around with you two because I want to find Ai-chan. She changed sides to HKT, but she managed to escape Hell last year, so I wasn’t able to meet her.”
“Eh… Well, Myao, let’s hope you can find her.” The tallest in the trio, Shiichan, encouraged her.
As the trio strolled along, not so far off was a duo that had separated themselves from NMB. They were considered elites outside of the gatekeepers of heaven and Kami-7; of course they were not stuck in Hell for the past year.
“Hey, Sayaka, do I see a few fallen angels from AKB over there?” A cute girl with long black hair poked her partner a few times to get her attention.
“Un… So, should we go after them?” The partner, Yamamoto Sayaka, had a somewhat protruding chin and short black hair. The cute girl, Watanabe Miyuki, nodded happily.
“Hey… Look at those two figures…”
“Hrm?”
“Are they charg- I mean run for your lives!!!!!!!!”
Upon seeing the duo charge towards them, Myao, being a slightly cowardly person, immediately ran off. Uchida used her power, turning Shiichan and herself into rocks. With the sudden-ness of the somewhat useless power, the rocks had somewhat strange shapes and there was a strange dent on top of Uchida-rock.
Reaching the two rocks, Miyuki stated with a shocked face. “Oh my god! Sayaka did your chin maim that poor rock!?”
Hearing Miyuki’s statement, Sayaka face palmed and retorted, “I can’t even make my chin do that even if I want to!”
Miyuki had an expression showing that she didn’t believe what her partner was saying. “…Is that so…?”
With a sigh, Sayaka naturally kicked the two rocks far away. Of course Shiichan and Uchida were both screaming out their lungs as they flew to who knows where. In rock form, one can’t die, but it’s probably painful. An elite kicking them would mean double the pain even if they are rocks at the moment. Chances are, Uchida and Shiichan were already half-knocked out of the competition.
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“…Huff….huff… What the heck… The Fates and the Heavenly Saints…must hate us…” The out-of-breath Myao grumbled and complained to no one in particular.
She had run all the way to some kind of run-down church and felt like she would never get anywhere. Just as she was feeling a bit down, she saw a human being coming out of the church. The human was yours truly, Sashihara Rino, the unlucky girl that was robbed and then somehow stuck with the ring of the center which was the goal of the crusade.
Upon seeing the shine of the ring, Myao’s wings perked up and she looked closely to see what was on the human’s hand. No matter how many times she looked at the ring and observed, it was definitely what everyone had been aiming for. Her choices were to ignore it and give up on center or to knock out the human and get the ring.
Logically, anyone involved in the Crusade would aim for the ring, thus, so did Myao. Immediately, she ran over to Sashihara.
“Eh!?” Noticing the grey wings that were different from the angels’, Sashihara was surprised.
“Sorry human, but I need that ring of yours.” Saying that, Myao attempted to take the ring from Sashihara.
“Eh!” Sashihara was a bit scared, or rather very scared. Myao found it impossible to take the ring, but luckily for Sashihara, she wasn’t the type to cut off someone’s hand just for that.
“Grr… Why can’t I take it off!!?” The fallen angel was frustrated.
“I’m sorry!! But I don’t know how to take it off either!”
“Grr… Se~no!! Tug! Tug!!”
“Ow!!” Rino yelps in pain.
“Stupid ring!!! Get off the human!!” Frustration is building up and Sashihara’s finger may be in danger of falling off.
“This is impossible!!” Sashihara wails.
“Nothing is impossible for Miyazaki Miho!” Myao continues pulling to no avail.
“It hurts!!!” Ignoring the noise, Myao continued to pull, but something interrupted her.
The gates of Hell suddenly opened and from the air came some kind of explosion. From Hell, HKT’s army was built up and ready to go into action. In the air, there was some kind of bird carrying three figures.
“…Ai-chan…” Myao’s attention goes towards the HKT members.
“Erm… Sorry, I think we should retreat unless we want to be annihilated before getting anywhere… Let them fight for us.” Seeing the situation, they retreated before anything started. Not wanting to do nothing, the half-Russian jumped, “Mentaiko!” before being dragged away again. Despite the fact that in truth Sashihara is likely the weakest person involved, the center is usually the strongest even if the appearance is lame.
“Wait, but this thing is a normal human…” Myao pointed to Sashihara as the gate closed, still not taking her hand off the ring.
“Or could it be those three?” Squinting to see what was up there, she could only see three girls wearing uniforms with dark red vests over the shirts. One of the girls seemed like a bird. Another one had a ponytail and the last one looked like a guy. Looking closely at the badges worn with the uniform, she suddenly realized. The three were part of SKE48’s main force, the one that’s already encroaching on heaven.
Another explosion came down from the bird. “Why me!!?” Sashihara was terrified, at least the Kami-7 didn’t attack her with weird explosions or try to pull off her finger.
Not caring that Myao was down there as well, the bird swoop down and grabbed Sashihara. “Gyaaa!!! Save me!!!” Both of them screamed at the same time. In Myao’s case, she didn’t want to fall down and die, though in truth she did have wings. In Sashihara’s case, she didn’t want to fall down and die, but also, her finger was important to her.
“…Don’t let me fall!” Myao grabbed Sashihara’s waist as she glared at Sashihara.
“I don’t want to die now! I haven’t fulfilled my dreams yet!” RIno cried.
“Neither have I!!”
“I don’t wanna die yet!!”
“I wanna be center!!”
“So scary!!”
“The Fates and Saints and whatever hate me!!”
“I think so too!!”
With all the noise, it was quite obvious that the SKE team was somewhat annoyed. When riding a bird, it’s best to hold on just in case, meaning that plugging your ears is impossible. Seeing as there’s two of them, it was louder than just plain old Sashihara. Hopefully, Sashihara wouldn’t be labeled as a weirdo that screams very loudly for no reason as normal people can’t see the angels and whatnot.
“Shut up…” One of the bird-members muttered, but it went completely unnoticed by the two screaming idiots.
“…Well, Churi, it can’t be helped if that thing with the ring was a human.” The member that looked like a guy replied.
“…But Papi is getting a headache from listening to them…” Churi explained that her bird was getting a headache.
“…Let’s give Papi a massage once we’re done then.” The ponytail girl gave a caring smile to Churi.
As the short conversation between the bird-members went through, the two were still screaming their heads off. In a way, their lung capacity could be considered quite amazing. From Heaven, the two could be faintly heard, though angels do have more awareness than normal people.
In a flash, the short angel, Takamina, appeared. Upon seeing her, the bird-team immediately directed Papi to fly away at high speed, but with the extra weight, the bird couldn’t fly as quickly as possible. Rather, it was amazing that it could even fly that quickly seeing how it looked somewhat like a parrot whose size was increased by a lot.
“Sashihara… How can you get in such a big mess already?” Takamina mumbled to herself, before speeding off after the bird.
“Ne~ Churi, Takamina the Kami-7 member is chasing behind us.”
“We won’t lose to that angel with our powers combined, she’s not that powerful.”
“…Okay.” The ponytail girl seemed a bit unsure.
Takamina quickly got to the bird, making Myao a bit shocked. She ran away from the two NMB rogues because she was scared, but somehow ended up in this situation. Without giving much heed, Takamina said to her. “Miho, you have wings you know…”
Finally realizing, Myao detached herself from Sashihara and tried to fly away, but Takamina grabbed her by the collar, not letting her go. “Hey, once I get them to drop Sashihara, make sure she doesn’t die… Or else you might have to suffer a little while even though I’m not like Yuki…”
“…H-ai…” Myao stutters.
Hearing Myao’s reply, Takamina flew right in front of Papi and got in the way every time they tried to move aside. Churi frowned and the masculine girl got ready to fight. “I don’t want to fight you girls, but unless you drop that human, I may have to hurt someone.”
“I doubt you could beat all three of us.”
Takamina smirked, “Well, what about your bird?”
A grim look appeared on Churi’s face. When her birds die, she can’t revive them until after the Crusade period ends and of course, that would be a very sad and long time without them.
“So… Have you decided?”
“Churi… It’s ok… Just drop the human, we still have a lot of time to get the ring… Your birds are important.” The ponytail girl put her hand on Churi’s shoulder and whispered to her reassuringly.
“Hrmph… You win this time, but don’t think you’ll win next time! We’ll be back!” Churi pouted after saying the typical villain lines and told Papi, “Papi, you can drop her now…” Right afterwards, they flew off.
Somehow, Myao managed to catch Sashihara before she fell to her death. Either way, Rino was scared to death; she broke out in a cold sweat. Myao handed Sashihara to Takamina and they flew down to the ground where Sashihara would probably feel safer.
“Hey… Sashihara… You should call for help from us if you’re in that type of situation… It’ll probably happen a lot... It would be horrible if that ring was lost just like that… Protecting it is considerably easier than getting it back…”
“Eh... Ok…” Rino nodded.
Slowly, slowly, as Takamina told Rino about how it would be for the Crusade period, Myao tried to sneak away. Noticing, Takamina shot a glance towards her, but she immediately opened a gate into Hell and ran into it. “Don’t come chasing after me you jerks!!” She yelled, but then…
“Gyaa!” She saw something scary and fell over before closing the gate.
-------------
“Rabu-nee-san, how come we decided to take a detour there?” The half-Russian asks.
“…Well… That’s because, I have a few problems with the fallen angel there… And also, we’d be killed quite easily if we attacked the center without any plans… Though it looks like that one really was a normal human… If it was, the Kami-7 would come though… Murashige, don’t think too much about it… After all, we’ll definitely win this.” She smirks.
“Hai!”
Too lazy to explain things~ but there are other beings in this game as well~~ Hehe~ Sorry people, if you guys don't know the HKT lolis and some of the less popular members~~
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Sashi is bring chased around because of the ring...
What kind of trouble she is going to get into?
Would she be able to be a centre?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Lol, I love this chapter! XD :lol: :lol:
I love how you put other HKT members into this fic, although I didn't expect you would put them as demons..
My, my.. Sasshi and Myao fighting over the ring was hilarious!! :lol: :lol:
“…Don’t let me fall!” Myao grabbed Sashihara’s waist as she glared at Sashihara.
“I don’t want to die now! I haven’t fulfilled my dreams yet!” RIno cried.
“Neither have I!!”
“I don’t wanna die yet!!”
“I wanna be center!!”
“So scary!!”
“The Fates and Saints and whatever hate me!!”
“I think so too!!”
*imagining them yelling like that sarcastically* lol...
Please keep up the good updates :D I'll be waiting!!
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Nice!!! You guys don't disappoint. I still can't believe this came out from the funniest drabble. Just a question though. The only one who I wasn't able to guess was the ponytail girl from SKE. The two others were definitely Churi and Nishishi. If we put it using Captaincy, she would be from E, but Rena is E Captain. If she's Madoka, doesn't Madoka have short hair now?
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Comment replies later. Chapter 3 (TTLuver + Shinoki)
Third
Rino was sleeping peacefully when she suddenly awoke to the sound of sizzling. She sniffed the air and smelled a familiar scent she hadn't sensed in years. She slowly opened her eyes and found a familiar midget cooking something at the stove. As she slowly got up, she recognized all the ingredients on the counter and knew exactly what was happening.
Takamina was fixing her breakfast. And not only that, but her favorite breakfast. The same omelet rice that her mom used to cook for her when she was little.
"T-Takamina-san... Why are you..?"
"It's almost ready, so hurry and get up."
"But.. how did you know how to--?"
"Your necklace." she pointed to the cute golden accessory on her neck. "The moment I touched it, I was able to see all of your mother's memories. I got the recipe in my head, so I decided to make it for you."
Rino stared at how beautifully she cooked it and the color was so perfect, it brought back memories.
"Takamina-san, you.. you got it exact!"
"Drop the '-san.' Just call me Takamina, Sasshi."
"S-Sasshi?" How did she know that nickname?!
No one had called her Sasshi except for her mom. Did Takamina accidentally pick up that memory, too?
"Ah! Sorry. I accidentally heard that. Your mother always called you that before she... right?"
"...Y-yeah..." Rino shook her head and grabbed her arm. "Wait, what are you doing here in the first place?! People are gonna think I'm weird if they notice something!"
"Don't worry, they won't."
The door slammed open and some girls walked in with big smiles on their faces.
"Oh my god, Sashihara-san!"
"That smells good! Can we have a bite?"
"Uhh... Uh, yeah. Sure. Just, uhh... hold on a minute..." She suddenly panicked and had to rush through. It wasn't the first time she's cooked, but she had to make herself look good, so she tried adding a few spices, but...
"No, no, no! You're making it too hot!"
"Eh?!"
"I already put some spices in and the chicken is already good enough, but now you're making it too hot! You're gonna make them breathe fire!!!"
"Ahh!!! Wait, wait, wait..."
She picked up the frying pan and tried to cool it off, while searching for something to get rid of the spiciness.
"No! Don't take it off! The temperature was perfect, you can't let it get cold."
"Ahhhh!!! Wait!! Woahowoahwoahwoah... Waahhh!!!"
"Sashihara-san, everything okay?"
"Mou~ this won't do... Kiss the ring."
"Huh?!"
"Kiss the ruby on the ring, Sasshi."
"Hey, Sashihara, you okay? Something wrong?"
"Eh~...?"
Panicked, she quickly kissed the ring and that was when something happened. Her senses suddenly heightened everything around her and could smell the most amazing, strong odors. She quickly ran to the cabinet and found old containers of the same spices her mom used to use in her cooking.
"Perfect!"
She quickly got them out and mixed in everything at the right order until she finished and took a small taste.
"Mm! Wow! There are even BETTER than from before."
"That's one of the rings abilities. In can increase your natural senses by a thousand, making you able to see smells, feels sounds, and sense more than a human can."
"Uwaa~ That looks awesome!!!"
She finally set it out and even drew a bit with the ketchup, and it looked good. Not perfect, but still good. They each slowly took a spoonful and popped in into their mouths...
"Mm! Mm~ Oishii!!!"
"It's better than I thought. The egg's a little burnt, but the spices and the smoky flavor of the chicken mixes well with it."
"Where did you learn how to make this?"
"Oh! Uhh, it's my mom's recipe."
The girls were laughing and talking, and finally Rino felt she actually made friends. Takamina was smiling in the back, completely unnoticed by the other girls. She was thinking of something.
"We'd better start now. Who knows when they'll come back.”
---------------------------------
Rino was being pulled by the hand by Takamina somewhere in the forest she hadn't seen yet.
"Takamina! Where are we going?!"
She kept silent until Rino heard the shouts and screams of a nonsense battle, followed by the sound of clashing swords. They finally reached an abandoned camp site with five girls battling each other.
It was amazing to see them up close, but they looked a bit weird. One girl had cat ears and a tail, another one didn't look too happy to be a part of the whole situation, and there was one you couldn't even tell was a boy or a girl.
"O~I! Guys! Can we calm it down for a bit?"
The cat girl popped her head and smiled when she saw her.
"Ah~ Takamina!"
Everyone stopped and rushed towards Takamina.
"Takamina, what are you doing?" the boyish girl said.
"We were just practicin'," the girl with what seemed like a Kansai accent said.
"Who's... that?" the unpleased looking girl asked.
"She's my new friend. Her name is Sasshi."
"Huh? What kind of name is that?" the rebel girl with a tiger tooth said.
"Now, now, Tomochin. Be nice. But, really, Takamina, why is she here?"
"Take a good look." She raised up Rino's hand in front of them and they instantly saw the ring.
Their eyes widened in shock as they came in contact with the shining red jewel.
"EH?!"
"Why is THAT on HER?!"
"You gotta be kiddin'. How'd she get her greasy little hands on our ring?"
Rino pulled her hand away in disgust.
"Hey! My hands are only greasy because I just ate omelet rice."
"Yuihan, can you calm down? She's... kinda cute."
"Eh? Uhh... th-thanks... uhh... Oh gosh, I don't know your name... You're so... i-i-ikemen..."
Suddenly, the girls started laughing over the little comment, making Rino blush.
"Hey, uhh, Sushi, was it? Sae-chan's a girl."
"My name is Sashi-EH?! Wait, what?!"
"Sae. Is. A. Girl."
Rino took another look at the boyish figure and realized her mistake. Her face turned tomato red and she sunk to the ground, crouched into a little ball.
"Yeah~ People get that impression from me a lot, so I don't worry about it."
Rino felt so embarrassed, she just wanted to rip off the ring along with her finger and disappear. Takamina leaned down and rubbed her back to calm her down.
"Don't worry. What's done is done. Anyways, it's time to get to training!"
Rino got up and seemed to be fine now.
"What? Training?"
"You're training with them," she said pointing to the five girls in front of her. "Sae's in charge of hand-to-hand combat, Tomochin uses traditional ninja work, Haruna works with swords, and Yui, and her little sister, Paru, take care of archery."
"Yui-san and Paru-san are sisters? But..." She walked up closer to examine them more. Yui seemed to have hot Kansai blood, while Paru was a sort of salty character, clinging onto her arm and hiding behind her back. "They're NOTHING alike."
"Well, Yuki and Rena ain't blood related, but we still consider 'em twins."
"Y-Yuihan..."
"Ah~ I wonder what she's doing now. Yukirin." Sae giggled to herself and everyone went silent. It was no secret Sae had a... thing for Yuki.
"Well, anyways, let's get started. Sae and Tomochin, you're up first."
The three girls positions themselves on the battlefield. Sae was dressed in a boyish, purple gee and Tomochin was wearing a stylish, self-accessorized red gee. Sasshi was only wearing a white gee, and was shaking inside. She doesn't know how to actually fight.
“Just remember, Sasshi. Kiss the ring and you're power will increase."
"Hey, Takamina! No helping!"
Takamina smirked and turned away. Sae gripped her fists and rushed towards Rino at lightning speed. Rino took several punches at her arms, protecting herself. She took her one hand out and tried to hit her, but it was a fierce battle between the two. Sae suddenly grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm backwards, rubbing at her soft skin.
Tomochin sprinted up and gave a hard punch to Rino's stomach. Rino saw her chance, and wrapped one of her legs around Tomochin's and tripped her. Her other kicked her straight in her face and caused the other to swing back and kick Sae's leg.
She was released and Rino swung her arm around and karate chopped Sae in the back of the neck. Sae passed out instantly and fell to the ground.
"Woah... Ring or not, you're really strong."
Rino chuckled under her breath. "Let's just say, I've learned how to survive on my own for a long, LONG, time."
Tomochin wiped the blood off the side of her mouth and charged at her again. “Even if you’ve been able to do that… We’ve been alive for longer than you!!!” Taking advantage of the second that it took for Rino to get back into action, she slammed her forehead into Rino’s as she punched the girl in the stomach.
“Urk.” Rino fell to the ground.
“Even if I don’t look like it, I can do things like that.” Tomochin smiled.
“Don’t let your guard down just yet.”
Rino got up on her feet again, with a bit of help from the ring, and charged. Rather than head-butting Tomochin’s head, she aimed towards the stomach area. The impact threw Tomochin off balance which allowed Rino to pin her down since Sae was already out.
Clap. Clap. “Sasshi, you’re surprisingly good at this.” Takamina signaled the end of the practice match. Seeing how useless Sasshi was against Myao and the bird squad, being able to defeat Tomochin and Sae in a light spar is amazing, even with a power up from the ring.
“…Well…”
“Haha, even though you can’t win against a regular burglar when fighting for your money, somehow-” Takamina laughed as she recalls what she had accidently seen.
“Bakamina!!! I’m not that weak!!” Tomochin, having gotten out of Rino’s hold, jumped up and tackled Takamina. Insulting this girl was a very bad idea, even if it’s an indirect insult.
The salty character, Paru, looked away somewhat uninterested. Her sister Yui, who was not acting like the hot-blooded Kansai character that Sasshi had in mind, also seemed somewhat uninterested, though she did observe closely. Noting the sisters’ reactions, Haruna was… spacing out.
“Hey, why don’t we take a break now?”
“Now?” Haruna tilted her head in confusion.
Unlike Rino, who was still a normal human, the others were angels or heavenly beings at the time being, other than Takamina, they were the ones that needed to protect their position in heaven the most, thus the gatekeepers as they needed to keep others out as well. That meaning, they were capable.
“Well, unlike us, the ring will cause a large burden on a human.” Takamina pointed to Rino.
Seeing how Sasshi was lying around, acting like a dead person due to using the ring, they all smiled. Suddenly, Sasshi rolled around, causing all of them to burst out into laughter.
In Takamina’s case, she fell down from laughing too hard, in a somewhat fail position. Of course, Sae was up again, but she died again due to laughter.
“Takamina-san… I mean, Takamina… why didn’t you tell me beforehand…” Rino moaned.
“Sorry about that… Pfft… Haha! You look like a zombie!”
“Mou…”
---------------------------------
“Fishing~ Fishing~ Ne~ What do you think about Akarin?” A black haired girl approached one of the AKB members. The AKB member was tied up and obviously intimidated. Akarin, was she a human? A devil? A fallen angel? At the moment, she had not revealed what she was.
“…Urk…”
“Is Akarin cute?” Akarin looked at the AKB member with puppy eyes.
“Guh… Akarin is really cute…” Somehow mesmerized, the AKB member was fished.
“Thank you!” Despite being a somewhat intimidating figure, she jumped up and down in joy and hugged the still tied up AKB member.
As Akarin finished up, two of the girls on the bird, the ponytail and Churi, walked over. Churi, like always, was bird-like and at the moment had her pet parrot perched on her shoulder. The ponytail girl smiled and said.
“Akari, you scared that girl…” The ponytail girl pointed to the AKB member.
“…Is that so?” A slightly sadistic look appeared on the fisher’s face, but her eyes were sparkling.
“…”
“…”
For some unknown reason, the two girls started to stare at each other. As the seconds passed, it became a staring contest, though quite awkward as Crusade time is a once a year opportunity.
“Airi, Akari, come on, Nishishi has a meeting planned.” Churi lightly chopped the two on the head and started to drag Airi along as Akari followed.
“Of course… Let’s see what Nishishi has planned for now.”
---------------------------------
Takamina was cooking some fish that she caught for the girls, and everyone was gobbling down on how good it was. While everyone was eating and chatting with each other, Rino was looking around at everyone. Her food was nowhere near touched, like she didn't seem to want it.
Yui noticed this and glared at her.
"What're you lookin' at?"
"Ah! S-s-s-sorry!!! It's just... I was curious."
Sae took a big bite out of her fish and chewed while continuing to talk.
"Chumionsh mobot fwhan?"
"Huh?"
"Sae-chan. Eat your food, then talk. You'll get choked," Tomochin said.
Sae gulped down her fish, and coughed a bit.
"..Ahem, curious about what?"
"Uh, I just thought, y'know, I'd get to know everyone better."
"Well, let's tell you this then. Haruna may be spacey all the time, but she's actually lazy and SUPER bossy."
Haruna, who was spacing out, popped back and brought her attention to them.
"Eh? What?" she asked innocently.
"You never go get things yourself. You always ask ME to do it for you," said Tomo.
"And, she's a total tsundere," Yui said.
"It's quite scary..." Paru whispered behind Yui's back.
"But, I'm really jealous of her. She's so beautiful and composed, she's like a model. A flawless goddess!" Sae cheerfully barked.
Haruna was blushing a bit at that statement, causing everyone to giggle. Then, Sae suddenly popped up from her seat, shouting.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
"What's wrong?"
"What time is it?!"
"Eh?" Rino looked down at her watch. "Almost 2:00."
"Ah! I'm late!!!" She put her dishes up and sprinted out of the woods, leaving everyone in a daze.
"What was THAT about?"
"Sae always does this. Every something months, on a certain day at 2:00 P.M., she'll run off somewhere and won't come back for a while."
"Why?"
Everyone looked at each other, which most likely meant no one knew.
"...Is there anything about Sae that might give you a clue?"
"Well, she likes to flirt with everyone, especially her best friend, Yuki, but... normal humans can't see angels."
"'Normal' humans?"
"Well, if there are people who can communicate with the dead or have a special heritage in their family, they might be able to. People with psychic powers also tend to see us and talk to us. YOU were able to see us when you got that ring stuck on you."
"There's NO way Sae could be friends with a human... right?"
Everything went silent, then there was an explosion from just a few feet away.
"Kyaa!"
“What’s that!?”
Sasshi pointed up to a flying spaceship like object, somewhat small, but still something that looks like it came out of some kind of science fiction story, without a roof that is. Piloting the ship was the one and only, Akarin, Suda Akari. SKE’s faction had all kinds of characters, meaning something like a spaceship was nothing too abnormal in the Crusade. Of course Rino was shocked.
Mentally, Takamina commanded that Sasshi stay out of the way as the ring drained her energy quite a bit.
“Yui, Paru, take care of long range operations. Try shooting them down. Even if we have wings, they have an advantage on that ship. Haruna and I should focus on attacking in both long range and short range. Tomochin, try to keep Sasshi from getting into trouble.”
“Hai!” They all replied in unison to Takamina’s orders. The unity of those that managed to get into heaven is quite good as they tend to fight with each other less.
On the ship, there was a short strategic chat as well.
”There are probably going to win if the fight drags out, so what course of action should we take?” The bird girl, Churi, asked.
“Place top priority to getting the ring and taking down the weaker ones.” The masculine girl, Nakanishi Yuka, was taking command for this task. Churi and Airi nodded. Akari did as well, but she snuck in a question.
“Nishishi, is Akarin cute?”
“Yeah.” Nakanishi honestly answered.
“Can we rely on Akarin’s powers to do most of the work, or should Churi and I get down there?”
“We can rely on Da~su.” Nakanishi replied, referring to Suda Akari as Da~su(Darth).
“Is Akarin the cutest out of everyone here?”
“Yeah.” But sadly for Akarin, she ended up getting cut off right afterwards as her questions were irrelevant to what was going on. Then, they started getting into action.
Without much care, multiple explosives of different magnitudes were dropped. That slightly burnt the camp site that the girls were using as a training grounds and for other things. As for Sasshi, she screamed.
Doing their job, Yui and Paru immediately started up. The Kyoto-ish girl formed a bow and arrow out of nothing, showing that she was not a plain old human, but someone more or less supernatural. Not too slowly pulling back the string, she accurately shot the arrow. The salty one in the pair added on a bit more firepower to what was shot, a deathly combination if the arrow manages to hit correctly. Though it wasn’t one of the more impressive of their combinations.
Just as Sasshi thought, salty indeed, in a literal way. “Seriously?”
“I guess I should be on the defensive side…” Airi muttered to herself as she immediately set up a shield in a matter of seconds. As the arrow reached, crack. Both sides cracked. The shield was covered in a layer of crystalized salt and then broken to many tiny pieces which luckily, disappeared.
Still, Akarin was being somewhat trigger happy, though it seemed to be more of a autodrive function dropping the explosions.
“I’ll just fish you right up~” The fisher smirked as she swung down a fishing rod which hooked onto Sasshi.
“Tch.” Noticing the string, Tomochin immediately cut through it, remembering her role.
“Wah!” Rino yelped in surprise, annoying Tomochin.
“Listen, Sasshi, you’ve got to at least try to keep yourself safe.” She growled.
“…Uh… Hai.”
“OORYAAA!!” Takamina charged into the sky, with Haruna on her back. With an extremely stable flight system carrying her, Haruna swung down her sword which she had kept away. Slash! A crack appeared in the ship.
“…Hehe…The stupid little flying fish took the bait…”
Suddenly, a flash of purplish light came through. The sound of chains and metal crackled in the air for a split second. In that second, being a Kami-7 member, Takamina realized, but she realized too late.
“Move aside!!”
“Takamina!!”
A chain, some kind of hook at the end tore straight through the short angel’s shoulder. If it had hit exactly, it would have done even worse. Red blood splattered out of the injury and despite the fact that normal she would still be able to fly, Takamina suddenly dropped down.
Luckily, Haruna managed to create a safe landing for both of them, but she was barely an aerial attacker or an expert at healing wounds that she didn’t understand.
“…Ah… Takamina…” Rino trembled at the sight and nearly fainted.
I’m ok… I think…
“Takamina, you are definitely not ok!”
“Sashihara.” Tomochin glared at the hetare girl that somehow got wrapped up in all this.
To them, being injured during the crusade wasn’t exactly rare. But for a Kami-7 ranked member to get injured to this extent so early on in the game meant that those SKE girls were a bigger threat than before.
“Nishishi, what did Akari put onto that thing to make Takamina be unable to fly?” Even SKE’s crew themselves were clueless.
“Poison, of course.”
“Haa… So evil in a way...”
“Nothing wrong with it… Why don’t we take them all down… So easy~”
“Don’t get too overconfident so quickly.” Nakanishi ended the conversation.
Somewhat agitated that their friendly midget was injured, Yuihan rapidly fired. Like before, supporting her was Paru, but their time around, there was something a bit different. Fight fire with fire. Fight explosions with explosions. Fight poison with poison.
Coating and upgrading their ammunition, quickly the basic shields were broken through, but Airi wasn’t losing. Her power wasn’t shields, it was something more enigmatic. Quickly creating several Chibi Airin and Churi copies, she started to attack as well. Even the tiny copies were well shielded.
“Yui! Should I go on offense as well?” Paru asked her serious sister with a rare worried look.
“…” Silence was her answer.
As Haruna was trying to remove the hook and still, Tomochin had to keep an eye on the useless Sasshi, the sisters were the only ones attacking back. Without getting close to the opponent, Haruna was mainly useless without support.
“Yui…”
“Try one more attack and if it doesn’t work, retreat.”
“…I agree with Yuihan there… We don’t know what they have up their sleeves, so we have to play safe for now…” Takamina added to convince the group, but with that pained look on her face, it was hard to say whether or not this short angel was convincing or not.
“…This is the last attack for now…” Once again, Yui got into position to shoot.
“Purifying salt…?”
An even larger, seemingly stronger, and saltier attack appeared, but didn’t managed to cause any critical damage. With a hunk of the ship destroyed, it seemed like a good thing. Who would have expected that, the ship would regenerate right away. A massive bombardment of the attack could create a miracle, but that was impossible at this point.
“…Retreat…”
“No, you can’t retreat just yet, after all, Akarin is super cute. Don’t try to run away~” Akarin smirked.
Before anyone could do anything… They were trapped… Trapped in the fishing net of SKE’s strongest fisher, Suda Akari.
Yui growled and cursed to them as she punched the ground. Rino was struggling to get out, but that only made it worse.
"Mou~~~..." She looked at her weakened partners and looked up to the sky, praying.
"Sae-san, I don't know where you are or what you're doing, but please hurry!!!"
---------------------------------
Sae was running as fast as she could, but not where anyone thought she was. She ran down a different road and was at a neighboring village near Rino's. In the crowd of people, Sae got her way through and started searching everywhere. Unfortunately, there was no sign of her.
The girl she was looking for.
“Mou~ please don't tell me she's doing abroad work again..."
"Kyaa!"
She then heard a scream and saw a little girl drowning in the river. She was helping her family get their water supply and fell into the harsh, cold water.
"Someone, save my daughter!"
"Oh man..."
Sae was about to run over to save the girl, until....
"Hey, I got you!" A voice came from behind and she saw a female figure run past her, without knowing her existence, and dived in to save the girl.
A smile was painted on Sae's face. That brave, strong girl. She was who she was looking for.
hikari_043083: Thanks~ well, about that ponytail girl... Airin, well, Chibi Airin always has a ponytail... so using the old description of that safe and sound hentai... heehee
Cometerx48: Sorry for the wait!
cisda83: Well, this chapter brings in a lot more
Everyone: Well, I guess I'll be in charge of posting the chapters and writing comment replies?? Who knows, and hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope the next can be written ASAP.
Next chapter... Well, I have no idea just yet... Most of this chapter was TTluver-san's work, me: just wrote a bit of fight scene
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Oh... Akb has problem dealing with Ske
What's going to happen in the fight?
Who is the one that sae looking for?
What other problems akb going to get?
Can't wait
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
From TTluver-san (comment replies): I hope you guys are getting excited. But, please don't kill me the next chapter. I've got something saved up, so please, forgive me-ow~ :heart:
(This time around, I still barely did anything, just a bit of the fight scenes of SKE vs Heaven squad plus Sasshi... Wawawawa.... TTluver-san is amazing... nod nod...)
Fourth
The beautiful, long haired girl rose up from the water, carrying the little child and placing her safely on the ground. She coughed up some water and brushed her hair back, catching her breath.
"You okay?"
The child was stunned seeing her. She was so big and strong for a girl, and she was beautiful, like a goddess.
"Y-yes..."
The mother came and hugged her child tightly.
"Oh, thank you, Akimoto-san! I don't know what would've happened without you."
The girl named Akimoto smiled and got up.
"Hey, no prob."
In the crowd, Sae was smiling as she watched the girl stretch her arms and wringed out the water in her hair. She could hear everyone whispering about her.
"Uwaa~ As expected from Akimoto."
"I know. She's Fernadez Lui's daughter. Apparently, he gave her up for adoption after her birth mom's death."
"Well, she definitely holds the hot blood of an Akimoto."
She started walking off, trying to wring the rest of water out of her dress. Sae was overjoyed and ran over to hug her.
"Sayaka!!!" However, when she was about to grab her, she passed right by her, not noticing her the slightest. Sae turned back, her smile disappeared from her face. She said to herself outloud. "Remember, Sae, Sayaka can't see you anymore."
------------------------------------
“Too bad, you’ve lost.”
Akari smirked and she eyed the girls trapped in her net. Still, Takamina was badly injured and now she was breathing heavily in pain. Haruna was worriedly trying to help her friend and Tomochin was angrily trying to attack Akari. Yui was the only thing holding back the fierce tiger. Paru, it was hard to say how she was reacting, salty or not, it didn’t matter in this situation.
Of course, the girls were being held at a gun point. Actually at many weapon’s points, but the way of saying such things does not matter.
Sashihara, being the type of person she was, she was trembling in fear. It’s not as if anyone was being purely evil, killing for enjoyment, only for the ring, but Akari couldn’t help but show her dark side a tiny bit.
“…Ne~ I’m going to take the ring, so if you don’t want to die, just peacefully hand it over.”
“I can’t…” Rino mumbled the truth.
Even if she tried, it was unlikely to get off. Seeing how it was, not bothering to try to remove it, Akari, pointed a fishing rod at Sasshi. Before she could even sort out her thoughts, it turned into something like a weapon, somewhat like a fencing sword.
“Sorry~ But I’ll probably have to remove you from this world if you won’t comply~”
Akarin was just taking a few precautions, just in case. Even the weaklings can somehow turn things around, though normally, those who got into the Heaven weren’t that weak.
“…Kuh…” The others could do nothing more than stay back and watch.
“Let go of me and let me go beat that girl to pulp!” Tomochin was furious. It wasn’t as if Yuihan wanted to let Sasshi die, even if there was nothing between them.
"…Don’t just lose like that! Sasshi…"
“…Tch.”
"Am I just going to die now?"
Rino clenched her eyes closed, waiting for the worst to come.
*SLASH*
"Eh?"
Sasshi looked up and saw two angels, creating a strong barrier to protect her.
“Takamidget! You can’t just let some SKE girl grab the ring just like that!” The one with a squirrely grin.
“Takamina, don’t mess up like this and make up come rescue you too many times…” The cyborg who aims for center.
Only two of Takamina’s comrades appeared, but they were strong enough. Seeing the two appear, the midget smiled despite the pain. Her friend in shortness, Yuko, had insulted her, but it wasn’t the time to ponder on that. Her body felt numb and hurt at the same time, but for now she couldn’t be caring too much about her own condition.
Akarin frowned. To be interrupted at the climax was a bit sad, taking away all the attention from her.
“…Don’t interfere.” She scowled.
Sasshi trembled in fear, whimpering. Even though the attention wasn’t on her at the moment, the atmosphere was strangling her as well as the premonition of her death.
“Well, we’re not interfering, since you girls kidnapped our friends.”
“…The Crusade period is meant to be like that… There are no rules, and the ones that do exist have long been broken.” She continues to frown.
The cool cyborg and the squirrel like angel were unfazed by Akarin’s words. They charged. Not truly showing their full potential, the two take out swords. Even if they weren’t supposed to underestimate the enemy, doing so was natural when those two were close to the top.
"Don’t go charging in without thinking!" Ironic enough that she already did.
Takamina spoke up a bit too late, it was starting to really hurt when she talked into minds. But it hurt even more when she did so like a normal person, moving her mouth.
“Kuh…” Takamina started to cough up blood and spasm, worrying the others even more. Haruna hurriedly tried to help to no avail. It was poison after all, and if it affected a Kami-7, it would probably be very strong and extremely hard to treat without the exact knowledge.
Slice. A small cut was made in Mayu’s cheek. Smart, intelligent, and somewhat like a black hole, pulling people in, the fisher Akarin, her plans almost never went too badly. The poison used on Takamina may have only been useful towards supernatural beings, but just because she was about to use the sword on Sasshi didn’t mean there were no precautions.
Akarin smirked.
“…I’m a cyborg…” The effects of the poison weren’t settling in correctly. With only that amount of contact, a runner up for center who just also happens to be a cyborg would not be all that hurt. In truth, the main problem might actually just be that her face got injured.
“…Yosh!” With a squirrel like agility, Yuko attacked from behind.
“…It’s unfair if it’s so many against one…” Akarin frowned once again as she blocked Yuko’s attack, using the hilt of her sword to jab the short angel in the gut.
Suda Akari always has control over her own things. To accommodate the fighting, the net, which was ripped due to the two angels coming in, transformed into a fighting ring connected to the flying ship. Her partners, at least, Churi and Airin came down to aid her in the fight.
“…Grr… Yui… Let me go or else…” Tomochin glared at Yuihan who was still holding her back. Seeing the turn of events, the Kyoto girl let go, only to accidently cause the fang, Tomochin, trip.
Mayu and Yuko attacked at the same time, from the front and the back. The flexible Akarin managed to get out quite easily though. “…Don’t go around attacking so half-heartedly or else you might die…” She showed a dark glint in her eyes. As of now, Akarin was in phase one of her dark mode, though it was only personality at the moment.
“Don’t talk in a battle!” Yuko yelled out her improvised battle cry and attacked again.
“...” A bit silently, so did Mayu.
Slice. This time, Mayu sliced at Akarin’s face. It was a bad idea, to make Akari mad this way. Snap. “…Kuh… Hehe…” Akarin chuckled under her breath in a scary way. During that moment, Tomochin attacked; a bad idea. Grabbing Tomochin’s wrist, she twisted it to an unnatural angle. Even though Akarin wasn’t exactly acknowledging Tomochin’s existence, her grip was extremely tight.
Tomochin was trying to wrangle herself free. Taking the chance, Mayu attacked again, with a bit of extra power from Yuko.
“…Yui… Let’s go… Cross our hearts and hope not to kill…”
“…Just injuring them a bit is fine…”
With the turn of events, though seemingly a bit too simple, Paru was acting salty as always and Yui was just how she was, getting her weapon ready. The Furuyanagi duo, Churi and Airin, were also readying their weapons. Strangely enough, they weren’t really weapons, but then again, it wasn’t as if everyone was always just physical attack based.
In Airin’s hands were a pen and a sketchpad of some sort. Churi had a parrot perched on her shoulder and a camera in her hand. Just like the YuiParu combi, they were somewhat confident. As well, they had a short dialogue that included weird topics.
“…Kuh…” Tomochin had gotten free of Akarin. Her wrist was swollen quite badly, but it would probably heal.
“…Akarin is really mad you know…”
Mayu and Yuko managed to cut Akarin’s side. As the fisher held her side to stop the bleeding, Tomochin charged and got her revenge by headbutting Akari. Three against one was a kind of one sided battle, but suddenly, a bird swoop by and grabbed Akarin, bringing her to her comrades’ side.
Airin quickly scribbled into her sketchpad. Poof. A large number of chibi copies popped up again. Yui and Paru shot the majority of them down, or rather encased them in salt crystal, but there were a bit too many. Tomochin punched a few of them down, not really keeping to her description. The cyborg and squirrel cut the Chibi Airin down, but they kept on multiplying. It wasn’t as if those Chibi Airin were meant to be combat-useful at the moment.
“Don’t be a coward!” Yuko managed to get through for a moment and clashed swords with Suda. Akari kicked Yuko, skewing off the squirrel's balance slightly.
Tilt, tilt, creak. There were just too many Chibi Airin. The large amount was actually making the platform wobble, throwing the somewhat short squirrel who was off balance, off the platform. Luckily, she had wings, so Yuko flew back on. OR at least she tried. There was a barrier preventing her from getting back on. That left her only able to watch things go on.
Overrunning their other opponents with the massive amount of Chibi Airin, the Furuyanagi duo took charge and retreated, even though Akari wanted to keep on going. Using their wings, they flew off, back up to the main ship. Churi summoned another bird and it cut off all the support for the fighting ring.
By the laws of gravity, the fighting ring fell. And Yuko dived after it.
“GYAAAA!!!” Sasshi screamed.
Then, SKE’s squad retreated in their strange ship. The girls were being flooded by multiple Chibi Airin's and Sasshi looked over to something and got an idea. She dragged a line of Chibis on her leg and smashed them into a river. They poofed as they fell in and disappeared instantly.
"Guys! They're like paper! They dissolve in water!" she screamed to everyone.
"Okay, girls! Time to get wet!"
------------------------------------
Sayaka got back to her house and grabbed a towel. Her mother came up to her, looking at her soaking daughter.
"Sayaka, what happened? Oh, your clothes... You just bought those at the flea market, didn't you?"
"Mom, I'm fine. Just got caught up in work." She held up a large bucket that I normal person probably couldn't lift but an inch off the ground. "I got the water."
"Oh, thank you, honey." She kissed her forehead and walked into the other room. "Papa, time for your bath!"
"Woo-hoo~! Bath time!!!" her father screamed. He was probably drunk.
Sae was watching from the window as Sayaka was drying herself off. She finally grunted and started taking her clothes off, revealing her perfect body in front of the mirror. Her face turned blood red and she covered her face, but had her eyes slightly open so she could see. She covered her eyes again, and when she opened them, she was dry and fully dressed again.
"There."
She dusted herself off and grabbed a basket from the table.
"I'm going grocery shopping~!"
"OK! Be back before dark!"
She ran off into the crowd and followed the flow of people into the farmers' market. Chiba was a bit more crowded than Akihabara, mostly because they're so poor, they have to work harder. She grabbed a few vegetables and large pieces of meat. You didn't need to pay, everything was give and take.
Sayaka just had to run in and grab whatever she could to feed the family. She was looking through everything and went back to the river to get another bucket of water. She looked at all the ingredients and smiled.
"Soup."
"Ooh~ Your famous veggie soup! I wanna taste it so bad~!"
She took the bucket of water and carried the basket of veggies in her arm. She walked back home, smiling for some reason, and Sae followed her without her knowing. When they got to the house, Sayaka started preparing the soup and cutting up the vegetables. Sae was right behind her, cheering her on silently. The aroma of the soup ran throughout the whole room, and it lingered all around Sae's body, filling her with happiness.
She kept thinking about her past with Sayaka...
Flashback
"Sayaka! Hahahaha! Sayaka~!"
Sae was flying high in the sky, golden yellow streaks in the spikes of her hair. Her smile was as radiant as the sun and her laugh echoing through the sky. Sayaka was racing after her, her dark black hair with violet streaks mixing with the pinkish shade of the sunset. Even with the night coming up, Sae was still as energetic as the sun first rose that morning.
"Catch me if you can~!"
Sayaka narrowed her eyes and increased her speed. Night means her powers will increase. She went like a bullet and was neck and neck with Sae.
"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away from me!"
The two circled down into the clouds, chasing themselves down, until Sayaka finally caught hold of her and tackled her into the ground. The two rolled down onto the hill, laughing and panting as they laid there.
"You never change."
"I don't want to. I won't change for my Sayaka."
"Oh, you..."
The two of them looked up at the sky, watching the sun set.
"It's your turn to raise the moon, Sayaka."
"Okay."
Sae held her hand out. Sayaka put hers on top and the two raised them into the air. Slowly, the sun setted into the sky and the moon rose just behind them, creating a perfect blue tint around the large orb of light in the sky. The stars were twinkling in the sky and in Sae's eyes. Sayaka pulled her hair behind her ear and watched as Sae was staring up into the sky. She held her hand and heard the slight jingle of their bracelets.
Matching golden bracelets... with a golden sun with an orange jewel center, and a silver moon with purple and blue charms.
End of Flashback
Sae held on to her bracelet as she saw how focused Sayaka was with preparing dinner.
"Sayaka... What I wouldn't give to make you remember..."
------------------------------------
After all the chibi demons were gone, everyone could finally rest and eat again... But, they were so beat up, they were too hurt to even feel like eating. Haruna finally came back, stretching her arms. Mayu and Yuko got up to her.
"How is she, Nyan-nyan?"
"The medicine I used should be working. She's resting right now, so we should leave her alone."
"Okay..."
Haruna came and sat down with everyone, sighing. Sasshi was looking around, seeing everyone so quiet.
"Wow... this is serious, isn't it?"
"...Poison..."
"Eh?"
"Takamina was poisoned because she was careless. She thought she had a chance, and that left an opening for the enemy."
"H-hey! Takamina-san wasn't careless! They planned it the whole time, I saw it in their faces!"
Tomochin started getting mad and clenched her fist.
"Maybe if we had actually tried, we wouldn't be like this! If Yui let me fight her..."
Yui got up, furious.
"Oi! Are you sayin' this is all MY fault?!"
"Well, it's YOUR fault that stupid Akari Darth never even got to SHOW that stupid Akari Darth, or whatever, who means business around here!!!"
The girls kept screaming louder and louder, so Mayu decided to leave the room. The salty angel, Paru, followed her. She saw the lonely cyborg go into Takamina's resting quarters and walked beside her. Slowly caressing the sleeping girl's cheek, she knelt down and laid a soft peck on her lips.
"Poor Mayuyu..." she mumbled to herself.
"Ah..."
She heard someone talk and moved back, then realized it was Takamina's sleeptalking.
"A... Acc..chan..."
Paru gasped. "Acchan?" A name she hadn't heard in years. The name of the former ace. Mayu smiled softly and got back up.
"I miss her too..."
Paru ran back so she wouldn't be noticed, only to see them still fighting, but not as much. Mayu came back and froze when she saw them, too. The two looked at each other, sighed simultaneously and both put their fingers in their mouths...
*WHISTLE*
They all immediately stopped fighting and turn towards them.
Identical cyborgs(of course, Paru wasn't a cyborg) with the exact same, blank expression on their face and arms crossed.
"...Sorry." they all said and sat down. Then, Yuko realized something she should've earlier.
"Hey, where's Sae?"
Everyone looked around and noticed, too. Sae was still gone.
"Oh yeah. Where'd she go?"
"She had to do something, and she just got up and left."
"Again?"
Yuko bit her lip and sat back down. Mayu did the same. Everyone was silent, trying to think.
"Hey... why did Sae have to go? What is she doing?"
"Don't know."
"No one does."
"Sae will just leave for a while and come back without saying a word."
Sasshi raised her eyebrow. "What's 'a while' mean?"
"Hours."
"Three, four, five... The longest she's ever stayed was a day, a night, and a dawn."
"But... why? Isn't there anything about Sae that might give you a clue?"
Everyone went silent again, looking at each other. They must've all thought of the same reason. Yuko sighed and looked at Sasshi.
"Sae... had a girlfriend."
"Eh? A g-girlfriend?"
Everyone didn't respond. She must've been right.
"Wait, what do you mean 'girlfriend'? Like, how she flirts with all of you?"
"No. A girlfriend. A real girlfriend. She loved her more than anyone else, even more than Yukirin, surprisingly. They were always together."
Flashback
Sae and Sayaka were on a date at the beach. The sun was shimmering just over the ocean to create the perfect light. Yuko was standing behind a tree, spying on her two lovebird best friends. Sae was spinning around with sparklers in her hands, singing a nonsense song while dancing. Sayaka was kneeling down in the sand, lighting up some other sparklers and giggling as she watched her girlfriend dance for her.
"Mou~ Sayaka~! You get up and do something, too. Dance with me."
"Sae, I'm telling you I'm really bad."
Sae giggled, sticking her sparklers into the sand. "Then, I'll teach you."
She took Sayaka's hands and pulled her up. She took hold of one hand tight and placed Sayaka's other hand on her shoulder. She held her waist and pulled her close, their lips just a foot apart. Sae hummed a familiar song while moving both of them step-by-step on the sand. Sayaka's face was turning a bit pink and she rested her head on Sae's shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"..Nothing. I'm just a bit tired."
Sae giggled again and hugged her partner, still going through the steps. Sae looked over her shoulder and saw the sun setting, turning the sky pink like Sayaka's cheeks.
"So cute..." she thought.
She suddenly let her go and picked up a few sticks, examining them. She got the best one and walked over to the sand, kneeling down. She was writing something out in the sand.
"SAYAKA"
She drew a heart beside it and walked back to hug her again, planting a soft kiss on her cheek. Sayaka was laughing, covering her mouth in embarrassment. Then, the tide came in onto the bay and washed away the message.
"Aww~ It's gone. Oh well..."
She turned back and picked up a sparkler, spelling out something with it.
"SAE" "Heart-shape" "SAYAKA"
Yuko giggled seeing Sae trying so hard. Sae was a Sun angel and a literal ball of fire, so she almost never slept. Sayaka was a Moon angel, so she was supposed to sleep during the day, but she chose to stay awake and sleep when Sae wanted to. She watched the two as the sun was just touching the horizon of the blue ocean and the sky was changing color.
Sae got up and held out her hand.
"C'mon."
"Where are we going now?" Sayaka asked, taking her hand and standing up.
"I wanna find a good spot to watch the sunset here."
The two walked down, hand in hand, towards the perfect place to watch. Sae found a small ledge above the ocean and ran over towards it, letting go of her hand. She turned back to see her girlfriend alone. Noting this, she walked up to the ledge, and shouted to the top of her lungs.
"Sayaka~, even if I die, I LOVE YOU~!!!"
Sayaka laughed and shouted back.
"Same here, Sae~!"
She ran back up and met her at the ledge. The two sat down and watched the sunset together. Sayaka raised her hands up, forming a perfect frame on the sun.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to find the perfect sunset so I can draw it."
"Ufufu, every sunset we do is perfect, Sayaka."
"I know, I just want it to be right."
Sae giggled and laid down on her girlfriend's lap.
"Hey, Sayaka... can you promise me something?"
"What?"
"Promise we can always... always, always be together."
"Sae..." She caressed her partners hair, smiling. "Yeah, I promise. I'll even defy the Fates to be with you."
Sae giggled again. "I would too."
As Sayaka watched the sun finally set, she raised her hand up and raised the moon into the sky. As the stars filled the sky again, Sayaka squinted her eyes and saw something.
"Hey, Sae! I can see a picture of you in the sky!" she said pointing up. There was no response. "Sae?"
She looked down and saw her fast asleep on her lap. Sayaka sighed and took off her coat, wrapping it around her. She laid down beside her and closed her eyes. Before falling asleep, Sayaka heard Sae's voice again.
"Sayaka... I love you..."
End of Flashback
"Sayaka..." Sasshi felt something in her head spark. Sayaka was a pretty common name, so it's not a surprise, but... The way she described her was familiar.
"The sun and the moon pretty much defines the two. Alone, they're powerful. But together, they're unstoppable."
"That's so sweet..." Sasshi covered her cheeks. "So, what happened to Sayaka?"
Yuko bit her lip and everyone else looked away.
"She... disappeared."
"Disappeared?"
"It was on the day of a solar eclipse. Eclipses have very unexpected results. Sae and Sayaka were both out on a date on that day. After a day, Sae came back, but..."
Sasshi looked over at everyone else. They looked so sad remembering it.
"How did she disappear?"
"...Not sure."
"The only thing we knew was... we never saw Sayaka again."
"Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry."
"What's strange is, though, even though Sae loved her so much, after she disappeared, Sae still remained her happy, genki self. I wonder what could be happening."
Haruna looked around and came in closer.
"What if... she's in cahoots with the demons! They might be doing something bad to bring Sayaka back!"
"Nyan-nyan~! We all know Sae well enough to know she'd never do that!"
"Yeah, Sae wouldn't betray us to get Sayaka back.... right?"
Everyone got silent again, and they decided to leave it as that. There's no way Sae could be a double agent... Not for love.
------------------------------------
"Itadakima~su!"
Sayaka and her family started eating their soup happily. They were poor, but they saw the good in life. Sae was right behind Sayaka, looking at what was the rest of their soup. She picked up a bowl, careful not to let them see, and sipped it.
"Mm~ Oishii!!! Sayaka, you definitely ARE the best cook!"
"Ahh~ Sayaka-chan~! Papa just loves this soup. This IS a delicacy de la Akimoto."
Sayaka giggled hearing her dad's drunkard comment. Then, she looked over at the window and saw the sunset.
"Oh, it's almost time!" She got up and cleaned off her plates.
"Going again, honey?"
"Yup." She grabbed her special bag from the closet and flew it over her shoulder. "I'll be back soon. Bye."
She ran out the door, Sae smiled and followed her. She flew down the path as Sayaka ran down, past all the people in the streets, and went down into the forest. Sae's smiled shined more and more brighter as they continued down the right path and ended up in a place that made Sae happiest.
At the top of a hill, there was a large tree with a small rock with the name "Maya" carved in it.
"I'm back, Mom..."
Sayaka dropped her bag and sat down on the cliffside, watching the sunset. She took out her notebook and pencils. She started scetching the beauty in the color. The shades. The pattern of the transforming sky. She smiled unconsciously.
Sayaka loved the sun. She loved drawing the change from day to night. She wrote poems whenever an idea comes to her, and she dreams the impossible. In her mind, she dreams of herself touching the sky.
Sae smiled and sat down beside her. She knew in her mind she could never be seen by Sayaka ever again.
Not after what happened.
Flashback
Sae and Sayaka were sitting on a special hilltop in Heaven. A place just for them. It is rumored to be the perfect stargazing spot and it the pinpoint of where the sun and moon hit the middle of the sky at 12:00. There was a heart carved in the tree.
"S+S" "Sayaka+Sae"
"Nee, Sae..."
"Hm?"
Sayaka leaned her head up against Sae's head and held her hand. A soft smile curved her face.
"Promise we'll always be together?"
"Of course, Sayaka! You don't need to worry about that." Sae patted her head and hugged her shoulders. "I'm never leaving you. Even if I die, I'll always love you."
Sayaka giggled a bit.
"Same here, Sae." she whispered to her girlfriend.
"Come 'ere."
Sae lifted Sayaka's chin and the two girls kissed gently and warmly. Sae caressed her partner's hair and continued to kiss her calmly as she felt her clutch onto her dress.
Then, as the sun was setting, the moon was rising up from Sayaka's pure emotion and that was when something happen. The moon passed over the sun and caused an eclipse. As that happened, Sayaka suddenly lost her grip and fell onto Sae's lap. She fell asleep in her partner's embrace and her hand slowly dropped to her side.
Sae's smile slowly disappeared as she saw the beautiful violet streaks in her hair fade and completely disappear from sight. Sae blinked a few times, then smiled and nudged her partner's shoulder.
"Hey, Sayaka..." she said, nudging her again. "Hey... Hey... D-don't mess with me, Sayaka," she playfully laughed. She was giggling, a small smile on her face. She thought Sayaka was lying, playing a little prank on her.
But, she didn't respond. Her eyes didn't open and her body got colder each second that passed.
She smiles jokingly again, slapping her cheek.
"C'mon, stop it, Sayaka!"
She stopped slapping after a while, her smile fading. She shook her shoulder, tears already flowing from her face.
"Sayaka... Sayaka..! SAYAKA!!!" She shook her harder and harder, and then noticed something else. Sayaka's bracelet was wearing out. Rotting. She looked at her own bracelet, and the moon charm was no longer shining. Slowly, the sun charm started losing its light.
"No..." She felt her head and looked at her hair. "No.. No. No, no, no!" The gold in her hair was slowly disappearing. Sae was crying more and more.
She was no longer a sun angel. Her powers were gone.
"No no no no! NO!!!"
She hugged Sayaka's body tight and wailed into her chest. The moon finally rose into the sky and the sun disappeared. The sky became dark, no light left. Sae shook her head, crying more.
"Sayaka... No... We promised... We promised we'd always be together. You can't leave me! Please!!! SAYAKA!!!"
As more and more tears fell onto her lover's face, Sae felt her heart break and finally lost hope.
As the moon rose and shone on them, Sayaka's body disappeared into light and faded into the stars. Sae hugged what used to be her eternal partner, her lover, and cried endlessly. She finally took off and flew away. Far, far away. She flew down, out of Heaven. She wanted to die. She flew all the way down the Earth and hid herself from the world. She laid in the darkness waiting to die. Starve to death, hit by lightning, attacked by a bear, it didn't matter.
Without Sayaka, she just couldn't live.
But, even after she left Heaven, God was still with her. She begged for a miracle, and he gave her one. She found Sayaka, reborn into the human world, and she was living a happy, healthy life despite the constant work and poor payment of life. The only downside was she couldn't see her or hear her. Sayaka had no memory of her past, and Sae thought that was for the best. She didn't want Sayaka to remember her tragic end.
End of Flashback
After an hour of sketching, the sky was finally dark and stars filled the sky, a light blue tint from the full moon as the only source of light. Sayaka had fallen fast asleep and Sae was taking a look at all of her drawings. A smile came across her face.
"As talented as ever, huh?"
She heard someone's footsteps coming up the hill and she turned around and saw Sayaka's mother.
"Sayaka?"
She ran up and found her peacefully sleeping under the tree. She smiled and picked her up, carrying her back to the house in her arms. Sae took all of her stuff and followed them quietly so she wouldn't be noticed. When she got back, Sayaka was found tucked in on the couch. She came in and laid her stuff down on the table next to her. She walked over and held Sayaka's hand, feeling her warmth.
"I wish we could be together again..."
She finally fell asleep due to fatigue and saw Sayaka's dream. Sayaka was floating, flying in the clouds, laughing and having fun. She didn't need wings, Here, she was limitless.
All that Sae wanted was for her to be happy. It didn't matter if she was there with her or not.
------------------------------------
After a few hours, Takamina finally woke up, but in a daze. She held her head a bit and got up.
"Ohayou..." She looked and saw Haruna sitting beside her.
"Where's everyone else?" she said with a tired voice.
"They left. Mariko-sama had to speak to Tomochin, so the training was done for today. Sasshi went on home."
"Okay..."
Haruna got up and sat on the bed.
"Do you miss Acchan?"
"Eh?"
"Mayuyu and Paruru told me you were talking to her in your sleep again."
Takamina blushed a bit, making Haruna giggle.
"But... don't you?"
"Hm?"
"Acchan... she was everything to us. And, she suddenly left."
"She left because it was time. I'm sure wherever she is, she's very happy."
Takamina laid back on the bed and sighed. Haruna then remember what they were talking about earlier today.
"Hey... what if you could bring Acchan back?"
"Huh? Haruna, that's forbidden. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't... I wouldn't betray the Fates."
Haruna looked down and got up from the bed.
"Right. You're our G.D."
She held out her hand and smiled.
"Let's go home."
"Okay..."
------------------------------------
Sae woke up to the sound of Sayaka sighing in her sleep. It was already morning and Sae felt herself become completely refreshed. She stretched her arms and smiled at Sayaka's sleeping face one last time. She kissed her forehead and decided it was time to head back. She left the house and flew up into the sky, headed back to the others.
She turned her head back one last time and whispered something.
"See you again soon, Sayaka..."
------------------------------------
Tomochin found Mariko at her house, staring at the window.
"What's wrong?"
She turned and saw the tiger girl, looking at her intensely.
"You wanted to talk to me, right?"
"...Tomo..."
She walked towards her, the atmosphere getting more intense.
"It's time..."
Tomochin's eyes widened.
"No... No, you can't! You don't have to... I've already decided I'm going, but you don't need to. Not for me!"
"Tomo..."
She held her hands tightly, staring into her eyes.
"I want to."
TTluver-san says she'll take care of the next chapter... (me: remember to save some work for me~~)
-
Eh... Mayu kissed takamina on the lips...
Ah... Poor takamina missing Atsuko...
But can't do anything about it...
Eh... Sae and Sayaka together huh...?!
Great... What's going to happen in the tournament next?
Can't wait...
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: I have no idea~~~~ well... I do have an idea about what's in here... but douzo~ feel free to read it to find out...
Both of us, (TTLuver-san's name changed to Ruka Kikuchi~) apologize for the lateness of the chapter.
And also, don't be offended by any of the roles allocated~ There's a bit of OOC
And now! Chapter 5!!!
Fifth
“…Um…” Sasshi nervously raised a hand to ask a question.
“?”
“It’s not that I mind of anything… But why are all of you at my place?”
All of the Kami-7 had gathered at her place, which was in no way big. Takamina, Yuko, Yuki, and Mayu were acting serious with their arms crossed. Mariko was standing in a cool manner, but it looked as if she was about to troll someone. Jurina was fawning over Rena, who in return was acting a bit tsundere. All of this was happening in Sasshi’s house; all of it was happening around a small table. Of course, Rino was nervously looking around.
“So I can make Rena-chan realize my awesomeness and how appealing I am to-” The puppy like Jurina was cut off by a sadistic Mariko-sama.
“For a sleepover.” Mariko joked after cutting off the puppy.
“Sasshi, how long do you think you’ll survive without any knowledge about the Crusade, and our former ace?” Yuko seriously asked.
“…Um…”
“Not even one Crusade!” The squirrel scowled loudly with a bit of a glare in her eyes. Despite everything that happened, Rino for some reason still flinched.
“…No need to be so harsh.” Takamina interrupted.
Indeed it was true what Yuko had said. Back when their ultimate ace, Maeda Atsuko was around, that squirrel had competed for the center position. But even Yuko couldn’t keep hold onto that ring, that center position. The thought of the somewhat idiotic weakling such as Rino becoming the center was horribly unrealistic.
The main reason that the members of heaven were helping Rino was because the Fates had chosen her. But if Sasshi was so useless, there would be no point. No one had actually said that the Fates had decided it. They had never announced it out loud, so there was in truth no reason to help Sasshi.
“Takamina… It’s ok… I’m stupid and don’t know anything… So I should spend this time to learn about this and help instead of being dead weight.”
“Ok… We’ll then tell you what we know...”
“Originally, it was actually the Fates and Saints and those powerful people that ruled over us. Most of the time, all of us stayed on Midgard or Hell… Bluntly putting it, back then the two weren’t much different.” Mariko, the eldest in the crew, started to explain.
The lands were ruined by the fools that humans were, destroying everything. Fighting happened every day, everywhere. In Hell, the residents enjoyed their lives. Once in a while, having to do a few tasks that they didn’t like, but in truth, it wasn’t that bad. Depending on who ruled that realm, it could actually be more enjoyable down there.
Sasshi had heard stories of that time where there was war all over the place, but that was a long, long time ago. Of course, that’s because supernatural people probably have a longer lifespan to begin with.
“…” Rino nodded, showing that she caught all of that.
“…The Fates and Saints controlled many of the things in the world… They weren’t always unreasonable and overall, they were just too powerful… So of course, we all listened to them… A few girls did get annihilated for going against them though…” Yuko frowned.
“The Fates and Saints sound really scary…”
Seeing Rino shudder, Takamina patted her shoulder. “Sasshi…They won’t kill you unless you really try to go against them… Plus, I’m pretty sure that you were chosen by them and the ring doesn’t really come off…”
“Eventually, the crusade thing came in as conditions became better and people do fight for land here right?” Yuko bluntly summarized. Mayu yawned and nodded at the words of the squirrel.
“Eh? Well… some…” Sasshi muttered, thinking about big kingdoms that try to take over other kingdoms. Takamina bobbed her head up and down for no apparent reason.
The short angel thought to herself, “…Yuko is just getting really, really casual in her descriptions…”
“Yeah. Basically it, especially now that the numbers are getting mushed up.”
“Eh?”
“You’re unsatisfied with my explanati-“
“Yuko. You’re getting out of character.” Takamina chopped her squirrel like comrade before she could get any further with the weirdness.
The group sighed together. Everything was really getting to them. Of course they would act a bit weird, but the Crusade was something that they were supposed to be used to. So there was a Sashihara along for the ride this time; that didn’t change a thing.
“It’s the same thing as fighting over land, just fighting for a position instead.”
“Hai…” Sasshi mumbled.
Suddenly, the mood went dark. Trying to change the atmosphere, since all of this was just taking place in her house, Sasshi desperately waved her hands attempting to do something. Of course, not everyone was gloomy, just the overly serious members, but there was a slight chaos anyways.
“Well, I guess I’ll explain to you the Maeda Atsuko legends as she was a big part of this whole thing…” After the chaos faded, the eldest or at least the tallest in the Kami-7 started to explain again. “Since Takamina’s ability is kind of mind reading and all, she can send images into your head if she thinks hard enough and is touching you. Yeah, so basically, this time, it’ll be a slideshow.”
The short angel moved over and grasped Sasshi’s hand. Suddenly the image of a somewhat plain looking girl, or angel, with black hair was projected in Rino’s mind. Her reaction never gets old, but everyone just ignored it.
“Acchan, she was a pretty normal girl if you think about it… But the Fates work in a mysterious ways…” Mariko mumbled. “That center throne was just pushed onto her by them now that I think about it… From the very beginning, she was forced to be what everyone wanted to push down.”
“But she took that responsibility and did what the center was supposed to do.”
“Eh?” Sasshi didn’t really understand what a center was supposed to do. Truthfully, the main point was that Crusade is equal to super-naturals fighting for a ring that will get them the center position.
“A king doesn’t just get the throne and give it up the next war, she keeps tight hold onto it or at least stays in power…”
Seeing as Takamina had probably explained to Rino, Mariko continued. “Even though she wasn’t all that special, even so she did her best and also tried to make things fair. Actually Acchan did a lot of peculiar things as well as inspirational acts.”
Mariko who was not all that good at explaining and Takamina who was using her power to project her feelings worked together to create a near perfect explanation.
Sasshi could see that moment where the former absolute ace, Maeda, had said, “Even if you hate me, don’t hate the world, yourself, or your comrades!” with tears forming.
Another moment flashed, sometime near the end of the Crusade period, when everything was actually already settled, a game of Janken for a day of being treated as royalty no matter what rank or level. The smiles of everyone on that day were something that Rino wouldn’t have seen in a million years if she hadn’t stumbled into this whole mess.
A few of the times where Yuko and some others had fought against Acchan were screened in the slightly hetare girl’s mind, all from the short angel’s point of view.
“No matter how close, we’re rivals… So you have to watch out.” Yuko gave a sad look, thinking about her greatest rival and maybe closest friend made the squirrel a bit sad.
Sasshi who did not know Acchan could only nod. Takamina’s memories had already shown how important the former ace was to the group and maybe even the girls who were down there. With a bit of overflow, Sasshi had also seen a segment of a teary goodbye.
“You aren’t the same as her. But don’t think that you can slack off. Someone chosen by the Fates has no right to just give up so easily. We’ll support you until the final battle, but if you’re too weak and unmotivated, we’ll leave you for the wild animals to eat.” Yuki had a serious look on her face.
“And don’t you dare try harassing my Rena.” Jurina grinned.
“Of course… I won’t lose to someone like you.” Mayu coldly said with a cyborg like expression that leaked a tiny smile.
“Fight Sasshi! Or else you’ll be called Sushi for the rest of your life!” Takamina made a slightly lame joke that wasn’t as lame as everyone would expect from her.
“Yessir!!!” Getting dragged along with the ever changing atmosphere, Rino saluted and yelled. Luckily, none of her neighbors were at home, else they would find that Rino was delusional and loud.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Unlike the Kami-7 and Sashihara, the slightly tanuki-like fallen angel was all alone, gazing at the night sky that had maybe ceased to be filled with brilliant and sparkling stars since a long time ago. She was always an underdog character, the mad dog, a slightly cowardly girl. Sometimes, Myao didn’t understand why she was still fighting, but she just was.
“Erena…” Miyazaki Miho, Myao, whispered quietly the name of a friend that had left.
Quietly, she closed her eyes for a few moments and fell into a light slumber. What she had wished for, Lovetan, Erena, and her being able to enjoy a peaceful and happy time together. What she had gotten, nothing good just loneliness. Going to that world that the former ace had disappeared to was hard; it wasn’t guaranteed happiness or anything of the sort if one was in Myao’s position.
To go there was to give up or step aside for others, but that just wouldn’t work. Doing nothing in the Crusade period, something that’s not just an everyday occurrence wasn’t a good thing either.
Eventually, Miho fell asleep peacefully under the night sky. She wasn’t the type of girl that would even be targeted during the night. Luckily, in the first place, most of them were good chivalrous people, at least at night. That didn’t mean that those participating in the Crusade were nice people who helped each other out at night; it meant that they didn’t attack while others were sleeping, though there was nothing wrong if the other side was wide awake.
“Don’t catch a cold…” A voice murmured as the owner placed a blanket over Myao. The latter who had snoozed off could only vaguely hear that voice, but her mouth curled up into a smile.
“Come on!” Another voice called out and the two left the vicinity soon after.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
“Haha! Sasshi now you have to do 10 weird faces!” Yuko chuckled as she drew a card from a magic deck that didn’t need to be shuffled. By now the sun was starting to rise, the Kami-7 plus Sasshi were doing something weird or playing a game of some sort with punishment games. And also the squirrel was out of her serious mode as well.
“Eh…” Rino reluctantly moaned.
“Go ahead Su-Sasshi.” Takamina stuttered.
“…Mou… Hai.” Then she proceeded to make a bunch of weird faces.
Yes, they were a rowdy bunch. One should wonder where Sashihara’s neighbors had gone, but no one had even thought about that topic. Well, despite being experienced angels in the Crusade, they were just normal girls other than their supernatural traits.
“Ok, everyone I have something to announce.” Mariko clapped her hands twice to get the attention of her peers and possibly Sasshi. “I, Shinoda Mariko, and our comrade, Itano Tomomi, are graduating from the Crusade; graduating in the context of leaving for the place that Acchan had left to.”
Shocked, they were silent. Rino’s mouth was widely gaping open. Yuko looked away. Mayu tried to hide her emotions. Jurina outright just started to cry and Takamina was letting out waterfalls from her eyes. Yuki and Rena didn’t know what to do and couldn’t say anything.
"No way..."
Jurina shook her head and gripped her fist tightly, finally screaming.
"No!" her voice echoed loudly as she stomped her foot, startling everyone. "No! No!! NO!!! Mariko-sama, you CAN'T leave!"
Mariko just sadly smiled.
"I'm sorry, Jurina..."
"No! No, you're NOT! If you were sorry, you would've chosen to stay here longer!!!"
Takamina attempted to calm her down and touched her shoulder, but Jurina shoved her away and stormed towards her.
"Mariko, we need you! I need you!!! Don't you see what you're doing?! There are people here who love and care for you, and you're going to leave them all behind?! You're going to forget them and leave us all alone?!?!?!"
Mariko's mouth was gapping open and closed. She didn't know what to say. Jurina was crying tears of sadness, but her voice was filled with anger and heartbreak.
"If you know what's good, you'll STAY! You'll stay here forever and help us fight!!! We can't live without you; NONE of us can!!!"
"None of you will be able to grow up and live on if I don't!!!!!" Mariko screamed suddenly, silencing the little angel. "Everyone said the same things with Acchan, but they finally were able to MOVE ON! Why can't you do that least bit and stop being such a CRYBABY?!?!?!?!?!?!"
*SLAP*
There was silence. Right at that word, Mariko's face was tossed aside harshly, a red mark right on her cheek. She slowly turned her hand back, her wide eyes meeting Jurina's tear filled ones.
“Mariko-sama no BAKA!!!!!!!” Jurina yelled before running off somewhere, outside Sasshi’s house.
“Jurina!” Mariko ran off after the young angel.
Rena attempted to follow, but Yuki stopped her twin. Reluctantly, Rena was forced to not go after the young cat-puppy-like angel.
Rino just couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about what was going on. One, Mariko-sama is leaving as well as that fanged Tomochin. Two, there was just that bad feeling. Three, though it might just be with SKE48, so far, everyone who has attacked them so far has gone with extremely strange strategies that freaked her out.
There’s no such thing as a safe and sound Crusade. Even if no one says, ‘this can’t get any worse’, it’ll get worse. Informing Sasshi of certain things wasn’t going to make her stronger and of course, such a thing wouldn’t help…
KABOOM!!!
Part of Rino’s roof went flying. Really, none of the neighbors were around so that was good, but Sashihara may as well just be a really unlucky human being. Also, this year seemed to love explosions. Jolting everyone who was half asleep awake, another explosion came with a slice of mentaiko that, sadly, hit Sasshi.
“MENTAIKO!!!!!!” The half-Russian demon cried, or rather annoying yelled out as she flung mentaiko slices at poor Sasshi.
“Annya… I don’t think anyone here is weak against food.” Her friend sighed.
“But Sakura… Chori is doing her demon face illusion thing…” Pouting, Murashige complained that her rival was messing around too.
“That’s part of her ability and it’s also visually frightening though also a bit useless here…” Sakura patted Murashige on the shoulder.
“…’Kay…” Murashige happily answered, knowing that her rival was doing the same amount as her.
HKT had formed something like a cavalry. Though they wanted to do an air force, being stuck in Hell mostly and also having SKE monopolizing the sky, it wasn’t the best option so they stuck with good old fashioned cavalry since no one knew how to maneuver tanks.
“Sasshi, get that mentaiko off of yourself!”
“Eh!?” Rino didn’t get why that was such a big deal to the short angel.
“Just do it!” Takamina yelled through her power.
Sasshi listened and started to remove the slices of mentaiko that were slapped onto her face due to Murashige targeting that area. It’s not like the mentaiko was explosive, most likely. Just then they created tiny explosions. Sakura facepalmed and Murashige tapped her palm remembering that she added gunpowder in there.
The squirrel angel immediately got into battle position with the cyborg. Like before when fighting against the SKE squad, the two whipped out their swords. “Let’s attack together, watch my back Mayu.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice.” The cyborg mumbled.
“…We should go to help right?” Rena meekly asked her sister.
“Probably…” Yukirin replied.
In a flash the two disappeared. The next second, a few horses were riderless and some devils were on the ground. Not that Rena was a speed demon…angel like Yuki, but she was fast enough even though it wasn’t her typical fighting style.
Everyone was distracted. With Mariko-sama’s news and Jurina just running off, they were fighting a safe way, disarming HKT instead of taking them down completely. Murashige’s mentaiko bomb things were a pain, but the variety duo of the demon illusionist Chori and The Mentaiko Murashige were typically completely useless in combat.
The demon was panicking and the mentaiko bombardment had stopped. From Murashige’s side, Sakura disappeared. In the first place, it seemed as if their commander, not their captain, Lovetan was missing.
“Waaah!!” Sasshi cried.
For a few seconds, Takamina had taken her eyes off the hetare girl and she gets knocked out and caught by something.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Sasshi finally regained consciousness and found herself in a cage. Her mouth was tapped up and there were heavy shackles on her arms and legs. She didn't even think of moving. She just stared as she saw four girls talking with themselves. Two she recognized, Anna and Sakura, but the other two she didn't.
"Anna, would you put down the mentaiko and talk for a sec?" one of the girls sounded.
"Mm!!! Hfmm fmgh gmhgm mfmfmf hmgm mughff!"
"Don't talk with your mouth full," the other said, somewhat angered.
Anna gulped all the meat down and sat her plate of yummy mentaiko on a table.
"Sorry, Tanaka-chan".
"I'm still impressed you actually got that bag of garbage. Who would have thought she was center?"
"I know. Plus, she's completely worthless. I still can't believe she was able to defeat the SKE girls."
"What should we do?"
"Well, the ring isn't going to come off on it's own anytime soon. We could pull her whole finger off if we tried. But, no. Even if we'd kill her, the ring would become useless. We need another way to get it off."
Capt. smiled and stood up.
"I have the perfect plan."
"Ooh~, what?" Anna said giddily.
"The ring's powers are not only feeding off her own energy, but can also be charged by the Kami-7 and Gatekeeper souls themselves. They have the ability to possess their souls and give the wielder greater power than normal, and that's how we can do it."
"Huh?" They all went.
Sasshi was getting scared to, shaking in the cage alone and cold. They all didn't realize, however, that a certain someone was watching them, hearing the entire conversation.
"Don't you get it, girls? All that power, and all of them. We'd rule the world!"
"What are you saying, Capt.?"
"I'm saying... we kill the Kami-7."
Sasshi's eyes widened in horror, and then a loud, angered growl could be heard.
"I WON'T LET YOU HURT THEM!!!!!!!!!"
Jurina came out from the dark forest and instantly tackled one of the girls. She fell to the ground hard, and Jurina got right back up. Her eyes were dark and you could tell she had just gotten on her bad side.
"Well, well, well, what great timing," Capt. said evily, a slight laugh hinted in her speech. "We can finally proceed with the mission, starting with the youngest Kami-7, their little puppy." She teased her by making a puppy face and teary eyes.
Jurina screamed in anger and prepared to stab her, but she swiftly dodged. Jurina kept screaming and growling in anger, trying to fight the girls, but something was wrong. Sasshi noticed the girl's movements and realized she was just fighting blindly. Her emotions were overpowering her and making her go crazy.
"Poor Jurina..."
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
“Yo. Takamina, you’re a midget like always…” The tsundere princess of another universe, Rabutan simply greeted the short angel as if there was never anything that happened between the Kami-7 and her friends.
“Indseed…” A girl with short hair agreed, but her lisp got in the way.
Mayu who was fighting alongside Yuko saw the situation and flew over quickly. Yuki, Rena, and Yuko fought off the forces while not killing off any of the HKT girls.
“Rabutan…Harupii…”Takamina murmured, not expecting to have to fight those two. Sasshi was snatched away, but she couldn’t go chase afterwards.
Murashige, Sakura, and two others disappeared from the battlefield, but to cover them up, the illusionist Chori created many copies of herself, somewhat like the Chibi Airin case but different. They were mirages that could attack. Cutting them down was hard, Yuki’s high speed was able to rid her area of them, but Rena wasn’t all that efficient. Yuko jumped around and took them down moderately.
Harupii, the lisp girl, took out a broadsword unlike the typical katana-nodachi types that the Kami-7 kept. Rabutan kept with a simple metal bat from the good old days.
“Mayuyu, it’s surprising I’d have to fight against you.” Rabutan grinned.
“I should say to the same to you, you tsundere queen.” The cyborg replied.
They both charged at the same time, Mayu’s sword digging into the bat and the bat dulling the blade slightly. Sparks flew. The two jumped back and attacked again. As if a fire was being made, the sparks glowed and flew everywhere. The cyborg thrust her sword and then swung right afterwards, leaving a small cut on Rabutan’s side.
The two opponents continued the exchange. It seemed as if Mayu was winning quite obviously, but her opponent wasn’t letting down. Takamina observed for a bit until the other at the scene tapped her shoulder.
“Lest glo!” The devil stammered.
“Ok!”
