JPHiP Forum
AKB48 Fanfics => AKB48 Fanfics => Topic started by: Titi on June 08, 2012, 11:31:55 AM
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Hi guys, uhh... I suddenly thought how nice it would be if AKB were to live in a world similar to the Arthurian era, so here is a fic. :) Of course this is an AtsuMina fic, so it will focus mainly on AtsuMina, but it will have Kojiyuu, Mayuki, WMatsui, and slight Saeyaka and SasshiYui (as my friend wanted). Mariko and Miichan will appear in this as well, despite not having leading roles.
Right now, I only have the Prologue ready. This is the general background of the world I create. Enjoy~
Index:
Prologue Below.
Chapter 1 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=33111.msg1052165#msg1052165)
Chapter 2 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=33111.msg1056585#msg1056585)
Chapter 3 (http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=33111.msg1063082#msg1063082)
For our Sake
Prologue
Once upon a time, there were three countries ruling a region; their names were Giaer, Fosna, and Giile. In Giaer, every child and adult had extraordinary strength. Their physical abilities surpassed that of a normal mortal by a dozen times. Anyone who dared to challenge them to a physical combat would live to regret it. On the other hand, anyone born in Fosna would never be involved in a battle. They were geniuses in strategic warfare, with such schemes that would not be easily uncovered. There was no one who wasn’t aware of the Fosnians’ terrifying psychological plays; they would slowly but surely discover every single of a person’s weaknesses and finally break the person like breaking a doll. Last but not least, the country of magic, Giile. Perhaps the most peaceful kingdom among the three, a Giilian would try to solve a conflict without fighting. Should they have no other choice but to fight, with a snap of their fingers, storm would gather, lightning and thunder would come, lava would pour, and earthquake would swallow their opponents. Together, the three kingdoms divided power among themselves and controlled villages and towns around them.
However, as time went by, the countries’ royals became unsatisfied with what they already had and began warring against each other. For years and years, they kept on fighting. Their people did not dare to defy them, for royals possessed much stronger power than any other. For a long time, the citizens suffered greatly from the war: anyone who could fight was forced to join the army, famine spread to every corner on the streets, and blood had been carved into the youth’s mind. Tormented the most were the towns outside of the kingdoms. Without the power of any of the countries, they were normal humans, unable to defend themselves against the advancing armies.
Many had resisted, and many had failed. Resistance was completely futile. Until one day, a young passionate youth decided that it was time to put an end to this inane fight. He was the elite of elites, excelling in hand-to-hand combat, possessing wide knowledge of weaponry, and mastering the art of magic. For half of his life, he had been working on gathering every single person who would join in his cause. He was supported greatly; people loved him because of his kindness, patience, and understanding.
He was able to defeat the three kingdoms easily, due to them being worn out from the war. He united the countries and all the towns around them into one and named it Karteria, meaning “patience.” He became the first king and ruled it justly. Under his rule, the former citizens of the three countries lived happily alongside other normal people. The year that Karteria was established was called the 0th year, the year of reincarnation. From then on, the following years were to be called AR—after the rebirth.
The king, before passing away, had chosen a successor to his throne. It was a person whom he had faith in. For the successor that the king had chosen was as fair as he, the people trusted him to make the right decisions. Then it became a tradition that every king and queen shall choose a successor.
Generations later, descendants of the old countries’ royals who were exiled came back to Karteria and mingled with the rulers. They secretly worked to revenge their forefathers, break away and have the old kingdoms back, or take over Karteria. Calling themselves the Avengers, they placed factions all over the capital of the kingdom, letting anyone with the same purpose join.
There were four types of factions: The Giaerians, the Fosnians, the Giilians, and the Grays. They made contracts and took requests to build up their power, with the intention of winning over the people to the old countries’ side. Some of the Gray factions worked for anyone, not caring which side was which, and some worked to keep the people from supporting the Avengers.
All kings and queens had been able to put the unrest under control until 385AR when the last king passed away without choosing a successor. It was a chance for the Avengers to take over. The fight between Avengers and Karterians prolonged for twenty-three years.
It was now 408AR.
Would this generation put an end to the internal conflicts?
End of Prolouge
And here's a bonus quoting some of the characters. They are quotes that will appear somewhat later in the story:
"I don't need this eye. It's a fragment of failure." Maeda Atsuko.
"There used to be a fake human who tried to keep up with fake expectations for a doll." Takahashi Minami.
"Because love is a useless thing." Oshima Yuko.
"I'll wait for the day when she stops playing with fear." Kojima Haruna.
Please tell me what you think of this, I want to know if there is anyone who likes this idea. :)
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This Prologue is soo interesting!!! XD
I can't wait to read Chapter 1!
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That was one of the best prologue eva!! XD So interesting.. :twothumbs
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Yay! AtsuMina and KojiYuu~ and, Wow! Your English were Incredibly Cool. I like it. Thanks for the Prologue. :thumbup
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Another adventure is on ahead! :w00t: Thanks for the prologue :thumbsup :thumbsup it was good.
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OH MY GOD
This is so cool, so amazing!!!
I've already read some of your fics here and I think your writing is good, really good.
And this one here is just AMAZING!
I'm eager to read it!
Thank you very much!
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Omg, you stop it like that ;___; It's so short. I need more, like...NEED IT.
So feed me and give me the first chapter already! >=I
It was awesome as always, I'll be waiting oh-so(not)-patiently for the next one!!
:heart: :heart: :heart:
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waaaa :D atsumina kojiyuu.. perfect :D
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Hi guys, um, here is the update~? I present you Chapter 1~ Dun dun dun~ :) Ah, I'm not very good at fighting scenes, I hope I did a fair job at it. This fic will be written in Acchan's POV, but in third person. Most of the time, when I use "she," I am referring to Acchan. If there is a change in who "she" is, the character should be clarified at the beginning of the sentence or of the paragraph. :)
Ah, Giaer is pronounced as Ji - ar, Fosna is Fos - na, and Giile is Jill - le (le is said softly)
For our Sake
Chapter 1
It was burning. It was hot. In front of her eyes, three people—one man and two women—were behind a row of bars as if they were prisoners. They were shouting, seeming very angry. All around her, people were rushing to do something: burning the three prisoners. It was a soundless commotion, for the prisoners’ shouts seemed to be drowning everything else.
Fire began licking and crawling in the wooden cage in which they were held. With the combined power of the three of them, the only reason the cage didn’t break was because it was reinforced by magic. In the night, it was the only thing burning, lighting a corner of the village. She looked down at her small hand; they were shaking and sweating. It was not the cold of the night or the heat of the huge fire. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears. Her shoulders tensed and her legs quavered.