A midget angel and a lisp devil charged sword against sword. It looked like Sasshi’s house was going to suffer quite a bit even if the lisp devil was HKT’s ace that doesn’t get treated as one.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
At the place where Sasshi was captured, Jurina had gone berserk and charged. The tall Tanaka extended a leg and tripped Jurina. Tanaka, HKT’s Boss, showed an uncaring expression that made Murashige feel a bit uneasy. Jurina growled and send a piercing glare towards the younger girl, but charged at the Capt. again. Her eyes were filled with hatred and fury.
Murashige and Sakura stood to the side, only observing the one-sided fight. Anna munched on a piece of mentaiko as she spectated.
“Stop moving around…” Jurina growled, though it was obvious that her opponent wouldn’t stay still.
Chihiro, who was referred to as Capt., smiled maliciously before moving slightly to the side again with ease.
Sasshi was watching everything happen so fast right before her eyes. The only thing she got in clearly was Jurina acting like a wild dog, barking and attacking the girls.
She suddenly felt someone tap her shoulder and saw Chori, Harupii, and Love-tan behind her.
"We're back~."
Sasshi tried to scream out, but Jurina was engulfed in anger and didn't see or hear her.
"You trying to call your little puppy? Well, I can tell you it's no use."
"I've dealt with this one, and I've seen her previous cases before. You should never get on her bad side. Even if she is just randomly and blindly attacking you, she's strong. All that emotion built up inside... and let out right here, right now."
Sasshi did her best to try and break free, calling out to Jurina again and again, but to no avail.
In the sky, the rest of the Kami-7 saw the situation and flew down. They hid in the bushes, creeping up. And... BAM! Knock the three girls out in one blow.
The others saw what just happened and stopped, staring at the angels. Mariko and Takamina proceeded to release Sasshi, while the other four gathered to help Jurina. Jurina, still wild with anger, suddenly ran up and grabbed Yuko by the throat.
"Why did you come here?! I can handle this myself!!!!"
Yuko tried to speak, but was coughing at the lack of air. She looked and saw Jurina's eyes were glowing an intense red. Jurina's mind was a complete blank. The only feeling left was anger, all that heartbreak and sadness lead her to darkness and despair. Her only instinct was killing.
Someone came up from behind and suddenly grabbed her shoulder, pushing her away. Jurina prepared to charge, but met those gorgeous black eyes she loved so much...
"Jurina, look at me! It's me!"
Jurina's expression became more gentle and she shook her head a bit, finally returning to her senses. The glow in her eyes was gone and she looked up at Rena confused.
"Rena... Oh god, I'm so sorry." She pulled her in and hugged her tightly, crying into her shoulder.
"Just relax. Let it all out, Jurina."
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Rena. Everyone." Rena could only hold the poor girl tight as tears kept falling down her face. Sasshi was still amazed by this and didn't even realize she was unshackled. Takamina slowly raised her up and ripped the tape off her mouth, causing her to wince in pain.
"..W-what happened to Jurina just now?" she finally said.
"That's Jurina's specialty. More like a curse than a blessing if you ask me. Her emotions control every bit of her power, so the more enraged she becomes, the more chaotic she gets. Rena's the only one we've seen who's been able to successfully calm her down."
"That's why if Jurina ever gets upset, you need to calm her down immediately."
Sasshi just sighed, staring at the poor little puppy girl now lying on her lover's lap. All that crying tired her out and she passed out in Rena's arms.
"Poor Jurina..."
"Enough with the love fest!!!" Tanaka screamed out. "Lemme show you who's strong!"
Murashige slowly moved away, trying to escape the situation. To her chagrin, Sakura grabbed her shoulder and stopped Anna. “At least stay and cheer!” She hissed. Going with her friend’s command, Murashige stayed. If she cheered, that would be bad since it wouldn’t be that great as Anna is a bit self-centered.
“Listen kid, the Crusade isn’t a killing ground.” Yuko snarled. “Don’t try to be strong by being a murderer.”
Boss’s eyes flared with ambition and she gave a slight smile. “That’s our Captain’s job, I’m only here for the fight.” As she was finishing her sentence, Tanaka threw a roundhouse kick at Yuko, aiming for the head.
For the squirrel, being slightly short was an advantage here, she ducked. Tanaka threw a flurry of punches. Some hit and some didn’t. Yuko finally got serious and grabbed the younger and taller girl’s arm. Using brute strength alone, she threw Boss down to the ground.
In less than a second, the squirrel executed a German Suplex. Constantly moving, Yuko elbowed the devil a few times before giving a headbutt that nearly knocked out Tanaka. Boss who was dizzy from the sudden by the Kami-7 member, attempted to attack, but missed. Yuko gave one last punch and Tanaka fell to the ground.
It wasn’t that she was weak, but rather the huge difference between experience and all that other stuff made it simply Yuko’s victory.
“Kuh…” Boss scoffed, disheartened by her loss.
“You’re not weak… Just train a bit more.” The chivalrous squirrel, that’s the type of angel Yuko was. She held out a hand to her opponent and grinned, letting past bygones be bygones.
Yuko sent another grin towards Sakura and Murashige, but the two politely declined the invitation to a fight. Even though the latter was an attention hogging character, getting beaten up wasn’t a good choice.
Capt. stood by seemingly harmless, but Mayu and Yuki noticed that this girl definitely wasn’t all that safe. Yuki moved so fast that Sasshi could only see a blur left behind from the movement. She appeared next to Chihiro and grabbing the Capt’s arm, revealed a dagger.
“You shouldn’t keep this type of thing with you…” Mayu sarcastically stated with a cyborg-like sense of humor. She snatched the dagger away and waved it around taunting Capt.
“Mayu, stop messing around.” Their short Takamina took the dagger and disposed of it before Mayu could do anything bad. The cyborg wasn’t much of a merciful person after all.
“Hrmph…” She pouted, seeming disappointed. This wasn’t exactly helpful to obtain center position though, so it was ok.
Chihiro let a slight smirk be shown on her face despite the situation. No one besides the sisters, Rena and Yuki, noticed. Rena was caring about Jurina, so she took no heed to that. Yuki frowned, but ignored Capt’s expression. Typically, she wasn’t much of one to care.
Boss got everything back together again and her eyes flamed. The sudden intensity of the battlefield made the two shorter angels shudder. Yuki squinted at the one who she had grabbed. And then she looked towards Yuko.
Yuko looked at Rena and moved her head a bit, signaling something. Rena nodded and cupped Jurina's face, kissing her soft lips. As if in a fairytale, Jurina's eyes popped wide open and she sat up again.
"I'm back."
The two girls rushed to the scene and held out their weapons.
"You guys are still tired, aren't you? Let me and Jurina take care of this," said Rena, but then Jurina suddenly got in front.
"Rena... I've got this."
"But, Jurina, if you don't beat them--!" Sasshi was about to say something, but Takamina suddenly covered her mouth.
"Jurina's already upset about Mariko leaving. Don't say anything that'll make it worse."
Jurina gripped the knives in both her hands, getting into position. Tanaka smirked and prepared herself, too. Jurina was the first to charge, but Tanaka was able to dodge her easily. Jurina kept trying her best to hit her, each swing becoming more concentrated.
She was able to finally hit her wrists when she blocked her, and as they bled, Tanaka clenched her teeth and kicked her stomach. Jurina fell backwards coughing. Despite losing to Yuko, Boss was not one to mess with. Now, she was more serious than before. It seemed that she was stronger as well.
Jurina got back up again and continued the fight.
Everyone just stood and watched the girls fight. When either of them was knocked down, they'd get back up and keep battling. The Kami-7 and Sasshi were silently praying for Jurina's safety, especially Sasshi. Sasshi was the only other one who knew about HKT's plan.
On the other hand, the HKT girls were watching them, studying the girl's moves. Chihiro smiled. She could see the pattern in Tanaka's movements. Everyone had their own little quirks and Capt. definitely knew Tanaka’s.
There was a plan boiling.
After the intense battle, both girls were panting, weaken by each other. Both had scratches and cuts and were soaked in sweat. Jurina bit down on her teeth, gripping her knives tightly again, and charged...
Then, Tanaka smirked and held her hand out...
Everyone got confused, and Mariko's eyes widened.
"NO!!!!"
*BOOM*
The tall girl stepped out in front of Jurina before the attack could reach her... and was instantly hit by it in her place. Mariko felt a great pain at her chest that spread throughout her body... and she felt everything within her weaken.
She fell to the ground, leaving the small girl behind her in shock, her eyes widen in horror.
"Mariko-sama!"
Tanaka and the HKT girls, too, were in shock. But, then, Chihiro started giggling softly, slowly the giggles turned into a strong laughter.
"You got her… You GOT her… Hahaha! You managed to kill a Kami-7…”
The puppy instantly let go of the knives and picked her sempai's body up, cradling her in her arms.
"Mariko-sama? C'mon, hold on! Mariko-sama!"
Everyone was too speechless to say or do anything. Yuko covered her mouth, Mayu did the same and was crying into Yuki's chest, Takamina and Sasshi were in the back watching only Mariko, and Rena was too shocked by what happened to react.
Jurina's tears fell on Mariko's cheeks and made her eyes weakly open to see Jurina's face again.
"Juri..na..."
Jurina hugged her sempai tight, shaking her head.
"No no no no no no... This is all my fault... I'm so sorry, Mariko-sama. I'm sorry I didn't accept your decision, and I'm sorry I called you an idiot, and I'm sorry I slapped you..."
"Jurina..."
"Mariko-sama, please, PLEASE don't die. I didn't mean it. Just please!!!"
"Jurina!" Mariko suddenly broke the hug and faced Jurina, staring into her eyes. "I'll be... okay... I forgive you..."
"Eh?"
"I'm going where Acchan is, remember? I'll never forget you... I'll always remember you... everyone... But, Jurina... P-please..." She took her hand up and wiped off her tears. "Promise me... you'll b-become strong... You'll grow and prosper... I want to watch you grow... I don't want this to be a burden."
Jurina bit her lip and took her sempai's hand, cherishing the warmth.
"I'll never forget you, Mariko-sama..."
Mariko smiled weakly.
"Y-you're a... good kid... Jurina..."
The two girls hugged again, and Mariko took one more look in the sky. She slowly saw a bright light blinding the rest of her vision, and saw a familiar face she longed to see.
“Acchan…”
She slowly closed her eyes and felt peace. As her tears slowly fell down her face and touched the ground, a single white daisy grew from the tear's origin.
Mariko's body started glowing and disappeared into thousands of tiny lights, stirring around into the sky. Jurina hugged herself, still feeling Mariko's warmth as tears kept overflowing.
"Mariko..sama...."
She stared down at the white daisy. It bloomed beautifully and a small light blue diamond was revealed in the center of the blossom.
"MARIKO-SAMAAAAA!!!!!!!"
AKB48 - Namida no Sei Janai PV 777 views (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13fylz)
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no mariko-sama don't die, why you go with acchan?!! poor juri-tan, mou i dont like seeing jurina upset :cry: :cry:
the vid is so sweet :deco:
thanx for the update :cow: :bow:
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Well I guess Mariko got her wish about leaving akb
Poor Jurina... She would get into another emotion breakdown, wouldn't she?
Would Rena be able to stop her or she doesn't need to?
Well what's going to happen next?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Sixth
"Mariko-sama... hic.... Mariko-sama...."
Jurina was still lying on the ground, crying over the single daisy that grew from the short green grass. There was nothing else, not even a trace of blood, that showed signs of Mariko's death. Her tears fell on the gentle white petals, never touching the glowing diamond hovering above the center of the flower.
Everyone was just watching her, some of them too shocked to speak, some crying silently, quickly trying to hide their tears. Sasshi was just sitting there in a trance, staring at the poor angel, until something, or someone, suddenly got her back to her senses.
"Sasshi! Get the diamond!"
She looked over and saw Takamina. She looked like she had been crying, but she couldn't tell, because her tears were dried off.
"Eh? Why?"
"Just do it! I'll create a distraction!"
She looked down and saw Takamina's hand at her sword. She also noticed it was a little wet. She looked back up and saw her watery eyes.
"Okay..."
At that Anai was about to make a move, when Takamina suddenly speeded up, aiming her sword at her throat.
"How could you?" she said aloud, shocking everyone. Of course, they knew Takamina had a short temper, so this behavior was understandable.
"Out of the way, midget! I've got business to take care of!"
But Takamina wouldn't move. She just kept her eyes locked on her, firmly holding the sword in her hand.
"You really don't have a heart, do you, Chihiro? You killed Mariko! You...!" She looked back slightly, watching the crying puppy, still holding herself in her arms. "You killed Jurina's best friend..."
Anai just growled and raised her own weapon, aimed right at Takamina's head.
"I can take you out, too! One more word, and I'll have your soul!"
"Takamina, don't do it, please!" Mayu screamed.
"Stop this! We can handle this later. Jurina's still hurt," Rena begged.
"Both of you, just drop your weapons... and we can go in peace," Yuki said, in a black manner.
Takamina and Anai just glared at each other, then slowly withdrew their swords. Then, Anai suddenly pushed Takamina to the ground and rushed to Jurina.
"Move, 'ya mutt!"
"No!" Jurina screamed back, covering the daisy.
Anai threw her out of the way and examined the flower. She moved through the grass blades and leaves, trying to find her target... but it was gone.
"Where is it? Where is the soul?!"
No one noticed that the soul had disappeared, or how it even did. Anai just growled and was about to punch the flower, but Jurina got in her way again and took the punch instead.
"Where did you hide the soul?!"
"None of your business!!!"
Tanaka came over and held Anai's shoulder.
"Chihiro, we already took care of her. We can finish our business later. Let's just go."
Anai just sneered again and got up.
"Fine. But, I'll be back for the rest of you."
Everyone walked away and disappeared from sight. Jurina let her head fall to the ground, crying more. Rena hugged her and caressed her hair, trying to hold her tears. Takamina looked over at Sasshi, smiling.
"Did you get it?"
"Yeah..." Sasshi opened her hands and showed everyone the light blue diamond glowing in her hand.
"H-how did you...? When did you...?"
Sasshi just smiled sadly and winked.
"Well then, now that we got this safe, we can get started." Takamina sighed slightly relieved.
"W-with what?"
"Mariko's funeral."
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Returning to HKT’s base in Hell, Murashige stuttered, “Bo-boss… why did you?”
The cool younger girl just replied with a simple, “Just because.”
Most every HKT member was gathered in the base. Not because they were only able to be in the Hell, but because it was just kind of a nice home for them. They chose to participate in the Crusade, but still HKT was their family. The ones up in Heaven have each other and the ones down below have their comrades. In the middle, things were jumbled up, but those girls were luckiest in some aspect.
“…Anya, just don’t ask…” The mentaiko devil’s, possibly best friend, Sakura patted her on the shoulder.
Haruppi drooped as she fell into a deep thought. The lisp devil quietly muttered, “...Mariko-sama… So… she’s gone…”
Capt. the villain or at least the one who took the role of the villain walked away from the rest of them and punched the wall twice. Everyone had their own story, so the others left their Captain alone. No one knew what Chihiro was thinking at the moment after all.
“If only I could’ve…” She scowled to herself.
Rabutan walked by with a somewhat mixed expression sprawled across her face. The death of a Kami-7 was unpredictable. With the fact that almost every one of the girls in the Heaven had some kind of connection with the groups down below, as a senior in this game, the slight round faced girl knew that sadistic Mariko-sama more than anyone else in the place.
“I guess this is a type of bitter-sweet victory for us.” Chori spoke up.
“At least we got somewhere…” Wakaharu noted as she wasn’t present when all the drama had happened.
“So, cavalry is no-go against them right?” Moriyasu collectedly jotted down.
“Yeah. It seems so…” Rabutan added in before walking off.
“What do you think is good?” Murashige piped in. Now was not the time to be Mentaiko, but the tiny talk was like a strategic meeting. The small group chatted for a bit about their strategies and attacks as Rabutan walked off.
In the tsundere princess’s mind, there was only one thing, Mariko.
“…I hope you’re satisfied even though you’re gone now… I would be asking for too much if I were to ask for you to troll everyone and come back…”
She gave a sorrowful smile and looked up even though from here, the sky was not visible. Rabutan was staying with HKT and she didn’t regret it or hate the members for what happened. “Sayonara…” That was her last message to the troll who left, such a strange description even though it was true.
“Rabu-nee-san?”
“Ah. It’s nothing…”
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Back in the forest, they came to a certain recognizable spot that shocked Sasshi. It was the broken down church where she first found the ring. Takamina whispered a few words to herself and opened a special portal. Sasshi stepped through it and found herself in a beautiful, white, empty church.
She covered her mouth in amazement, looking around at the scenery. Takamina and the others had already prepared the everything for the funeral, and invited the Gatekeepers, too.
"Woah... If I'm in Heaven, Heaven has real fancy churches."
At the end of the hall, there was a picture of Mariko sitting on one of the stairs, surrounded by small white candles, and the light blue diamond hovering right above it. There were small vases beside it with white lilies in them that the Gatekeepers have already set out and gave their prayers to her for. There was one more vase in the center. An empty vase just for the Kami-7.
"So... who's going to start?" Takamina sounded. Everyone was silent, holding their flowers in their hands. "I guess I will."
Takamina stepped forward and knelt down to the picture. She pulled out a single red rose and placed it in the vase.
"Mariko-sama... You are a true legend. You have held a high honor in the Kami-7, and you shall always be remembered. You shall live on, Mariko-sama." She put her hands together and closed her eyes, bowing. "Rest in peace."
She got up and Yuko slowly nodded and walked to the vase. She knelt down on both her knees and put a yellow daisy in the vase.
"Mariko, you're a true friend. You're kind, you're considerate, you're smart, and you sure know how to make people laugh."
Everyone giggled a bit, then it got silent again. Yuko put her hands together and bowed to her.
"I'll never forget you. You're my best friend."
"You're our best friend," Mayu said, holding her shoulder. Yuko nodded and got up. She high-fived Yuki as she went up and knelt down beside her. "You're a real goddess. I don't know anyone else as amazing, powerful, and beautiful as you could ever be."
Mayu pulled out a pink carnation, while Yuki pulled out a stem of purple shaded blue bells and put them in the vase. Then, bowed their heads.
They got up without saying another word, and now it was WMatsui's turn.
Rena was holding an orange tiger lily, while Jurina was holding a beautiful bouquet of small white daisies. Rena knelt down and put her flower in.
"I don't know what to say, except... we'll all miss you, Mariko-sama."
She slowly got up and walked back to Jurina, who was just looking down at the ground... or maybe at her flowers.
"Jurina?" Takamina walked up to the puppy dog girl. "Aren't you going to say a few words?"
Jurina gripped her flowers tighter, trying to contain her tears.
"Jurina, just let it out. You can do it here," Rena said, holding her shoulder.
Jurina slowly took a step forward but then suddenly fell to her knees and dropped the daisies. She was crying more than before, but no one stopped her. All they could do was let her release all her feelings.
"Mariko-sama... I love you... hic.. so.. much...! ...hi... I.. I promise I'll..hic... I'll become strong... I'll protect everyone...! All I want to know is that... you'll watch over me... hic.. like you did before..."
Rena slowly came up and hugged her from the back.
"I'm sure she is... And, I'm sure she's very proud of you, Jurina."
"Hic... Thank you, Mariko... for everything you've done for us."
They both bowed their heads and got up, Jurina wiping off her tears. Sasshi was the last, and all she held in her hands was a white rose. She walked over and bent over to lay the rose in the vase.
"Uh, I don't really know that much about you... I don't know you as much as everyone else does, but... I know that you are a strong, confident woman. You must've been a great leader to have come this far, so... I'm really happy I got to know you. Be happy up there, Mariko-san."
She put her hands together and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, Takamina walked up and cupped the diamond in her hands.
Sasshi seemed to see it glow much brighter than before.
"This is yours now." Takamina handed it to her, making her hold it in her hands.
"What is this?"
"It's a fragment of Mariko's soul. She gave it to us so that she can still protect us even after she left." Takamina reached it her pocket and pulled out a small golden ring. "It'll be like having a piece of her here with us. And she'll be inside of you from now on, too." The soul was attracted to it and mended itself into the center of the ring. Takamina raised Sasshi's hand and slipped it onto her finger.
Sasshi just took it and spun it around on her finger.
"Unlike the Ace's ring, you can remove it as you please, but I strongly advise you keep it on. That way, some of Mariko's power can be transferred to you. One day, even if we don't die, all the Kami-7 will give you a part of us for you to fight in the final battle."
"F-final battle?"
"We shall discuss that later. Now is not the time to fight. I think we should all rest for today, then we'll have more time for Tomochin's graduation ceremony. Everyone can just go home for today."
"Okay," everyone said, before walking out of the church.
Takamina took Sasshi's hand again and walked out with her.
"C'mon. Let's go. I think we deserve a break."
"Okay..."
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
"Now that I think about it..." Sae thought to herself as she flew from the church and back to her home. "I never had a funeral for Sayaka."
She finally stepped on the ground and opened the door to her little house.
"Tadaima~" she said to the empty room.
She plopped on the couch and looked at a picture of her and Sayaka together. Sae was smiling, holding up a peace sign with her fingers, while Sayaka was wrapping her in her arms, smiling brightly and beautifully.
Sae giggled to herself.
"Then again... maybe that won't be necessary."
Her hand slowly grew tired and started to lower a bit, so she rested it on her chest and held the photo close to her. She closed her eyes a bit, not intending to sleep, but eventually started drifting into sweet memories.
Flashback
Sae remembered the first day she met Sayaka. She had just become an angel and was just a mere novice with a sword. She was going to the training grounds, when she saw a girl who looked like a Greek Goddess fighting with another male angel.
Her facial features were as chiseled as a statue, and her strong muscles made her appearance more intimidating. She must've been a very strong and manly character to be facing that muscly male angel.
When they finally ended, Sae went up and saw Sayaka sweating and fanning herself off. Somehow, the sun mixed with her sweat made her glow and her expression was somewhat... cute to Sae. Sayaka noticed this and turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Ano~..."
Sae suddenly came back to her senses and blinked a bit.
"Eh?"
"Uh, who are you?"
"Oh! M-my name is Miyazawa Sae. I'm the new inductee. A-are you A-Akimoto Sayaka?"
"Yup." She said with a smile, holding out her hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Sae."
Sae blushed, still shy to meet such a goddess face-to-face, but was also a bit surprised at her big hands. Those were hands that would never lose their grip when it held a sword. Sae slowly raised her hands up and shook hers, instantly feeling its rough, dry skin. It was hard like rock, still a bit wet from her sweat, making it like a rainforest... but it was incredibly warm, too.
She didn't notice that she hadn't let go of her hand for a long time, and even tightened her grip, leaving the two tall angels in an awkward position. Sayaka wanted to speak, but something in Sae's sparkling eyes and enlightening smile stopped her.
After the two finally got acquainted with one another, they started a spar, and Sae was instantly defeated by her immense strength.
"Woah, sorry..." Sae's eyes widened at that. Even though she looked scary, she was very kind and considerate. "Alright, this time, I'll go easy on you."
Sayaka helped her up and began another spar. Sae tried her best to remember the lessons she had taken before hand, but Sayaka had the biggest advantage and always found a way to beat her.
It finally ended in a draw, both girls sweating and panting heavily. Sayaka threw some water on her face and cleaned herself with a towel, but was surprised when she saw Sae rolling up her sleeves, almost embracing the heat. She stretched out in the sunlight, her golden hair streaks shining brighter than she ever noticed.
Sayaka looked at her purple streak and realized, it wasn't glowing at all. Why?
She looked at Sae, and Sae turned to make their eyes instantly met. She gave her a warm, happy smile that seemed to make some kinda strange feeling in her chest grow. Sae giggled a bit at her slightly pink expression, and slowly felt of her chest, feeling it, too.
The feeling of love at first sight.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
After a year since they first met, it was now time for their first Crusade. They fought long and hard, but Sae refused to fight Sayaka. She had slowly fallen for her, and she didn't want to do anything to hurt her.
"Nee, Sayaka... We don't really have to do this, do we?"
"We do. Now come at me with everything you got!"
Sayaka drew out her sword and charged at Sae, making her quickly raise hers up to block it. She tried her best to fight her, but her feelings for her and her lesser experience weakened her. Sayaka could see she was trying her hardest to catch up, but she wasn't holding back either.
It was a long, ever-lasting battle, but in one swift move, she knocked her sword out of her hand and knocked the short haired girl to the ground. The edge of her sword was right at her head, and she could see fear painted on her face. Sadness in her eyes, just on the verge of tears.
"...You beat me... You win..." she finally said in a soft voice. She slowly picked her sword up and drew it back at her waist. "Congratulations... I'm really happy for you, Sayaka."
She was about to walk away, when...
"Sae."
She slowly walked up and held her shoulder. Sae could feel an electric shock hit her, but the second after, she felt... warmth. That sweet warmth she loved so much. Slowly, she turned her head and met Sayaka's dark eyes once more.
She just couldn't help it anymore. Her heart was pounding so fast and she couldn't think straight. She grabbed Sayaka's shoulder and pulled her close, their foreheads and noses just close from touching.
"W-what are you--?"
"Sayaka!" she immediately silenced her. "I...love you, Sayaka."
Sayaka's eyes widened in shock. She can't believe what she just heard. "Love," an unbelievable word she thought she'd never hear someone say to her in her life.
"You... do?"
"I do. More than anything or anyone else, I love you."
Sayaka was starting to get nervous and tried to push her away.
"Don't say that..."
"Sayaka... I love you..."
"I said, don't say that."
"I'll tell you as many times as I can! Until you get through your head!! I LOVE you!!!"
"I love you too!" she suddenly screamed out loud. Sae's eyes widened, still looking at her partner's deep eyes. Sayaka's face was burning red in embarrassment. "But, I can't... Sae, we can't be lovers..."
"You think I care?!"
Sayaka tried to look away from her, but Sae held her neck, forcing her to look at her.
"I don't care what the Fates or Saints say! Love is different than ANYTHING they could ever do. THEY can't choose love, I can! And, I choose you, Sayaka."
Without even thinking, she came closer and kissed her lips for the first time. The soft pink lips she wanted to kiss, over and over, so badly each day.
Sayaka's mind just went blank and she slowly closed her eyes. Her arms both dropped to their sides and she let go of her sword, letting it fall to the ground. There was no thought of fighting in their heads. No doubt about their actions or resistance to it. Only sweet peace and blissful warmth.
They finally parted when they heard the gong from the church bells echoing across the sky. They looked up when they felt a gust of wind blowing around them and saw two stars shining brightly. There was two constellations centering the two; the Sun and the Moon.
"Th-that's...!"
"Sayaka, we've been chosen. This way, we can be together now."
"Sae..."
Sayaka closed her eyes as Sae came closer, but she paused just before their lips touched. She could feel her warm breath against her, making her face feel even hotter and redder.
"Remember this; I shall love you, and only you, for all eternity."
"Sa--" She got cut off as she finally kissed her and brought serenity to her. The two kissed passionately under the sky as it gradually became filled with shining stars.
End of Flashback
Sae had fallen fast asleep on the couch, holding the picture in her hands. Her heart was beating slowly, matching her breathing, but seemed to be beating so fast and so warm inside her head. All the happy memories of her and Sayaka made her want to just stay and dream forever, in an eternal sleep. Such a thought made her sigh softly.
Someone walking outside noticed her door slightly opened. She went inside and saw her peacefully asleep on the couch. Without even thinking, she took the photo from her hands and looked at it, smiling sadly.
"You really do miss her, don't you?"
She placed it on the table and noticed her arm had somehow dropped and limply hovered just above the floor. She placed it back on her chest and covered the older girl up in a blanket so she wouldn't get cold. Before leaving, she heard her whisper in her sleep.
"Sayaka, I love you..."
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
A tanuki-faced fallen angel stood in front of HKT’s base. Due to luck, part of AKB’s territory was refigured by the demon king into bordering HKT’s base, so it was easy to get by. She wanted to knock on the door, but it wasn’t that great of an idea. She paused.
“…Myao?” The fallen angel yelped upon suddenly hearing that voice. It was the girl that she wanted to talk to and be with again, but it seemed that it was impossible. There was sad sound in the girl’s voice, “Sorry.. I can’t talk with you…," murmuring quietly she finished, "And Mariko-sama is dead.”
“Wait!” And then a slam of a door could be heard, cutting off all hope for Myao at the moment.
The underdog type fallen angel sighed and walked back into the AKB territory and immediately squatted down sadly. It was sad.
Even when everyone had just met, the Crusades didn’t exist, it wasn’t too bad. Things brightened up as their friendship bloomed, but it was fate that let it fall apart again, not that blaming the Fates could do anything.
Back then with old ace, Maeda, they ended up close friends along with another, Erena. Plus, Mariko-sama used to troll them a lot… Since those were the old days when the Crusade wasn’t really started up…
Flashback
“Miho! Aika!” A cute raven-like being, called out. That was Erena.
Myao turned around, “Erena…” Miho had a somewhat strange look on her face. The other mentioned, Rabutan, seemed to be broadly grinning for some reason. Erena tilted her head to the side confused.
“BOOYAH!!”
“Kyaa!” The cute raven yelped.
The trollish Kami-7, Mariko, had crept up behind the raven and jumped. Really, it wasn’t as if the loli-like group was really super close to the trolling angel, but they sometimes had this type of interaction… Though only sometimes…
“Mou… Mariko-san…”
Flashback End
When Myao thought about it, back in the days when the puppy girl of the Kami-7 joined, the Crusade system was just starting up. Somehow, she, Rabutan, and of course, Erena were up there.
“I’m not that old am I?” She questioned herself once before drifting off into memories, sad ones and joyful ones alike. Though she seemed slightly strong and rebellious at times, Myao was weak and cowardly, lonely and timid as well.
Flashback AGAIN
A raven, a fallen angel, and a devil or demon all sat together on a grassy plain, Erena, Myao, and Rabutan. Erena seemingly lightheartedly murmured, “Miho, I love you.”
“…Eh…?” Myao couldn’t comprehend what she had just heard.
“…Mrm…” The tsundere devil let out a strange noise.
Erena sheepishly smiled, “I love Aika too~”
“Mou… you had me shocked there…” Rabutan mumbled as she let out a sigh. Myao looked away as well, flushed.
"Hehe, you two are precious to me after all." Erena beamed happily as they slowly switched to another topic, something that would never be talked about afterwards most likely.
End of Flashback
The round-faced devil looked through the door-hole of the base once again. Now, her old friend was out of sight from that angle, “…”
“Rabu-nee-san?” The curious mentaiko demon came walking over.
“Murashige. Ah, it’s nothing.” Rabutan replied. The past was the past. It was something that was like a puzzle that was now missing numerous pieces. “Just thinking… about Mariko and some others…”
“I never did get to say a proper goodbye…To anyone…”
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
"Takamina..."
Sasshi and her short angel friend had just returned home, and they really needed rest. But, Sasshi felt that things were TOO quiet in her house. So, she decided to start a conversation.
"Nee, Takamina..."
Of course, she didn't know what to talk about. Takamina probably wouldn't know about anything she did.
"Taka..."
And~... Takamina was just staring out the window, not listening to her.
"TAKAMINA!"
She blinked for a second, then turned to her.
"Eh? What's wrong?"
Since the hetare girl got involved with the Crusade and such, Takamina was always the one that spent the most time with her, thus a good person to ask would be the short girl. “…Takamina… Why…”
Takamina raised an eyebrow and looked at her confused.
“Why is it that everyone is fighting in this Crusade? I don’t really understand sometimes…” Sasshi sighed as she questioned the very core of everything at the moment itself.
The short angel leaned against the wall, taking up an interesting enough thinking pose and basically thought for a bit. Seeing the way Takamina acted somehow made Rino relieved in a weird way.
“…That’s because… Everyone wants to be happy and be in Heaven, but… there’s not enough space… so we end up fighting… or it seems at least… It’s kind of like the Crusades in your Medieval Times…” Takamina muttered.
“Ah…”
“Well, Yuko has always been an ambitious person. Mayu is kind of like that too. The thing is, if you lose something that you’ve had for a long time and you really like, it just doesn’t work if we tried letting other girls up into Heaven for a period of time. There’s that factor of the Fates and Saints as well.”
“Hrm…” Sasshi thought for a bit. Obviously, a normal conversation between the two would be like this.
“SKE is the type that might want to get everyone into heaven since they have strong bond. I don’t know if it’s possible or not since no one’s ever succeeded. Though it’s only my guess, but they’re happy to see that Rena and Jurina are in Kami-7”
“Eh?” Rino replied with a shocked exclamation.
“Well, everyone is connected, and those two happened to be affiliated with SKE. The groups are AKB, HKT, SKE, and NMB, basically.”
“Takamina, you are?”
“AKB… That was the land of my dreams when everything started up, without a single Crusade in sight of course. Actually… Everyone in the Kami-7 minus Rena and Jurina have their main experiences in AKB.”
“Ok…”
“I guess I could summarize that AKB is the starting point, SKE is the place of bonds, NMB is kind of strong-will and laughter, and HKT might as well be ambition and youthful strength even if it’s a bit mislead. At least, that’s what I see.”
“Oh…”
“Recently, it’s kind of obvious… But SKE has been monopolizing the sky for battles and HKT has a slightly suckish cavalry. AKB changes strategies all the time and NMB is just…”
“Yea…”
“…Um… Sasshi…”
“Yes?”
“Have you been listening to me?”
“No.”
“Mou…” Takamina pouted and in return, Rino sheepishly looked away. “Well… basically, I don’t know why the Crusade is used… I don’t particularly like the outcomes many times…”
“…I agree. Peace is better.”
"That was surprising, though." Takamina got up and walked to the window. "That attack?"
"What was it?"
"It's called the Arrow Shot. It's a powerful offensive attack, but we rarely use it, because, as you saw, it can instantly kill anyone."
"Wow, it's that bad?"
Sasshi was looking up at the ceiling, then she remembered something. Something that she heard the others talk about once and it made her curious. She let it out unconsciously.
"Nee, Takamina... Is it true that you and the others were humans before you became angels?"
Suddenly, a paralyzing shock hit Takamina's head. She froze there, like a statue, her eyes widened in fear. Her heart felt like it was barely beating, but at the same time, it felt it was beating so fast, it would explode.
"Itai..."
Her hand suddenly started shaking a bit, then the electric sensation spread through her entire body, making her entire body shiver in fear. Her blood ran cold, as if something was killing her from the inside.
"Itai..!"
Her breath was labored to short intakes of air. Her lips were shivering, partially opened. She was trying to speak, but something made it impossible for her to say anything. The only sound that came from her mouth was the sound of her sharp breathing.
"ITAI!!!"
"Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's it! Show me sadness. Show me pain. That's the only good face of scum like you! Hahahaha!"
"...S-s-stop... St-stop..." she whispered softly. Sasshi looked back at her, worried.
"Takamina?"
Takamina finally calmed her breathing and was brought back to reality. She looked back at the concerned girl.
"Are you okay? You haven't spoken for a while."
"Eh?"
"I was talking to you for a few minutes, and you didn't answer me when I called you."
"A..A few minutes? What's a few minutes?"
"Mm, I dunno. Four, five maybe."
Takamina furrowed her eyebrows, holding her forehead.
"Was it that intense?"
Sasshi slowly walked up, leaning forward to see the girl's poor, tired face. She held her shoulder.
"Did you remember anything?"
“Ah… I’m not all that sure about those things...” Takamina answered with an apologetic expression displayed on her face.
“It’s ok, I mean, trying to pry into your past is rude after all.”
Takamina looked and felt the warmth of Sasshi's hand on her shoulder.
“It’s ok to forget about the past, no one is forcing you to remember.” That plain and normal girl had once said…
“Thanks.” The short angel smiled.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
The tiger toothed angel sat alone in her home, staring at the ceiling. She was still trying to gather her thoughts about everything that had happened in this one day. She breathed out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes a bit, remembering the day they last talked to each other.
Flashback
"Mariko..."
"I really think it's time we do this."
"But, what about the others? What if they're not ready?"
"It's their decision, not ours. If they want to wait, we'll let them. But, I just don't think Acchan can any longer."
"Acchan..."
"Just imagine. Soon, ALL of us can be together again. All six of us."
".....Okay."
End of Flashback
Tomochin bit her lip, slowly walking up to a small table. She picked up a photo of her, Mariko-sama, Acchan, Takamina, Haruna, and another girl. An angel with long black hair and small wings. Compared to the others, they were fully grown, but not big in size. Tomochin smiled sadly.
"All of us... together at last."
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Takamina decided to take a walk around Akihabara and forget about those visions she saw. They looked so familiar. They sounded so terrifying. They... They felt...
They felt. That's right, she felt it. She felt the pain, the sadness, and hopelessness and darkness consuming her.
It felt so... real.
"Hey, you!"
She heard someone scream in pain, followed by a crash. She turned and saw two older looking boys and a beaten up girl. Her clothes were dirty and tattered, and was shivering in fear in the corner.
The two males were both grinning, evil in their eyes. They kicked the girl, hurt her more than she already was.
"C'mon, give us your money!"
"Yeah, you owe us! BIG time!"
Takamina was just standing there, watching her. Her eyes started shaking madly, something inside her was sending stomach-wrenching noises and mind-throbbing shocks into her brain.
"C'mon! Move! MOVE!!!"
Her feet slowly moved backwards, making her go in random directions as the world span around her, dizzying her.
“Does it hurt? Hahahahaha! Trash like you should just obey!!”
A cold yet burning metal pressed against her neck, wanting to scream she opened her mouth only to be kicked like a rag.
Someone laughed. It was enjoyable, fun, amusing to watch a child be treated like an animal. It hurt. Of course it hurt. It burned. It stung. It...
It....
"It's killing me..."
Takamina's eyes slowly opened. She looked around and saw she was still in some part of the village. She was lying on the ground, looking up at the starry sky.
"There you are!" a familiar voice rang. She looked and saw Sasshi hovering above her. "I was worried when you didn't come back. Why are you out here sleeping?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. I was just tired, I guess."
"I understand. C'mon, let's go home. You can sleep in my bed if you want."
Actually, Takamina lied. She wasn't sleeping. Something in her mind made her about go insane and she blacked out. The next thing she remembered, she was here.
She walked back home without saying another word and plopped down on Sasshi's small bed. Sasshi was covered up on the couch, sleeping peacefully. But, Takamina wasn't. She was just lying there, wide awake, seeing nothing but the darkness covering the blank ceiling.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-
Tomochin sat in a large pond, bathing alone in a beautiful garden. The pond was filled with sweet smelling leaves and flower petals, and had lily pads with pink lotuses that held delicious nectar. Tomochin's eyes were closed, as she was praying, and her hair was tied up so it wouldn't get wet. She felt a presence behind her.
"You came..." she turned her head and saw a short hair girl with the cutest smile on her face. Or, it was cute to Tomochin, at least.
"I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Tomochin snickered.
"C'mon. Takamina said it's time."
Tomochin nodded and slowly stood up, releasing the clip holding her long golden hair. She stepped out and was handed a white dress by the short haired girl.
"Guess this is goodbye, huh?"
"Don't worry... This isn't goodbye forever."
----------------------------------------------
cisda83: well, now you know~ and thanks for the comment!
mayuki_daisuki: indeed, i totally agree~ and thanks for your comment as well~
Just saying, I'm basically as curious as everyone else is... since the main stuff I do is either segments of fight scenes... not in this chapter though... or HKT/more minor character moments... thus... my comment...
I wanna know who that short hair girl is~ minna-san~ take a guess at it as well.
And also, looks like Taka is hurting... hrm...
-
Hmm...the short-haired girl with Tomochin, I would like to think that it's Paruru. Is she?
-
Oh... So they are all going to go whether they want it or not
What's happening to Minami?
What kind of last battle sashi going to fight?
Ah... Tomochin is going to go next?
Who is the short wing girl beside Tomochin in the picture?
Can't wait to see the next chapter
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
wahhh!!!!!!
mariko-sama's funeral!!!! :(
dont punch jurina!!!! :angry: tsk!!!
poor jurina-chan :cry: i wish mariko-sama can be revived :yep:
thanx for the update :cow: :bow:
-
Replies at the end of the chapter.
I hope you guys like long-ish chapters(Ruka and I have finally finished this one!)~ since this one is filled with stuff.
And also, I should've said so earlier, but...
[Please be aware that your oshimen may be portrayed as an antagonistic character and there's mild violence in this.]
Seventh
The gongs in the church chimed and everyone each gathered in a straight line on each side of the aisle.
"It's time," Takamina said.
She and Yuko opened the door and saw Tomochin, dawning a beautiful white dress and holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers. Beside her was the younger angel with short black hair and a cutesy smile. Tomochin walked down the aisle, all of her friends smiling, some of them crying, and when she finally got to the end, Takamina was handed a pink flower tiara.
She, Haruna, and the short haired girl walked up to her.
"Itano Tomomi... congratulations on graduating..."
She slowly placed the tiara on the top of her head and wiped off a few tears.
"Tomochin, we're very happy for you... And, we'll all miss you so much."
"Yeah... Thank you for everything."
Tomochin giggled.
"Now, you three stay strong. You're the last of the first generation, remember?"
All three nodded. Tomochin looked back at everyone.
"Goodbye."
She slowly turned around and headed up the stairs towards a white door with a tree looking pattern carved on it. When she reached it, the door opened all by itself, revealing a bright white light. It was too bright for the others to see what was on the other side, but Tomochin saw it clearly.
Acchan and Mariko-sama, both wearing beautiful white dresses, holding out their hands to Tomochin. A tear fell on her cheek as she closed her eyes.
"I'll be waiting... in the future."
She took one step and began to be absorbed by the light. Her dress, her body, and finally her wings, all disappeared in the light. On the other side of the door, Tomochin took hold of Acchan and Mariko's hands, smiling. The three walked off together and the door slowly closed behind them.
Everyone was still crying, seeing Tomochin leave, but they all knew she was somewhere better.
After everyone started leaving, Sasshi came up to the three girls.
"Hey, what did she say about you three being the first generation?"
"Oh, see, including us, Tomochin, Acchan, and Mariko were all first generation. We were the first angels granted powers, and we're kinda like royalty."
"Basically, we're the Pioneers of the Crusade."
Sasshi nodded, even thought she didn't quite understand. Then, she looked at the short haired girl.
"So... who is this?"
"Oh, how rude of me. My name's Minegishi Minami, and I'm the leader of the Crusade Trainee angels!"
----------------------------------
“OOOOH!!!” A slightly handsome youkai dressed in a sailor fuku covered with blood and bandages yelled out as she formed a sphere of energy. Shooting the sphere off into the distance, it flashed brightly before creating a slight boom followed by a poof, meaning that it died off.
Watching the scene were some other youkai, namely ones from a squadron that belonged to the NMB faction.
The bloody youkai muttered to herself, wondering what had gone wrong with her sphere of energy.
“Momoka, maybe the range is the problem.” The most senior in the group, a crow tengu, noted. Her name was Nana.
“…Mrm…”
“Yea, I agree…” Their captain, Rena, another Rena who was not the Kami-7 Rena, noted. She as well was a crow tengu.
The bloody looking youkai, who in truth looked almost like a zombie or vampire, pouted but took her feedback. Her friends, Keira and Airi were also trying some new techniques. Keira was a Byakko-type-youkai with the features of a white tiger, though of course, humanoid. Airi, Tanigawa Airi in this case, was a tanuki, a shape shifter if one wanted to generalize.
“Would it be better to cut this way or this way?” Keira asked as she swung a broadsword through the air.
The zombie-like…being...hopped over and looked at the object. The tanuki scampered over in tanuki form and jumped onto Momoka’s shoulder. “Either way is fine.” They both replied with certainly vague answers.
“Hrm… Nana-san…” The Byakko called out to her senpai.
“Hai?” Nana responded with a weird voice.
“Mou… don’t you trust our comments?” The vague girls pouted.
“Well, I do, but... they’re too vague.”
The crow tengu sheepishly smiled. “I think… sideways.”
Keira face palmed while giving a wry smile. “…Vague…”
Rena walked by and patted the girl on the shoulder. Afterwards, they all went back to their training of some sort.
Simply putting it, the bloody bandaged zombie-youkai, maybe a kyonshi, made another sphere. Her spheres were somehow always a spectacle to see. Poof, boom, poof, kaboom… Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. If the spheres were used in a battle, they’d be quite unpractical.
Airi, who seemed to be doing nothing moment before, was doing something until she got slightly distracted. Rena walked over to Nana and mumbled something into her ear. Then, she flew off, utilizing what she naturally had on her back.
Getting back on course, the tanuki girl awkwardly created a cloud and transformed into her more humanoid form. Changing form a few more times, she tried to channel her energy into morphing air or a stick into a weapon. Air didn’t work, but the stick worked for a few minutes and afterwards was useful in appearance only.
Morphing was tiring. Plus, she was thirsty. Changing into one of her most used forms, the tanuki, Airi pounced onto the floor, giving it a big hug. That created a great big dust cloud that might’ve looked a bit scary to some people, but… not her of course.
Keira sat down after swinging her sword around a few times. Actually, the idea didn’t completely fit her image, but life happens.
Seeing an opening, tanuki-Airi leaped and landed in Keira’s lap, happily taking a break.
The oddly ikemen and cute gorey-zombie-youkai floated over, and yes she floated since the Fates caused certain restrictions of movement for certain species to be changed, and placed her head onto the Byakko’s lap as well.
Nana grinned. “If you’re so wasted from that… go and refresh yourselves. Play in the stream or somethin'.”
“Yay!!” The three cheered like children, though they were younger than the crow tengu in the first place.
-~~~~~-
“...Waaa… So cool…” Keira happily put her feet into the cool stream.
The other two stepped in and they all sighed in relief feeling the cold water on their skin. Momoka's blood was cleaned off her body, and seemed to dissolve in the water. She saw a few ripples near her and felt someone's breath against her neck.
"Momo~, if 'ya stay in here too long, you're bandages'll get all wet!" she said while attempting to attack her naked body.
"Kya! Airi-chan~!"
Airi and Momoka, were splashing water all over the place. Even though the idea of a blood-covered, bandaged youkai playing in the water was disturbing, it looked fine.
On the other hand, Keira was just laying there, in a cool way.
They didn't notice that the two crow tengu, Rena and Nana, were watching them.
"They're really growin', aren't they?" Rena said, leaned up against a tree.
"Yeah, but they'll never change. I still don't know why," Nana said, her arms crossed.
"They probably wanna maintain NMB's image."
"Well, for whatever reason, maybe it's good that they stay the same."
The two just stared at them as they were all having fun. Nana remembered those fun times she had when she first joined, but they were so serious at this time. Sometimes, she even secretly wished the Crusade never existed, so NMB could just have fun all the time.
"Yeah..."
Rena's eyes widened in realization.
"Oh, I forgot somethin'. Will you keep an eye on the girls?"
"Yeah, once their finished, I'll take them back to the trainin' grounds."
"OK. Thanks." She spread her large black wings and flew off.
Nana just continued to watch them, a smile on her face. Airi was now starting to attack Keira and the three were going completely crazy in the water. Nana giggled.
"Yeah, they'll never change."
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew over. The tanuki-girl turned her head and squinted off into the distance. Momoka tilted her head in confusion. Airi observed and saw the figure of a certain girl that the three knew.
It had been quite a long time, but she was certain that the one who she saw was the one she missed the most. Her eyes widened.
"....Jo-chan?" Airi jumped up immediately, surprising Keira and Momoka.
"Airi? Where are you goin'?"
The two girls grabbed their clothes again and ran after the runaway tanuki. Nana saw this and ran after them, too.
--------------------------------
“The Crusade Trainee Squad! Here we are!! Due to certain factors, the Crusades aren’t much of a deal for us as it is for others.” Minegishi Minami, labeled as Miichan considering the other Minami, loudly proclaimed as she introduced a group of girls that were behind her. Some of the trainees were off training and loitering nearby as well.
Rino backed away, overwhelmed by the amazing presence of the group. “Ah… hai.”
“Since we’re the trainee squad, there’s this factor of unlikeliness of getting somewhere during the Crusade. Note, the Crusade is a lot of fighting and strategy, ‘twas at first almost like life or death since we were already closer to the latter in the first place. Sadly, our squad here is still a bunch of new kids that haven’t really gotten close to--let’s just say…SKE48’s main aerial squad.” The short haired girl murmured another long block of words.
“So what do you do?”
“Haha! I’m pretty great and all-”
Some complained, “Mou! Minegishi-senpai!”, though there were other ways of referring to the Captain that should or should not be omitted.
“Haa…” Rino sighed, unable to think of anything to say in front of this--stunning group. The group had all types of supernatural beings anyways.
The Gachapin continued. “The Trainee Squad is basically formed of almost all of the factions’ trainees and new members. Though, I guess for HKT girls it’s not really needed to be here now. No m-”
“Miichan! Ryouha is-Ryouha is-Ryouha is!!” An out of breath angel came running over, a worried expression sprawled all over her face. The area that the Trainee Squad was occupying at the moment was considerably large, so it was a given that knowing everything that went on was near impossible.
Despite being a screen time hog many times, Miichan was a collected leader as well. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
There was no need for an explanation at all. A hamster-like tanuki youkai by the name of Shibuya Nagisa jumped by, frantically running for her life. Behind was a furious girl, one who was a sort of dark angel and SKE trainee, wielding magic enhanced arrows that were mostly mana and magic energy as close-combat weapons.
A bow hung on the chaser’s back, her slightly long hair not getting in the way. This was likely the one who was referred to as Ryouha.
“I’ll kill you…” She muttered under her breath. A malicious spark appeared in her eyes.
“Hear me out Uha-chan! It’s just a little peck from Aisa!” Nagisa desperately tried to salvage the situation.
Sashihara looked at the scene nervously. Miichan stepped forward, but was greeted with an arrow that pierced through her foot. A bit of blood spurted out and the leader winced in pain. Rino leaned down to help, still worrying about those girls that she didn’t even know.
“Kuh! I need to find a way to get her under control… but pressure is…” Miichan mumbled to herself.
Ryouha threw an arrow, intimidating her victim. Right after, she formed another bundle of arrows out of her magic reserves, which was definitely something that was limited and not always used depending on the ability and combat affinity.
With a flurry of arrows coming her way in an amazingly accurate manner, the tanuki had no way to dodge besides morphing for a second. The delay following might’ve been fatal, but luck was on Nagisa’s side.
The attacker muttered again, “I’m going to…”
“I didn’t mean to make you maaaaaaaaaad!!”
At this time, it would’ve been great if Aisa, one half of the problem, was present.
Ryouha leaped, extending her pitch black wings that were like a fallen angels but carried the feeling of a dark angel as well as just a tint of malevolence. With an arrow in hand, used like a dagger, she stabbed.
“Wah!” The tanuki attempted to dodge again, but her opponent read her easily and cut into her arm. It jolted the tanuki like a lightning bolt. But then again… elemental affinities exist as well.
“…Thieving NMB…” Ryouha growled.
“Hey! Uha-chan! I won’t take it if ya say that!” Nagisa frowned, finding that her actions were stupid and she should just fight back especially with what’s been said.
She was ignored; a number of arrows or just spears of energy by now came her way directly from the dark angel’s hands.
Nagisa took action; grabbing a saber laying on the ground she deflected the energy, though dulling the blade. She swung downwards only to be blocked.
They parried blows several times. It looked as if the SKE trainee had the upper hand though. There was also a tint of exhaustion and stress, but that was barely noticeable.
Nagisa cut sideways and Ryouha blocked again, but with her arm. It was idiocy in plain view for most people. To let a saber cut through your arm was stupid. The flesh was cut through unevenly by the slightly dulled blade as well.
Blood dripped down and holding the tanuki at close distance, the dark angel held out a super charged arrow and thrust forward. Or at least she would have liked to… It might’ve killed… But…
The charged arrow faded and the wielder suddenly collapsed. Nagisa nervously backed away before she scurried over and hid behind the leader.
Miichan noted, “Nagi, Uha… I think she ran out of energy and collapsed. Get away when you can.”
“Ah! I respect you, captain. Thank you very much!” Before running off, Nagisa bowed low. She scrambled away, tripping over a few times due to worry, she managed to find a place to hide.
Sasshi sighed, but was jolted with shock when she realized that the short angel was present.
“Takamina… You were HERE?”
“…Didn’t you notice me? Well…whatever.” Takamina was like Sasshi’s pseudo-stalker.
Going to check on the collapsed girl, Takamina mumbled to herself. “Overwork and pressure is always suckish… Especially if something like lovesickness and jealousy gets involved.”
Seeing as that leaving someone lying on the ground was bad, the short angel lifted up the girl and allowed two other trainees, namely Aisa and a certain Ogino Risa, to take care of her. The two girls picked her up and carried her off, before Aisa planted a soft peck on her cheek.
"All's well that ends well..." Takamina said.
Sasshi looked around at the awkward situation. "So~... now what?"
Miichan thought of something and whispered into Takamina's ear. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Can we really?" she whispered to her.
"C'mon, what harm would it do?"
"But, we promised Acchan this would only be between us. We can't break our promise."
"Oh, c'mon. Sasshi's a friend... and our ACE... apparently."
"Well--"
"Just one visit wouldn't hurt, right?"
Takamina remained silent, looking at Sasshi through the corner of her eye. Sasshi just waved awkwardly. She pursed her lips and sighed.
"I guess not..."
"Good." Miichan grabbed her hand and excitedly pulled her. "Come with us."
"Wait, where are we going?"
Takamina took their hands, and calmed them down.
"We wanna show you something."
----------------------------
"Jo-chan!" Airi was screaming as loud as she could, trying to get the younger girl's attention. "Jo-chan!"
She was running as fast as she could. She didn't care that she had wings. She just wanted to reach her.
"Jo-chan!" But, no matter what, she couldn't reach her. In fact, she seemed to be getting farther away from her.
"Airi~!"
"Airi, stop! Come back!"
Keira and Momoka finally caught up and stopped her, grabbing her shoulders. But, even after they tried to fly off with her, Airi forced them to let go and flew forward.
"We need to get back, or Rena will worry about us!"
"Guys, don't you get it?! Don't you recognize her?! It's Jo-chan! She's here, and we need to get her back!"
She flew faster in the direction Jo was running, and found herself in front of an empty space. It was a giant circle that centered the entire forest, just a blank field.
She looked in front and saw her friend standing in the center of the field.
"Jo-chan!" She ran up to her, ignoring the calls of her friends. She jumped over and hugged Jo tight. "Jo-chan, I missed you so much!"
"Airi, let's hurry. We need to go!"
"Right. C'mon, Jo-chan. Let's go home. The others will be so happy!" She grabbed the girl's hand, but she wouldn't budge. "Jo-chan? Jo-chan, what's wrong? Let's go!"
She shook the girl's arm, calling her name, and didn't even realize a certain pair of sky raiders coming towards them, swords in their hands. Lucky enough, Keira and Momoka noticed and rushed to protect the two girls before they could attack them.
"Eh?"
"Jo, Airi-chan, run!"
Airi grabbed Jo and turned her around, making her face her.
"Jo-chan, what are you doing? We need to get out of here!" But she suddenly stopped when she saw Jo's sleepy expression... and empty, blank eyes. "Jo-chan?"
One of the SKE girls giggled at her, evily.
"It's seems you've come," she said to them.
"It's great to see you after so long" the other answered after.
Airi was getting worried, because she was in the middle of a battle now, and Jo wasn't responding at all. Anger swelled in her eyes.
"What did you do to Jo-chan?! Why is she like this?!"
"Oh, her? Don't worry, she's safe. We have her soul kept safe and sound." the masculine looking dark angel said, holding up a small crystal ball. "She belongs to us now."
Momoko gripped her katana sword. "H-how could you?!"
"It was so simple, really. It didn't take long for her to submit. The precious little girl you used to call a friend there is nothing but an empty shell."
The younger girl beside her started laughing at her dumbfounded expression.
"Hahaha! You were so stupid to fall for that! Too bad, so sad, you're best friend is now our puppet."
Airi was so overwhelmed in anger. Her eyes were glowing a bright yellow, and her pupils just became black slits like that of a snake's eye. She flashed out fangs and her fingernails grew incredibly long. She screamed in rage and charged towards one of the SKE girls, aiming her nails at her throat.
However, she kept dodging each of her attacks. She just smiled as she avoided her claws, each slash and cut that swept against the wind. She loved seeing the anger grow on her face.
Keira pulled her back and tried to calm her.
"Airi, stop."
"CHURI!!!"
A small yellow bird flew down on her shoulder, singing a bird song.
"Ah... I'm needed back at base." She turned around and started walking back. "Bye. It was fun while it lasted."
Airi growled again and prepared to attack her, but two younger dark angels speeded up and protected her.
"Yuria-chan, Kanon-chan, clean this mess up for me."
"Yes ma'am," they said simultaneously.
The two girls pulled out small twin daggers and started charging for Keira and Momoka.
"You coward! Fight me!"
"Sorry, tanuki. Duty calls." She looked over at her co-captain and smiled. "Nishishi, take care of her."
"With pleasure."
Churi flew up and disappeared into the sky. Nishishi pulled out her sword and charged towards the tanuki-girl. Although, right now, she looked like a true youkai, Nishishi didn't even flinch. She attacked her full force, the two engaged in a heated battle. The loud clinking from the metal and the nails echoed through the empty space.
The two younger dark angels, Yuria and Kanon, ran towards the other youkai and started attacking them with their daggers. Keira was good with hand-to-hand combat with her catlike reflexes and tiger features, while Momoka had an advantage with her long katana.
Keira and Yuria were really close, their chests just inches away from each other. Yuria giggled.
"You're good. I never expected this."
Keira just snickered.
"Well, to me, it looks like 'ya only brought these daggers."
"I... I was rushed."
"Pretty stupid. I would've thought out my moves. Like this!" She broke away contact and stole her daggers from her. Yuria just awkwardly smiled and giggled. "Told ya you were pretty stupid."
She charged at her again, and now Yuria REALLY didn't have time to think. All she could think of doing was dodging her.
On the other side of the field, Kanon and Momoka were literally in the middle of a ninja/samurai battle. Kanon used everything, from ninja stars to throwing knives, her daggers and throwing knives, and she had twin swords on her back. It would’ve seemed like a hilarious and well thought out ninja cosplay to the zombie-youkai if it weren’t such a deathly situation.
When the ninja-like dark angel finally ran out of things to throw, she threw a smoke bomb on the ground and disappeared. Hurriedly, Momoka blew away the smoke. She looked around to find her opponent. Nowhere. Kanon was gone.
But then, the zombie-youkai suddenly felt a sword go into her back and she jolted up, pulling the sword out and throwing it in the air. The sword landed miles away from them and smashed through into the ground.
Kanon pulled out another smoke bomb and threw it on the ground, but instead, she wasn't the one to disappear.
The dark angel started getting nervous and looked around. She didn't see a trail of Momoka's blood. Only the puddle in which she made when she stabbed her. Then, she heard something... Her ear, which had a handcuff earring dangling on it, started to ring. Kanon felt the wind and when she looked up, she saw Momoka fly down and she got a face full of foot. Kanon fell flat on the ground.
Momoka flew down and slowly got closer to the seemingly unconscious girl. As she stared at her a few seconds, Kanon suddenly took her sword and thrust it into her stomach, making her cough up blood.
"I must say... you've got a lot of blood for an immortal zombie thing."
The SKE girl flipped her over and was about to stab her again, but Momoka kicked her off and started to retaliate.
All this time, Nana was watching them, studying their movements. In the back of her mind, she was rather impressed at everyone's battle strategies. She especially liked seeing Kanon get some shoe to the face.
But, then, she heard a scream of pain from Airi. She saw the tanuki on the ground, struggling to get back up. Airi’s eyes and nails had gone back to normal, and her fangs were smaller, but still noticeable.
"See? You can't fight. The only thing you all are good at is bleeding endlessly. NMB are worthless."
Nishishi was about to thrust her sword into her neck, but the crow tengu rushed in and stopped it with both her hands. The two were engaged in a long staring battle, until Nishishi smirked maliciously.
"Well, if it isn't one of the crows. It's been a while."
"Nana..." Airi said weakly. Nana helped her junior up and sent a dark glare to the manly girl.
"You SKE girls should be ashamed of yourselves. All you do is hurt people, even after they beg for mercy. That is unforgivable."
Nishishi just sighed and looked down at the fallen tanuki.
"Yes... Perhaps it's time I fight a more... formidable opponent. As for this little cherub...Eriko."
Nana turned to see the very girl standing behind them, a blank look on her face. Her eyes widened.
"J-Jo?"
"I'll leave this one to you."
She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The sound was so loud, its echo seemed to have shook the ground ever so slightly. Eriko wordlessly pulled out a long sword and started attacking the poor tanuki.
The soulless girl, a Zashiki Warashi, had eyes that were frozen and glazed over. Her movement was swift and accurate, so it made it harder for Airi to win. The tanuki was already badly beaten and struggling to fully keep conscious and aware. More than that, she was scared. She couldn't fight her best friend.
"Kyaa!"
"Airi!" But, before the others could try and help her, Yuria and Kanon just blocked the way. Nana tried to run and stop Jo, but Nishishi held out her sword and stopped the eldest NMB. The inner sadist in Nakanishi glowed in her eyes for a second before it was painted over.
Nana had no choice left, but to fight. She spread out her large black wings and the nails on her fingers became long and painted black. Her eyes glowed silver and had snake-like slit pupils. She headed straight towards her and, just like Airi, she was attacking with her claws.
However, unlike what had previously happened to her, she could use her wings to protect her from the sword and attack with the steel feathers. Nishishi was suddenly caught off guard, but the masculine girl would never show it through her poker face.
A few feathers came straight for her and she blocked them with her own wings, but compared to Nana, her wings were weaker and she could feel the pain. Nishishi still didn't show it, though, and smirked at the tengu.
"It seems you've grown stronger since our last battle."
"I always learn from my mistakes."
With a tiny exchange of words, they charged at each other with full force again.
----------------------------
Yui was flying through the sky, searching for someone in a certain territory. She flew down when she saw a short haired girl playing a guitar.
"Sayanee!"
The girl heard her and looked back to see her.
"Yuihan. What are you doin' here?"
"I just felt like seein' ya. I wanted to try and cheer myself up, because of all the stuff that's been goin' on."
"Oh yeah, I heard about Mariko. I'm so sorry." She said as she sat down beside her. "And, I also heard Tomochin graduated. Is it true she went to that place Maeda-san went?"
"Yeah."
Sayanee just nodded and started tuning her guitar again.
"What'cha doin'?"
"I'm tryin' to write a song for Milky. Tomorrow's our anniversary."
"Oh, congrats. Hey, if it's okay, can I help ya perform?"
"Sure! Maybe I can ask Nana-san, too." She pulled out a sheet of paper that had some music notes on it. "Can you do this song?"
Yui's eyes widened and she smiled. "Oh my gah, yes! I love it."
Sayanee giggled.
"Perfect." She pulled out a small, silver thing from her pocket. "You can play harmonica."
"Thanks."
"C'mon, uhh... let's start from~ here!"
Sayanee strummed a few notes, then started to play the melody. Yui came in with her harmonica while Sayanee was singing some of the song. In the shadows of the forest, someone watched them play together, giggling. A smile drew across her face.
----------------------------
“Pretty…” Sashihara didn’t have much else to say as she absorbed the scenery of the beautiful place that the two Minami had led her to.
It was a wonderful garden with a large pond in the center. Sweet smelling leaves and flowers petal floated around like illusions. And lily pads with pink lotuses drifted slowly and gently, creating maybe a slight ripple in the water.
Outside of the pond were many shrubs and trees, unlike the dull forests around Rino’s town. The shrubs held bright and colorful berries and flowers and the trees bore fruit such as apples and pears.
The bushes seemed to be a maze, circling around the entire garden.
"This is..."
Miichan gave a nostalgic smile. “This is the place where everything started…Where we met Acchan and the others. Mariko-sama, Tomochin, Nyan-nyan...”
"We were some of the first generation girls." Takamina added.
"There were more?"
"Yes, but they're all gone, now. We didn't all meet here, though. It was just the six of us."
Miichan giggled and gave Takamina a light punch. "Five!"
"Eh?"
"Five of us. We met Mariko later."
"Mou~ ITAI! Stop it, Gachapin!" the two girls started playfully arguing, all the while, Sasshi was just looking around. She then heard a scream that sounded like it came from Miichan, but she and Takamina were nowhere to be found.
"Takamina? Miichan? Where are you?"
She called out to them more and more, but they didn't come. She heard footsteps coming behind her and when she turned, she thought she saw a rush of long, black hair.
She ran to find the source of the hair. There was a young girl, who looked somewhat like Miichan, looking around confused.
"Mou... Where am I?"
"Hey, do you need help?" But, she was surprised that the girl ran straight through her, like a ghost. "Woah..."
"Hello~?! Anyone?! Oi~! Mou..."
Sasshi continued to chase the ghost girl, racing through the entire maze. Then, she suddenly stopped and squealed a bit.
"Oh god! Dead girl, dead girl, dead girl!"
"Dead girl?"
She looked over and saw a collapsed girl who resembled Takamina, except with long hair. She then saw another girl with short hair walk over and knelt down to Taka, nudging her a bit.
"Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was completely alone here."
"...."
"So, who are you? How did you get here? Do you know where we are?"
The girl looked up a bit, but then pursed her lips again and looked back down at Takamina. The one moment Sasshi saw the girl's face, she thought she resembled the Maeda girl.
"What is going on here?"
The Takamina girl slowly got up, holding her head.
"Ugh... my head hurts~... Mm, huh? Where am I?"
"Wish we could tell you. Guess this means you're like us."
She nodded, then saw her small wings.
"Hey, are we angels?"
They looked at their own and realized the same.
"Oh, cool! Yeah, maybe we are."
"....."
"Uh, who's this?"
The short haired girl fidgeted a bit, then said something they couldn't hear.
"Huh? Didn't quite get that."
"......M-my name is.... M-M-Maeda.... Atsuko....."
"Oh. Nice to meet you, Atsuko-chan. My name's Minami."
"EH?! So is mine! Minami. Takahashi Minami."
"Ano~ my name's Minegishi Minami. What? Did you think we were the same person?"
The girls started laughing and were playing around, but as Sasshi watched, they started to fade away. The fog they had disappeared into moved to another part of the maze and went into the bushes. Sasshi tried to grab it, but it disappeared.
There was a rustle in the bushes, and then a certain cat-ear girl came out.
"Nyan-nyan?"
"I found you, Nyan-nyan!"
"Ahh!" Sasshi saw the vision-Miichan again, tackling Haruna and tickling her. "Kyaa! Hahaha, stop~!!! Hahahaha, it tickles~~~!!!!"
"NEVEEEERRRR!!!!"
As they were playing, Takamina and Acchan came from behind and tackled them. Now, it was a full on battle and they were all rolling around, until they reached the pond. There was a girl with shining golden hair, staring into the pond, but panicked and got up as the others rolled into the water.
"KYAAAA!!!!!"
The golden haired girl pulled them out, all of them soaking wet and coughing.
"Are you okay?"
"Eh? Tomochin?"
"Yeah, we're okay."
"Who are you?"
"My name's Tomomi. Are you guys...?"
"Yup." Nyan-nyan just sat on he ground casually, even though she was wearing a dress. "That means you're like us."
"Well, it's good to know I'm not alone anymore."
Sasshi smiled seeing this vision. She didn't know why she was seeing it, but she knew this must've been a vision of when they all first met.
Again, the fog moved into another part of the maze and reappeared as a familiar, tall girl.
"Mariko-sama!"
The vision-Mariko was picking flowers, and when she looked up, she smiled. Sasshi walked over to where Mariko was standing and saw the five girls, playing together. Sasshi smiled, too. This was a nice vision.
Then, Mariko saw something in the bushes and picked it up. She had an idea and walked over to vision-Takamina.
"Takamina."
"Hm? What is it, Mariko-san?"
She knelt down and took her hair into a high ponytail, tying it in a white ribbon.
"There. This looks really good on you." Takamina blushed and giggled a bit at the compliment. "C'mon guys. I wanna show you something."
The six girls walked down a path that lead them outside the garden and back into the church. They all went in and Mariko pointed to the door at the top of the stairs.
"What's... that?"
"Behind that door, there's a special place. A whole other world where anything can happen."
"Really? Can we go?"
"No." Miichan pouted, but then Mariko patted her head. "Not yet, at least. You and the door must choose who goes and who doesn't. But, it has to be at the right time."
Acchan stepped up. "I wanna go."
"Eh?"
"I want all of us to go. One day, I want all of us to step through that door at the same time, and create our own world, together."
Everyone looked at each other, and even though it seemed crazy... they agreed.
"If we do that, we can all be together. Forever!"
"Then, let's make it a promise."
"Yeah, pinky promise!" Everyone's fingers were intertwined with one another, all of them giggling. Seeing such happy faces made Sasshi feel... a little sad. It was sad to know that these girls have been through so much. They endured pain, sacrificed happiness, created sadness...
And all for a promise.
****i** ****shi***! **Sasshi!"
"SASSHI!!!"
Sasshi turned around and saw the normal Miichan and Takamina behind her.
"Guys. Did you see that?"
"See what?"
Sasshi pointed to where the vision was standing, but it disappeared. Not a trace.
"Sasshi, what happened?"
"....I saw... you. And, Nyan-nyan. And, Tomochin. And, Mariko-sama. And, Acchan... I saw all of it!"
"EH?!?!?!"
------------------------------
"AAAHH!!!"
Nana and Nakanishi were already covered in scratches and bruises. There was blood coming out of Nana's mouth, and some of Nakanishi's feathers were all messed up. They had already been going at it for a while, and they're out of breath.
So was Keira and Yuria, and Momoka and Kanon. All six of them were beaten badly and had scars all over them. Their clothes, and even the beautiful green grass, was stained in blood.
But, there was only one who didn't try and fight. Airi.
Every time Eriko thrust her sword to attack her, Airi would just dodge as fast as she could. She had successfully hit her a few times, and Airi was still very weak from her battle with Nishishi. She just couldn't hold up much longer.
Nana saw this and she looked over to the tanuki.
"Airi, you need to do somethin'!"
"I can't!" she said while still dodging Eriko. "I can't fight Jo-chan!"
"Then don't. Try to reason with her."
Nakanishi chuckled. "Good luck with that. Her soul, her very being has been sealed, in a deep sleep. She doesn't remember anything about you. She won't even be able to hear you."
Airi gritted her teeth.
"I will. I will make my voice reach her."
"Please, Airi. Save Jo."
"Jo-chan! Please, stop! It's me, Airi! Don't you remember?" She spun around and grabbed Jo's arm, meeting her dark, cold eyes. "Don't ya recognize us, Jo-chan?!"
Jo didn't listen and pushed her back, thrusting her sword again.
"Jo-chan, stop! Please remember! You can't do this! We're your FRIENDS! PLEASE!!!"
As she was trying to reason, all of her other friends were starting to become weak and were being beaten by the SKE girls.
Keira's tiger-striped hair was all tangled and her muscles were very tense and sore.
"Jo, remember when ya pulled that prank on me where you painted my clothes, hair, and even my skin completely white with black tiger stripes! I was so mad at you, but then it was so hilarious, I had to keep my stripes permanent. If it wasn't for your prank, I wouldn't be the person I was today."
Momoka was being held down and beaten by Kanon, receiving several blows to the face.
"And... when you dressed yourself up as a zombie and scared me and the others? I thought that make-up looked so well. You were one of the first people to think zombies were cool, and that made me so happy..." Then, she coughed up blood.
Nana smiled and started crying.
"And, you remember when we first met? You were so scared of fightin' and always clung onto everyone. I watched you grow for so long, and I was so proud..." She sniffed a bit and wiped away her tears. "You gotta remember!"
"Don't even try." Nishishi said. "She wanted to forget."
"Eh?"
"She basically gave herself up to us, because she suffered so much. If you didn't even have time to notice, that just proves how uncaring you really were to her. She left because she wanted love. She never liked you."
Nana suddenly transformed one step further in her youkai form. Her muscles and veins became tense and burning, her wings grew larger and the feathers even grew to make her arms turn into wings, and large fangs grew in her mouth.
"LIAR!!!!!"
However, Nishishi found her anger amusing and dodged her. She was studying all of her moves, waiting for the perfect moment.
Jo, too, still didn't give up. In fact, she became more intense than ever. Her swings became more forced and she increased her pace, the darkness in her eyes growing. Airi was crying; she didn't want to see Jo this way. She wanted her friend back.
"Jo, stop! I BEG you! Stop!! STOP!!!" She kept calling to her, more and more, but it was useless. Her voice got louder, louder, and louder. She was finally caught up in her feelings and was getting hurt more. Her eyes were blurred by her tears and all she felt was... Darkness. Sadness. Pain. "STOOOOOP!!!!!!!!!!"
She suddenly swung her hand and hit Jo, sending her flying into a tree and hitting the ground. She let go of the sword and just laid there, her eyes only half opened and still lifeless.
Airi finally got her sight back and saw what she had done. She rushed over to the fallen girl.
"Jo! Jo!!" She was shaking her, but she wouldn't respond to her. Her tears fell on her, but Jo still didn't react. As if she... "No... No, please. Jo!"
Nana was stunned by this, and then she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. Nakanishi stabbed her stomach. The masculine girl ran the tengu to the ground and didn't even notice the small crystal orb fall out of her pocket.
"Jo, wake up! Please come back!"
Keira, too, was held down and stabbed by Yuria's small daggers.
"Jo, we need you! Please!"
Momoka was thrown over to the ground and stepped on by Kanon.
"Remember us! Remember YOU!!!"
Everyone was getting a major beat down, everyone was calling her endlessly. Jo's blank eyes were staring at them, but all she saw was nothingness. Everything she heard were muffled and clouded by the fog in her mind. She didn't have a soul, therefore she had no sense. She could no longer think.
Just an empty corpse.
"Jo!"
"Jo!!"
"Jo!!!"
"JOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Then, for the first time in so long, she felt a spark. She could hear. And, she heard the girls calling her. And, her vision came back. It was blurry, but she saw the figure hovering above her.
Finally, she felt. She felt something cold and wet dropping on her face.
It took her a while, but as she heard the voices, she finally got a full thought through her head.
".......These voices....... ......I know..... these voices......"
Her head slowly moved and raised up more to see the girl's full face. Her vision became clearer and she saw Airi in front of her, tears flowing down her eyes. A memory flashed in her head.
".....Ai....ri...chan...." Her voice finally came back.
Airi's eyes widened when she heard her friend talk.
"Jo?"
Jo's head slowly turned and she saw her comrades being beaten by the dark angels. More memories in her head came, making her heart... she could feel her heart beat again. Growing warm.. so gradually.
"Kei..ra..chan... Momo...ka..chan... Nana...san..."
Everyone heard and they looked at the collapsed girl.
"That's it, Jo. Remember."
Nakanishi looked down at the ground and she saw the small orb. There was a small light, flickering in the center of the crystal.
"What? How?!"
She looked at the girl, there was light in her eyes, too.
"I erased her memories. I took her soul! How can she possibly remember?!"
"Fuuko-chan... Mao-chan... Rena-san... Mayu-senpai... Riho-senpai... Miyuki-senpai... Saya-nee-san..."
"No!!!" Nakanishi was about to stop the young youkai, but she felt a steel feather hit her back and paralyzed her, making her fall to the ground.
"Not this time."
"Jo, you remember us, right? You remember?"
A small smile brushed across her face. Her entire chest felt warm, and the warmth just completely spread throughout her body.
"Yes... I remember..."
A single tear fell down from her face. The soul in Nishishi's hand glowed brightly and burnt her hand. It became complete light. Nana slowly walked over, passed the fallen dark angel, and picked up the soul. She walked closer and knelt down to her.
"I believe this belongs to you."
Jo took the soul in her own hand and put it into her chest. Finally, the last bit of her was complete. She closed her eyes and relished the amazing feeling inside of her, overwhelming inside her.
When she opened her eyes again, they were filled with life again and she was crying when she saw their faces again.
"Nana-san. Airi-chan."
Airi couldn't hold her tears anymore, neither could Nana, and they both hugged the small girl.
"Jo!"
Jo just nuzzled against the girls' shoulders, crying endlessly.
"I missed all of you so much."
"We missed you too."
Nakanishi slowly got up and tried to attack them, but when Jo saw this, she grabbed her sword and aimed it at her neck.
"Eriko, think! You hated these girls, remember?"
"Those were all just lies you made, Yuka." She withdrew the sword and held her friends' hands. "I was never with you or SKE. I am now and forever an NMB."
Nakanishi just growled and left.
"Damn it! Yuria, Kanon, let's go! We're leaving!"
Yuria and Kanon looked at each other a bit, but then when they saw the captain's dark look, they instantly got up and rushed to her. The three girls just disappeared in the forest, leaving the youkai all alone.
The three hurried to help Momoka and Keira up on their feet. Airi, however, was still a bit hurt. Jo smiled and held her shoulder, supporting her.
"Let's go home."
"Yea..." They all started walking back on the path, then Airi suddenly stopped. "And... Welcome back, Jo."
----------------------------
“Nishishi, you gotten beaten up slightly? Evil characters don’t get their way, try neutral.” The artist who was not at the battlefield joking stated as the group returned.
Yuka frowned and said nothing. With a forced poker face, she stomped off into her own room. It was obvious that this captain was furious. The bird like leader stood by and sighed. It was actually true what Airi had said, being on the ‘evil’ side would just lead to more enemies and such.
Airi asked with a half-smile. “Kanon, Yuria, what do you think?”
“Uuu… I guess so. Nakanishi-san is usually so collected…and neutral as you said.”
“We just happen to seem evil because we were aiming for the goal a more…violent and selfish way in that case.”
“It’s opinionated. The Crusade…is just mean anyways.” Churi half-heartedly said.
There was a silence. Churi and Airi stood on one side, and Yuria and Kanon stood on the other. Airi ended up being the conversation starter once again. “…So, Akane… These two are probably curious about your birds…”
“Hrm!?” The bird loving girl perked up. Two colorful parrots came flying over just at that moment.
The two birds both chirped in unison.
Realizing their curiosity, the two younger members couldn’t hold back a slight grin. They indeed did lose a battle, but at least they’d manage to find out something new. Seeing how beat up the NMB girls were as well, it was almost a draw to be honest.
Excited, Churi began her explanation. “Allow me to explain then. This one is Papi-tan and this one is Popo-kun. Actually these children are shikigami, but they’re my close comrades just like you girls are. There are also-”
-~~~-
Kanon suddenly left and locked the door to her room. She didn't know why, but talking about such a thing... made her heart ache.
She didn't know why. She just felt pain somewhere, somehow. Some way or another, it hurt... A lot. The suffocating feeling was killing the young dark angel.
As she felt her own chest, she suddenly had a vision flash in her mind. In her fear, she quickly grabbed her ear and felt for it. The earring was still there.
Then, a girl flashed in her mind. Kanon’s heart ached even more. The image of that seemingly happy go-lucky girl created a wave of nostalgia, and coming with that, a tint of melancholy.
"Kumi..." She quietly whispered to herself.
She felt sadness seep into her heart and she fell onto her bed, crying.
----------------------------
Sayanee and Yuihan were still practicing together, but then they decided to take a break and went to meet up with some of their other friends. They walked passed the training grounds and saw Rena and the other Team M members.
"Hey, guys."
Rena, the crow tengu co-captain, walked over to them.