“Curse you!” She jumped and looked up at the man behind the bars. He looked as if he would put a curse on her if his magic were not restrained.
“Do you hate this family?” The woman shouted a question at her furiously, although it was more like an angry accusation.
The other woman, appearing to be in her adolescence, reached her hand out and pointed at her. The woman’s finger shook with hatred as her eyes narrowed at the little girl. “No matter what you do,” the woman said through gritted teeth, “you will always be a part of this family!”
Her eyes watered at this. She shook her head frantically.
Still pointing at her, the woman laughed maniacally. “This family will always be engraved on you!”
She brought her hands up hastily to cover her left eye. She knew it was her left eye that the woman was referring to. Shaking her head some more, she squeezed her eyes shut and mumbled repeatedly, “No! No! No!” Noises invaded her head and everything became incoherent.
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She jerked awake with a start. Blinking a few times to clear the sleep out of her eye, she lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Her chest rose and fell unevenly as she breathed heavily. Sitting up, she ran her eye over the room. Everything was eerily still.
Lying here, thinking about the past wouldn’t do her any good. Throwing off the blanket, she put her feet on the floor and walked over to her table a few feet away from the bed. Looking over the items on the table, she spotted a black pocket watch with her name carved on it. Picking it up, she opened the watch and stared at the hands. It was about six in the morning.
She was confused, for her partner normally would have woken her up at this time. Her partner, Takahashi Minami, was one who would always have her watch with her at any time and place. Knowing that, she never kept her own watch by her side and let Minami wake her up every morning, since they were always together.
Next to her bed was a small closet. After getting her clothes, she went to the bathroom, which was connected to her room, and changed. Then she took out a wash-tub, waved her hand over the surface, filled it with water, and washed her face.
She was a mage, born in a Giilian family, and every Giilian had an element in which one would excel. Although she was able to control every element, just as any mage would, her specialty was ice. If she were to scale her ability from one to ten, then her ice would be at nine and the other elements would range from three to six.
She grabbed a towel and dried her face. Then using her reflection in the wash-tub, she ran her hand though her hair and combed it. Her left eye was closed; for years she had not been using that eye and had now had gotten accustomed to seeing only part of her vision. The blind spots of her eye made it difficult for anyone to be her partner without hampering each other’s actions. Amongst all of the faction’s members, Minami was the only one who could fight alongside her.
She, Maeda Atsuko, indirectly created the term “partners” in this faction. Before, one would work on a request with any member that one could find at the time. She was the first to request permission to work with only one person. As of now, everyone had a partner. Unless there was a direct order to pair up with someone else, no one was willing to change partner. She didn’t think such an order would be given out, though.
She fixed her bangs over her left eye until they completely covered it up; it was the only reason she grew her bangs past her cheekbone. Satisfied with the result, she flicked her hand and the water turned into vapor.
Thinking about where Minami could be, she slowly pushed the door to her room open. As soon as it became ajar, a small rush of air touched her face; there were noises coming from the far side of her left. Sighing, she stepped out and closed the door; the other members were as energetic as always. She had stopped wondering where they got their energy so early in the morning from a long time ago.
She was now in the hallway. This place was built so that one side of the hallway would have the rooms, and the other side would always be a long window. There were many floors; being one of the first members, her room was on the first floor.
In front of her—as expected—was the long window that stretched all the way to the end of the hall. It was infused with magic so that it was as hard as brick, and that one could see the outside looking from the inside. However, from the outside, the window would appear a dull wall. The man who constructed this faction, Akimoto Yasushi, only gave her a single sentence of explanation: “It’s interesting.”
She started liking this idea not long after. Peering at the sky outside, she noticed today wasn’t going to be sunny. On the ground below, no one was present yet. She smiled at the scene, feeling nostalgic. How many times had she seen this street since she started living here after meeting Minami?
Akimoto Yasushi had decided that everyone would live here after joining the faction; coincidentally, the members more or less considered themselves orphans, therefore, it was not a problem. Naming this faction AKB, Akimoto told them this was a family that had rules, thus everyone wore uniform and lived together as a family. Akimoto, once again, explained: “Isn’t it more interesting this way?”
Because of that, she was wearing a dark red skirt and a long sleeves white shirt. On the upper arm of her left sleeve, the word “AKB” was sewn. Another symbol of the faction was glued on her shirt’s left chest. It was a burning phoenix. “Like a phoenix, die and reborn after your failures. Isn’t it interesting?” Akimoto had told her and laughed. Her black boots rested a bit below her knees, and around her neck was a dangling silver necklace. Turning towards the source of noise, she made her way towards the center of the floor and descended the stairs.
As usual, there was a ruckus on the ground floor, which was made into the kitchen with tables and chairs filling all the space. There were voices crying, whining, teasing, pouting, shouting, and even begging. Casting her eye around the kitchen, she frowned as it couldn’t catch her partner’s figure.
“Looking for Takamina?” asked a familiar voice. Shifting her gaze towards the speaker, she wasn’t surprised to see Oshima Yuko, who was grinning widely, clinging on Kojima Haruna. Yuko, much like herself, wore a white shirt; the only difference was the she also wore a loose black tie and an unbuttoned leather jacket. The skirts only had one design, but the shirts had three types to indicate a member’s role. She and Yuko were responsible for attacking and being at the front. On the other hand, Haruna, being in a supportive role, wore a gray shirt. Usually, a medic or an informer would wear a gray shirt.
“Do you know where Takamina is?” she asked.
“I think she said she was going to the Square to see if there was any new request.” Yuko paused before continuing, “If you’re going out, be careful. They are targeting us after all.”
AKB was well-known amongst the Gray factions—the Grays for short. Soon, the other three groups of factions—the Giaerians, Fosnians, and Giilians—were aiming at AKB. Working as the Grays made AKB a notorious target. The three groups preferred to attack the Grays to avoid wars with the other two, for the Grays worked independently, having no connections with each other. It was easier to take down a Gray to gain more ground.
“Thank you.” Not wasting her time, she turned to the front door and left, hearing a few screams from some members as she closed the door.
It was the beginning of December; she was expecting snow at the end of this year. Exhaling a long breath, her eye followed the small puff of smoke as it slowly diffused in the air. It was supposed to be cold, but, being an ice mage, she felt nothing. It would be very tiring once summer came around the corner.
As she took her time sauntering down the streets, something rang inside her head. Reaching into the skirt’s pocket, she drew out a card. It was the card that AKB members used to communicate with each other. On one side of the card was the burning phoenix symbol, and on the other side, her name—Maeda Atsuko—was inscribed. In order to call, she had to press the card against her forehead and say the full name of whomever she wanted to contact; of course, it only worked amongst the members.