"Sayanee, Yui-chan. Have either o' y'all seen Nana?"
"No, if fact, we're just looking for her."
"Why?"
"Airi, Keira, and Momoka all went missing, and I guess Nana went to look for them, but they haven't come back yet."
The three girls were starting to get nervous. They could only think of what could be happening to them right now. The other girls who were training were worried, too, since their training routines looked a bit... unpolished. Then, out of nowhere...
"AAAAHHH!!!!"
They all suddenly heard a scream coming from a certain hetare youkai, Mao.
"Mao-kyun, what's wrong?"
Mao's eyes were widened, tears falling down her cheeks. She fell to her knees, which caused some of her teammates to rush to her. With her lips shaking, she couldn't speak, so she slowly pointed over to the distance. Everyone looked and saw the four girls, injured and walking together, trying to support one another.
The thing that surprised them, though, was that Jo, the young Zashiki Warashi that had went missing long ago, and the true friend they had missed so much, was with them.
"Jo?!"
Everyone realized who it was and started crying, tears of pure joy and relief. Nana walked over to Rena, smiling. Rena could tell she had been crying, and she knew why. Because, she was, too.
"Sorry we're late... We, uh, had a little business to take care of."
"Where did you find her?"
"Nakanishi was controlling her... but she's alright now."
They all were so happy, that they couldn't say anything. Jo slowly walked up, but in her joy, she finally let all her tears flow out and ran into everyone's arms.
"Minna... Tadaima!"
太宰治を読んだか？ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGWVMApHKuQ#)
hikari-san: Paruru was one of my guesses as well~ :3 looks like it isn't though
cisda83: "..." I'm sorry to say that almost none of your questions have been answered in this chapter, but tune in next time and hopefully we'll get somewhere with that~ (<- I sound like a DragonBall preview narrator)
mayuki_daisuki: and another update~ hope you enjoy!
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ooh there was quite a bit of violence :shocked but it was cool!! XD
also i really like the video :3
thanx for the update :cow: :bow:
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I completely and totally forgot that Miichan now has short boy cut type of hair hehehe!!! Good one.
Anyway, aren't the SKE girls a bit too much here? Nishishi seems so OOC.
Good job with Ryouha and her relationship with Aisa and Risa. Hehehe!!
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very interesting...
I like the flashback about how the 1st generation got together
And the story about most of the SKE....nice too...
But I was not so familiar with the members...so Yeah...
It's okay if u didn't answer all my questions...
I can always wait for the next updates...
Thank you for the update
Can''t wait to see the next
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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cisda: hai~ and update is here~
hikari: same, on all that you said... (worries about Nishishi's character... captain!!!)
mayuki_daisuki: "...nya" due to the fact that it's an action series?? I guess... violence.
Eighth
“Nishishi! Nishishi! Open up!” After a short conversation with Churi, the artist who was slightly unnerved by the strangeness of her friend’s behavior went ahead to the captain’s room.
There was no response. “…” Airin knocked on the door again. She started to pound on the door in her strange manner.
“Nakanishi-san!!” Yelling in a formal manner, the artist attempted to attract the captain’s attention.
Nishishi was Team S captain, one of the three. Churi was Team KII captain, the team that Airi was in. Just like NMB and all the other factions, there were sub-groups or teams. Though they were in different teams, Airi was somewhat close to Nakanishi as a friend. “Mou… just open up please…”
On the other side of the door, the boyish and ikemen girl sighed, looking at the door that blocked the artist. In truth, Airin could’ve just busted the door open, but she didn’t.
That weirdo artist…she was actually amazingly thoughtful.
“…Furukawa-sensei, just leave me alone for a bit ‘kay?” Joking, Nishishi replied.
Hearing the somewhat weak and unenthusiastic reply, Airi sighed, “No, I’m staying until you tell me why you acted the way you did.” Though it might not be obvious, the artist had to build up quite a bit of courage to stubbornly say such a thing.
“Hrm… Says the anshinanzen hentai…”
“N-no, I’m serious.”
“…I just wanted to…”
“To what?”
Nishishi just remained silent and walked out.
“Nakanishi-san!”
“....Something like that is… is none of your concern.”
“It is.”
“NO IT’S NOT!!!”
The sudden roar from Nakanishi made Airi go silent and she left. Nakanishi sighed, letting her anger flow out and cool down.
The two dark angels didn’t know that the young Kanon was watching them from her room, peeking through the door.
----------------------
“What do you mean, you saw them?!”
“I mean exactly that! I SAW Mariko and Acchan!”
Miichan held her head, trying to make out what was going on.
“Takamina!”
“I’m thinking.”
“Mou~, guys. This is weird! Why did I see those weird visions?!”
“We’re not sure yet… but we’ll try to think.”
Sasshi just pouted and looked around. She saw a group of girls that looked like they were training for something, and they were all wearing the same uniform; pink and red plaid skirts, bright red bows, and black shoes and headbands. Yui and Mayu were there, too.
“Yui-san, Mayu-chan, what are you guys doing?”
“Since Mariko left, we need to start our battle now.”
“Battle?”
“To decide Team A’s new captain.”
“Oh yeah!” Takamina sounded. “I completely forgot.”
“Team A? Captain?”
“See all the groups have divided their members into teams, and each one needs a captain. It’s not as important as a group leader, or general manager, like me, but the team captain needs to support and lead that specific team.”
“Takamina was the first Team A captain, but after she became general manager, everyone in Team A fought for the new position. We decided to have a survival battle, and the winner was Mariko-sama. It’s like that with every team. Right now, the Team K captain is Yuko, and Team B is Umeda Ayaka.”
“And, now that the Team A captain position is open, we need to have another survival battle to fill it in.”
“Uwaa~ sounds intense.”
“Well, it’s the rule. The survival battle shows strength in the leader. How smart they are to survive, and how they react to their environment.”
One of the girls threw Takamina her uniform so she could get changed. “Thanks.” Then, she flew off.
“So, Miichan?”
“?” the gachapin turned her head to the hetare girl.
“Is that how you became Captain of the Trainees?”
“It’s more complicated than that. See…. I, uhh, did something bad, and it upset the Fates, so I was demoted to a trainee.”
“Her hair was incredibly long, y’know. You shoulda seen it.”
“Long hair? Why’d you cut it short?”
“Cuttin’ hair shows sign of forgiveness. But, honestly, I don’t think she needed to do that.”
“Well, anyways, some time after, the Fates said that we were creating a new team; Team 4. It was made out of most of the AKB Trainees, and since I was the eldest, I was immediately named Captain.”
“Wow, you’re lucky, Miichan. I could never do that.”
Takamina flew back, now changed in the Team A uniform, a pleated red and black uniform.
“I’m ready!”
“Alright, girls. Let’s get to the forest!”
“Forest?”
“That forest will be our battlegrounds!”
----------------------
“Kanon? Non?” The slightly tanned dark angel wandered around searching for her partner in combat.
When Yuria found the said girl, that girl was morosely drawing in a patch of dirt. “…Yuria… Are you ever sad?” Yuria tilted her head, confused, at the question. The answer was quite clear and the reason for that question shouldn’t be too confusing.
“Hrm… That’s a good question. Yea, but you know…”
“…?” This time, it was Kanon’s turn to tilt her head in confusion.
“You can’t be sad forever. Hey, Kuubaka will get mad at you wherever she is.” Yuria giggled.
She gave the slightest smile. “Un.” It would seem that the nyahappy girl who was as Yuria said, baka, wouldn’t want her to be sad. And it would also seem that…Nishishi’s strange attitude would cause that girl to be disappointed and upset.
----------------------
A strange atmosphere surrounded the lush and thick forest in which this survival match would take place. Sasshi counted, excluding herself and the gachapin-like Minami, there were 17 girls here. The hetare ‘ace’ felt different moods from the different people. In her mind, she found that there seemed to be a few idiots here, forgetting her own idiocy.
“THIS MATCH FOR CAPTAIN POSITION IS SIMPLE!” The short angel yelled. “IT IS THE SAME AS BEFORE! ON EACH OF A HUMAN’S DESIGNATED VITAL SPOTS AND LIMBS, WEAR ONE OF THESE.” She held up a target-like circle. “IF YOU GET HIT, THAT AREA IS IMMOBILIZED AND ONCE YOU GET HIT IN ALL OF THESE PLACES OR ‘GET KILLED’, YOU’RE OUT. IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT, YOU’RE OUT. THESE THINGS ARE PARTIALLY SPACE-TIME PORTALS CREATED BY THE FATES, SO NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT TOO MUCH INJURY.” After the long moment of yelling, Takamina heaved and took in a large breath.
Sasshi thought to herself again, “…The Fates seem kind of frivolous… But I’m glad that no one will get too hurt this way.”
Though Takamina heard the inner thought of the hetare girl, she kept silent. Looking at the group, she smiled a bit. There were some girls that were very ambitious and some that were slightly hesitant due to not being leader material at all.
In a flash, or not, a stadium was set up, with seats at the edge of the forest and a large projector showing the participants’ information such as location as well as a to-be streamed live broadcast of the fights. Sasshi was lost as she saw the extremely science-fiction-like things pop up right before her eyes.
Sasshi’s lack of participation left her with the role of blowing the bugle. And she did, horribly so if one would say before sitting down to spectate with the angels from other teams.
It started. All the contestants were spread throughout the forest and they had to be careful since who knew what would attack them. With the slightest involvement of the Fates and some Saints, these captain deciders were always complicated and crazy.
Yui, the Kansai girl darted around cautiously. Without her sister, there was a lack of extra damage, but she was still strong by herself. With her back to a tree, she looked around and with a moment of thought jumped up and hid in the branches of the said tree.
A cool looking angel with long hair walked by. This was Iriyama Anna, An’nin. Waiting for the girl to turn her back, Yui lay stealthily in the tree branches. The second An’nin turned, an arrow headed straight for her neck which was one of the targets.
Stepping aside speedily, An’nin dodged. A sniper’s position is given away after the first shot, so Yui furtively fled to another area.
“Woah… Yui-senpai’s arrow was dodged…” A girl with a tiny face exclaimed next to Sasshi.
At another side, Iwata Karen, a short haired angel, and Kikuchi Ayaka, an angel with slightly dyed hair. Iwata wore brass knuckles; it seemed that she would go close combat. She carried a small pouch that was almost unnoticeable; there may be more in there.
Ayaka brandished two pistol swords that were of different lengths, one long and one short.
But before their battle started, a large chimera mixture of a lion, snake, and goat with a collar around its neck attacked. “WAH!” The two yelped in surprise. Karen leaped and gave the chimera a flying kick straight in the face.
Since the Fates had a part in this, something was bound to happen. Yuko sighed; she knew that this type of thing happened before, just not to those two. Last time, more people participated, so a lot of members didn’t know what went on in other areas.
With a chimera in the way, the two had no way to do battle.
Takamina had ended up participating as well. She was closest to a pianist in position, Matsui Sakiko, so the short angel was matched again Sakiko.
“…” A silence came from Sakiko.
They both nodded, and the fight started. Takamina drew a sword and sliced. Out of nowhere, a blast of sound entered her ear. It rung in her eardrums, causing the short angel to slightly lose her sense of balance. Looking, it was Sakiko. As a pianist, a musician, this was what her fighting capability had developed into.
Before anything could get too bad for Takamina, she swoop down and knocked her opponent off balance before ultimately knocking Sakiko out cold. Takamina wiped her sweat and then nearly tripped. Sheepishly she grinned.
“Now, I wonder who’s left…” she said to herself.
----------------------
“Sayanee!”
“Ah, Milky.” Sayanee gripped her guitar and smiled to her girlfriend. “Wassup?”
“I just missed you,” the little succubus said as her long, devil tail curved. The point at the end was not a sharp arrow, but instead a heart. She kissed her on the cheek and made her giggle.
She sat on a tree stump, cradling her knees.
“What are you doin’?”
“I was workin’ on somethin’ for you.”
“Oh? What was that?”
She held her guitar again, strumming a chord.
“Wanna hear?”
Milky responded with a happy nod. Sayanee smiled and tuned her guitar.
“Here ‘ya go.”
Sayaka Yamamoto - Jungle Gym(lyrics) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLTu-VGIw_Q#)
“Oh, Sayanee~!” She dove in and hugged her girlfriend tight. “I love it! And I love you.”
She held her cheek and kissed her passionately. The two just sat there, in pure bliss, and didn’t notice a certain girl hiding, spying on them.
----------------------
“Baka~~” A slightly silly looking--tomboyish yet feminine angel teased her opponent who had dead eyes.
The opponent, Takahashi Juri or known as TakaJuri by some, retorted. “Ricchan is number 1 baka anyways!”
“MOU!! You don’t even know who Kaguya-hime is!”
“I do! And you don’t!” They typically got along, but when the topic of idiocy pops up, since they are both slightly idiots at most times, things happen.
The Ricchan, Kawaei Rina, summoned up her two puppets Hasute and Wasute. They looked horribly moronic, but this angel’s character was just like that. In return, Juri took out forever expandable metal-iron chains with hooks at the tip, handling them with her slightest movements. Even though the two were slightly weaker in the intelligence area, they were able to do such delicate types of combat. Ricchan used puppeteer control bars and strings after all.
Flying towards her baka-friend’s face were the chains, body slamming Juri were the friend’s puppets.
A large cloud of dust and dirt was created. As it cleared, the two figures could be seen. Without wasting a second, the puppets were about to execute another body slam, but Juri grabbed one with her chains and flung it towards the number 1 baka. Forgetting that there was another one, she was knocked out cold, but stupidly enough, so was Kawaei.
In a blur, the projection suddenly went back to Yui and An’nin.
The Kansai-ben girl pulled back the string of her bow and shot twelve arrows at her opponent. Two hit An’nin’s right arm and one grazed her neck. The target rippled and then paralyzed the arm. The target on the neck rippled and darkened, but the cool girl wasn’t out yet.
An’nin took her estoc and thrust forward.
Yui had an excited look in her eyes, but with the numerous thrusts, she was forced to a dead end with thorns to the left and right and a tree behind her. Taking advantage of her physical abilities, she ran up the tree and shot at her opponent. An’nin was forced to drop her weapon and without a second thought was taken down.
The squirrel murmured something to Miichan. The Gachapin nodded and flew off. Seemingly to bring the out back, so that she doesn’t get attacked by something random because the Fates did something stupid.
Before Miichan flew off though, she shouted, “IRIYAMA ANNA DOWN!” Everyone looked at her for a moment, leaving the short haired Minami happily gloating in attention.
A bat-like creature suddenly crept up behind the archer. Everyone gasped. Taking an arrow, she nonchalantly stabbed the bat and extinguished it. A few more came from all angles, but Yui calmly dealt with the creatures.
Not forgetting about the cyborg Mayuyu, it seemed that she’d already taken down a number of girls, Mariya, Izuta, Morikawa, Kobayashi, Sasaki, and Sato Sumire. They were lying on the ground paralyzed. Due to the fact that Mayuyu was happy to fight, they suffered extreme overkill.
Smoke floated up from the openings of the cyborg’s guns and she sent a sadistic grin towards her next opponent. That was the slightly tanned ksgk ‘kusogaki’ Tano Yuka.
“Woah…Mayuyu-san.” The result of this fight shouldn’t be too hard to imagine. Super cyborg overkill. ”GYAAA!!!”
Mayu’s next victim? That was Oshima Ryoka.
The projection once again went back to Karen and Ayaka. They were both breathing heavily when a flurry of arrows came from above; Ayaka’s arms were immobilized while the younger managed to dodge by using her opponent as a shield. Yui had already flown over in a short amount of time.
Kikuchi was pretty quickly taken down. Karen was rapidly dodging the arrows and of course was grazed, but not getting hit too badly. She took up the corpse of the chimera and flung it at the archer, but it missed. Dashing up to Yui, the girl punched a few times trying to hit, managing to disable an arm.
Taking her bow, Yui jabbed Karen in the throat and of course she won.
Takamina, having beaten Sakiko flew over and so did Mayuyu after she finished with her overkill enjoyment. The three stared at each other for a certainly long time. The cyborg, uninterested in becoming the captain, decided to step down. There was no point if she didn’t care.
It was just the Kansai angel and the midget. Fighting against a sword-wielder would now be difficult due to immobility in an arm. This may have been a bad thing about the Fate’s target-shock-absorber. Seeing the situation, Takamina chivalrously handed a katana over to Yui.
“Thanks.”
“Well, I’m the general manager after all.”
“Haha… Let’s go then, Takamina.”
They charged. Clashing swords, sparks were created. Yui used her good arm and attacked at the short angel’s legs. Immobilizing one after a while, Takamina was having a hard time standing. They still fought. Sweat dripped down the fighters’ foreheads and a grin naturally appeared.
“OOH!!” Takamina cut down with all her might.
Yui hastily jumped to the side, but was met by an attack there. Returning the favor, she kicked the short angel quite hard in the gut. They sparred once again, Yui slicing away the HP of Takamina’s right arm. The target spot rippled and froze up Taka’s arm.
The two both had an excited expression spread across their faces. Yui elbowed Takamina and while at it, kicked the girl into the air. As she fell, Yui held the katana at Takamina’s neck, near the area where the artery was.
“It’s my victory.” She muttered with a slightest tint of Kansai-ben escaping. “But, there’s no need to even pretend to kill a close comrade.”
Then, with a smile, the Kansai-girl held out a hand to her senpai. “It’s kind of embarrassing losing like that though.” Takamina sheepishly laughed as she took Yui’s hand. The short angel knew it, even if Yokoyama wasn’t completely like a captain, she was going to be a special kind of captain for Team A.
“Well, ya gotta work on it Takamina, so will I.”
As everything was wrapped up, the competitors all gathered on the stage and the whole event was closed up. They saw Takamina and Yui as the last ones to come. Everyone stared as the two stood silently. Yui stepped forward and raised her hand up.
“I, Yokoyama Yui… am TEAM A’S NEW CAPTAIN!!!” A storm of applause came across, even some other friendly enemy teams had come to watch, and at the very end, another weird sound from Sasshi’s bugle.
“Maybe I should get that fixed…”
“I’m leaving… But… Mariko, you have to take care of Team A for me.” Suddenly an image of the stage that Yui stood on was seen in Sasshi’s mind. There was Maeda, talking to the tall Mariko-sama.
“Of course. Plus, that Takamidget’ll teach me all that junk.” Mariko-sama cheerfully grinned, hiding her sadness as she made fun of Takamina.
“Even though we’re on different teams, we’ll support Mariko-sama as well; Acchan don’t worry.” A not so much younger squirrel confidently smiled with many recognizable girls behind her. The short angel was trying to hold back tears, looking as strong as she could.
Suddenly, the hetare ace felt a poke in the back. “Sasshi?” Takamina had prodded her in the back.
“Takamina…” Sashihara mumbled.
In return, Takamina innocently smiled. Thinking about how bringing up the former ace can wait for later, Sasshi couldn’t help but do the same as a response. After all, this time around…there was nothing to cry about anymore.
“I’ll be waiting for you. And don’t you let me down!”
----------------------
Yuria was searching for her friend everywhere, but she didn’t have a clue where to find her. She seemed to be having a headache the last time she saw her, so she left her alone, but part of her heart still worried about her.
What she didn’t know was, even though she was outside, Kanon was locked up in her room all this time. She was clutching her head from the pain, trying to endure it, but it was impossible. She felt so sad, but no tears. So angered, but she only felt grief and despair. So scared, but she couldn’t scream.
Then, someone opened the door.
“Yuria?”
But, when she looked up, it wasn’t her, but the elder Nakanishi.
“Nakanishi-san…”
Nakanishi handsomely smiled and knelt down to the girl’s side.
“What’s the matter Kanon-chan? You look… troubled.”
Kanon caught her breath and looked up to the girl’s eyes.
“They’re back… the visions.”
“You’re still having them?”
“They’re all the same… that girl… I don’t know who she is, but… when I see her face… She… She…!”
“Calm down, Kanon-chan…”
She rose up and hugged the girl. She clutched her shirt and whispered in her ear.
“Nakanishi… make me forget. Make the visions go away.”
She smiled again.
“Of course.”
Nakanishi knew this would happen. This has happened multiple times, and as she kept doing it more and more, it only became stronger. She just had to keep doing it until Kanon completely forgot her.
She lead her out of her room and into another one. A dark room not known to anyone else. When Kanon closed the door, Nakanishi lit four candles, each at one corner of the room.
“Stand over here…” she said pointing to a red X in the center of the room.
Kanon slowly walked over and held both of her hands.
“Concentrate only on me.”
She nodded.
As she held her hands tighter, Kanon did nothing but stare at Nakanishi’s eyes. Her beautiful, glowing black eyes… So handsome… So… entrancing….
The fire seemed to start spinning around the room, in fact multiplying even. Kanon’s arms were so tired and she felt dizzy. She just let her arms dangle as her hands still held the ikemen angel’s. Her eyes were all drowsy and sleepy, trying hard to stay open.
Nishishi smiled.
“You will forget every burden that pains you. Every memory that caused you harm. You will remember nothing of the people who hurt you so.”
Her stare became dark and evil, glowing a black light that seemed to enter Kanon.
“You will forget Yagami Kumi.”
“...Forget…. Kumi….”
Nakanishi smiled, pleased at what she did. The hypnosis was complete, and she let go of Kanon’s hands, letting them drop.
“You will go back to your room and remember nothing of this when you wake up.”
Kanon nodded and blankly let the room, going back to her own. She slowly laid down on her bed and fell fast asleep.
“Kanon?” Yuria came in and saw Nakanishi. “Nishishi, have you seen Kanon?”
“Uhh, yeah, she’s in her room. She was sleeping there the whole time.”
Yuria slowly peeked through and saw her peacefully asleep on her bed. She looked a bit cold, so Yuria slipped in and was about to cover her with a blanket, but Kanon opened her eyes and saw her.
“Yuria?”
“Oh, Kanon. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to--”
“No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
Yuria sat down beside her friend.
“Are you alright? You looked sick when I saw you earlier.”
“Wha…? Oh, I guess I was just tired. It’s been a long day.”
Yuria giggled. “Yeah, I know.”
“...Hey, Yuria.”
“Hm?”
Kanon suddenly laid a soft peck on her lips.
“I love you…”
Yuria had been around Kanon for a long time. She knew that ever since… that day, she had been lonely. The only thing she knew was, she probably needed someone to fill those feelings she lost, and pointed it all towards her.
It didn’t matter, because…
“I love you, too.”
----------------------
“Hey, Takamina…”
“? What is it?” the short angel answered her when they suddenly started talking from their long silent trip home.
“Why did I see those visions?”
“Hm… I dunno. But, they weren’t visions, I know that.”
“Eh?”
“They were memories,” the gachapin angel finished. “Memories that were from Acchan, most likely. Since you have her ring, that explains why only you saw them.”
“It was amazing, guys. They were so real.”
“While we were talking, we noticed you got quiet, and we got worried. When we turned around to talk to you, you were gone.”
“We found you staring out into space and talking to nothing, plus your eyes were glowing red as if you were in a trance.”
“That’s when we knew, Acchan and your souls became one.”
“So, when I entered, I triggered her soul in the ring?”
Miichan looked up a bit. “Mm~, how should I put it? ….Your souls have been connected ever since you put on that ring.”
“EH?!”
“You’ve always had a connection with her; you just haven’t realized yet. It still needs time to awaken.”
“Uh-huh…”
Miichan started talking about when they and the others played with Acchan, but after a while, Takamina started feeling dizzy. The world around her darkened and all her other senses were clouded. In her mind, the muffling conversation turned into something else; Laughter.
”Hahaha… More…”
“No…”
“More, more. Cry more. Hurt more.”
“No…!”
“AAAAHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!”
“NO!!!!!!!”
Minami suddenly fell over, clutching her head in pain.
“KYAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”
“Takamina?!”
“What’s wrong? Takamina!”
“AHH! AHH! AAAAAHHHH!!!!!” She fell out of the chair, banging her head on the ground as buzzing and shocks kept penetrating her ears. All of them were noisy and disoriented, but inside her mind, she heard voices. Evil voices she hated to hear. “No!!! Don’t! Don’t make me!!!”
“Calm down, Takamina! What’s wrong with you?!”
“YAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!” One final scream, and her hands slowly dropped to her sides. Her eyes fluttered closed and she fell into Miichan’s arms.
The two just looked at each other.
“What in the world just happened?”
-
Minami is in trouble...
What kind of voices there...?
Evil thought or others tricks to disable the GM of AKB?
What's going to happen to Minami next?
Is it time for Minami to graduate too before she became crazy?
Can't wait to see the next
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: me too~ The parts that I don't write... I feel like a reader blissfully doing so in real time :3 Enjoy~
Ninth
“Takamina...” The Gachapin-like Minami mumbled with worry as she watched her friend. Soon after the Team A captaincy battle, the short angel collapsed. The first thought was to bring Takamina up to Heaven where the Kami-7 should be. Of course, they were present.
Yuko worriedly glanced at her comrade in shortness, wondering what had happened. The hetare Sashihara fidgeted around, unable to stay still. She was so used to the active presence of the short angel whenever with other supernaturals that it felt odd.
“...no...don’t...” Takamina murmured faintly with a troubled and strangely scared expression on her sleeping face.
The youngest of the Kami-7 tugged at Miichan’s sleeve and asked with obvious worry in her voice. “Takamina...Is she going to be alright?”
“Well, I have no idea about that.” The response came with a sigh.
“Should I get Haruna?” The typically black-hearted Yuki volunteered. The reason for getting NyanNyan was because the cat-girl was almost like a medic and also one of the first gen, someone who’d probably have the most chance of understanding the problem.
“I’ve already got her.” The cyborg said as Haruna came in.
“...stop please...no...”
“Takamina?”
“...no...no...I don’t want to...stop...”
The medic diagnosed, “...She’s burning up...sick… That’s weird. Takamina doesn’t normally get like this.”
“What do you think it is?” Miichan said, fidgeting with her hands and fingers.
“I dunno. But, it looks serious.” Haruna concluded, then adding, “It might be something that’s not a normal physical ailment.”
The squirrel then frowned. She was troubled, quite obviously as it was scrawled all over her face. “If only someone else could read minds...”
“..I… I’m sorry… stop… stop…!”
“Didn’t something like this happen before?” Sasshi finally spoke out. With all the years and maybe decades or centuries(though probably not), she thought that this situation may have happened in the past.
Miichan and Haruna showed their thinking expressions, and thought into the past. The others showed complex looks. Yuko finally said, “For me at least…If this happened, I don’t remember and depending on when…I may have just forgotten it as something unimportant…”
“Hmm....”
Jurina and Rena stood together as they explained what they knew, “If Yuko doesn’t know, I doubt we would’ve been here at that time,” which was basically nothing.
“Wait. Sasshi, since Takamina hangs around you a lot. When was the first time that she acted strangely like this?”
“Eh… Wait! I don’t know if this is it…but after I asked her something.”
“???”
“...About the past...before everything, the former life.” Sashihara sheepishly shrank away, finding that if her stupid little question may have been the reason.
Everyone stared at her blankly. The silence that filled the air was unbearable, Sasshi sweat-dropped.
“You did what?” Miichan said.
“I-I-I didn’t think it would do this to her. Don’t get mad, Miichan.”
“I’m not mad…”
Sasshi looked up, surprised. “Y-you’re not?”
Miichan shook her head. Sasshi could see in her eyes she was lying. She was trying to keep her anger in and not blow up in front of everyone, because she was also sad and worried.
“I just… I just don’t want Takamina to…” she gripped her fists, biting her lips as she tried to contain her tears.
“Miichan…” The cat-girl hugged the young angel tight, letting her cry into her chest.
“Why…? Hic.. Why does this have to happen to Takamina?! Why now?! ….Hic…”
Sasshi came closer and hugged her too, rubbing her back.
“Well, you know… you guys have been around for the longest time, right? Did anything like this happen before, like to another 1st generation or someone?”
Their eyes popped wide open.
“Actually…” Haruna said suddenly. “Actually, this has happened before…”
“Really?”
“Yeah… Even to Acchan.”
Flashback
“Acchan I’m here!”
Acchan was lying on the couch, breathing heavily. She was burning up with a fever and mumbling incoherent words in her sleep.
“Acchan…”
Haruna quickly covered the girl in a blanket and put a fresh wet towel on her head to cool her fever.
Acchan’s body was in cold sweat, fidgeting from the nightmares she was having.
Haruna just sat by the girl’s side, holding her hand. She closed her eyes a bit and prayed for her to get better. Then, the door opened.
“Haruna…”
“Takamina. Good, you’re here.”
“I heard about Acchan.” The short angel kneeled down to her girlfriend’s side and took off the towel to feel her head. “She’s still a bit warm. What’s been going on?”
“She’s just been sleeping. Someone told me they passed by here and saw her collapse, so I came right away. She’s just been laying there ever since.”
“Anything else?”
“She’s been talking in her sleep. I think she’s having a nightmare.”
Turning her head back to her girlfriend, Takamina slowly laid her forehead on top of Atsuko’s and closed her eyes. She instantly saw a horrible vision flash in her mind and it made her retract.
“What was it?”
“I didn’t get a good enough look to see what it was… but, it was scary.”
They decided to just let the girl rest and see if she wakes up. After about an hour, she finally regained consciousness and opened her eyes to see Haruna sleeping by her side.
“Shh…” The shorter angel shushed her so she wouldn’t wake her.
Acchan slowly got up and followed Takamina to her room, where they could talk alone.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I just had this headache and I blacked out a bit.” she said, still holding her head.
“Did something… upset you?”
“I don’t know… I-I can’t really remember… All I remember is this weird dream I had when I blacked out...It was kind of scary...”
“It’s ok. I’m here for you now.”
Acchan giggled and hugged her girlfriend. “Thanks, Minami…”
“So… what was it?”
“...I...don’t really know…It was just scary.” She shuddered.
The short angel gave a reassuring smile and gently embraced Acchan again, kindly whispering, “It’s ok…It’s ok…”
At that moment, Haruna came in after her nap. “...mrm...Acchan? Takamina…?” Seeing how their ace, and close friend, seemed somewhat better now, she smiled to herself for a second. “I guess you’re ok now; I’m relieved.”
Flashback End
“...And I don’t remember it happening again… Though I wasn’t around Acchan as much as Takamina was.”
“So that’s all you’ve got to say then.”
“Uh-huh…”
“Hey, come on! We shouldn’t be loitering around like this!” Yuko yelled. “Shouldn’t we do something now?”
“Actually...this squirrel’s right. We should try to actually accomplish something.” The cyborg noted. To that, Yuki agreed.
“So~ what do I do?” the shy hetare asked.
Yui got up and held out her hand.
“How ‘bout you come with me to meet the NMB team. I was gonna go tell ‘em the good news with Takamina, but… since it’s like this… how ‘bout you come instead?”
“Really?”
“If that’s alright with you.”
Sasshi nodded happily, even though, she was hiding the fact that she was a bit scared inside. Who KNOWS who she’ll meet this time.
“Great. Y’all stay here and look after Takamina when she wakes up. We’ll be back soon.”
-------------------------
[/b]
A large group of youkai and supernaturals were busy chattering and messing around with bright grins plastered across their faces. The two rogue members, Milky and Sayanee were there as well.
The new Team A captain flew in with Sasshi carried along. The group, NMB girls, warmly welcomed her and curiously inspected the thing that was in possession of the ace’s ring.
The crow tengu, Nana, asked, “Ah! Yuihan! Somethin’ good happen?”
“Ya’ll wanna hear the good news first?”
“Eh… There’s bad news too? Well, of course, let’s hear the good news.”
“Guess who’s Team A’s new captain?”
“OMG! Congrats, Yuihan!” Milky said, running up and hugging her tightly.
Sashihara, who was a hetare human being, shyly shrank away, not knowing what to say. Plus, with her past experiences with the opponents in this Crusade...Well, those were definitely not the nicest people so far.
“Good job!!!” The other girls quickly congratulated the archer as well, slightly slower paced than Milky.
Nana smiled with a thumbs up, “We have good news as well!”
“???” Both Yui and Sasshi were confused--Sasshi, because everyone was ignoring her presence, which was half a good thing and half a kind of disappoint thing.
“Tada~!!!” A small Zashiki said as she jumped out and flew into Yui’s arms. “I’m back~!”
“Jo-chan?! Is that really you?” She gave her a noogie and had her in a headlock, the other giggling while trying to break free. “You’ve GROWN since I last saw ‘ya.”
“Ite ite ite… Well, let’s just say, times passed.”
“What happened to you? Where’d you go?”
Nana came over and whispered to her everything that had happened.
“Oh…” she slowly let go of the young girl and patted her head. “You’re not bad, are ‘ya?”
“Not anymore,” Jo giggled in response. Everyone else giggled, too.
“Speaking of which, what was the other news, Yui?”
“Takamina...Well, she’s kind of gotten sick or somethin’, so I was thinkin’ about askin’ a few things to Ripopo.”
Answering the call, a slightly depressing looking youkai of some sort came walking over. Sasshi awkwardly stared for a moment before adjusting her view towards Yui again. A slight smile appeared on the new girl’s face as she saw Yui. “You called...?”
“Ripopo! So I wanted to asked about Ta-”
“Takamina-san?”
“You already heard me say...”
“What are the symptoms?” The doctor, medic, Ripopo put on a pair of strange red glasses and inquired. She adjusted them once and the rest of those present just stared.
“Uhh… not really much to say. Fever, bad dreams. We just want you to go and check up on her.”
“Alright then…” Then she walked off.
Sasshi just stared at the large group of youkai who were all staring at her. There were so many. Monsters, mutants, and magical beings of almost every kind.
But, there was one who was different. She didn’t look like a monster or anything. In fact, she looked… human.
The two were just staring at each other, until she came closer to Sasshi.
“Are you… the new ace?”
“Uhhhhhhhhh…. yes?”
Then, she smiled. “Cool. My name’s Sayaka. You can call me Sayanee.”
“Sayaka?” She then remembered something and freaked out, backing away from her. “AKIMOTO SAYAKA?!?!?!?!”
Sayanee stared at her, then laughed again.
“No. Yamamoto Sayaka. Ya-ma-mo-to. Remember that, ‘kay?”
“Oh, you probably confused the two because of the same name.”
Sasshi sunk her head down away from their gaze. “S-s-s-sumimasen….” Then, she saw something about Sayanee. Her right hand was covered up with a bandage. “Hey, what happened to your…?”
“Oh, this? Nothin’ to worry about. I just like to wrap it up is all, kinda like a glove.”
“Oh….”
“Ah! There’s one more thing I gotta do, sorry guys.”
“Eh~? Don’t go yet, Yuihan~!” Milky whined.
“Sorry. I gotta go now. C’mon Sasshi.”
“Eh? Oh. Okay.”
“Bye!”
“Bye, Yuihan~!”
As they left, Sayanee sighed and pulled out a small amulet with an auburn crystal in it. The crystal was shining in the middle, millions of bright crimson and orange lights floating inside it.
“That was close.”
“Do you think we can really trust her, Sayaka?”
“Alastor, she looks okay to me. Plus, she doesn’t even look like she’s ever been in a fight.”
“Hm… I suppose, but let’s keep our secret safe until we know we can trust her.”
Sayaka giggled. “If you say so.”
She put her amulet back on her chest and walked back to her girlfriend.
“We’d better go check up on them. Just in case something happens to that ‘Sasshi’ girl.”
“Okay, Sayanee.”
-------------------------
[/b]
Myao was simply wandering. Team A’s captain match had finished and there wasn’t much to do. She wasn’t going to stupidly go attack the Kami-7 anytime soon. Walking, walking, walking, the fallen angel breathed in the nice scenery around her.
Bored, she looked up in the sky. There was nothing but clouds, birds, and the blue sky. Myao sighed, when suddenly a few figures entered her line of sight. The shine that she knew quite well, the ace’s ring, was there. Squinting to see more clearly, the girl recognized the figures as Yui, the victor of the captain match, the human ace, and some sort of NMB girl.
This was a risky endeavor, to chase or not to chase, that is the question? Myao obviously had the goal of getting the center ace spot like most others.
She spread her wings, ready to take flight. Hesitating, she floated up one foot before she dropped down again. “Aika...?”
There she was, Rabutan.
“Myao?” She turned, noticing the presence of Miho. “W-what are you doing here?”
“Aika...I want to talk to you about-”
“Sorry. I can’t.”
“Wait! Ai-chan!!” But, she didn’t catch the tsundere demon. She just watched as she flew off and disappeared from sight. Dejectedly, Myao sulked, a film of tears welled up in her eyes. “Ai…-chan…”
She ran off, covering her eyes so no one would see her tears.
Aika, who was flying in the air, landed on a tree to rest a bit. She curled up in a ball and screamed into her arms.
“Mou… why can’t we just be friends?” She punched one of the large branches on the tree she was sitting on. “Baka Aika! Why did you have to fall in love with your best friend?!”
-------------------------
[/b]
“...no...” Takamina laid there moaning and suffering, trapped in her nightmares.
“Hey...How would you react upon seeing your precious little friend maimed like this?” HE held out the body of an animal that had been utterly maimed...“Hahaha! That’s perfect! Such a reaction over some stupid dog…”
“...no...stop it! Don’t!”
“Like always… you’re so amusing!” The dog died.
“...stop...don’t...”
The NMB medic entered. Yuko worriedly looked at the short angel. Haruna and Miichan had fallen asleep next to their comrade and the expression explained everything.
Ripopo woke the two sleepy-heads up and proceeded to inspect Takamina. Riho was a Satori or a mind reading youkai with powers somewhat like Takamina’s.
“...To tell the truth, I’d be kind of scared to listen in on her thoughts.”
“I think we can all agree on that,” Yuko said, leaning against the wall.
Riho knelt down and felt of her head. She twitched a bit, feeling how hot it was.
“My, my, it’s more serious than I thought.”
“What?”
She leaned closer and pressed her forehead against Takamina’s, then closed her eyes. Riho arched her eyebrows and showed a complicated expression. It looked somewhat painful and the atmosphere around the area was suffocating.
After a few seconds, the NMB girl retreated away from Takamina. Sweat dripped down her forehead and Riho breathed heavily.
“What did you see?” The worried Gachapin asked.
“Darkness...Blood...and--” The medic shuddered.
“And?”
“......M-m-m-murder.” They all looked at the poor angel with worry and fear in their eyes. “She, indeed, had a sorrowful past.”
Yuko held her chest a bit, biting her lip.
“What on Earth happened to you, Takamina?”
-------------------------
[/b]
“Airi-san...” A young dark angel wearing a cute pair of brownish doggy ears and a dog mask around her mouth area called out to the artist.
“Nanako-inu...?” Airi replied.
Nanako came sprinting over gleefully. In response, Airin petted the younger girl’s head. Cheerfully, the girl dressed as a dog lightly bit onto Airi’s arm.
The interaction was something that had developed after the dog, Nanako, was given the costume during a certain event. As she quite enjoyed the company of the artist and the artist also felt so, the interaction was born.
Suddenly, the two heard a flapping sound of some sort. It was barely noticeable, but with Nanako-inu around, it was audible. The sound was that of wings.
Looking towards where the sound was coming from, there was the Kansai-ben gatekeeper and new Team A captain along with that hopelessly useless ace that had no clear reason to be around.
Furukawa frowned. She had a clear guess at the reason for this abrupt visit from the two. Nanako was slightly confused, unaware of the details of the event that had happened earlier causing the rift between the factions of SKE and NMB.
The artist understood, it was-”You...I won’t forgive you girls for doing that type of thing to Jo-chan!”
Yui was past the boiling point of furious. The hetare ace didn’t understand how to react. It was intimidating how the girl was acting.
In her mind, the artist reminded herself to successfully go talk to Nishishi and scold her later. The young dark angel frowned, unhappy that the angel was blaming the duo for something that in truth they were not really a part of.
“...It happened already. Plus, it wasn’t even us two that did that to your little friend.” Airi tried to explain, wanting to avoid conflict at least when her junior was present.
“...It’s SKE’s fault overall.” Sashihara was worried, things seemed to be getting worse and worse. Nanako was eyeing her.
The artist collectedly replied, “I understand what you’re saying, but don’t come whining for revenge especially since those youkai achieved victory in the end.”
“...I ain’t whining for revenge.”
“Then explain your reasoning for being here, or kindly leave these grounds.”
“...This is a personal grudge...”
“Please leave.”
“I refuse.” In a flash, the first attack came from Yui. An arrow flew past the two SKE girls and Airi clearly expressed her displeasure. Sasshi was, by this point, running around in circles frantically.
The artist whipped out her drawing book and scribbled numerous ‘Chibi Airin’ on the page. “You’ve attacked… So this is on.” Without a second’s delay, they appeared, the paper shikigami-like creatures.
Yui grabbed a handful of arrows and shot all of them at the same time, eradicating many of the Chibi Airin. Another batch aimed towards Sasshi. She yelped in terror as she was bombarded by the paper-like figures.
There was no water nearby, so Sasshi’s way of mass-dissolving them could not be put into use. The hetare threw them off, one after another, but that was a horribly impossible task--to get rid of all of the Chibi Airin.
With the way Airin was fighting, the fight wasn’t proceeding much. Nanako had somehow disappeared from sight but that was not the concern of Team A’s captain.
Airi took out one of the many spare pens an artist must have and threw it at the archer like a dart. Yui avoided, but the pen exploded right next to her left ear. The Kansai-ben girl’s ears rang, her balance felt quite off for the good portion of a minute.
Taking the time, Airi scribbled out two makeshift versions of the duo, Yuria and Kanon. In less than 3 seconds, she created their weapons.
The two clones ran like the wind and threw Yui off her feet. Both held the captain at a blade-point but didn’t proceed any further to do the killing.
“You’re still too soft...” Yui muttered.
Arrows pierced through the copies of Yuria and Kanon, they fell to the ground as if feeling the pain. Not allowing the two to respond anymore, mercilessly, Yui destroyed the copies.
Sasshi was still struggling to get free from the Chibi Airin, but no one paid her any heed.
“Kyaaa!” Suddenly, Nanako appeared again, behind the hetare ace. She grabbed Sasshi’s hands and restricted Sasshi’s movements.
Yui turned her head in surprise, but with no time to be distracted, she turned her attention back to the fight again. Airi was proving to be a tough opponent who’d be a lot tougher if she was less merciful.
Luckily, for Sasshi, the young dark angel was quickly swept away by something. It took a bit to fully process the situation, but the rogue duo of NMB was here to the rescue.
Sayanee swiped away all the Chibi Airin that were in the way and the succubus in the team sent Nanako flying. A cloud of dirt and dust could be seen where the young dark angel had landed.
“Ah! Sayanee…Why are you-”
The cool girl grinned, “Hey, what’s wrong with being worried ‘bout a friend and comin’ to help?”
“Yups. Sayaka insisted after all~” Milky frivolously noted.
The three looked back towards Yui and Airin who were still fighting.
Nanako got up in the distance and coughed twice. She was covered in dirt. Suddenly a jolt of pain went through the inu’s leg as she tried to stand up. Due to the fall, Nanako seemed to have broken her leg or maybe sprained something.
“I’m going to help Yuihan.”
Milky smiled, “Hrm… It’s your choice after all.”
Sayanee nodded and ran towards the fight. She unsheathed her sword and entered the battle. Yui gasped, “What are you doing here, Sayanee?”
“Helping ya.”
Furukawa mumbled to herself, “...This is kind of unfair...But, I’ll deal with it.” She scribbled out a number of soldiers armed with large swords and axes, protected with heavy armour. She drew out a sword of her own and gripped it in her hand.
Running past soldiers for the most part, slaying the number that interfered in her path towards the artist, Sayanee came into close proximity of her target. Like a flash of lightning, she attacked.
Airi blocked each blow clumsily; the artist wasn’t much of a swordswoman compared to Sayanee and some other girls.She wasn’t very successful at holding her ground and every time she blocked, Airi had to step in and stop the girl herself. She swung her sword hard, and to her surprise, came in contact with Sayanee’s right hand.
The one in the bandage.
She expected it to be cut off or start bleeding, but the gauze was surprisingly thicker than she thought. The bandage slowly unraveled itself, falling to the ground. When the last bit of gauze fell, a beautiful orange tattoo was revealed. It shone brightly and changed colors.
It turned bright blue.
“What the-?”
A bright light flashed from the tattoo, and before she knew it, Sayanee’s body was surrounded by blue fire. Her eyes had turned sky blue, flames seemed to burn inside them.
“What the HECK?!?!?!?!?!” Sasshi screamed, clinging onto Yui. “What is happening to Sayanee?!?!?!”
“Sayaka… is a Flame Haze.”
“EH?!?!?!?!?!”
“She’s from the Crimson world. It’s a universe separate from ours. She has one of the spirits from that world intertwined with her soul, so its powers awaken when the seal is broken. This is Sayanee’s true form.”
“Ho...ly...crap.”
Without a sound, the ikemen Nakanishi had trotted over to her junior. “...We can get that healed later, so don’t make it worse Nanako...”
“...Hai.” The young dark angel nodded.
Looking at the glare that showed on her senpai’s face when Nishishi looked towards the battle, Nanako shuddered. Nakanishi quickly ran over to the battle with her sword.
She yelled out a nickname that she’d made for the artist as a battlecry, “Furukawa-sensei!!”
“Nishishi...?” Airi weakly said before being taken down by the now transformed Sayanee.
The ikemen dark angel gritted her teeth in frustration and attacked at the denizen of the Crimson world. Their blades locked for a second before an overwhelming mass of flames consumed both swords.
In Sayanee’s case, she had no response, but for Nakanishi, the flames burned. She stepped back, trying to keep a grip on the sword that now felt like a burning coal.
Sasshi and Milky spectated, Sasshi in awe and Milky with complex emotions. Yui was contemplating whether or not she should try to help, but facts were facts and this was not the time for an archer.
Nishishi’s hands burned, it was painful, but maybe less so than Hell. “...You...” She growl furiously. If only it was possible to steal the soul of this opponent now, that would be perfect.
“What?” The cool NMB girl smirked.
“Nothing that I would need to say to you.”
They locked swords again, Nishishi took care to not spend too long in a stalemate less she wished to get her hands burnt to a crisp. Sparks flew as they attacked each other. The smell of metal could be smelled and an immense heat was emitting from Sayanee.
Chances were that something was about to burst into flames soon. Luckily, the area was slightly lacking in grass and the flammable sorts of things, so at least the world wasn’t going to burn down in a forest fire, but the dreadful suspicion was getting to the SKE captain.
The smirk was still present on Sayanee’s face. Milky was frivolously watching as her loved one fought, she was somewhat happy and proud in some aspects.
Flames consumed the world. Blue and yellow and red and green fires seemingly spontaneously exploded or maybe imploded. Just barely, but just in time, Nishishi managed to back away fast enough.
Pretty soon, the grass around them was burnt. Nishishi was on the ground, and Sayanee held her sword to her head.
After a few brief seconds, Nishishi laughed.
“....Hahaha… My, this is quite a surprise. I’ve never faced someone like you. I like your style…”
“Don’t even try any of your dirty tricks on us again.” she said in an angered tone.
“Don’t worry. I swear we won’t harm your precious NMB again.” The bonds of NMB were strong just like SKE’s, but there was a distinct rift between the two.
“You better.” Sayanee’s sword disappeared and the fire around her slowly faded away. She suddenly dropped to her knees, trying to catch her breath.
“Sayanee!” Milky ran over to hug her girlfriend, comforting her with sweet kisses.
Sasshi still clung onto Yui, surprised.
“What just happened? She was so strong just now.”
“That’s what happens when Sayaka uses up too much of her energy. Since the Crimson Spirit inside of her is using its own energy to fight, its feeding off Sayaka’s own energy, so she can get tired out easily.”
“Uh-huh…”
Nakanishi got up again and left, her juniors following behind her. The three girls helped the slightly burnt girl back to her feet and flew off.
What everyone didn’t know was that a certain devil was watching them.
-------------------------
[/b]
“Tadaima~” she whispered softly as she thought everyone was still here. But, to her surprise, everyone except Haruna was still there. She was softly stroking Takamina’s hair, watching her now peacefully sleeping.
She heard her humming something. A soft tune that sounded like a lullaby.
“Haruna?”
She turned and pressed her finger against her lips. Sasshi nodded and slowly approached the small angel.
“Poor Takamina… I feel guilty now. This is all my fault.”
“Sasshi, don’t blame yourself. Things will only get worse if you keep bringing that kind of stuff up.”
“So, where did everyone go?”
“They got busy. Everyone left early, and I was the only one left…” She suddenly stopped stroking her hair. “Y’know… I don’t feel important.”
“Eh?”
“I don’t get noticed that much anymore… Everyone’s kinda forgotten about me. I just don’t know what to do now. I wish…”
She laid down a bit and rested her head on Takamina’s chest, listening to her soft heartbeat.
“I wish I had a chance… just once, I wanna be… something incredible.”
Then, her eyes closed and she fell asleep.
Sasshi smiled and petted her head. She didn’t really expect all this to happen. Haruna seemed depressed, and she understood, because of what happened to Takamina, but her sudden personality change made her feel sorry.
“Haruna… I hope you get your chance.”
Then, there was a flash from her finger. It was the golden band with the light blue diamond. A small light came from it, shining brightly.
“Mariko-sama?”
The light floated down and wrapped around Haruna’s finger. A small ring, a thin golden band with a light blue diamond connecting it, appeared on her ring. Sasshi kept looking at the ring on her finger, and back to Haruna’s.
“Ho...ly...crap… What just happened?”
-------------------------
[/b]
Nakanishi was alone that night, staring up at the starry sky. She had her arms crossed and tapped her foot a few times. She was tired, completely crushed by the fact she was almost killed by a Flame Haze.
Then, she heard footsteps…
“Who’s there?!”
She turned to see a devil captain standing, her hand behind her back for some reason.
“Chihiro? What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to give you a gift.”
“Eh?”
She showed her the item in her hand. A round, ripe red fruit. The sight of such a fruit surprised her.
“That’s a…!”
-
Thanks for the update.. :grin:
What happen to Takamina??
She seems had a dark past.. :cry:
Wow..Sayanee is so strong..
What will happen next??
Update soon.. :bow:
-
olive-san: well, here you go~ what's gonna happen next
Tenth (Part 1)
Chihiro just came back from her short trip. She found Sakura all alone, which was surprising since she was always around Anna and her friends.
“Chihiro? What are you-?”
“I had to run a little errand. I hope I didn’t make you worry.”
“What were you doing?” She slowly got up to face her shyly. Chihiro held out a small red fruit that looked like an apple. “..W-w-w-why do you have that?!”
She backed away suddenly, as if scared of the fruit.
Flashback(a few hours ago, in the SKE realm)
“That’s a…”
“Yes.”
“But, where did you get it? HOW did you get it?!” Nakanishi asked, about to touch it. But Chihiro retracted her hand, holding onto Nishishi’s.
“I thought that if we wanted to get rid of that ace, we needed to up our game. And, I’ve heard you’ve been having some trouble with the NMB squadron.”
“Yeah.” Then, she turned her head. “Why do you ask? It’s none of YOUR business.”
“I wanna compromise.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll give you this fruit, and it’ll strengthen your weakest ally. They’ll be more powerful you can ever imagine.”
Nakanishi smiled, and was about to take the fruit, when…
“But… I want something in return.”
“Huh?” Nakanishi slowly backed away, scared of what might happen next.
“Give me the bracelets.”
Nakanishi’s eyes widened.
“Those? Why those?”
“Trust me. It’s for a good cause.”
In the end, Nakanishi agreed to the compromise. She took the apple in her hand, and in return, handed Chihiro a pair of golden wrist bands with twin jewels on them. One green, one red.
“Perfect.”
End of Flashback
“I have a mission for you.”
She forcefully took Sakura’s hand and placed the apple inside it.
“Make Murashige eat this.”
“What?! Why?!”
“Murashige trusts you more than anyone. If you make her eat this, you’ll do more than just help us in the Crusade. This apple awakens someone’s true self. The person they really are inside.” She let go of her hand and started walking off.
“But, Anna… I can’t--”
“Betray her?” She chuckled and patted her head. “Trust me. She’ll forgive you.”
Sakura just pursed her lips, staring at the fruit in her hand.
-----------------
Haruna opened her eyes and found herself on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket. She looked around and suddenly got worried.
“Takamina?!”
“What?” she heard a certain voice say. She sat up and saw the short angel setting up breakfast on the table. Haruna started crying and ran up, hugging the girl’s neck.
“Takamina~! Oh, thank god! Don’t scare me like that! I was so worried about you~!”
“Eh? H-hey, get off, Nyan-nyan.” She lightly pushed her back and looked into her eyes. She wiped off some of her tears. “What happened all of the sudden?”
“B-but… Takamina… you…”
Takamina just tilted her head, confused. Haruna was getting confused, too.
“Why is she acting like this? It’s like nothing ever happened to her.”
“Uhh, you okay?”
“Takamina… aren’t you worried? I mean, about… what happened to you?”
“Huh?” she said, getting more confused. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just remember falling asleep. Did something happen?”
“Uhh….” Haruna was about to say something, then noticed the small silver band on her finger. “EH?! WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!?!?!”
She tried to take it off, but it shone brightly and shocked her finger. She pulled it with all her might, but it wouldn’t budge.
“What is going on here?! Why won’t this come off?!”
In all the ruckus, the two angels trying to get the silver ring off, they didn’t notice the hetare girl watching them. Ah… the memories it brought back.
“Wait… why is Haruna doing that anyways?!”
She remembered what happened the night before, and she suddenly realized what was going on. Something from her ring, some kind of power, seemed to respond to Haruna’s wish and the power transferred a fragment of it to her. But, the thing is… how?
“Mou~... what do I do?”
Haruna sighed, after a long while of attempting to remove the ring, she deemed the task as impossible. The next best thing to do was to go somewhere.
“Takamina~ I’m going to that place… Don’t follow.”
“Yeah, I know.”
That place that NyanNyan mentioned was a beautiful garden located in Heaven. It was filled with perfectly fragrant flowers, colorful berries, lush grasses, lively herbs, and everything else a garden would ever desire to be.
She walked into the center of the garden where there was a clear, crystal fountain. Haruna stared into it for a second, hesitating and stared at the agitating ring that wouldn’t come off.
Haruna took a deep breath and stepped forward. Her hand went through the water, not getting wet at all. A mirror of fate and future appeared.
An image blurred and straightened itself. The image was cryptic, but the described would always know exactly what it was telling.
The angel’s eyes widened in shock. Her result was beyond her wildest dreams. No, that didn’t seem plausible. Yet, the mirror does not lie.
Haruna’s wish was--granted. Now, her powers had been strengthened and she was now stronger and more powerful than ever before. She shook her head, trying to shake away all of her confusion.
She held out her hands, concentrated, and attempted to harness her newfound powers. Nothing, nothing at all happened.
The angel fell to her knees, slightly saddened and not so much relieved. NyanNyan stared at her hands, the ring, and finally at the mirror. It quickly faded away as she had separated herself from the fountain.
“...Did something change?” Haruna couldn’t help but murmur out loud.
-----------------
The round SKE girl worriedly asked as she saw the still-red burned areas after a healing process, “Nishishi-san… Are you ok?”
“Yuria, I’m totally fine.” The ikemen dark angel chuckled. Then she remembered a slight detail that she wanted to do with this junior of hers. A part of Nakanishi’s conscience screamed in denial, but that was muffled away. “Oh yeah, Kanon wants you to eat this really yummy fruit.”
Nishishi held out a wonderfully red and spherical fruit that seemed like an apple. Convinced by her captain’s words, Yuria accepted the fruit.
“Oh, really? Non-chan’s pretty shy then… Hehe… Well, every part of Kanon is unique in her own manner.” Yuria giggled.
“I guess so.”
The two, having nothing much to converse about, began to silently walk down to the dining area of SKE’s fortress base. Nishishi sighed quietly through her poker face, the times were indeed changing too quickly.
Yuria tilted her head in confusion, but Nakanishi just pretended that nothing happened.
Reaching the dining hall, there was a huge lack of members. Besides the two who had just entered, only Oya Masana, Nanako, and Kanon were present.
The round dark angel waved to her close friend and that friend waved back. Yuria hurriedly scurried over to Kanon. Nishishi went over to Masana and started to talk lightly.
Accidents do happen and Nanako tripped due to the mostly healed sprain. “Wah! Sorry!”
She bumped into Nishishi. The captain then bumped into Masana who’s tray that had been emptied of food went flying into Yuria.
Yuria stumbled a little due to the tray’s impact. Kanon’s mouth gaped open.
The red fruit went flying, right into Kanon’s mouth. Oddly enough, the girl didn’t choke on it at all. She took a bite of it and chewed it slowly. Then, the young dark angel’s eyes suddenly went dark and she collapsed.
Nanako nervously watched the situation unfold in front of her and Masana was confused. Everyone surrounded the collapsed girl. Yuria nudged her, calling her name multiple times.
“Nishishi-san...What just happened!?” Masana said, worryingly.
“That, I have no idea. But let’s first move Kanon to her roo-”
Before anything could be solved, the girl in question disappeared.
-----------------
“Sakura?” Murashige curiously observed her friend who seemed to be in deep thought.
Due to Capt’s earlier request, the slightly big eared girl was now extremely jumpy. “Ah! Annya!! Uh...” She didn’t know whether or not she really should give Murashige that suspicious fruit that has suspicious results.
But it might be good. Sakura was dying over the indecision. It might be a horrible thing and Annya would probably hate her for eternity. It was a question over how to get the mentaiko-loving devil eat the red and round fruit.
“Hrm???”
Sakura tried to answer as naturally as she could, “It’s nothing at all!” but that didn’t work out at all.
“Oh~ ok.” Murashige answered in a super carefree manner.
There was definitely no way Sakura could give her best friend some crazy drug-like fruit, no way. But… Then again… Yes, it was tearing her apart, it was tearing Sakura apart about what to do.
HKT’s Captain, Chihiro, was observing. She was ponkotsu involving herself sometimes, but she was also an antagonistic person at times. Capt frowned and then smirked to herself. She knew what she’d do.
“Murashige, Sakura, we… we are attacking the Kami-7 now.”
“EH?!”
“Tanaka’s coming, too. She told us to go on ahead. Let’s go.”
Chihiro left, then Anna took a deep breath and nodded.
“Let’s go, Sakura!” she said as she held out her hand. Sakura slowly raised her own and took it, hiding her other behind her back. “C’mon!”
“Ah!” She suddenly pulled her arm and dragged her off, running as fast as she could.
Sakura tried to catch up to the energetic girl, but she was too fast. She just ended up being dragged along by her best friend.
“Hahahaha, what’s with you today, Sakura?”
“Eh?”
“You’re all quiet. You don’t normally act like this. Why?”
Sakura blushed and just kept quiet. She didn’t want to tell Anna everything about what Chihiro had planned to do with her, mainly because she was part of it and had no idea what it was.
“Okay. Suit yourself. Hahaha!”
She gripped her other hand, the one holding the fruit. She definitely knew with all her heart, she couldn’t betray Anna and use her heart for evil. Even if the captain told her, she was still her best friend.
“I’ll never betray you, Anna… my sweetheart…”
-----------------
“...Um...So, what type of situation is this...?” Sasshi, who had run out of energy and motivation to do anything related to fighting in the Crusade timidly asked for an explanation of the current situation.
The squirrel smirked maliciously towards the opponents, “Nothing out of the ordinary, it just looks like HKT is trying to aim high again. Let’s beat them to a pulp and let out all our anger…”
Sasshi sighed and shrank away. Somehow, this was bound to happen, but she was never prepared for any of these fights. Also, the dark aura of vengeance slightly loomed over her comrades.
In the front of the HKT girls, the hetare could see Capt as well as Tanaka. That brought back slightly bitter memories that one would wish to forget.
Mayuyu’s guns were fully loaded. Everyone who used swords were ready. And Sasshi was useless like always.
“This seems like it’ll be fun.” The super tall Boss smiled.
Somewhere in there, Haruppi lisped in agreement. Murashige grinned stupidly like always and Sakura hid her uncertainties somewhere. Everyone on the HKT side was already anticipating the fight.
“Um…can we start…?” Sasshi whispered, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.
Just as she asked for, the battle started. Mentaiko rained onto Sasshi mainly and exploded, Sasshi mainly.
Rabutan and Mayuyu engaged in a strange combat, the former attempting to deflect all of the cyborg’s bullets. The squirrel sparred with the lisp devil and the twin angels went ahead and disarmed a number of opponents.
Boss grinned, “...Come at me if you want.”
“If you say so!!!” Jurina rushed at the young devil and punched at her face.
In return, Tanaka punched at the puppy as well. The two began grappling each other, trying to throw the other over. Jurina kicked at her opponent thrice and Tanaka jumped away a few feet. It seemed as if there’d be a break to take a breath, but there wasn’t, Boss immediately started to attack again.
The mastermind in HKT was elsewhere. Chihiro threw a dagger at the short angel and turned tail to run right after. Takamina chased after.
“...Hmm…” Capt. smirked. That Kami-7 was getting to where she wanted it to be. “Perfect.”
She ran off the path and lead her to somewhere deeper in the forest, where they could no longer hear their comrades battling.
“....” Chihiro stayed silent, staring at the small angel with a smile on her face.
“What are you planning, Anai?” She tried to look inside her thoughts, but she ended up getting a massive headache. She grabbed her head, gritting her teeth to fight off the pain.
“..Ha. So it seems she was right.” Chihiro chuckled. “A little birdie told me you’ve been having some troubles… perhaps with that bothersome past life of yours.”
Takamina looked up, her eyes widened.
“How did you...?”
She held up to golden wristbands in front of her, making her back away in fear.
“What are…?”
“It was a gift. From the Fates. They were said to be very powerful.”
“You’re lying!” she screamed. She didn’t know if Chihiro was telling the truth right now or not, but it was hopeless to try and read her thoughts, so she just guessed.
She didn’t know the truth.
“I could… give these to you. As a peace offering.”
“Eh?”
“These bracelets can make you very strong, and help you in combat. They enhance physical and mental strength, and who knows… maybe it will finally get rid of that pesky past life soul of yours. For good.”
Takamina backed away more and Chihiro got closer. She was definite now that she had to be lying. There was no way someone like her would be able to receive that from the Fates as a gift. She probably stole it.
Furthermore, there was no absolute way she would give it to her. She’d get the disadvantage and lose. Why would an HKT demon do THAT?!
“I don’t trust you, Chihiro…”
“C’mon. At least try it on.”
Takamina was finally backed into a tree, pressed hard against it. Now, Chihiro was getting mad and she gave her a dark glare.
“Look. It fits on perfectly.” She slapped the bracelets on Takamina’s wrists and locked them tight.
“What the?!”
The two gems on both wristbands started glowing, then Takamina heard a loud, buzzing in her ears. It pulsated inside her brain and made her clutched her head in pain. She fell to her knees, moaning and groaning in pain. Chihiro chuckled evily, kneeling down to her.
“Don’t worry. All that pain will go away. It will actually soon become nice. Pleasing.”
Takamina tried to punch her, but the pain in her head was too unbearable. She just held her head while trying to find the girl. She was just punching the air, screaming.
She suddenly stopped, holding her knees. She tried to catch her breath, still holding her head. Her hand suddenly dropped and she fell to her knees again. She held her chest, for it was pounding endlessly. Chihiro appeared in front of her again, an evil smile on her face.
“See? Don’t you feel all that pain slipping away?” She held her chin and made her look up at her.
In Takamina’s head, the pounding and buzzing inside really was weakening. It actually started to feel nice. Relaxing.
“Forget your pains and sorrows. Let go of your worries and fears. Don’t think. Just listen to me. All you need is to listen… and obey.”
Takamina slowly felt her consciousness slipping, the bracelets’ gems were now glowing brightly. She tried to resist, but she couldn’t think. Each time she tried, a small shock shot through her, making her whole body ache. She didn’t know what to do now, she couldn’t move. She was just left there, watching the devil laugh at the sight of her weakened state.
That was the last thing she saw before the rest of her world turned dark.
Meanwhile…
“Kuh!” Boss cried as she was beaten down to the ground by the puppy.
“Haha… You can’t underestimate us! Don’t you dare do something like that ever again.” Jurina glared at her defeated opponent.
Tanaka cursed to herself and unwillingly nodded. Just in case, the young Kami-7 kicked the devil in the stomach and cut off her consciousness.
The other HKT girls gasped, to think that their Boss would get taken down like that. As they were distracted, Yuki used her speed and knocked the girls off their feet. Without time to get up, they were beaten to a pulp by Rena who had started laughing, enjoying the fight.
Rabutan murmured, “I’ve gotten weak.”
“No, I’m just stronger.” The cyborg responded with a barrage of bullets.
The tsundere girl expected to suffer something close to bleeding to death, but she didn’t. The bullets hurt, but despite how apathetic the cyborg was towards people’s lives, Rabutan wasn’t killed. Slowly though, she was knocked out.
“Hmph...”
Haruppi was on the ground, beaten by the squirrel. Yuko wore a satisfied grin. Oddly enough, she wanted to fight some more and she would. She jumped into the mass of HKT girls, though there weren’t all that many, and fought alongside Yuki and Rena.
There were so many, but Mayuyu joined in as well. No one noticed that Takamina wasn’t present. The battle was exciting, pushing the Kami-7 girls to a peak of happiness and Sasshi to--her peak of being able to escape things.
Sakura looked and saw her precious friend on the ground, beaten badly.
“Anna!” She ran over and helped her friend back up. “Anna! Are you okay?”
Anna coughed and held her knees as she got up. “Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry.”
“But, Anna…”
“You must really care about me, huh, Sakura.” she giggled, patting her shoulder. “That’s proof, then.”
“Huh?”
“That you truly are my best friend.” She gave her this warm, happy smile with innocence that could melt even the coldest heart. Sakura felt her own ache.
She knew what she had to do.
“Anna…”
“Hm?”
Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out the fruit, handing it to Anna. “Here.”
“What is this?”
“Uh… it’s supposed to help you heal faster. Chihiro got it to help us if we’re in a pinch, and…”
Anna smiled again. “Thanks. You’re a real pal, Sakura.”
“Just…” she grabbed her wrist and stopped her before she could take a bite. “Forgive me if something happens to you.”
Anna just raised her eyebrow, confused. She giggled again and shrugged it off. She took a large bite of the fruit and made the juices flow down her chin.
The juice was a dark crimson, almost like blood.
Anna’s eyes popped open in surprise by the flavor. She took a look at the fruit. The bright red skin contrasted with the blood crimson juices was too much for her. She felt her head become light and she dropped the fruit.
“Anna?!”
She heard Sakura call her name, but her senses finally faded and she passed out. Her body hit the ground and she just laid there, the red juices still on her lips.
Sakura stood there, eyes wide. She dropped to her knees and nudged the fallen girl.
“....Anna..? ...Anna? Anna?!” She saw the fruit again, picking it up. “No…..”
She gripped it tighter and tighter, harder and harder, until it was finally crushed inside her palm.
“CHIHIRO!!!!!!!!!!!!”
She punched the ground and turned to face a certain squirrel, looking at her in confusion.
“Uh-oh…” She ran off as fast as she could, but Sakura chased after her. She turned back while running from her and watched as the tears on her face flowed down and flew across the air.
“I’M GONNA KILL HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Oh crap…” Yuko stopped to hide behind a tree. “Guys, Sakura’s on a rampage!!!”
“...We’re battling against you… so don’t tell us that our comrade has go--holy!! She has!!” Murashige’s rival, Chori, denied the words of her opponent at first, but upon noticing Sakura really rampaging, she screamed.
One of the youngest in HKT, Akiyoshi-chan, was flailing around, not knowing what to do. The other Kami-7 just watched, oddly enough, it was amusing though a bad thing.
Sasshi yelped in surprise, “EH!!!?” Then she hid behind the same tree as Yuko.
“Chiyori-san!!”
The illusionist hollered, “Meru-chan help me with thiiiiiiiis!! Yuka, you too! And...also Aoi-chan!!”
HKT’s crybaby nervously scrambled over with HKT’s little sister and they awaited instructions with nervous eyes. The second generation’s ace awkwardly waited for some more from Chori.
“...” Chiyori was silent, she didn’t really think that they’d be so dependent at this type of time. “Move out and stop her!”
“We’re on it!”
The group rushed after Sakura. Chiyori accidently stepped on her rival’s hand and apologized before running after Sakura again.
“Haa!” Akiyoshi-chan attempted to tackle her senior, but missed with her childish aim.
Meru and Aoi blocked the way, trying to stall for time. “MOVE!!!!” Sakura’s sudden outburst stunned the two, allowing her to get past. Aoi looked as if she was about to cry due to the failure, leaving Meru to calm her down.
Chori somehow managed to catch the target and Akiyoshi-chan who’d gotten up again tried to help restrain Sakura. “LET GO OF ME!!”
“No!!”
“LET GO!!!!!”
“NO!!!!”
“Sakura, please calm down!”
“AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!”
Then, at that scream, something happened. Everyone felt a change in the atmosphere. They looked around. Nothing.
Chiyori then felt someone tap her shoulder.
“Eh?”
And her face met someone’s fist. She fell to the ground, holding her nose. It was bleeding.
“WHAT THE HE--?! …...Eh?” But, when she looked up to face the culprit, she stopped. This girl…
Long brown hair, tied in a side pony with purple yarn, the fair skin, and beautiful eyes that were now incredibly dark…
“No way…”
The girl threw everyone off the small devil and turned her shoulder to face her.
“WHAT ARE YOU DO--?!” Then, she finally saw her. She felt herself calm down, but at the same time, she was surprised to see the person in front of her right now.
She recognized this girl. She knew exactly who she was.
“....A-Anna?”
Her eyebrow raised in confusion, with her still wearing a poker face.
“Анна? Сейчас Анна?(Anna? Who’s Anna?)”
“Eh?” But she became even more confused when Anna suddenly spoke fluent Russian.
“Я только слышал это имя хоть раз в жизни, но это не мое. Я не Анна.(I've only heard that name once in my life, but it’s not mine. I’m not Anna.)”
“Anna, what are you saying?! I can’t understand a word you’re trying to tell me!”
She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“My name is not Anna,” she now said in perfect Japanese.
“What?” everyone harmonized. She sent a dark glare to them and made them shut up.
“The person you call Anna is no longer present. I’ve been asleep inside her, and now I’m awake.” She leaned closer to her. “Are you the one who woke me?”
Sakura suddenly realized what had happened. The fruit did something to make Anna turn into someone else. There was something inside her, and now because of that fruit, she’s back.
“....I-I g-guess…” she said shyly, not guilty about what she did. “Wh-who are you?”
“Jovijovich.”
“...J-jovi..jovich…?”
“Именно так. Я собираюсь остаться здесь на некоторое время, так что помните, что, идиот.(That’s correct. I'm going to stay here for a while, so remember that, idiot.)”
“Eh? Uhh, okay. Got it.”
Jovi chuckled and gave her first smile to Sakura. But, it just as quickly disappeared as she turned back and started to leave.
“W-wait! Where are you going?!”
“Homebase.” She faced them again, now feet away from the crowd. “Я получаю скучно.(I’m bored.)”
They heard footsteps from behind them and saw Chihiro, completely unharmed.
“Cap.”
“Um, Anna… or Jovi...jojo… Whoever that is, she--”
“Yea, let’s go,” Capt said nonchalantly. No one knew where she was and they were obviously suspicious, but before they could ask, “Could you girls go wake them up and carry them back? Hey. Kami-7, we’re retreating, so don’t attack us.”
Jovi smirked at Chihiro, but Capt smiled back with her maliciousness not so hidden. Sakura held her hands to her heart, kind of concerned.
The others didn’t know how to react and within a few minutes gathered everyone up. Sending one last glance towards the Kami-7 and the battleground, the HKT girls swooped up and left.
Sasshi awkwardly stood there until a jolt of realization hit her, “Wait! Where’s Takamina!?” Haruna entered and she too realized, being the medic and all.
“Let’s look in the forest!” Yuko suggested.
Following the squirrel’s suggestion, the group ran into the nearby forest. Searching through the bushes, Sasshi found nothing. Mayuyu and Jurina scanned the skies as Yuko looked up the trees. Rena casually trotted around with Haruna.
Yuki sped through the entirety of the forest in under a minute and when returned to where everyone was searching, “I found Takamina!”
Sasshi perked up first and as the flyers landed, the ‘black-hearted’ angel led to the position of the short angel. Takamina was found collapsed on the ground. After a shake or two from Yuko, she woke up.
“Huh? Oh, hey girls.”
“Takamina, what happened to you?”
“...Sorry…I guess I got knocked out or something.” Takamina sheepishly grinned.
“Mou! Stop worrying us.”
“Hey~ Rino, stop worrying so much. You worry more than all of us here.”
Sasshi was surprised, there was something that seemed off. No one else found the actions of Takamina strange though, so the hetare rubbed her eyes slightly confused. “??”
Takamina and the rest of the Kami-7 started to walk off; Sasshi and Haruna were in the back. The gatekeeper wore a slight frown. She also felt that there was something off. But seeing the normal look on Rino’s face and the lack of reaction from the rest of the girls, NyanNyan kept quiet and trotted behind them.
But, there was something they all noticed.
“Say, where’d you get those bracelets?” Yuko said, pointing to the braces on her wrists.
“Oh, these? I just turned up on them. I don’t really know what they do yet.” she chuckled.
Everyone else laughed, but Haruna and Sasshi still kept silent. There was a split second where they looked at each other, and they knew something was definitely off about the short angel. They didn’t know what, but something was off.
-----------------
“Kanon!! Non-chan!!” The darkness of night covered the world that the SKE girls knew. Yuria desperately called out to her close friend.
Nishishi somewhat guiltily followed in the search. And Nanako as well as Masana were there as well. “Kanon!!” The other SKE members were off in separate search groups in different areas.
Yuria dejectedly sighed, not giving up. “Let’s split up.”
The ikemen captain nodded and the other two saluted the round dark angel.
Nakanishi walked off into the darkness, alone. She was determined to find that girl. No matter what, that was a top priority.
“Kanon-chan!!” She cried out. Frustrated, Nakanishi punched a tree, shaking the leaves to the ground. Well, that wouldn’t do any good.
She continued, searching and searching. The moon lit the area and the stars glittered in the sky, but that wasn’t helping at all.
The captain turned a corner, but what she found wasn’t what she wanted. A furious look appeared on her face. “You!”
HKT’s Chihiro casually stood by, leaning on a tree. She waved without a care and grinned, “Nakanishi, nice to see you.”
Nishishi took hold of Capt’s collar and lifted her up. Growling, she asked with anger flaming in her eyes, “Tell me. Or die,” not specifying the question.
Chihiro laughed. It didn’t seem like she cared about the death threat given. But the girl was weaker than Nishishi in a way. Nakanishi slammed Capt in the tree and scowled.
“It seems that you really want to know about that fruit,” the HKT devil giggled frivolously, “So let me tell you now~. That fruit awakens one’s past self.”
SKE’s captain’s mouth gaped open. That, that was… No, Nishishi’s rage could not be described and it could not be contained at all. “WHAT!?”
“Past self, that good?”
“Why you-!” She screamed and was about to attack when--Chihiro disappeared.
There was no use trying to find someone of less importance now. Nishishi could only go back to trying to find that young dark angel, her cute little junior.
Nakanishi looked up at the sky and prayed to the Saints and Fates that she would find Kanon soon. A pang of guilt stabbed her even deeper than before when she’d ignored it.
Suddenly, she heard a laughter. It was disturbing and scary. Then, a giggle. There was something about that voice that seemed so familiar though.
Nishishi gasped. It couldn’t be Kanon could it? She hoped that it wasn’t true, it just didn’t seem likely and no one would expect Non to have been scary in her past life, that sweet kid.
“Kanon?”
-
Well.. I missed your last update but happy that I could read 2 chapters at the same time...
Minami is being controlled
Would Minami be able to be saved?
Would Haruna and Sashi be able to save Minami?
What Minami would do while being controlled?
What's going to happen to the 1st generation later?
Would they graduate?
What Haruna would do being the new centre for now?
Would AKB be able to quiet the rebel?
Can't wait to see more
Thank you for the updates
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: I wonder~~ :3 since I kind of have no idea. But, you'll be happy to see, another update!!!!
Tenth (Part 2)
When Nakanishi arrived to her destination, there she saw the girl. The girl, pale skin, nice black hair put up in a slightly strange manner with green string braided in, shiny handcuff earrings, and oddly delinquent clothing. The girl held a knife in her hand and casually spun it around as she sent a glance towards the SKE captain.
“Hey. So...you are?”
“Kanon...?” Nishishi didn’t answer, but instead responded in disbelief.
The girl scowled, “Oi. I asked you a question, so answer me.”
“...Nakanishi Yuka...”
“And I guess I’ll tell you. I’m not that Kanon that you’re looking for. Miso’s my name. Don’t piss me off or you’ll suffer the fate of bleeding to death.” She explained, concluding with a maniacal laugh, “Now, I’d probably like you to go, shoo.”
“No, it’s dangerous out here,” she said grabbing her arm. “Come with me--” But she was cut off when Kanon… no, right now it’s Miso, held the tip of the blade to her neck.
“Tch. Nakanishi, do you listen to people? I said to go away and not to piss me off.” A drop of blood fell; Miso’s brownish eyes met Nakanishi’s.
Silence filled the air. Nakanishi looked down at her neck, the single tear of blood streaming down the blade.
“This girl’s serious…”
Miso smirked, the slightest panic on Nakanishi’s face brought a wave of enjoyment oddly enough. She inched closer and closer; the captain broke out into a cold sweat.
The ikemen girl opened her mouth about to attempt to say something when a rustling sound broke the silence. Yuria walked in upon the scene, confused.
Kanon, her appearance strange, was holding Nishishi at a knife-point with a smirk on her face. Despite being typically, the cool and collected captain, Nakanishi was also in a slight state of panic.
“...Non?”
Miso clicked her tongue in irritation, “I’ve already been through this before…,” she turned to Nakanishi and grinned, “...Do feel free to explain or be cut.”
Yuria gasped in shock. The captain gulped nervously and opened her mouth to explain, “...Yuria...this-this...is...Miso…,” adding on a little extra, “...possibly, the persona of Non’s past...”
“Hrm...It seems that your name is Yuria?” The persona giggled.
“Uh...Kizaki Yuria...I guess… Nice to meet you, Miso-chan?”
“Can I ask why you all are here?”
“We were, uhh… looking for Kanon… But, we found you instead… Now, you can’t stay here, so--”
She quivered in fear as Miso pointed the knife to her.
“Do you want me to teach you a lesson, too?”
“No! It’s just… you can’t be out here all alone.”
Miso looked at her, confused. Then, she felt something in her head.
“You can’t be out here all alone. No one should ever be alone.”
“C’mon, I’ll be your friend.”
“Miso?”
She shook her head and growled.
“If it’ll make you happy, I’ll come. But, I’m warning you, if you try anything funny…”
“Yeah, we get it.”
She snarled one more time at the two, then walked on by herself. Nakanishi and Yuria looked at each other, confused.
And, for the first time… Yuria saw fear in Nishishi’s eyes.
------------------------
The group of girls, the hetare ace, Kojiharu, and the Kami-7 gathered at the hetare’s house. Compared to the last time, there was one more person added in.
“Hey! So, what are we going to do now?” Takamina grinned.
“I have no idea…Now’s a weird time to play cards.”
“...Maybe we should help Rino out and fish or something!” The short angel energetically jumped around the room. Rino, finding it strange, politely rejected the offer, slightly nervous as she’d given little priority to her actual job these days.
Haruna tilted her head, “Takamina?”
“What is Nyan-Nyan??”
“Ah...Nothing.”
Sasshi looked at the cat girl. As she’s been with her a while now, she’s learned a pattern in her tail as her emotion changes. When she’s spaces out, it does a curvy motion. When she’s excited, she does a wavy or shakey motion. But, when she’s deep in thought, it gets stiff, in one large curve. She tapped her shoulder.
“Can I talk to you a sec?”
“Sure.” She got up from the couch, excusing herself a bit, then they went into Sasshi’s room. “What is it?”
“Have you noticed Takamina’s been acting~...”
“Weird? Crazy? Cuckoo~!”
“All of the above.”
“Then yes. You too?”
“Yeah…” she scratched her head. “I’m kinda worried. Is Takamina ever this excited?”
“Well, yeah. But, we were so serious, and especially in the Crusade, she’s never THIS carefree.”
“So, what do you think it is?”
“Y’know what I think?”
Haruna looked at the door, to make sure no one was eavesdropping, then leaned down to Sasshi’s ear.
“I think it has something to do with those bracelets. HAven’t you noticed she’s been acting different since she got those?”
“Yeah. And it was after her battle with Chihiro, too.”
“I think we should keep an eye on her, then if she tries to do something suspicious, we rip those bracelets off.”
They nodded, then heard a knock on the door. Sasshi screamed and hid behind the older girl.
“Come in!”
But, she was relieved to see Yuko at the door.
“Hey guys. Takamina’s making us lunch, and she wanted you two to hurry. She’s making hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies.” Yuko said excitedly before running back to her friends.
The two looked at each other, more surprised than ever.
“Okay~”
“Well, let’s see how this goes along, then we’ll figure this out.”
“Gotcha.”
“C’mon, you two~!” Yuko called again. They hurried back to the kitchen.
------------------------
“...Jovi-san, you’re really cool!” Tashima swooned over the hidden persona who had just come out from inside of Murashige.
The childish Akiyoshi cutely asked, “...Jovi-san, where’d you learn your super awesome Russian?”
Jovijovich completely ignored the two. Actually, there were more than two, most of the girls were fawning over her for reasons that the Russian could not comprehend.
On the side, Murashige’s rival was biting onto a handkerchief and acting like a jealous girl in distress. Rabutan just wasn’t interested, Tanaka as well.
“Можете ли вы девушки не успокоишься? (Can you girls be quiet?)” Jovi asked, slightly irritated.
“What’d you ask?” Everyone inquired, wanting to be the one to please the amazing Jovijovich. Though of course, that completely backfired as the cool girl didn’t want any extra noise.
She sent a cold glare towards the HKT girls, but the ones that were annoying her just squealed about how cool and awesome she was. It was like teenage girls fangirling over the ‘hot’ popular guy in who knows where.
“Так раздражает. Почему они не могут все просто не оставить меня в покое? (So annoying. Why can’t they all just leave me alone?)”
“Eh~? Don’t do that!”
“What’d she say?”
“Nee, nee, teach us Russian, too, Jovi-san!”
“Yeah, yeah! What’d you say just now?!”
“NONE OF YOUR BEESWAX!!!!” she shouted in perfect Japanese, shocking them. “I’ve had a REALLY tiring day, and I just want to REST! Now, LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”
She glared at them one last time before plopping on the couch, putting her head into a pillow and groaned.
She then felt a warm hand on her back. She looked up and saw the very girl who awakened her, but she didn’t notice. She just sighed sadly and went to sit down alone.
She heard the jealous whispers of the other members, but ignored them and watched the girl.
“Of all people, why me?”
Sakura sat there, staring up at the ceiling. She still can’t believe what she had just done today. Now, Anna’s gone and if Jovi stays, she might never get her sweetheart back.
The warm smile, the kind eyes, the jokes that were lame, but cheerful and energetic as she tried harder and harder each day.
The little mentaiko girl had disappeared that day, and was replaced by a cold-hearted girl she barely even recognizes now. She felt someone hold her shoulder.
“...Anna?” Sakura looked towards that someone. The one who gave her the fruit that caused all this. “Oh… wait, it’s just you...”
“Sakura, who’re you calling, ‘just you’? Seriously...”
“Maybe I should call you something worse...”
“Sakura, I know it’s hard to adjust to this Anna now… but, please, think of your friends. Your team. We needed this to happen.”
“But, did you have to go this far?” Sakura looked at the cold girl, who was now lying on her back on the couch.
“It’s for the best…”
Sakura turned her head away from the captain.
“You don’t understand. Anna was… was….” She tried to hold her tears, biting her lip.
She felt the girl tap at her shoulder.
“Leave me alone…”
Then, she felt her hold it. Her whole hand, warm and soft, pressing her. Grabbing even.
“I said--” But, to her surprise, it was no longer the Cap., but Jovi herself.
What was even MORE a shock was that Jovi kissed her!
“KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!” the group of fangirl maidens were watching the entire thing like a romantic comedy.
Jovi parted and gave a warm smile to the small ponkotsu like girl.
“Eh?”
“Ты мой хозяин. Я обещаю всегда защитит Вас от этого дня, хозяин. (You are my master. I promise to always protect you from this day forward, my master.)”
Then, without saying another word, she got up and left, probably going to her room.
After, like, three seconds of peaceful silence, the girls screamed again. Sakura just touched her lips still in shock… but, her heart was beating so fast. So warm.
“Anna…”
She got up and went to her own room. She leaned up against the door and held her chest, closing her eyes.
“I’m sorry Jovi, Cap. I promise, without a doubt, I’ll find a way to get Anna back. The real Anna. And then… I’m finally going to tell her how I feel.”
------------------------
“Hey, hey, so...Takamina’s a good cook eh?” Jurina curiously asked out of sheer randomness.
The squirrel replied, “Surprisingly so.”
“Ooh, that’s interesting.” The pale Rena said.
Everyone, almost, was idling around and participating in the chatter. Mayuyu, maybe less so. Yuki, maybe with extreme reactions and such.
Only the hetare ace and the cat girl weren’t. They kept quiet, not letting anything leak out of their mouths accidently, trying to keep up with their little act of some sort. No one paid any heed to the two.
A sweet and warm smell suddenly floated out of the kitchen. Takamina informed everyone, “I’m done, coming soon,” before a few clinks and sounds came, seemingly the tableware and cups.
The short angel walked towards the table that everyone was sitting at, holding a tray with the cookies. She rushed back into the kitchen and came out with all the hot cocoa. Takamina seemed quite cheerful.
“This cocoa is interesting… sweet? Not too much.” The cyborg gave her gourmet review, “The cookies are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, nice and warm inside as well.”
Hearing Mayuyu’s opinion, everyone dug in. Jurina and Yuko immediately took a big gulp of the cocoa in their cups. “Whew!”
Yuki and Rena broke a cookie in half and each ate a half. Then, they took a sip of the cocoa. It was so good, they started drinking more.
Everyone besides Haruna and Sasshi had enjoyed their cocoa. Rino was too giddy for her own good, maybe just too nervous, but she was eating a lot of cookies. The ace’s mouth was filled with cookies, “Yummy~.”
Takamina giggled at the silly behavior of the ace. Seeing how Haruna was trying to get Sasshi to stop messing around, everyone took it as Nyan-Nyan wanting the cookies too and not wanting Sasshi to eat all of them.
“I’m going to the restroom, ok?”
Yuko laughed, “Haha! You don’t need to tell us that, midget!”
As Takamina left their line of sight, Haruna hissed to Sasshi, “Stop eating so many cookies!”
“But...but-”
“Come on. You’re just acting weird.”
“...Come to think of it’s...”
“It’s?”
“...oddly silent right now.”
Then they turned to look at their comrades. Rino gasped in surprise. So many thoughts went through Haruna’s head. There they were, the Kami-7 minus Takamina, knocked out like dead.
“Were they drugged by the cocoa?”
“Probably… Takamina is up to something… But first, let’s pretend we were too and pour our’s out!”
Following the gatekeeper’s plan, Sasshi poured her cocoa into a plant’s soil. Haruna did as well. Hearing footsteps from the short angel, the two fell asleep pretending to be drugged as well.
The two open their eyes slightly in a way that looked as if they were drugged and observed what their friend was doing. Takamina took out rope and tape.
Starting from Yuko, working to Rena, she tied her comrade’s arms and legs together with the rope. Takamina took the tape and also taped their mouths shut.
She mechanically moved over to the undrugged two and started to tied their hands, but not wanting to allow the strange behavior to continue, the two sprang up.
“Takamina! What are you trying to do?” Haruna asked.
Sasshi then added, “Why are you acting so weird?”
Dropping the tape and rope in an unnoticeable place, the short angel innocently smiled, “Eh? What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.” It was as if the scene of everyone else tied up and gagged wasn’t present.
“That!” Haruna yelled, then her ring started to glow and shine towards the short angel in a strange way.
Suddenly, Takamina’s odd behavior became even odder. She mumbled incoherent words to herself. Without another word, lunged forward and gripped the gatekeeper’s throat, starting to strangle Haruna.
“Takamina stop!” Sasshi tried to pry the short angel’s hands off of Haruna’s throat.
“Don’t get in the way, trash.” She growled with a voice that did not belong to herself. Takamina kicked the hetare ace away, gripping Haruna’s throat even harder.
By this point, the gatekeeper was losing consciousness. Sasshi got up and tried to stop Takamina again, but failed, getting kicked away.
Haruna’s limp body fell to the ground. Her ring resonated with Sasshi’s. In a burst of courage, the hetare found her way up again and punched Takamina in the face, missing. Stumbling a few steps, she tried to headbutt short angel, connecting the blow.
Takamina didn’t respond, her feet skidded back a few inches and paused. Then the girl held Sasshi in a headlock. The ace flailed desperately. Her arm hitting the short angel’s face a few times.
“Just hurry up and faint already.” Takamina strengthened her grip, Sasshi felt all feeling leave her body. The lack of oxygen was quickly catching up to her and slowly, her ability to think and act faded.
------------------------
Miso cautiously walked into SKE’s lair, twirling her knife around and sharply glancing at everyone present. She tightly gripped Yuria’s hand, squeezing it harshly, as she walked along.
All the SKE girls sent curious glances towards Miso, but the girl just rebutted them with glares. It was somewhat scary as Miso looked almost exactly like their cute and nice ‘little sister’ Kanon. But the differences were huge.
The ikemen captain wiped her sweat and sighed, almost collapsing to the ground.
“...Akane...Psst...Churi. I think we need to get Nishishi and talk.” The artist, feeling that something was up, quietly whispered to her birdy-friend. In return, Churi nodded.
Furuyanagi furtively sneaked towards Nishishi, trying to avoid Miso’s look. The second that they reached the ikemen, they grabbed her arms and sped off to their room for a private conversation.
The knife-wielding girl looked at the trio speeding off and tilted her head extremely confused. “Yuria, what was that?” She asked, not so menacingly.
“...I actually have no idea.”
In Furukawa’s room, Nishishi and Churi plopped down on her bed while the room’s owner sat down in a chair. Like a detective, Furukawa seriously asked, “Nishishi, what’s going on?”
“...” Silence came.
Churi edited, “I’ll rephrase it, how are we going to take care of this though?”
“I’m lost on that factor,” Nishishi stated, then adding, “But we should probably take care of Miso, this Kanon. She’s her past self, so...it would be quite bad to erase her.”
The other two agreed on that, the next question would be on how to take care of Miso. The girl seemed suspicious of most people and not so friendly.
And at that moment, the curious SKE girls started talking to the said, unfriendly Miso. Yuria awkwardly observed, hoping that the knife-threatening wouldn’t happen again.
------------------------
Sasshi’s heavy eyes opened and she looked around a where she was. She was still at her house, but the Kami-7 and Haruna had disappeared. She tried to rub her eyes, but she found that she was tied to a chair. The tight ropes were rubbing against her wrists and ankles hard. She turned around and saw Haruna was tied up, too, still knocked out.
She screamed for help, but then saw there was tape on her mouth. Her muffled screams couldn’t even reach the end of the room. Then, she heard laughter. She looked to her side and saw Chihiro standing there, and next to her was Takamina, a blank expression on her face.
“Well, well, well. This is quite an interesting sight.” She walked to the hetare girl and ripped the tape off her mouth, making her squeal in pain. “Did you really believe you could stop me?”
“What did you do to Takamina?!”
“Oh, her?” She giggled and turned her head to the short angel at the other side of the room. “Yes. Don’t those Slavery bracelets look lovely on her?”
“Slavery?”
“Those bracelets can turn anyone who wears them into a slave. Unable to speak, think, or resist, she’s just perfect. The perfect slave.”
“How could you do that?!”
She just kept laughing. She walked back to the short angel, caressing her hair.
“Actually, it was very easy. She submitted all on her own.”
“Eh?!”
Flashback
“Stop…”
She chuckled evily and watched the girl suffer, covering her ears. She walked over to her and held her chin, making her look at her eyes. Her shoulders slumped, her breathing slowing down. She could see her eyes become hazed and cloudy.
“See? Don’t you feel all that pain slipping away? Forget your pains and sorrows. Let go of your worries and fears. Don’t think. Just listen to me. All you need is to listen… and obey.”
Takamina’s eyes suddenly glazed over, becoming dark, empty orbs. Chihiro smiled. The angel finally submitted.
“See? It doesn’t hurt anymore.” She wiped off a single tear that had been flowing down her cheek. “There’s no need to worry. Don’t resist. As long as you obey my commands, you will no longer feel pain. Only pleasure. Understand?”
She nodded her head slowly.
“Good girl.” She let go of her chin and whispered in her ear. “You have a very important job. You’re going to help me kill the Kami-7.”
“...Must… kill… Kami-7…”
“Very good.” She retracted from her ear and looked into her eyes again. “Now, fall asleep and wait for further orders.”
She snapped her fingers and she collapsed on the ground, fast asleep.
Flashback End
“How could you?!”
“Hehe, you truly are all fools. You didn’t even notice your closest friend has turned to the dark side.”
Sasshi tried to shake herself out, but it was impossible.
“Takamina, wake up! Please! Snap out of it!”
“It’s impossible to try. She can’t hear a word you say.” She walked back over to her and taped her mouth again. She laughed evily and went back to Takamina. “Now, take care of them.”
Takamina just nodded her head and went off somewhere.
Sasshi continued to try and break free, yelling out words with her mouth shut. She tried to shake Haruna with her chair and try to wake her up, but it was no use.
Haruna was fast asleep, unable to hear or react to anything happening around her.
Then, the ring on her finger flickered.
“Ah!” Haruna opened her eyes and found herself completely surrounded by millions of colorful lights. She’s never seen this place before, but it was so light and colorful, it made her calm.
She slowly got up and walked around, trying to find a clue as to where she was. Then. she saw a crystal fountain, just like the one in Heaven’s Garden. She came closer to it and looked at the water.
The mirror appeared and showed the same images it did last time. Haruna just sighed and rested her chin on her hands.
“What does it mean?”
As she was thinking, she thought she heard footsteps behind her. She looked around, no one. She turned her head back to the mirror, and a new image appeared.
The image was blurry, so she couldn’t make out who it was.
Then, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She instantly turned and saw the one person she missed more than anyone. The one whose presence she always felt, even when they were apart.
“...Ma… Ma…!”
“Hi, Nyaro~,” she jokingly said with that seductive smile of hers. Tears fell down Haruna’s face and she hugged the girl tight.
“MARI-CHAN!”
“Haha, it’s been a while.”
“Mari-chan! Oh god, Mari-chan! I missed you SO much!” She kept crying on her shoulder as Mariko rubbed her back. Then, she gasped and broke the hug. “Wait! Does this mean I’m dead?!”
“No. Your soul is just seperated from your body a while. Your peacefully asleep right now… Ufufu, Sleeping Beauty.”
“Mari-chan, I’m not joking! Takamina--!”
“Is being controlled.” She finished her. Haruna’s eyes widened in shock. “I know what’s going on. I’ve been watching the entire time.”
“...Really? You mean… you can see what happens on Earth from here?”
“Uh-huh. I’ve been watching over you from this very spot since I got here.” She giggled and leaned up against the fountain. “That’s how she made this.”
“She?”
“Acchan.”
Haruna’s mouth gaped open. She covered it with her hand.
“She created this world. Before she came, it was nothing but light. She gave this place color, life, everything that could help us. She’s our protector.”
“So… it’s almost like--”
“She never left in the first place.”
Mariko wiped off Haruna’s tears and took her hand. She softly kissed the ring on her finger.
“Now, you have a part of me.”
Haruna looked at it. Indeed, there was a small baby blue diamond at the center of the band.
“What is your wish?”
“My.. what?”
“I’m allowed to grant one wish to one person. Now, what is it?”
Haruna knew she only had one wish. She came close and whispered it into her ear. She smiled.
“And, what would you give up to make that wish come true?”
“Hm….” She thought for a bit, then nodded. “My ears and tail.”
Mariko chuckled. “Very well.”
With a snap of her fingers, Haruna’s cat ears and long tail disappeared forever. Honestly, she didn’t think she really needed them, but it was worth it. Mariko held both of her hands.
“It’s time to go.”
Haruna nodded, hugging her one last time.
“See you soon, Mari-chan.” Then, when they parted, the troll grabbed her neck and kissed her lips softly. Haruna closed her eyes and accepted the warm feeling. When she opened her eyes again, she was back at Sasshi’s house, tied to a chair and gagged. She now felt Sasshi banging her chair, and in one blow, she was knocked to the floor.
The chair broke and Haruna was able to untie herself. She got back up and ripped the tape off her mouth. When she looked, she saw Chihiro standing there in shock.
“Chihiro! Give Takamina back!”
“Didn’t take you long, did it?” Chihiro said sarcastically. Then, she raised her eyebrow. “Uhh, didn’t you used to have a tail?”
Haruna felt of her head and butt. Indeed, the cat ears and tail were gone. Sasshi muffled something again.
“Huh?” Haruna just went and ripped it right off.
“ITAI!!!”
“Oops. Sorry.”
“Mou… I have no choice, then.”
Chihiro walked off, probably to get Takamina. Haruna hurried and started to untie Sasshi, but the knots in the rope were really tight.
“Hurry!”
“I’m trying.”
But before she could do anything else, Takamina came back in. Sasshi squealed in horror as they looked and saw a knife gripped in her hand. Haruna slowly stood up, backing away.
The short angel started to walk closer to her, holding the knife up.
“..T-Takamina! Come back! You gotta stop this!”
But she didn’t respond to her and just kept walking. Step by step, she got closer, backing her into a wall.
“C’mon. Snap out of it!” She grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Stop being controlled!”
All she got was a dark glare from the shorter girl, and she pinned her up against the wall the knife now at her neck.
“Please! I’m beggin you, wake up, Takamina!”
Her hand was stiff, locked in position. Her eyes narrowed.
“Die…”
“KYAA!!” In her fear, she pushed Takamina’s head to make her fall back.
However, in that moment, time stopped. Still holding her head, she felt a shock go through her body and shut her eyes tight. She saw visions of the girl in front of her, but in a different form. She was tortured and barely clothed.
She heard the awful sounds of maniacal laughter, gunshots, and scraping metal. All those sounds were buzzing in her ears, while horrifying memories of the poor girl were reflected inside her. She opened her eyes back and let go of her head, making her fall to the ground.
“Haruna? What happened?”
Haruna held her head, remembering the scary visions she saw.
“I saw it…”
“Eh?”
She came to a realization. “I saw it! Takamina’s past life!”
Takamina charged at her again, but she grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. Haruna had an idea, but it was a long shot. She turned the short angel to face her and got close to her ear.
She whispered, “You’re free.”
The shorter girl’s eyes widened. Her heart skipped a beat as the nightmarish visions in her head slowly disappeared. The bracelets on her lips broke off, falling to the ground, and the gems shattered into pieces.
Takamina felt her body grow weak and limp. Her eyes fluttered closed and she slowly collapsed, still holding onto Haruna. After Haruna caught her breath, she carried the sleeping girl to the couch and sighed in relief.
She proceeded to cut off the ropes suspending Sasshi and cleaned off the knife.
“Ahh! Yokatta~!”
“Now, then… what about the others?”
They looked down the hall to where they thought Chihiro would be. They opened all the doors and found at least one Kami-7 member inside each room. But, no sign of Chihiro.
“Guess Anai fled because Takamina would’ve killed them.”
“That’s what happens when you’re overconfident.”
They cut the ropes on their arms and legs and ripped the tape off their mouths, then gathered them to the living room.
“What should we do?” Haruna asked, looking at her comrades still passed out.
Sasshi looked at them, then snapped her fingers.
“I know.”
She opened up one of the closest and got out some blankets and pillows. She covered everyone up and set one pillow down below their heads.
“I don’t think we should mention the whole, Takamina was gonna kill us, thing. Let’s just say they fell asleep after that long battle yesterday and we decided to all take a nap together.”
“Good idea.”
After she was done, she looked at everyone’s positions. Yuko was lying on her stomach, snoring softly. Mayu and Yuki were facing each other, holding hands. Jurina was hugging Rena from the back, snuggling against her ear.
They whispered to each other. “Kawaii~”
Sasshi took a fluffy pink cover and wrapped it around her entire body, hugging the soft pillow and instantly falling asleep. Her loud snores resonated.
Haruna chuckled and proceeded to lay beside Takamina. She pulled the covers up and patted her head.
She looked at the ring, then stared up at the ceiling.
“Thanks, Mari-chan.”
She hugged Takamina and slowly closed her eyes, falling asleep.
------------------------
Miso sent a sharp glare towards all the SKE girls gathering around her. “Shut up would you? Or would you rather-”
“Aah! Miso-chan! Erm… Can everyone stop getting so close to her…?” Worriedly, Yuria tried to get her comrades to move away. Miso twirled her knife around, quite irritated.
“Tch.” Without another word, Miso walked off. There was something talking to her from the corners of her mind, something that felt extremely repulsive.
The girl’s feet naturally brought her to her room. A sudden image jolted her. There was a goofy looking girl with sharp, beautiful eyes smiling at her. No, that person wasn’t smiling at Miso, but someone else.
“Kanon~! You’re so cute!” The goofy girl hugged her, hugged Kanon.
Miso growled, wanting those disgustingly sweet illusions in her mind to disappear.
‘Kanon’ blushed and stuttered, “Mou…Kumi-san...”
“It’s the truth~” ‘Kumi’ grinned. It was annoying.
Entering the room, she laid herself down on the bed and glared at the images in her mind. An intense hatred directed itself towards them, the interaction between ‘Kumi’ and ‘Kanon’. Unconsciously, Miso gripped her knife harder than ever before, emitting dark emotions.
“Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!!!!!” she punched the wall. She didn’t know that a certain dark angel was watching her from the other side of the door, peeking through the small crack. “Who the hell is Kumi?!”
The young girl bit her lip and turned away from the door.
“Non….” She covered her face. “I don’t believe this… What is going on?”
-
Yeah... another update... nice :)
Ah... so Haruna was the one that saved the day
Interesting... like she is now the center of AKB48 for this Ereki Heart single...
And she had power like when she was Torigoya... able to see and control
Great Update
Thank you... Can't wait to see what's going to happen next
Would Haruna, Minami and Miichan graduate next?
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: What comes next is... heartbreaking, cute, and OMG what is going on!!??... hope you enjoy this chapter~
Eleventh
Takamina’s eyes opened and she saw herself being beaten up by someone she’s never seen before. She didn’t know why or how this was happening. Why is there another her right in front of her very eyes, and why was she hurt? She looked closer and saw the vision-her was chained to a pole and bleeding badly.
“Worthless scum…” the man said under his breath and beat her upside the head with a bat, making her lose consciousness. Takamina herself felt the pain and fell down, too, losing consciousness slowly. She looked up at the sky, her eyes not burning at all from the bright sun. She saw a familiar smile as someone reached out to hold her.
“Acchan?”
The hand touched her forehead, and Takamina suddenly felt sleepy. Her eyes flickered as she heard someone whisper to her sweetly.
“You’re free.” Then, her eyes finally closed.
When her eyes opened again, she was back at Sasshi’s, only she didn’t know how she had gotten there. All that she remembered was that she was battling Chihiro and the HKT girls…
But, nothing after that.
“Taka…” she heard someone’s voice and saw Haruna lying next to her on the couch, fast asleep. “Takamina…”
She slowly got up and saw her friends, and the ace, all fast asleep on the floor. All of them sleep talking a bit. She could just guess what their dreams were from hearing them.
“Cookiiiiiies...”
“Haruna~… be gentle~...”
“Don’t you dare touch my Mayu…”
“Yukirin… Please, don’t leave me…”
“Rena-chan…”
“Melonpan…”
She snickered a bit, then held her head.
“What was I doing? I can’t remember anything that happened after yesterday…”
She turned to wake the girl sitting beside her, then looked at her closer. She squinted her eyes, staring at her head and… bottom.
“What the…? Where are her ears and tail?”
The former cat girl slowly started to wake up and her eyes slowly opened to see her.
“Takamina…” Her eyes widened and she hugged the small girl. “Takamina!”
“Not again…” she thought.
“Takamina, thank god! Hey, you’re good again, right? You don’t feel evil?”
“What?” She got confused and broke the hug.
Haruna looked around nervously, then smiled. “Oh, uhh, nothing.”
Takamina just raised her eyebrow a bit. Then, she looked back at her sleeping comrades.
“So~... what happened to them?”
“Oh, we were all really tired after the battle yesterday, and you already fell asleep, so me and Sasshi made everyone snacks and they fell asleep instantly.” She looked away a bit that second, remembering what had happened before. “And, now they’re sleeping in~...”
“I fell asleep during the battle?”
“Not during. After. You were really tuckered out, so… you didn’t wake up for a while~.” She looked off again.
“Are you hiding something, Haruna?”
“......Oh. No.”
“.........Okay~.” She still didn’t know what the heck was going on, but decided to let her partners rest for today after that long battle. She smiled, seeing the sweet scene, the peaceful silence as they slept…
Until Yuko and Sasshi’s loud snores broke the silence. She covered her mouth in shock, giggling softly. Haruna was snickering, too, trying to contain her laughter.
“Let’s go back to sleep, so they can rest.”
“OK.” The two laid down again, but only Haruna closed her eyes and went to sleep. Takamina was still thinking about all those weird dreams she was having recently.
“What do they all mean?”
---------------------------
The tsundere Rabutan’s emotional distress over the unknown territory of romance and love left her unable to fall asleep. She turned and tumbled through her sheets. Having no idea on how to solve her problems, the girl ran out of the HKT base.
“...Agh!!! This is!!” Aika frustratedly yelled out to the night sky.
Birds flew out of the trees and leaves fell to the floor. As if trying to make an unstable moment worse, a droplet of dung fell onto the tsundere. She glared at the culprit only to find that the bird had already flown away.
She walked towards a nearby hot spring. The dung was irritating and not wanted to touch it, Rabutan took a bucket of water and a towel and removed the droppings. Sighing, she threw the cloth away, only now wondering why there’d be one here.
“Kyaaa!” A voice squealed, in embarrassment.
In return, a scream of shock, “...Miho!???”
“Eh…Aika…,” the fallen angel murmured happily, “...Wait…It’s awkward if you just-”
Then the tsundere girl turned tail and got set to run away. “What!? Don’t!”
“No way, Myao!!!!!!!”
On one side, the relationship was just of the closest of friends. On the other, it was a problem of love and...in this case one that was much of a daydream--unrequited.
Aika blushed, unable to look back. Myao was completely submerged in water besides her head and curiously watched. The attitudes of the two were quite different. But the tanuki-faced fallen angel was quite joyed today, seeing how her close friend didn’t just run off.
“...Ai-chan...”
“....Wh-what?”
“Why do you keep on running away?”
Silence filled the air just as the hot fog emitting from the hot springs did. Rabutan opened her mouth to speak, but then clamped it shut. Myao looked on, waiting for a reply.
“I….I-I!!! I like you!!!!”
“I like you too, Ai-chan. That’s why I want to know…. as a close friend.”
“...I like you...as in love you! Y-you baka!!! I love you!”
Miho’s eyes widened. She stood there standing at the tsundere girl. Her face was tomato red.
“Ai…”
“Baka….” She shut her eyes, tears flowing down her face. “BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAK--!”
Then, she suddenly stopped as the fallen angel kissed her. Rabutan stood there, her eyes wide open. When she finally parted, she covered her mouth and backed away from her.
Miho suddenly thought she did something wrong and flew off.
“Miho!”
Miho bit her lip and continued flying. She got mad and punched a tree, breaking it in two and making it fall to the ground. Her hand started bleeding.
When she got back home, she saw Tanaka and Anai on separate sides of the room, watching something. She looked and saw her other teammates ogling over… what LOOKED like the mentaiko girl.
“Uhhh….”
“Don’t ask. It’s a long story,” Tanaka said before leaving.
Anai came closer, looking at her funny.
“Uh… Chihiro-san?”
“Say, Rabutan… you’ve gotten quite soft.” She pushed her against the wall, a dark glare in her eyes. “Do you… pity the humans?”
“What? W-w-why would you think that?!”
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Rabutan?”
The tsundere girl got silent. Anai grinned evily.
“Come with me…” she dragged her into a dark room. Anna saw this and went to look, but it was so dark, she couldn’t see a thing.
Then, she heard someone’s footsteps. She turned and saw Sakura.
“Sakura?”
“Um… Jovi, I…”
“What?”
Sakura pursed her lips and sighed. “Nothing…”
“You sure?”
“Uh-huh…”
Jovi gave her a sweet, reassuring smile and kissed her forehead.
“Get some rest.”
She hugged her one last time before leaving to her room alone. The girls were watching her.
“KAKKOII~!!!”
In her room, Jovi laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She sighed.
“Нравится ли вам эта новая меня ... Отец? (Do you like this new me… Father?)”
Flashback
“Папа (Papa…)” A quiet, meek-looking Anna watched as her father drowned himself in alcohol. “Папа, вы будете говорить со мной, прежде чем отправиться спать? (Papa, will you talk to me before I go to sleep?)”
“Оставь меня в покое, Анна ... (Leave me alone, Anna…)”
“Вы можете прочитать мне сказку на ночь или спеть мне песню ... (You can read me a bedtime story or sing me a song…)
“Я сказал нет!! (I said NO!!!!)” The drunkard threw the glass at her daughter, but it missed and shattered at the wall.
Anna started crying and she ran off to another part of the house.
“Мама!” She ran into her lovely mother’s arms. “Мама! Мама!”
“Успокойся, Анна ... (Calm down, Anna...)”
“Мама, папа пытается убить меня ... Он ненавидит меня? (Mama, Papa’s trying to kill me… Does he hate me?)”
“Не волнуйтесь, Анна. Мама здесь, чтобы защитить вас. Не беспокойтесь о бедных ПР "Папа. Я всегда буду здесь. (Don’t worry, Anna. Mama’s here to protect you. Don’t you worry about poor ol’ Papa. I’ll always be here.)”
Anna cried into her shoulder and hugged her tighter.
“Спасибо, мама. (Thank you, Mama.)”
End of Flashback
“Это все твоя вина, отец. Это из-за тебя я здесь. Однажды я возьму мести и убить тебя ... как ты убил меня. (It’s all your fault, Father. It’s because of you I’m here. One day, I’ll get my revenge and kill you… just like you killed me.)”
---------------------------
“Miso-chan…” Yuria faintly mumbled, knocking on the mysterious and intimidating Kanon’s door.
In response, Miso growled and threw a knife at the poor door. The girl laid down on her bed, fiddling with her handcuff accessories, finding displeasure in life.
Seeing that she didn’t seem to have made it clear what she meant, Miso grumbled, “Go away.”
The round dark angel frowned with concern, adding on, “...Um, you haven’t eaten dinner yet… So I was thinking you could eat with everyone else who eats late...”
“...I’ll reject your offer. Now scram!”
“I’ll reject what you said as well! You keeping up your energy and nutrition is important, so I’m definitely not going until you come and eat!” Yuria pouted with vigor.
“Hey, eating enough is important…nyaha~”
“Shut up...” Miso muttered to both the irritation and the dark angel.
Sitting up, Miso mumbled to herself, feeling a headache coming on. That girl--sharp, wolf-like eyes and a bright smile--kept on haunting her inner thoughts. That Kumi was like before, getting on her nerves. The smile, the kindness, everything...it seemed wrong somehow.
“Miso?”
“You’re toooooooo cute!! Non-chan!”
“Shut up! Shut up!! SHUT UP!!!”
Hearing the screams, Yuria burst into the room. Yuria was met by a glaring Miso who was holding her head in pain.
“Wh-”
“Shut up!!!”
“Non-chan! You know, if I manage to get up there in the sky...the heavens, I’m definitely bringing you with me.” That girl was smiling like always.
“...If you can...” She answered in return, Miso, but not Miso, a different person.
“Mi-”
“Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!!! SHUT UUUUUUUUUUP!!!!!” She banged her head on the wall multiple times, then punched it and left a huge hole.
“Kanon!” Yuria screamed and rushed to her friends side. “Kanon, stop!”
“GAAAAAAHH!!!!!” Kanon pushed her to the ground and started strangling her. The younger one, Kanon or Miso in this case, had eyes that were glazed over.
Yuria, still shocked, grabbed at her friend’s arms and attempted to get free. What in the world was wrong, she had no idea. As the slightly slow Yuria started to think through it, she felt a stab in the side. There was blood.
“...Just...die...” The attacker muttered without her usual negative vigor.
Taking the chances, Yuria pretended as if she was truly dying. Waiting for that moment where her friend would just let down the guard just a bit, Yuria tried to keep from losing too much blood yet looking weak, “...Kanon...”
Panting with exhaustion almost, desperation, Miso sent a sharp glance towards her victim as she fought with the voices inside that she loathed so much.
“...I wish I’d get some peace and quiet once in a while…”
Yuria was slowly losing consciousness and her eyes fluttered shut, the pain at her side fading.
Miso smiled, but then felt someone jab the back of her neck and she fell unconscious. There was a dark angel behind her who was only known as Dasu, meaning Dozen.
“I see it’s finally gotten to you, huh?”
She lifted the two girls up and dragged them off into her room.
---------------------------
Within the village of Akihabara, a girl who was certainly human enough felt something odd in the air. It was that time of year when that large yet unnoticed event occurred, but it was a first to truly sense such oddness in this little village at least.
The girl had her brown hair cut slightly short and expressed her concerns quietly through the look on her cute face.
“Nee-chan…” Her cute little sister who clinged on her side watched as she was just staring at the sky. “What’s wrong?”
“.....Oh. It’s nothing, Manami,” she said petting her head. “Should we go buy the groceries now?”
“Let’s go!”
Her little sister excitedly jumped up and down upon hearing the plans to go shopping. The girl smiled and allowed Manami to lead the way.
Walking into the marketplace, the sisters found themselves surrounded by various items, foods, and some of the strangest things in the world. Manami hopped around, viewing everything happily and the girl followed after her little sister at her own pace.
“Well, we need to get...carrots, pork, and...” She pondered, trying to think of what they needed to buy.
Hearing the word carrots, Manami pouted, “Eh…I don’t like carrots… Nee-chan~ let’s go pork!“
“Hai, hai.”
Upon hearing the confirmation from her sister, Manami immediately flew off. The girl awkwardly followed, slightly regretting saying yes. But, seeing as Manami was so happy, it wasn’t that bad.
Being hyperactive in a marketplace, which is also a place filled with people, typically leads to accidents. In less than five minutes, an accident occurred.
The unfortunate Sashihara was unfortunately the victim. The course of action was simple. Manami was running very quickly, flying off her feet, and tackling the ace to the ground--not injuring herself in the process of course.
“Oh, wah! Sorry.” The cute little girl apologized.
At that time, the elder sister finally caught up. The power and shine from the rings that Sasshi wore on her fingers immediately caught the girl’s eye. Some kind of response that a normal person wouldn’t really notice went blaring, but pretending that nothing happened, the girl apologized for Manami again.
“Sorry...um-”
“Rino, Sashihara Rino.”
“I really apologize, Sashihara-san for the inconvenience.” The girl bowed her head.
Possibly due to how much she was ignored when with the Crusaders, it was quite awkward feeling for someone to bow her head to Sasshi--not that it was normal in the first place. “No, no, it’s ok actually and call me Sasshi...um-“
“Ah. I forgot to introduce myself as well...I’m Ono Erena.”
“I’m Manami! Don’t forget me!”
“I don’t think I’d forget the little girl who tackled me to the ground though...”
Erena absentmindedly asked as her mind was on the rings.“Are you here for grocery shopping as well?”
“Oh, you too?”
Manami pouted. Somehow, it felt as if this was going to turn into old lady gossip. In a way, it did, but it didn’t. Somewhere in the chat, it turned into going grocery shopping together and all that weird stuff.
When they reached the fish section, Sasshi seemed to freeze up. She hadn’t exactly been working all the time she was supposed to after all. The three went through the fish very quickly.
Carrots, they ended up buying them despite the protests from the one and only Manami.
“So, it’s just the two of you shopping?” Sasshi shyly asked as she kept grabbing veggies.
“Yup. We live alone, so I have to be the one to take care of Manami.”
“Aww~ that’s so sweet. I know how you both feel.”
Erena looked at her with wide eyes. Her attention was grabbed. “Eh?”
“About living alone. I lost my family a long time ago.”
Erena nodded. That wasn’t what she thought she was going to say.
“...This new ace...is...quite different...” she thought to herself as Sasshi kept rambling. The two girls finished shopping and were going to part ways when...
“Oh, hey!” Sasshi called out to them again. “Would you two… like to have dinner at my place? I have some, uhh, friends visiting, and I could use some extra help taking care of them.”
Erena unconsciously looked at the ring again. She smiled, for that time, she knew exactly what she meant.
“Sure. Why not?”
Sasshi smiled and gladly lead the two girls to her house. The whole time, Erena was smiling. She could guess who her “friends” were, and she knew she’d be absolutely right. Manami noticed her happy expression and tugged her arm.
“Nee-chan, why are you so happy?”
“...Huh? Oh, I’m just a little excited to make some new friends. Aren’t you?”
“Un!”
They finally arrived at the house and Sasshi opened the door, setting the groceries down. Manami roamed the house and when she came to the living room, she saw the Kami-7 gathered around, talking. Manami smiled in happiness and walked over to them.
“Hi!”
The girls just stared at the girl awkwardly. Yuko was the most surprised and covered her mouth.
“Maachan?”
“Manami?” Erena came in and saw everyone, which only surprised them more. Erena could definitely see them, and they knew that. “Guys?”
“E-Erepyon?”
“Nee-chan, do you know these people?”
Sasshi came in and saw the awkward situation.
“W-what’s going on? Guys, do you know this girl? Wait, Erena-san, you can SEE them?!”The hetare ace fell over, only realizing after a bit of processing.
In return, Erena simply smiled and nodded her head. Manami didn’t see what the big deal was and stared at Sasshi strangely, commenting in her mind, “I think she’s an idiot.”
“Sasshi, do you think I can see them?” Erena sent a glance over to the group of angels.
The ace fell to the ground once again. “...you can…?????” It seemed that Sasshi’s brain was suffering an overload even though she should be used to that type of thing.
Of course there was a unanimous agreement that the reason was because, “She’s an idiot.”
But, setting that aside, Yuko was looking at the sisters suspiciously, watching and observing them closely. Team K, that’s what came to mind and as a member of Team K as well as a captain of, Yuko felt that it was Erepyon and Maachan right there.
“I feel like you guys are idiots. Of course we can see them...why wouldn’t we be able to?” And then wrapping up Sasshi’s disbelief was a completely logical statement from Manami.
Slowly, the girls melted out of their shocked state, still watching the two sisters. Takamina broke the ice by suggesting to, “Hey...Should we make dinner now? Didn’t Sasshi invite you two for dinner anyways?”
Sasshi never said it out loud, but she did think it. Manami found that the midget was pretty interesting being able to guess that--though it wasn’t guessing. For Erena, she just smiled again for it was the first time in ages that she’d seen Takamina do so.
Everyone nodded. Takamina and Sasshi headed for the kitchen and Erena was about to follow after, but Yuko insisted that the guests don’t do work.
“...So, I guess then we’ll just be waiting for them? What’ll we do then?”
“No idea.”
-
Well Haruna able to saved Takamina...
And Takamina able to forget her bad past again...
Eh... Erena and her sister....
What's going on with Erena and the AKB?
What's going to happen next with the AKB?
Who would graduate next?
Would there be more fight soon?
What about HKT and SKE?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda: A lack of fighting this time around whew~ but... this may be the most wonderful chapter so far... at least in my point of view... Hope you enjoy~
Due to various technical difficulties, the second half is in the next post
Twelfth
As Manami was playing with Haruna, the others were talking to Erena. Sasshi was still holding her head, trying to process everything in her head.
“So, you were an angel…”
“Yes.”
“And, she was in Team K…”
“Uh-huh.”
“And, she graduated and came here to live on Earth…”
“Yup~.”
Erena giggled, seeing the poor girl trying to think everything through, mumbling things to herself. Takamina patted her back.
“But, Maachan doesn’t seem to remember us.”
“Manami is still just a child. She can see you, though, which is a sign that some unconscious memory is still there.”
“And~ that’s why she can see everyone?”
“Everything except your wings.”
“Well, that’s good...since I don’t want Maachan to get dragged into the Crusades again…” Takamina smiled faintly, but truely.
Sasshi stared blankly and then nodded with a wry smile.
But then she asked, “...Is it safe for Manami and Erena to be here then?” Considering the trouble that happened around the hetare ace, being around her and the Kami-7 might lead to being a part of the Crusades again.
The short angel could only ponder on that. Erena opened her mouth ready to talk when a knock at the door suddenly sounded out.
The ever so hetare ace instantly jumped up and cowered under a table stifling a scream,
“SOMETHING’S COMING!!!”
Manami stared at Sasshi awkwardly and curiously looked towards the door. All the girls in the house then followed to look at the door, all the girls other than Sashihara at least.
No one moved, there was a silence. The puppy girl and Yuki’s twin finally moved. They were the two who were connected to SKE, of SKE.
Jurina opened the door. Sasshi cowered in fear at the sight of the girl, dark angel, she never saw before. Rena had mixed expressions displayed on her face.
“...um...Minarun?” The short-necked girl was from SKE (though quite close to AKB’s Team B).
“Yes?”
“...What are you here for?” Rena gulped nervously. The others in the background were all prepared for a battle.
Seeing how tense everyone was, Minarun casually answered, “Hey, I’m not here to make any trouble or fights. Actually, i don’t get the point of one single person going against...how many people are here?”
“So, then what are you here for?” Jurina repeated with much more friendliness.
Manami was clueless on what was happening. She could see the newcomer, but not any wings or anything. It was a wonder why everyone including her big sister seemed awkwardly tense at the moment.
Seeing the clueless little girl who seemed not to know the situation, Mina went straight to the point in order to avoid needless confusion:
“There’s a bit trouble with SKE, so Jurina, Rena, could you two come back for a bit?”
“Trouble?”
“What happened?”
“There’s, uhh… quite a bit of chaos in the group, and we could use the extra help.”
The two Matsui’s looked at each other, then back to Takamina. Takamina just smiled and said, “Go on.”
They just nodded and went on with Minarun. Manami was still very confused and tugged on Erena’s shoulder.
“Nee-chan, who was that?”
“Hm? Oh, she was just one of Jurina-chan and Rena-chan’s friends. Looks like they had to take care of something.”
“I wonder what…”
--------------
Milky was just casually playing around with her tail, bored to death, then Nana came up to her.
“Hey! ...hiiiii…. M-Milky…..” she was out of breath for some reason. She wasn’t running. She was just slapping her knee, trying to catch her breath, and she looked like she had been crying.
“What’s wrong?”
“....hiii… You… hiiii… You need to come see thissss….. hiiii….”
She lead Milky over to a beach that was just near them, and her eyes widened when she saw her girlfriend, Sayaka, doing the weirdest thing she could ever think of.
20130620 NMB48 山本彩：オチはありません。申し訳ありません。(小笠原茉由,小谷里歩) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_H9qJ27898#)
“...............” Milky had no words to describe the craziness that was going on.
As well as Sayaka doing weird things, it looked as if doctor Ripopo and comedic Queen of NMB--Maachun were following along with the strangeness.
“Oh, Milky!” They all noticed the girl staring at them and ran up to her.
“There you are. I was wonderin’ where you’ve been.” Sayanee patted her head, like a caring girlfriend would.
“Wanna join in? It’s a lot more fun to be a part of the action.”
“Yeah! It’s feels WAY better than it looks.” It seemed that they were aware of how stupid and strange their actions looked to the normal person.
Nana raised her hand. “Maybe I can try it out.”
“No way, Nana-san! You fail at almost everything you do!” Maachun said casually.
“Oi!” Nana got angry and started beating on the girl’s shoulder.
As this was all going on, Sayanee looked back and saw Milky had a sort of sad look on her face.
“Hey, what’s wrong, hon? You look down.”
Milky slowly backed away, averting her girlfriend’s gaze. “I… I’m fine. I’m just… t-tired.” She said softly before running off.
“Milky!”
She was about to go after her, when she heard a rustling in the bushes. She turned and saw a dark figure staring at her in the shadows. She went near it to look closer, but it suddenly ran off.
“Guys! Help me catch this!”
Sayanee looked down and saw the fresh footprints in the sand and followed the footprints. The others chased closely after. Oddly enough, the footprints looked like a normal human foot, but no one actually bothered to think it through and they were under the assumption that the figure was a monster of some sort.
Running as fast as she could, Sayanee quickly reached the figure. To her surprise, it was just that tiny headed lemon girl.
“Miorin?”
The girl named Miorin sprung up to her feet. And...
“I want to be a fresh lemon!” she sang while doing a little dance. Everyone stared at her from the sudden outburst.
“Can a person really become a fresh lemon?” Maachun declared. Everyone laughed, making the lemon girl blush madly.
Using her helium voice, the lemon girl protested, “Well! Airi can!”
“Airi can become whatever she wants!” the comedic queen stated again, and everyone cracked up more.
The tanuki girl lightly giggled and jumped over to the lemon. “Miorin, someday maybe you can~” Then she transformed into a lemon for a second before turning back into her humanoid self.
Miorin, the lemon girl, smiled and went along with her lemon-ness.
Sayanee scratched her head. “I wonder what that was all about…”
“Miorin’s normally really quiet, right?”
“But, underneath all that shyness is…” The depressed-looking medic looked at them. “Something completely opposite.”
They nodded in agreement.
--------------
SKE’s Kami-7 Matsui duo walked into SKE’s base...or lair for the first time in a while. The ikemen captain Nishishi seemed to have a grim expression on her face. The bird Churi as well as the artist Airi were also emitting an aura that spelled bad news.
“...We heard that there...” Rena started, but couldn’t finish completely, “...was...trouble…but...”
The puppy seriously inquired, “What happened?”
Churi was silent as was Airi as was Nakanishi. None of them seemed to want to say it.
“It’s hard to explain fully, but you’ll see… come with me,” Minarun sighed and with all the members mentioned, led the way.
Walking through the living quarters, they reached the room of Kanon. Jurina and Rena were lost on what had happened and worried if their junior was hurt or something even worse had happened to her.
The neckless girl knocked on the door a few times. The reply was a growl and then Yuria’s voice, “Come in...”
The two Matsui were curious why Yuria was in there, but that wasn’t the main thing to worry about most likely, so they stayed quiet on that matter.
Opening the door, the artist looked away. The ikemen captain backed away and the bird tried to close her eyes. Rena nearly fell to the floor in shock and Jurina let her jaw drop.
“Kanon?”
Yuria muttered with eyes that showed a lack of sleep or any rest at all, “...Rena, Jurina...you two are here...eh?”
The two Matsuis’ little kouhai, Kanon, was sitting in a chair, tied up. Kanon wasn’t exactly the sweet little sister Kanon that Rena and Jurina and everyone was familiar with. Kanon seemed to be different, and she scowled, wriggling around attempting to get out of her ropes.
“...I can’t explain this can I?” Minarun mumbled.
Kanon, well actually this was Miso, glared at the visitors and growled, “Go away.”
“What?” Jurina couldn’t exactly process everything. Yes, there was trouble and that was the reason for coming, but the first time coming back in a while is equal to such an event. That seemed unthinkable.
“This is Miso...Non-chan’s past self...”
“What?”
“We’re not exactly sure how this happened? Well, not me anyways.”
Rena emptily stared and murmured to herself, “Miso….”
Jurina turned to face the others, who just stayed silent. She was ultimately confused by this entire scene, then she saw Rena.
Rena’s eyes were… dark and empty. She was holding her chest, breathing heavily.
“Rena?”
As Miso was trying to shake out, something fell out of her pocket. A knife.
When Rena saw this, she instantly ran off, screaming.
“Rena!”
Furukawa, Jurina, and Churi ran after Rena, confused by the reaction. Miso stopped shaking and stared at where Rena was.
An image flashed in her mind. There was blood, a necklace that wrote out ROCK but somehow managed to turn around and print POP, and also maniacal laughter from two sides.
“...nee...you mad?”
Her eyes widened in horror. “No way…”
Minarun and Yuria looked at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s back…” she said, her voice shaking. She was, for the first time, afraid. “She’s come back!”
“Who?”
“.......Gekikara.”
After not so much chasing, the artist, bird, and puppy caught up to Rena. The said girl was crouching down on the floor, curled up into a ball and breathing heavily. Airi crouched down to try to talk to Rena only to see the empty eyes with pupils that dilated and undid themselves over and over again.
“Rena…?” Jurina crouched down as well, surprised.
As if suffering an extreme headache, Rena held her head and started groaning in pain. “...you...mad?”
At that, she suddenly screamed to the top of her lungs, shocking everyone.
Then, her entire body became limp and her arms dropped. Her head slowly lowered and her body collapsed to her side.
“Rena!”
They shook the girl, trying to wake her, but it was no use. Her eyes were closed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Everyone just looked at each other in confusion. Just what exactly was happening this year?
--------------
After things started getting awkward between the others, Yuko decided to take a break and went up to Heaven. She gathered everyone else in Team K (of course, minus Jurina) up to a place where they could all talk.
Everyone was confused as to what was going on in the Crusade. They’ve heard all kinds of rumors about the chaos that’s been going on, but they weren’t sure i it was true or not.
Yuko finally came, since she was late because of her long conversation with the rest of the Kami-7.
“Yuko, what happened?” second-generation member, Kobayashi Kana asked.
“Oh, I… We had to take care of a few things.”
“What?”
“Oh, an old friend came to see us.”
Sae heard this and was shocked.
“Old… friend?”
“Do any of you recall the name ‘Erena’?”
“Eh~? Erepyon?”
“Wow, it’s been a while!”
“Nee, nee, did she change any?”
“Actually, she cut her hair. It looks kinda cute, really. And, get this! Maachan’s her little sister on Earth now.”
“Maachan?”
“Oh I miss her so much~”
Hearing everyone’s happy comments made Sae feel really heartbroken and she shrunk back so she couldn’t be seen.
“Woah, wait, they actually SAW you?”
“Well, Manami doesn’t have her memories fully recovered, so she can’t see our wings.”
“So, she doesn’t remember us.”
Sae gritted her teeth. “Do you all get it now?”
They turned to see the usually genki girl sulking in the corner. She got up and everyone saw the tears at the rims of her eyes.
“Do you know how it feels now? How it feels to lose someone and they not remember you?”
“W-what are you talking about, Sae?”
“I’ve had to go through my entire life without Sayaka, and she’s down there without even knowing I exist!”
Yuko’s eyes widened.
“I’ve had to bear so much pain, and NOW you realize it?! Do you all FINALLY understand what I’m going through?!”
“Sae, calm down!”
“Yuko, you still just don’t get it, do you?!” She pushed her to the ground. “I LOVED her, and she left me without even saying goodbye!”
Yuko then got mad and stood back up.
“What happened that day wasn’t your fault, or hers, or ANYONE’S! It was just that stupid eclipse! Things like that always happen!”
“NO! That day was different! Sayaka MADE the moon come up and create an eclipse. She gave up her life because she loved me!”
Yuko refrained from slapping the older girl and gritted her teeth.
“Look, when Sayaka left, it hit us ALL hard, and now, it’s MY responsibility to look after everyone as captain! I have to be the one to fill the void SHE left behind!”
“You will NEVER be like Sayaka!!!”
Everything was silent after that, and Sae ran off crying. Yuko finally decided to try and catch up to her. She followed Sae’s path and realized she was going down to Earth. When she got down, Sae had already disappeared. Yuko panicked and went back to Sasshi’s, but she wasn’t there.
“Yuko, what happened?”
“Sae’s gone. We need to find her.”
Erena got up, telling Maachan to stay here with the others, and they ran outside. Kana and Umechan, the current Team B captain, were already outside.
“Get the other Team K members and have them do a full area search. We need to find Sae before something bad happens! Erena, you come with me.”
“OK!”
--------------
“Wha-what is this?” Matsui Rena could not comprehend the situation that she was in.
There was darkness. And in front of her was a mirror image of herself except with two scars above the left eyebrow, a dark greenish jacket with a pattern on the back, and a necklace that wrote ROCK.
The SKE members were talking about the strangeness of this year at the moment. It was a question why Rena had suddenly acted up like that.
“Kanon and Rena didn’t know each other before SKE right?”
“Hehe...this is you and your mind...” The mirror image cackled and then added while beginning to bit at her fingernails, “...You mad?”
Rena slowly backed away, but as if space warping, she didn’t move from the position that she was at. “...”
“Should I? ...I’m you… No, you’re me~!” The scarred mirror image giggled madly as she disappeared and appeared once again but right next to Rena.
“What do you mean!?”
Jurina broke out into a cold sweat, “...I don’t think that we would know… even if we ask Rena...if it’s the Rena know, she wouldn’t remember her past life… I don’t think at least...Because...”
“I mean what I mean~” The girl smirked as she traced her jagged nails along the neck of the Kami-7 who was frozen stiff.
“Because?” Nishishi asked.
Jurina gulped, thinking that she might not want to reveal something within the Kami-7, “Because, when Takamina had a moment like this...it seemed to maybe be about the past...but she couldn’t remember a thing--or at least she didn’t tell us.”
“...Wha-”
“I am you. You are me,” The girl smiled insanely, “So...”
Rena stumbled backwards. As if space in that darkness was working towards the creepy girl’s favor, a wall appeared creating no where to run--a dead end.
“...” All Rena could do was stand there, watching the evil “her” getting closer and closer.
“...hehehe...” The girl used her nails and drew across Rena’s smooth skin, drawing blood in the process. She smiled gleefully as she watched the red liquid drip.
“Even though this is obvious, this is bad?“
“...I think very bad...”
The mirror image then whispered into Rena’s ear, “Hey~ let me...take over for a bit...” Her finger trailed up Rena’s neck and held her chin, making her look in her eyes. “Or…. perhaps… forever?”
Rena gasped in fear.
“...you mad?” The girl chuckled as she licked up some of Rena’s blood--seemingly savoring the taste.
The Kami-7 angel gulped, terrified by her so called other self.
Jurina clasped her hands together, closing her eyes. Everyone could just watch the current situation unfold.
“Rena…. please be okay….”
Rena felt herself growing weaker and weaker, as if the evil being that looked like her was sapping the life out of her. She tried to speak, but she was slowly losing energy.
“Just go to sleep for a while. Fall into a nice, peaceful sleep~”
Her eyes were flickering, trying to stay open. She was losing all self-control over this monster, and she couldn’t think straight.
Everything in her mind was so cloudy… She finally drew a blank as to why she was resisting.
“Go to sleep. You need some rest…”
Just as she said, Rena slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Rena’s body slowly rose up, her head hung low to cover her eyes.
“Rena!” Jurina hugged Rena’s body tight, trying to contain her tears. “Oh god, I was so worried! I…..”
But, then she stopped. Something in the atmosphere had changed…
It was… dark and tense… and all that seemed to be coming from Rena.
“Rena?”
Rena’s eyes slowly opened and she turned to look at the puppy girl. Something in Rena’s eyes was… different.
Then, Rena started giggling. It was a soft giggle, innocent, like a child… but… it was also somewhat scary.
“Ohayou~” she giggled.
Jurina backed away, confused. There was definitely something wrong, she didn’t know what, but Rena had changed. Something happened to her and she didn’t like it.
“You’re not Rena,” she said in a low, serious voice. “Who are you?”
This made “Rena” giggle more, sending a chill through everyone’s spines.
“Who are you?!” Jurina asked again.
“.....Me?”
“Yeah, I’m talking to you!” She grabbed the girl by the collar and looked into her eyes coldly. “Who are you and what did you do to Rena?!”
“Calm down, Jurina-chan…” Airi said, pulling the two apart. She knelt down to take a look at the girl. “Rena-chan, is something wrong?”
“Eh?”
“You’re not normally like this.”
Rena giggled again. “Yes….. Rena isn’t.”
“Huh?” Everyone backed away a step.
“...W-what?”
“....hehehehe…. right now…. I’m Chuukara. ..hehehehe…”
Everyone’s eyes widened in fear. Jurina slowly crawled away, backing into a wall.
“Chuukara?”
Minarun walked in and saw the situation.
“What’s going on here?”
“Rena’s acting strange,” Jurina said. “She’s calling herself Chuukara and she keeps laughing and it’s just weird!”
“Chuukara?” The short-necked girl looked at the giggling girl. Her eyes were filled with madness and a wide smile painted across her face. She remembered the name Miso had mentioned earlier.
“She’s back….. Gekikara.”
Minarun looked at the girl, her eyes narrowed.
“No… Rena…”
-
--------------
Yuko and Erena have been searching the entire town for Sae, but no clues were found. The other members have given up and went back to Heaven for training, so them, Kana, and Umechan, were the only ones left.
As they were walking, Yuko stopped at one of the houses and looked in the window. There, lying on the couch, was Sayaka. She was sick, and her mother was taking care of her as she slept.
“I… I don’t believe it…”
“Sayaka…”
Erena looked at them. “You all didn’t know?”
They looked at her. Erena smiled sadly and walked off.
“So, Sayaka…”
“It was actually her wish to come here.”
“Eh?”
“That day, the day she disappeared from Heaven, she wished that she could give up her old, troublesome life and live happily on Earth with Sae. A guess it was all a part of God’s whim.”
Yuko looked at Sayaka again. She decided to go in and pulled out something in her pocket. It was something she had been saving for a long time. A bottle with a potion she made.
It had the power to grant one wish. She wanted to use it to get Haruna to fall for her, but now, the only thing in her mind was making Sae happy. As Sayaka’s mother left, she went inside and opened the bottle.
She whispered into it. “Please remember Sae…”
She slowly poured the liquid into Sayaka’s mouth. Sayaka slowly woke up and stretched her arms. Yuko smiled and came close to hug her, but she went right through her.
“Eh?”
“Sayaka.” Her mother came back and felt her forehead. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, Mama.” She got up and grabbed her coat. “I’m gonna go out for dinner, ‘kay? I promised some of my friends I’d see them.”
Her mother just smiled and nodded. As she left, Yuko and the others followed her to… unexpectedly, a ramen shop.
“I’m here~!”
“Sayaka-chan!”
The girls were surprised to see a lot of their old teammates gathered together. Meetan, Nontii, Yuka, Tomo~mi, and Natsumi, all smiling at her.
“There you are, Sayaka-chan!” The big girl said as she hugged her. “I was worried.”
“Hmm…” The perverted woman smiled as she held her head. “I had a feeling of bad energy today, but it’s all gone now.”
“Oh, here we go with your psychic whatever again!” Natsumi giggled.
Yuka smiled and handed her a bowl of fresh ramen.
“Drink up! It’s chicken noodle ramen; chicken noodle helps sickness.”
“Thanks, Yuttan.”
Sayaka sat down and happily ate the ramen as she talked to everyone.
Yuko felt like crying. She never saw Sayaka like this, so happy with her new life. Finally, Sayaka was free from all the stress and she could let her go. She walked out of the restaurant. Then, she saw someone who finally made her tears fall from her eyes.
Walking towards the restaurant, wearing what looked like a Chinese dress, was Sae herself, looking around the city. Yuko covered her mouth, realizing what had happened.
Sae gave up her own life so she could come here and be with Sayaka.
“Sae…” she cried out.
Sae walked into the restaurant, and when she saw Tomomi, her face was exstatic.
“Tomo~mi-chan!” The said girl heard her and ran up to hug her.
“Sae-chan! I knew you’d make it!”
“Hehe, I always keep my promises.”
The two sat beside each other and Tomomi introduced her to everyone. Apparently, in this new life, Sae and Tomomi were friends, and Sae had been doing some overseas studying in Shanghai.
Sae giggled, meeting everyone for the “first” time once again. Then, when she turned to Sayaka, something in them sparked. The two were holding hands, and they didn’t let go.
Or, it seemed… they didn’t want to.
“Um… you’re… S-Sayaka, right?”
“........Yeah.”
Sae looked at her hand, which was tightly holding Sayaka’s.
“Have we…. met before?”
Sayaka furrowed her eyebrows. Something about this girl did seem… familiar.
“I think…. maybe…? I-I’m not sure….”
Sae slowly took hold of her other hand and put them together. She smiled warmly.
“Well, I hope we can be friends.”
Sayaka blushed a bit and held their intertwined hands. “Yeah… Of course, we can definitely be friends.”
Watching the sweet scene unfold, Umechan, Kana, Yuko, and even Erena was crying. They watched the twin towers, side by side, surrounded by their friends, and they were happy. They were free from the chaos, the sadness.
All they had left was each other.
“Sae, you finally got Sayaka back. I hope you don’t regret this.”
She held her chest, seeing it grow warm as Sae seemed to already be all flirty with Sayaka.
“Sayaka, I’m glad you got your sun back. Be happy.”
===================
Between strength and weakness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-_JxJACQGg#ws)
===================
-
Ah Sayaka and Sae chose to be humans... to live thier lives peacefully
Poor Yuko to lose another comrades
What's going to happen with AKB with their members kept decreasing?
What about SKE and GEKIKARA?
What's going to happen to Rena past life turning up now of all time?
With the crusade is coming soon... what would happen to AKB, SKE, HKT and NMB?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you for the double updates
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: You get everyone besides the main AKB in this chappie~ Enjoy~ :3
And I deeply apologize for the lateness of this... basically, my fault... gomenasai...
but, the good thing is that it's long like always.
And if I haven't said this before:
We don't own Shakugan no Shana~~~~~ :p
And Kyappu is actually my former HKT oshi, so don't kill us for making her the bad guy for the time being~
Thirteenth
“...you mad?” The girl who seemed like Rena, but was very different, deemed herself Chuukara. She giggled creepily as she nibbled on her fingernails, creating the slightest clicking noises.
Kami-7’s puppy stared, maybe even glared, intensely at the Rena who was not Rena. As the bird and artist attempted to approach Chuukara, they suddenly halted due to the intense blood thirst in the air.
“Re-Chuukara...what...are you supposed to be?” Minarun interrogated uneasily.
As if not getting the question, Chuukara tilted her head to the side cutely for a second before showing a malicious expression and responding, “Hmm? I’m Rena...I’m Chuukara…hehe~”
Churi stepped forward and boldly stated, “Stop messing around right now please, I don’t think that we need another problem.”
Upon hearing the bird captain’s words, Chuukara sent an insane grin towards Churi. She happily observed Rena’s SKE comrade.
“Are you strong? ...you look strong….” In the next moment the bird found herself flung across the hall into the wall by Chuukara.
“What are you-” Airi shouted out in shock before being interrupted by a kick in the stomach.
As if disappointed, Chuukara pouted and nonchalantly said, “You guys are kind of weak.”
Jurina was mad. She charged at Chuukara and kicked directly on target. In response, the crazy girl giggled some more and turned around to face the puppy with eyes filled with excitement. Jurina punched at Chuukara’s face again and again, but the target didn’t fall down, instead she seemed happier.
Slightly tired, the puppy stopped one second to catch her breath and the next second she was hit hard on the head by a punch from Chuukara who was ultimately happy with the fighting.
Airi and Churi came running to help and each grabbed one of Chuukara’s arms. Jurina aimed a flying kick towards her opponent’s stomach and screamed, “Give Rena back!” Before the attack connected, Chuukara joyfully swung the artist off her right arm and the bird off her left.
“Hehe...because you’re strong… I can be Gekikara now right?” As the kick connected, like an infallible tower, Chuukara laughed with only a slight stumble.
“I don’t care if you’re Chuukara or Gekikara! I want Rena back!”
Slightly unhappy at Jurina’s words, the now called Gekikara casually kicked Jurina down to the ground. She kept on stomping and kicking at the fallen opponent. Even if Jurina tried getting up, she’d get kicked down in the next second.
Getting up once more, Churi headbutted Gekikara with all her might. The attack threw Gekikara off balance for a bit, just enough for Jurina to find her way out of the crazy girl’s stomping and kicking range.
Finding interest in her new attacker, Gekikara childishly looked back to the bird. Churi slowly backed away only to accidentally trip on nothing. She winced in fear of what was to come next when she suddenly felt a harsh pull on her hair.
Gekikara cackled, “...I wonder...what color is it?”
Slowly pulling Churi up by the hair, Gekikara was happily savoring the pain in the bird’s face. As Airi and Jurina tried to help, she simply received the attacks and attacked back without letting go of her target Churi.
Like a curious child, she grabbed hold of Churi’s head and like a child banging her fists into the wall during a tantrum, Gekikara slammed the bird’s head into the wall a couple of times.
Jurina and Airi charged again and kept on attacking--kicking, punching, clawing, and everything. Nothing worked against Gekikara. After a while, the bird slowly lost consciousness and Gekikara dropped her to the floor.
“The answer is red~” The crazy girl proclaimed happily without a care in the world as she looked at the red liquid dripped down from Churi’s forehead.
Suddenly, Gekikara dropped to the ground. A sharp pain hit her in the neck and something cut there.
“Minarun?” Jurina weakly muttered as she looked towards the person who downed that monster.
It was the short necked Minarun. Filled with anxiety as one could see by the amount of sweat, she had somehow knocked out Gekikara the same way she did to Miso.
“...um...let’s tie her up before anything else happens...and move her somewhere...is Non’s room fine...?”
“Yea...”
“I’m leaving that to you two...” Airi mumbled quietly before following up with an incomplete thought that she couldn’t help but leave unfinished, “Churi...” Carefully picking up the bird, the artist cautiously walked off towards somewhere where Churi could get patched up. “...No dying.”
--------------------------
That world was filled with colors, but at the same time held a dullness that couldn’t be thrown away. The sky was always colorful in some way, but somehow, it seemed that it was all black and grey everywhere.
“Sayaka…” a girl who held great resemblance to the succubus Milky called out with a somewhat frivolous grin on her face.
Sayanee and Alastor responded at the same time. “Hmm...what?”
“Let’s fight!”
“Wait--what!?” Sayanee couldn’t help but stumble a little in surprise, not sure if she heard the girl’s words correctly.
“Don’t.”
“Alastor, be quiet would you? Let’s fight.” The girl stated in a very determined manner.
Lighting a small blue flame on her finger and then extinguishing it, Sayanee tried to reject the fight, “Sorry.”
“I don’t accept no as an answer.” She pouted before attacking. Flying up with purple flaming steel wings, the girl threw a javelin of flames towards Sayanee.
Met with the sudden attack, Sayaka jumped to the side hastily. She unsheathed her sword and got into a defensive position. Seeing that Sayanee was ready in a way, the girl flew down and used another spear and attack Sayanee.
“I don’t feel like fighting right now, especially against you!”
The girl frowned, “Too bad...because it’s this type of world.” Then she stabbed with her spear, which she enveloped in purple flames. Sayanee felt her skin burning and gritted her teeth in a silent scream.
“You’re serious...” Sayanee muttered as she covered her sword with her blue fire.
“Of course.” She let out a somewhat sad smile before throwing another javelin covered with flames.
Sayanee dodged quickly and deflected the quickly coming attack from the girl’s spear. Their flames battled against each other furiously.
“Don’t be too hasty Sayaka.” Alastor advised softly.
“I know, I know!” Sayaka yelled.
The girl grinned and once again attacked in the same pattern, but then she suddenly grabbed her javelin in one hand and the spear in the other. The girl set both on fire and charged.
Throwing the javelin at close range, Sayanee dodged just barely. Then she thrusted the spear. It burned Sayanee’s shoulder slightly. Sayanee took her sword and swung it wildly at her attacker and heard a faint hiss of pain.
The girl covered her boots with purple flames and then proceeded to kick Sayanee in the stomach. Just barely, Sayanee jumped back. In a slightly hurried manner, she attacked using her sword again.
She was deflected and punched without the extra damage of flames.
The girl who resembled Milky giggled, seeing the girl almost completely charred.
“I feel like I’m on fire!” she said with wild eyes.
Sayanee grinned. “Me too…”
Slowly, she removed the bandage on her arm and covered herself in blue fire. Now, Milky was the one who got burned and she backed away, quickly healing her arm with her purple flames.
She glared at the blue flames coming from the short haired girl.
“I knew it… A Flame Haze.”
“Yea, I am a Flame Haze.” Sayanee smirked as she showed off her blue flames.
Alastor grimaced and warned Sayanee, “Don’t mess around like that...”
“Heh...well, that doesn’t really matter right now.” The girl wryly grinned and thrust her spear forward once more before jumping up and kicking a flaming fireball towards Sayanee. “Because I don’t know much about Flame Hazes!”
Sayanee chuckled with odd excitement, she was immersed in the battle already, and retaliated with much force, “HIIIYAH!!”
The two girls’ weapons clashed and clanged against each other, flaming. Both girls seemed confident in their ability to win, but seeing how the fight was not going anywhere, they simultaneously threw away their weapon.
The Milky-resembling girl sent another flaming kick towards Sayanee and Sayanee quickly dodged. She performed a burning uppercut and the two engaged in a heated close combat.
Purple flames and blue flames clashed against each other furiously. Beads of sweat dripped down the foreheads of both girls, and both were panting. They flew at each other again and again, managing to make slight damage, yet couldn’t take the other down.
Covered in sweat, and ashes, the two paused to catch their breath. The Flame Haze smirked as she took in and let out deep breaths of air. The girl panted and let out a wry smile.
“Who wins?”
‘Why are you asking me that?“ Sayanee retorted some what out of breath.
Giggling, the girl said, “...I don’t know…”
“...It’s a tie then.” Finding that it’s be stupid to continue battling, the Flame Haze stated the situation at the moment.
The Milky-like girl giggled with a sense of mischief in her eyes and agreed. She walked over to Sayanee and slowly moved her mouth to Sayanee’s ear and whispered, “Shakure king~”
“What!!”
She then flew off laughing to herself as the king of protruding chins facepalmed. Silently, Alastor laughed as well. “You really are the Shakure king though...”
--------------------------
A peacefully sleeping Gekikara, who in truth was simply knocked out and tied up, sat in the corner of the room. Quite far from the blood-thirsty alter-ego of Rena, Miso was tied up and bluntly feeling somewhat terrified.
“Oh god… it’s really her…”
Miso wriggled and thrashed around trying to get untied. Her heart pounded and she didn’t dare take her eyes off of the monster in fear of Gekikara waking up or something. The young girl moved around so much that the chair fell back, creating a thud sound that seemed to go unnoticed.
Her knife laid on the floor, shining and screaming for Miso to pick it up. Fear made her go stiff. Miso couldn’t see Gekikara. That was terrifying. Miso couldn’t reach her trusty knife and she was in a completely vulnerable situation.
“...that monster...might be tied up…but the second she wakes up...I’m dead...”
She tried to keep calm, but of course her body went against her--her heart pounded, she broke out into a cold sweat, and nearly started hyperventilating. Images of blood, maniacal laughter that couldn’t be sourced, and the knife, ran through Miso’s mind.
“...I wonder...you mad…?” Gekikara murmured in her sleep.
Hearing Gekikara’s voice, Miso stopped breathing for a second. She clenched her eyes closed, not wanting to see anymore, wanting to just become nothing and escape like a coward despite her slight dislike of such things.
The knife was right there, yet Miso couldn’t reach it. She stretched her arm as far as it could in the situation yet the knife was just a finger away. As much as Miso tried to scoot over and get closer, the chair seemed heavy and stuck to the ground in that spot that she was in.
“Damn it…”
She crouched into a ball, shivering in fear from the demon girl sitting at the other corner of the room. She heard her giggle softly, making her freeze. Once it stopped, she let out a huge sigh and turned around so she couldn’t face her.
“I thought I finished her… that day, she should’ve…”
Flashback
Gekikara was resting after a battle that seemed to last forever. There was blood covering her body as she drenched herself in the cold river water.
Miso watched her from afar. She looked like a normal girl, but that was her disguise for the demon inside her. She slowly walked up, dragging her feet and tripping a bit, as if she was pretending to be sick.
Gekikara saw this and glared at the girl. She started to fall over, but was quickly caught by the blood-thirsty girl.
“Sorry…” she said softly and walked back off. She grinned evily.
She passed by someone, a girl with long black hair carrying flowers, hiding something in her hand. The girl however saw this and her eyes widened in shock.
She was carrying a bloody knife wrapped in some cloth.
She ran to the direction the girl came from and saw Gekikara on the ground, blood flowing out of her.
“No!” She rushed towards the girl’s side and tried to pick her up, but she was too heavy.
Gekikara felt herself growing weak, giggling from the pain she felt in her body.
“I wonder….if she’s mad…at me?”
“No! She wouldn’t. She’s your friend, right? Friends don’t get mad at each other!!!”
“.........Really?”
The girl nodded, crying on Gekikara’s shoulder. Gekikara kept laughing, even as her voice got weaker, she kept giggling. She gasped for air, trying to continue her laughter, but finally lost all feeling and fell to the ground, dead.
“GEKIKARAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!”
End of Flashback
“She should’ve died and stay dead…” Miso growled.
Miso wriggled around a bit more with her eyes on the knife. From outside of the room, the ikemen Nishishi was peeking in. “What in the world…?” She sighed, unable to put together the puzzle pieces and walked away.
The captain walked down the hall and turned a corner to see the destruction that had happened. No magic happened at all, it was just brute force from the Rena that was Gekikara that caused such a ruckus.
Everyone seemed to be with Churi, attempting to figure out the situation, scrambling around, or something of the sort. No one was there, or it seemed. Nakanishi let out another sigh as she continued to trot along.
Such chaos occurred so quickly. Everything was fine and dandy, but then it just fell apart. The ikemen felt a pang of guilt that was gnawing at her, but tried to ignore it. It was also a question why Rena would act strange, she never did eat that suspicious thing.
Nishishi kicked at the carpet flooring the halls. A slight dust flew up, but that didn’t seem to be a big problem considering the dust probably came from the fight that went all over the place.
“Nakanishi-san.” The short necked Mina waved out to the ikemen.
She was surprised to see the girl just loitering around. “Minarun...is anything up?”
“...Not really. I just feel like maybe I shouldn’t be with Churi and me trying to help unscramble this wouldn’t be so good. Don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t know.” Nishishi awkwardly looked towards the kouhai.
The two continued to walk along without any conversation starting up. There it was, the awkward silence that comes along every so often. Nishishi gulped silently, feeling the pressure.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of running footsteps. Skidding to a stop, there was Jurina right in front of the two.
“Can I ask something?”
“...Yes?”
“Can either of you explain what happened to Kanon...and what happened to Rena?” Jurina unintentionally snarled, with much ferocity when mentioning Rena.
Minarun stayed silent, keeping a complete poker face. Nishishi forced out an answer of. “No...I don’t know,” before looking towards the short necked girl next to her.
Jurina sent a suspicious glare towards the two and asked again. “Do you know why Kanon and Rena are like this?”
The same response was received from Minarun, but Nishishi didn’t respond this time. Jurina asked again only to receive no response again.
Jurina stared at the two for a bit. Her gaze moved from Minarun to the captain and it stayed on the captain. Nakanishi gulped silently and naturally stepped back, feeling a slight chill. A few other members walked into the moment and found themselves in an awkward situation and tried to keep their presence to the minimum.
“Nishishi, I’m really worried… Rena is never like this…” she slowly walked up to the frozen captain. “And, y’know… for a long time, I’ve had this gut feeling that… you have something to do with it.”
Jurina’s voice was suddenly fearful, causing the atmosphere to become tense and heavy. Nakanishi was afraid if she got to upset, her powers would activate and she’d go berserk.
“N-now, Jurina, let’s calm down…”
Jurina muttered something inaudible to the others and her head slowly lowered. Her hands were gripped into tight fists as she approached her closer than ever. Then, out of nowhere, she grabbed her by the collar.
Nakanishi instantly met dark, cold eyes piercing deep into hers.
“What the…? Jurina?”
“I don’t like you…” she said in a harsh, low tone that made everyone back away one step. “You… You don’t seem like the kind o’ person you can easily trust. You’re hiding something… and this, everything that’s happened up till this point, you’re a part of it.”
She pinned her against the wall and stared at her coldly.
“J-Jurina?!” The artist screamed in fear. The others just stood and watched the scene unfold.
“Wha… what are you--?”
“I don’t trust you… I don’t trust anyone…” she snarled. She looked back to the others, then pulled Nakanishi down and whispered in her ear. “If you know what’s right, you’ll fix this, or so help me, I’m going to tear you limb from limb so you can never hurt Jurina again.”
Nakanishi’s eyes widened, realizing what was going on. “Who are you?”
“My name is Center.” The others were confused as to what was going on, but Jurina looked serious and kept quiet. “I’m gonna go back to sleep, so you better behave yourself, or I’m gonna wake up and give you a piece of my mind. Got it?”
Nishishi’s head shook up and down rapidly in fear.
“Good…”
Center closed her eyes and her head lowered. When they opened, she was no longer Center, but Jurina, and when she saw what she was doing, she quickly backed away.
“Wha-? Oh my gosh, I-I’m so sorry, Nishishi.”
“Hey, d-don’t worry about it, Jurina.” The captain raised her hands in defense, still scared at the puppy’s earlier personality that was now fast asleep inside her.
Jurina was confused about what was going on, but in the back of her mind, she felt a certain something, with a certain someone happened.
“Uhh, I gotta go,” Nakanishi claimed as she left. “There’s something I need to take care of.”
“Nishishi!” Jurina tried to call out for her, but she slammed the door.
--------------------------
The lonely Flame Haze sat on top of the hill, looking out at the sunset as she strummed her guitar, singing that song again.
“Koi nanka mendou da~ Itsumono jibun ja naku naru~ Modokashikute mune no dokoka ga doyon doyon to hanareteiru~”
She sighed and put down her maroon instrument, laying down in the grass as she spread out her arms.
“Hey, Alastor, what do you think happened to Milky?”
Alastor replied, “Rather than asking me that, why don’t you try finding her?”
“I did!” Sayaka yelled angrily at the entity.
Unfazed, he responded coldly, “But you gave up.”