Underneath her name on the card, another name was flashing: Takahashi Minami. Raising the hand that was holding the card, she pressed it against her forehead. “Takamina?” she asked.
“Ah! Acchan, I’m sorry I didn’t wake you up. Where are you right now?”
She wondered why did Minami’s voice sound worried. “I’m going to the Square right now.” The Stathei Square, where requests were put up, was built at the centre of the capital. It wasn’t far from where she currently was.
“Ah, could you hurry up? I’ll explain later.” Minami sounded like she was in a hurry.
“Roger! I’ll be right there.” Ending the call, she put the card back in her pocket and began running.
As she took the last turn to the Square, she caught sight of Minami. Minami was in her white shirt and her leather jacket. She guessed it really was cold outside. Closing the distance, she looked over Minami’s shoulder to see what her partner was staring at. There she saw a group of people crowding around something. She thought it was weird, as requests were put up on the boards around the Square, not in the middle of it.
“They were chasing Rena. I couldn’t do anything since there were too many of them. I just followed them here.” Minami whispered to her without looking back; she frowned, slightly frustrated to know her friend was being hurt by another faction.
Poking Minami’s ribs, she joked, “What kind of vanguard are you?”
“The kind that waits for her partner,” grinning, Minami unsheathed her sword, which was strapped to her hip. “Fire on my cue, okay?” she directed.
Nodding, she watched as Minami moved away from their hiding place. She knitted her brows, hoping that the people hadn’t done anything to Rena.
Minami was a fast swordswoman; she was probably the fastest amongst all members, for her parents were both Giaerians. Soundlessly, Minami advanced and took down several of those in the group. The moment they noticed Minami, she had already jumped back a few steps.
Knowing that was her cue, she took one step out, raised her hand, and aimed at the group. Balls of ice formed around her and launched themselves at the group. Some of them hit those people and knocked them unconscious.
She widened her smile into a grin as Minami swiftly tripped a guy who was trying to dodge her icy ball. Said guy was hit by three other balls as he fell to the ground, grunting and making funny faces. The rest of the group, terrified by their presence, tried to escape. Smirking, she snapped her fingers and small ice marbles appeared on the ground. As the group ran over the marbles, they tumbled over the little things and fell; some of them smashed their faces against a frosted wall that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Still smirking, she glanced at Minami who was attempting to contain her snickers. Finally deciding to let them leave, she walked up to Minami. Just then, she noticed a girl hiding behind Rena. It seemed Rena was defending the girl against those people. She was hurt quite badly, not fatally, but it would take time to heal.
The girl glared up at her and Minami as they approached Rena, her eyes filled with determination. “Ah…” she gasped lightly, realizing that the girl was willing to fight them if they were to harm the tall girl.
Rena then patted the girl’s head and assured her, “Don’t worry. They are my friends.” The young girl seemed to relax at that.
She turned to give Minami a small smile as Minami also glanced at her and smiled at the same time. Then Minami returned her attention to the other two and asked the girl, “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No,” the girl shook her head, sounding more at ease, and flicked her head towards Rena, “but she is.” As the girl pointed out the obvious, Rena smiled sheepishly.
“Come on,” Minami said as she took Rena’s arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, “we’ll carry you back.”
Wordlessly, she took Rena’s remaining arm and did the same thing as Minami. Together, they carried a limping Rena back to the faction, with the girl trudging along.
As they neared the place, shouts could be heard quite clearly. She and the other two looked at each other, wide-eyed, seemingly clueless of what was happening inside. Suddenly, the door was wrung open, surprising the four of them. As she wondered what was going on, Watanabe Mayu poked her head outside and told them, “I saw you. Come on in.”
Now she was reminded that Mayu was a clairvoyant. Mayu’s ability allowed her to see a person’s actions in the near future; therefore, Mayu’s shirt was gray. As she and Minami were carrying Rena in, she could hear Mayu call, “Yukirin! Is the hot water ready?” And answering Mayu was a shout that resembled a “Yes!”
She sighed. Mayu could even predict that she would ask for hot water to clean Rena’s wounds. Yuko’s voice reached her ears, “Sir, I’ve got the medic ready!” She could already imagine the short girl grinning and saluting Mayu. This was going to be tiresome.
End of Chapter 1
Please read and review~ If you have a hard time imagining the uniforms, I took the skirts from Iiwake Maybe, the shirts from Beginner (with the tie), and the leather jackets from Lucky Seven (Acchan's outfit).
And I have a question for you. Who is this little girl that Rena was defending? It should be easy to answer :D (Hint: it should be in my introduction in the Prologue)
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I got the uniform parts right!!!!! :on gay: :on gay: :on gay:
And I think its Jurina, right? :nya: :nya: :nya:
I love this story so far, keep this up!! :kneelbow: :kneelbow:
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This is really interesting! :)
The uniforms were really nice too~ ^^
And I wonder who the little girl is..?? :?
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I think little girl will be ...Airin desu ne :lol: :lol:
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Wow. Acchan is an ice mage and Takamina is a swordman. So cool :inlove:
I wonder what kind of power the others have :lol:
About the little girl that Rena is defending. Well, I think (and I want) her to be Jurina XD (I'm a WMatsui shipper after all :P)
But if she is someone else, it's okay. It's up to you ;)
I'm seriously curious about Acchan's left eye and her past. And imagining Acchan with her bang covers her left eye, absolutely cool :inlove:
Your fighting scene is not that bad, it's good. Don't worry about it. You did well :thumbup
I'm waiting for your next chapter. Please take you time :)
Thank you for your writing :)
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This story reminds me of about my favorite anime Negima with pactios have a lot of partners and different elements to fight magic wars.^^
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I like this fic. It looks like a mix between negima and others things ^^
Beginner shirts? Does it mean the shirts are transparent? Hehe
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the first scene, is it a flashback? or... ah! a dream? :O it got me really curious about Acchan's left eye.. :banghead:
So, Taka is a swordsman?? so kakkoi!! :w00t: I wonder if her sword can light up..lol.. :lol:
Hurm.. I'm guessing Jurina is this little girl that Rena was defending?? XD
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yay an ice mage! XD my favorite char in games!! update soon please :jphip:
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I TOLD YOU ACCHAN LOOKED COOL LIKE THAT ;___;////
And is there going to be WMatsui soon? Hm? HM? Juri-chan!! :heart: :heart:
Sorry it took so long to read, but it was totally worth reading! I should have read it sooner! LOL
Update soon!~
:heart: :heart: :heart:
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To you who guessed... the little girl is!!!... Read and find out :P
And yes, the first scene in chapter 1 is a dream of the past. I also would prefer that the shirts are not transparent, but it's up to your imagination XD
Eh... I'm sorry if this chapter is boring to you somehow, since I need to explain things :sweatdrop:
I'm also sorry if there is any out of character-ness. Please read and review~
For our Sake
Chapter 2
As she was about to start walking, Atsuko noticed the young girl spacing out from the corner of her eye. Judging from her gaze, the girl was probably awed by the building before her. She, Atsuko, also had the same reaction when she first came here, although back then the faction wasn’t as tall as it was now.