The Flame Haze shrank away a little bit. It was true that she had given up. The rogue NMB girl gave a frustrated expression. “...But...I don’t think I can find her...” She mumbled dejectedly. Of course, Alastor would easily be able to pick that up.
“You’ve given up so easily on this. Isn’t she important to you?” Alastor chastised the girl. Sayaka nodded. “Just go and find her!”
“Yea. I need to go find Milky.” Sayaka said determinedly. She picked up her instrument, not wanting to leave it laying around and was about to start her search, of course, after putting the thing away.
Then, she saw a piece of paper fall from the sky. She looked and was surprised to see her name on it.
“What the-?”
It wrote: ‘‘Milky-san is really, really cute right? She’s super cute and wonderful, that’s factual information. -Haha, whatever! Anyways, what d’ya think would happen if someone else took her and made her own? -Wouldn’t that Flame Haze girl be, like… SUPER mad? Oh~ I’d love to see that look on her face right now! -Yeah, let’s capture that Milky-chan and see how the Flame Haze will react. -She’ll probably burn us all up. -Not if we… put her out...of course permanently.”
“Oh no… Milky!”
--------------------------
“You woke up…? Hehehe… It hasn’t been...forever just yet...” The maniacal Gekikara giggled.
The Kami-7’s Matsui Rena seemed to have woken up. She shuddered at the sight of the monster and felt fear weigh her down.
Gekikara pouted with an innocently malicious look. She slowly crept over to Rena and giggled again, nibbling at her nails. Everything seemed silent besides the slight giggles here and there and a clicking from the nail-biting.
“Could you just go back to sleep?” The crazy girl said like a spoiled child.
Rena gulped and slapped her other self away. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Eh~? Why? You don’t... trust me?” she said with crazy eyes. “You don’t… like me?”
Gekikara seemed to be crying crocodile tears, but Rena was smart enough not to fall for them. Rather, the tears added to the crazy stare was extremely intimidating.
The lunatic came close to Rena. Even in the darkness that existed in the mind, the Kami-7 girl could see the madness in Gekikara’s dilated pupils.
“Hehehehehehe…. Hahahahaha….!”
Rena then saw something fearful flash inside her mind. She felt her heart pound out of her chest, and it hurt. She gripped her chest tightly, falling to the ground.
“Hehehe, don’t you know…. You killed millions of people…”
“No…. No..!”
“Don’t deny it… It’s ALL~ true.” Gekikara giggled, grabbing Rena’s collar and pulling her up. “And it was all your fault. You are to blame…”
“No! I didn’t do anything like that!!!”
She pulled the angel close and whispered in her ear.
“You were a mistake.”
Rena felt her heart pulse insanely strong again and she froze, eyes wide.
“No one needs you… Someone like you… should just.. disappear.”
“Disappear.”
Gekikara’s hand went right through Rena’s chest. The very next second, she vanished and Rena fell to her knees, her head hung low.
When she raised them up, she saw everything… The blood, the suffering, the insanity, and the darkness. Her body was painted red, her eyes dilated as she mercilessly killed all those people. Their screaming in agony was music, only to her ears. All that pain faded in the darkness and was replaced by an unimaginable pleasure.
Rena saw all these visions in her head… everything playing like a movie film…
….and… she smiled.
Her pupils were shrunk down until they couldn’t be seen and her giggle was stifled into a crazy, maniacal laugh.
Gekikara had now fully merged inside Rena’s body and has contained full control of her mind.
“Hehehehe…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
Rena’s body jolted up and her eyes popped open to see the monster girl on the other side of the room.
“Oh crap…” Miso thought.
“Hehehe, I’m back~. Hehehehe…” The ropes that bound her seemed like nothing.
“Geki… kara…”
“Are? Your face… I feel like I’ve seen that face before… Aren’t you… hehehe… that girl who I met at the riverbank?”
Miso felt herself become engulfed with fear, staring at the girl as her eyes became wild.
“Yeah, that’s it… Hehehehe… you killed me that day~.”
Tears almost started to well up in the knife wielding girl’s eyes. Gekikara grinned intimidatingly at Miso. While both of the girls were technically tied up, it seemed that Gekikara could get out in less than a second.
The next second would probably be Miso’s death, or maybe torture. Death in that case would be the better option. Well, it seemed as if the monster wasn’t breaking out of the ropes.
All the color drained out of Miso’s face. Gekikara lightly giggled. Miso grasped for her knife, but like before was unable to reach it. As attention went to the blade, Gekikara’s eyes sharpened and seemed to stab through Miso like a snake eyeing her prey.
Either way, it seemed as if Miso was going to be killed by the maniac. At least it felt like it.
“You mad?” She cackled quietly. Her voice was glazed with malice.
Miso wriggled around in fear. She kept on attempting to get free. Somehow, the knife wielding girl managed to cut through a tiny bit of the rope in her attempts to get free. Using what she had around her, Miso rubbed away at the rope.
After a long time scraping away at the bindings, Miso somehow managed to get loose enough to reach out her hand. She picked up her knife and cut at the rest of the rope.
Gekikara was glaring at Miso. While the knife girl had the advantage now with the ability to freely move and a weapon, because of some instinctual fear, Miso felt as if she couldn’t just get rid of Gekikara right there and then.
“Crap! Crap!! CRAP!!!!” she yelled inside her head.
After the ikemen Nishishi thought thoroughly about what had happened with Jurina, she headed towards the room in which Miso and Gekikara were. Minarun seemed to be expecting that as she quickly joined up with the captain.
They walked through the halls and quickly reached the room. There were a number of suspicious sounds and such that made the two curious in a not so good manner.
Without a second thought, the short-necked Minarun swung the door open.
“WHAT THE-?!”
Miso muttered a few curses to herself at the appearance of the two. She gripped onto her knife tightly. Her hands were just slightly trembling. Gekikara wasn’t going to just disappear anytime soon.
It seemed that the knife was pointed to the duo who just opened the door though. Gekikara was creepily grinning at Nishishi and Minarun as well.
“Who do we have here~? Hehehehe… more playmates?”
Nishishi gulped and nearly stepped back at the spine-chilling tone in Gekikara’s voice. Minarun observed quietly with a serious look on her face. There was such a pressure in the atmosphere that weak people would’ve felt crushed.
Wanting to get away as soon as possible, Miso growled, “Let me out...” She slowly got into a fighting stance, ready to stab someone to death if they got in her way.
“No.”Minarun rejected Miso’s command.
“MOVE!!”
Without losing her cool, the short necked girl coldly responded, “I’d have to reject that as well.”
“D-disarm yourself Miso...” Nishishi couldn’t help but feel a bit scared.
Anxiety gnawed away at the knife-wielding girl. Gekikara was too close in the room. A part of Miso was dying to run. “Shut up...and...MOVE...”
Then, Gekikara suddenly released a blood-curdling laugh. A chill went up Miso’s spine. Her heart nearly stopped. She stopped breathing for a second and fear was evident in the girl’s eyes. Her eyes met Minarun’s and she felt like she was being read like a book.
A certain dark angel Yuria was drawn over by the commotion and gasped at the scene that she saw. “Ka-Miso...”
Maniacal laughter rang in everyone’s ears. When Yuria looked at Miso, she couldn’t help but see the fear. Of course, Rena’s persona terrified Miso. Terror tortured her every second.
Yuria walked past her two comrades and confronted the hidden personality in Kanon. Miso glared at her. The knife was immediately pointed towards her and at a close proximity.
Nishishi and Minarun both watched silently. Gekikara giggled and seemed amused at the situation. She was still tied up and unable to play a bit sadly.
“Miso...”
Miso scowled. “Just move.”
“...No...sorry...”
Miso thrusted the knife towards Yuria. The latter swiftly blocked the attack by grabbing onto the blade-side of the knife. Crimson liquid dripped from her palm where it was constantly being cut. Yuria held back the pain and stared at Miso.
The knife-wielding girl was dumb-founded. She didn’t know what to do next. She could probably quite easily pull the knife out with force, but just couldn’t.
“What the heck is wrong with you?”
Gekikara cackled for the last time. Then, a flood of images and scenes entered Miso’s mind. There were things about Gekikara and such. There were moments with Yuria. There were those slight moments with Kumi.
Yuria and Miso simultaneously dropped the knife in shock. Yuria’s hand was covered in red and the blood was dripping down her fingertips to the ground. Had Gekikara been able to see it, things would’ve gotten very bad, but the madwoman didn’t.
Miso suddenly started a brief screaming fit. She clutched her head as so much that she didn’t want to see ran through her mind. It seemed that something then short-circuited. She lost all light in her eyes and collapsed into Yuria’s arms.
“Kanon!” Yuria couldn’t hide her tears anymore and cried into her chest. “Kanon… I’m so sorry…”
--------------------------
Suddenly, that piece of paper folded up into some sort of origami bird. Considering the different types of youkai within NMB, Sayanee wasn’t too surprised despite having more or less left the group and gone rogue with Milky.
Of course, Milky was her worry at the moment. The bird seemed to come to life in a mechanical manner and floated off slowly. Alastor hissed at the flame haze to not be too hasty and randomly jump into a trap, but Sayanee just went after the bird without paying him any heed.
The bird was going along at a nice pace. Considering the importance of the frivolous Milky to Sayanee though, it was going way too slow. The flame haze sincerely wished to attack the paper. Unfortunately, it seemed that it wasn’t that great of an idea to do so.
Sayanee frowned, but continued to go after the paper bird. Alastor sighed and gave up on trying to reason. Not a long distance later, the flame haze reached a large cave. The bird then flew to pieces and disappeared.
Alastor groaned that they should randomly go into suspicious caves, but Sayanee immediately lit a light flame and ran into the cave.
“Milky?! Where are you? MILKY!!!”
“The riddle is ‘fishing line’...” she heard a voice echo in the cave.
“Eh? Who’s there?”
“The answer is ‘Yamamoto Sayaka’....” another voice rose.
“Wha-? What’s going on? Alastor?!”
“Stay still...”
“HUH?!”
“What links the two~?”
“This girl fell for our trap hook, line, and sinker.”
Alastor let out a sigh. He should have expect something strange to happen and Sayaka should have expected something as well. In the first place, such a letter leading one to such a suspicious place meant bad news.
The two voices continued to talk one after another.
“Hehe~ kind of dumb.”
“That was already known about this fool who walked in here.”
Sayanee gritted her teeth in irritation. The two voices were insulting her. Guessing that they were the ones who wrote the letter, Sayanee concluded that they were of NMB as only a few of those members and a few exceptions knew about her flame haze identity.
“Show yourselves!” The flame haze shouted.
“Eh...she doesn’t recognize us from our voices. How sad~”
“Of course that should be obvious, because we already said she was stupid.”
It seemed as if the unseen duo was trying to get on the bad side of Sayanee. Alastor simply shut his mouth and gave up on saying anything to Sayanee. Then, a burst of flames went everywhere. That was actually Sayanee’s fault.
Feeling the heat, two figures jumped out of their hiding spot and went to another place. Sayanee then send another small burst of flames towards that direction. It seemed that she didn’t hit anything though. She was a bit shocked because her uncoordinated attack didn’t hit.
Then, there was a kick in the back.
“We’ve shown ourselves. Behold, Inari’s former Komainu who are actually foxes.” A girl who Sayanee recognized as Kinoshita Haruna chuckled.
“Oi! No need to give an intro!” Then, a girl with a nice smile, Kadowaki Kanako slightly hit her friend on the head.
The flame haze couldn’t help but feel awkward watching the manzai skit. She armed herself with her sword and flames and stood alert. When the duo finished, they grinned at her. If they really were the writers of the letter, then it was very, very, very dangerous.
Without a warning, Haruna and Kanako materialized dual wielding katanas.
Randomly waving her hands around, Haruna began to explain. “Considering what Inari was--”
“That ain’t the right motion!” Then the retort came.
Sayanee stared awkwardly only to be met by disappointment from the duo.
“No tsukkomi?” Both face palmed at the same time.
They then began their attack. Like wolves maybe, they slowly prowled around Sayanee, intimidating her. As people who did skits, they knew how to create a mood. A smirk appeared on both Komainu’s faces and their fox ears and tails sprouted out.
All swords were ready to slice or stab through something. Haruna jumped in and cut at Sayanee. Swinging both swords in a simple pattern, she forced Sayanee to back away. The flame haze then utilized her special flames and seemingly forced the more boke of the duo to nimbly jump away.
From the back, Kanako quickly ran in and attacked. Feeling the adrenaline start running, Sayaka quickly deflected the blows. Then, Kanako swiftly retreated for a second as her partner came once again.
“You can’t beat us~” Haruna teased.
“Well, we are two people after all.”
“Stop joking around,” Sayanee frowned as she deflected a few attacks and managed to burn Haruna slightly.
The two jokers seemed shocked at her words. “No way, are you an idiot!?” Suddenly, a sword’s hilt went charging onto Sayanee’s skull. It was a kind of dangerous tsukkomi with a sword.
“But you know, this isn’t funny at all.”
“Yea, this ain’t funny--oi! Don’t say that!”
“How come I can’t?”
“Actually you can--not!”
“It’s better than penguins right?”
“Yea. Penguins can’t even fl--wait no!”
Sayanee rubbed the bump on her head. “What are you two doing?”
“Shut up you unable to fly Sayanee!” Then the two each threw on of their swords at Sayanee.
“What the heck!” Avoiding the blades, the flame haze finally gave a retort.
“Is she catching on?”
“Maybe, maybe, even an idiot can catch on so easily with our wonderful teaching.”
“You two are wonderful tea--I’m not an idiot!”
“Ooh, she really is catching on.” The duo said together in a sarcastic amazement as they got together back to back with their remaining swords ready for action. “Well, it’s too bad since we have to cut off her chin and snuff out the flames.”
Alastor couldn’t help but add, “Be careful...your chin.”
“Alastor, stop messing around and let’s just defeat them so I can find Milky already.” Despite the fact that she never listened to Alastor, Sayanee immediately shot down the slightly awkward joke of his.
Then, a sudden attack from the duo came striking at Sayanee. They cut at the flame haze’s legs to attempt in throwing her off balance. Right when they finished, both Komainu nimbly jumped back and ran in different directions to confuse their opponent.
“Which one shall be your opponent~?”
“Oi! If we BOTH battle her, we’ll surely win.”
“Ugh, just get it over with!” Sayanee yelled at the two impatiently. She flared her flames in intimidation and frowned at the two jokers.
“Okay, okay, we’ll make you lose then.” They said in unison.
Kanako quickly charged in. Sayanee swiped her flaming blade at her attacker, but the Komainu swiftly ducked under and rolled behind her target. Without waiting an extra second, Haruna came running in with her sword ready to cut the shakure Yamamoto to pieces from the front.
Behind Sayanee was Kanako and before her was Haruna.
“Now whatcha gonna do? Huh?”
“Hey, don’t rile her up. She’ll catch on fire, remember, she’s a Flame Haze.”
“Hey, hey, hey, it’s not THAT easy.”
Sayanee grinned. “Actually, it is.”
“Eh?”
Without a second to spare, she grabbed the bandage on her hand and ripped it off, letting it fall to the ground. The next moment, she pulled out a sword from the palm of her hand and was engulfed in blue flames. The moment the duo saw it, their jaws dropped to the ground.
“EEEEEEEEEEEHH?!?!?!?!”
“She.. she’s REALLY a Flame Haze?!”
“Yabee!!!!! Let’s get outta here!!!!!!!!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” And they ran off, disappearing from Sayanee’s sight.
“..............................................ha?” The flame haze was flabbergasted. Either the two were really idiots or they were just assuming that Sayanee really wasn’t a flame haze but just something related to fire and were proven wrong.
“That was...”
“Don’t even say anything, Alastor.”
In the end, he was cut off. The poor Crimson Spirit was doomed to receive such responses in such times.
With all seriousness, Sayanee said, “Right now, finding Milky is the main priority.”
“Wel-”
“Be quiet Alastor, you’re being distracting.”
“I wa-”
“Alastor,” the flame haze cut him off again with a judging tone.
Seeing how he kept on being cut off, Alastor stated as quickly as possible, “I don’t think she’s here.”
Silence preceded the reaction. “What?”
“I don’t feel her presence.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“...were you not the one who kept on cutting me off?” Alastor answered in a manner that would seem like he was pouting had he been in an actual human form with a face. “But anyways, I just needed some time to actually get a grasp on that type of thing.”
Sayanee was silent. It somehow seemed that Alastor had beaten her.
Due to the lack of retort to what he had said, for some odd reason, the Crimson Spirit was actually getting worried. Even though he wouldn’t be subject to any physical attacks, it was worrying. It was worrying how Sayaka wasn’t retorting. It was also worrying how he was worrying over his little bit of speech not being rejected.
Then, the flame haze trudged to the direction of the cave’s exit.
Currently, Watanabe Miyuki was the top priority for the shakure Yamamoto Sayaka. Currently, Sayanee had basically no clue where Milky was.
--------------------------
“Why you!! Anai Chihiro…”
SKE’s ikemen captain was out jogging, trying to run away her worries when she came upon a person she’d consider a trouble maker for her. It was the HKT faction’s Chihiro. It was that type of person who would just randomly decide to come to another faction’s territory on a whim.
Without thinking, Nakanishi immediately attacked and tried to get a hold of the HKT girl.
HKT’s Captain giggled maliciously and stepped back as Nishishi punched the air.
Nakanishi couldn’t help but growl at HKT’s Captain. Chihiro only grinned enigmatically. The younger HKT member knew more than her. Nishishi was aware. It hurt to say, but Chihiro was technically stronger in this case. It wasn’t as if the Crusade’s reflections meant everything.
Mockingly, the HKT captain asked. “What could it be, Nakanishi Yuka?”
“You...Revert the effects of that freaking fruit! And tell me what you know about the pasts!” Nishishi replied by yelling out her demands like a child.
“Ugh. Desperate people,” Chihiro scrunched up her nose before casually answering. “Hmm. I don’t know anything.”
“What?” Of all the answers, the ikemen was not expecting such from the mastermind.
Anai Chihiro was indeed not lying. She looked nonchalant and uncaring. A tiny sadistic area of her mind grinned happily. SKE was an enemy in this case, so there was no problem in being like that. HKT wasn’t an enemy though, but there was also not much problem with that or it seemed for Capt.
“I don’t know. This is research. Re~search,” Chihiro sang somewhat grimly, “If I knew everything, I wo-wouldn’t be doing all this.”
“Ah. She stuttered.” Even so, Nishishi was furious, enraged.
“Because of you! Because of your actions, even besides Kanon, there’s been other problems!” The ikemen immediately thought of Jurina and Rena. It was scary how different her friends were.
“I’ve always thought that those from SKE were kind of weak in the...you know? Head. Remember that the Crusade is called taking others down and eliminating them if possible--though I guess it’s been done here and there.”
“You’re a heartless captain, Anai.” Nishishi once again punched at Capt.
In return, the punch was caught. “And you’re a stupid captain who can’t take care of her team or in the least herself, Nakanishi.” HKT’s captain scowled as she held a magically created knife to the throat of the ikemen.
People always had reasons for what they did. Even the devils, the angels, and the monsters of the supernatural world--at least most of them.
Much to Nakanishi’s surprise, Capt. withdrew her knife. Chihiro scoffed and frowned at the SKE captain. Nishishi stepped back into a wall in surprise. “W-what?”
“I hate useless people who I can’t use the most. Solve your problems yourself, fool.” Then, Chihiro left. She just left.
It was a wonder what the HKT captain’s motives were. Why she would go do all this was another question. Also, Nishishi hadn’t received any answers. That was frustrating.
“...I wonder what’s up with her.”
-
Wah... lots of things happening in SKE
What about the rest of the groups?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you for the long update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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As Shino-chan and I were working on Tengoku Crusade, something amazing happened. Our writing powers summoned an incredible magic and sent our girls flying into an alternate universe where everyone's a CHIBI! Now, I've created a special portal for everyone to access this world and we get to see what our dear Angels, Demons, Monsters, and their hetare ace Sasshi is doing in this new world.
Kidding! Enjoy~ :heart:
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Tengoku Crusade: The Chibi Adventures!! - Mousou Deka Matsui Jurina
This is the story of the SKE Chibis and their attempt to solve the mystery of Miso and Gekikara.
Of course, we all know it was Chibi-Nakanishi who received a cursed fruit from a certain HKT Chibi, but there’s a story that has yet been untold.
The Chibis locked away the monstrous angels in a room where they can’t harm them or each other, and they anxiously wait in the lobby room, trying to figure out a solution.
A certain Chibi-Jurina came pacing in with worry. She frowned with worry. The boyish chibi sweatdropped and awkwardly stared at Chibi-Jurina. Chibi-Jurina came hopping over when she noticed the look.
“Nishishi...do you know something?” Jurina asked with begging puppy eyes.
Chibi-Nakanishi shrank away with guilt and shook her head in an unconvincing manner, “N-no...”
Jurina lowered her head somewhat dejectedly. The boyish Chibi felt a bit bad now. At the moment, Jurina’s mind was processing something very complex.
“Nishishi...this makes sense actually...” Chibi-Jurina raised her head and there was a confident smirk-like grin on the puppy’s face.
“Eh?”
From somewhere, materialized a little doll that said, “I’m Mowarin~” Actually this was Jurina saying it, but it was quite skilled ventriloquism.
The ikemen was frozen in shock. Minarun couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly.
“So~ Nishishi-san, the culprit for all of this was you!” Jurina pointed to the captain. The doll floated around and held out a police badge that wrote: Mousou Detective Matsui Jurina. “I can sense it you know!”
Chibi-Minarun choked on her spit, trying to hold back laughter at how stupid it looked. Nishishi was just frozen. First of all, it kind of was her fault. Second of all, it seemed that the past was encroaching on the present once again.
“This is Jurina’s explanation~ Don’t question it.” Mowarin jumped in again before the space distorted like an illusion. Jurina’s outfit turned into some sort of yellow blazer with a few strange decorations that are not needed to be described.
“Kanon, she was a cute little girl, bluntly putting it, much cuter than Nishishi!” Jurina proclaimed, shooting down Nakanishi who did want to be cute sometimes. Continuing:
“...Nishishi got jealous...no, she was always jealous...and she snuck into her kouhai’s room!” The space turned into such an image or video where Chibi-Nakanishi was sneaking into Chibi-Kanon’s room.
Mowarin stood up and noted, “Yo, I’m Mowarin. Nakanishi-san is right now sneaking into Kanon’s room and searching through the closet. I wonder what she’s up to?”
The real Nishishi was staring at everything in disbelief. For a moment she was scared that what she did might be revealed to Jurina, though actually some people already figured most of it out, but now it seemed that...the puppy wasn’t even close to the truth.
“Yes...Yes...and then… Nishishi took one of Kanon’s dresses… A frilly pink one with glittery things and a tiara as well as beautiful glass slippers...everything was so pink and sparkly...”
Nishishi facepalmed, it seemed that she was being humiliated. Minarun pounded against the wall, and laughed so hard that tears came out of her eyes.
“Then Kanon came into the room!!! Yes, yes, it makes so much sense...”
“It freaking doesn’t make sense!”
“Don’t question it.” Mowarin pet Chibi-Nishishi on the shoulder.
“Nishishi put it on and pranced around like a pretty princess! And then...suddenly Kanon came in and said: ’What are you doing???’”
“There’s Kanon~” Mowarin sang, pointing to the illusion.
“And then in fear of Kanon saying anything else, Nishishi, you used your super ikemen tomahawk laser beam to knock her out! Then realizing what you had done…you muttered to yourself, ‘Oh no, what… I have to make sure that I’m not at fault...’”
Chibi-Minarun was on the ground trying to catch her breath. It was just too hilarious especially with the movie-like illusion literally playing out what Chibi-Jurina was saying. Nishishi was just trying to keep calm in the situation.
“So then she grabbed some suspicious apple thing and stuffed it into Kanon’s mouth and then Kanon fainted and then, ba-bam da-da-da-dam , some weird explosion exploded!”
“No, no, no, it actually started to get close to reality until the explosion destroyed it again.”
“And then Kanon turned into that! Nishishi running away bumped into Rena and then...” Of course this couldn’t actually be real as it didn’t line up, but this was just a mousou after all. “Rena saw Nishishi in the dress!”
“Yea, there they are in the hall.”
“And then… Nishishi knocked Rena out by accident with her Nakanishi Blade and then dragged her into Kanon’s room where she got rid of the dress and pretended nothing happened. And then stuff happened.” The illusion was cut off there. The halls went back to normal. “So...NAKANISHI YUKA, YOU ARE THE CULPRIT!”
“Jurina! Such a delusion...doesn’t prove anything.” Nishishi shook Jurina’s shoulders and denied it--at least she didn’t want to reveal her fault when such an explanation was given.
Getting over how funny the delusion was, Minarun added. “There’s no evidence.”
“Heh… A mousou detective doesn’t need evidence…all I need is delusions...” Chibi-Jurina smirked confidently, maybe saying something an actual detective would explode in fury due to.
“Like I said before, Nishishi is the culprit!”
“Th--”
Chibi-Jurina sang, “Nakanishi Yuka is the culprit~”
“Guuuh...” The ikemen Chibi groaned.
“You’re the culprit.”
There was a silence. Nakanishi wasn’t saying anything. She had a troubled look on her face. After a long, long time without anyone saying a single word, she blurted out:
“Okay. I’ll admit that there was this one time that I snuck into Kanon’s room and stole a frilly dress, but I am not!!”
“Okay then…” Jurina stifled a laugh...even though she was the one who brought such a topic up in the first place. “It’s the same right?”
Minarun face palmed. “I’d like to say no, but it kind of is...”
The chibi-puppy girl was so happy, dog ears and a tail seemed to come out and she smirked happily with her catlike grin.
“Who knew Jurina had this side to her...” Nishishi thought to herself.
========================================================
Hope you all like it! Stay tuned for more Tengoku Crusade and additional Chibi Adventures!! Bye bye~ :heart:
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Wait!! Flame Haze! Alastor! isn't that from Shakugan no Shana! :doh:
Pls update soon! Really like your fics! :nervous :bow: :thumbsup
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Wait!! Flame Haze! Alastor! isn't that from Shakugan no Shana! :doh:
:P
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And we've finally updated! And yes~ Shana-cuz it seems like both writers are otaku.
Ah....I feel like I've done something bad in this....Anyways, enjoy~
Fourteenth
Sasshi woke up and found herself somewhere she’s never seen before. It was a large forest, dark, yet at the same time, she saw color lighting up the trees, like stars. She saw crystals dangling from them that glowed brightly when she touched them. There was a large river in front of her, and on the other side, a path that led deeper into the forest.
She then heard someone singing. She couldn’t quite tell who it was, but she heard her beautiful voice clearly.
“In front of your eyes, there flows a river, a deep, wide river. It might look cold and deep, it might be flowing fast. But don’t be scared, don’t wander off the path, the other side is there in front of you. Just believe in yourself~.”
“W-who are…?” she finally said as she turned and saw I girl standing under the tree beside her.
The girl turned her head to look at her, but her face was started to blur out so she couldn’t see her. Sasshi then saw a bright light flash in front of her and she woke up in her room.
“What the…?”
Sasshi just sighed and banged her head into her pillow, when she saw a note on her pillow. It was from Takamina.
“We’re going to send someone over to the SKE corridors, we’re getting worried about Rena and Jurina. Take a rest for today, Sasshi.”
“YOSSHA!!!!!!!!” Sasshi was happy she finally got a day off.
Thinking about it, recently, all her time was given to doing something Crusade related. She barely got to do anything work-related. Even though she didn’t think she was that type, she got stuck into a supernatural war. Finally, some normal time was here.
“Let’s relax~” she headed out into a beautifully sunny day and fanned herself at how hot the summer day was. She held her stomach, growling as loud as her stomach did.
She looked over and saw a certain ramen shop she loved.
“Ramen~” She walked in and saw her friend, Yuka, making some fresh takoyaki. “Yuttan, the usual, please!”
“You got it!”
She sat down and noticed a girl eating her ramen wholeheartedly, it amazed her. That girl was none other than Akimoto Sayaka.
“A-A-A-Akimoto-san?”
“Oh, hey, Sasshi. I haven’t seen you in a while, how’ve you been?”
“Eh? Ah, I’ve been alright! Just the stress of work getting to me, y’know?”
“I totally get you. My family’s living in poverty, y’know. If I don’t have enough money for the proper food, we use everything up until we’re left with plain white rice and soy sauce. But, I’ll tell ya, something like that, and some shredded radish… it’s the best!”
“Huh… I always thought your favorite food was bananas, cuz--” but she lost her words as she turned and saw her peeling a banana and eating it… with the face of a gorilla. The hetare had no way to react and could only watch silently in awe.
Then, she had her ramen set out in front and smiled happily.
“Uwaa~ Itadakimasu!!!”
She ate happily as Sayaka kept talking about how things were so hard in her life. Whenever she didn’t have any fire wood for heat, her father would burn paper for light. When it got cold, she would have to bath in the freezing cold river during winter. Sasshi couldn’t help but feel sad.
“And I thought MY life was rough...”
“But, there was some good, too. I have a new friend who’s been helping me manage a lot at my home.”
“Really? Who is she? Maybe I know her.”
“Sayaka~”
The hetare girl saw Sayaka’s friend coming in and her jaw dropped. Her friend in question was the Genking herself, Sae, happily hugging Sayaka’s neck and eating some of her ramen. Watching the two interact, Sasshi had no way of linking up the stories about Sae and what happened with her in the past(mostly because she had no idea what she was doing when she disappeared and wasn’t caught up with anything. lol).
So, yes. Sasshi DOES know her.
Sasshi finished her ramen and left, wanting to calm her brain down, and stepped into the river for a refreshing bath. There was nothing wrong with that after all. There weren’t exactly people who cared to peek on the girl anyways. Plus, there was something called a swimsuit--though it was sadly impossible to bath in a school swimsuit or one-piece.
Even after stepping into and half-submerging herself into the cool river, a number of thoughts were still running through her mind. Most about all the confusion of the Crusade that she couldn’t understand. Seriously, she has no part in this whatsoever! She just put the ring on, became Center-whatever, and now everyone’s been so busy, they’ve pretty much forgotten about her.
“DANGITDANGITDANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone just give me something, ANYTHING to do so I won’t be left out.”
Then she thought she felt a tug on her leg. She thought maybe she was caught in someone’s net, or maybe a fish grabbed on her, but when she tried to stand up, she felt her body be pulled down and was overcome with nothing but water. She couldn’t breathe and everything around her was a blur, but before she felt herself black out, she rolled out of the river and coughed for air.
When she looked around, she wasn’t back at home. It was a large space with the river back to her world staring in front of her.
“What is this?” And plus, she was only wearing a swimsuit.
“Sashihara Rino.”
“Eh?! H-h-h-hai?!”
“It is time for you to prove yourself as the center. This is your test.”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”
She was surprised to see the water rise up and transform into a water monster!
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”
And she was even more surprised when it picked her up and ate her.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!??!!??!!??!?!?!?!?!”
--------------------
A certain somewhat tanned unagi-faced angel paused right outside the door of SKE’s base. She raised her hand to knock on the door or maybe open it. Still, Kitahara Rie felt as if she could not just open the door to SKE’s realm that she did not belong in anymore.
It was a question why she was here.
It was all because of a few members of the Kami-7 requesting it of her. Takamina, Haruna, and Yuko had come to her and requested for her to help with something. That little something was to go over to SKE’s place. Rena and Jurina were away for longer than expected.
The unagi-faced girl had mixed feelings about being here. Her hesitation obviously showed that. Rie took in a deep breath. Then, she opened the door.
SKE’s base, the core of SKE’s territory was a stranger to her. The place felt somewhat nostalgic, but foreign now. The looks of the members, they were different for the most part. They felt a bit cold. They seemed to not want her here, somehow.
The first one to approach her was Nanako, in a manner friendly enough, she asked, “Rie-san, what are you here for?”
“Well, I was asked to come here because Jurina-san and Rena-san have been away for a long time…that’s what they said at least.”
Silence was present. The cute puppy like Nanako fidgeted awkwardly. Even a unagi-faced person could tell that there was probably something up. She just didn’t know what. The SKE members didn’t seem to want for Rie to get involved. It could’ve been out of coldness, or it could have been out of concern.
“So...um, where are they?”
No one in sight seemed to have the answer. They just kept quiet.
Finally breaking the silence was a bird-like member, a captain by the name of Takayanagi Akane. She was all bandaged up and looked hurt. Akane gave a grin towards Rie and wobbled over. The artist Furukawa was helping her close friend as a support.
Rie was shocked. What in the world caused such injuries to Churi? The AKB girl had no clue about the Gekikara phenomenon after all.
It must have been visible on her face. Churi tried to add a reassuring tone into her voice, “Hey, I’m all fine and dandy...”
“...Uh-huh...” Rie nodded slowly. There was no way she was going to believe Churi.
“The thing with Rena and Jurina, well...I guess there’s a bit of trouble and I don’t think they can go back right now...”
“Eh? Why not?”
“There are some things we need them to help deal with here.”
Then, Jurina came in and saw the current situation. Once again, Rie asked her puppy girl friend for an answer, but Jurina was close to tears in answering. More accurately, Jurina wasn’t even able to answer clearly with all her might onto restraining her tears.
“...Guh...there’re...problems...”
“If there’s any trouble, let me help. Once an SKE member, always an SKE member.”
“We don’t really want to trouble you…,” Airi could only mumble lightly as she averted her glance.
Then, the ikemen captain Nishishi entered the scene. She coldly said, “You can go back.”
“If you say so...No.”
“You shouldn’t involve yourself our problems and cause trouble for yourself.”
“I just--”
“I think you understand now, so leave.”
“Sorry to say, but no. I’m going to cause trouble for myself and help you.”
Nishishi unsheathed a sword. Without a pause, she pointed it at Rie’s neck. The blade just barely wasn’t touching. The ikemen then said, “You’re going to die.”
“I know you won’t kill me, but Nishishi, I want to help, not as Kitahara Rie of AKB, but as SKE’s comrade. I doubt I’ll die so easily anyways. I used to be a gatekeeper too.”
“......”
Nanako finally said, “Well, that’s fine as well right?”
Nishishi seemed not to be in a good mood and thus sent a glare towards her kouhai in a non-Nishishi-like manner. Nanako then proceeded to hide behind Airi. The artist smiled crookedly along with the bird.
“...Rie-san is stubborn after all. I guess there’s nothing we can do. but accept her help.”
“Fine then.” Nishishi sheathed her blade. She pouted and let out a ‘hmph.’
The unagi-faced girl proceeded to ask the artist, “Hey, was Nishishi always so tsundere or something?”
“No, she’s just worrying about you and all~ such captain, such tsundere,” Airin snickered.
“M-kawa-sensei~~!!!”
Noticing the madness of Nakanishi Yuka, Furukawa yelped, “Woah!!!! Nishishi!!!!! Gyaaaah!! Rie-san, take care of Churi for me right now…!!!” Then she ran away with the ikemen chasing after, leaving the injured bird to Rie.
Rie laughed out loud at the scene.
Churi wryly grinned, “Well, there’s been a lot of stressful things going on after all…So, I’m guessing you want to know what’s the big problem.”
“Please explain...”
“I’m not sure what happened in the beginning, so I’ll leave that to Nanako.”
“Eh!? Um…,” the puppy-Nan who seemed to enjoy Airi’s company awkwardly started off with a sudden invitation to explain, “Well, I’m not all that clear either. Kanon-san ended up accidently swallowing a strange red fruit...and ran off. When Nishishi-senpai came back, she was Miso. I think that we wouldn’t know much about past lives and whatever topic it is.”
“Red fruit? Miso?” Rie was surprised to hear of such a thing, especially since it was so dangerous.
Churi then pondered, “From what I know, Rena and Jurina didn’t consume anything like that before.”
“Yea, same with me, even though I’m not so close.” added Rie before exclaiming, “Wait, did something like that happen to those two then!? But, Jurina seems fine as Jurina other than her stressed appearance and stuff...”
“At least for Rena...she’s kind of gone to the past and more accurately crazy as well as freaking strong...I should know.”
“Rena did that to you!?” The unagi-faced girl gasped. To think that the situation was so bad.
Nanako then added in what she had noted from her awkward experience of walking into the moment when Jurina turned into Center. “And for Jurina-san, I saw her phase into a strange state when I walked into a moment.”
Rie was still processing what she had just been told. Technically, it was an abridged version of events, but it was still a large shock to the girl. Everything seemed to rush through her head. Rie sighed and all she could say was:
“This has gotten a lot more complicated than I thought.”
“Are you still sure you want to help?” Churi put a hand on Rie’s shoulder.
“Of course. I’m going to get them back to normal or else my name’s not Kitahara Rie!” she said as she rolled up her sleeves, slapping her arm muscle.
“Hehe, we’ve got no choice, eh~?” Churi said with a bird-like smile and with energy unlike an injured person, “Welcome back to the team, Rie. Now, let’s go solve that stupid problem!”
“Alright!”
“...Oh, um...where’d Jurina-san go?”
Jurina was headed down the hall, until she stopped at the door near Yuria and Kanon’s room. She could see Kanon was in pain, clutching the sheets as she tossed and turned in her sleep. In her head, Miso was watching a memory of Kanon and her friend, Kumi.
“Kumi? What are you going to do?”
The girl named Kumi turned and looked at her with sad eyes. She slowly leaned over and kissed her forehead. Miso felt that warmth on her skin that didn’t make her so mad.
“I love you, Kanon...”
“Eh?” Kanon and Miso both watched as Kumi handed her sword over to the young dark angel and started walking away.
“Goodbye...”
Miso found an ignorance rush in her, and she chased after her.
“Hey! What d’you think you’re doing, bastard?!”
Despite yelling out, Miso was unnoticed by Kumi. She growled irritatedly and attempted to grab onto Kumi’s shoulder. As her hand touched, there was a strange feeling that went through. Of course it was just a memory, an illusion, but it felt real and fake at the same time.
There was something about Kumi that made Miso feel bothered in a more worried manner.
Miso turned back to look at Kanon who hadn’t taken a step.
“Ah! Forget you!”
She ran back to where Kumi was and she was surprised to see this huge monster hovered over her. Kumi didn’t even try to attack; she just spread out her arms, her eyes closed.
“What does she think she’s doing?!”
Miso somehow knew though. She somehow found that she knew that Kumi was probably going to die. Or more, kill herself. As to why, she didn’t know.
Even though Miso didn’t particularly like Kumi. Well, she thought she didn’t particularly like Kumi. Miso didn’t find the idea of the idiotic dark angel just dying off like that a nice thing. She automatically frowned even more than the usual.
She stood and watched as the monster in front of her gathered fire in its mouth and shot it at Kumi. There was a huge explosion and spread throughout the whole area. The impact was so great, even Miso found herself pushed a few inches back.
When she looked back up, the light had faded and she saw that Kumi was gone. Only leaving the burnt black area where she had disappeared from.
That monster...blew her up.
Miso stood in shock. A clanking sound of a somewhat heavy object hitting the ground got Miso’s attention. Kanon had been watching. Kanon had seen basically exactly what Miso saw, and she dropped the sword in her hands.
Automatically, Miso’s mind clicked and processed. That was trouble.
Kanon fell to her knees, hugging the ground where Kumi formerly stood. And she wailed in pain and misery. The girl that she loved was now gone.
As Kanon shed her tears, Miso couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow.
After a few short seconds, she saw a figure step out from the shadows. It was the SKE captain, Nakanishi. A red X appeared on the spot that Kanon was set. Kanon seemed empty.
Miso glanced over only to begin to be ensnared in the captain’s hypnotic eyes. Quickly, she averted her gaze from the said glowing black eyes. Kanon was staring straight into Nishishi’s eyes. Some sort of strange hypnosis was going on.
“You will forget Yagami Kumi.”
Kanon slowly nodded her head, then Nakanishi snapped her fingers and she fell asleep.
The very next moment, Miso watched as the scene disappeared and was resolved to a single shard of bright light. Then, she looked down and saw a dark colored light come out of her chest, and the lighter one slowly replaced it.
Miso felt nothing but warmth as she closed her eyes and slowly disappeared.
Outside, Kanon was fast asleep, tears streaming freely down her face. Yuria had fallen asleep, too, holding her hand.
Watching the scene, Jurina smiled and decided to leave them be. Then, she passed by the room Gekikara was in.
She continued walking onwards, but quickly retraced her steps and ended up in front of the door to Gekikara. Jurina slowly opened it and quietly walked in. She took one step inside and paused to look around.
The intimidating lunatic was seemingly sleeping in the most peaceful manner that Gekikara could achieve. Ropes were still binding Gekikara at the moment.
Jurina cautiously walked over and kneeled down. She looked on with slightly sad eyes.
Jurina whispered, “Rena-chan...are you okay in there?”
Of course, there was no response. Jurina’s hands moved towards the rope. She loosened it just a bit by a time.
“I’m definitely going to fix this...okay?”
Like before, there was no response. The puppy Kami-7 found that there was not much to say in such a mood. She removed her hands from the bindings, which were quite loose now, and sat by Gekikara’s side quietly.
After a bit of thinking, Jurina found that she shouldn’t have loosened the ropes. Just as she was about to re-tie them, a voice called out to her.
“Jurina!! Can you come over here, where ever you are?”
The sudden call astonished Jurina enough for her to lose that very important train of thought. With one of the members calling for her, she quickly ran out of the room.
Well, it was definitely a bad idea to leave just like that.
She did not realize that Gekikara was faking her sleep. She giggled as she ripped off the ropes and quickly untied the rest off her. She quickly jumped out the window and ran off, thirsty for blood as she licked her lips.
--------------------
“No…. No, I don’t wanna die…”
“Takamina, Haruna, minna…”
“I’m… I’m sorry...”
“I failed...”
“Don’t give up until your dreams come true~ Cross that river, you can do it!”
She felt a hand pull her out of the water and by magic, the water suffocating the insides of her floated out and brought the air of life back into her. She gasped loudly and coughed as she felt herself emerge from the water and look around. It was her dream world from last night.
“You okay?”
“Oh, yeah, I… EH?!” She looked and saw her former Kami-7 sempai, Mariko, smiling at her. “Mariko-sama?! Am I dead?!?!”
“No. I saved you just in time; you’re welcome, by the way.”
“Oh! Uhh, thank you...” she bowed down nervously. “But, what are you…?”
“This is the Center Nova.”
“Center...Nova?”
“It’s a place that Acchan created just for her, and only the bearers of the Ace’s ring can tap into their full potential and come to this world. But after graduating, Acchan came here and gave this entire world a whole new life. Only the ones she chose came come here, and she was the one who made sure me and the others could come here.”
“The others. Tomochin’s here too?”
“Yes. This promise was made by only us, the first generation. The only ones left are...”
“Takamina, Haruna, and Miichan...”
Sasshi looked at her ring, she noticed that now, there were all seven of the Kami-7 colored diamonds. Mariko took her hand and kissed the ring.
“We’re always gonna be with you no matter what happens. You have a fragment of our souls, since the moment you received these powers.”
“Mariko-sama...”
“Now go!” Mariko grinned and pushed Sasshi on the back.
“Eh? What are you…?” Sasshi began to question only to screech, “Gyaaaaaaah!!!!”
In an instant, the ace was forced out of that Center Nova world. Without any warning, Sashihara was dropped right back into the challenge, landing directly on her posterior. The aquatic entity immediately swiveled to face Sasshi--if it had a face or something of such that is.
Sasshi had no time to ease the pain in the rear and jumped to her feet. Immense killing intent emitted from whatever that water monster was. It really did look as if the hetare was receiving a death sentence of sorts.
“Luck has given you a second chance, but cowardice is not accepted. Once again, this is your trial, Sashihara Rino.”
The water monster then attacked. It once again attempted to swallow Sasshi. This time, she was prepared though. She immediately dodged to the side. It’s numerous attacks with liquids, ices as well as acids that seemed to burn the ground were intimidating.
Well, there was nothing against killing just another useless human like Sasshi it seemed.
As the various attacks spammed on, the ace was running out of breath. Of course just dodging wouldn’t get her anywhere. Sasshi just wasn’t confident in her ability to defeat the monster at all. She didn’t want to die or leave her friends, but she was how she was.
Mariko’s words then resounded within her mind. “We’re always gonna be with you no matter what happens.”
Sasshi couldn’t help but feel more confidence at those words. She knew that she couldn’t rely on her friends and comrades too much. Sasshi had to use her own inner power, but for such a hetare girl, right now, those important people were an important part of her strength.
Ice missiles rained down and the water monster silently charged towards Sashihara.
She didn’t move. She just whispered, “It’d be nice to get a little help, but I can probably take care of it...”
Starting from her ring, she could feel their special powers coursing through her veins.
“What… is this?”
She found herself engulfed by a shining light blue aura, the same as Mariko’s soul fragment. Her hands gripped in tight fists, she stood in front of the water monster, headstrong.
“I will defeat you!”
“Try if you can, Sashihara Rino.”
“I will.” Sasshi grinned as she felt a strong energy wrap around her right hand. All the water that was circling her became her armour, and her weapon.
She froze the water in her right hand and turned it into a powerful ice sword.
“I’m not afraid anymore...”
She bulleted up, flying in the air, and stabbed the monster in its chest. All the water calmed down and faded back into the river, and Sasshi’s ice sword melted. She dived back in the water and felt herself drifting in what seemed like an ocean.
“You were able to control and conquer your fears. That is the essence of a warrior. Be strong, there will be more trials to come, Sashihara Rino...”
Sasshi saw the figure of Mariko, her arms wide open in front of Sasshi. She closed her eyes, a warmth rushing over her.
--------------------
“Kyaaaa!”
A piercing scream came from the distance. Nanako immediately perked up and ran towards the sound. Her companions at the moment, Rie, Akane, and Jurina, followed quickly after. The puppy dark angel knew the voice very well and fear in that voice meant trouble.
The usagi-pervert Yamada Mizuho was one of her close friends.
Nanako skidded to a stop when she reached her destination. Eyes wide open, she saw a dark, malicious figure. It seemed to resemble Rena. It was Gekikara. Mizuho was down on the floor, injured and shaking as a maniacal cackle echoed in the area.
Gekikara sent a glance over filled with animosity before escaping to the shadows with a last laugh.
Jurina was frozen. An uneasy look found it’s way onto her face. Churi came along, astonished at the scene. Rie, well she was reacting like anyone who didn’t know, she was gaping in horror at what happened.
Ignoring the shock of her senpai-tachi, Nanako went to Mizuho’s side. “You’re bleeding a lot!”
“I’m fine...”
Akane then piped in, “Since I’d be pretty useless anyways, let me take her over to the infirmary.”
Everyone at the scene nodded, and Nanako helped Mizuho onto the bird’s shoulders. Churi wobbled a bit, but she had a looked that said to leave it to her. Nanako stared at the two retreating figures worriedly.
Suddenly, another young dark angel, Nao, ran over, “Nanacho! Ego-chan...Ego-chan is...!”
After Nao calmed down enough to whisper the situation to Nanako, the latter proclaimed, “We need to find her!”
“The two of us will head this way; you two go that way!” Rie and Jurina spontaneously said in unison, giving each other a strange look afterwards.
With a few more nods of approval, the two duos split ways.
Nanako and Nao immediately sprang into action. Each taking one side of the hall, they sped through all the rooms that they could see. At a turn in the corner, they could see a few droplets of blood.
That was worrying, but the blood didn’t give any clues.
They just headed towards the only direction they could, forward. As time passed, Nanako’s worry grew. Nao, who was a cool-headed girl at many times, couldn’t help but panic. Ego-chan, the youngest member of their generation, was a friend and important person none-the-less of theirs.
It was a bit harsh to say, but neither Nao or Nanako had confidence that the young one could beat the monster Gekikara who was roaming around and was said to have attacked and dragged away her.
Time was ticking by and no clues could be found.
Of course, the best hint always ended up being a scream.
“Yu-yuna!”
There it was, the hint. It was another fellow member of their generation, Ichino Narumi, who was extremely close to the youngest.
All the searchers, both teams, perked up and began a sprint to the scene as another scream, this time of pure terror, rang out.
Gekikara was standing in a puddle of a red liquid.
For one part, the youngest little dark angel was fainted, losing a good amount of blood. Narumi was crying as she stopped the blood from leaking out even more. She ripped a few pieces of her clothes and was applying pressure. It was working, but that red color wasn’t even close to gone.
A few other members ran into the situation. Miyamae Ami, Futamura Haruka, and Owaki Arisa just happened to be a few. Gasps of horror rang out.
Nanako bit down on her bottom lip as Nao leaned on her for support.
The monster that was inside of their senpai Rena was giggling and laughing in glee. Dark dilated pupils were pointed straight at all the SKE girls.
“Nee~ okotteru?”
Jurina then stepped forward in front of everyone else. Looking back at the girls from what was called the 5th generation plus Rie, “Stay here and protect each other.” she said reassuringly.
She turned and faced the blood-thirsty angel only a few feet away from them. “Rena, what are you doing?”
“Sorry~. Rena’s gone.”
“What?”
“You’ll never have your precious angel back. She’s mine, all mine! Hahahaha!”
Jurina gritted her teeth and looked away grimly for a second. Obviously, she didn’t want to accept such a truth. Gekikara could’ve cared less as she snickered to herself, biting at her fingernails.
In the next second, the blood-thirsty monster jumped at Jurina and kicked the puppy in the head, making a loud thud sound. Gekikara grabbed Jurina by the hair. She then proceeded to punch at Jurina before throwing Jurina harshly at a random target-in this case, Nao.
Unsatisfied with the lack of effort, Gekikara stared blankly at the dark angels and Jurina, who had gotten up weakly. She tilted her head sweetly and laughed questioningly, “Are you mad?”
Rie stepped in front of all the younger girls and sent an intimidating look towards Gekikara. Right behind her was Nanako, ready to protect her friends and comrades.
Gekikara bit onto her fingers, drawing blood in the process. Her eyes dilated even further, giving a spine-chilling feeling of being hunted to the others. Then, she charged headfirst. Thrown off by the reckless style of attack, Rie took a direct attack the face. The unagi-faced girl stumbled and found herself even more vulnerable. Gekikara then sent a knee flying into Rie’s guts. It looked painful. It was extremely agonizing, to be truthful.
And it surely did, as it resulted in Rie vomiting on the ground.
“Hehehe…” Geki was getting a twisted idea in her head. She grabbed Jurina’s head, pulling her hair and causing tears to form in her eyes.
“Rena-chan… please don’t...”
“Hehehehe…. hahahahaha….”
The 5th gen girls couldn’t stand seeing their senpai get beaten so badly anymore. Besides Nao and Nanako, they ones gathered all charged recklessly. They were still a bit inexperienced in certain fighting aspects.
Jurina wanted to scream stop, but before that could happen, Gekikara threw her at the chargers, still by the hair, just like one would throw some disposable meat-shield away.
They stumbled just like a bunch of bowling pins. And a bit more blood was shed.
Gekikara cackled as she walked over and kicked down the younger dark angels before they could get up. The pain on their faces was enjoyable for that monster. Their cries were music to her ears. She attacked so harshly that they began to cough up blood.
And no one could fight back. That was how one-sided the fight was. Gekikara was almost like that overpowered RPG boss that was hacked and couldn’t be defeated.
Nanako was ready to step into the one-sided fight, but Nao grabbed onto her wrist.
“...Nanacho...I don’t want you to get...”
“I can’t let our friends die...Nao, I promise that I’ll be fine fighting.”
Nanako finished saying her words and gently pried Nao’s hand away. She stepped forward, her weapon, a katana, in hand. Definitely, Nanako was ready to fight. Gekikara saw the fighting spirit and giggled to herself.
Swiftly, the young dark angel flew into action. She furiously cut, managing to make the monster move back. A sole problem was the fact that many of her hits were surprisingly enough only making light cuts though Gekikara seemed not to care about dodging much.
Gekikara wasn’t going to just stand around not doing anything. She grabbed one of the girls sprawled out on the ground and threw her like a projectile. The projectile being a friend, Nanako wasn’t sure about what she should do, and she ended up taking the hit directly.
Nanako fell to the ground and winced in pain for a moment. She rolled out from underneath the other dark angel, but was met by a fist to the face from Gekikara.
“Are you mad? Hehehe...”
Ruthlessly, Nanako sent a knee flying into Gekikara’s abdomen. Gekikara was caught off guard by the attack and could only randomly punch. Nanako escaped and got back up, but still took a heavy hit.
She had a chance to attack, but Nanako didn’t want to kill Gekikara. She didn’t want anyone to die. She just wanted to protect what she cared about. Nanako ended up missing her chance, only managing to conclude on trying to sever some tendons that were going to probably be a bit hard to break.
The monster was up. Gekikara’s face showed a grin wider than before, crazier than before. There was a mad bloodlust that craved for a fight and that red liquid consisting of much plasma. And that laughter that soon came, displayed the lunacy quite accurately.
Continuing the analogy from before, Gekikara seemed to enter that state where the last boss was at it’s last bar of HP and had it’s stats suddenly surge to the ceiling. Still, there was no desperateness. There was just a joy of this game that lives could be gambled upon.
Nanako wanted to get it over with quickly.
She charged and exchanged blows with Gekikara. Gekikara was careless yet a genius at blocking attacks. It didn’t matter that they cut into her flesh. The pain, if she could feel it, and the blood just made it a lot more exciting. Nanako took a good number of hits, as did her sword.
It was hard to come out victorious. That was to be expected when fighting a Kami-7’s former person. That was to be expected even more when one was still a lot newer to such a world compared to others. It was amazing enough how whatever drove Nanako could lead her so far into a battle against near impossible odds.
Things were unpredictable. As Nanako seemed to be able to aim for the place that she sincerely wished to cut, Gekikara grabbed the sword’s blade and with a snapping noise it went in half.
Such a well-forged metal to be broken by sheer force was shocking. Nanako couldn’t help but gape for a moment as she held the other half of her katana. That moment was enough for Gekikara.
She kicked Nanako away and within a second, stabbed the broken blade part into the younger’s chest. At that point, it could still be healed and luckily, Gekikara seemed to have lost interest in the fight that had grown a little boring. Anyways, she picked up the other half of the katana.
If there was a god besides those Fates and Saints, even they would have thought, ‘Ah...what bad timing...’
Nao had been helping the other members up. They really knew that interrupting the huge battle would’ve been a horrible mistake. Nanako hadn’t been faring horribly, but the second that she was stabbed, a sense of horror swept through everyone.
In the end, Nao and Harutamu lost their cool. Even though Nanako wanted to protect them and even though Harutamu was injured, they ended up drawing the attention of the monster.
They charged and Gekikara attacked.
Nanako could be stupid at times despite being smart. She used the remaining strength left in her and jumped in between Gekikara and her beloved Nao and Haruka.
The blade embedded into her chest plunged in, deeper and in an even more bloody manner. The end seemed to protrude from Nanako’s back. It was painful. There was a lot of blood. And something inside seemed to have had begun to shut down. And it was not going to beat again.
Nao cried out loud. Everyone else was in a state of astonishment and confusion.
Nanako’s vision blurred. Her senses seemed to be failing her. The sense of time seemed to clearly be off. But, Nao was sad. Everyone else was sad. Thus, Nanako apologized, “...sorry...”
The heart was at the center. It was just that...the part that beat the hardest was on one side. Of course, Nanako didn’t say anything like that out loud. She tried to force out a smile in order to cheer Nao up.
“Don’t cry...”
Nao strangled out a sob, “I-I can’t...don’t die...”
She grasped tightly onto Nanako’s hand. The coldness and the warmth of life contrasted greatly. She couldn’t believe it. Nanako promised that she’d be fine. She would be fine. There was so much blood and she was fading away.
“...I wanted to tell you one thing...that I...seriously love you...Nao…,” uttered then were the last words of Furukawa’s puppy and that other frog’s beloved.
Nao cried, “Nanacho...is an idiot...I l-love you too...So, don’t...go...”
Then, Suga Nanako disappeared, died. Nao held onto nothing but air, with the particles of Nanako’s soul slowly floating off. The tears fell, the sorrow stormed, and a great loss had been made.
Gekikara stopped. Her eyes seemed to lose their madness and gleam. A little drop of water ran down her cheek. She shut down. All it took was a death. Rather, a death was what it took...that was how the situation was.
Everything was silent except for the wails and hiccups of grief, the grief for the one who had once owned that broken, bloodied katana on the ground.
“Nanako...”
Then, her entire world turned black...
--------------------
Sasshi woke up from her slumber, floating in the still, silent river. She shot up out of the cold water with a startle.
“It was… a dream?”
She sighed loudly, then started splashing the water angrily.
“DANGITDANGITDANGITDANGIT!!! DANGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
She then got up, wrapped up in her towel, and walked back to her small hut. She saw Takamina sitting there waiting for her.
“Sasshi. Doushita?”
“There it is. Takamina’s ‘doushita’ sensor...”
“I just fell asleep in the river.. *achoo* and had the weirdest dream.”
Takamina immediately proceeded to grab a blanket and wrap the hetare in it. “You’ll catch a cold...”
“...*sniffle* thanks...”
“Anyways, you’re dream...”
“Yeah. It was weird. I was in this weird place fighting this giant monster, and Mariko-san was there, and there was this GIANT river, and I got eaten by a water beast, and I could control ice, and--”
“Woah! Slow down...” Takamina patted the girl’s shoulders. “But y’know, that could be a sign.”
Sasshi’s eyes widened.
“A sign? For what?”
“Right now, since there’s been so much happening since the last battle for the ring, your position for center could be in jeopardy. The sixth crusade could commence very soon, we don’t know when, but it will be your duty to pass four tests.”
Sasshi stuttered. “T-t-t-t-tests?!”
“Four gods will summon you and you will have to prove them your strength. But, you may also have a chance to find the soul of the originals, and that includes Acchan.”
“So…...”
Sasshi grabbed her head, remembering the “dream” she had, and screamed.
“THAT WASN’T A DREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMM?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”
-
Been a while since I saw this story....
Like the chibis story... so cute...
Also the real chapter is getting more and more interesting...
So Sashi is getting there.... she is under trials to be the super nova
What's going to happen next?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you for the updates
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Tengoku Crusade: The Chibi Adventures!! - Baka Center
Over on Earth, a certain hetare chibi was sleeping when she heard a crash coming from her kitchen. She instantly ran up to see Takamina, a chibi now even MORE chibi than ever, raising her sword to cut a tomato.
“WOAH!!!” In her panic, she rushed up and grabbed the chibi’s arm and released the sword from her hands.
“Hey, what are you doing, Sushi~?”
“Sushi?!”
Sasshi was shocked at Takamina’s behaviour. She was babbling about how her sword was actually a really big knife and she was going to cook breakfast with it, but Sasshi refused and put the weapon in a high place, where Takamina(at least) couldn’t reach it. But, Sasshi was still confused as to why Takamina thought her sword was a knife, and why she called her “Sushi” instead of “Sasshi”.
“Mou~” She heard Takamina pout and start climbing on top of the tables and cabinets to get to the sword.
“Hey!” She quickly grabbed the shorter angel and held her down. “Takamina stop!”
“Let me go, Sushi! I’m just going to make breakfast!”
As she pinned her down to the floor, Sasshi got a closer look at her and noticed Takamina’s eyes were no longer their normal chocolate brown. Instead, they were a bright magenta pink, like neon.
“Takamina, your eyes…” Sasshi got out her compact and showed the chibi-angel her reflection.
“Eh?” Takamina took a look at the mirror and was shocked. “KYAAA!!! Why is there another ME in here?!”
“...............................ha?” Sasshi shook her head and got up. “That’s not the point. Your eyes are pink, Takamina!”
“They are?” She looked at herself again and gasped. “Ahh!! They are. It’s so pretty. I like it!”
“No, Takamina. You might be sick. I’m gonna take you to Haruna, okay?”
“Yay~ we get to see Nyan-nyan~”
She grabbed the chibi-angel’s wrists and dragged her as she was looking around at everything and reacted like a little kid would. It was like her brain had completely reset and she was seeing the world for the first time.
Chibi Sasshi was worried about her friend, so she went to the training grounds and saw the chibi nurse playing with the others.
Yes. Playing. Playing nurse!!!
“All better~” she was pretending to be a nurse instead of actually healing their wounds. Of course, they didn’t have any. She was just playing for fun.
But still, it shocked Sasshi to see everyone being her fake patients and that she was wearing the craziest, yet the cutest, nurse outfit ever.
“Now, a shot to make it better. Ei!” And of course, her vaccination shot was just a children’s toy.
“Haruna, what are you..?”
“Ooh, new patients!”
She pulled the two of them over and started examining Sasshi.
“Does anything hurt?”
“Just my head...” As the chibi hetare was suffering a headache from all the confusion.
“I can fix that!” She took her toy needle and pretend vaccinated Sasshi, then took a large bandage and stuck it square on her forehead. “There. All better~”
“Actually, no I’m not.”
“Now, this one.” She moved over to Takamina and looked at her closely… with a magnifying glass. “Wow, your eyes are pretty, pretty pink~”
“Hey, so are yours!”
Sasshi looked and saw Takamina was right. Haruna’s eyes were glowing pink, just like hers.
“What is going on here?!”
She then felt a tug on her sleeve and saw Yukirin behind her.
“Yukirin-san?”
“I know who did this.”
“You do?”
“There’s an angel on Team A named Kawaei Rina. She put a spell on Takamina and Haruna to make them stupider than her.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Rina’s known as the Center Baka of the group, and she absolutely hates it when there are people smarter than her. But, the truth is, even if she makes people act dumb, they’re never as stupid as her.”
“That’s it. If I can ask this Rina girl a question she can’t answer, then she’ll have to break the spell! But, I don’t know any tough questions I could ask...”
As the chibi hetare was rubbing her temples to try and think of something, she didn’t notice a pink shockwave come out from behind and hit Chibi-Yuki’s back. The energy was absorbed into her and her eyes slowly turned pink.
“Mou~ I can’t think!” She turned around to face her sempai once more, staring at her with a blank expression. “Yukirin-san, you’re smart! Give me somethin’ I can use.”
“Eh?” Yuki snapped out of her daze and was giving a confused expression to her. “What were we talking about?”
“What’s a problem I can ask Rina to break the spell? I’ll do anything. History? English? Even math!”
“Math? Math….” The chibi-angel started tapping her finger on her lips a bit, thinking, but something didn’t feel right in Sasshi’s gut. “One plus one is… EIGHT!” She yelled out, holding out an open palm.
“Uh-oh… What’s one plus four?”
“One, three, seven, five… EIGHT!”
“Oh no~! Not Yukirin-san too!”
She was pacing around the room, trying to find out what was going on, then she saw Paru come in dragging her sempai Miichan behind her.
“Kojiharu-san, something’s wrong with--”
She stopped seeing the three idiots playing around, pretending to be doctors and treat each other, and Sasshi close the curtain behind them so she wouldn’t see.
“Lemme guess...”
She didn’t even have to when she saw Miichan was piggybacked on Paru and smacking her backside like she was a horse, screaming, “Giddy up!”
“I saw something hit Miichan’s back, and then she started acting like this.”
“Kawaei!!! Why you gotta do this?!” Chibi-Sasshi screamed to the sky, confusing her angel friend.
“She was doing all kinds of impressions. Beat Takeshi, Kasuga-san, even Antonio Inoki.”
“Genki desuka~!!!”
“Again with Inoki?”
“Genki ga areba nandomo dekiru~!!!” And Chibi-Sasshi, being overjoyed seeing Miichan’s stupid, but hilarious gags joined in. “Ikuzo~~~”
“1! 2! 3!”
“Perfect Body”
Even though Miichan didn’t end it the way it should have, Sasshi still cracked up in laughter. Then, she hopped off Paru’s back and proceeded her gags to the others.
“Komanechi!!!”
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!”
Sasshi, already calmed down from the chaos, turned to the chibi-angel and reassured her. “Don’t worry. I know what we have to do. We need to find Rina and ask her a question that she can’t answer.”
“Well, that should be easy,” Paru said with a not-so-salty smile. “Uhh, should we bring them?”
She pointed back and saw Haruna had accidentally wrapped herself in gauze and was a live mummy. Miichan and Takamina picked her up, doing some kind of Hokkaido song and dance routine as they carried her. Yukirin followed behind, trying to catch up, but kept tripping.
“I don’t think we have a choice...”
The chibi-ponkotsu was able to distract the band of idiots with a lollipop and lure them to a place there they’d all be together and secure. Sasshi got them together and asked Paru to make sure none of them got hurt while she looked for Rina. She searched through the bushes and the trees but didn’t find anything that might have belonged to Chibi-Rina.
All of the sudden, Paru screamed, “Look out!” and the next thing Sasshi knew, her chibi angel friend jumped out in front of her to protect her from a pink shockwave. Being hit, Chibi-Paru’s eyes turned pink and she fell to the ground, a blank expression on her face.
“Paru, no!”
The angel blinked her eyes and looked at her hand. She smiled widely.
“Lollipop~!!!”
She started sucking on it like a little kid while kicking her feet happily on the ground. She finished it, and when she saw Sasshi, she tackled on top of her and started nibbling her shoulder.
“KYAAAAA!!!!” The chibi hetare didn’t like this at all and threw her toward the group of idiots standing there, watching, and they all fell like bowling pins.
Then, laughter was heard.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Chibi-Sasshi instantly found the source of her voice, and saw it was none other than the Baka Center herself, Kawaei Rina, cosplaying as a witch and holding a magic wand with pink light coming from it.
“I knew it! It was you, Kawaei!”
Chibi-Rina jumped down, her cheeks puffed out angrily. “Hey, what does that mean?”
“You made my friends act like… THAT!” she pointed to her group of friends who were now all fighting over a lollipop. “Now, change them back!”
“No way!”
“Yes way! Change them back, NOW!!!”
“MAKE ME!!!”
“Alright, if you can’t answer this question correctly, you gotta change them back. That’s my challenge.”
Rina pouted, crossing her arms and tapping her foot, then sighed heavily. “Okay~ But, if I answer it correctly, then YOU’LL become just like them.”
“You got a deal.”
Now, Sasshi had to think her hardest as to what she could do. Yukirin wasn’t a big help, since she was caught in by the spell too late, and Sasshi didn’t know anything else. So now, she had to rely on the one thing she knew was the hardest thing for anyone in Japan to know.
The English language.
“Alright. Translate this phrase into Japanese. Haste makes waste.”
Rina’s eyes widened a bit. “Eh? E-e-english?”
“You gotta give me an answer, Kawaei.”
Rina scratched her head, trying to think. Her head hurt so much, she was growling. Then, she had an idea. “I got it!”
She poofed up her two dolls and hugged them tight.
“Hasute and Wasute made very good friends~”
*BUZZ*
“Wrong answer, Kawaei~ You lose!”
Rina stomped her foot angrily. “Dang it!”
“A deal’s a deal. Turn everyone back to normal.”
“I know, I know...” she waved her wand and pretty soon, everyone turned back to their normal selves, except they were totally confused as to what was going on. “One day, though, I’ll be the smartest girl in the world!” she said before flying off.
Takamina raised her eyebrow. “Sasshi, what just happened?”
“Uhhh…. you don’t wanna know.”
========================================================
-
This was so CUTE~
I can just imagine Takamina so cute and tiny :D
Ah~ Everyone is so cute here, I love it!!
Lol Miichan doing Antonio Inoki impressions XD XD
I laughed so hard when Takamina called Sasshi - Sushi :mon spit:
I love The Chibi Adventures it is just so kawaii!
Can't wait for more :byebye: :on woohoo:
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Everyone were made stupid....
Very silly action and reason... but Funny....
Fun chibi's story as the 1st one...
Can't wait to see more
Thank you for the fun
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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This chapter may have a few sudden developments~ but they were hinted to happen along the story so far-for the most part. Anyways! Enjoy~~ Hopefully, this doesn't get confusing.
cisda83: here it is! (those chibis are funny XD)
River1721: Nods~ nods~ anyways, chapter!!
Fifteenth
A dark angel, Kitagawa Ryoha, dejectedly sat as she sighed. It was true that Aisa had been talking to her about things such as graduating and leaving the world like how angels such as Tomochin did, but it was still a little bit of a shock in the end. The Aisa that Ryoha loved indeed told her before telling everyone else. That was the only reason that Ryoha didn’t break down crying.
Things happened so suddenly. It didn’t seem like all that much time had passed since that time she kind of exploded onto the more or less innocent Shibuya over a little kiss from Aisa. Anyways, nothing like that was going to happen anymore. The realization was lonely.
A single tear found it’s way down the dark angel’s cheek. Much to her surprise, a certain tanuki walked to her side and offered her a handkerchief to wipe away any other tears that fell. Ryoha held back her tears as she accepted the handkerchief.
“Uha-chan, are you okay? It’s...okay to cry.”
“Thank you...even though I, sorry…”
Then, the dark angel began to cry.
“It’s okay. I already forgave ya.”
“...hic… I know, but… hic… but...”
Nagisa nodded as she calmly pet Ryoha’s back. She gently did so until the dark angel stopped crying. Waiting until even the hiccups died down, Nagisa let out a smile.
“Crying it out always makes it feel better. But anyways, Uha-chan is cuter when she smiles. I think Aisa probably thinks that way too.”
The tanuki girl made a few funny faces and transformed into a few interesting things. After a bit, Ryoha let out a smile and a muffled giggle. Soon, there were smiles on both trainees’ faces. Nagisa felt quite delighted at the smile on Ryoha’s face.
“Ah, I got your handkerchief dirty…,” mumbled the dark angel.
“No problem. Anyways, I’m gonna head out to help find Milky-senpai it seems.”
“Wait, where is she?” Ryoha wondered, thinking about the NMB rogue member that came around to play once in a while, “I haven’t seen her around in a while.”
“Huh… Oh yeah… Me neither. I guess that’s why I gotta help find her.”
“...Um…Just for the sake of repaying you, I’ll help too!”
Nagisa chuckled and nodded. She held out a hand towards Ryoha and grinned. The dark angel took the tanuki’s hand and got up.
The tanuki girl energetically shouted, “Okay! Let’s go!”
Just as they were about to set off, the two trainees heard the voice of the partner of the one who they were looking for. A girl with a quite noticeable chin came walking by with a serious look on her face. It was Yamamoto Sayaka.
“...Hey, have you two seen Milky around here recently?”
“Nopes, but I got a message telling me to help look for her,” Nagisa awkwardly replied. Considering how she was just about to set out on high-tension looking for Milky and was suddenly interrupted, that wasn’t odd.
“...And I’m just tagging along...”
“The more the merrier. The last place I went to though...it was a bit dangerous. Considering how she is...I think it’d be better if ya two teamed up with me. It’ll probably be safer, and I’d like some help. Will ya?”
“I sure will! How ‘bout you, Uha-chan?”
“Of course, but only because I owe you.”
Thus, a shakure Flame Haze, a trainee tanuki, and a tsundere dark angel set out to find the missing Milky. While knowing the risks of danger, they were definitely not prepared or expecting what truly awaited.
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[/b]
Another day was going by as the HKT girls fawned over Jovi’s cool behavior. Sakura couldn’t help but feel a bit down in the dumps. Jovi was cool and nice, but she wanted to have that stupid Mentaiko Anna back.
She spotted her captain at the edge of the room with the amazingly tall Tanaka as always. They seemed to be whispering about something. It wasn’t an odd combo, but when the two were together, at least recently, it felt like things were going to happen. It didn’t used to be like that.
Sakura built up some energy and concentrated on listening to their conversation.
“It seems like my little experiment with SKE ended up with everyone turning back to normal. I heard that the Kami-7’s Matsui Rena had an interesting reaction to Kimoto Kanon’s transformation.”
“I don’t even get what you’re trying to do by awaking the past, but it’s amusing because they’re strong,” chuckled Tanaka.
Chihiro shrugged her shoulders as she noted, “But, that’s not my point, I just wanted to experiment a bit, and it didn’t turn out.”
“I feel like it’s making Chori sad. Haha…,” Boss laughed as she looked towards Murashige’s rival who was biting onto a handkerchief ,and then looked towards Sakura, ”And, it’s making a lot of people your enemies.”
Sakura jolted back all of a sudden. To think that Boss had noticed her, that was a shock. The shocks led to a chain of shocks. Jovi suddenly turned to look at Sakura worriedly. That led to the various gazes of other girls.
“Boss.” Jovi called the taller girl out as she pinned her shoulder against the wall. “Не говорите ли вы такие вещи о Sakura.(Don't you say such things about Sakura.)”
“Eh? Uhh, I don’t know what she said, but… I think she’s talking about me.” Sakura said embarrassed. “I-If you’re trying to back me up, thank you, Jovi.”
Jovi just smiled and kissed the girl’s cheek before going to her room and locking the door.
She started training with a punching bag in her room, hitting it countless times, you could hear the banging from outside her room.
Thoughts of her father, memories of despair and torture that angered the girl to her core.
“Черт ублюдок…(Damn bastard…)”
She punched harder and harder, gritting her teeth as she let her anger out more.
“...ублюдок… ублюдок, ублюдок, ублюдок, ублюдок, ублюдок!!!” And with one blow, she broke the bag off its chain and into the wall, causing it to rip open and collapse, the sand spilling onto the floor.
Then, someone knocked on her door. Jovi opened it and saw it was Chihiro.
“Anai...”
“May I come in, Jovi?”
Jovi let her in, then locked the door back behind her.
“What are you here for?”
The captain smiled and answered with a just slightly mocking tone hidden away, “You’re quite a strong force on our side, and I have assumed that you don’t just have the brawns, but also the brains. I’d like to briefly discuss the strategy for the next attack from our, the HKT, side.”
“Make it quick then,” muttered Jovi, not very enjoying Chihiro’s presence.
“We’ll once again be attacking the Kami-7.”
“Again with that? You already failed twice, so just give it up already.”
“Yes,” Chihiro smiled with a dangerous glint in her eyes, “but now I intend to do something even more.”
“Eh?”
Capt leaned up closer and closer. She then darkly whispered into Jovi’s ear, shocking the Russian-speaking girl with her ideas. The astonished expression on the typically cool Jovi’s face was enough to give a hint as to what type of thing had just been said.
Jovi grimaced and sighed, “You’re crazy...but that’s really none of my business as long as you don’t in any way hurt Sakura.”
Chihiro shrugged her shoulders. She couldn’t remember exactly when people started to dislike her so compared to the time of calling her clumsy. It didn’t particularly matter to the captain at the moment.
“She’ll play her own part. As long as you can do it, she won’t have to do anything besides to stay in the back.”
“So, you’ve stooped to blackmailing me. What are your teammates to you anyways?”
“Important, but that’s all I’ll say to you. I just need to confirm your cooperation now...”
“I don’t give my approval, but I’ll do as said on the battlefield...as long as Sakura is not harmed. If so, I don’t think it’ll be pretty-as in...there will be lots of pain.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Now, go and take your leave. Scram.”
Chihiro nodded and casually exited, leaving Jovi alone once again.
“Hey, Capt.” But then, the Russian girl called her again. Her eyebrow twitched.
“What?”
“If you lose, you gotta give me a gigantic mentaiko!”
Chihiro’s eyes widened a bit. She expected to see Jovi’s cool expression and cold eyes, but instead, she saw a bright smile and sparkling eyes. One that could only belong to Anna. Chihiro rubbed her eyes a bit, and once again saw Jovi’s bored, expressionless face.
“What?”
“Jovi, what did you just say?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“But you just said--” That’s when she remembered. The fruit that Anna had eaten wasn’t permanent. The effects would only last for a short time. Meaning, Kanon was probably back to normal, too.
She sighed.
“Nothing. Nevermind.”
Chihiro left, leaving Jovi wondering what on Earth just happened.
Then, she suddenly felt a sharp pain hit her head. Her eyes widened a bit.
“Mentaiko?”
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[/b]
Nagisa yelled, ”When will we be there?”
“I...have no idea,” said the dark angel.
“It should be soon!” hollered the last of the trio, Sayanee.
The three had been cutting through weeds and moist jungle terrain for hours. It was a strange place to be, but it was said that Milky was at a place, typically hidden from the world, at the end of the not-exactly-harsh environment.
They were lucky that no bugs had decided to bite them. Still, their shoes were dirty with mud. Their foreheads were covered with sweat. It felt annoyingly stick with the water-filled atmosphere.
Various unlucky snakes and lizards had been zapped to oblivion by Ryouha. A few scary looking trees and other potentially dangerous things had been unfortunately obliterated by the two of NMB-though neither was really of the main team, Sayanee going off with Milky without keeping to the team and Nagisa was a trainee still.
Suddenly, the group stopped.
Nagisa murmured,“...snake corpse…..?”
Ryouha wondered out loud, “...Have we been going in a circle?”
The most experienced of them all, the Flame Haze, looked to the side and saw a slashed up tree-the poor tree. It was her who slashed it up, and it had only been a little time since she did.
“...Unfortunately it seems so. We’ll have to go through a bit more of this jungle then.”
Both of the younger trainees groaned. They wondered why in the world a kidnapper would bring a victim to this type of place or if not so, why would Milky even come to this type of displeasing place?
Anyways, they went along.
It didn’t seem long before they went back to the starting point or rather the mid-point that they circled back to again.
More and more humid jungle, more and more circles and spirals of the same thing.
So much time being stuck in a loop caused the snake corpse to gather ants and the smell of rotting flesh. It was not pleasant, and the ones in the Crusades didn’t leave corpses behind.
“Could we be stuck in some kind of curse?” asked the tanuki.
“I can’t particularly feel the magic,” answered Ryouha.
“I’m not all that sure either...but I’m aware that we need to get out,” added Sayanee, “...so we can find her. So worrying...”
The trio paced around in the hot, humid area for a long while. Nothing seemed to be coming out of things. Maybe they were in the wrong place in the first place. If so, that’d be quite aggravating, but at least a relief to be out.
The dark angel frustratedly kicked the protruding root of a tree. Suddenly, she fell back and let out a light scream.
The two NMB girls quickly turned only to see Ryouha slip helplessly into a tunnel, a portal, to some unknown place.
“Uha-chan!”
Without thinking, Nagisa sprinted over and leaped in as well. Sayanee felt a strange familiarness from the alien place that the two trainees that gone into.
“That place….is...could it be?”
“..That place...”
She didn’t have anytime to waste. Sayanee hastily followed the two girls, after that little moment of thought to herself.
That world was still filled with colors, but at the same time held a dullness that couldn’t be thrown away. The sky was always colorful in some way, but somehow, it seemed that it was all black and grey everywhere. And somehow flames continued to burn in the background, following the colors of the world.
The two trainees landed on the ground. They looked to view their surroundings and were utterly shocked. It was just too amazing-hard to describe.
The shakure Flame Haze landed just fine on her two feet. She felt a tinge of nostalgic awe as she looked on. The flames within burned uncontrollably for a second as she entered the realm.
“Control your flames! Especially here…!”
“I know...”
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[/b]
Murashige’s rival, Chori, yelled out, “Let’s get training!!!”
In truth she was thinking of beating up the new Murashige for stealing all the limelight, but anyways, she yelled in a motivational way to all the other demon girls. Capt nodded along and added that they were going to strike at the Kami-7 again, so some training would be good.
Thus, that led to a somewhat chaotic training session-not that the normal ones were actually non-chaotic.
Most all of the girls headed towards a large outdoor field that was part of the HKT territory. There, they could train and do destructive acts with their still developing powers.
Sakura couldn’t help but giggle a little when she happened to hear Chori whispering to herself while sending piercing glares towards Jovi. It was funny sight.
HKT started up on training. Even Jovi ended up slightly going along with the flow. Pestered by Wakaharu, she ended up going off to help do some pitching practice after getting Sakura’s permission.
Wakaharu’s powers were mainly centered around baseball, but that didn’t ensure that she had good aim. Jovi swung her arms and threw a hard ball. In return, Wakaharu hit it with a bat.
Each and every time, another member was knocked out by what would be considered a foul ball.
Each and every time, Jovi threw the ball accurately and in a manner that Sakura would not be hit no matter what.
By the time half an hour had passed, the members were doing dodging training rather than legitimate training.
A good while passed and Jovi clicked her pitching arm’s shoulder coolly. The ones not knocked out wowed at her awesomeness. That is, besides Chori, Sakura, Capt, and Boss.
Jovi took in a breath and got ready to once again throw the ball. Innerly, she found that it was amazing that Wakaharu had hit all of them. It was also amazing that people were knocked out each time. Jovi shook her head and erased those thoughts.
She swung her arm and pitched the ball.
All of a sudden, the said baseball-not a softball-went flying straight into Chori’s face.
Being sturdier than she seemed, Chori roared in anger as she gently caressed her face, “Why YOU!!!!!!!! That was on purpose, wasn’t it?!?!?”
“No it wasn’t. You were just in the way.”
“Why don’t you watch your aim, missy!!!”
“Why don’t you move your face?!”
Chori’s eyes grew dark and her voice became menacing. “What was that…?”
“Move. Your. UGLY!!!! Face.”
“UGLY?!?!?!?!” Chori grabbed the girl’s collar and pinned her to the ground, strangling her. Her voice was growling like a wild beast. “Why don’t you say that again, you Russian monkey!!!”
“Ugly, ugly, UUUUU-GLY~!!!”
“You wanna go?!”
“Try me… фигня(bull$#!+).”
The second Jovi finished talking, Chori punched her in the face. Again and again, Chori punched the wonderful doll-like, in a way, face of Jovi. In retaliation, Jovi kneed Chori in the stomach. They rolled around in the dust as each tried to take charge of the fight.
Neither was even attempting to use any magic of any sort. Both were just fighting it all out with their fists...and teeth...and other hard body parts that could possibly injure another being.
Jovi and Chori headbutted each other at the same time. The thunking noise was so loud and unpleasant that Sakura tried to avert her gaze from the brawl. She definitely couldn’t interrupt it though.
Chori bit Jovi’s hand as Jovi kicked at Chori’s abdomen. It was messy and somewhat bloody. They scrambled along in the dust and dirt, both clawing at each other’s necks.
Sakura found it odd that Jovi seemed to actually be on the losing side, but she could only really watch. Women are worse than Satan when they’re in certain moods. That applied to Chori at the moment.
The two combatants tugged at each other’s hair and grappled dangerously.
Each had their own set of bruises and injuries. Both had flames in their eyes, eager to continue and show the other who was the boss.
Finally, Chori had somehow managed to get the upper hand. All the blood and pain that both had coughed up had ended up benefiting the so-called ugly one in the end.
Chori repeatedly connected her fists to Jovi’s face, taking out her anger violently.
Jovi attempted at retaliation, struggling and kicking, but ultimately failed to push away Chori.
As Chori’s rage began to calm, she punched one last time, strongly.
Jovi’s face was tossed to the side, her blurring vision immediately caught on Sakura.
“Saku… ra...” she tried to say in a weak voice, “возлюбленному... (My dearly beloved)”
Then, she lost all light in her eyes and passed out, unconscious under the now completely calmed Chori.
“Anna!” Sakura ran to Anna’s side, taking her hand. She felt a pulse, but it was weak. Her skin was pale, so much you could see the light blue veins, her knuckles scrapped and covered in blood, and her fingers limp. “Anna, no! Please hold on! Don’t die!”
Chori realized what she had done and backed away from the Russian girl. Anna was alive, but if she had continued any longer, or harder, she might have killed her.
She looked and saw Chihiro give her a dark look. One she did not like.
She looked back at Sakura hugging Anna’s unconscious body.
“I’m sorry, Sakura… Don’t die, Anna...”
-----------------------
[/b]
The two trainees were surely shocked as they noticed the blue flames coming from Sayanee as well as the deep voice that was Alastor. Sayanee suppressed her flames with an uncomfortable look on her face, which was normal considering that the flames naturally wanted to brightly burn in their homeland. Then, she noticed the two staring at her.
“So what do we do now?”
“Unless ya got a better idea, we’ll have to tell ‘em.”
“Ummmm……???”
“Yamamoto Sayaka is a Flame Haze. I’m a Crimson Spirit who fights-or helps-by her side.”
“Yea. I’m a Flame Haze, and this is our home world. That guy is Alastor,” said Sayanee as she unwrapped her arm and let her flames burn, just slightly but freely, “I guess I can do this now it’s a lot more comfortable to let things burn in this world.”
“Wow…,” muttered Ryouha.
Nagisa nodded along to her fellow trainee’s words.
The two stared in awe at the magnificent flaming blue figure. The two trainees were a bit confused as they saw Sayanee cautiously draw her sword. Neither sensed anything to be wary or on guard of.
Knowing that Sayanee was a senior and definitely more experienced, they stayed quiet and watched.
A silence filled the flaming world. Moments later, a purple blur came flying and was deflected by Sayanee’s sword. The deflected object was a javelin that after being deflected, dug into the ground deeply.
The trainees gasped as Sayaka fearlessly called out, “I know you’re there!”
A familiar voice replied, “So you do.”
“Eh?!” The two younger girl’s hugged each other from the sudden voice. But, they also felt a tinge of nostalgia. Something about that voice was familiar.
“Found you.”
When they looked up, they saw what looked like Milky, but a lot different. She was partially enveloped in blazing purple fire and seemed more human than the normal demon-featured form that Milky had.
“Hisashiburi, Sayaka-chan~” she said as she jumped off the cliff she was sitting on and walked towards her. “Or should I say Shakure-chan. Did your chin get longer?”
“Miyuki. As far as I know, I’m pretty sure it actually protrudes less now.”
“Liar.”
Sayaka faltered at the harsh tone in Miyuki’s voice.
“I don’t think there’s a single part of you that’s changed, besides your hair. You’re the same girl you once was, and you’ll remain like that forever.”
The two kouhai were wondering what the alternate Milky was talking about. At first, she had seemed to be joking, but she looked very serious. The look on Sayanee’s face told them that she was telling the truth about something.
“I don’t even think you’ve broken the curse yet, huh?”
“Curse?”
“What curse?”
“Oh? You didn’t tell them, Sayaka?”
Sayanee frowned and looked away. At the same time, Miyuki let out a mocking, wry smile that accompanied unhappy eyes.
“The curse, that curse will burn away at your soul and kill you, yet in the end, I’m guessing you haven’t told anyone and you just continue to fight on, slowly releasing the seal to death and power,” sighed Miyuki.
Nagisa exclaimed loudly in surprise, “D-death!?”
Following up, Ryouha muttered, “...for power to fight.”
“Even so, what would you be here for?”
Miyuki shrugged at the words from Alastor and brandished a spear as her purple flames suddenly fired up. Sayanee was ready to be attacked and to attack. The two trainees were about to get ready, but suddenly, Miyuki summoned a small number of javelins that were thus thrown, pinning the two to a large rock nearby.
“That’s a good question. I might have the answer to it.”
Sayanee attempted to say something, “Miyuki-” only to be interrupted by a thrust of a spear, which was luckily dodged, from Miyuki.
“The answer is, I’ll be the one to kill you,” Miyuki growled as she charged and attacked with her spear and flames once again, “Rather than to the curse, your life belongs to me.”
“I won’t let death catch me-be it you or it.”
The two on fire exchanged various furious blows to each other. As Miyuki found that her weapon dulled, she exchanged it with another. Sayaka blocked and deflected Miyuki’s attacks as they came.
“You’ve already failed to break the curse, how can I believe you!?”
Sayanee flew up as she enveloped her whole body and sword in blue flames. She roared in response, “You just have to!!!”
Miyuki took a painful gash to the side. She summoned up a number of javelins and spears and pierced at Sayanee. Her purple flames immediately stopped the bleeding and at the same time took the initiative to race towards Sayaka with passion.
The blue Flame Haze found herself dodging desperately, still getting hit in the end. The various weapons that made contact flew straight through her flesh. Sayanee cried out in pain as the heat and the injury stung.
Not taking a pause, Miyuki flew at Sayaka.
The two exchanged raging blows with each other. Miyuki seemed to be at an advantage, but the battle was far from over. Each took their own fair share of damage. Their flames enveloped the surroundings; somehow the two trainees luckily got away though.
“Let’s hide somewhere, quick...” Nagisa said as she took Ryouha’s hand and lead themselves behind a rock to hide from the flames.
The two immersed in battling did not even notice the two less experienced girls go.
Sayaka panted hard as she took in deep breaths, tightly gripping her sword. Miyuki had a head full of sweat, but refused to show any weakness. The two stared at each other. Sayanee’s eyes were filled with determination, but Miyuki’s eyes contained a strange emotion.
After what seemed like less than a second to catch their breaths and stare, the battle recommenced, not that it stopped in the first place.
Miyuki once again used her various projectiles as well as a spear in her hand. Sayanee swung her sword with gusto, but that really wasn’t enough.
Miyuki’s purple flames began to overtake Sayaka’s blue flames. She closed in onto her opponent and caused many injuries. She attacked like a predator and aimed for Sayanee’s throat for the kill.
The blue Flame Haze was losing.
“She’s too strong for the current you! She’s gotten a lot stronger than before!”
“I’m aware, Alastor,” Sayaka mumbled as she grabbed the crystal containing Alastor, “You know I’m going to end up doing this-you knew I would eventually have to, and I knew too...”
“...Really...but I can’t stop you.”
Miyuki charged. Sayanee looked the purple flaming girl in the eyes. Then, in the next moment, the blue Flame Haze threw the crystal to the ground. With the sound of glass shattering, the crystal erupted causing Sayaka to scream painfully.
Pain spread throughout her entire body as her body became covered in stronger blue flames. The auburn fire of what used to be Alastor’s crystal seal erupted and started surrounding Sayaka’s body.
“..I-I’m sorry… Alastor...”
“Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.”
A large fire shot up into the sky, forming a phoenix. This was Alastor’s true form. The fire phoenix, who burst into flames, and rose once more from the ashes. The phoenix flew back down and surrounded Sayaka, creating a powerful aura around her.
The seal on Sayaka’s hand faded away and her eyes glowed a bright red. Her flames were no longer blue, like the flames that cursed her soul, but now bright red and orange, like the sun.
“Now then...” Sayaka released a powerful aura wave and created a ring of fire around them. “Where were we?”
Miyuki choked out her words, “Y-you idiot! The curse…”
“I broke it. Alastor and I are one now. We are the Phoenix.”
“Not just any phoenix… The Celestial Phoenix. The most powerful being of them all, the God of the sun.”
“And you can’t stop me.”
Sayaka created a sword of fire and swung at Miyuki.
Miyuki attacked back. Her concentration was shaken greatly. She bit down onto her lower lip as she tried to fight.
Immediately, Sayaka, wielding her sword of flames, destroys all of Miyuki’s weapons. Any others in the process of making were also eradicated. Sayaka pointed her sword at Miyuki, the weaponless Miyuki.
It was obvious that Miyuki had lost.
“Woah….” Nagisa and Ryouha, who had watched from the background, stared in awe at their literally on fire sempai.
On the other hand, Miyuki’s eyes were filled with tears as she stared at Sayaka. As they dripped down her cheeks, she found herself utterly surprised. The curse that Flame Hazes such as Sayaka, with Crimson Spirits so strong, was not acting up and destroying Sayaka.
She wiped her tears only to have them build up again. What she saw wasn’t incorrect though.
Sayaka laid down her sword and went forward to Miyuki. With a gentle smile, she patted Miyuki on the head, ruffling her hair.
“S-Sayaka...you’re...o-okay…?”
“Yea. I am; I actually am okay, better than ever to be honest.”
“T-the curse…,” said Miyuki tearily.
“Ya know, if you weren’t there for me, to fight me, I wouldn’t have been able to overcome it,” Sayanee grinned widely, “Do you still wanna kill me?”
“No! I don’t want you to ever die!”
“Hmm, that’s good. I’m a bit tired, so lemme sleep on your lap, ‘kay?”
Miyuki was surprised as Sayanee immediately laid herself to bed on Miyuki’s lap, “After such an outrageous battle?”
There was no answer. Sayanee was just sleeping gently, not snoring, but definitely breathing lightly. Miyuki shrugged as she looked at the victor’s face. She let out a short sigh, not a sad one, and laid down herself and closed her eyes for a short second-maybe just for a little nap.
Ryouha and Nagisa were a little surprised to see everything boil down to a peaceful conclusion along with a well-deserved nap. They stared at each other and smiled lightly. Though the two didn’t really know about all the battles and other stuff that the pair went through, it seemed like it was good now.
The two trainees continued to watch as the two slept. For the time being, they’d have to wait for someone to wake up, but that wasn’t all that bad.
Maybe, all’s well and ends well, would apply nicely here.
-----------------------
[/b]
Back in the HKT squadron, Anna was lying in bed, still unconscious after the incident with Chori. Everyone was waiting for her to wake up, hoping their dear Jovi or fellow member Anna wasn’t killed(but mostly Jovi).
The only one who truly, solely cared for Anna was Sakura. She sat at her bedside, holding her hand as she prayed silently, her cheeks still wet with tears.
“Anna… Please wake up… Please, I love you. I need you back, with me…. I-if you wake up… maybe we can… go on a date...”
She laid her head down, against Anna’s warm hand.
“We can just forget all about this silly war and go out on a date...”
Sakura chuckled a bit as she smiled sadly.
“I-if it make you feel better… I’d even.. laugh at one of your gags… Just once, if it would make you happy.”
She turned Anna’s hand over and softly kissed it.
“Please, Anna… Please come back to me….”
Inside her mind, Jovi found herself staring at a memory. It was a time before the Crusade, when there was peace, and no one had to worry about battling. Anna and Sakura were always together, no matter what, never separated.
“Hey, Sakura-chan, have you ever thought about cutting your hair?”
“Eh? Why?”
“I just think you’d look cute if you cut it.”
Jovi smiled at the memory. Right now, Anna’s life was filled with peace and happiness. The kindness she never had came from Sakura.
“Perhaps… just once… I can be at peace.”
The memory turned into a small light and floated into Jovi’s chest, causing her to become surrounded by a bright, white aura and disappear, a single tear falling down her cheek.
Anna finally woke up, groaning as she held her head. Everyone move forward a bit, staring at the girl intensely.
“J-jovi… Are you okay?” Mio said softly.
“...Jovi?”
Sakura realized what was happening and looked up to see Anna’s bright eyes.
“Anna? Is that you?”
“Sakura...”
There was a bit of silence, everyone frozen as their hearts beat fast. They had an off feeling that something was… very different.
Sakura gulped before saying…
“M-mentaiko..?”
After a long silence, Anna staring at Sakura…
“Mentaiko!” Anna smiled brightly and did her signature pose, causing everyone else in the room(excluding Sakura) to fall to the ground. Jovi was long gone, and Anna was back.
“Anna!” Sakura smiled widely and hugged her friend. “You’re back!”
“Back? Did I go somewhere?”
“It’s a long story. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Uh...” Anna was a bit confused with the current situation. The last thing she remembered was when they were attacking the Kami-7 and she ate that weird fruit, then fell asleep. When she woke up, she was here.
But, she just said okay and hugged Sakura back. She probably needed an explanation later, anyways.
The next day…
Some of the HKT girls were doing more training the next day, and since Anna needs to heal from her wounds, the day of their invasion was pulled back.
Anna still didn’t know everything that was going on, so it felt like major jetlag for her.
Just then, the door opened and someone walked into her room with a bouquet of flowers. She didn’t recognize it at first, but smiled when she realized it was a short-haired…
“Sakura-chan!”
Miyawaki Sakura, one of the devils who’s normally an “imouto” character, cut her hair short and seemed to have a bit of a growth spirt, making her look very mature.
“You cut your hair. It looks so cute.”
“Thanks. I thought about what you said on cutting it. When I did, almost nobody recognized me. It took them a while before they realized it was me.”
“It changes a lot, huh?”
“Yeah...”
“But, it’s nice. I love it.”
Sakura blushed. “Thanks.” She laid down the bouquet on the dresser and started to leave, when…
“Hey, remember, you still owe me a date.”
She giggled a bit, slightly embarrassed when she found out Anna heard her dream.
“Alright. Once you’re all healed up, we’ll go on that date.”
-----------------------
[/b]
After Sayaka and her two kouhai returned from the mysterious world, Ryouha went back home to SKE to see what had become of Gekikara and the others.
The NMB girls were amazed when they saw Sayaka’s new form. Thanks to being fused with Alastor, she was now the new Sun God. Speaking of which, since he was no longer in a crystal seal, Alastor became an earring on Sayaka’s right ear.
(https://img1.etsystatic.com/036/1/8027221/il_340x270.526871895_n2dt.jpg)
“Sugoi~” Everyone just stared in awe at their new leader seeming more brilliant than ever in training. Now, Sayaka could control her fire in a more powerful way than before, aura channeling.
And when she released that aura, boy was it powerful.
She slowly calmed down her aura as she decided to start break. As she settled down, she saw Milky, yes, her succubus girlfriend Milky, walking in lazily.
“Milky!” She ran up to her. “Where have you been? You’ve been missing for a long time, everyone was worried.”
“Gomen, Sayaka-chan. I didn’t want to tell you...”
She then pulled out something in front of Sayanee and gave it to her. It was a brand new guitar.
“Milky… how did you..?”
“I made it. I thought you’re old one was cool, but remember when you almost burnt it last week.”
“Yeah...”
“I felt bad that your guitar got ruined, so I made you a new one. This one’s more fire resistant, because I went to the volcano and made it out of some molten magma and lava rocks.”
Sayaka laughed as she wrapped her new guitar around her and strummed it.
“Sounds better than my old one. Thanks, Milky. But, next time, tell someone where you’re going.”
“Okay. Why?”
“Trust me. You wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to look for you…”
-
And following the Crusade... the Chibi Adventures!!!
========================================================
Tengoku Crusade: The Chibi Adventures!! - The SayaMilky Switcheroo
It started off a normal day for the supernatural group, NMB. Chibi-Sayanee and Chibi-Milky were out on a job together as part of training, and so were the others. However, the succubus and Flame Haze chibis strayed off the path and ended up deep in the forest.
“Aw man! Now we’ll never get trainin’ done!” Sayanee shouted angrily.
Milky smiled and patted her shoulder. “Don’t mind.”
“Milky, how can you be so calm at a time like this? We’re lost.”
“Just tryin’ to keep a positive mood~” Her tail spinned and twirled happily. But still, it was moments like this where even her girlfriend wondered if there was any way of cracking the code inside her head.
“Well, let’s just start heading back.”
Milky’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched her beloved walk off coldly.
“You should be more positive, too, Sayanee. C’mon, show me your sexiest pose~”
“No way, Milky. I can’t do things like that.”
“Miyuki, you’re a succubus, it’s natural for you, but not for a Flame Haze like Sayaka. She has to remain serious.” Sayanee’s faded golden companion spoke.
“SHUT UP, ALASTOR! Sayanee has her moments, too!”
“The hell does that mean?!”
“Sayanee, you should have more confidence in yourself. You need to loosen up, like when you play with Maachun and Ripopo, or you’ll turn ugly.”
“Who the hell said I was ugly?!?!?!”
Milky just pouted, she didn’t feel like talking now that Chibi-Sayaka and her little bird friend ruined her good mood.
As she walked away, Sayanee started moving forward to apologize, but then she suddenly tripped and fell on top of Milky. Due to the strong impact, the push lead them rolling down the hill, getting tangled in the vines and hurled back to their original location, the training grounds. However, they didn’t see a daruma fall to the ground as they crashed and roll around them as they tumbled down and collapsed on the soft grass, unconscious.
The daruma stood back up and his eyes glowed. A bright yellow energy was released from it and spread throughout the area. When it faded, it took about an hour before Chibi-Sayanee woke up. She rubbed her head and slowly got up, dusting herself off. Chibi-Milky woke up after her, holding her head as she whined.
“Mou~ what d’ya think you’re doing, Milky?”
“Be more careful, Sayaka-chan~” her girlfriend responded in a pout.
“No, no, no, that right there was your fault.”
“Hey, don’t blame me! You were the one who got in my way!”
But soon, the Flame Haze realized something strange. The voice she was hearing respond to her… was hers. And… since when did her hair get so LONG???
She slowly turned around, and so did Milky, when she realized something was wrong with her, too. Like Sayanee, she was hearing her own voice speaking to her, and she also felt like she was falling forward a bit. And, her neck was bare, and sent a chill through her spine.
When they met each others gazes, they were amazed at what they saw. They were shocked to see….
Each other!!!
“EEEEEEEEEEHHH?!?!?!”
Chibi-Sayaka was seeing herself in front of her, except the her she was seeing had Milky’s horns and tail. Chibi-Milky was the same, she saw herself, but she had Sayaka’s markings on her hand and no horns or tail.
The two had seemed to switch bodies.
“Eh? Eh?! What the heck’s goin’ on here?!” Sayaka screamed in confusion.
Milky giggled, clapping her hands. “Sugoi~ When we bumped into each other, we somehow got our souls to switch into each other’s bodies.”
“What?! Are you serious?!” Sayanee, kept looking at her own reflection. She couldn’t believe this was happening to her. “How the hell did this happen?!?!?!”
As for Milky…
“Woah! My boobs are HUGE~!!!”
“Milky, don’t look!” Saynee quickly covered up her chest, but Milky still kept playing and poked her chin.
“Sayanee, there’s something stuck to my face.”
“It’s my chin!”
Milky liked the feel of having a sharp chin like Sayanee. It was making the air around her feel light, and the cool air at the back of her neck felt so good when she ran. It wasn’t hot with her long hair, and she felt like she was running faster than ever.
Meanwhile, Saynee started covering up the markings on her arm and found her friend, Alastor on the ground. She picked it up and stuck it onto her ear as best she could(since it couldn't be pinned in).
“Alastor, we’re in big trouble.”
“Yea, I sensed it when you two woke up. How did this happen?”
“I don’t know. But, we should get to work to find out how to cure this. C’mon, Milky.”
No answer.
“Milky...” She looked around to see the chibi succubus was not there. “Milky?”
Milky went off on an adventure to see what life was like in her girlfriend’s body. She was happily walking around with her tail twirling and dancing as happy as she was.
She looked ahead and saw Chibi-Maachun and Chibi-Ripopo coming back from training.
“Ah~ I’m so tired!”
“Training really wore me out today.”
“Ah! Maachun, nice job at training today. Otsukaresama~chun!” She made a cutesy, sexy pose, that was very much a pose only Milky could make. But, in Maachun’s eyes, it wasn’t Milky or Sayanee. It was something she never expected “Sayaka” to do.
“Sayanee, what are you doing? Something feels kinda wrong here,” she said to her companion and NMB medic.
“Looky looky~” She kept posing very sexy poses and her tail curved in a way only she would do it. “This is sexy, right? See~? You can’t bare it, right?”
The zombie girl was freaking out and hid behind her Satori friend. “Ripopo, something’s wrong with Sayanee. Does she look sick? Or maybe there’s some kinda charm on her?”
“Eh?” Riho looked at her friend, putting on her red glasses. “Well, I don’t see anything stuck to her, but… the only thing I can see that’s weird is the fact she has Miyuki’s horns and tail.”
Milky started playing dumb, wanting to trick her friends, and giggled. “Eh~?”
“Yea, why do ya have her horns and tail, Sayanee?”
“Oh well, she, uhh… taught me a spell that gave me these. I wanted to see what it was like with ‘em on. Don’t I look cute~?”
The two stared at the giggly, girly Sayanee, dumbfounded.
“Oh, hey, there’s supposed to be this talent competition later, right?”
“Yeeeeeeah....”
“I’m gonna hurry and join! I hope there’s still a spot open!” she giggled and ran off, leaving the two shell-shocked girls to watch her skip away happily.
Then, they heard an angry growl.
“MILKY!!!!!!!” They looked and saw Miyuki, or who they thought was Miyuki, stomping angrily towards them. “Guys, did you see Milky come through here?!”
“Uh, yea… Milky did.”
“We’re looking at you right now.”
Sayanee mentally face-palmed herself, then groaned. “No, I mean, did you see Sayaka with Milky’s horns and tail come through here?”
“Yea, you just missed her.”
“She said she was gonna audition for the talent show! Isn’t that weird?”
“WHAT?!?!?!?!” Steam was coming out of Sayaka’s(or really, Milky’s) ears. She bulleted off, leaving skid marks behind her. “MILKYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!”
Maachun and Riho looked at the girl with their eyebrows raised.
Sayaka finally got to the stage to see it was empty. That means she was okay.
But then…
わる彩 (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1lij8f)
“WHAT THE--?!?!?!?!”
Milky was performing her original song, “Warukii”, in Sayanee’s body, and to Sayaka’s surprise, the crowd was absolutely loving it. She even saw her fellow members going head over heels for “her”.
“What the Sam heck is she DOING?!?!?!”
“Hi~! Yamamoto Sayaka here! Sorry I’m not Milky~”
“Huh?”
“But, I just wanted to try performing this song once, ‘Warukii’!”
Sayaka face palmed. Her girlfriend was up there, making her look like a fool.
“Tell me, am I cute~?”
“WHOOOOOOOO!!!! SAYAKA!!!!!! GO SAYANEEEEE!!!!!!”
“Who knew they actually liked this?” Sayaka thought to herself.
When it was over, Milky happily skipped down to her girlfriend, hugging her neck and kissing her cheek. But, Sayanee was still… VERY annoyed.
“Milky!!! Why did you go and do that?!”
“Hey, I just wanted to try it. I’ve always wanted to see you do ‘Warukii’,” Milky giggled. Sayaka just pouted, her cheeks puffing out angrily. Milky giggled more and leaned up to her ear. “Besides… I wanted to get you back for what you did way back when.”
“What I did? Way back… when…? Wha…?”
Then, Sayaka remembered…
Flashback
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZOZSUtQ_Q (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZOZSUtQ_Q)
End of Flashback
“Oh…. that.”
Then, Sayaka’s body became surrounded by a bright red fire. Even her eyes were ablaze. She angrily grabbed Milky’s collar.
“THAT’S what ALL THIS was ABOUT?!?!?! I told you, I was SORRY, and you STILL wanted to get BACK at me for that?!?!?!”
“Hey, Sayaka… Sayaka!”
Before they knew it, they fell over again and rolled off the stage, hitting the ground hard. They didn’t notice the daruma was rolling by and ran into them, spinning and spiraling until it stood back up. The eyes glowed brightly and shined on the girls.
Sayaka got up, holding her head, and when she looked, she saw she was back in her own body. Milky was back to normal, too.
“Yokatta~ we’re back!”
“Mou… I wanted to perform more...”
“You can do that in your own body, Milky.”
“No… I wanted Sayaka to sing...”
“Eh?” Sayaka knelt down, patting her girlfriend’s head. “Milky… did you do all this just cuz you wanted to hear me sing?”
“Uh-huh… You always do comedy stuff. You’re never cutesy.”
“That’s because cutesy is your thing.”
“Still, it’s been a while since I’ve heard you sing. Even if it was comical, I still wanna hear your singing voice.”
“Really...”
Sayanee grinned and grabbed her guitar.
“Well then...”
山本彩 ギター漫談に挑戦！ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUIXYbxlFVw#ws)
========================================================
Shino-chan, comment onegaishimasu~ :heart: Watashi mo Warukii ni natte mitai~ (I wanna be Warukii too~)
-
I should comment too eh~
Ru-saaaan~~ XD it was really funny
Lol... ugly.
And dat chin, something stuck to her face
*laughs a lot*
Whew~ anyways...
Dat reasoning was pretty absurd too...
LOL
:on GJ:
-
I should comment too eh~
Ru-saaaan~~ XD it was really funny
Lol... ugly.
And dat chin, something stuck to her face
*laughs a lot*
Whew~ anyways...
Dat reasoning was pretty absurd too...
LOL
:on GJ:
:rikabunny
-
Double update...
Great...
What's going to happen next?
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda-san: I wonder if we're getting onto a nice update speed~
Sixteenth
Sasshi laid on the couch, holding her head as her mind spun in confusion.
“This is… what I have to do.”
She paused after saying with a determined expression. Slowly, the determination started to gradually pick up tinges of nervousness and worry. Sasshi screwed up her hair as she desperately tried to think. In all frustration, she rolled off the couch.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”
“What are you panicking about, not that I’m surprised?” Yuki said coldly.
The rest of the Kami-7(excluding WMatsui) met up at Sasshi’s house after they learned about what had happened to her. Haruna also came in the panic to check on her, even though she was fine.
“What’s going to happen to me now?”
“Nothing much. Well, probably.”
“NOT ‘nothing much’!!!”
“Actually, she’s right, guys. Things are really going to change if Sasshi’s going to prove herself as Center. The challenge the Fates gave you was a tough one, though.”
Sasshi groaned and sank her face into her couch pillow.
“Well, anyways, Sasshi, that water Elementor was a legendary god. You defeated him, so now you have the power to control water. The next gods you’re going to face are the earth, fire, and wind Elementors.”
“Mou~ Why me? Why always me?”
“Because you’re center.” everyone harmonized.
“Mou….”
-----------------------
“Rena!” Jurina shook Rena’s shoulders as she laid there unconscious. Jurina’s eyes were filled with tears, her shaky voice calling out to her louder. “Rena, wake up!”
Rena’s mind was blank, nothing but darkness surrounded her. Then, she saw a light in front of her. She could hear someone calling her, waking her up.
“Rena! Please, wake up!”
“...Juri.. na..?”
“I’m sorry, Rena. I’m so sorry… Please, I don’t want to lose you. Wake up! Rena!”
“Jurina?” She slowly got up, the light slowly grew brighter.
“Rena… I love you.”
Jurina softly kissed Rena’s lips, so gentle and tender. A perfect kiss, filled with love and passion.
Rena’s heart slowly grew warm as the light surrounded her. Her eyes closed and she felt the heavy darkness disappear and everything was lifted off her shoulders.
Rena opened her eyes and saw Jurina staring back at her.
“Rena!” She quickly hugged the older girl tight, crying into her chest. “Thank God...”
“Jurina...”
Seeing the fluffy interaction between the two Kami-7, Nao couldn’t help but bitterly frown as she held onto the only thing that Nanako left behind, her broken katana. Nao didn’t care for the fact that the blades were cutting into the palms of her hands as she thought to herself.
It was all the two Matsui’s fault that everything had ended up like that. Nao tried not to think in such a manner.
In the past, it was always Nao who was teasing Nanako. There never was any worry about either one disappearing. In the past, Nanako never failed to protect Nao when needed. Still, Nanako was still the Nanacho that Nao loved and loved to tease.
Even that one little time when Nao had a nightmare in which Nanako died and she was all alone, the puppy was still there by her side, holding her hand.
Nanako didn’t have to die like that. Nao couldn’t really accept the facts.
Nanako said she’d be fine. She lied that one time, a cruel lie.
Then, Nanako was gone.
The puppy who Nao teased and loved, the puppy who was always trying her best to protect others, Nanako was gone. Nothing could change that now.
Nao gritted her teeth as more tears dripped from the tear glands that should’ve been leaked dry by then.
The broken katana that must’ve been unwilling to dig itself into Nao’s palms was in the same state as the dark angel’s state of emotions at the moment. It was just too broken and lonely without Nanako.
“Be strong, Nao...You’re still not alone.”
Nao heard a faint voice in her head. She threw away the thought that it had passed to her as if it was an illusion in Nanako’s voice. It wasn’t an illusion, but for now, that was all the message could be.
Nao hoarsely whispered, “...Nanacho…,” hoping that maybe Nanako would show up unharmed at her calling.
She didn’t. Nanako didn’t show up. It was quite expected, but Nao cried a bit more.
Jurina and Rena worriedly looked her way. Rena began to say, “Nao...are you-”
“I hate you…It’s all your fault that Nanacho is dead!!!”
“N-Nao...”
“Hey, that’s...don’t talk to Rena like that…,” retorted Jurina.
“...I’m just saying the truth,” Nao darkly growled with tear streaked cheeks, “I loathe you...and it’s your fault that Nanacho is dead. Because you killed her...Murderer.”
Rena stuttered, “I-I...”
Overcome with emotions, Nao screamed, maybe uncharacteristically, “Why don’t you just die!?”
Thus, Rena ran away from the situation.
“Rena!” That next second, Jurina chased after her, but not before shooting Nao a dark look. She then walked up to the girl and growled at her in an angered tone.
“J-Jurina-san?”
“Don’t you dare call Rena a murderer again...”
Right now, Nao saw it in her eyes. It was not Jurina, but Center, although she did not know that and thought that Jurina was very upset from her comment.
Nao mumbled as she felt an abnormal fear, from Center, that paused her raging fury just a bit, “...everyone...is just…selfish…,” and she felt a tear run down her cheeks.
There was Nanako who selfishly died alone and left her behind. There were also the strong people who could deny their wrongs and do what they felt for, or so it seemed.
Then, Jurina was gone like the wind.
She ran through the halls, searching and listening for Rena. As she searched, a pang of guilt hit her, but Jurina kept it down within her. Soon enough, she found the footsteps of Rena and soon the person herself.
Rena was crying to herself. She remembered what she had done as Gekikara, and it hurt a lot.
When Jurina came along, Rena couldn’t help but try to distance herself from Jurina.
“Rena...I’m not afraid of you, you know?”
“B-but...what Nao said was right.”
“...And it might as well have been said to me. I was the one...who led to the whole problem...anyways. And...I did something unforgivable...that can never be changed back.”
“Jurina...”
“Don’t blame yourself. Rena, you’re a good girl, a kind person! And, I... I really love you.”
Rena blushed madly and hugged Jurina tight, still crying.
“I love you, too, Jurina.”
-----------------------
In response to the attitude of the Kami-7 towards Sasshi’s woes, the still-hetare girl ended up complaining that they should at least help her a tiny bit. The next second, Sasshi felt that she might be feeling sore and regretful afterwards.
Hearing the complaints, Yuki coldly said, “If you really want help...then, I guess we’ll just have to give you...some very special training.”
“Gah! That’s cold, Yukirin-san...” Sasshi said.
“C’mon, let’s just go.”
Takamina lead the girls to the training grounds where Miichan, Yui, and Paru already were.
“Ah, Sasshi, whatcha doin’?”
“Girls, we need to give Sasshi special training. She’s facing a test with the four Elementors.”
“EH?!” All three of them reacted the same-mainly because their view of Sasshi was equal to the weakling who’d never even be tested.
“And she’s defeated the water Elementor God.”
“EEEHH?!?!”
Paru said, “If this is a joke, then your fail character has already exceeded all limits and gone towards telling weird stories that don’t make sense.”
“Gah! That’s even worse than what Yuki said...”
“It’s true. Here, show ‘em Sasshi.”
“Eh? How?”
Takamina tiptoed up and whispered into her ear.
“Since you defeated the Elementor, you were probably given water manipulation magic. Try it.”
“Uhhh… okay.”
Yui ran over to the tent and brought back a glass of water for Sasshi to use. Staring at the glass of water, Sasshi intensely focused onto the liquid. Nothing particularly happened. She strained her mind and tried to make something happen, but she probably was doing it wrong.
“Mou~ it’s not working.”
“Maybe you have to be touching the water...”
“Let’s see...” Yuki said before dumping a huge bucket of cold water onto Sasshi.
“KYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! Yukirin-san, that’s WAY too cold!!!”
“You said you wanted to prove yourself.”
“MOOOOOOUUU!!!!!!”
At Sasshi’s scream, she was suddenly surrounded by a blue aura and the water around her slowly rose off, making her completely dry. She did the same with the water in the glass and moved it around her. The next second, she shot it towards the target, and it froze into ice as it hit the bullseye.
“Woah...”
“See?”
“I didn’t even know I could do that,” Sasshi thought to herself.
“Just concentrate and put your emotion into it. That’s all magic is.”
Sasshi started to say something, “So-”
Quickly enough, she was interrupted by Yui and Paru with their bows and arrows pointing at her. Yuki had an evil look in her eyes. This was what they called special training, Sasshi had that thought.
“Well, now that we know you can actually do it,” Yuki grinned, “Your special torture-I mean-training will begin now.”
Takamina smiled and waved, “Anyways, do your best Sasshi. They’ll probably not skewer you, probably. Try making a shield or something just in case.”
“W-W-Wait, whaaa!?”
“Ready...” Everyone held out their weapons and prepared to aim at Sasshi.
The hetare gulped.
“Go!” The next second, Sasshi was charged at and stalked by murderous arrows. And, of course, she screamed.
Given that she crashed into a tree, was cut by a salty arrow that hurt the wound, and was nearly sliced to bits as well as exploded by some unenthusiastic people, Sasshi somehow managed to dodge the attacks and involuntarily used the water to help slightly heal up her wounds.
Takamina stared at Sasshi with a slight pout as the hetare didn’t listen to her advice.
Clearly, everyone was going easy on her, but Sasshi was having trouble.
The midget yelled, “Use your powers!”
“H-Hai!?!?”
Sasshi unsteadily concentrated and poured her fear into the water. Somehow, she managed to make unstable projectiles that managed to cause Yui and Paru’s arrows to lose momentum. Unfortunately, she still had other things to worry about and ended up face first in some mud due to a certain Yuki’s attack.
Getting up, the scene before her was terrifying. Even though they were supposed to be angels, when they attack, it’s scary.
Sasshi mentally cried and thought to herself, “Why...me??????”
It wasn’t as if her laments could change anything, so Sasshi refocused onto her special training and tried to evade everything that came her way. It wasn’t working, but in the meanwhile, she was getting a better grasp on using the water powers naturally.
The hetare ace thought back to when she defeated the water thing and tried to imitate what exactly could’ve taken down that thing. She molded the water into an ugly looking ice sword, ugly as she was somewhat terrified.
It was quite unpleasing to see so many dangerous things come flying her way.
Sasshi tried to fight back with her ice sword, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she commanded herself to make a few ice missiles to hit down the incoming arrows.
Takamina grinned satisfactorily at the hetare’s quick progress.
After a bit of repetition of Sasshi’s power usage and running away, the ace decided that she could probably win by going mainly offensively. Plus, the Kami-7 and crew were going easy on her.
The ace sighed for a moment as she took in one deep breath.
Sashihara charged. Then, she retreated in terror. Following, she tried to abandon her fear-a tactic that didn’t work-and charged again.
She threw projectiles of water at the explosives and arrows. Quickly gathering some extra water from that, she added to a new sword to jump at the sword wielders and try to fight them off.
That time around, Sasshi’s strategy somehow kind of succeeded, but it was only because of how easy the others were going on her.
“Well, it looks like we need to give you more of a challenge...”
Sasshi couldn’t help but feel a chill go up her spine. Still, she prepared her weaponry and waited for the fight.
With a few battle cries and a lot of fighting, the training went along. Sasshi gradually got a better and better grasp on her powers. Somehow, she managed to even once again overcome her opponents.
Breathing heavily, filled with cuts that she didn’t have energy to take the water to heal, Sasshi let out a sigh. The others stared at her, not breaking much of a sweat.
“Haaa….so, I guess, did I win that round?”
“Amazingly enough, you did fine. You deserve a short break because of that. Good work, but we’re going to continue training in a bit.”
Sashihara rejoiced at Yuki’s words and then she fell down in tears at the fact that she’d have to repeat that again.
“God, help me...”
-----------------------
For the past while, Rabutan and Myao, the two of them, had been in a state of vexation and loss at what in the world they were supposed to do with that painful feeling in their hearts. Compared to all the other problems that their fellow fighters, rivals, and etc were going through, their problems were minor and ended up being overlooked.
They desperately tried to avoid each other, but they couldn’t just lounge around in their respective bases or else they’d start crying from the pairs that happened to enjoy romance.
It was just luck that neither happened upon the other on all their expeditions to vent their complicated feelings. Honestly, if Rabutan wasn’t so tsundere and Myao wasn’t so much like herself, everything could’ve gone a lot simpler, but because of the way they were, the romance bloomed the way it did.
Miho was dragging herself like the dead like always. Not really with the thought of winning the Crusade and getting at Sasshi, she trudged around Akihabara. No one normal could see the fallen angel anyways.
It was just her luck that a certain pair was strolling around in the same area.
“...weirdos appear in this village a lot, don’t they?”
Myao lifted her head at the sound of a familiar voice. She wasn’t quite so shocked that people could see her, but she was extremely astonished to see Manami and Erena casually getting groceries as humans.
She slapped herself once just to make sure that her love problems weren’t causing hallucinations.
Erena tilted her head in slight surprise, “Miho?”
“...Eh…!?!?!?”
As Myao screamed in shock, a certain demon was trying to sneak away. The tsundere queen was unlucky enough to go to a complicated place on one of the days that she decides to visit a human settlement just because it’d probably take her mind off of irritating things.
Rabutan didn’t have the luck that day.
“There’s another one trying to get away,” said Manami.
“Aika?”
All was silent, awkwardly silent, at the moment. Rabutan looked away from Myao with teary eyes and a reddening face. Miho was sweating from anxiety and holding her head in worry about her actions, something that depending on who she interacts with is a surprise.
For Erena’s two beloved friends to be like that, it was a bit unnerving.
“Nee-chan?”
“Ah, listen up,” Erena casually warned, “This is an example of love-sickness. If you ever catch it, deal with it before it gets to that level.”
Not very suddenly, but hastily, the two still involved in the Crusades began to run in different directions. Due to their flustered and awkward minds, the two were easily brought back to the starting point.
It was really really obvious that they had some love problems. The way that Rabutan and Myao couldn’t look the other in the eyes, the way that they fidgeted a lot, the fact that they jerked up when touching each other, and that blush-everything pointed to love problems. Erena caught onto that.
And starting the resolution of one of the less violent and more emotional problems this year, Erena proclaimed, “You two...I’m forcing you to come over to our house. Then, we’ll fix this problem up, or else you two aren’t going to leave this village.”
Going along, Manami puffed out her chest and nodded proudly.
Helplessly, thus, Aika and Miho were somehow dragged along forcefully. The main reason was probably that it was Erena and Manami doing that dragging forcefully though.
Erena led the two Crusaders into her room. She stared at them to force the two to sit down.
“So what is the situation exactly?”
“Um..” The two harmonized as they looked at each other awkwardly.
Erena sighed, “...This awkward atmosphere is just...Myao first then.”
“The thing is… well, that is… it’s kind of awkward to say, but...uh, you know that thing?”
Erena stared intently at the stuttering fallen angel. Myao had no chance of getting away.
“I-I love Aika! But...”
Rabutan yelled, “Ah!!! Baka!”
Myao sighed dejectedly with rejection in return.
Erena viewed the scene and understood that there was probably a misunderstanding somewhere. She pulled out some fake glasses and imitated Conan’s voice as she asked, “Aika, what are your feelings?”
“I-I-I….uuu...I can’t live like this anymore!!!”
Thus, Rabutan attempted to flee. Manami blocked the door. The windows were miraculously seal tight by Detective Erena.
“Ha! I sealed the windows,” Erena gloated childishly before gesturing, “But anyways, go ahead.”
“I...about Myao…I…I...actually love her too! But! I don’t know what to do!”
Myao was ready to run away the second Rabutan finished. She was ready and in the process when she analyzed and thought through what Rabutan had just said.
Miho shouted, “I love you, Ai-chan!! No matter what!”
“Ah, baka!” Aika slapped Myao before proclaiming loudly, “I do too!”
“...why did I have to get slapped?”
“...Fine, I’ll kiss you to make up for it. Forehead only though.“
“Eh…,” murmured Erena and Manami.
Miho and Aika stared at their two friends oddly. They both furiously blushed as the two in human form chortled and clapped. Still, with the help of those two, the love problem was easily solved. As Aika went to give Myao a kiss, a kiss on the lips were also stolen.
Erena squealed a bit, then covered up the young Manami’s eyes(since she was a bit too young to see such a sight).
As the two parted, the as-usual tsundere Rabutan blushed and covered her face. Myao did the same, but not as hard.
“Are we all better now?”
“Yes.” The two harmonized again.
“Good,” Erena said happily and then joked, “When you have a marriage ceremony, invite me.”
“Okay~ W-wait, marriage? But,...I guess we will invite you.”
Just like that, the issues of romance between the fallen angel girl and the demon girl were solved.
Joyously and somewhat randomly, the four in the house celebrated and spent the night chatting and playing around. Surely, that was an example that a few of our anti-heroes and villains should learn from.
-----------------------
“Ready for round 2?”
“Um, I think...”
“Go!” Takamina sounded them off once more and it became a battle royale(if you count, like, 8 angels against one hetare girl a battle royale).
Sasshi was more used to the training now. She knew how to control her magic and block their attacks with the water and ice.
But, like Takamina said, they weren’t going easy on her this time. They came at her much harder and more frequently. Sasshi used her ice magic to freeze her hand and try to punch them, which did succeed a few times, but they didn’t give up.
There was even a moment where Takamina actually broke Sasshi’s ice shield.
“Crap… this is getting hard...” the hetare thought to herself.
Right now, everyone was watching as it was now only Sasshi, Yuko, and Takamina on the battlefield.
“Ready?”
“We won’t hold back, now...”
“...I know...”
Quickly enough, the fight started up.
But then, suddenly, the ground under them started shaking madly like a earthquake.
“Ah!! Earthquake!!!” Of course, Sasshi was the first, and only one, to take cover. Everyone else knew what it really was.
“He’s here...” Takamina said in a low voice.
“Already? Damnit, I wanted to train a bit longer~.” Yuko said while scratching her head.
“Eh? What? What is it?! SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON!!!!”
“HAAAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!”
“And WHAT was THAT?!?!?!?!”
“The Earth Elementor.”
Sasshi gulped as she looked up and saw a frightening figure looming over them all, casting a dark, dark shadow. A large dirt filled, rocky titan, which was what one may imagine a huge golem to be, was staring down at them all.
“So, puny mortal. Do you have the might to challenge me? Hahahaha, that thought is a laugh.”
“Guys?”
Before Sasshi could do anything else, everyone pushed her forward to the giant golem and ran into the tent to hide.
“KORA!!!!!”
“Hey, we aren’t allowed to help anyways,” Yuko yelled in reply.
“So, would you like to battle? A puny thing like you can just take the first move-a gentleman’s courtesy towards a little girl like you. HAHAHAHA!”
Sasshi tried to retort, “You! Grr...”
“Go on...unless you’d decide to let me have the first move.”
It was quite clear that this Elementor was quite a haughty man. Being the way he was, his patience wasn’t enough to wait for Sasshi after asking a second time.
Basically, complete opposite from the calm and clever water Elementor.
The golem raised his large rocky fists and smashed them into the ground towards where Sasshi was. With luck, like the typical earth golem, the attack wasn’t too fast, and Sasshi was able to run away and dodge.
After the Elementor raised his fists, there was a huge hole with cracks in the ground. It was scary to think about if Sasshi had managed to be stupid enough to get hit.
“Yeah~.... RUUUUUUUUN!!!!”
“HAHAHAHAHA!!! You are unworthy of your position! You are nothing but worthless! A COWARD!!! HAAAAA HAHAHAHAHA!!!”
Sasshi stopped running, her head hung low. She gripped her fists as the powerful aura around her slowly took hold.
“I...”
“Huh?”
“Sasshi...” Everyone watching was at the edge of their seats. Yuko munched on some popcorn as she continued.
“I… am not… a coward!”
The aura burst and she found herself flying again, now facing the golem titan.
“I am Sashihara RINOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
The aura covered her hand in water, like a giant whirlpool wrapped around her. Then, with one swing, she punched…
And the golem’s head was crushed.
“Woah...”
The rest of the body crumbled and Sasshi floated back down as a yellow aura from the golem surrounded her.
“She beat it...”
Yuko, in her excitement, grabbed her sword and rushed towards Sasshi, screaming.
In her panic, Sasshi quickly lifted up her arms, but felt nothing come. When she looked, there was a giant stone wall in front of her.
And Yuko had smacked right into it.
“Oops...”
Yuko separated herself from the brick wall.
“Whatever! You beat the thing! I say we celebrate!”
“But, Yuko, she didn’t even defeat the Fire or Wind Elementors yet.”
“Who cares? The Crusade is almost over!”
Sasshi was shocked. Who knew, the Crusade was about to end. But, she felt like something was left that she had to do.
“But, let’s not worry about it now. Let’s PARTY!!!”
And with that, everyone cheered and went to Sasshi’s. But Sasshi went over to Takamina, who was at the butt end of the ground, and whispered to her.
“Hey, if the Crusade’s about to end, what’s gonna happen?”
“Who knows...Haa...well, normally, there’d be a huge rest period, but it really just depends.” she said.
It seems, even now, the general manager did not know what to expect.
-----------------------
The only source of light was the flickering sun coming through from the sole window. Around a round table, a number of chairs were filled. A number were still waiting to be filled.
The shadow of a godly figure stood, originating from the most powerful Fate that was in charge at the moment. Various others sat next to him and stared at his majestic figure. The various attitudes among the beings varied.
Not all could be categorized, many different and all with unique roles in the world. In a way, the gathering was just part of the chaos that was the Crusade.
With a deep, resonating voice, through the whole enigmatic still incomplete meeting, the standing speaker boomed, “A great shift will occur once this peculiar time ends. And the moon will hold power in the changing of the tides of war.”
At one chair, a dark figure originating from the depths of Hell, laughed mockingly, “Yes, indeed.”
Another figure smirked as she let a droplet of wine fall into her mouth, “And...one shall open a new path to a world beyond.”
“This world is so vast and filled with potential. Now, come along friends as we view the changes and eruptions of power and fate! I trust that our lazy sun will join in as well,” roared the speaker with gusto.
A boyish laugh from behind rang out slightly. The sun grew stronger, and the eyes went towards the entrance of yet another member of this chat.
Everything was simply beginning. Until all were present, nothing too big was to happen. Then again, the definition of big was truly vague.
“Now, now, shall we joyously enjoy the blood of god as we play this tune for now?” the boy said, “Let fate spin it’s thread until the time comes, soon enough.”
In a room of enigma, a gathering took place. At the round table of the gods, legends were gathering. Only time could tell the unknowing what.
-
Yeah... another update
Great going with the story
What's going to happen next?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: Just a hint, the story will end soon~ probably. Anyways, update.
(btw, there are two hidden references to scenes in beautiful manga that I love~ wonder if anyone can guess them: hint - one is ghost/martial artsy and the other is magical girl/dark)
Seventeenth
In a world that seemed to have no light, god-like figures sat around the wooden table, circled in the dark, almost pitch black room.
“Mercurious, Gorem,” one spoke, “it seems that the human has passed your tests.”
“Yes. She is quite wise.”
“She could even surpass my strength. She holds much potential.”
“I’ve never seen someone as powerful as her. She’s different from Maeda Atsuko,” a young man with shining white hair said. “Could it be… she will surpass her power?”
“If so, do you believe she could become a God?”
“It happened to Yamamoto Sayaka.”
“Yes, after her soul bounded with the phoenix, Alastor. But, she is not of this world.” The man who spoke was rolling a pair of dice in his hands. “Even so, she was somehow able to transform into the Celestial Phoenix and surpass the former Sun God, Sol.”
Then, there was a sound of a snap. A spotlight shined upon, none other than Sayaka.
“I can hear, too, y’know.”
“Forgive us, Yamamoto.” The moon goddess, Luna, patted her head softly.
“It’s alright. Besides, I knew what was going to happen after I released Alastor from the seal. He was contained to control his power. But now, he has me.”
“Just remember, there are things that change for a reason.”
Sayaka bowed before the Gods. Then, the Dimensional God, Crow, transported her back to her home. The Fire Elementor, Calcifer, stood up and walked out.
“I guess it’s my turn.”
---------------------------------
The ikemen captain, Nakanishi, couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. The SKE she loved so much was in such a stupid state just because of her rash actions caused by her want to make SKE the best.
By her side, Churi sat by and gently pet her shoulder. Airi was around as well, sorrowfully looking up at the ceiling. There was a feeling of the end, everything seemed to have ended even with all the losses.
The beloved 5th generation girls had been torn apart by the loss of Nanako. The one who took it the hardest was Nao. She was still crying, breaking on the inside. As well, the artist Furukawa felt that her heart was ripped out as well.
No one was truly at fault. There was no one to blame though.
Even though the Airi who loved Rena as a friend was mad at Jurina and Rena, overhearing them and their light, loving attitude, nothing could change what had happened.
Nishishi sighed, “It’s all my fault...for believing a demon’s words...”
“You idiot! Nishishi! You idiot!” Airi shouted, “You’re a good person, a great leader, but in the end, an idiot! Can’t you see that we care about you!?”
Tears fell as silence overcame everything. The Airi who tried to keep things in cried.
Behind a wall, a number of juniors to the girls present were worriedly watching.
A short haired girl, Isohara Kyoka, was the first one to step out. She felt awkward, but she boldly said, “What Furukawa-senpai said was right! Everyone cares about you! We love Nakanishi-san!”
All the other Nakanishi supporters and basically all of SKE stood out and proclaimed in agreement. Churi slapped the captain’s back with a slight smile, and Airi let out a smile under her slight teary eyes.
Nishishi was a bit stunned. She tried to say, “How can I make up-”
“All you have to do is continue leading us, naturally like the way we love you,” grinned Airi.
In the background, a certain round Kato Rumi and a few of the Nakanishi fangirls were murmuring things like to go out to eat or to take a bath or something weird, but in the end they all agreed with what their group’s famous hentai had said.
The ikemen captain shed a happy tear as she smiled.
SKE standed for bonds, some of the strongest bonds in the world that shone brighter than the sun and hotter than the hottest flames. Once bounced off the wrong track, of course, the others would drag one back onto the right one again.
Nishishi understood now.
Those bonds would hold forever, after death or anything.
Even Nanako’s spirit had left her resting land for a slight while because of so. Nanako-inu couldn’t help but smile at seeing her captain like that. She couldn’t help but let out happiness at SKE’s joy. And she really wished that she could touch Airi and be alive with Nao.
Nanako let out a joyous sigh as she left the scene of her most precious comrades. She headed towards her most beloved’s room.
“Nao...Are you alright?”
She entered only to see Nao in bed, curled up sadly with her katana at Nao’s side. A few tears dripped out of Nao’s sleeping eyes as Nanako came closer.
Nanako wiped Nao’s tears as she whispered, “...Nao, sorry I died, but you have to stay strong.”
Whether or not Nao heard or not, she whimpered, “Nanacho...”
“Un, your Nanacho is right by your side right now.”
Nanako put her hand onto Nao’s and grasped tightly. She concentrated and tried to enter Nao’s dream. After a bit, she managed to slip in.
In front of her, she saw the replaying of a happy interaction between the two. Soon enough, Nanako saw the awkward, embarrassing pocky kiss they shared in front of everything. Lots of good memories occurred within the dream.
Nanako smiled as she observed. Nao was very happy.
Suddenly a crackling sound rang out. It was nothing big as it was just a dream, but everything fell apart. Dream-Nanako found a knife through her heart and dissolved into a puddle of blood. Nao cried and screamed.
“Nanacho!”
Nanako appeared in front of Nao and gently hugged her.
“...don’t leave me alone please...”
“Nao! Nao! Nao…please don’t cry.”
“I can’t help but cry because I care too much.”
“You’re not alone….because I’ll always be by your side.”
“L-Liar…,” mumbled Nao as she lightly hit Nanako.
“...maybe so, but...as long as you don’t give up, I’ll always be here for you. I can as I am now, and I will...”
“Nanacho...”
“Nao?”
Nao murmured with a sad smile as she hugged onto Nanako, “Let me just stay like this for a while...”
“Yea.”
And then, Nao woke up. She rubbed her eyes and realized that her tears had been wiped. No one else was around, so it must’ve been Nanako. She turned and saw the fleeting image of that Furukawa’s puppy and her most beloved. While she couldn’t see, Nao somehow felt as if Nanako was there watching.
She shifted and moved her hand. Suddenly, she realized that Nanako’s sword was slightly patched up.
Nao gasped as she noticed a red ribbon and a box of pocky attached. A little letter read in a certain girl’s handwriting, ‘Maybe someday, we’ll get to do the pocky game again. Nao, I’ll always be around. Love, Nanako.’
Nao couldn’t help but give a wry smile and a sigh, still a bit down though.
Suddenly, a pile of girls fell through the door. They were Nao’s close 5th generation.
“Eh?”
Harutamu asked, “Nao, how are you feeling?”
“Hmm...I guess I feel a little better,” whispered Nao with a weak smile.
Miyamae said with a grin, “We’re always here for you.”
“Yups, and...dinner’s ready tonight,” Ego-chan said while slightly wrapped in bandages from the incident before, “We can’t have you starving. Though, Nakanishi-san’s fans are kind of making a big ruckus in the mess halls...”
Miyamae rapidly nodded along and grabbed onto Nao’s hand. Nao held onto Nanako’s sword, and the group went along.
“I’ll count on everyone to take care of her then...”
---------------------------------
“Let’s party~!!!”
Everyone at Sasshi’s was having a full-out party. Everyone was dancing, and eating, and having fun. They all celebrated Sasshi and her victory against the two Elementors.
Yuko popped open lots of bubbly bottles and putting mentos into Cola to make bottle rockets, Haruna and Takamina were playing with light sparklers, Mayu was chasing Yuki with a giant rabbit doll(apparently, Yuki doesn’t like rabbits. Or any animals for that matter. XD), and Yui and Paru were basically chaperones to the party.
Sasshi was kind of a wall flower as she watched everyone. She honestly didn’t know how to react with all this.
“Soon… the Crusades will end. So what will happen to me?”
“Hey, Sasshi!” Yuko walked up and handed Sasshi a glass of a strange, pinkish red drink. “Have a drink. You look down.”
“I’m not thirsty...”
“C’mon, everyone’s drinking.”
And when Sasshi looked, just as she said, everyone was drinking the same strange liquid.
“Well, yeah, but...”
“Sasshi, what’s wrong?”
“I guess I’m just a bit worried. What’s going to happen to me now that the Crusades are almost over?”
“Well, best chances are, after the Crusades, you’ll have to give up Center position. You’re only human, so you’ll finally be able to go back to your normal life on Earth.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You might just forget about us, too. You won’t remember anything.”
“I’ll forget you?” Sasshi leaned up against the wall, letting the strange liquid in her glass spin inside the glass.
Then, she smelled it and pulled back.
“Yuko, is this… liquor?”
“Yes. Why you ask?”
“Uh-oh...”
Then, she saw what looked like a bullet pass through her. She saw Takamina flying like crazy in the sky. In zig-zags, loop-de-loops, upside-down. When she crash landed, Sasshi dropped the glass and walked over to help her.
“Woo-hoo~” But when she saw her flushed face, she knew instantly. “That was awesome~! *hic* Let’s do it again!”
“Oh no. Takamina, you’re drunk!”
“Yeah, Takamina’s the giddy drunk,” Yuko said, like she didn’t care.
“What other drunk types are there?”
“Let’s see… Haruna and Yukirin are the stripper drunks,” she pointed over to the two of them, undressing. She ran up and started throwing some money at them. “MAKE IT RAIN, NYAN-NYAN!!!”
“And...”
“Yuko...” Mayu stumbled over and pulled her back, then hugged Yuki’s back. “Yukirin *hic*… i-is mine..! You can’t have her! *hic*...”
“Mayu’s the clingy drunk. And Paru’s the emotional one.”
Sasshi looked over and saw Paru with Yui in the middle of what looked like an S and M roleplay. Yui was grabbing Paru’s hair and kissing her neck hungrily as the latter moaned in ecstasy.
“Yui’s...”
“I guess the angry drunk, but yeah, when they’re together, they become quite an SM pair.”
“What type of drunk are you, Yuko?”
“What do you think? A pervert drunk. Haruna always tells me I try to rape her when I’m under the influence.”
Sasshi groaned and smacked her head as she saw all her friends crazy drunk.
“Guys?” Then, when she turned around, she saw SKE’s WMatsui, Rena and Jurina, standing behind her.
“WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?! IT’S BEEN FOREVER!!! YOU COULDN’T HAVE COME IN AT A BETTER TIME?!?!”
“What’s going on?”
“Ooh~ juice!” Jurina ran over to Yuko, who handed her a fresh glass of “juice”.
“Um, Rena, what exactly happened over on the SKE squad?”
“A lot of chaos; it’s too hard to explain. Let’s just say, it’s all okay now.”
“Good.” Sasshi sighed and leaned against the wall. After which, she explained to Rena what happened with her and the Elementors. Rena was proud that Sasshi had grown so much, even though she wasn’t there to witness it.
Then, Rena told her about what happened with Kanon, and everything that happened to her. Sasshi couldn’t believe it at first, but Rena was serious about all of it. Sasshi was especially sad that they lost one of their members(though, she didn’t know her all that well).
She was just glad Rena was okay.
“Hey, Rena-san...”
“Eh?”
“After the Crusades… will I go back to my human life and forget everything about you?”
“Well, who knows? I mean, some of the people who graduated and went to live new lives on Earth still remember us. Maybe, some of your memories will stay.”
“I hope. You guys are too good to forget.”
The two giggled, blushing a bit.
Then, they heard a groan from behind. They saw Jurina sitting on the ground, her head swaying from side to side as if she were lost in the metronome’s hypnotic movement.
“Jurina?” Rena knelt down to her side and shook her shoulders. “Jurina, what’s wrong?”
“Oh crap...” Sasshi’s mouth gaped open as she tried to warn Rena, but too late.
When Jurina looked up, Rena saw her glazed eyes. In Jurina’s mind, everything was a blur, like a thick cloud of fog covering her common sense. She smiled at Rena and leaned forward to her.
“Chuu~”
“Eh? EEEEH?!”
“Oh no~! Not Jurina, too.”
Yuko tapped her shoulder and said, “Jurina’s really weak with alcohol, since she’s still young. When she’s drunk, she becomes a kissing monster and kiss anyone near her.”
“Anyone? Or everyone?”
“Mm…. well, not everyone. But, most of us. I was one of her victims. But, for the most part, she likes to attack Rena more than any of the members.”
Sasshi watched as Rena struggled to remove the puppy girl as she kissed her lips endlessly. Eventually, Rena stopped and her hand dropped to the ground. Sasshi was worried maybe she was running out of air and growing weak.
She ripped Jurina off of the older girl and shook her awake.
“Rena, you gotta wake up and help. Everyone’s drunk and--”
“Help?” Rena rose up and looked at Sasshi, but not in the regular way she would. Her eyes were sharper and she had a sly grin on her face. Her hand was placed under her chin as she chuckled like a royal princess. “If you want a favor from me, get on your knees and beg, you pig. Hahahahahaha.”
“Woah! That’s kinda… kakkoii.”
“Rena’s the ojou-sama drunk. Quite different from her normally quiet self, huh?”
“She got drunk just by Jurina’s kisses?!”
Speaking of, Jurina picked Sasshi up and put her a few inches back from them, and proceeded to hug Rena around the waist.
“Don’ even ged’ any ideaz, Zasshi~! Rena belongz da meh, an’ you ain’t geddin’ any of mah kizzes eithah!”
Jurina dove down and started attacking Rena once more, showering her in kisses.
“That’s it~. Show me your love. Show your loyalty to me.”
“Hai, ojou-sama~!”
“This is the craziest party I’ve ever seen. Who knew even angels could get drunk?”
---------------------------------
About four hours later…
After everyone woke up, Sasshi stood outside her bathroom door as she heard the wretched sound of Takamina vomiting.
“T-Takamina… are you okay?”
“...*cough* *cough* NO! What the hell, Yuko?! You gave us liquor!”
“Sorry, guys. I just wanted to play a little prank.”
As Yuko and Takamina argued in the bathroom, Sasshi went over to the others in her living room. Rena, Haruna, and Yuki had already woken up, and were watching after the other sleeping members.
“You guys okay?”
“Yeah, we didn’t drink as much as Takamina did. You should’ve seen her guzzle it down.”
“And since Jurina spread the alcohol to me through kisses, it only lasted a few short seconds. So, I don’t feel sick.”
Sasshi sighed and sat down in her couch. When she looked at the angels, they all had strange looks on their faces.
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you think Yuko’s been acting differently than normal?”
“Eh? How?”
“Even though she loves to fight and get those weird adventures started and hop right in, she seems a lot more…”
“More...?”
“Laidback.”
“She’s not being the same Yuko she usually is like in the Crusades. She’s stopped fighting as much as she used to, and she’s just going wild and having fun. Even her little pranks have changed and developed.”
“It’s like she’s completely forgotten about the Crusades.”
Sasshi pursed her lips. “What happens if she stays like that?”
“Who knows? We don’t even know why she’s been acting up in the first place, but only Yuko can decide what she does, so it’s not like we’d know.”
“But, if this kind of behavior goes on, it could leave an opening of attack.”
All of them just sighed and wondered what had been going on in the little squirrel girl’s mind.
“Maybe… she just wants to live her life at the fullest. To enjoy it and have fun before it ends.” Sasshi said reassuringly.
Haruna chuckled. “Yuko always did say… You can only go forward.”
“Un...”
---------------------------------
As the moon rose in the sky, it shined on a sole angel as she flew through the clouds and landed in front of a sacred chapel. She walked through the doors and stared at the gate that had been chosen to open for only a chosen few to pass through.
She smiled, saying, “You can only move forward…,” in a low voice, before turning back with a smile on her face.
She looked up at the starry sky, a single tear falling down her cheek. She wiped it away as the cold night breeze blew and sakura petals fell.
“It won’t be long now...”
---------------------------------
Mae Shika Mukanee (M-ON! ) (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1c1zak)
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Yuko is thinking of graduating, isn't she?
I like the drunk angels... Very fun scenes
What's going to happen next?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Haha! I love this! :inlove:
Lol! PON PON PON! and Caramelldansen!! XD :P
AKB vs HKT dance off was awesome!! :D :w00t: :twothumbs
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Lots of YouTube there...
Interesting dance off...
Nice peaceful ending too
Interesting side story
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
Eighteenth
A few days after, everyone was finally able to rest a bit. There seemed to be no attacks from the Elementor gods, and all was at peace. One night, while everyone was asleep, Sasshi felt she was thirsty and went to her kitchen to get a drink.
She gulped down the cold water and sighed softly, when she thought she heard something. When she looked, she saw Takamina down the hall, who seemed restless, too.
“Hey...”
“Hey.”
“Can’t sleep?”
“Yeah. Can I have some water to drink?”
“Sure.” Sasshi poured the small girl a glass and handed it to her. The two clinked glasses a bit and smiled.
Sasshi looked up at the ceiling and remembered what had happened when she faced the two Elementors.
First, the Water Elementor. When she got eaten by her, she went to another world and saw Mariko, but she wasn’t exactly sure if that was just a dream or not.
Then, the Earth Elementor. When the giant gorum made fun of her, she felt so much power from her anger and was able to defeat it in one shot.
She didn’t know how she could’ve possibly done that. She never had powers, and was still trying to adjust from when she did have them. Heck, she was still adjusting to the Crusades in general.
Basically, she thought that ever since she got the ring, it was mass chaos.
“Nee, Takamina...”
“Hm? Doushita?”
“I feel like I’ve gotten better at this...like surviving in the Crusades and all.”
“Well, you’ve been training and through a bunch of practical experiences, so of course,” Takamina said and then paused before continuing, “But you can’t let your guard down because it’s ending or because you’ve gotten a little better.”
Sasshi nodded, “Yea.”
“I mean, if you do...then your house will explode or something. That was just an example of what could happen.”
“...I really need to pay attention and stay on guard, eh?”
“Basically,” said Takamina as she looked proud of her example from before.
Due to how seriously Sasshi took Takamina’s words though, the atmosphere somehow became somewhat dark and serious. Takamina grinned and slapped Sasshi on the back.
“Anyways, don’t worry. You can always rely on us if you have trouble.”
Sasshi nodded. The two continued a light chat into the night.
-----------------------------------------
HKT was at the moment training, sharpening their weapons, and doing other things in preparation for a huge battle. Chihiro walked around and watched, pretending that she hadn’t tripped a few minutes earlier.
The captain sighed as she yelled to Aoi, “Aoi! Aim correctly! You’re not hitting at all!”
“B-But…,” stuttered the girl.
Capt stared coldly in return, expecting a better aim the next time Aoi shot an arrow from her bow. The pressure built up. The fact that there was formerly typically a nice captain compared to the mean captain made it even scarier.
Aoi’s eyes started to gather up tears as Chihiro watched somewhat coldly.
Suddenly, the baseball demon, Wakaharu jumped in, “Capt, you don’t have to be that cold and mean!”
“What do you mean by cold and mean?”
“Well, you just made Aoi-tan cry. Even though she’s a huge crybaby, but you’re just standing around not caring.”
“Well, I just said the truth in a blunter way than I would’ve the last time we had a Crusade!”
“The you from before was clumsy, but better!”
“I’m still me! Why can’t I point out our mistakes!?”
“You’re a big idiot sometimes, Capt!”
As Wakaharu and Chihiro began to argue, Aoi continued to cry. The boss, Tanaka, saw this and stepped in the middle of them.
“Hey. Stop it, you two. This fighting will get us nowhere.”
“Stay out of this, Tanaka!” Anai shouted angrily.
“No, Anai. You’re making things worse, Aoi’s crying and you need to apologize.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to be a leader here! I’m the captain, and I’m in charge of this team!”
“Well, you aren’t doing a very good job at it!”
“Stop! STOP!” Aoi tried to stop the two, but she ended up backing away from the fearful aura coming from the captain. “Just… stop...”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Why don’t you follow your own words, captain!?” Wakaharu yelled angrily.
Chihiro roared in frustration, “Shut up! Why don’t you all try being me!?”
“Like we’d wanna be anything like YOU!”
Boss yelled as she pried the two from each other, “Just stop arguing already!”
Capt frowned, hiding her hurt underneath, as she replied, “Fine then. It’s up to you whether or not you want to fail in the Crusades again.”
“Fine then! I don’t need you anyways!!!”
Anai stormed off into her room. She slammed it shut and started punching the wall, letting out all her anger and frustration. She bit her bottom lip, knowing that she might start to cry, but held it in.
A deep voice mockingly laughed within her mind, “Hahaha, you simple demons can be so pathetic.”
Chihiro gasped before regaining her calm outer appearance and said, “Who are you?”
“I’m shocked you don’t know, but I’m just another demon who’ll give you power in return for letting me play around for a bit...”
“I’d prefer to reject your offer at the moment.”
“Really? Well then...”
The next second, Anai felt a sharp pain in her head, shocking throughout her body and causing her to collapse, moaning and groaning in pain.
“Hahaha… what a pitiful sight.”
“...ahh… w-what are you..urgh...”
“More. More! Writhe in pain.”
“Urgh… aaaargh..! AAAAAAAHHH!!!”
-----------------------------------------
The next morning…
Sasshi yawned as she rolled out of her bed. She thought to herself that maybe she shouldn’t have talked with Takamina for such a long time last night. What was done was done though, so she couldn’t particularly change anything.
Going to the kitchen for some breakfast, she found that there was close to nothing left to eat. Luckily, Takamina was kind enough to save a small portion for her to eat.
Starting off with a small meal was kind of depressing. Anyways, ignoring that small fact, Sasshi walked out of the house to find out where everyone else was and possibly fume at the fact that they ate too much of her food.
Looking around, it was pretty easy for her to spot them. Luckily, her neighbors couldn’t see the angels playing around in broad daylight.
Yuko cheerfully waved, “Yo, Sasshi!”
“Ah...good morning. Why’d you guys have to eat-”
Suddenly, the ace felt a strong presence. Clearly, the wide eyes of varying expressions on the angels said that they did too.
As Sasshi hastily turned back to her house, it quite literally went up in flames and exploded, throwing bits of wood all over the place, burning up of course.
“Hello, Sashihara Rino~” Sasshi looked and saw some of the flames forming the figure of a human.
“You’re… the third elementor.”
“My name is Calcifer.”
“Not that I need to know...”
“Tell me, you’ve shown your strength to the others, but can you face… the heat?”
A surge of flames as well as a huge rise of temperature filled the whole entire area. People were screaming out as the strange change occurred. Calcifer casually smiled.
Sasshi yelled while heavily sweating, “You! Don’t get innocent people, even though they’re mostly jerks, involved!”
“Is that so?“ Calcifer casually played with a few fireballs while talking, ”Well, it’s true I’d get in trouble if I caused too many souls from humans to clog up near the end of this thing that the groups call the Crusades.”
“Grr…,” grumbled Sasshi as she fought for the concentration to materialize a weapon of water and possibly try using the earth.
Seeing that Sasshi was ready to fight, Calcifer stopped attacking the innocent bystanders and surrounded the related with a large box of flames, no holes.
“I wonder if you’ll be able to stand this heat...and also if you’ll be able to defeat me before the oxygen runs out.”
Sasshi thought to retort, but she knew that it’d probably be better to not do it if the oxygen in the box was going to be burned away at the pace of flames.
Using as much energy as she could, she weakly reached for the river and touched the water. It ran up her arm and shot it up against Calcifer’s face.
He threw Sasshi into the river, strangling her under the water.
She felt herself losing oxygen and slowly closed her eyes.
-----------------------------------------
Anai laid on the ground, holding her head as she heard dark, demonic whispers resonated inside her mind. She felt nothing but pain throughout her body, her breaths were sharp and paced as she took short intakes of air.
Her pained screams echoed off the walls as her body convulsed and shook madly as she slowly lost herself. Her mind was spinning and it felt like she was going insane. Her senses were all scrambled, and she couldn’t do anything.
“Hahaha… you’re weak.”
“Nobody loves you.”
“You’re worthless. You might as well die.”
Chihiro saw herself being grabbed by millions of hands, dark shadows with claws reaching out and plunging her further into madness and the deep abyss of darkness.
“Hate. Hate all things.” The voice of the demonic puppet master grabbed her body and gave her a crooked grin.
Anai stared into his glowing red eyes, which now had dizzying black swirls inside them that drew her in.
“Take revenge on them. You can show them. You can destroy those angels and this miserable planet.”
Outside Chihiro’s mind, her voice had died down and her body was now shaking madly. Her screams were now muffled by gallons of saliva foaming out of her mouth. Her eyes had rolled back, turned completely white and empty.
“Accept my power, Anai Chihiro, and we shall rule this world.”
“....Y-yes… my lord…”
When Chihiro woke up, she was back in her room. But now, she had changed from normal. Her heart was filled with hatred and her eyes had nothing but darkness inside of them.
She rose up from the floor and gave an evil grin, a fang appearing from her crooked smile.
The next thing that happened was she jumped up to her feet and punched the door off the hinges, scaring the HKT girls.
They were scared to see an intimidating, black aura surrounding her. They also saw her eyes were now an evil blood red with slit pupils.
“C-cap..?”
“Girls… it’s time we have some fun.” she said in a voice more demonic than normal. “I’ll show you… just why you shouldn’t mess with me.”
She walked up to Aoi, whose cheeks were still wet from crying, and smirked.
Aoi was backed into a wall as Chihiro slowly rose her hand and touched her forehead. Suddenly, a darkness began to seep in from an unknown origin. A murky looking black with a malicious looking red began to absorb everything around.
The members who tried to run in and help were attacked by the evil and pulled in. The next moment, various screams rang out.
“What is this?!”
“Stop it!!! Leave me alone!!!”
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!”
Chihiro watched as everyone was having multiple seizures and panic attacks. Her nightmarish hallucinations made their brains plunge into a dark madness and mental chaos.
Tanaka walked up to Chihiro and grabbed her wrist.
“What are you doing?! Release them.”
“No can do...” Chihiro broke away from the taller girl and grabbed her head. “You shall be punished for your actions against me.”
Tanaka’s eyes glazed over as she found herself surrounded by darkness. She choked out a gasp as she grasped her head while a terrifying dream played out in her head. It was too real, and she crumpled down to the floor, curling up.
Chihiro chuckled as she went over and tapped Boss on the shoulder, “How do you feel now?”
Boss let out a bloodcurdling scream in response.
Chihiro’s body jerked all of a sudden. With a sigh, she regained normal control, not that she was herself at the moment.
“There was still just a tiny bit of resistance, eh? Hahahaha!”
Chihiro, due to the evil spirit inside her heart, now loved seeing the girls crumble and break down in a mental meltdown.
After a few minutes, feeling they’ve had enough torture, snapped her fingers.
One second after, everyone’s minds were returned to sanity and they stared at Chihiro with fear in their eyes.
“Now… all of you listen up. You obey me. My orders are absolute, you shall never deny anything I say. Or else, you will be severely punished. Understood?”
“Y-yes...” Everyone fearfully bowed in front of her and quickly lined up in front of her.
Chihiro looked at Tanaka, who was still on the ground.
“Kiss my feet.”
Tanaka felt even her be broken by Chihiro’s dark glare and bowed before her. Her body shook as she started crying, kissing the girl’s black leather boots.
Chihiro chuckled lowly as she watched all of them tremble at her very gaze.
“Hehehehe…. Hahahahahahaha!”
-----------------------------------------
“Hey you. How in the world can you nearly drown to death...when fighting a blob of fire!?”
Sasshi woke up and found herself back in the strange world. But now, she was in front of a large lake filled with beautiful lilies.
“Hey, Sashihara. Long time, no see.” Sasshi was surprised to see Tomochin in front of her, smiling her trademark smile.
“T-T-TOMOCHIN?! Oh God… that means, it wasn’t a dream? All this is real… This world does exist..!”
“Haha, talking weird nonsense as usual.”
Sasshi held her head as she remembered how tough her enemy was.
“How am I gonna beat this one? Just water and rock isn’t going to beat him...”
“You have more power than you think, y’know?”
“Eh?”
“...Did you know that rock and water have elemental properties that are useful against fire?”
“...probably.”
“Plus, you have me to help now.” She placed her hand on Sasshi’s chest. “My power will be in here, with you.”
Sasshi felt her heart grow warm, surging with power.
“Now go on. Fight, win it for me.”
“Hai.”
Sasshi jumped into the lake and swam back up to find herself in the river once more.
She was surprised to see that Calcifer was being blocked from attacking her angel friends by Yuko.
“Yuko!”
“Urgh… get him! I can’t hold him much longer!”
Sasshi nodded as she formed two long daggers, one made up of surging water and the other made up of rumbling stone. A warmth from Tomochin gave a few small hints on how to use daggers. Sashihara smiled.
Then, she charged towards Calcifer.
The fire Elementor swiftly turned towards Sasshi and sent a huge, oxygen consuming blast of fire towards Sasshi. Sasshi threw the earth dagger at it and eradicated it. She then created a new dagger of stones.