Leaving the girl alone, she helped Rena ascend the steps that were in front of the door to the faction. There was nothing special about the steps; what made it difficult was the tallest girl’s injured leg.
Looking up, she nodded at Mayu who was holding the door open for them. Inside, the members were eyeing them, especially the girl trailing behind them. Everyone had already vacated the table nearest to the door; only Kojima Haruna and Kashiwagi Yuki were waiting for them at the table.
After helping Rena sit down, she stepped aside and stood in a corner while Minami told the girl to take her seat beside Rena.
As soon as Minami was in her reach, she immediately wrapped her arms around the small girl’s waist and leaned against her back. Somehow, the others’ faces cracked up when they looked at Minami’s direction. Wondering what was going on, she glanced down and pouted at what she saw.
The short girl was squeezing her eyes shut tightly, lips curled downwards as if in pain. She pinched Minami’s cheek and, with an unpleasant smile, asked, “Does Takamina have anything unhappy that she needs to tell Acchan?”
Without delay, Minami instantly straightened her face and shook her head quickly, “No! I’m totally fine!” She then whipped her head around to glare at the people who were laughing at her.
In response to Minami’s glare, Yuko laughed, “You poor midget!”
“You’re only a few centimeters taller!” Minami retorted. “And stop making fun of me! Pay attention to your partner instead!”
As if she just remembered something, Yuko gave an exclamation of surprise and, as though there were no tomorrow, instantly latched on to Haruna who was cleaning Rena’s wounds. “Nyan-nyan, go and play with Yuu!” Whining, Yuko shook the girl’s arm for her attention. Preferring to focus on her current task, Haruna pushed Yuko away by the face.
“Excuse me…” the unknown girl finally raised her voice. The girl then looked around to make sure she got the audience for what she was about to say. Slowly, she asked, “Didn’t you say that there was a medic? Why can’t you just heal her?”
Kashiwagi Yuki, who had been silently standing at the table, answered, “I’m here in case there was an emergency.” As the girl still had that blank look on her face, Yuki added, “Healing magic requires a lot of energy and puts a strain on the patient’s body.”
Haruna, still warding off the energetic midget, said in an airy voice, “Only those born with the ability to heal would be fine healing themselves; otherwise, unless it was serious, natural healing is the best.” The girl nodded; her expression was like that of a child that just learned something new.
For a while, Atsuko kept staring at the girl. She thought there was a familiar look on the girl but couldn’t figure out what. Willing to find out, she decided to start at the basics, “Your name?” It came out more rudely than she expected, seeing the girl was quite shocked.
“She didn’t mean anything. She just… uses her words sparingly.” From under her, Minami spoke up and patted her hands. Not intending to let anyone see, she hid her smile. It didn’t matter to her if the girl misunderstood, but she was glad Minami cared about her.
“Ah,” the girl seemed a bit more relaxed now, “Jurina. Matsui Jurina. I’m thirteen years old.”
“Huh?” everyone exclaimed; even Mayu, whose expression was said to hardly change, was unable to hide her surprise. Indeed, although her feature was young, Jurina looked too mature to be thirteen.
Letting the matter of age pass, Yuko stroke her chin with her forefinger and questioned aloud, “You have the same last name as Rena’s. Does that mean…?”
“I don’t have siblings.” The Matsuis answered Yuko’s unvoiced question in synch.
“Still, it’s interesting to know someone with the same last name,” Rena turned to grin at Jurina as Haruna finished cleaning and bandaging her wounds.
Yuki then grabbed Rena’s shin and asked, “Weren’t you limping just now?” She rolled her eyes as Rena replied with a sheepish smile. Yuki remained in that position awhile before standing up. She wiped the sweats on her forehead and stated, “Three days for complete recovery.”
“Thank you,” Rena said. Yuki, Mayu’s partner, carried within herself the ability to heal. She was also a master of the flame.
As they wondered what to do with Jurina, a voice, accompanied by the sound of footsteps going down the stairs, asked, “How did the two of you meet?” A tall short-haired woman, clad in the same uniform as the other members, appeared and made her way towards Jurina. The woman, who was wearing a gray shirt, introduced herself, “Shinoda Mariko. I let everyone know when there’s an order from Father.”
Feeling eyes on her, Jurina decided to leave the questions about Father for later. Staring at Rena, the young girl began to talk. “Long story short, something happened and I ran away from home,” she paused, seeming to recall the event. “It was in the middle to the night; I thought no one would be around so I wasn’t paying attention. But unfortunately, I encountered a group of… violent people.”
“I was out for a walk that night,” Rena joined in the story, “when I heard a commotion. So I went to check it out and saw her—”
“She was really cool!” Cutting off Rena’s line, Jurina jumped up excitedly and made punching gestures. “She had this cool look on her face and told them, ‘Go away or you’ll regret!’ Then they all ganged up on her, but she was super quick! She dodged every single of their attacks! Then she hit them like this! This! And like this!” Jurina, who was getting worked up, swung her arms around at invisible foes.
Rena watched Jurina with her eyes wide, hand over her mouth to keep herself from gaping. Grinning, Yuko nudged Rena and winked, “Looks like you have an admirer already.”
Watching the vigorous display, everyone couldn’t suppress a smile, but whether because Jurina was cute or because she was silly, no one knew.
“So!” Jurina returned to her story with a loud voice, “Rena-chan told me to go back home, but I refused. Then she asked me to go with her to a safe place—I guess she was talking about this place—but I refused too! So she told me, ‘Be at the Square every day at six, twelve, and nineteen o’clock. Luckily, there’s a clock tower at the Square, and it’s big enough so I always knew the time. Then! Then!” she had once again become energized, “I waited for her at the Square the next day. Then! She brought me breakfast! She always brought me food when we met up!”
As everyone gasped, shocked at Rena’s care for the kid, Haruna exclaimed, “That’s why you’ve been ‘taking a walk’ on a regular basis lately.”
“And we’ve been wondering what you did to your meals that you never finished.”
“What?” Jurina shouted, “Yay! I got to eat Rena-chan’s food!” before jumping over the table to hug Rena.