Calcifer frowned and created a huge mass of fire, eating away at all the oxygen in the box.
“Haha! Since you let a river in, I can steal the oxygen that’s dispersed in the water! Plus, it’s a good cooling system to let me keep my cool!”
The flaming figure scowled at his own mistakes. Sasshi wasn’t going to let that stop her attack. She rushed forward with her water dagger in front and stabbed at him.
A hissing noise escaped as the water from the water dagger started to consume and put out the flame body. Calcifer jumped back in surprise and wielded a large amount of fireballs in return. He sent his projectiles flying.
Sasshi went along and destroyed any that could’ve harmed her with her stone dagger.
Their little exchange went on for a while.
Given that Sasshi’s clothes were slightly burned in the process, with a now considerably large advantage, Sashihara flew up and attacked. She watered down the flames with the water dagger. Then, the rumbling rocks swirled down and smothered what was left.
Sasshi jumped happily at her success, “Yea! I did it!”
The box of fire disappeared.
Just as the Kami-7 plus Haruna and Sasshi were about to celebrate, a clearly emitting evil piece of arrow flew into the scene and scratched at the already weak Yuko. It disappeared quickly after, and they saw Chihiro disappear with a bow in hand.
The group was confused and thought nothing of it at first. As they hugged and celebrated, Yuko seemed to want to say something.
No sound came out of her mouth though, “...!”
Something strange was up, but they had no clue what. Also, the normal people came back and Sashihara had to explain what happened. All those complicated topics came along to trouble and went.
A bit later, they finally had the chance to check what had happened, given that Sasshi had lost her place to stay and had to do with a makeshift camp with Team A.
Haruna carefully inspected Yuko’s throat, body, face, and voice box. She tried to use some magic to see if there was any problems with her voice making parts, but in the end Haruna was unable to see.
“There’s nothing...Yuuchan is totally fine, physically.”
“...!”
“It must’ve been that black arrow, but I can’t tell how to fix it without having a good look at the arrow or something.”
Sasshi mumbled, “Why would Chihiro even want to do that besides the fact that she’s evil?”
Takamina replied, “Well, if she’s truly so evil, that’d be a good reason already.”
“Well,” Haruna sighed, “I can’t tell if she’s evil or not, but I don’t really get why she attacked.“
“...!”
“Is that type of bow and arrow even her usual weapon?” WMatsui wondered in synch.
“Just because she’s a demon doesn’t mean that she’s based on that type of demonic magic, or at least that’s what it looked like, so I’m hypothesising that there’s something weird going on,” said Mayuyu.
Everyone nodded in confusion. What in the world had happened? It was really confusing. If Yuko had a clue, she was just opening her mouth and closing it like a fish while trying to say something, but ending up unable to.
A small bit of their answer soon came along.
The lisp demon, Haruppi, ran over with a scared look. She surveyed the surroundings and let out a sigh. Being kind of close with Team A, the demon was able to go around in the area.
Sasshi inquired, “Um, what’s up?”
Haruppi worriedly trotted around as she pondered, and ended up blurting out, “Ah! Chiichan is posseshed by someshing evil, and she’s dangerous-going to attack, probably!”
Everyone was silent as they took in the information. Chihiro was possessed by a great evil, and that great evil was going to attack soon. Haruppi’s fear was a good sign of how bad it was. Sasshi couldn’t help but shudder. Something big and bad was likely going to happen.
I'll just say a few words as a comment from me on what just happened: Ah...HKT...worrying. Chiichan! And also, ya see, Takamina jinxed Sasshi's house. *nods*
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An update... Yeah...
Oh.. Yuko.....?
What's going on with the members?
Can't wait to find out more
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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My Chihiro bb became the evil ;_;
Can this be a prelude to Homusatan
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cisda-san~: truly, these updates have been getting faster... ah, Ruka-san is an awesome writer.
Yuki88: Ah...indeed... I'm a Chihiro oshi...so... well, a bit OOC (okay, very much from my image), but...somehow, it'll probably fix itself. The evil will not prevail! (Probably) (And, hoorah for Madoka references!)
Nineteenth
“Chaos...” The gatekeeper Helios slapped the Demon King as he played with the thin, white string around his fingers, all of them spiritually connected to Chihiro. “Why would you go this far?”
He didn’t answer him and just grinned as he watched his little puppet toy with the HKT Boss, crying at her feet.
“Doesn’t this make things more interesting?” the demon chuckled.
“You will be severely punished for these actions.”
“Taking control of a being’s body will upset the balance of our world.” Crow said as he rolled his dice in his fingers. “Do you know what will happen to that poor girl’s soul?”
“She was worthless before.”
“The stars are slowly changing...”
“So will your fate, Chaos.”
“Just wait.”
The Wind Elementor, Ventus, slowly got up and put on his robe.
“It’s finally time.” he said to his comrades. “After this, we, the Fates, shall finally make our mark.”
“Things are about to change.”
-----------------------------------------
Sasshi stood silently as her angel friends were discussing with the lisp demon, Haruppi.
“What do you mean, Chihiro’s by something evil?”
Haruppi bit her lip before she spoke.
“Chihiron wath acting really strange during training. She wath making uth see really scary, scary thingsh.”
“Scary?”
Haruppi shuddered with visible fear as she said, “It wath like… a nightmare. But too real...”
“It was that powerful?”
“Un...”
“....!” Yuko tried to catch the attention of the group, but found it to no avail.
“Here,” then Sasshi handed her a marker and a notepad to write on. “One of my friends did it to talk when she had a sore throat and lost her voice.”
Yuko gave her a thumbs up and held up her sign for everyone to see.
“This type of magic should be something on a higher level than what she can do, but I’ve heard about it before, casted by something else.”
“You think maybe… that’s what caused her to act like that?”
Yuko gave a big nod.
“When I looked into her eyesh, they were… different. And then...” she crawled into a small ball in her chair and started shaking again.
“OK, let’s not make you remember.”
“What do we do???”
“Well, it depends. What does Chihiro plan to do?”
“She wansht to… kill you. She wants to kill all the angelsh and take the throne of Heaven.”
“She’s a demon, but… does she really have the guts to do that?”
“That’s probably another reason why it has to be a higher level of power possessing her.”
“Like Satan?” Yuko wrote with a drawing of the Red Hades, Satan, on the bottom corner.
“Maybe not that high of power...”
“Wait! The Demon king! Uhh, what’s his name. Chaos!”
“Sounds likely enough. He’s chaos itself, and that’s what Chihiro seems to be kind of like at the moment.”
Takamina sighed, “Well, under the assumption that he’s possessed her or something, how would we devise a plan to defeat her? It’s not that easy to defeat a big power.”
“Well… how do you beat dark magic?” Sasshi suddenly brought up.
“Eh?”
“What I’ve learned is, even demons have to have souls, or else they’re nothing but dark, empty shells void of light. Not all you demons are bad. Sure, there’s darkness in you, but Chaos had to have taken Chihiro’s soul with dark magic to control her.”
“So, we can beat him?”
“It may be hard, but yes, we can probably defeat him.-------------------------------------------------------------------[/b][/center]
Chihiro let out a slightly bored frown as she stared towards the back door of the HKT’s base. Surely enough, a certain lisp demon had attempted to sneak in after a good time of waiting. She deliberately walked loudly towards Haruppi.
Haruppi straightened up in fear as she tried not to look at Chihiro.
Chihiro stepped towards the frozen demon girl with a look of sadistic evil, a wicked grin that didn’t belong.
“Haruka… where have you been?”
Haruppi froze up and failed to think up of an excuse. Chihiro faked a mocking frown as she held the demon girl’s face with her cold hand. She stared intimidatingly into Haruppi’s fearful eyes and licked her lips cruelly.
“Well, I don’t particularly need the answer to a question I already can answer.”
“I-I...”
“But, you see, bad demons need to be punished.”
With a smile, she let a huge wave of darkness consume and gnaw at Haruppi. So many terrifying, horrifying, gruesome visions terrorized the lisp demon’s mind endlessly. Haruppi fell to her knees as tears of fear streamed out and a number of screams broke out to the point that the demon’s throat was raw from screaming.
“This is what happens when you cross me, Haruka.” Slowly, she poked the girl’s forehead and sent the poor girl deeper into an abyss of madness.
Haruppi could feel so much pain throughout her body that her mind couldn’t take it and she broke down on the floor. All the suffering the other HKT girls were going through during torture filled training would’ve been nothing compared to this.
“Not fun, is it?”
The lisp demon didn’t even answer her as her screams were reduced to incomparable murmurs and alien-like babbling. Her eyes rolled back into her head, turning complete white, and her mouth foamed endlessly as her body shook like an earthquake.
Chihiro just grinned, seeing her suffer through the same pain she went through…
“Wait… what?”
“Stop!”
“Ugh...” Chihiro held her head as she felt something in her head, as if it was tugging on her brain. She chuckled. “Heh… bit more resistance, huh? What’s the matter? Don’t like seeing people suffer? What kind of demon are you?”
Then she noticed something on Haruppi’s shoulder. It was a white feather.
“Damn angels...”
She went over and pulled out a small strand of her own hair. It straightened itself out and stiffened. After whispering a few words, it turned into an arrow. The same she had used to curse Yuko with a special poison(which she had stolen from the SKE squadron).
She then walked over to the suffering lisp demon and whispered something in her ear that made her scream loudly and pass out.
“Poor Haruka… You care about your dear friend so much, you betrayed your own team to try and help… And in the end, this is what you get.”
Then, she pulled out a strand of Haruppi’s hair and smirked.
“Payback time, angels. Today, it will be the end of that Oshima Yuko.”
-----------------------------------------
Takamina opened an old book that showed a picture of two strange orbs. One was black, and one was white, which kinda made Sasshi think of the Yin and Yang.
“This is called the Soul Gem,” Takamina said, pointing at the white orb. “It’s a gem that God uses to create and store souls. It keeps them safe, so if someone needs it, they’ll be there.”
“There are all kinds now that are used to hold one, so Chaos probably stole one and used it to extract Chihiro’s soul out.”
“What’s the black one?”
“This is the Phantom Crystal. This is the orb that Chaos has in his possession. It contains all his dark magic.”
“Only the light magic in the Soul Gem is powerful enough to beat the dark magic of the Phantom Crystal.”
“So… how do we do that?”
Yuko wrote down something else.
“Either ask God to give the original Soul Gem to us” She flipped a page and wrote once more. “Or find one powerful enough to overpower Chaos’ black magic(which is REALLY hard.)”
“So, basically, not a lot of choices...”
As everyone sighed, they all felt a gust of wind blow by, sending a few leaves rustling by. From the shadows, a tall, almost scrawny looking man clad in a dark ninja’s outfit under a feathery robe appeared.
Moving like the wind, disappearing as he stepped forward and reappearing again with the breeze, the angels and Sasshi were a bit surprised to see him.
He whispered behind the mask over his mouth, “The wind is here to challenge you, but...”
The mood seemed quite sullen and dark at the moment. Somehow, no one seemed particularly up to the task or in the mood.
The ninja let out a slight sigh and whispered, “I’ll come back later. Do not forget our duel.”
With another gust, he disappeared into the darkness. Embedded into the ground was a throwing star with a small letter attached. It only read the name, Ventus.
As if sensing that the words were read, the star and letter swept away into the air as well, leaving a cool tingling sensation on the hand of Sasshi who happened to pick it up.
Yuko scribbled out, “That was the wind Elementor, Ventus.”
“Yea, looks like it. He’s...a lot nicer than the other ones,” said Sasshi as she clearly remembered the intelligent, yet mean water guy, the narcissist jerk rock, and the somewhat arrogant flamehead.
Takamina agreed, “He’s kind enough to allow us to pay attention to the dire matter at hand.”
“Yokatta….”
“Anyways, back to this.” Takamina said as she gathered everyone back to the book. “Now then, one of the best chances we’ll have against Chaos would be to use the power of the Soul Gem to absorb the black magic out of his body.”
“What will happen after that?”
“He’ll be banished to the Underworld forever… NEVER to return! Mwah-ha-ha-haaaa!!!” Yuko wrote jokingly.
“Uh-huh… so, where do we find this thing?”
“They could be anywhere, and to find a powerful enough one to defeat Chaos will be a while. We’ll have to do some extra training. You too, Sasshi. You need to learn how to control your powers. We can send a search party to help find the Soul Gem later.”
“Roger!”
-----------------------------------------
“Alright, girls! Let’s get to training!”
“Yes, sir!” Takamina faced her top angel team, the members she had chosen herself to help battle the possessed Chihiro and her army.
They could only imagine what they might have in store for them, so they had to train to their limits. Even Sasshi joined in training and pushed herself to her breaking point.
Watching them was a bedridden Oshima Yuko, who felt weak a few minutes into training.
Now, Haruna was making special medicine to help her.
“You don’t have to look after me, Nyan-nyan.” she wrote with a sad smile on her face.
“Of course I do.” she said as she mixed the elixir. “I care about you, Yuuchan.”
She placed the pink liquid in a cup and had the weak angel drink it. Haruna couldn’t help but hug the poor girl, feeling that was all else she could do to help.
“I’m okay. Really...”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t stop caring. I’ll go to the ends of the universe to help her.”
Then, she laid a kiss on Yuko’s lips. As she separated, she took the marker from her hand and wrote on the board.
“I may not act like it, but I love you, Yuuchan.”
Yuko giggled silently and wrote back, “I love you, too, Haruna.”
Meanwhile…
“Amazing, Sasshi...” Takamina breathed out as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. “You’re the last one standing.”
She literally was. Everyone was either on the ground panting from exhaustion, had cuts or bruises on them, or had passed out completely.
“I’ve grown since the Crusades began.”
“I can see that. You’ve harnessed your powers and used them well.”
“I don’t know what it is… It just seems to come naturally.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you’re not a genius, so good job.”
Sasshi facepalmed at the insult. Seeing as Takamina wasn’t a mean type of person, it probably wasn’t supposed to be so cruel, but it ended up coming out like that.
Sasshi pouted, “How do you know I’m not a genius anyways?”
“Honestly, I don’t find that you’re that type of person either.”
From the shadows, once again, a gust of wind blew. Leaves flew and hit Sasshi in the face as the wind cooled her down. Right then, Ventus coolly appeared in front of Sasshi.
“Wait a sec, we’re not going to duel right now are we?”
“If you have enough time to spar with an angel, I don’t see why not.”
“Well, yes, but...”
“Perhaps you’re too tired. Here...” He handed her a strange pendant that seemed to have a light glowing and circling inside it. “If you can figure out how to use this, you can defeat me.”
Sasshi took it and put it around her neck.
“Are you ready?”
She took in a deep breath and readied herself.
“Yes.”
“Good then.”
In a gust, he seemingly disappeared from sight. Sasshi tried to do something along the lines of sensing the earth to see where he was. Clearly Ventus was not touching the ground, or Sasshi just happened to suck at sensing.
Sasshi felt a number of fast breezes fly past her. Each time, a little scratch or injury would appear, but somehow, she felt as if higher speed battles were something that she hadn’t experienced much.
Ventus seemed to frown as he noticed that Sasshi was just taking damage.
The ace went through her mind and worked furiously until she thought of something.
Seeing as the wind was picking up leaves once in a while, a light bulb lit up within her mind. It may not have worked, but Sasshi put her idea to work right away. Knowing that flames burned leaves and wind increased as well as spread flames, she focused on creating fire.
Within seconds, the leaves lit on fire. The flames grew bigger and definitely hit Ventus as Sasshi could smell something that wasn’t leaves burning slightly.
Suddenly, a huge wind blew out her flames. Sasshi was knocked off her feet by numerous painfully deep cuts created by sharp blades of wind.
“You’re not stupid at least, I can say that.”
“Yea, I’m a bit slow sometimes though.”
Sasshi smiled. She gathered water and created a huge barrage of rapiers of ice as well as a ring of rapidly spinning water. With protection and weapons around her, she could stand her ground.
The rapiers seemed to have a mind of their own as they each flew at Ventus when it felt as if he came by. While not hitting, the whips of water following seemed to make a snapping sound each time the ninja was hit.
Knowing that he was in a duel, Ventus was not in a position to make use of the typical hiding tactics of a ninja.
Still, he was hidden well enough. Sneaking up from above, he flew at Sasshi and used his short daggers to stab into Sasshi’s side a few times before swiftly moving back like the breeze.
The ace hissed at the pain as she closed up her wounds with flames.
Sasshi thought to herself that she didn’t want to feel anymore of that and gathered up a huge amount of dirt and rocks to create a earth armor around herself. While her mobility was lessened, it was already clear that she would never be able to race with wind.
The battle seemed anti-climatic. Sasshi was standing her ground as Ventus attacked.
It was a normal scene for anything become slower as time went by and stamina was spent. While Elementors had high stamina, Ventus was a ninja for quick kills in the dark. He began to slow just slightly.
The hetare was stronger and better now.
It might have been that she was used to battle. It might have been that her eyes had become accustomed to his speed. It may have been that she was backed with a heavenly power.
Anyways, Sasshi’s eyes could see Ventus. As if sitting in a stone throne of her armor, Sasshi raised up large swords, spears, and projectiles of flame, earth, and water at the same time and aimed.
There was no homing function, but a good number began to hit Ventus.
Just as the battle began to turn in Sasshi’s favor, the pendant from before let out a huge light and a crack sound could be heard. Ventus let out a large laugh and smile as his winds came out of control.
A tornado consisting of the greatest gusts of the Elementor, the piercing water, the rumbling dirt, and the raging flames that Sasshi had summoned, roared. Ventus let out a satisfied sigh as he disappeared into the tornado, knowing his loss.
The gust slowly turned down to a wind, then to a small breeze, and then to nothing at all. Ventus was not there anymore, just a little bit of dust that was long blown away.
“You are indeed worthy even if not a good ninja candidate… Thank you for this duel.”
His words drifted off into the air as well.
“I did it...” Sasshi said with a smile. “Guys, I did it! Guys! I--”
But, Sasshi was surprised to see that she was no longer at the training grounds where her friends waited for her. The hetare expected to see her angel friends, all of them hugging her and celebrating her victory.
Instead, she was sent to another world. One, which, she found very familiar.
“This is… the Center Nova.”
-----------------------------------------
The sound of dice falling onto the table echoed loudly throughout the room. Everyone turned to see Crow had finally released his dice and had a grin on his face.
“It’s finally time...”
“The stars are changing. So will fate.”
“Let’s hope it’s for better… and not for worse.”
-----------------------------------------
Yuko laid in her bed silently until she heard a knock on the door. When she looked, the lisp demon, Haruppi came in.
“Hey… you okay, Yuko-shan?”
Yuko nodded.
“Haruna-shan told me you took shome medicine for your throat.”
Another nod.
Haruppi giggled. “I guesh I should stop ashking yeth or no questionsh.” Then, she reached into her pocket and pulled out something.
It was a black arrow.
Yuko’s eyes widened in shock.
“I shtole thish from Chihiro. This ith the same one she ushed to curse you.” Yuko took the arrow in her hands and stared at it. “I know how to cure you.”
Yuko looked at Haruppi again with a confused look.
“Break the arrow.”
“...!” Yuko’s mouth fell agape.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be okay. Just break it and the curse will be lifted.”
Yuko’s eyebrow raised a bit.
“I’m sure of it. Don’t you trusht me, Yuko-shan?”
The angel just bit her lip and stared at the arrow. She held it in both hands while letting Haruppi’s words sink in.
After thinking about it deeply, she gathered up her courage, and broke the arrow in half. A huge amount of dark energy was released and went into Yuko.
But before she could try and speak, she felt a sudden pulse in her chest.
Everything around her faded to black and she passed out on the ground.
But, Haruppi didn’t react. She just grinned as she stared at the unconscious angel.
“Farewell.” Chihiro’s voice came out of her mouth, and with a snap, she transformed into her true form. It was not Haruka, but Chihiro herself. “It’s been fun… but now, your time has come to an end.”
Then, she teleported out.
A few minutes later, Haruna came back in.
“Yuuchan, I brought some more medici--”
When she saw Yuko, unconscious on the floor, she dropped the glass, causing it to shatter.
“Yuuchan!” She quickly grabbed the girl and checked her pulse. It was slower and weaker than normal. And her breaths were shallow. “No...”
“Haruna?” Takamina rushed in, a shocked look on her face. “What happened?”
The two saw the broken arrow in Yuko’s limp hand.
“We need to save her. She’s dying!”
-
cisda-san~: truly, these updates have been getting faster... ah, Ruka-san is an awesome writer.
Eh~? Are you praising me, Shino-chan? Ureshii~ :deco:
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You know, my M side squued hard at this evil Chihiro even though she's not herself *is shot*
And BTW I'm Chihiro-oshi too :D
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FOUND IT!!
I don't really understand the story .-.
But it's interesting ><)/
Update please :3
(Pleasemorewmatsui:3)
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Ah Yuko was so naive to trust someone in the time of war
Would Haruna and takamina able to save Yuko?
What about sashi situation in the centre nova?
Can't wait to see
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Has anybody noticed how the trailer for the 6th senbatsu sousenkyo seems to have a similar feel to this fanfic?
【選抜総選挙×フジテレビ】「AKB48 第6回選抜総選挙」TVスポット30秒 / AKB48[公式] (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfeXCchxwz8#ws)
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I've noticed it too.. Ruka-san.... XD XD XD
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I've noticed it too.. Ruka-san.... XD XD XD
I was like,
" :huhuh "
" :? "
" :shocked "
"It's starting...!"
-
Minamiyuki: Yay! You've commented~
Ruka: Yea, I was praising ya.
cisda-san: Update!
Yuki88: Well, enjoy~ tho evil Chiichan will not last forever
48matama: Well I'll give a short summary of this story -
In the world of the 48G made up of magical creatures and controlled by gods + Fates + etc, there is a Crusade to decide where on gets to stay (Average, Bad, or Good place aka Midgard, Hell, and Heaven).
So basically, our protagonist Sasshi gets dragged into the mess. Lots of random things happen like a shonen manga-good or bad.
So, there's been graduations and such. There was that whole evil fruits of the past arc that caused Nanako to die and also some WMatsui development, my SKE heart... Plus, with the Shige stuff, we get deeper into our main antagonist - Chihiro - being an evil character here.
Also at the side, there was an NMB arc showcasing our beloved SayaMilky and Sayaka's super duper Shana based power-up!
And now to this point: Sasshi has to fight these trials of elements. She grows stronger and learns more as she fights. Meanwhile, Chihiro has been possessed by an evil thing. Having to fight off that evil thing and blah blah, Yuko is in trouble (wait this was a horribly summary)... here we are!
Twentieth (Part 1)
Haruna cried out with worry as she examined Yuko and felt the dark miasma emitting from her body. At a rapid pace, life was flowing away from Yuko. If they wanted to save her, every second was important.
As Haruna channeled her life energy desperately to Yuko, Takamina hastily sought for the other medics and those of the healing specialty. Quickly enough, the back-ups came along.
A number gasped in astonishment, “Yuko-san!”
Haruna yelled, “There’s no time to spare! We need to save her!”
Hearing the directions given, everyone scrambled into action right away. They began to attempt to use magic to heal Yuko, and some along with Haruna began to examine the broken arrow as well as the patient herself.
The lingering evil within the arrow was a minimal amount. It was easy to see that much of it had flown into Yuko.
Getting the news across, many switched to attempting to purify the darkness. For a second, there was a sign of recovery and diminishing of the evil that was killing Yuko. Suddenly, a huge burst of malicious power slammed away a good number of the healers.
Haruna bit her bottom lip in frustration. She was in the middle of analyzing the arrow along with a few others.
While the team of healers and purifiers had gotten back into place and were straining effort into their attempts to save Yuko, it was clear that if they went at the pace that they were going at, everyone would run out of energy before they could save Yuko.
Even as the squirrel girl was gradually getting better, bursts of black energy continued to throw away the girls who were trying to help.
The arrow was one of the greatests hints. Once magic enters or goes into another magic, it tends to get contaminated, so tracing what was directly in Yuko might lead to something that destroyed part of Yuko as well. The arrow was uncontaminated.
Haruna racked her brain for answers. In the back of her mind, she knew it was likely the work of the Demon King, but she was unable to recall that simple fact.
Frustration built up within the group of analyzers. They were making little progress and the leftovers were starting to dissipate.
Yuko was getting weaker. Her breathing was but stopped and her heartbeats were almost undetectable. At the same time, the healers were running out of magic as well considering what they were countering.
Hitting a good bit of information, the analyzation of the arrow started to speed up. Still, one of the most important parts that was forgotten was still not there.
“Yuko-san is-!”
After a certain point, the squirrel was starting to go into the phase of the angel type of death where one began to dissolve without leaving much of a corpse.
Haruna felt like hitting something in order to vent, but it was not the time to do something like that. The exhausted girls panicked as they tried to at least keep Yuko from disappearing.
“What should we do, Haruna-san?”
Haruna nearly drowned out the question with her own thoughts, but managed to reply, “Just keep on going. We can’t stop now, and we haven’t found the solution yet.”
Time was ticking. The pressure was building. The thought of losing Yuko was horrible. It was even more so when the reason would be her own inability to do something.
The puzzle was almost solved. Still, there was just that last piece. There was just that last piece that someone had lost, dropped on the ground, and was missing to finish the puzzle that desperately cried to be completed.
Haruna agonized over that last piece. Somewhere inside of her, she knew that she likely knew the answer.
Taking a few deep breaths, she slapped herself lightly. Despite not being the type to think too much, Haruna was deeply immersed in thought, in very complex mental processes.
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
“The Demon King!”
While the other pieces unfolded showed that there was a bit of silencing magic and poison from a plant or something found in Sakae, that last little bit that was destroying Yuko was something else. It was definitely the Demon King’s effect though.
Taking in Haruna’s outburst, they began to work harder and harder and faster.
Even though time was ticking, with the efforts of everyone, they completely broke apart the arrow.
The healing and purification procedures would still be difficult. Everyone seemed to be greatly drained of their stamina, and the analyzers weren’t all the best at the healing part rather than medical examination type things.
Haruna boldly commanded the medics and everyone.
Putting force power coming only from their willpower at this point, the girls followed the directions and within a good amount of time, much of the darkness was able to be removed even with the violent outbursts.
They couldn’t wipe their sweat and say that everything was well and finished yet though.
A relieved smile appeared on many faces either way. With the combined efforts of all the medics, they managed to heal up Yuko’s physical body back to the point of not-too-close-to-death and slightly healthy.
Concluding their huge job, many just collapsed onto the ground and napped. Some fell on each other. Some cried out in joy. Haruna let out a teary smile of relief as she felt fatigue come along and fell asleep, holding Yuko’s hand.
“I’m glad...”
-------------------------------
“Guys?!” Sasshi tried to find her way out of the deep forest. “Takamina? Haruna-san? Yuko?”
She looked around, calling for her friends to see if they’d be there.
“Mou~ where is everyone?”
She groaned and sat down as she tried to comprehend what was going on. One minute, she was battling the Wind Elementor, the next she wins, but somehow got herself caught into an interdimensional vortex and found herself here.
“What if… I have another test?! Jeez, I’ve had enough of those… I wanna go home.”
“But you are home.”
Sasshi jumped in surprise at the sudden voice, “Eh?”
“Haha, Rino, just think for a second.”
Something inside said that she knew who was talking to her. Still Sasshi was wondering who was talking to her.
When she looked up, she thought she saw someone. She couldn’t see the figure’s eyes, but she thought she saw a smile, letting out a silent giggle.
“Um…?” Before she could say anything to the girl, she disappeared, just like that.
Sasshi swiveled her head and surveyed her surroundings in search. The speaker was nowhere to be found, but catching her eyes were shining fragments filled with light. Those fragments seemed to be emitting power and creating a trail.
Following along, Sasshi could truly feel the light and aura coming from those fragments despite simply being fragments.
“Eh? What are these?”
Strangely enough, the small lights were attracted to her and danced around her before they floated down onto her finger and were absorbed into her ring.
Bright lights surrounded her body, and it felt as if something was flowing into her. Sasshi was perplexed and continued following the trail.
Soon enough, Sasshi walked into a stunningly bright place. As her eyes adjusted to the lights, she saw a figure smile at her.
“Do you understand now?”
“Huh?!” Sasshi looked around panicked again.
“This is fate. It’s what you’re meant to do.”
“I...”
She thought she heard footsteps behind her, causing her to look back.
“Try to find me.” the voice said.
Sasshi saw some more light fragments float, going down a path. She gathered up her courage and started following them.
-------------------------------
HKT’s members, including many that were not here anymore, cheered together, “Okay! Let’s go, do our best!”
At that time, everything seemed happy and enjoyable. Chihiro smiled and laughed. Everyone giggled as the captain accidently forgot to count herself while counting role. The girls sang strange lyrics along to strange guitar playing.
Those comrades were the best and the warmest. For one thing, many were the first people each other had met when they first came along to this world, wearing demon wings and whatnot.
The goal to win the Crusades and make HKT the best, the happiest place, was clear. Their expedition was a happy and enjoyable one.
Everything seemed fine. Even if they lost, they could still get back up and try again. Failures were supposed to teach how to avoid various mistakes. What doesn’t kill one makes one stronger.
For this young group, every experience was valuable and their friendship was very much so too even though there would be that rivalry and bickering here and there at times.
Fate had crueler things in mind, sadder things in mind.
The sun and the moon were covered that day. The skies were filled with a gloomy darkness foreshadowing despair.
“What the-?”
It just ended up happening. Blood rained down. And tears flowed down. Something was missing. HKT had suffered a true loss, a huge loss, at the cruel hands of fate.
“...it’s...all my fault that I couldn’t...”
-------------------------------
“Time to settle this, once and for all...”
HKT’s army marched along as small squadrons flew off into the trees, ready to take down their opponents sneakily. Chihiro was commanding the army with an eager smile.
The remaining Kami-7, the ones not gone or out, were ready to fight back. Many of the AKB fighters were ready in the frontlines to take on their opponents, which should be an easy task under the normal situations.
With much misfortune, all their healers were either exhausted or weak at the moment. Still, it seemed that AKB did have a quantity-based advantage, but at the same time, Chihiro was probably going to be a hard obstacle.
With one shout, everyone charged into battle. Ranged fighters stayed closer to the back as they fired arrows and whatnot. The range-close-combat types jumped around, sure not to accidently hit a comrade. The close-combatants faced off against each other fiercely.
The battle was heating up quickly.
The Kami-7 flew into action as well along with those Gatekeeper members. The explosions from Mayu, and various sword damages were clear evidence along with other things.
Chihiro was calm, knowing that she hadn’t pulled out any trump card yet.
She saw a certain cyborg rush up and try to attack, but she stopped her, grabbing her sword. She looked into her eyes and grinned evilly.
“You’ll never be able to gain Position 0 like the way you are, cyborg.”
Mayu suddenly froze in her gaze.
“Position 0...”
The legendary Position 0, a.k.a, Center.
Typically calm and collected, Mayu couldn’t help but feel a wave of irritation come over her at the demon’s words. With a little bit of an aggravation charm of demonic magic, Mayu was infuriated and brought out her guns alongside her swords.
The cyborg went trigger-happy with low accuracy as she charged in for the demon.
Chihiro smiled.
She slipped passed the girl, and chopped her neck, knocking her down. Mayu held her neck, coughing for air. She was able to stabilize her system and stay conscious.
“You’re hard to beat...”
“Well… I am a robot after all.”
“Close...” Chihiro picked up the sword Mayu dropped. “You’re a cyborg. You still have some human factors inside you. You can be killed.”
Before she could swing the blade down onto her, Takamina rushed in and stopped her. She gritted her teeth, struggling to hold Chihiro back.Takamina kept straining, using her strength, and Chihiro just stood there bored.
Takamina said, “I…. won’t give up. I won’t lose Mayu.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not going to lose anyone else!” she shouted. A pulse rushed through Mayu and Chihiro’s heart.
“What was that?”
“Takamina...”
Seeing the demon was distracted, she slashed violently, throwing her sword out of her hands. She kept swinging her sword to attack the girl, but all she did was avoid.
Chihiro looked and saw lots of her army was being taken down, causing her to growl in anger.
“Guess I have no choice...”
“Eh?”
“Time for a little fun...” she said before snapping her fingers.
Particles of darkness quickly gathered together and rose into the air, condensing around Chihiro for what seemed like an attack. Many of the AKB fighters noticed the strange dark energy, but they were preoccupied with the task of fighting off the HKT girls who seemed a bit desperate.
Takamina gritted her teeth as she had a vague thought of what was going to happen. She charged in, but that charge was too slow.
It didn’t take too long for those black particles to begin to disperse in a huge wave-like explosion. Being close, Takamina was thrown off her feet by the darkness.
Within a few seconds, the magic had begun to work. Chihiro smiled knowingly, and Takamina knew that something was going to be very wrong soon enough.
Suddenly, a huge pain hit her entire body. Her eyesight began to warp a little and darken. Nightmarish images began to appear. And taunts as well as screams and other terrors rang out in the back of her head. That was just the beginning, and Takamina was stronger than some others.
With their judgement warped by fear and chaos, the other fighters began to scramble around in fear. Then, they randomly attacked at anything anywhere insanely at the nightmares that only they could see.
Many were crying and screaming from the horrific experience.
Takamina bit onto her bottom lip so hard that she drew blood as she tried to withstand the magic.
In the corner of her eyesight, she saw Chihiro let out a nonchalant sigh as well as her disfigured nightmares encroaching. The nightmares seemed glad and ready to pounce and tear her apart.
The short angel gasped and choked out a small voice. She was scared, but knew that those nightmares were likely just illusions. Still, Takamina couldn’t help but attack at them in an uncomposed manner.
Chihiro stepped to the side as Takamina went flying at things that were there.
Letting down her guard a little, the demon captain didn’t notice the fact that the cyborg was still awake and unaffected. Plus, the noise, chaos, and etc made it a bit harder to detect something like that.
Takamina gasped for air, knowing that she was hyperventilating due to her problematic state of mind. She attacked and flailed around, uselessly not hitting anything besides maybe a comrade or tree.
Mayu quietly scrambled over to her friend, trying to avoid attacks, knowing that she needed a little more time before her systems for fighting got to a good state.
“Takamina, stop! It’s not real! Wake up!”
Mayu was surprised when Takamina screamed and suddenly started strangling her.
She let out a small electrical shock and grabbed onto Takamina’s hands. The shock Mayu let out entered Takamina, shocking her out of the trance.
“Wha-? What’s going on?” Takamina saw everyone in a panic, most of her friends had gone insane and some were starting to flee.
Others were attacking monsters that weren’t visible to her eyes anymore, and the rest of them had collapsed on the ground and were in the middle of a seizure.
“It’s Chihiro. Chaos’ magic did this to them.”
“Who else is left?”
“Looks like...” Mayu looked around. “Yuki, Jurina, Rena, Miichan, Yui, and Paru.”
They looked and saw their comrades. Yuki was breathing hard, but she seemed to have somehow kicked down the magic and stomped away at the traces that hit her. Rena had a strange aura around her, but that died down and she wasn’t rampaging. Miichan and Yui were calm, but somewhat exhausted and worried about the situation as they watched.
“Guys, gather!” Takamina called them into a huddle. “Wait, where’s Jurina and Paru?”
Rena looked behind her and saw Jurina on the ground, screaming and kicking as she held her head, yelling at the invisible monsters to leave her. Yui looked and saw Paru in the middle of a seizure, babbling incoherent words.
“You two try to wake them up. We’ll take care of Chihiro.”
“Right.”
As they proceeded, Mayu looked up at the sky and silently prayed that Yuko would be alright.
“Haruna, please hurry… I need to see Yuko… I need her here.”
-------------------------------
Haruna walked into the room where Yuko was resting. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. She wasn’t so pale as she was before, and she didn’t look like she was in pain anymore.
Haruna smiled in relief.
She walked over to the sleeping girl and removed the towel on her head, seeing she had stopped sweating and her body was no longer shivering.
Yuko was completely relaxed, no more pain. Just blissful sleep.
“Thank goodness...” she took the girl’s limp hand and kissed it. “Yuuchan...”
Yuko suddenly felt a warmth run up her body and she slowly opened her heavy eyes. She tried to call out to Haruna, but her throat was so numb and so weak, she couldn’t feel her voice come out.
She lightly nudged the girl’s shoulder and got her attention. She weakly smiled.
“Yuuchan!”
Yuko didn’t try to speak. She felt to sluggish and still very weak to try and do anything. She just took her notepad and wrote on it.
“Are the others okay?”
“Yes, Takamina just went with a few troops to battle Chihiro and her army.”
Yuko nodded, sighing that she knew everyone was okay.
“Nee, Yuuchan...” Haruna took the smaller girl’s chin and kissed her lips. As she parted, she whispered, “I love you.”
Yuko felt her cheeks get hot and she silently giggled in excitement, her feet kicking under the blankets.
“Yuko, you should’ve recovered now, right? Can you talk?”
Yuko rolled her eyes a bit and wrote on the notepad again.
“I may be able to. But I wanna wait and see at the perfect time. ;)”
Haruna mentally repeated the words she had just seen.
“Perfect time? What does that mean?”
Then, someone rushed in, panting. It was a junior member, Sasaki Yukari.
“Haruna-san, Yuko-san…haa... the others… they’re in trouble… haa… you need to save them...”
“Oh no.” Haruna quickly grabbed her sword. “Yuko, can you fight?”
Yuko was already up, grasping a sword in her hands, and gave her a thumbs up.
“Alright, let’s go.”
-------------------------------
Following the trail, Sasshi traveled a long time with various beautiful scenes and such. The fragments of light were beautifully glowing. Tired and a bit thirsty, Sasshi stopped at a small pond at the end of the trail.
She dipped down to take a drink and splashed a little bit of cool water onto her face. After that, her stomach suddenly grumbled. It wasn’t too surprising that Sasshi was a bit hungry.
Suddenly, Sasshi heard a light laugh come from behind her.
Quickly, the ace turned around. There was the figure.
“I guess you’ve found me, so I guess I might as well explain. And, I’m Maeda Atsuko, by the way.”
“...Eh!?”
Sasshi’s jaw dropped. In return, Acchan let out another laugh. She formed a small table with some cookies, bread, and some drinks on it. Sitting down in one seat, Atsuko gestured towards Sasshi to sit down in the other.
Atsuko happily ate some food. With a smile, she told Sasshi to eat some to while they would talk.
“How’s the food?”
“It’s really good!”
“That’s great to hear. Now, feel free to ask me a few questions.”
Sasshi paused for a second. She knew that she had a huge pile of questions, but wasn’t too sure what to ask first. “Um, so what will happen after the Crusades?”
Atsuko pondered for a moment and answered after taking a bite of a cookie, “You might remember, you might not. You’re an oddity, so you probably won’t get the typical rewards of winning-a happy, fun period of peace in Heaven.”
Sasshi sighed, “Well, I guess I kind of knew that.”
“You know a lot more than you’d guess,” Atsuko grinned as she glanced at the ring on Sasshi’s hand, “Plus, you have sources to ask if you’re lost as well.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“There’s a beauty in you… I’ve only seen it once before.”
“W-where?”
“From the girl I loved.”
“Who’s that?”
“It’s a secret for now. I’m sure you know her.”
“Huh…I guess I should ask something else,” Sasshi thought out loud before asking, “I’m sure that we’ll have to defeat that Demon King eventually since he took over Chihiro, but...how would we get a Soul Gem so great?”
“Well, you have two options. One is to just do what was explained to you before,” Atsuko smiled knowingly, “And the second option is actually right here with you.”
Sasshi inquired, feeling too clueless somehow, “What do you mean?”
Acchan pointed at Sasshi’s finger. The one with the Center ring wrapped around it.
“Eh? ….Th-this?”
“Un.”
“H-How?”
“That is a part of a Soul Gem, a great one filled with the power of light. And, it shouldn’t be too hard to tell who it is.”
“...Wait. You!?”
“Yes. Right now, Sasshi, you have a part of me with you.” She said as she smiled. She slowly got up. “No matter what, I’m always with you. I have been since the beginning. I’ve watched over you, protected you, up until now, when we can finally meet… and complete destiny.”
“Eh?”
“Catch me!” She ran off somewhere, leaving the hetare startled.
“Wait… Maeda-san?! Come back!!!”
-------------------------------
Haruna and Yuko rushed out and ran. Steadily flying along, they quickly met up with the others. Takamina and crew all looked pretty battered up and exhausted. Haruna and Yuko weren’t exactly in tip-top shape, but they were likely better off than their fighting comrades.
The two new arrivals winced at the look of the battlefield. Then, they saw Chihiro.
They all glared at the demon.
“So, this one survived. That might be a bit problematic, but you’ll be looking at the door into the land of the dead in no time again.”
Haruna shouted at her, “I can’t forgive you for hurting Yuuchan!”
Mayu and the others stepped in with them. They saw Rena was still trying to wake up Jurina, and Yui doing the same to Paru.
“We will… stop you.” Mayu said.
“Ah… is that so?”
“Of course. Do you think that we wouldn’t be able to beat someone like you?”
In return, Chihiro shrugged. With a cackle, she motioned for them to come, go ahead and attack. The group thus rushed into the battle.
Mayu took to rapid fire of bullets as the others took up their swords and weapons. Yui was up and ready with her arrows as she had managed to talk Paru out of that trance-like state, though a love confession kind of came along as well. After a kiss from Rena, Jurina was ready as well.
Swiftly, Rena and Yuki wielded their swords and flew at high speeds towards both sides of Chihiro. Working together in harmony, they attacked as their slower comrades charged from the front.
As the two landed from their attack, Yuki quickly kicked and punched at Chihiro while Rena attacked with her sword. Chihiro was busy dodging, and the others came into the fight.
The slower sword wielders rushed in. They struck Chihiro, but the demon quickly retaliated with a few short bursts of dark energy.
The YuiParu combi hastily took aim and shot down most of the bursts.
Still seeming nonchalant compared to the already tired fighters, Chihiro casually covered herself with a dark aura and smirked.
Rena and Yuki once again attacked. While hitting and getting a bit of damage, the dark power that was incompatible with angels hurt them furiously in return. The others dealt heavy damage to Chihiro, but suffered recoil as well.
The angels frowned in unison. They knew that they needed a way to get past that barrier, plus Chihiro was dodging and causing more damage as well.
Yui and Paru charged up their arrows, adding to their damaging salt. Seeing as that those two were the greater threats, Chihiro quickly jumped over and slammed Paru away with a punch of maliciousness.
Yui gasped out loud in surprise and anger. She quickly shot the arrow at Chihiro. The demon growled at the slight pain that had gone through.
As the demon was about to basically kill Yui, the cyborg threw in a grenade. Counting on her friends to read her mind in a way, Mayu had that sort of rough plan to save Yui. Rena quickly sped in and pulled Yui out of the way of harm.
Mayu sent a thumbs-up towards Rena and the SKE-Kami-7 girl did the same in return.
Chihiro frowned. Things weren’t as perfect as she wanted. Still, she stomped onto the ground, throwing a huge ripple of nightmares towards Rena.
Rena cried out as she was suddenly hit with an attack.
Jurina couldn’t help but feel infuriated. Yuki felt the same way about her twin being struck. But this was a battle, so that couldn’t be helped.
Chihiro let out a creepy grin, “Hey, I wonder why you all are mad. Should I kill her? And then...I’ll kill you all.”
Haruna had run over towards Paru and Rena and given them a little bit of healing.
“Well, I can’t say that we like you in the first place, so…,” started Mayu.
Then, she suddenly sent a huge barrage of bullets flying towards Chihiro. At that, Yuko chuckled silently under her breath, and both midgets plus Yuki charged from the three other sides of the demon.
“Is that the best you got?”
“You want more?” Yuki said coldly before charging at her at rapid, inhuman speed, and pushing Chihiro’s chest, knocking her into a tree.
She groaned as she got up, staring at the group of angels gathered at the center of the field, all of them had the same glow in their eyes.
“You...”
“We won’t lose to you!” they all harmonized.
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http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/AKB48---Yume-no-kawa-%2528eng-sub%2529/c856a98d5019b3efd5ee611bcaf9a4dc (http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/AKB48---Yume-no-kawa-%2528eng-sub%2529/c856a98d5019b3efd5ee611bcaf9a4dc)
Where might I be?
The star I looked up to the night sky to find
Somewhere along the way
On my own, I lost sight of it
“Maeda-san! Wait!” Sasshi ran as fast as she could, trying to catch up to the ace. She hurried and dashed through the forest, the soft grass touching her feet.
She quickly jumped forward with one final thrust and grabbed Acchan’s hand. She turned around and looked at her, the two staring at each other.
“...You did it.”
“Eh?”
-------------------------------
Don't be afraid of anything
Because even if we are separated
Always, always
Everyone will unchangingly
Be by your side
Everyone held onto each others hands and concentrated. Somewhere on the inside, they all felt a familiar power. It was the ace who had already left from the world in which the Crusade was and this battle was.
Chihiro raised an eyebrow and frowned. She somehow felt that power as well. It wasn’t comfortable.
“...what are you all-?”
“Everyone… thank you.” They all heard her voice echo in their heads.
Takamina looked up, smiling as tears flowed down her face. Everyone saw the sky clear and the stars shine brightly, the full moon shining down on them.
“Acchan...”
-------------------------------
The boat that crossed
The river of dreams
Quietly reaches the shore before dawn
The first step onto the earth
My foot will now take
“Congratulations, Sasshi.” Acchan said as she took both of the hetare’s hands.
The two were standing near the edge of a cliff, standing under a beautifully clear, starry sky.
“You’ve done very well in completing the final task. You’ve been able to prove yourself to me that you are worthy for this.”
“For… what?”
-------------------------------
If you try listening carefully
You should be able to hear it beyond the wind
No matter how hard times may be
Someone is always watching over you
A bright light suddenly came down on them, surrounding the joined angels in a beautiful white aura. They all closed their eyes as they felt a warm feeling surge through them. They smiled, some of them shedding tears, but all of them felt this incredible power they never has before.
Chihiro sneered. “What is this? A re-run of some emotional drama?”
“I can feel it...” Mayu whispered. “The Center… all of this power.”
“It’s amazing...” Jurina smiled as she looked at the sky.
Takamina kept crying silently.
“It’s her… It’s really Atsuko.”
-------------------------------
In the thick fog
Lantern lighting your way
Surely, surely
Just beyond the night
Is the place you were aiming for
The two of them suddenly became surrounded by fragments of white light, floating and circling around them.
Sasshi felt her dress flutter up in a light wind. Acchan brought her hands closer and slowly kissed the ring.
It glowed brightly, but no longer a red light, but bright white.
“W-what?!”
-------------------------------
Yuko gripped tighter on Haruna and Mayu’s hands, taking in a deep breath.
“Yuuchan?”
“Yuko?”
She smiled and opened her mouth…
Along the river of dreams
The small boat
Slowly disappears, looking anxious…
Your back trembled
As you gathered all your courage
“Yuko!” All of them smiled as the girl sighed heavily at that beautiful song.
“Told you this was the perfect time, Nyan-nyan.”
“Yuuchan...”
All of them harmonized and sang…
Today we said goodbye to each other
Until the day we can meet again
Yes, we will wipe away our lonely tears
And send you off properly
-------------------------------
The boat that crossed
The river of dreams
Quietly reaches the shore, before dawn
From my first step
I will walk forward
“Sasshi...” Acchan got close to the girl so that their foreheads touched. “This is what you were destined to do. Destined to become. You may not remember anything yet, but soon enough, everything will finally come to view.”
“What does that mean?”
“After we lost you, I was sure that you would come back, so after coming here, I watched over you so you could become the next Center.”
“Wait...” Sasshi was finally seeing the light, something in her head sparked. “Maeda-san… have we met somewhere before?”
-------------------------------
The river of dreams
From the past to the present
From the present to the future
Is flowing
Everyone is rowing
Their own boat of hope
Before Chihiro’s eyes, a bright light flashed before her. Exposed to the light, she felt an overwhelming aura overflow into her.
Something in her chest was growing warm. It was different, it was making the darkness fade away.
She growled angrily, feeling Chaos’ power, and released a dark energy to shield her.
Before she noticed, she looked down and saw her hand clutching her chest.
“What is this strange feeling?”
-------------------------------
“Now go...” Acchan said as she released the hetare’s hands and hugged her. “It’s finally time.”
“Eh?”
When my dream is fulfilled
I'll come for you
Sasshi felt a strange warmth wrapped around her and she was surrounded by the white light. Acchan slowly disappeared and became a small orb of light.
It slowly transformed, all the small fragments gathering around it, and finally, the Center ring’s light was absorbed into the light.
The light became a beautiful crystal orb with light circling inside it. It was the Soul Gem.
Sasshi smiled. “It’s time…”
-------------------------------
The Fates watched as Sasshi began to wrap around the light and was shot up into the air, flying in the air like a shooting star.
Crow guided the star safely to her angel friends.
Helios smiled. “The revolution has begun.”
-------------------------------
Everyone saw a shooting star, headed straight for them. It fell and shot out a great light surrounding the area in stars and cosmos.
When they turned and looked, they were surprised to see Sasshi with the Soul Gem in her hands.
However, that was not the real surprise.
“S-Sasshi...”
Everyone’s eyes widened as they saw Sasshi glowing a white aura… with beautiful, white wings on her back.
“You’re… an angel!!!”
-
Talking about some twist...
Sashi as an angel...
Well Yuko is fine
Would they be able to defeat chihiro?
Would they survive?
Can't wait to see
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
cisda83: Well, here it is! :)
The last chapter...or is it!?
Twentieth (Part 2)
Chihiro growled at the angels as she felt a great unrest. Unwilling to let that go on, she forced up a mass of darkness as she stared at the Soul Gem in Sasshi’s hands. Then, she attacked.
Everyone dodged aside of the darkness as Sasshi immediately flew up and retaliated, still holding the Gem safely in her palms.
“Give me that Gem!”
“No way, Chaos! I know you want this, and that’s why you’re using Chihiro as your puppet!”
“Why you..!”
Using the power of the Soul Gem as well as the Elementors’ powers, the ace pummeled the demon to the ground in a bright flash.
Chihiro let out a cry as she felt, or rather Chaos felt, the darkness and energy slip away. Letting out a roar, Chihiro created more attacks of darkness and nightmares. Those attacks came flying towards Sasshi.
Much to the surprise of everyone, Sasshi skillfully evaded the attacks and replied with bursts of light.
The demon was thrown back harshly. As Sasshi glowed with a brilliant white aura, Chaos’ power gradually weakened.
Chihiro was not backing down. She jumped up right away and sent more and more of her dark magic towards Sasshi. With a confident smile that one wouldn’t have expected on Sashihara, Sasshi avoided them.
Once again, she attacked. She sent flying swords and daggers of all elements all glazed with a bit of the light of the Soul Gem towards Chihiro.
The demon scrambled away from a few, but was unable to move away from every single attack.
Chihiro found that compared to Sasshi, her projectiles were not hitting. With a large frown, the demon threw herself at Sasshi with fists full of dark magic. She engaged in the process of punching at the new angel.
When the demon managed to graze Sasshi, suddenly her fist started to sizzle. While Sasshi had taken some damage, the aura of light around her was hurting Chihiro as well.
Chihiro gritted her teeth as she saw the Soul Gem that she wanted to get ahold of right in front of her. Still, she seemed to be losing the fight somehow.
Sasshi threw the demon back with a large burst of light.
The demon felt more and more darkness seeping away. It was hard now. On the inside, the real Chihiro was screaming and trying to get rid of Chaos as well.
“...You...Give it to me!”
With an almost desperate shout, the demon tried to attack once again.
Sasshi was prepared. She held up the Soul Gem and with it, created a large sword of light. Then, she plunged it straight through the demon’s chest. Chihiro let out a horrible cry.
As the sword dispersed, Sasshi held the Soul Gem in front of Chihiro. The demon desperately grabbed at it, but the Soul Gem’s power diminished Chaos’ control over Chihiro’s body as well as his grasp on the Phantom Crystal, which was a jail that was breaking apart due to the Soul Gem, that Chihiro’s soul was put into.
The demon let out a large scream.
“Give me back my body! And stop hurting my friends in your stupid schemes!”
“Did you not want revenge!?”
“I didn’t want this! I just want my friends back, the ones that I couldn’t protect! And I want to protect the precious comrades I have now!”
“A lowly demon like you has no choice but to succumb to my will!”
“GAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Right now, Chihiro is feeling extreme pain. Not just in her head, trying to gain control of herself, but throughout her whole body.
The beaten-up HKT girls watched as their captain was in pain. With the fact that something evil had taken over Chihiro clicking into their minds, they were angry at the evil and wanted to get Chihiro back because no matter the recent months’ events, Chihiro was their captain and without that evil, their most beloved captain.
“Capt! Don’t lose to that jerk!”
“Chihiro, we want you back, you ponkotsu captain!”
“Sorry for what I said, but we need you!”
Chaos screeched in pain. He was fading and losing to Chihiro with the help of that cursed Soul Gem. The Demon King couldn’t accept that.
“I won’t let you hurt us anymore!”
Still he was aware that he couldn’t keep Chihiro under his control for much longer. The voices of the HKT girls, the effort of the secretly good-willed captain, and the force of the Soul Gem were breaking down onto him.
He wouldn’t be able to screw the world and do as he wanted that way.
In all desperateness, he separated himself from Chihiro and flew out in the form of a grotesque evil spirit filled with animosity and malicious intent. His aim was the Soul Gem in Sasshi’s hand.
The Demon King lunged at Sasshi. He charged towards the Soul Gem in her hands.
“Give that to me!!”
A bit astonished over the sudden charge, Sasshi hastily dodged to the side, scraped a little by the essence of darkness. She swiftly formed a ring of daggers and swords of all elements boosted with light as well as a sword of light in her hand.
“That’s one thing that I can never allow to happen.”
She flung the floating elemental swords at the evil spirit. Chaos dodged some and had some rip apart parts of the evil that was him. Still, Chaos only had one thing in mind at the moment, getting the stupid Soul Gem.
He used his own darkness to form the exact opposite of Sasshi’s sword of light.
Like a person driven to the edge, he let out a low chuckle, “Haha...but you will! I’ll have that Soul Gem!”
Then Chaos charged in with his sword in hand, ready to quite literally cut off Sasshi’s arms or hands. Sasshi was ready with her blade as well.
Each time they clashed swords, a small part of Chaos went away. Sasshi also took a bit of damage in the meanwhile.
From the start, it was clear that Chaos was on the losing side.
He had his eyes of the Soul Gem, and no matter what, he was going to get it. The Demon King really seemed desperate.
In his last attempts of attack, he flew up and rammed into Sasshi. At that moment, Sasshi sent her sword of light straight through what was the evil spirit embodiment of the Demon King.
Then, he disappeared from sight.
All who were watching held their breath during the fight. As it finished, many rejoiced, hugged Sasshi, and laughed out loud.
HKT’s captain started to cry and sniffle as she tearily looked at her HKT comrades. She knew that she truly needed to apologize. Everyone looked at their captain with mixed emotions.
Suddenly, the tall Boss wrapped Chihiro in a great hug.
The younger yet taller demon said, “You’ve had us worried, Capt.”
The others nodded as they gathered up and nearly squashed Chihiro to death with their hugs. Their hugs were extremely warm though, and Chihiro felt a bit of joy in her heart.
“I-I’m so sorry...E-everyone… It was m-my fault… I sold my soul to Chaos…b-because I wanted to...become stronger… I-I wanted to protect you...”
“Chihiro...”
“Everyone… forgive me..?”
“Chihiro, it’s okay.”
“We forgive you.”
“...hic… Th-thank you...”
All the demons returned awkward looks. Still, they cared greatly about their captain and knew that she must’ve had a good reason.
Wakaharu sheepishly noted, “Well, most of the bad stuff was because of that jerk who took over you. I’m sure that when you acted strangely mean, you had a reason.”
Hugging Chihiro again, Tanaka added, “Yups, after all you’re our ponkotsu captain, so clearly you’d mess up a little.”
All the girls smiled at their captain. At that, Chihiro started to cry again.
Aoi let out happy tears, “Don’t cry...if you do, I’m going to cry too!”
The young Akiyoshi exclaimed, “Aoi-san, you’re already crying!”
“Mentaiko! That’ll make everyone smile, eh Capt?”
“Oi! Murashige! You ain’t funny!” retorted Chori.
The lively, wonderful HKT that Chihiro loved was so kind and warm. Still, the HKT captain couldn’t help but feel that she couldn’t be accepted there. She was interrupted in the middle of her sigh.
The most senior of the group, Rabutan, put a hand on her shoulder and advised, “We all love you. I know you love HKT, after all we could see your battle with him a bit. If you must, you could just pay these girls back. Don’t leave, Chihiro.”
Chihiro nodded. Suddenly, she thought that she saw the vague figures of a few demon girls that were gone now.
“Chiichan, we may have died then, but we can’t have you going off and hurting yourself and others in the process of trying to make HKT the best.”
“You’re not the type of person to try to get revenge anyways.”
“We’re basically watching over you girls without any reincarnation stuff.”
“It’s not your fault for anything. So, go lead HKT, Chiichan! And do it the way you should be!”
As Chihiro wiped a tear from her eye, the figures of those demon girls disappeared. Still, she somehow knew that they were there. After all, how could she so clearly see and hear their voices otherwise?
With a small smile, Chihiro went towards the HKT girls and proclaimed, “...I’ll play some guitar!”
Wakaharu noted. “Oh, yea, we do need some music for our party-wait! Capt’s guitar!?”
The others then exclaimed in joking horror, “Oh no! Has she gotten better or worse!?”
Chihiro couldn’t help but pout, “Mou!”
Knowingly or not, HKT had begun to repair their bonds. All that awkwardness should be forgotten, at least for now. And, Chaos who had secretly been lurking in the back of Chihiro’s mind for months was now gone.
The other angels smiled, seeing that there was peace now. And they were sure there’d be more to come.
………..
But then…
“Wait...” Yuko noticed something strange. “Something’s wrong?”
“What is it?”
“If Sasshi killed Chaos… shouldn’t she have gotten the Phantom Crystal?”
“...!” A startling silence ran throughout the area. They all looked at each other with fear and worry in their eyes.
Sasshi’s mouth gaped open a bit as she backed away.
“That’s right… I should have broken the Phantom Gem when I stabbed him… And… Chihiro!”
Everyone’s eyes went to the young captain, whose face looked more pale than anyone.
“If he’s dead, she should’ve gotten her soul back….right?”
The HKT girls approached their captain in shock.
“Chihiro...” the lisp demon approached her slowly. “How do you feel?”
Chihiro held her chest, trying to feel something… but nothing.
“Empty...”
Then, everything seemed to go in slow motion.
Her body went weak and she fell to the ground, caught in Tanaka’s embrace. Her dark, lightless eyes blankly stared at the girls hovering over her, silence resonating in her ears.
She felt the rest of her energy slip away and her eyes slowly closed.
“CHIHIRO!!!”
“Chihiro, wake up! Please! Chihiro!” Tanaka cried as she tried to wake the lifeless captain. All of her fellow members started crying, too, and everything was falling apart once again.
Then, the angels noticed a dark transformation in the sky.
“...A black moon?!”
“A red sky…?”
“No… it can’t be..!”
All of them looked and saw a giant demonic shadow of what used to be Chaos, but was much more powerful and menacing.
“It’s… the Walpurgis Night!!!”
“First this puny planet Earth, then all of Heaven shall fall down to the depths of Hell! All shall burn in the flames of Hades!!!”
Walpurgis’ shadowy claws started spreading out and darkness spread throughout the land. Evil demon minions rose up from the ground and started attacking the citizens of Akihabara. Purple fire started burning the small town and chaos ran.
“No...” Sasshi growled as she saw her home being destroyed. “Chaos!!!”
Clearly angered at the destruction of her home, she flew up to the large entity that was Chaos. With her sword of light in hand, Sasshi was prepared to fight the huge monster. She flew around Walpurgis and sliced at where she could.
Sasshi’s attacks were not doing much damage. She flew around and attempted to at least make the destruction stop. Each attack cut deeply, but it seemed that the darkness repaired itself quite easily.
Circling around Walpurgis, Sasshi was troubled. In the midst of her trouble, Walpurgis sent a huge claw of shadows, throwing Sasshi down.
The angel went plummeting to the ground, barely catching herself. Breathing heavily and feeling a good surge of pain, Sasshi pulled herself back up. Takamina and the others were right behind her, ready to help.
“Hey, Sasshi, we can’t just let you fight by yourself. We’re here to help as well,” said the midget.
Sasshi let out a smile. With a nod, they all got into some sort of formation that was surrounded by light magic. Sasshi flew up first. Then the other fighters, and then the ranged shooters.
“Hahahahaha! Do you think that puny flies like you can beat me in this wonderfully powered form?”
As time passed, and Walpurgis laughed, more and more destruction was happening. Sasshi was extremely aggravated. The others were as well.
Sasshi flew in and sliced over and over with her sword. The others charged from all directions. Their weapons and fists empowered by light flew into Walpurgis. The archers charged up their arrows even more with the light buff and sent holes through Walpurgis.
In return, the evil creature sent its minions flying to the angels and shadowy claws to attack. As each angel was hit, another caught her. The formation was working spectacularly.
Walpurgis was clearly upset with his lack of victory in the short amount of time.
.As the so called puny flies chipped away at him and weakened him, the destruction seemingly lessened.
A huge number of Walpurgis’ shadowy claws suddenly attacked at Rena. Throwing the angel down, injuring her greatly, he had messed up a bit.
In a slight rage, something inside Jurina changed a slight bit. Jurina charged in and destroyed a huge chunk of Walpurgis before chipping off a lot more of the darkness at an amazing speed. Sasshi was astounded.
Seeing the young angel’s great performance, the others were inspired to do even more.
Both sides suffered much damage. The angels were panting hard as Walpurgis seemed to be slightly broken and not focusing much on his destruction plans.
“Curse you little flies...I’ll have to do something more to take care of you then.”
In an instant, a huge surge of dark energy began to build up. It was all concentrating in one place. Walpurgis was creating some sort of final, great attack. The evil building up wasn’t stopping. It was rising, peaking dangerously.
Sasshi gasped, “W-What is this!?”
The ace knew that she had to stop that attack or else bad things would happen. With a gulp, she grasped onto the Soul Gem and let out a prayer for a shield. Drawing energy from the Soul Gem, Sasshi needed to stop the attack.
Darkness was accumulating at astonishing speeds. Soon enough, the attack was shot.
Sasshi stood by and attempted to block it with the shield. If she failed, they’d all die. More and more power was gradually poured into the attack.
Sasshi felt the sweat pouring down her forehead. She was beginning to get very drained. Still, with her willpower, she held onto keeping up a shield. It was so hard.
The attack didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Walpurgis let out joyous cackles as he spammed darkness.
Soon enough, the shield began to have signs of tiny cracks in it. Sasshi began to panic, but tried to keep her cool in order to protect everyone. She had to do it, but the shield was having problems.
Sasshi felt like she wouldn’t be able to keep the shield up and block the attack any longer.
Then, a certain squirrel flew to her side. Yuko gave a smile and put her hand on Sasshi’s. Sasshi felt Yuko’s strength flow into the shield as well. The shield was once again strong and secure, but one couldn’t stop there with the managing.
“Hahahaahahaahahaaha! You’ve gotten far for little insects, but you’ll be crushed by this last surge!”
“Yuko...” Mayu wanted to help. She wanted nothing more to be Center since the beginning.
“Don’t interfere.” Yuko said to her friends. “I don’t want to lose you...”
“Eh?”
“I’m going to make sure you stay alive Mayu… You wanted to stand in Position 0, right?”
Mayu’s eyes widened as she realized what Yuko had been planning. This whole time, she noticed some sort of change in Yuko, but now she finally understood.
“Pathetic...” Walpurgis charged up his power more and a large orb of darkness formed in its claw. “It doesn’t matter how much light you shine. It shall be swallowed away in darkness.”
“This is not light…” Sasshi said. “It’s LOVE!!!”
The Soul Gem started glowing white as this incredible power surged out of it.
“Everything that you’ve done to hurt us, it won’t destroy our love for each other! It’s brighter than any light in the Heavens and more powerful than any darkness of Hell!”
“You… You actually think you can attempt this?”
“Yes! This is my destiny!”
Yuko looked at her shocked, seeing her wings were slowly transforming, too.
“This is what I was meant to do… To defeat you… And become A GOD!!!!”
Walpurgis growled in anger as a bright light surrounded the hetare. He raised his arm up, gathering all the darkness and let it out in one force.
“DIE!!!”
“Sasshi!” Yuko grabbed both of her wrists and tried to protect her.
“Yuko!” Mayu saw this and ran as fast as she could to the middle of the incoming clash of light and darkness.
Then, the moon passed over the sun, causing an eclipse.
“YUKO, NO!!!!!”
Then, there was a huge explosion. A bright light swept over everyone and everything.
Mayu covered her eyes at the incredible force blowing her back. She saw the figures of her two friends get farther and farther away, disappearing into the light.
Then, everything in her mind went blank…
----------------------------------
To Be Continued
Ruka did the end and is planning to do Chapter 1 of season 2~
[References to Madoka and 11Eyes thanks to her~ :3]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhMvKv4GX5U (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhMvKv4GX5U)
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It's like... WOW~~~~ :O :O :O
Waiting for your next update. :) :) :)
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Like how you described the action scene very imaginable.
What's going to happen to Yuko?
Did she go between the 2 energies?
Would she survive?
Would the good prevail?
What about the rest?
Can't wait to see more
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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SEASON 2!!!!! :D Ruka-san is awesome! I'm really curious too~ Anyways! Enjoy!
Tengoku Sousenkyo: The Revolution
Prologue (Day 1)
Mayu woke up in a daze. The first thing she saw was the beautiful, blue sky, fluffy white clouds floating in the air.
After a few seconds, she was fully awake, and a memory hit her. She remembered where she was, and what had happened before she got knocked out.
The black moon, the red sky, the purple flames, and the bright white light of the explosion. That’s the last thing she can remember. When Sasshi and the Walpurgis entered a battle to decide the fate of the world, Yuko moving forward to protect her, and she was about to step in to save her.
Seeing that memory, she shot up from her lying position in the shock and gasped, holding her chest.
She looked down at her body. She was fine. No wounds or anything.
“I’m alive?”
She quickly ran through the forest to get to Sasshi’s village. Her mind was racing with thoughts, hoping that the village wasn’t destroyed.
“Please… be okay.”
Mayu stopped when she arrived at the village, but it was completely okay. Everyone was happy and smiling, and it seemed more lively and prosperous than normal. She sighed in relief, seeing everyone was okay.
She walked through the town silently, not being noticed by anyone. Then, she found the place where Sasshi's house was. A bit shocked as she remembered it exploding, Mayu shook her head and shrugged that off as it could've been possible using magic to rebuild it quite quickly. She smiled, running up to the front door, but was surprised to open it and see another family already living there.
“Eh? Who are these people?” she said looking at the unfamiliar figures. “Where’s Sasshi?”
“Mayuyu?” She then heard a familiar voice behind her.
She turned and saw Erena, carrying a few groceries in her hand.
“Erena!”
“What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for Sasshi. She’s not here.”
Erena raised her eyebrow a bit, then giggled. “Of course she’s not. She put her house up for sale a long time ago.”
“What? You mean, she’s stopped living here?!”
“Yeah. Mm, I’m not sure what’s she’s doing now. She’s so busy with stuff, I rarely see her...” she said, laughing.
Mayu scratched her head. Sasshi never told her she was putting her house up for sale. But then again, since she’s an angel now, that must mean she’s living in Heaven. She was just relieved that it meant she was alive.
But then, she noticed something.
“Wait... a long time ago?”
What did Erena mean by that? Was Mayu knocked out for some time?
She examined Erena. Looking closely at her, she looked very mature. Of course, she did look more mature after cutting her hair, but now… she looks like an adult.
“Erena… when did you suddenly mature? You look a lot older.”
“Eh?”
“Nee-chan!” She looked and saw Manami running up with a plastic bag in her hand. But, Mayu noticed another thing strange. Manami seems to have matured as well. She could’ve sworn Manami was just a child, of nine or ten, but now… she looks like a teenager.
“Maachan?”
“Mayuyu? Hey, long time no see!” Manami smiled and hugged the angel. “How are you?”
“I’m okay… Manami, have you gone through some kind of huge growth spurt?”
“Eh?”
“You’re...” Mayu measured her and the other girl’s height with her hand. “Almost as tall as me!”
“Hehe, you must be half asleep, Mayu. You don’t normally act like this.”
“Wh-what?”
“Also, I haven’t gone through a ‘sudden’ growth spurt. I’m eighteen.”
Mayu’s eyes widened in shock.
“Eighteen?”
“Mou~ you must really be out of it. Don’t you remember? I’m eighteen, nee-chan’s twenty. We age at slightly stranger and faster rates than normal humans, but you should know that.”
“Eh?” Mayu back away a bit, looking at the suddenly matured girls. But, how could that have happened? She could’ve sworn the last time she saw them, they were sixteen and ten.
Erena and Manami looked at each other, a bit confused at Mayu’s behavior.
“Are you alright, Mayuyu?”
“Yeah, you seem weird today.”
“Uh… I-I’m fine. I’m gonna go, okay?”
“Haha, alright. Bye.”
Mayu slowly walked away, holding her head as she tried to comprehend what was going on.
Then, Manami shouted at her, “Oh, and good luck in the Crusades!”
Mayu stopped walking, looking back at the girl with wide eyes.
“W-what?”
“The 6th Crusades. I really hope you get Center. That's what you said you wanted, right?”
Mayu felt her heart pounding hard, almost as if it was going to burst out of her chest.
“Manami… remembers everything?!”
Mayu just nodded at Manami’s response and flew back to Heaven. She held her chest, not being used to the strange, loud beating inside her that she never felt so vividly before. Everything that just happened still replayed in her brain.
“Manami remembers the Crusades… But how? Why?”
Then, she felt someone tackle her. She was shot back behind a wall, holding her head as she scooted to a halt. She looked and saw the person who tackled her was Yuki.
“Y-Yukirin?”
Mayu expected to see a dark glare from a somewhat uninterested and bored Yuki, a normally black personality. But…
“Oops, sorry, Mayuyu. I didn’t see you there. Haha…” She saw an embarrassed smile painted on her face as she cheeks turned a bit pink.
Emotion… from a normally emotionless, uninterested girl.
“Good. You still got your flag on.”
Mayu looked and saw there was a red flag tied around her ankle. The same was on Yuki.
“When did that get there?”
“It’s a good thing no one took your flag, or we would’ve lost one of our most valuable players.”
“Players? What are you talking about, Yukirin?”
“Our Capture the flag game, silly Mayuyu.”
“What? When did we--?” Before Mayu could say anything else, a buzzing was heard. Yukirin pulled out a walkie talkie.
“Yukirin-world, come in. This is Earlobe speaking.”
“Yukirin-World here. What’s the status?”
“I got three more flags, and Beat-mixer’s got one from the transferee team. What’s your report?”
“I found Mayu, and she’s safe.”
“Good. Meet back at home base.”
“10-4, Captain. Over and out.”
Mayu listened to the entire conversation and tried to make sense of it. Hearing the voice on the walkie talkie, and the name “Earlobe”, she could instantly say it was Mocchi she was talking to. And by the way they were talking, it seems the group was caught up in what seemed to be a very serious game of capture the flag.
But, why? When did this happen? And more importantly, why did Yuki call Mocchi “Captain”? Was she captain of their team in the game? Because she knew Mocchi wasn’t Team B captain. Umechan is, she told herself.
“Alright, let’s go before someone spots us and takes our flags, Mayuyu.”
As Mayu got dragged along by Yuki, she also remembered a part of the conversation that confused her.
“Transferee team?”
That was new. Were there members who got transferred into Team B?
“Uh, Yukirin...” Mayu finally got up her courage to talk to her. “Um, is Team A also playing?”
“No. Just us Team B members. You should’ve known that. You are a Team B member, after all.”
“Eh?”
Mayu stopped walking and pulled her wrist away from Yuki’s grasp.
“No I’m not… I’m a Team A member… I’m a cyborg, a robot created by God to serve under the angels...”
Yuki stared at her for a long time, Mayu not even looking up to meet the girl’s gaze. Then, she felt the older girl pull back her bangs and kiss her forehead.
She blushed.
Normally, when she was kissed by one of the members, she wouldn’t feel anything. Just the pressing feeling of skin on skin. But now… she felt warmth.
“Maybe you hurt your head when you fell.”
“Fell?”
“Yeah, while we were playing, Maachun accidentally rammed you off the edge of Heaven and you fell to Earth. I bet you a good 1000 yen that you hit your head hard and lost your memory.”
She knelt down to the girl’s height and smiled.
“Yea, I bet that’s what happened.”
Mayu looked at her friend. “You think?”
“Yup. But, we better make sure you didn’t forget everything. We need to see if you still remember anything important. Tell me, what’s the last thing you remember.”
Mayu just remembered the incredible sight vividly and shivered in fear.
She lowly answered, “...the Walpurgis Night.”
Yuki’s eyes widened a bit.
“Woah… Mayu, that’s…”
“How long ago was that? I saw Erena and Manami, too, and they were all grown up. How much time has passed? Days, weeks, months?!”
“Mayu.” Yuki placed her hands on the younger angel’s shoulders. “That memory...”
“Yes?”
“That happened almost eight months ago...”
Mayu froze in shock. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Did eight months pass her and she not know it? Or was she so caught up in the explosion, she went through a time portal? So many questions ran through the young girl’s mind. Perhaps she really did lose her memory when she fell.
But that still doesn't explain how Erena and Manami grew up so fast, and now Yukirin's strange personality change.
All she knew was, a huge gap in her memory, a span of eight months since the Walpurgis Night, was completely gone.
“Then, that means...”
Mayu remembered what Manami had said before she left the two. And that brought a great shock onto her.
“The 6th Crusades… are almost less than a month away!”
To Be Continued
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Aw~ you flatter me again :wub: :wub: :wub:
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Second season already..
Great going...
More mysteries...
What's happening to the members?
Can't wait to see
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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cisda-san: Thanks for reading all this time! :D And well, you can start finding out right now~
(Unless other things happen, the Days in the chapter do not say anything about the time period of the story except serving as an unique way of chaptering~)
Chapter 1 (Day 2)
“Yuko...”
“I want you~! I need you~!”
“Yuko, where are you?”
“I love you~!”
“Yuko?”
“Atama no naka, gan gan natteru MUSIC~”
“Yuko, don’t go!”
“Heavy Rotation~!”
“Yuko!” Mayu’s eyes shot open as she woke from her sleep. She caught her breath as she looked around at where she was.
It was an infirmary, one she recognized very well. It was for the Team B’s homebase.
“How did I get here?”
Her head throbbed a bit as she sat up. She remembered she was talking to Yuki outside, when she suddenly told her eight months passed from the Walpurgis.
Mayu can’t figure out exactly why she can’t remember anything. Yuki told her she fell and probably hit her head, but something was telling her it was much more than that. And she had to figure out what it was.
As she tried to think, the door opened and a girl with short hair walked in.
“Oh my god, you’re awake!” she said happily in perfect English. She hugged Mayu around the neck. “You had me so worried! Be more careful next time!”
“Eh? E-English?” (Let’s just assume that everyone’s speaking Japanese. XD)
It was then Mayu recognized the girl as a former angel trainee, Hirata Rina. She was born in America and was half-Japanese, half-American, which explains why she was speaking English. Mayu thought maybe she got promoted and joined Team B, and that’s why she’s here.
“Are you okay? Did you hurt your head?”
“Um… Y-yes?”
“I’m so glad you’re okay. Come on, everyone’s waiting for you! Let’s go!” the girl grabbed both of her hands and dragged her down the hall.
“Uhh, e-excuse me… I can’t speak Engrish… ano… c-can’t...”
“Mayuyu!” Mayu looked and saw a lot of familiar faces in the room. Not only AKB squadron, but now, it looks like some HKT and NMB were in here, too.
“Good, you’re okay.” Mocchi came up and patted the younger girl’s head. “You had everyone worried.”
“What happened?”
“You fainted! Yukirin brought you in after she found you, so we had to cancel our Capture the flag match.”
Mayu looked at everyone staring at her worried. She smiled awkwardly and bowed in apology. Yuki told everyone about what happened to Mayu and her memory problems, so they knew something was wrong.
Then, she felt someone tap her shoulder, and when she looked, she saw a familiar NMB zombie.
“Hey, um, I’m sorry for ram-sacking you back there. I kinda paid for it, too. I fractured my shoulder.”
“Hehehe. Maachun, you’re a zombie. You can’t even feel pain,” a certain HKT devil giggled.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Mio-chan. Hahaha.”
Now, this was a sight to Mayu. A demon and a zombie getting along. She remembered how bad things went when the HKT girls and set off a huge war with Heaven and Midgard. Now that they were on the same team, all was at peace.
The little trainee, Rina, looked up at Mayu and smiled.
“You look happy.”
“Eh? H-happii?”
“You’re smiling.”
“S-sumairu?”
“Hilary,” a certain Oya Shizuka came up from behind and hugged the small angel, “don’t speak English with Mayuyu. She just woke up.”
“Haha, sorry, Shiichan.”
“She can speak Japanese?!”
“So, Mayuyu…” Mocchi sat down, looking at the young angel. “You really can’t remember anything from the past eight months?”
“No. All I remember is when Sasshi was fighting the Walpurgis, and then… nothing. I just woke up and I’m here now.”
“It seems she doesn’t even remember the Grand Shuffle...”
Mayu’s eyebrow twitch at that phrase from Yuki. “The what?”
“We’ll explain everything later. For right now, maybe you should go take a walk to clear your mind.”
“Why don’t you go see the others? Maybe they can help jog your memory.”
“Well...” Mayu scratched her head and thought about it. “I was thinking about Sasshi… Where is she?”
“She’s actually in HKT squadron now.”
“HKT?”
“Yup. After she defeated the Walpurgis, she went down to look after the HKT members.”
“Alright then. I’ll go see her there.” Mayu excused herself and started flying down to Hell to where the HKT hideout was.
She was still nervous, because she remembered how bad things went in the past.
Slowly, she knocked on the door and waited for a response. After a few seconds, she tried to knock again, but then heard a crash and a few voices screaming. When she pressed her ear against the door, she heard what sounded like children laughing.
“Miku! Nako! Get back here!”
“Is there a fight going on?”
She cracked open the door and saw these two young demons being chased around by the others. She didn’t recognize them, so she thought maybe they were promoted trainees.
“Hey!” She saw Chori run by and tackle the two girls, tickling them.
She then realized this wasn’t a serious fight. They were just playing.
Then, Chori saw the angel’s figure and smiled.
“Hey, everybody, look! It’s Mayuyu!”
“Mayuyu~!”
“...” Mayu stepped in as she saw the HKT members were welcoming her warmly.
“Mayuyu-shan, it’s been a while.” Haruppi said as she hugged the girl.
“How’ve things been up there?” Rabutan said as she noogied the angel’s head.
“Everything’s okay. But, there’s a bit of a problem.”
“Problem?”
“I’m not really sure how or why it happened, but something’s caused me to lose my memory. I can’t recall anything that’s happened after the Walpurgis Night.”