As the laughter died down, Mariko asked, “I’m sorry to cut your fun short, but you’re not going to provide your background, are you?”
Suddenly, Jurina’s smile left her face. “No…” she whispered.
The atmosphere now turned gloomy, pressing down on everyone. Then Atsuko understood the familiarity that she had sensed from the girl. She lived with the others as a family. However, she never told anyone about her past—no one ever shared the past; the only one who knew about it was Minami. Jurina, like she and everyone else, certainly wanted to forget something, to get rid of the memories that she never needed.
After a while of silence, Mariko was the first to break it. “If you have nowhere else to go, you’re welcome to stay here,” she offered. “Order from Father: ‘If the girl is willing, we’ll welcome her.’”
“When did you even talk to him?” Minami was obviously awed by this fast order.
Raising her eyebrow, Mariko grinned, “As soon as I saw your four. I’m supposed to be Father’s informant after all.”
“Is it okay?” Jurina lowered her voice. “Don’t you think I might be a spy?”
“Oh?” This piqued Mariko’s interest. Mentioning spies in a faction in a case like this could highly mean that the speaker had already known at least the name of that faction. AKB, despite being well-known in the world that was struggling for power, had never revealed its name to the public. They always went hunting for requests and receiving rewards in groups of two to ensure safety of the whole. Even the building didn’t have anything flashy; it looked just as dull as any other normal house. “Rena, did you tell her about us?” Mariko glanced at the aforementioned girl.
Surprised, Rena could only stutter, “Eh? Ah… no…” and redirected the question to Jurina.
Jurina blinked a few times, her mouth a perfect O shape. “You guys really are AKB? The real one?” she shouted.
“You seemed… shocked?” Mariko snickered.
The girl scratched the back of her neck, apparently embarrassed by her own outburst. “Someone I know told me about AKB once and described your uniform…” she trailed off and was quiet again.
After observing the girl some more, Mariko ended the topic with another question, “So? What do you say about our offer?”
“…” Jurina appeared to be considering this offer with some difficulty.
“If Rena trusted you enough to help you, then I’ll trust you as well.”
Indeed, although she was a gentle girl, Rena had not been very close to many of the members and was the only one without a partner. Even persuasions from everyone couldn’t change her mind. It was a personal matter of trust.
“Then…” the young girl’s lips slowly spread into a wide grin. Tightening her hold on the older girl, Jurina beamed, “I’ll join! I’ll join!”
Shaking her head, Mariko placed her hands on the table. “You can either partner up with Rena or stay partner-less. Of course, the decision depends on Rena.”
“I’ll be her partner,” smiling, Rena declared without hesitation, which generated some reactions amongst the other members.
“Good.” She then turned to Jurina and informed her, “We train every day from seven to nine. Then you’re free for the rest of the day to find a job to do or train more.” Checking her own watch, Mariko added, “We’ll start late today. Everyone, finish your breakfast if you haven’t already! Jurina, Rena can answer whatever questions you may have.” With that, Mariko turned and headed for the stairs.
As everyone returned to breakfast, Atsuko whined, “Takamina, I’m hungry!”
“Ah?” Bringing her hand up to pat Atsuko’s head, Minami laughed, “Wait here, I’ll get us breakfast.”
Sitting down to wait for her partner, she overheard Jurina ask someone, “There are not many of you here? Why is this place built so high then? There must be more people.”
The reason for this was that all of them were assigned works in other major cities. Only the first members and their partners stayed here in the capital. Some also wanted to see the world beyond this crowded place, so they had asked to be assigned elsewhere.
Rena probably answered this question for Jurina.
~~~~~~
The ground floor, now made into kitchen, had windows that allowed the light from outside in and two main doors. The other doors either led to the storerooms or restrooms. One of the main doors led to the streets, which was the one where Atsuko and the others came in from, and the other door opened to the quasi-garden at the back of the building.
It was like a small park that was isolated from the rest of the world, surrounded by walls in all directions. A pillar was raised at each of the four corners, holding up the roof that ran along the walls to provide shade for anyone sitting on the benches under it. Perhaps only to decorate the yard, bushes were planted at the corners, a few feet away from the pillars.
(http://i46.tinypic.com/5ph5ab.jpg)
(I case you can't figure out what I was describing at all.)
Early morning sunlight coated the ground with a milky white paint, streaked with some golden dust here and there. Finally done with the belated breakfast, everyone started leaving the kitchen and into the courtyard, or the training ground, to be more precise. While Atsuko stretched her shoulders, the others were shivering, rubbing their arms repeatedly. Realizing that no one would be willing to talk soon, she decided to take up the mission.
Telling everyone to gather together, she was about to say something Jurina suddenly stared at her face with such intent curiosity. As the girl kept on staring, she began to feel quite ticked off. “Is something on my face?” she asked.
Of course, the members, who had been living with her for quite a long time, did not see anything strange, but Jurina did. “You must have been used to it, but,” she started, “isn’t it uncomfortable, letting your bangs cover your eye like that? How do you see anything at all?”
She froze, not expecting a question like this to pop up. It was to be expected, though, for Jurina was new here. All this while, she was trying to forget about the reason she had never opened her left eye for years. Now leaving it close was natural to her just as blinking was to a normal person.
She could feel a chilly hand hold hers. Knowing it was Minami’s, she slightly leaned her body against the smaller girl for comfort and slowly replied to Jurina’s question, “I don’t use it.”
“Why do you not use it?” Needless to say, she knew everyone else was also curious about her answer; she never told them anything about her eye after all.
She thought about the question. Why did she need to cover her eye? A few reasons immediately came to her mind. It wasn’t something as trite as a sad or dramatic story from the past that still came to haunt her in nightmares. She was scared of what had happened, but that wasn’t it.
Tentatively, she lifted her hand to touch her left eyelid; it reminded her of something that she would rather not talk about. For years she had never thought about it and thus had forgotten about the reason of her sadness. It was something that held her down, and she didn’t want to accept its existence. It was a… “…Failure…”
“Huh? What was that?”
Without knowing, she had whispered her thought aloud. Stopping herself from wandering too far, she answered quickly, “I don’t need this eye. It’s a fragment of failure,” and crossed her arms across her chest to signal the end of the topic.
Minami, apparently trying to divert the attention from her partner, suggested, “Let’s introduce ourselves to Jurina first, shall we?” It was such an obvious attempt that she had to feel bad for Minami. Everyone could see through her poor excuse. But she was grateful of her partner for that and leaned down to kiss the short girl’s cheek.
It wasn’t anything usual. They only laughed as Minami blushed and made a funny face. Taking advantage of the “disturbance,” Yuko, fast as a squirrel, tried to land a kiss on Haruna’s cheek but was slapped away. Mayu, on the other hand, was safe when she hugged Yuki’s waist; however, as the clairvoyant moved her hands upwards towards Yuki’s chest, challenging her luck, she earned herself a smack on the head.
The training ground was filled with complaints about not being loved enough from the small perverts. Clearing her throat to stop the craziness, Minami turned to Jurina and introduced herself. “I’m Takahashi Minami; everyone calls me Takamina. I’m a swordsman—”
She had to pause for a moment when Yuko jumped in to add, “Also the best racer you can find in the area! She’s also our captain!”
Pushing Yuko away, Minami corrected, “It’s not official, but everyone keeps insisting that I should be one.” She then proceeded to tell the members to present themselves.
“Oshima Yuko at your service,” Yuko saluted and grinned, “I’m an archer, a very special archer who can shoot love arrows!” Her playful introduction seemed to have irritated Haruna, who was sending her death glares.
Pulling on Yuko’s ears, she ignored the whimpers and said, “I’m Kojima Haruna, just call me Kojiharu. I don’t think there’s any name for my ability, but I can hasten the process of things.”
“What do you mean?” Jurina asked.
Not being prepared, Haruna only hummed and tried to think of a way to explain to Jurina. Yuko, once again, in the name of the anonymous guardian, gave an example, “Let’s say, if you have a wound, she can either make your skin mend faster or increase the speed at which blood leaves your body.”
“Hmm…” the tall girl nodded thoughtfully, “I guess you can put it like that. It’s really tiring, though.”
“I think the thing that matters is you can kill someone, not how tiring it is…” Rena spoke nervously before turning to Jurina, “I’m Matsui Rena, a martial artist.”
Jurina, as overexcited as she was, was about to hug Rena again and scream, “Cool!” when Mayu’s voice stopped her, “If you’re going to jump on her, do it later.”
The look on Jurina’s face when her plan was uncovered was priceless; it simply said “no clue.” Mayu then grinned, “Watanabe Mayu. You can call me Mayuyu. I can see what will happen in the near future.”
“That’s why you knew I was about to hug Rena-chan!” Jurina shouted.
“No, no,” Yuki, who had been quietly smiling up until now, raised her voice, “it was written all over your face. I’m Kashiwagi Yuki; call me Yukirin if you like. I’m a medic and a mage of the flame.”
The last person in the courtyard had spoken; it was Atsuko’s turn now. Slowly, she began. “I’m... Maeda,” at the sound of her last name, her voice was dripping with resentment and some sadness, “…Atsuko. Everyone calls me Acchan. I’m an ice mage.”
There was still one more person yet to be properly introduced. Choosing the right time to reappear, Mariko opened the door that was the entrance to the training ground. “You better not forget my name already. You may call me Mariko-sama or Sama. There are some more members, but they’re currently not here. You’ll meet them soon enough,” Mariko said as she made her way towards them. “Your room is on the third floor; Rena should know where it is. Anyway, I inform the Father everything that concerns this faction.”
“Who is the Father?”
“Akimoto Yasushi,” Mariko answered. “He built this place, not the actual construction, but he took care of everything. We call him Father.”
“Actually…” Minami shyly objected, “It was Godfather at first.”
“Yeah, then somehow you all cut it down to Father,” Yuko joined in.
Narrowing her eyes, Mariko roared, “You midgets! Stop messing with my glorious self-introduction!”
Finally calmed down, she returned to their new recruit and inquired, “Do you have any specialty? Were you taught how to use a weapon or how to cast a spell?”
Of course, they needed to know the extent of Jurina’s potential; otherwise it would be a suicide on the battlefield. Seemingly deep in thought, the girl frowned and spoke slowly.
“My father…” she paused, hesitant to mention the man, “he used to teach me how to use every element. He said that a mage needed to know a good deal of everything and that being a Matsui, what I needed to learn the most was something else.”
Right now, even the air-headed Haruna was interested; she looked up from the flower she was trying to bloom. Urged by Mariko, Jurina continued, “He said that we were not medics, but he made me cut the skin on my palms and heal it.”
She stopped and looked at everyone, not knowing what else to say. Mariko demanded, “Describe how it was healed.”
Pressing a finger to her temple, Jurina closed her eyes. “Well, the blood… Usually when there’s a cut, if you hold the injured part up vertically, the blood will drip downwards, right? When I healed myself, my blood stopped dripping and streamed back into the wound. Then after a few seconds, the cut would close itself.”
Based on the given description, Atsuko could only think of time magic. As she was trying to solve the question, Jurina began talking again. “He also taught me how to use a short sword and a dagger, said it was for self-defense. But it was weird. He showed me where the vital points on a body and where the large veins were. He said it was okay for me to bleed, but never let a foe hit my vital points. And he left me to learn magic on my own.”
Contrary to Jurina, who seemed displeased at that, Mariko smiled; her eyes were full of curious interest, “Oh? Now that’s a nice way to find a real talented mage.”
Everyone nodded approvingly, but Rena and Jurina were confused by Mariko’s statement. It was understandable, since Rena was not a mage and Jurina was left out of it. Looking at their bewildered faces, Yuki suppressed a snicker and explained, “We all know that you can only use magic if you have Giilian blood in you, yes? However, many people, despite being a mage, cannot use magic unless they were taught how to.”
“Saying many doesn’t cut it!” Yuko jumped in and added, “Thos people make up about eighty percent of mages!”
“The rest are the mages with talents,” Minami continued where the explanation was left off. She was not a mage, but being Atsuko’s partner, she had picked up a few basic things about magic. “The talented ones are those who did not have proper lessons and trainings, but their powers awaken when they need them the most.”
“So before that happens, their powers just sleep?” Rena asked.
“Most likely, yes.”
“Can they choose what their powers are going to be?” Jurina asked excitedly, as if expecting something like a unicorn to appear out of nowhere.
“…What fairy tales did you read?” Mariko smirked. “Your power will either be the one that you inherit from your family or the one that fits your personality.”
The girl’s morale seemed to decrease right away. “That’s boring!” she whined, hunching her shoulders. The dreams of unicorn had been crashed.
Mariko only smirked more, “Be careful of what you say. You might be offending that mute kid over there,” and pointed at Atsuko.
Yuko laughed at Jurina, whose mouth was wide open. She boasted, “Except for her, every mage in this faction had taken lessons on magic at some point in their lives.”
“No way!” Jurina shouted. “But wait… actually, I think ice fits her—” Before Jurina could even finish her sentence, a sharp ice cone had already been pointing itself at her neck. Frosted smoke radiated visibly from the cone, and the sound of ice cracking was quite audible. Gulping, Jurina could see Atsuko glaring at her with a not-so-tolerant smile on her face.