“The Walpurgis?”
“But that was almost eight months ago.”
“I know. I’m here to see Sasshi. I want to see if she’s okay. Maybe she has something that could help me.”
“Who wants to see me?” Sasshi walked in and saw Mayu looking at her.
“Sasshi..!” Mayu was shocked when she saw Sasshi had one white wing, and one black wing. Her outfit was also a bit different from the others, and there was a crystal orb around her chest that looked like the Yin Yang, blue and purple.
“Well, hey, look who it is.”
Sasshi hugged the slightly shorter girl.
“How’ve you been?”
“S-sasshi? Your wings… and that crystal...”
“Yeah?” Sasshi separated from the angel and looked at her, confused. “What about them?”
“They… your wings are… and you...”
“OK, what’s going on?” she said as she sat down on a small couch. Sakura came up to her ear and whispered the current situation. “Oh… is that it? Sounds pretty serious.”
“It is.”
“You must’ve hit your noggin pretty hard.”
“Honestly, I think it’s more than that. I have a gut feeling that there’s something else going on, that something different happened that caused me to lose my memory. But I can figure that out later. What happened to you?”
“Oh, yeah. See, after I mastered the power of the Soul Gem, I got all up in that guys business. I was all, wa-cha! Ooh wa! Hiyaa!”
“You really defeated him?”
“Yup. And after he was dead, I was left in the possession of the Phantom Crystal, too. Apparently, when I was able to finally control the two, they combined and I became like a God.”
“That explains the wings.” Mayu couldn’t help but keep staring at them.
Sasshi wasn’t any ordinary angel or demon. She was a combination of the two; a nephilim. Mayu knew that was one of the most rare type of angel clans. Nephilim, and the second most rare, archangels.
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay. And everything doesn’t seem to be wrong here.”
“Yeah, that’s another good thing about all this. After I mastered the Phantom Crystal’s dark magic, all the evil inside everyone’s hearts just disappeared.”
“Everyone?”
Now, that was something that made her think. If Sasshi meant “everyone”, she started thinking about who else it could’ve affected. It’s probably also the reason why Yuki was acting different.
“Basically, everyone’s real nice now. Even Chihiro’s back to her ol’ self.”
Mayu saw the captain trying to play her guitar, but ended up getting scolded by Tanaka. Those two kinda reminded Mayu of a manzai group only NMB squadron could come up with.
“Wait… NMB. Sayanee.”
Mayu had an idea. She remembered how Sayanee was from another world, so maybe she knows a little something about inter-dimensional travel. Or maybe even time travel.
“Well, it wass great to see you. I’m gonna go, okay?”
“Alright. Bye, Mayuyu.”
“Bye~!”
----------------
After leaving Hell and letting Sasshi take care of the HKT girls once more, Mayu headed up to Midgard to look for Sayanee. She found her at her regular “thoughtful spot”, where she likes to be alone and play guitar. Only now, she was with someone else, giving them guitar lessons.
“Then, you go like this… and strum.”
*Purun*
“Ah, I did it!” When Mayu got close, she soon realized the person with her was Milky. She now had short brown hair, but she was able to recognize her with her horns and tail.
“Good job. That’s my lil’ succubus~” Sayanee cutely said as she patted the girl’s head.
“Sayanee. Milky.”
The two looked at Mayu and smiled.
“Well, if it isn’t the other Watanabe.”
“Mayu-chan~. How’ve you been?”
“Oh, I’m okay, guys. Hey, Milky, did you get your hair cut?”
“Yea, just recently. Is it cute?”
“Hehe, very cute.”
“So, what’re you doin’ here, Mayu?”
“I actually came for your help, Sayanee. See, I have a problem. Something happened that caused me to lose my memory of everything that happened eight months ago today.”
“You don’t remember anything?”
“Nope. Only up until when Sasshi defeated the Walpurgis. I already went to Sasshi and she told me what happened to her.”
“How did this happen?”
“I have one theory, but it’s kinda out there...” Mayu sighed as she sat down between the two girls. “I think when I got caught up in the huge explosion, I went through some kind of time portal that opened in between it.”
“So, like, you might be your past self?”
“Yes. I wanted you to see if there’s anything lingering on me, since you’re from another world.”
“She’s right, Sayanee. Normally, when people travel in between worlds, they have an energy that lingers on them a bit. Um, what was it?”
“Souma.”
“Ah, right.”
“It’s possible that since it’s been less than 24 hours,” Sayanee’s companion, Alastor sounded, “there should still be a trace of it on you if you really did travel through time.”
Sayanee held her hand out and her fingertips were just a few inches away from Mayu’s forehead. Alastor’s eyes glowed and a fire-colored light ran down Sayanee’s arm and circled around Mayu a few times before returning back into Alastor.
“Nothing. Not even a little trace of inter-dimensional cosmos.”
“So that means, it’s not time travel.”
“What else could it possibly be?”
“It’s okay, guys. I’ll figure it out later. But, for now, can you help me catch up on everything else that happened?”
“Sure. Don’t see why not.”
“Okay, so what happened after Sasshi became a nephilim?”
“Well, after she combined the full powers of the Soul Gem and Phantom Crystal, she took over Chaos chair of the Fate’s Court, and pretty much became an Overlord. Now she watches over them.”
“Yeah, I got that.”
“Then, about two or three months after that, there was an invasion of Changelings that tried to come after the Center’s ring. So we set up an army to help fight them and protect the ring. It was called the War of Five Armies, and you won’t believe who led the army.”
“Who?”
“Jurina-chan~!”
“Jurina?”
“She was the first one to set up and lead the whole army. She did get a scar on her eye, but that actually benefited.”
“She was somehow able to become an archangel.”
“A-an archangel?!”
An archangel, an angel of very high rank and pretty much considered the protectors of God. One of the most respected types of angels in Heaven.
“She was able to prove herself as a true warrior and take the Center position. She stood up even as she got knocked down again and again, and won the war.”
“That’s amazing. So, the scar?”
“It’s kinda like the source of her powers. She has some pretty cool psychic powers.”
“Yeah, but she still needs some time to control them, so she normally covers it with an eyepatch. They're very powerful.”
“Well, either way, she looks pretty cool.”
“Then, what happened?”
“Um… then we had to save part of the world from a zombie invasion.”
“Z-zombie?!”
“Yeah, that got a bit weird.”
“Luckily, though, Maachun and the others were able to help, since their special and rare infected.”
“There was also a giant lycan.”
“What on Earth happened?” Mayu thought to herself in all that chaos. She thought perhaps THAT took place in another world.
“After that calmed down, we had the Sky Gods festival. At the same time, there was a bit of a group reformation.”
“Reformation?”
“The Gods called it the Grand Shuffle. I’m guessing the others have told you about it before.”
“Yeah...”
“But, basically, after that, we all received new positions in all four squadrons. For example, I am now co-current in AKB squadron, Team K. So is Jurina, and Haruppi.”
“And I’m~ co-current in SKE squadron’s Team S.”
“Wow.” She held her head listening to all of it. It definitely explained why Team B had some new members, including Maachun and Mio.
“Ah, speaking of which, I’d better get going to SKE squadron. Team S is supposed to start training. I don’t want the captain to get mad.”
“Can I come, too?” Mayu asked, standing up. “Maybe there’s someone else who might know what happened… or, at least, something that might help.”
“It’s okay. Sure, you can come.”
“Thanks.”
----------------
Mayu came up with one more idea she could try out as she flew with Miyuki to the main SKE territory. Since Jurina was an archangel, and she got special psychic powers, perhaps she could use them to read her mind and search for her lost memories.
If they were really suppressed in her mind, or if there was a spell put on her to block the memories out, she knew that a powerful archangel’s magic could break through the wall. Since she still wasn’t sure if someone purposely erased her memory, doing that is her only other option.
They finally arrived at Team S’s shelter, and when they opened the door, they saw everyone in peace, relaxing a bit. Nakanishi had made some snacks and was serving everyone, talking and smiling with them.
“This confirms it,” Mayu said in her mind. “The darkness and evil really was removed from everyone. Even Nishishi’s eyes seem brighter.”
“Are? Miyuki-chan. Mayuyu.”
“Sorry, I’m late, Nishishi. Did practice already finish?”
“Nope. You’re just in time, we’re starting in a few minutes.”
“Good.”
“So, why are you here, Mayuyu?”
“I want to see Jurina. I need her help with something.”
She and Milky explained to the others what was going on, so Nishishi asked Mieko, who was the new co-captain, to bring Jurina. Mayu and Milky just sat and waited for her.
Mayu observed carefully at everyone who was and wasn’t here. As she expected, members were removed and added. She was even surprised to see Karen and Suzuran talking to some of the members.
What surprised her even more was that, Rena wasn’t there. As she looked, she saw a photo sitting on a dusty counter. She walked up to look at it and saw it was a picture of Jurina and Rena.
Jurina was in an infirmary, which she guessed was after the war, and had bandages wrapped around her left eye. Rena was sitting beside her hugging her, and she was surprised to see Rena had dyed her gorgeous black hair brown.
“Ah, that? Rena took that before she left.” A certain trainee, Kitagawa Ryouha, said.
“Left? Is she dead?”
“No. She became a guardian angel for an elder man who lived in Akihabara. He was a Christian, and close with God, so Rena was something precious to him. After he died and left his will to Him, Rena was given the task to take a gift he left behind.”
“What kind of gift?”
“None of us knew. Only Rena. She said he wanted to take it to another world, another time.”
“Really?”
“It seemed important, so Rena went alone and dropped down as Team E captain. She gave the position to Akarin on the Grand Shuffle.”
Speaking of Grand Shuffle, she realized how much the team had changed. But now, it seemed like a light was missing. A light known only as…
“Yuria...”
“Hm?”
“Where’s Yuria?”
“Oh, Yuria-chan. She got transferred to Team 4 over in your section after the Grand Shuffle.”
“Eh? They reunited Team 4?”
“And guess what? She and Miichan are co-captains~.”
“Whoa… A lot really has changed in the past eight months… How could I forget..?”
Then, the door opened and everyone stood up as Jurina walked in. Mayu just stood shocked at her new appearance.
Her hair had grown out now, and her bangs cut and fell completely over her forehead, no longer just to one side. Her wings seemed more beautiful, and even a bit bigger, and looked like there were four of them. And, just as Milky described, there were two huge scars around her left eye, the final middle scar covered up by an eyepatch.
“Jurina...”
“Mayu.” Her voice sounded lower than normal. It made Mayu’s heart skip a beat. Jurina patted the girl’s head, caressing her hair.
Again, she felt warmth.
“Now, what’s this I hear about you losing your memory?”
“Something… I don’t know what, caused me to forget everything eight months ago, after Sasshi defeated the Walpurgis. I can’t remember anything that happened passed that.”
“Why do you need me?”
“I want you to look inside my memories. See if they’re inside my head, locked away somehow.”
Jurina’s facial expression changed a bit, a worried expression appeared on her face.
“Are you sure? My powers are very strong. I don’t want to hurt you, Mayu.”
“Trust me, Jurina. I need to know.”
Jurina gave a soft smile. “Understood.”
She slowly untied the eyepatch and revealed the final scar on her eye. It was barely noticeable now, but you could definitely see the change. When Jurina opened her eye, it was now glowing bright blue. It was beautiful, yet also very eerie. A hauntingly kind of beauty.
Jurina took the girl’s shoulders and stared at her eyes, having Mayu look back at hers.
The angel could feel Jurina peering deep into her soul, as if the girl’s spirit was inside her body. She could hear her voice whispering inside her, her mind racing with thoughts that played over and over like a record scratch.
When she was finished, her eye close and she covered it back up with the eyepatch. For Mayu, it felt as if this heavy weight lifted off of her, her dizzy mind pulled back suddenly into reality. Her body went weak and she fell to her knees, panting. She held her head as her vision oriented to normal.
“Well?”
Jurina shook her head.
“They’re not there.”
“What? What do you mean-?”
“None of your memories are there. It’s as if the past eight months had ever happened… at least, in your mind.”
Mayu held her head, trying to come up with a simple solution to this.
“There has to be an explanation!”
Then, she overheard a conversation with Nishishi and Milky that made her even more confused.
“Hey, Nishishi, where’s captain?”
“Ah, she’s setting up the training grounds. She’s probably almost ready.”
“Eh?” Mayu got up and looked at them. “Nishishi, you’re not captain?”
“No. I gave up that position a long time ago.”
“Wait… if you aren’t Team S captain, then who…?”
Just then, the door to the training hall opened. A young woman walked out and stretched her arms.
Mayu’s eyes widened, her heart seemed to pound endlessly as she felt a heat growing up behind her eyes.
“Alright, guys! Everything’s set up in there, so let’s get up and--” The angel stopped in front of Mayu and smiled. “Ah. Mayu. Hey, girl, what are you doing here? Did you come to visit me~? Did you miss me~?”
Mayu recognized that voice. That cute, sweet, sugar-coated voice. Those eyes filled with light. And that unforgettable smile that could lift someone’s spirits on their worst day.
“S.. S-Sae...?”
“Hm? What’s wrong? You look a little pale...”
“Sae!” Mayu ran up and hugged the girl, crying. Her salty tears floated out onto the girl’s shirt. “Thank God… you’re okay...”
“Eh?”
“When you disappeared… I thought… you were dead… I...”
“Mayu, calm down.”
“But… you--”
“I didn’t go anywhere. I’ve always been right here. Well, I mean, I gained this position as captain during the Grand Shuffle, but… I didn’t disappear. Did something happen?”
“What?”
Sae looked at the younger angel a bit confused. Mayu had heard from Yuko about when they got into a big fight, then Sae went down to Earth so she could live a normal human life with Sayaka. But now, she’s here. An angel again. And she seems to have no memory of when she left.
“But… what about Sayaka?”
“Oh, her? Don’t worry, Mayu, I still look after her. I’m her guardian angel, remember?”
“Uh...”
“Well, nevermind that. I’m gonna get to training, alright?”
Mayu went silent and wiped away her tears. “....Okay.”
“Try to rest, Mayu. You seem to be going through a lot.” the genki girl said as she wiped away the girl’s tears.
“You have no idea.”
“Alright, guys. Training time~!”
“Hai~!”
Then, Mayu suddenly thought of something and grabbed Jurina’s hand.
“Wait!”
“Wha-?”
“Yuko! Where’s Yuko?! I need to see her! She can tell me what’s going on!! I NEED HER!!!”
The entire room went silent. Jurina and Sae looked at each other.
“You forgot that much, huh?” Jurina said lowly.
“Eh?”
“Mayu… Yuko graduated months ago.”
Mayu’s heart stopped a moment. She took a step back.
“Wh… what did you say?”
“She’s gone. She left not too long after the Crusades ended. She...”
“What? Where is she?!”
“...She went to the place Acchan went to.” Jurina answered for the captain, who was frozen in shock by Mayu’s sudden outburst.
Mayu found herself crying again. Those words repeated over and over.
“Yuko’s gone...”
She ran off, flew away. She flew into the sky as fast as she could, hiding in the clouds. She flew down to Earth, into the forest where no one could see or hear her. She went to the broken church ruins, the only place she felt safe, alone.
Her heart poured out emotions, frustration and confusion, anger and depression, loneliness and shock. All of it was too much for the poor girl.
“Yuko's gone... now it's like I'm in another world...”
She hugged herself, closing her eyes tight as she prayed to God.
“Please… someone… tell me… what is happening?”
Then, she saw a light. She looked up and saw a small slit opening up to reveal a portal of light.
“A Gate?!”
A “Gate” was a term normally used to describe a portal that opened to another dimension. But the thoughts of a Gate opening at this time and place was quite confusing.
Mayu saw something slowly emerge from the light, the figure of a person.
As the light slowly went away, unraveling from the figure’s body, it showed a human girl. No wings, no special markings. Just a normal human girl with short black hair and pale skin. She was wearing a plaid vest over a white button up shirt with a matching plaid skirt and velvet red ribbon tied on her chest.
As the Gate vanished, she slowly floated down and collapsed into Mayu’s arms. Mayu stared at the sleeping girl and felt her warm heartbeat.
“Who is she?”
Just then, she saw another gate open, but this time, it was filled with darkness. She saw a monstrous claw rise out and a very grim looking monster slid out and started crawling towards the two girls.
Mayu didn’t know what that creature was, and was scared out of her mind. She never felt this much fear inside her, and she couldn’t do a thing. She held the girl in her arms tighter, wanting to scream.
Just then, the sleeping girl’s arm dropped, and a small ring was heard. There was a red string tied like a bracelet around her arm, with two golden bells attached to it.
“Mai-chan...” she whispered in her sleep.
A huge gust of wind surrounded them and blew the monster back, slashing it a few times as it spun like a tornado.
It cut the creature’s arm and eventually, it split in half and dispersed into black dust.
As the wind calmed down, Mayu sat there with a shocked expression, staring at where the black dust remains stained the grass.
“What was… that?”
She stared at the sleeping girl once more, believing that she was definitely more than human.
-
Dang it, I don't comment much on this fic but I love it honestly..
And you guys made a second season of it??? I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!
Don't tell me the girl is... (I thing I might know who..)
GYAHH, you guys are too awesome to let me continue....
-
Imagine when you read Walpurgis Nacht part and your BGM is Yuki Kjiura's Nux Walpurgis... Awesomeness. And what happened to Chihiro????? Did she..... QAQ
But anyway, yay 2nd season!!!!!!
-
Who is the girl?
Yuko graduated already
Well different world may be?
Can't wait to find out
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
-
Did Ikoma Rina just fall to Mayu's arms?
Is Rena with Nogizaka46 in another world? That was sort of a reference from Rena's movie, wasn't it? The gift.
Please, please, please continue this. This is once again getting exciting.
Although I honestly want to read about what happened with the zombie invasion and the giant lycan. Will you be making one-shots that will at least give us a narrative about what happened with those?
Keep it up! I'm totally rooting for the next chapters!
-
Please, please, please continue this. This is once again getting exciting.
Although I honestly want to read about what happened with the zombie invasion and the giant lycan. Will you be making one-shots that will at least give us a narrative about what happened with those?
We probably can! Hey, Shino-chan, you think we can? I'll discuss ideas you later if you want.
-
Ruka~san: Of course~ :D
hikari-san: Find out in this chapter! And also~ glad you enjoy. Plus~ we probably will cover the past~
cisda-san: Enjoy~ And thank you~
Yuki-san: Wow! Chihiro is fine~ (probably since I have a weak memory XD anyways, it's probably explained in Chap 1)
Cometerz-san: Glad you enjoy! :D Arigatou!
Chapter 2 (Day 3)
“EEEEEEEEHHH?!?!?!”
Mayu sat down in her chair with a poker face as she saw her other members react to her sudden comment.
“So, what you’re saying is… this girl came from another world?”
They all looked at the unconscious girl sleeping behind Mayu, wrapped up nicely in a blanket.
“I saw it with my own eyes. She’s definitely from a different dimension. The thing is, I don’t know where.”
“She looks human.”
“But, she’s probably not. She saved both our lives.”
“What do you mean?”
“Another gate opened.”
All of them dropped their jaws in shock again.
“I’m not sure what that thing was that came out of it. But, somehow, she protected us. She has this power in her.”
“So, she might be a Halfblood or something?”
“Whatever she is, she was able to defeat that thing.”
“Mayu, I thought you were worried about your lost memories.”
“I can figure that out later. All of you can help catch me up until I regain them, but for now...” The angel was interrupted when she heard a small groan from behind.
They all looked and saw the girl slowly get up, holding her head. She looked around, a bit dazed, and saw the others in front of her, staring at her like she was a shiny new toy, and they were all little kids who wanted to play with her.
“Where am I?” she said as she rubbed her head, fixing her hair.
“You’re in Heaven,” Yuki answered the girl, kindly. “You collapsed outside and Mayu brought you here.”
“Am I… dead?”
“No, you’re alive.”
“We were almost attacked by a monster, but you saved us.” Mayu said as she sat at the side of the bed.
“I did? How?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I just remember having this weird dream…” She rubbed her temple, trying to think as she made a bit of a forced face. “Actually… I can’t remember much of anything.”
“Eh?”
“What was your dream?”
“I just remember… I was surrounded by nothing but light… and then there were these colored polka dots that started appearing… and then, nothing...”
Mayu felt sorry for the girl. Her situation was much like hers, except she couldn’t remember anything about her past at all.
“I think someone else was there… Um… Mai-chan… Someone named ‘Mai-chan’.”
Mayu remembered. When they were attacked, she heard the girl say the same name in her sleep.
“Mai-chan...”
“Maybe she’s a friend of yours...”
“Whoever she is...” The girl developed a sad look on her face. But, who wouldn’t be depressed if they couldn’t remember who they were or what lives they lived.
“Do you at least remember your name?”
“....Yeah.”
Mayu smiled. “You do?”
“Rina… Ikoma Rina.”
“Hey, that’s my name, too!” a certain trainee angel cheered. She walked up and shook the girl’s hand. “I’m Hirata Rina, you can call me Hilary.”
“Another Rina...” Mocchi giggled. “Alright, we’ll call you ‘Ikoma-chan’ then.”
“Is that alright?”
“Sure.”
“OK! Ikoma-chan it is. And until you get your memories back, we’re gonna take good care of you. Right, guys?”
“Right!”
Ikoma laughed at how her new friends were so kind to her. She couldn’t help but smile seeing them like this.
“Thanks.”
“You seem happy now.”
“Yeah… I don’t know what it is, but… you guys are just really nice. It makes me think of what it’s like to have friends…”
“Which I’m sure you do.”
“I don’t remember who they all are yet, but… I’m glad I got to make new friends. You guys.”
“Aw~ it’s so nice to be friends with you too, Ikoma-chan~” Mocchi hugged the girl’s neck and pressed her cheek against hers.
Then…
*GYU*
“Kya!” Ikoma suddenly felt the older girl nibble on her ear.
“Your ears are so kawaii~”
“Um… thank you?” She didn’t exactly know how to respond. She just sat as the captain continued her musings.
“Don’t worry, Ikoma-chan,” Mayu reassured the girl, “she does this to everyone.”
“Oh… uhh, okay.”
----------------------
Three demons walked along in the darkness with a dim light created by their magic. They had been assigned to scout a certain area near to Sasshi’s village due to a strange signal that a few girls from HKT had sensed.
No one had particularly thought of it as a big deal, so the trio was just randomly chosen through the drawing of lots.
The tall Tanaka couldn’t help but sigh at her luck. On the right was Murashige. On the left was Chori who had actually been transferred to Team A, but she ended up visiting. It might’ve been lucky that a seemingly responsible person had been chosen to take care of the two, but it was also a bit of a pain.
As they trotted along, scouting the one-way cave that they had entered, the two comedic demons gradually stopped bickering momentarily.
Murashige gulped as she felt an increasingly evil aura rise. Boss furrowed her eyebrows as she and Chori could sense the darkness as well.
They continued along with their job. The scent of death was growing. The oppressive feeling of evil was spiking up.
Murashige murmured, “...Boss...somehow, we’ve probably stumbled upon something big...and bad.”
In return, the taller demon nodded with a frown. It was worrying to find such a large source of dark magic especially since Sasshi and the others tended to take care of that type of thing.
After a bit of time, the trio finally closed in on the core or one of the cores of their anxiety. The smell of blood was evident in the air. Blurs of strange chanting of various voices rang through the air as darkness rose.
It was odd. Those chanters seemed not to be angels, dark angels, normal humans, or really anything that they were familiar with.
The three stealthily tip-toed closer and peeked in at the situation.
A large gathering of cloaked figures, cloaked in eerie clothes, were chanting and singing praise to some sort of demonic monster. A huge magic circle of blood was sprawled out on the cold, hard floor. A number of corpses were mutilated and thrown into the center of the circle.
Chori couldn’t help but let out a gasp of horror.
Boss gritted her teeth. That was a bad move. The figures turned to look towards the demon girls. Their beady eyes stared at the three girls.
It seemed that the chanting was finished, and the ritual was finished as well. From the maimed corpses, horrific creatures of evil arose, devouring the dead. A few unlucky nearby cloaked figures were eaten alive, but the others just smiled.
The trio was disgusted and shocked. They weren’t too sure what to do and stood frozen in their tracks for a second.
Suddenly, the monsters sprang up and charged their way.
Boss swiftly calculated that the safest thing to do was probably to retreat. Possibly, the three would be able to defeat the monsters, but they had no clue about how those creatures worked and fought.
She shouted, “We have to run and report this!”
Chori and Murashige nodded. The creatures were already at their spot. The trio began to sprint in an attempt to escape the area. The creatures let out terrifying, shrill cries as they charged and teared at the trio.
Boss shook them off as they clawed at her, but she was clearly taking damage. Chori and Murashige were stumbling along and trying their best. There were so many of those things and so few of them.
The creatures were beginning to overwhelm that small scouting group.
They tried to kill those things off. Murashige’s bombs went off. Boss killed a few. Chori was failing to create her illusions at the moment.
It seemed as if the creatures respawned after being killed. The trio had no way of knowing in their situation.
All the trio of demons could do was to flee.
Suddenly, a huge wave of those grotesque monsters took the three by surprise. Boss managed to pull Murashige to the side, but Chori was caught in that wave. She screamed out in terror as she tried to get free.
The other two were desperately attacking the horde of monsters in an attempt to get Chori back. The monsters were rampaging and not falling. The monsters charged at Boss and Murashige next.
With no choice, Tanaka could only roughly grab Murashige and run, knowing that they couldn’t save their comrade.
Murashige cried out for her rival who was like a frenemy, “No! Chori!”
Boss grimaced, “Sorry, but we have to report this…or else...everyone else too...”
As they fled, the two could hear the fading screams of their friend as the monsters dissolved and disappeared into the ground of the darkness of the cave.
They had to report what had happened and act soon or else it might be impossible to save Chori.
----------------------
Ikoma sat alone in front of the Team B base, looking up at the sky. It was colorful and beautiful, and you might not think it, but there were clouds passing by the sun like fluffy cotton candy.
A certain angel flew down and sat beside the girl.
“Ikoma-chan, is something wrong?” Mayu tapped the girl’s shoulder and got her out of her dazed state.
“Oh, no… I was just thinking...”
“About your past?”
“Un...”
A bit of silence came as the two stared up at the passing clouds.
“You know, I have a problem similar to that.”
“Eh?”
“I lost my memories of a whole eight months, and I don’t know how or why.”
“Do you think you’ll get them back?”
“It may not be that easy… A friend of mine told me, those memories never existed in my mind at all.” Mayu made a sad smile. “You’ll get your memories back, Ikoma-chan… but mine might be gone permanently...”
“No. That’s not true. I’m sure something will happen that you’ll remember...”
“You really think so?”
“Yeah!” Ikoma smiled at the angel.
Mayu smiled, this time a bit happier now, and looked back up at the sky.
“Things like this, Ikoma-chan, are worth remembering...”
“...Eh?”
Just then, something sparked in the girl’s brain.
She saw a vision of her, with two girls, in a beautiful flower field. The three of them, laughing, playing, it was a happy memory.
“Ah! Look, a dandelion.”
*WOOSH*
“Aw~ it’s gone.”
“But, it was beautiful while it lasted.”
They looked as the small, white seeds floated into the sky with the wind.
“Y’know, things like this, Rina, are worth remembering.”
“Nana… se...”
“Eh?”
“Rina!”
Mayu shook the girl as she was staring off into space, her breaths slow and heavy, and her eyes seeming to shake and vibrate a bit at the vision played before her.
“Hey, snap out of it. Ikoma-chan?” Mayu snapped her fingers in front of the younger girl’s face and brought her back to her senses.
“....Huh? W-what..?”
“Are you okay? You were really out of it?”
“I think… I just saw a memory… it was that girl from my dream, Mai-chan… I think…”
“She was there?”
“Yes… And, another girl… ‘Nanase-chan’.”
“That’s good. It seems you’re starting to remember. It’s a process, so don’t try to think about it too hard. Let it develop slowly.”
“Okay… Thanks, Mayu-san.”
“Just call me Mayu.”
“Ah… alright… M-Mayu.”
Mayu giggled as she saw how shy the girl was and patted her head.
“Kawaii...”
Just as the two were in the process of beginning to talk about something else, they suddenly turned their head at the sound of hasty footsteps and breathing. Looking up, they see two demon girls with worried looks on their faces.
Mayu seriously inquired to their anxious looks, “Mio-chan and Haruppi...What is it?”
Both quickly stuttered out what they were about to say at the same time, “Three of our theme mates got adacked thuring a scouting mission! Boss says it wath monsters, evil ones!”
“Wait, wait, wait! Three of them got attacked by evil monsters? Like with dark magic or at least something that seems like that?”
Mio nodded before replying, “Yea… And...Chori was...she was taken away.”
“Eh?!”
-
HKT still got some demons
Where is takamina, Haruna and the rest of akb, Ske members?
Can't wait to see what would happen with Mayuki next ?
Thank you
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Ahh yokatta.... oh wait, this isn't time to feel relieved but.... Dammit, I can't hold my laughter everytime I see Haruppi speaking XDDDDDD;
-
Yuki-san: Well~ I guess that's a good thing? :3
cisda-san: I hope ya enjoy~
Chapter 3 (Day 4)
In the darkness, with a heavy atmosphere of unpleasantness, Chori found herself conscious and bound with uncomfortable ropes of dark magic. She saw a dark figure in front of her. It seemed like a demon or a monster, but human-ish at the same time.
With a growl, she barked, “Who are you!? What are you planning to do!?”
The figure laughed as it casually paced around the demon. Chori felt extremely aggravated at the fact that she could not do anything in the situation. It had planned it out that way of course.
Chori wriggled around and tried to get free. Her futile attempts clearly failed, bringing upon more laughter.
It answered, feeling oddly incomplete, “Hahaha...well, I do wonder. What is it that I plan to do?”
The figure let out more dark laughter as the monsters that attacked in the cave slowly emerged from behind the figure, encroaching towards the defenseless demon. With another chuckle, the figure turned its back to Chori and walked off, leaving the demon to the monsters to play with-as long as they didn’t kill her.
Chori gritted her teeth in a large frown as she flailed around desperately.
---------------------
“Alright, everyone, listen up!” The short general manager spoke as she stood in front of the two AKB squadron teams.
“Yes, sir!”
“We’re gonna need both of our teams to start search parties for Chiyori. Be sure to check with SKE and NMB squadrons if they’ve had any suspicious sightings or mysterious disappearances, too.”
“Takamina...” Mayu stepped up in front of the small angel. She leaned in over to her ear and whispered. “Listen, there’s something I want to discuss.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it later. By the way, who’s that?”
Takamina pointed to Ikoma, who was standing with Mayu the entire time.
“She’s, uh...”
“Is she a human?”
“Well…..y-yes and no.”
“Yes and no? What’s that supposed to mean? Is she a Halfblood or something?”
“I’ll explain everything. Just...”
“I know.” She sent the two girls off and resumed her speech. “Now then, besides that matter, there’s been another thing concerning me.”
“Eh?”
“What?”
“This threat is of large dark magic, so normally Sasshi would’ve taken care of it by now or at least have sensed it. It might be still emerging or might just be too big for her to take care of, which is unlikely since if so, she would’ve said something. We have to keep our guards up. It’s best if you’re always on your guard.”
“Hai!”
As the others started flying off, Mayu started polishing her sword, just in case she’d run into more monsters.
“Ano, Mayu-san...” She felt Ikoma tap her shoulders as the younger girl stood behind her shyly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um, I-I wanted to ask...”
“Well, do you think you can ask later? I have to go with the others to search for Chiyori.”
“That’s actually what I wanted to ask you.” Ikoma stepped in front of the older angel. “I wanna come with you.”
“Eh? Ikoma-chan, you can’t! It’s too dangerous.”
“Please, Mayu-san. I want to help.”
“But...”
“You said that I saved you when you attacked by these weird monsters. I’m not sure how, but I know I was able to save you.”
“Yes, but you were asleep.”
“I can still try! Maybe I’ll remember something and...”
Mayu stood for a long time in silence, before sighing and pulling out another, smaller sword.
“Fine. Take this to protect you.” She handed the small sword to Ikoma.
“Thank you, Mayu-san.”
“Mayu!” Takamina came down and saw the two. “Come on, let’s go!”
“Takamina, Ikoma-chan says she wants to come.”
“‘Ikoma-chan’?”
“Me...” Ikoma raised her hand shyly.
“Can she fight?”
“When I first found her, she saved me from these monsters escaping from an open gate.”
“Hm… well, okay, we can take her. Just be careful, Ikoma-chan.”
“H-hai!”
---------------------
Murashige screamed, “Chori’s gotten in big, big, big, big, bigggg!!! TROUBLE!!”
Boss and Murashige quickly flew into the HKT base. Their faces showed distress and fatigue. Both were somewhat scratched up. All the demons who had been playing around suddenly stopped at the voice of the gui-gui Murashige.
For a second there, they thought that the mentaiko girl was just making a ruckus. Seeing the state of the duo though, it was obvious that it wasn’t a joke. Chori wasn’t around either.
Everyone suddenly started to crowd around the two scouters in anxiety.
“What do you mean?” “What type of trouble?” “Aaaah! I’m so worried now!” “Anna! Are you okay?” “Uuuuu….if I don’t get the situation, I might just start crying...” “We have to find Chori if she’s a trouble then!”
Everyone bombarded the two with questions. After getting just a few jumbled up answers in all the confusion, it seemed as if everyone was ready to leave and rashly go and try to save Chori.
Suddenly, Chihiro screamed out to all of the girls, “Wait!”
They stopped for a moment. Murashige and Boss looked towards the captain.
“We can’t just go running off into danger without knowing anything. ...What happened?”
Murashige bit her bottom lip in frustration. Boss showed a dark look of failure. Chihiro frowned. It was quite clear that the situation was bad. Even if Chori had transferred to AKB, Chori was still an important comrade.
Boss clearly stated, “We were attacked by monsters...devils, dark magic, a cult of some sort. Chori was captured.”
Murashige murmured as she remembered the endless numbers and the poor people who were devoured in the seemingly summoning, “...they were endless...and….ruthless too…”
Both of the injured shuddered at the memories.
Chihiro frowned again. She took in a deep breath. She then let it out. Clearing her throat she commanded, “We’ll do a search party. Each group have at least 7 members of all types. No one will be sacrificed!”
Sasshi came in with a serious look. She stood beside Chihiro and proclaimed, “...Chihiro is exactly right. No one is to be sacrificed! And...I’ll be going with you girls too.”
Everyone nodded furiously. They roared out as they readied themselves for a search.
Murashige and Boss nodded as well. As everyone began to set out in their groups, they too also tried to set out. Suddenly, Sakura and Akiyoshi-chan, who was too weak to be of help in the search, stopped the two.
Sakura pouted before catching up to her searching group, “...The injured stay behind. Anna, I’m not letting you get hurt! And...also, Boss, you too.”
After Sakura left, the two attempted again. Still, Akiyoshi-chan grabbed onto their sleeves. Even though HKT was filled with young kids, and Tanaka was Akiyoshi’s age, neither of the injured could be as mean as the slap away the little demon’s hand.
“...now, let’s take you to the clinic. I’ll give you mikan flavored healing potions if you’d like...”
The two injured could only nod and follow Akiyoshi-chan.
At the same time, everyone thought, “...I hope Chori’s okay...”
---------------------
Three figures stood in front of a dark cave emitting an aura of the residue of darkness. Takamina frowned as she felt the dark magic, still lightly pulsating meaning that there was still something inside. Mayu and Ikoma waited for a word from the short girl.
“Should we go in?” the youngest of the three, Ikoma asked in a whisper.
Takamina nodded, “Yea. Just make sure to be careful...as there still might be some monsters in here.”
The trio cautiously entered the cave. They kept their ears open, their eyes alert as they walked along. It was quite dark. The feeling of darkness was pretty clear, but it was just leftover residue. The actual enemy was nowhere to be found.
They trotted along, slowly and carefully. Mayu detected the stench of blood mixed in with darkness. There was a little bit from HKT demons-possibly attacked. Also, somewhere, it felt as if there was blood from something that resembled humans.
Mayu quietly signaled her thoughts. She pointed towards the direction of what she had sensed. The other two nodded as they continued along.
Not long passed before they found where the blood was. There were a few corpses, mauled and maimed, wearing dark cloaks. An already destroyed summoning circle was on the ground. The feeling of darkness residue was clear here.
Still, there was no enemy to be found at the moment.
The three watched each other’s backs carefully as they looked around in the room of the cave. The dead figures were surely human as the angels prodded them. Ikoma tried to look away from the corpses.
There was no sound besides the sound of the investigation. There was no sound until the three heard the footsteps of seven others.
“Maybe someone already came and...” Ikoma tried to finish her sentence, but was clinging onto the back of Mayu’s shirt, shaking in fear as her voice broke a bit.
Mayu looked and saw the teary eyes of the girl, and hugged her.
“Don’t worry. We’ll protect you.”
“..Th-thank you, Mayu-san...”
The trio was on guard. They were in enemy territory, so there was no way that they could simply let themselves be attacked and defeated especially if they were here to save someone. Somehow, the aura of the seven felt a little familiar.
The seven entered the area that the trio was in.
Takamina nearly lunged and attacked them. It was only a search group from HKT. Sasshi was leading and luckily stopped the midget before she accidently knocked someone out.
Mayu and Takamina exclaimed in surprise, “Sasshi, what are you doing here!?”
Sasshi said while gesturing the the six HKT girls, Wakaharu, Aoi, Rikopi, Haruppi, Meru, and Mio, with her, “Of course we’re here to help find Chori.”
Mayu noted, “Us too. We’ve been investigating.”
“I can see,” Sasshi nodded, and then asked, pointing to Ikoma, “But who’s that girl with you?”
“Ah, this is...” Takamina started, but then she remembered she didn’t know a thing about the girl either.
“Ikoma Rina.” the girl herself answered for the short angel.
“I found her near the abandoned church.”
“Where we first met?”
“Yes. A gate opened and she popped out, unconscious. Then, another gate opened and monsters started attacking us, but then she used some kind of protection spell to destroy them.”
“Monsters?!” The six behind Sasshi screamed, and swarmed behind Sasshi, trembling madly. So was Sasshi herself.
“W-were they black m-monsters with weird p-p-purple markings, red eyes, and b-black ooze coming out of their mouths?”
“Yea, I think so. Why?”
Sasshi pointed behind her, and when they turned around, they saw monsters that resembled Sasshi’s expression exactly.
Looking at the fearful creatures, the two angels stepped back a bit and Ikoma screamed, wailing like a baby as she suddenly started crying and fell to her knees beside Mayu.
“Ikoma-chan, calm down!”
“WAAAAAAHH!!!! AAAAAAAAAHH!!!”
“Takamina!” Mayu tried to comfort the girl, but she just wasn’t calming down. “Sasshi, girls, help!”
They all didn’t know what to do, because making funny faces wouldn’t make her laugh, and she just kept bawling her eyes out. Sasshi did one she thought was good, but that made the situation even worse.
Eventually, the monster started raising its claw up to strike them, and they all covered their eyes while hugging each other. Mayu held Ikoma tight, who was still screaming her head off.
Then, she heard something ring… It was a familiar ring.
“The bells!”
Before she knew it, Ikoma’s body became surrounded by a powerful white aura that shot out and caused an incredible wind to blow around them.
A magic circle appeared below their feet and some of the purple and white light created a few orbs of light. Then, they transformed into humanoid figures and started shooting the light energy into the monster.
The wind grew stronger around them, knocking them back, then a large light shot down like a spear and went through the monsters chest, killing it. It vanished into dust and left the area stained black.
But the wind didn’t stop. Ikoma was still crying, and now she had purple-white marks growing up from her hands, down her fingers, and all the way up her arms.
They thought the marks were going to cover her whole body, and they wouldn’t be able to stop her soon, until…
“Ah, Takamina!” Sasshi screamed. “Do that! The usual!”
“Eh?! G-got it!”
Takamina took the girl into her embrace and started caressing her head while singing a lullaby, swaying the girl back and forth in her arms.
Ikoma somehow heard the song, and a familiar melody of a voice she had long forgotten rang in her ears.
Hearing the sweet, luscious voice of the short angel, and the peaceful memory now filling her mind and slowly removing all other thoughts in her head, the young girl was eventually lulled into slumber and her crying ceased.
The wind around them slowly calmed down, leaving some of the trees damaged by the harsh weather. The magic circle below them and strange markings on Ikoma were also gone.
Now she was just breathing slowly softly as she lay deep asleep in the smaller girl’s arms.
“There...” Takamina pet the girl’s head one final time before smiling at the girl’s sweet sleeping face. “She should be fine when she wakes up.”
“Thanks, Takamina.”
“Alright~” Sasshi stretched her arms and unsheathed her sword. “Me and the others will continue the search for Chori. Why don’t you guys rest for today and take that girl back to Heaven where it’s safe?”
“But Sasshi--” Mayu was about to start, but then Takamina bowed to her and smiled.
“Me and Mayu will get her there safely.”
“I can always rely on you, huh, soukantoku. Haha...”
“Takamina...” Mayu was a bit shocked at Takamina’s sudden respect towards the nephilim. “Why are you…?”
“I have to respect Sasshi, Mayu. Even though I’m general manager, Sasshi’s now one of the new chairmen for the Fates.”
“Eh?!”
-
Chapter 4 (Day 5)
“So, when did this happen?” Mayu sat down at the table, facing the short angel and nephilim. “How did Sasshi become a new chairman for the Fates?”
“Right after I killed Chaos, I was given the ultimate power that came with the Phantom Crystal. Since I was able to control both of the gems and become a nephilim, God chose me to take Chaos’ old place in the Fates’ Round Table.”
“Ugh, again, it happened...” Mayu held her head, frustrated. “Why can’t I remember anything? I’m trying to think, but...”
To Mayu, something inside her felt much, much different than before.
She started feeling things she never did before, and there was warmth in things she had never felt warmth before.
“What is going on here?”
“Don’t worry, Mayuyu. I’m sure you’ll get your memories back.”
“Thanks, Sasshi...”
“Ah, speaking of...” Sasshi turned to Takamina. “What was that girl all about? How did she do all that?”
“Takamina, do you know what she is?”
“Yes,” the small angel responded bluntly. “She’s a mage.”
“EH?!”
--------------------
“Rina?!”
“..Mm...”
“Rina, where are you?!”
“..ngh… M-mai..chan...” Ikoma tossed and turned in the couch, messing up the pink blanket that wrapped around her.
“Rina?!”
“Nana..se...”
She was dreaming, she was somewhere so deep in her memories, she didn’t even realize that she was yet.
All she knew, she was running, searching for something, someone, but she couldn’t remember who they were. She had forgotten who she was, where she was, and knew she just had to keep running until she found someone.
Then, she stopped to catch her breath, looking around as the voice faded. She tried to find the source of the voice, but ended up surrounded by silence.
She heard a small giggle that caught her attention.
There was someone in the distance, standing in front of her, giggling. She covered her mouth as she giggled more, her cute blush tinting her face.
The girl pointed to Ikoma and said, “I remember you. You’re who I wanna be when I grow up.”
For some reason, Ikoma smiled.
Then, she felt something slowly start to pull her away from the strange world inside her head and woke up from her sleep.
When she had awoken, she had forgotten about the dream she had just had. She didn’t even know she called out “Mai” and “Nanase”’s names in her sleep.
The memory of the dream was gone, even if she knew unconsciously she was asleep and dreaming, she could no longer think of what the dream was.
“Ikoma-chan?” She looked and saw Yuki standing at the door.
“Kashiwagi-san. What are you..?”
“I came to check up on Mayu. And, don’t be so formal. You can just call me ‘Yukirin’.”
“Ah, okay. Yukirin…-san.”
“Haha, you’re a strange one.”
“How is Mayu-san doing? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. She’s talking to Takamina and Sasshi right now. You should get some rest, I heard you’ve been through a lot.”
“Huh?”
“Sasshi was freaking out when she got here, going ‘Holy crap! That girl is crazy! She had weird glowing marks running up her arms, and she beat this big monster and it was freaking epic!’ I didn’t believe her at first, but her reaction made me crack up. Hahaha...”
Ikoma’s eyebrows furrowed. “I did all that?”
“Yeah. You probably don’t remember, but from what they told me, it seemed pretty amazing.”
Ikoma looked at her hands, and then saw the bracelet on her. Even though it was always there, this was the first time she actually noticed it.
She flicked the bell a bit, but no sound came out.
“Is it… broken?”
“I’ll leave you to rest. I’m going to check on the others in the room next door. Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay. Thanks, Yukirin-san...”
--------------------
Hearing news about the dangers of the cave with dark monsters, the HKT search parties were all a bit nervous about going in. Sasshi’s group ending up tagging along with Sasshi to elsewhere for some reasons.
No matter, the cave could be a big hint. Chihiro, Sakura, and the rest of that seven member party cautiously headed in.
Everyone had their weapons, ready to defend themselves and possibly flee in the worst case scenario. They closely observed their surroundings, each with their own job. The dark magic was strong, but not very openly active as far as the seven could tell.
They steadily moved along; their footsteps made close to no noise as they walked.
At a few moments, Sakura thought that she may have heard the faintest feeling of darkness and Chori’s voice. Still, the next second, there was nothing. Sakura couldn’t find anything from that.
Suddenly, the somewhat shakure-ish Nao created a loud noise by stepping on something that was hidden under the dirt and muck. Everyone jumped at the sudden noise.
One of them asked, “E-Eh...what was that…!?”
The group had somehow possibly found a clue. Chihiro bent down and patted at the dirt where Nao had stepped. She uncovered a bead that was connected to a string. It was just one bead of a bracelet.
Sakura and the rest knew that it was Chori’s bracelet. Back when the groups had shuffled up, Tani and Chori, who were close friends to be honest, exchanged matching bestfriend bracelets. The bead clearly was part of that bracelet that Chori had, now broken.
Chihiro made a concentrated, serious expression. Seeing as by how the unearthed object was, she continued along. After a bit of time, she found almost all the pieces of the bracelet. They were all pointing towards a dark, eerie wall of the cave.
The group seemed to have discovered something big.
Chihiro went over to the wall and knocked on it. To their shock, behind the wall seemed to be something hollow.
A few let out a smile, “Ah! Does that mean Chori’s back there?”
Sakura nodded. It would make sense. The sounds she heard earlier also came from that direction. They might’ve struck gold.
Sakura wondered out loud, “Should we try knocking down the wall or making a hole?”
Chihiro nodded. She smashed onto the wall only to trip and fall back. Knowing their captain, the others didn’t think that the wall would have any type of unbreakable status.
Even with their best attacks able to be used in that space though, the wall wasn’t about to be even chipped. Everyone was suddenly sullen as well as dumbfounded. They couldn’t smash down the wall that might be blocking them from the path to Chori.
Everyone was still confident that they wouldn’t give up. They would definitely save their comrade.
With those thoughts in mind, the search party was ready to smash the wall once again. They were interrupted by the sudden hissing and growls of monsters, a hoard resembling the ones that had attacked the original HKT scouting trio.
“...I guess we’ll have to fight them. We had to eventually,” Chihiro said, “No one will be lost in this battle no matter what!”
The demons held their weapons in their hands. As the monsters charged, the HKT girls cut them down and defended.
Slowly, slowly, the monsters swarmed around the group. There were definitely too many. The girls were having difficulty taking every single one down. They were cut down by the small damages and fatigue.
Seeing the state of the situation, it was clear that the only option left was to retreat if they didn’t want to lose anyone in an unfortunate situation. The exit was still clear and close enough.
They really wanted to save Chori soon, but if they had to be saved too, getting into trouble as well, that wouldn’t be good.
Chihiro could only beckon to retreat. Slicing through the swarm blocking them, the search group barely managed to get back out into the light. The monsters tried to follow, but it seemed as if they were weak against the sun and shrieked at the light.
The demons panted with exhaustion. They looked back at the cave. They’d be back. The next time, they’d get Chori back too.
For the time being, the search party could only head back to be healed up and inform some other groups about what they’d found, hopefully being able to create a large, large dungeon-clearing party.
--------------------
Within SKE’s base, a demon girl was fumbling around with worry. That demon was the ever so comical and silly Tani Marika. Upon hearing the news about her best friend, Chori, and the bracelet as well as all that monster trouble, she was at a loss.
There was no way Tani could just sit still and wait for the situation to go through. No, she was desperately worrying about Chori. They had a bond from long ago, something that they couldn’t even remember the start of as it was before HKT.
Tani knew that she wasn’t supposed to just run off to do something rash though. She knew that she couldn’t sit still when her best friend was in danger either.
She felt like she was going to cause a good bit of trouble. No matter, Chori was too important to let a little official stuff let her get hurt or even worse, killed. Dark magic was the worst thing in the world to the Crusade-involved groups considering last time something big happened.
So far the current situation didn’t seem to have erupted into something devastating like Chaos, but it was still dreadful.
The demon quickly made up her mind. She was going to quite literally run out of the SKE base to try to rashly save Chori.
In no time at all, Tani stumbled into a problem. A certain dark angel suddenly confronted her in the hallway as she headed to leave. It was Nao, carrying the katana of an important person, who was already clearly aware of the monster problem.
The dark angel inquired, “Where are you going?”
Tani couldn’t help but gulp in nervousness. She answered with a horrible lie, “Um, I’m going to the bathroom?”
“All dressed up like that with your weapons completely ready for combat and such?”
Tani was in a pinch already, “...Uh...yes?”
The two handsome people of SKE, Nishishi and Sae, suddenly came in as well with Churi and Airin. Really, the demon didn’t think anything out. Tani was completely in a pinch, definitely.
Nishishi noted, “If you have any problems, we’re here to aid you. After all, we’re comrades now.”
Sae smiled knowingly, “I already heard the situation from Sasshi. Chori is in danger. You’re running out to save her. Well, either way, we can’t let this trouble go by right under our noses.”
Airin nodded as Churi brightly beamed, “To put it into less cool, handsome words, we’re going to force you to accept our help!”
Tani was astonished. She wasn’t sure if she expected this type of reaction to her attempted escape and rescue plan. Still, she was happy to hear her newer comrades to be so kind and helpful.
Nao put a hand on Tani’s shoulder and whispered with a tint of loss, “When it comes to an important person, you can never be careful enough or else you might lose her. We’ll have to save her, you know?”
The demon was still in a state of shock. She nervously fidgeted with the bracelet that Chori and she had exchanged. The SKE members smiled openly, glad to help.
SKE was in the game. They weren’t going to let Chori die. They were going to rescue her and get rid of that darkness that was causing strife.
Tani knew that she would be able to depend on her newer comrades, now to forever. It was time to save her best friend.
--------------------
After talking with Takamina and Sasshi, Mayu headed to the infirmary to check on Ikoma. She saw her staring out the window, looking at something. When she looked closely, she saw a dandelion floating softly in the breeze. The way she looked at it made Mayu feel like there was something important.
She saw her sad eyes, and hugged the girl from behind startling her. She thought maybe she was still suffering from having lost her memory, and needed some comfort. Lucky enough, the young mage hugged back.
“You gonna be okay, Ikoma-chan?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine...”
“I know how you feel. There are so many things that happened and I can’t remember them, no matter how hard I try.”
“I always feel like there’s something missing. Something I absolutely need to remember.”
“That’s exactly how I feel, too.”
Ikoma suddenly felt her head pulse, and she saw what looked like a small child. But then, the child grew up rapidly, her own clothes growing with her.
The child smiled at Ikoma, and she soon realized, it was the girl she saw in her dream.
“Rina, do you remember me?”
Rina spaced out for a bit and sat down on the bed.
“S-sorry, Mayu-san… Can you give me some time alone?”
“Uh, sure...” Mayu left the girl alone, but in her mind, she wasn’t totally alone.
She was somewhere else, a place that looked familiar, but nothing came to mind. The girl stood in front of Ikoma, smiling.
“Who are you?”
“Come on, you really don’t remember me?”
“No… Am I supposed to?”
“Oh, you really did forget...” She made a sad look and walked up to Ikoma, then moved aside her bangs and kissed her forehead.
She saw herself, as a kid, all alone and holding a single object. A pink, knitted hat, that looked like it was homemade. She was sitting by herself under a cherry blossom tree.
“That’s right...”
Ikoma remembered something from her long past. She was very shy and didn’t have anyone to talk to, long before she met Mai or Nanase. So, she created her own friend, one only she could see and talk to, and enclosed herself in a dream.
Eventually, though, she had to grow up. She had to move on with her life, but the child inside her mind wouldn’t let her. She made the decision to become an adult, and let go of that part of her. She forgot about her and was finally able to make friends.
“You… were my first friend, weren’t you?”
“That’s right, Rina. You created me so you wouldn’t be lonely.”
“Why did you come back?”
“Because, you need to remember. Everything that you forgot. I had to wake up so that you’d start remembering again.”
“Well, thank you.”
“It was my pleasure...” Her imaginary friend hugged her warmly and smiled as her tears flowed out. “I’m going to miss you.”
“Don’t worry… we’ll still be able to meet.”
“...Really?”
“Yeah, I promise.” Ikoma hugged her imaginary self back. “We’ll meet again...”
“Yes… in our dreams.”
Ikoma opened her eyes back up and found herself back in the infirmary. She felt like a weight had been lifted off her now that she was able to remember some of her past.
She smiled, remembering her dream self.
“Thanks… little me.”
From Ruka: I based the scenes with Ikoma and little-Ikoma from her PV for "Mizutama Moyou"
http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/Nogizaka46---Mizutama-Moyou-~-Ikoma-Rina/6aa1c5f744541ee927b344bd2523c30f (http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/Nogizaka46---Mizutama-Moyou-~-Ikoma-Rina/6aa1c5f744541ee927b344bd2523c30f)
Also, from Shino: if there was any confusion about HKT's Nao, I was talking about Ueki Nao. Meanwhile, SKE's Nao is my and hopefully all SKE hako-oshis' beloved Furuhata Nao~
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ah...Takamina is so motherly there...
Singing lullaby, comforting and tucking her in after....
So Sashi is the new chairman.... and Takamina need to take order from her....
Would they get their memories back?
Would they be able to get rid of the demons?
Thank you for the double updates
Can't wait to find out what's going to happen next
Thank you again....
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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So I've read it all...so cool :twothumbs
It's mayu and ikoma, and mayu had became angel not cyborg
If you have time, update please...
-
Hey guys! Uh, sorry for not updating. It's kind of all my fault since I've been getting a bit out of the AKB fandom. And also, Harry Potter fanfiction is tempting when Potter is a girl (a cute girl) and gets together with Luna or Ginny or Her--actually, let's just get to the story and not into my yuri fantasies.
Chapter 5 (Day 6)
The main lobby-ish area of HKT’s base was somewhat crowded with SKE and HKT members at the moment. Tani was emitting a huge aura at the moment, and everybody knew that she was there to save Chori, and SKE must’ve come along too.
The HKT members were all a little confused. They’d finished with their first searching mission and come back. Well, the situation had developed quite quickly. It was good to know that they’d probably be able to save Chori soon though.
Sasshi, Capt, Airi, and Sae stood in the middle of everything with microphones in hand. Everyone was a bit rowdy at the moment, so they waited a little for them to settle down.
“Mic check. Mic check. Uh-huh, okay,” Airi said before proclaiming, “Well, we all know what we’re here for right? It’s to band together, save Chiyori, and get rid of that darkness threat!”
The members present mumbled among themselves, still a little confused. They nodded as they listened for more information about what was going to happen.
Sae gave a handsome grin towards the girl and added, “It’s as Furukawa says. SKE is here as well. Tani’s bonds with Chori are strong, and of course, we’ll be helping save our friend’s friend. Plus, we have to take care of that darkness too.“
“Ah, and...the other factions… AKB said that they need a bit more time to be ready since they’re a big group,” Sasshi called out, “Takamina said that they’ll be the back-up if we need it. I haven’t heard back from NMB yet.”
Chihiro confidently yelled to the rest of her comrades and SKE, “We’ll save Chori and pummel our enemy to the ground!! Get prepared!! I won’t allow any losses!”
Everyone cheered loudly. The other three join in with the crowd. A few members giggled as Chihiro let out a sigh of relief at the success of her pep talk. They were sure to save Chori; that was a fact.
All the members were getting ready. Most of them had their equipment already. A few exchanged fighting and defensive tips. The SKE members and HKT members mingled a little while discussing strategies.
The strategists and brains went towards Sasshi for information to tell the squads. The others went off to form groups on their expedition.
In the middle of all it, Tani was there, all fired up. SKE’s Nao was right by her side, not wanting the little demon to lose her precious one. And, soon enough, Sasshi and Capt joined up with their group along with many others.
By the side, Sae confidently talked to Team S’ members, “Alright, everyone, I know we haven’t done much training, but I know you all are strong. This Team S is very special, and I’ve been close with some of you for a long time.”
“Hai!”
“Suzuran and Karen-chan, too, even though things are different, nothing’s changed.”
“Haha, Sae-chan~, you’re too sweet~.”
Sae smiled brightly and patted the girls’ heads.
“Yosh. Alright, everyone put on your battle gear and head out. We ain’t stoppin’ til we find those punks and save Chori!”
“OOOOH!!!”
Sasshi saw the Genki girl as she leaded the SKE members and headed out to search.
“So positive and energetic, as usual...”
Sasshi cracked her knuckles and headed towards her troupe.
“Well, I guess we’ve got to do our best as well!”
Silence ran, the wind blew slightly.
“Are?”
“Is that all, Sasshi?” Chihiro said, scratching her head.
“Ah, uhh…. Well, we got SKE to help… But, that doesn’t mean y’all are weak. We’re strong! We’ll unleash the dogs of war and raise Hell on Earth when we find them!”
“Now that’s more like it.”
Suddenly, Murashige and Boss stepped in with determination. Everyone’s eyes went towards the two.
They proclaimed, “Of course, we’re going too!”
A few members looked at them worriedly because of what had happened, but the others smiled. Sasshi gave the two a thumbs-up and gestured for them to join a team and help.
No matter what, they were going to save Chori, their comrade, their friend, their family.
Tanaka and Chihiro stepped forward, unsheathing their swords.
“C’mon girls, let’s find Chori and show those kidnapper freaks no mercy!”
“YEAH!!!” The demon girls spread their wings and flew into the sky, splitting apart to search for their comrade.
Sasshi chuckled. “They’ll never change.” Then, flew off with them.
--------------------
Chori woke up from her sleep with the sound of someone banging against the wall.
“Wake up!”
She opened her eyes to see a petite girl, dressed in lolita fashion, standing in front of her. It was like a little girl with odd clothes wasn’t enough of a shock, but the girl also had brilliant pink hair as if it were from some weird TV show that Sasshi made.
Chori could not believe what she was seeing. She was clearly snapped awake, but her mind was in a state of confusion.
The loli smirked evilly. With a childish voice, the girl spoke with words tinted with maliciousness, “Ohayou~”
“Who are you?!”
“My name is Ruby.”
Chori was silent. She stared at the girl and thought through her mind whether or not she’d ever seen this weird loli.
Ruby took the silence as awe and haughtily laughed, “Ohohohoho~ A lowly demon like you should just stare at my beauty like that while you can!”
“What do you mean?”
“Hohoho~ That’s right, you moron, we’re going to beat you all down into the dust and turn all you Crusaders or whatever you imbeciles are into our tools or sacrifices and whatnot. Soon enough our glorious lord, the Devil, will be fully revived. Wallow in despair, fools! Ohohoho~” Ruby seemed ecstatic.
Chori gulped as she listened to the eccentric little girl. There was a strong and evil magical aura that seemed to flow within her. The way Ruby talked was also rude and intimidating in a way though her appearance detracted from that effect.
Ruby continued gloating, baring her fangs, “We’ll destroy your Heaven, and--”
Suddenly, a figure with the same type of aura as Ruby came from behind. A short boy with a childish face and cutely styled blonde hair chopped Ruby on the head.
He faked a sweet smile towards Chori and began to scold Ruby, “Hey, you can’t tell them everything, Ruby.”
Ruby snarled and pouted, “Shut up, Charlie.”
Ignoring Ruby’s words, he pat her head and sent another smile towards Chori, “Nice to meet you, I’m Charles.”
Compared to Ruby, the little boy seemed slightly scarier if that was the right way to say. The two children were definitely what they seemed to be from the outside. Chori could feel it from the magical pressure.
“Hey, you’re supposed to introduce yourself too.” Charles smiled while exerting a violent magic force, possibly unconsciously.
Chori gulped and quickly stammered out, “T-The name’s Nakanishi Chi-Chiyori.”
“I would say that I hope we get along, but I just get the feeling that...you’ll be dead the next time I see you.” Charles shrugged.
Ruby took out a small knife and threw it at Chori. It seemed to miss her as it was wedged into the rock, but Chori felt some of her blood run down her cheek.
“Hey!”
Ruby sadistically grinned and kept throwing her knives, teasing Chori.
“Hahahahaha! This is fun! Ah hahahahahaha!”
Chori gritted her teeth as she watched the girl laugh her head off, and the child watch it as if it were all a show.
“Someone… help me!”
--------------------
“CHORI!!!!” Murashige yelled to the top of her lungs, louder than anyone, searching for her friend. “WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?!”
“Murashige, calm down,” Boss, Tanaka, said as she covered her ears. “You are way too loud!”
“Gomen… But, I’m just worried. What do you think’s going to happen to Chori?”
“Nothing, once we find her.”
“You confident?”
“Of course. It shouldn’t be too hard for her to fight for herself.”
Murashige pouted as she walked behind the Boss’ trail, kicking some rocks at her feet every so often. She looked up at the tall girl curiously and said, “What’s it like?”
“Huh?”
“In SKE. How is it different from HKT?”
“Wh...” She fell silent for a moment, turning to the half-Russian devil. “Why do you ask?”
“Just wanna know what it’s like over there.”
“Well… what’s it like in NMB?”
“It’s SO much fun! The guys were helping me with my comedy, but honestly, I think I was already good. Still, it’s awesome being with real comedians like them! It’s so cool!”
“Is NMB more fun than HKT?”
“Eh? Well… no, not really. They’re both fun, but… NMB is just different.”
“SKE is the same. They’re really nice to me, even though I’m a demon… Everyone in HKT is nice, too… But, they’re both so different.”
“Yeah… Ever since the Grand Shuffle, things sure have changed.”
The two demons floated down to the ground and decided to look around for a cave.
“I’m sure things are different for Chori, too. I mean, AKB is all angels. It must really be something else for her.”
“Hey… the last time me and her talked, she told me about a conversation she had with some of them after the Grand Shuffle...”
“What did she say?”
“They told her that… they felt like everything they did was worthless, that’s why the Grand Shuffle happened in the first place.”
“Eh…?”
“I was starting to wonder the same thing… if HKT didn’t need me anymore...”
The taller girl turned towards Anna and patted her head.
“That’s not true. Not for any of us.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Remember what Sasshi said after the Grand Shuffle?”
“Just because everyone’s been moved around and shuffled, even if we’re apart, we’re still a big family. It’s a good experience that will help strengthen us and our teams. Plus, WE’VE GOT LOLIS!!!!!!”
The two laughed as they remembered that moment, especially the last line.
“Oh, Sasshi, she’ll never change.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“Oi~, Murashige, Tanaka!” The two looked up and saw Chihiro and Sasshi flying above them.
“We found a cave! Let’s go and see if Chihiro’s there!”
“Coming~!” Murashige smiled and flew up to her friends. “Let’s go, Boss!”
Tanaka smiled at the Russian monkey-girl and giggled a bit.
“Right.”
--------------------
“What are you two..?” Chori asked as Ruby, twirled the knife in her hands. She threw it, nearing grazing her cheek. “Who do you work for?”
Ruby chuckled. “That is not important.”
She took Chori’s chin, then punched her.
“Just know this, your world, and all worlds, shall fall into darkness.”
“What? All worlds?”
“Stop right there!” A voice suddenly rose up.
“What?!”
The demon girl looked and saw her dear group of friends in front of the cave. Along with them was a group of SKE’s dark angels.
“Guys...”
Sasshi raised her sword. “LOLIS!!! CHARGE!!!!”
“RAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!” The group of demons charged towards Ruby. The non-loli members shrugged and charged as well.
She sneered and summoned an army of shadow-like creatures. The girls fought them as she and little Charles escaped.
As the group fought off the monsters, Sasshi came and released Chori from the chains binding her.
“You okay?”
“Yeah...” The demon girl stood up. “I can’t believe you all came here...”
Murashige said proudly as she tackle-hugged the demon girl, “Of course we did, Chori!”
“A-Annya..!”
Tani did the same. “We wub you, Chori~~~”
“Tani..!” Chori choked as she was hugged, with lots of love, from both sides.
“Alright, you two, calm down.” Sasshi separated the two from her.
“Who were those people holding you captive?”
“I don’t know. But… they said lots of strange stuff. Like, all worlds would fall into darkness.”
Sasshi repeated with concern, “All worlds..?”
Chori nodded as she heard the curious whispers of the other girls and saw the look on Sasshi’s face. She knew that it was definitely not a good thing. “Do you know what they were talking about?”
“That… We should head back, and then, I’ll explain.” Sasshi said as she gave a look that said that it would be complicated.
Chori nodded, and the girls set to head back home, this time, with Chori.
--------------------
“What?!”
“That’s right,” Takamina said to Mayu and Ikoma-chan. “There is more than one world.”
“No way...”
“Then, that means...”
“That’s right, Ikoma-chan. The reason you lost your memories is because something, or someone, forcefully pulled you out of your own world.”
“So, why did I end up here?”
“Not sure… but, for now, until we can restore your memories and bring you back into your own world, you’ll have to stay here with us. And now that we know there are new enemies, we must fight them.”
“Right.”
“Yosh. You’re both dismissed.”
The two girls saluted the angel before they headed back to Team B’s headquarters.
“Nee, Mayu-san...” Ikoma spoke up.
“What?”
“Do you think this ‘new enemy’ also has something to do with your lost memories?”
Mayu thought for a bit, before answering, “I’m not sure...”
“What do you think they are..?”
“If they know about other worlds… they’re very powerful. We should be careful.”
“Right.”
As they got to headquarters and opened the door, they noticed everyone was gathered around something.
“Oh my God!” Hilary’s voice echoed in their ears as they all stared at the thing they saw. Mayu and Ikoma walked to the group.
“What happened?”
“Look...”
When they looked, there was a young girl lying on the ground. Someone they’ve never seen before, and she didn’t have wings.
“Who is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ikoma-chan?”
“Doesn’t look familiar. But, she doesn’t have wings, like all of you, so maybe...”
Slowly, the girl started waking up, looking around at everyone.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yes.”
“What’s your name?”
“Maiko. Inui Maiko...”
“Maiko. How did you get here?”
“I don’t know… I...” Just then, her eyes widened and she suddenly screamed out, holding her head.
“M-Maiko-san?!”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s them… They’re everywhere..!”
“What?”
“ZOMBIES!!!”
“Zombies?”
She kept screaming until she finally couldn’t take anymore and collapsed, tears streaming down her face.
“What on Earth… Zombies..?”
TBC...
And, that's the update! Hope you guys enjoyed! (Somehow, I think my character changed.)
cisda83: No prob. Well, sorry for the long wait, but here we are with another update! Taka is a surprisingly reliable person, ya know. :3
deguchi: Thanks! And, here we are with an update!
I'm sorry though, but I don't know if we'll have very constant updates.
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Thanks for the update, at least you still update it :)
I'm glad they can saved chori
and neq chara added, nogi member?
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I haven't been into this site in ages. Many new author here and I've been reading while did lots of pray that this fics is not abandoned or something like many fics here. Please update soon author-san! :bow:
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Woah.. it was updated already... Missed it...
Thank you for the update
Can't wait to see the next chapter
Thank you again
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Hey guys. So, a little message from Shinoki, due to certain reasons, she won't be able to write this fic with me, so I will be managing this thread from now on. She's really busy and not really connected with idols and the 48 group like she used to, so she handed this collabo of ours over to me.
So, yeah, that's that. XD
Anyway, enjoy this update!
===================================
Chapter 6 (Day 7)
“Inui Maiko.”
The angels looked at the collapsed girl on the couch. Just moments ago, she was having a fit about zombies attacking her before having lost consciousness, and now, she is resting somewhat peacefully, as the nightmare repeated inside her mind.
“What should we do about her?”
“The best choice would probably be to let her rest here for now and return her home when she wakes up.” Hilary noted.
“Yeah, but how do we do that? We don’t even know how to get Ikoma-chan back to her world.”
“Don’t worry, girls.” Kuramochi spoke up. “We’ll figure this out. For now, since we have a new friend, we should make her feel welcome~”
“Eh?”
“Also, we should give her a new name. Inui Maiko… Mm~, not really clicking.”
“Hey, Mayu,” Ikoma walked up to the angel, and handed her a plastic case. “Maiko-san had this in her bag.”
“What is this?”
“I don’t know, but… look.”
She pointed to a picture on the cover of the case. It was three girls, an idol unit named “Milk Planet”. And in the center, was a girl who looked EXACTLY like Mayu.
“What? Is that.. me?!”
“And look, these two girls look like Yui-san and Karen-san.”
“But, how can that be? Why am I in this picture?”
All the other angels looked at the picture, then Yuki came to a conclusion.
“Milky told me that Sayanee is from another world, and that there was a girl who looks exactly like Milky. Maybe Maiko comes from an alternate universe where you exist as an idol.”
“And, where there are zombies.”
“Wait, but I thought we took care of them.”
“Maybe in that universe, the zombie virus still spreaded. They must’ve not been defeated by us in that world, and Maiko is the only one left.”
“Isn’t this weird? The demon worshippers, the zombies, Ikoma-chan and Maiko...”
“All these worlds coming together...”
“There has to be some reason.”
“Could it be the Fates or maybe something even bigger?”
“I’d rather not think of it like this, but I bet it’s spelling a big load of trouble and chaos.”
“Like what?”
“Well, for one, the demon worshippers have already caused big problems. But, with so many worlds coming together, their problems might become ours. The universe might just implode or something like that.”
“You mean explode.”
“Potato, po-tah-to!”
“Guys, calm down.”
“Nana!” Mocchi said aloud.
“Eh?”
“Nana. Owada Nana. It was the name of a famous actress from a long time ago. It sounds perfect for her.”
“You don’t know if she’ll like that...”
Just then, Maiko woke up and saw everyone looking at her.
“What… happened?”
“Nana, are you okay?”
“N-Nana?”
“That’s your new name. Owada Nana.”
“Owada… Nana…”
“Do you like it?”
“Y-yes...”
“Please, tell us what happened. How did you end up here?”
“Eh?”
“You said you were being attacked by zombies. What happened that made you come here?”
“Z-zombies..?” She held her head. “I...”
Mayu noticed the girl’s movements, her eyes widened.
“Nana...” she asked her. “Do you recognize the name ‘Milk Planet’?”
“Milk.. Planet?”
The others stood silent. They realized what was going on.
“Besides your name, do you remember anything else? Family? Friends?”
She shook her head.
“I knew it… she’s the same situation as Ikoma-chan.”
“She was pulled forcefully out of her world…”
“And lost her memory.”
“But, she remembered her name,” Ikoma pointed out. “That’s what happened with me, too. I remembered my name, and then, little pieces of my memory slowly started to come back.”
She held the girl’s shoulders and smiled.
“Don’t worry, Nana-san. You’ll be okay.”
Nana smiled. “Thank you.”
“Oh, maybe this will have some clue to what happened,” Shiichan said, holding up the Milk Planet case.
“Open it.”
The girl opened the box and everyone saw a disc inside it.
“What is that?”
“Does it go in something?”
Maachun started looking through a bag Nana had with her when she first appeared. She found a box-like object and opened up and showed a screen. She pushed a button on the side of it, and a slot with a disc-sized opening came out.
“Maybe it goes in this thing.”
The zombie girl placed the disc inside and pushed the slot back in. They waited a few seconds and nothing happened.
“Mou~ why is it not working?”
Nana slowly got up, walking towards the device. She pushed a button and the screen slowly turned blue.
“Woah...”
“It wasn’t turned on...” Nana said as she laid it down. She looked at the other buttons on the bottom half of the box.
She pushed one, and then a video started playing on the screen.
[HD] AKB48 渡辺麻友 横山由依 岩田華怜 - セーラーゾンビ LIVE / ミルクプラネット Sailor Zombie , Milk Planet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hktlyWvz9nw#ws)
“W-what is this..?”
“Hey, that girl looks like you, Mayu!” Mio pointed out.
“You’re right. It’s uncanny!” Maachun agreed.
Even Mayu couldn’t hide the fact that the girl she was seeing looked exactly like her. A whole other version of her, who was singing and and dancing.
The angel then felt a nudge at her shoulder. When she looked, she saw Hilary. The younger girl pointed, and when Mayu turned her head, she saw Nana was smiling as she was watching, her body moving a bit as if dancing along to the song.
“She must like Milk Planet.”
“Yeah...”
------------------------------------
Meanwhile…
“Okay,” Yui walked up to Mako, handing her a sword. “You ready?”
“Un!”
Ever since the Grand Shuffle, Kojima Mako, the angel with the brightest smile in the entire group, became a member of Team K in the AKB squadron. Yui, who was appointed captain, had been helping the girl get used to her new routines and helping her practice with a sword.
It was all very different from Team 4, and she sometimes missed Nana, Miki, and Miichan. However, she had her senior members like Jurina and Sayanee, who were very nice and helped her, and also Yui, who showed her how to become stronger.
“En guard!”
The spar began. Yui stood by, first in defensive position in order to allow Mako to practice going on offense as Yui was more experienced than the former Team 4 girl. Mako flew forward with her sword.
She sliced and swiped at Yui, going from all angles. The sound of metal clashing could be heard.
Yui parried all the blows, feeling the energy behind them. She saw that Mako was not wearing herself out, and Mako had quite a lot of a strength. Yui smiled.
Mako continued attacking. She aimed at any spots that seemed to be unprotected, but was blocked each time. The angel did not give up. Mako quickly maneuvered to be right behind Yui and tried to strike.
Much to Mako’s surprise, the more experienced angel caught the attack and hit Mako’s sword so hard at the right place that it flew away.
“Wow, how did you do that!?” Mako exclaimed curiously.
Yui smiled mysteriously and said, “Let’s see if you can figure it out yourself. Now, let’s continue, but this time, I’ll go on offense, with a handicap.”
“Alright.”
They started again. At the call for start, Yui flew at Mako with speed. She allowed a few of her hits to be blocked, but she wasn’t trying to make it too easy.
The bright, younger angel was amazed as she blocked and parried the furiously fast attacks that were both speedy and forceful. Mako was pushing herself hard to keep up with the speed and force, but she grinned. She was definitely going to get better at fighting.
The sound of metal clashing and the wind filled the area.
Both were on rather even ground with Yui handicapped, but it was clear that if Mako kept on defensive without doing anything more, she would be the one to lose out first. The senior angel just had more stamina.
The swords clashed. The second Mako found an opening in the flurry of attacks, she struck back at Yui’s sword in an attempt to disarm Yui.
Clang. A sword fell to the ground.
“It looks like it’s my victory.” Yui said as she lowered her sword and gave Mako a pat on the shoulder, “Good job. You lasted a good amount of time, and you were pretty close to actually managing to disarm me.”
“Thanks.”
“That’s enough for today. You go rest.”
“Un.” Mako handed Yui back her sword and left.
As she flew in the sky, she looked down and saw Team B’s headquarters. She was curious about what was going on with Mayu and decided to go check up on her.
She knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she slowly walked in.
“Mayu-san?” She stepped into the room and looked around. “Mayu-san, are you here?”
She then looked and saw, not too far away, a girl was watching something on a small device. She had something in her ears, playing music. She could also hear the girl was singing, and her hand was moving in a similar motion as the girl’s on the screen.
“Who is that..?”
Mako walked over and tapped the girl’s shoulder, making her remove the bud from her ear and look up at her.
When their eyes met, time stopped for a moment.
Something seemed oddly familiar about the girl. Mako kept staring at her eyes, almost getting lost with them.
“Who are you?” she asked as she got up, removing the other bud.
“My name is Mako. Kojima Mako. And you are?”
“Ma--um… uh, Nana.”
“You sure? You didn’t seem sure for a second there.”
“Ah, yes, I’m sure… Owada Nana.”
“Owada-san, why are you here?”
“I… um, honestly, I don’t know. Before I knew it, I was suddenly brought here...”
“I see...” She looked over her shoulder and saw the video. “What are you watching?”
Nana looked over and smiled. “They’re called Milk Planet.”
“Milk Planet?”
“I believe they are idols.”
“Idols?” She sat down and looked at them, placing one of the buds in her ear. She was surprised to hear music, loud and clear in her ear, and the girls were singing and dancing to it.
Then, she noticed… one girl looked a lot like Yui.
“Yui is an.. idol?”
“Um, Kojima-san..?”
Mako looked at the girl and smiled, “You can just call me Mako.”
“Okay. Mako-chan… how did you get here?”
“How did I come here? Hmm...” Mako thought about it for a bit. “That’s a bit hard to answer. We all came here different ways… All I know is, after dying in your past life, your soul raises to Heaven and you’re reborn here. That’s what Takamina-san told me. Oh, she’s an angel, like me.”
“Angel?”
“Yup. See?” Mako showed Nana her wings. “What are you? Are you an angel?”
“No.”
“So, you’re human.” She smiled and held out her hand, grasping onto the younger girl’s. “Alright, I hope we can be friends, Naanya.”
“Eh?”
“Eh…?” A spark was felt between them as they held hands. “Wh-what did I just..?”
“Naanya?”
“Ah… I just thought of it, and it made me think… that would be a cute.. nickname for you.”
“A nickname?”
“Un… I don’t know why, but… it just felt so natural to call you that.”
“Really?”
“Do you not like it?” Mako let go of the girl’s hand.
“Oh, no, I do. It’s a great nickname, Kojimako-chan.”
“Eh?”
Nana blinked a bit, realizing what she said. “Huh... W-why did I..? Did I just say that?”
“Kojimako-chan… Only the others call me that, so how..?”
“Hello~?” A voice rose up as a certain Team B angel, Takahashi Juri, entered. “Oh, Kojimako-chan. And that girl, uh, Nana, was it?”
Nana stared at the girl for a moment, her eyes wide.
“Musumi..?”
“Hm?”
“Musumi!” The girl suddenly ran up and hugged Juri.
“Woah! H-hey, you okay?”
“Thank God… you’re alive.”
Juri looked around confused.
“Wha-? Who’s Musumi?” she pushed the girl away. She saw tears were forming in Nana’s eyes. “Oi, are you okay?”
“You’re not.. Musumi...”
A memory hit Nana. Two girls, smiling at her. A sudden wave of sadness washed over her and she started crying. She fell to her knees, tears uncontrollably falling from her eyes.
“Nana?! Hey, what’s wrong?!”
The girl didn’t answer Juri’s calls. She just kept crying.
Even Make, too, felt a tear rolling down her cheek.
“Why..?”
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interesting... you put Mayu video there...
What's going to happen next?
Can't wait to see more
Thank you for the update
:twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
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Hey guys. So, it's been a LONG time since I wrote this, and I've been really busy lately, so I've decided I'm going to drop this fic. I'm really sorry! >_<