As everyone smirked openly at the simply clueless new little sister, Minami desperately tried to calm Atsuko down. “I am not angry!” she refused to be mollified. “I am just a bit… ticked off.”
She narrowed her eye at Jurina who was wailing, “Rena-chan, help me!” However, Rena wasn’t sure if she would like to eat ice cream in winter.
“Acchan, Acchan! Let’s start training, okay?” Minami still tried in vain.
Mariko, not being caught in this, only went over to a bench, sat down, enjoyed her peace, and waited for the kids to start their daily training. After a while of watching Jurina struggle to get away from Atsuko’s unreasonable wrath, she sighed, “Must be nice to be young.”
End of Chapter 2
It's now summer, it's too hot... so... it shall be winter every time you read this fic to decrease the heat :D
I seem to have described Jurina based on how the Jurina in Mousou Deka acted. She is too hyper XD
Question for you guys! What kind of mage is Jurina? XD
If you have any question that was not answered in this chapter, feel free to ask, I'll try to answer them :D Unless they're secrets that shall be revealed later :P
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Wow a Mahou Sensei Negima thingy fic!! I love Mahou Sensei! The best manga IMO!!
Lol at wmidget. So funny XD.
And the way you described Jurina was hilarious!!! As if expecting something like a unicorn to appear out of nowhere lol!
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wow juriboy... amazing
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It took me almost 30 mins to read this chapter..(slow reader) LOL.. :lol: but it's really worth of reading.. :twothumbs
hahaha.. love all the partners interactions here.. and my AtsuMina.. :heart: :heart:
and the part Acchan got 'ticked off'.. so funny.. :lol: :lol: poor Jurina.. but I love her chara.. XD
I have no idea what kind of mage Jurina is.. :nervous (being slow again) so please update soon .. :bow: :bow:
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UWA, the AtsuMina pair is cute, KojiYuu awesome like always, and Jurina is too blunt, but she's a kid, so hehe
Acchan being ticked off :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Mariko-sama is a troll like always, ignoring the situation, hehe :w00t: :w00t:
I wonder what kind of mage is Jurina (I'm not good with those things, coz when I play MMORPG, I do not choose mages, ever. Dunno why... :nervous)
And Rena-sama is really sweet here :wub:
But of course, Yuko-sama is the best and she provides us with the hilariousness :wub: :wub:
Update this, I'll be waiting!! :bow: :bow:
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My eyes hurt I was reading this so fast LOLOLOL
Omg, the introductions was the bestkjsndjfnh This is the best xDDDD The butt lovers just want love Husb!
WMatsui soon, yes, yes? I wish for fluff homie!
I also want to know about everyone's backgrounds, hope for it soon too! Tis getting intresting 8D I also love the AtsuMina moments.
Update soon~!
:heart: :heart:
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Cool as always XD
I's been waiting for your update XD At least you did, I'm glad :lol:
Yay! That little girl is Jurina XD So cute and so high XD Always love Rena, this kid :lol:
I love how Acchan feels comfortable just by being next to Takamina XD The way they comfort each other XD Also the way Takamina react whenever Acchan does something to her, so cute :lol: I love of them, thank you very much :cathappy: My AtsuMina :heart:
And Rena is a martial artist, with that fragile body of hers? :shocked It does surprise me but it looks so cool :lol:
Yuko is an archer, with love arrows. Looks like Cupid :lol:
I wonder what kind of power does Mariko-sama possess? Does she have one? I'll love it if she does have one :bow:
Just a random thought but I think Jurina's power is blood-control :cathappy: (but I really don't know if there is that kind of magic or not :lol:) All your writings about the blood streams back into the wound, the vital points and the large veins make me think about something related to blood :lol: A~ I don't know, I'm waiting for your answer wwww :lol:
And thank you very much for your update :bow: I'm waiting for chapter 3 :cathappy:
And this chapter is not boring at all :lol: It's funny and cute and I love it :twothumbs
P.S: I'm sorry if there is something unclear in my post, my English is not really good :P
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@Ryo Hiroshi: Yes, Rena is a martial artist. Have you seen Tifa in Final Fantasy 7? ;D
Yuko is an archer, but the love arrow part was her joke XD you'll see what her arrows do later :lol:
And Mariko-sama... she, as she said, is just an informant, with a twisted mind to be the troll master :lol: she shall troll the lovely moments ;D
And if you're thinking about that blood-control, I believe it's blood magic XD
You shall have your answers soon :P
And thank you all for letting me know this chapter is not boring, I really appreciate it ; v ;
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:shocked YEi! Update!
Can't wait for next!
ArígatoU! :kneelbow:
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It's been a long while since I read anything that interesting me this much.. :bow: :bow: :bow:
Now my only wish is you won't drop this like my other fav authors. :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow:
And it's been even longer while since I actually comment in any fic XD XD XD
I love the interaction between Acchan and Takamina. Truly partner. :thumbup
Thank you. I'll be awaited.
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Uhh... I'm sorry for the long wait (approximately two weeks?). Since I got lazy after posting Chapter 2 and Hallucination: Forget-me-not in the same week OTL
I tried my best to stay close to their real characters like in real life, but if they're different from real life, I'm sorry OTL
I hope this would be pretty comic. I tried my best to put in some comedy, which I don't have = 3= so if you don't find this funny, I have nothing else to say OTL
A/N: This is going to be a term mentioned at the end of this chapter, "breaking the fourth wall." In case you don't know what that is, breaking the fourth wall is like...when the characters acknowledge the audience, the author, and their existence as characters in a fiction only. A good example of breaking the fourth wall would be a play for kids in the theater, when the characters acknowledge the kid audiences and talk to the audiences from the stage. Or another example is Shaku in Majisuka 2, when she keeps jumping in front of the camera to have more "screen time." Breaking the fourth wall is usually used for comedy effect.
All right, enough babbling from me OTL
Enjoy~
Chapter 3
“Bam!” A boulder made from ice was cleanly sliced in half as it flew towards a short swordsman. Said midget jumped back and did a triple flip whilst in the air, swiftly dodging several icy spears piercing at her. Landing on the ground, she ducked an incoming ball of ice, kicked the floor to gain momentum and threw her body aside, avoiding a same ball as it turned back and chased her. Finally, she smashed it to pieces with the flat side of her sword.
“Swish~” Sitting comfortably on a bench, Atsuko swung her legs back and forth, a ghost of a smile of her face as she shot another bolt of ice at Minami. Seeing her attack being warded off, she pouted and glared at her partner, who gulped and backed away nervously. She stopped and positioned her legs perfectly still. Four rings of ice enclosed the short girl and began closing in on her.
Minami let out a deep breath, held her sword up, and quickly pressed the pommel. As the object sprang open with a click, a spiraling air column extended from inside the pommel.
Smirking openly, she swept her palm along the length of the spiral air in the blink of an eye and then in place of the column was now something that resembled a lance. Now her hand was holding a stick that at one end was the blade of her sword and at the other end the head of a spear. “Dun dun dun!”
Atsuko frowned; she tilted her head and prepared a large number of ice arrows behind her, ready to fire at any moment. “Whoosh!” Minami, already aware of her partner’s plan, spun her weapon in circle, creating a high speed wheeling fan. Standing in the middle of the closing rings, she kept spinning her weapon with both hands and eventually slashed the rings.
“Oh snap!” The ice arrows were released and flew towards Minami at once; however, they were stopped by the rotating fan. Still hurling them at the short girl, Atsuko separated some arrows away from the rest and flanked her partner.
Mariko yawned, one hand covering her mouth, and resumed her short commentaries to kill the boredom. “Oh?” she mused, smirking at the scene, “One down.”
Minami, being the fastest in the area, had managed to dodge the attack miraculously but could not fight against Atsuko’s sulk. The ice mage had left her bench for another to ignore Minami, her arms crossing in front of her chest. Widening her eyes, Minami’s jaw hung open as she tried to beg for forgiveness.
“Acchan, Wait! I lost! I lost! I surrender!” Shouting and chasing after the tall girl, Minami almost tripped in her haste.
“As if I care,” Atsuko mumbled as she sat on a bench and ignored Minami, who wailed, “I’m so sorry!”
“A good distance away from the squabbling pair, it seems our favorite pervert is having a hard time with her training partners,” Mariko commentated, leaning forwards to have a better view at the mock fight.
“Right,” Mayu whispered lowly to her partner, standing a few feet away with her hands behind her back. Always being able to pick up Mayu’s voice wherever she was, Yuki thrust her right arm out and melted an arrow charging at her.
“One step left.” Complying with Mayu’s words, she narrowly avoided another arrow which pierced the floor where she previously was. Glancing at the disappearing object, she gave a victorious smile at her opponent.
Yuko scowled at she cautiously took a few steps to the edge of the roof on which she stood. Being the only archer had given her complete sovereignty over the roof. She stretched her right hand and four arrows materialized at the space between her fingers. One of them was flickering with fire; one was freezing with ice; another absorbed the air around it; the last was covered with stones.
“Ignore the ice one; that’s a trick. It should miss you on purpose. Keep your eyes on the fire one; it’ll go for your left leg. Be careful when you dodge it, the air one will explode to your right.” Mayu kept her eyes straight ahead as she unfolded Yuko’s plans to Yuki. “When you’re done, make sure you run far away from where the rocky one lands.”
True to her words, an arrow whizzed past Yuki’s face when she was not paying full attention. Without taking a run-up, Yuki jumped forwards and did a front flip, evading the arrow aiming at her leg. Whilst in midair, she extended her arm towards the next arrow, which began to distort the place and create and explosion. To Yuko’s dismay, the force of the explosion was reduced to almost nothingness as Yuki absorbed all the heat.
Holding a ball of heat in her hand, Yuki landed on the ground, tossed her black hair over her shoulder, and glued her eyes to the last arrow. Yuko clicked her tongue, narrowing her eyes, and released her ultimate plan.
Before the arrow entered the dangerous zone of about one meter in radius with Yuki as the center, the black-haired beauty slammed her hand on the ground, crushing the ball of heat. The space under the tall girl exploded, the subsequent pressure sending her high in the air. Below her, the arrow plunged into the ground; mini mountains, as big as huge boulders, emerged from the land, ready to pierce anything in their way.
Her eyes wide open, Yuki grinned at Yuko—the archer whose arrows control the power of all elements—and threw a fireball at the speechless midget.
“Yikes!” Yuko gave a shriek and abandoned the roof as she jumped down. Yuki landed elegantly, brushed the dust off her uniform like a princess, and high fived Mayu.
Not as fortunate and graceful as Yuki, the squirrel fell on the ground face first, rolling a few times in the process. She finally came to a stop and lay sprawled out on the hard floor. Furiously raising her arm, Yuko pointed accusingly at the other two and complained, “No fair! She told you my moves! Two versus one! Cheaters! Black! Cyborg! Heartless!”
Covering her wide grin, Yuki justified in a matter-of-fact tone, “You know, it’s because your partner doesn’t want to participate…with you around.”
Away from the training members, Haruna was squatting down by a bush at a corner. Around her, some spring flowers had already bloomed even though it was only the start of winter. She had a spaced-out look and was holding a bud in her palm. Her fingers brushed over the unopened petals and she smiled as the bud turned into a full blown flower.
Bringing her hand up to push her jaw, which had dropped wide open, back up, Yuko wiped her drool on her sleeve. The midget looked down at her own palm and gasped; her face fell as she sniffed loudly. “Nyan-nyan…” she whimpered and crawled over to Haruna, “Nyan-nyan…”
“What do you think she will do?” Mariko asked aloud.
The space on the bench beside Mariko was now occupied by a young-looking girl. With a serious look on her face, the girl rubbed her chin and answered after a while of pondering, “She’ll definitely take advantage of the situation and touch ‘bleep, bleep, bleep’ Kojiharu.”
“I’ll bet you one hundred coins she’ll try to get a kiss!” Mariko said and held out her palm.
Slapping Mariko’s palm lightly, the girl agreed, “Deal! Then Kojiharu will most likely use her magic on Yuko, seventy-five coins!”
“Deal,” she slapped the girl’s palm back, “she’ll slap Yuko until that pervert passes out!”
The girl grinned excitedly and asked, “Isn’t that too harsh?” to which Mariko clicked her tongue with that you-must-be-kidding-me look.
“As if using magic on the squirrel is any better.”
Haruna shifted her attention to Yuko as said girl crawled on all four towards her. “Nyan-nyan,” Yuko called again as a tear rolled down her cheek, “Nyan-nyan, my hand…” Yuko clutched her left hand to her chest and continued making her crestfallen expression, “Nyan-nyan, my hand… I’m sorry I have shamed you as your partner!”
“What’s wrong, Yuuchan?” The air-headed girl frowned as a genuinely worried look crossed her face. “Let me see your hand, Yuuchan.”
Shaking her head, Yuko sobbed as more tears fell from her eyes. She said in a low voice, “No, Nyan-nyan, I’m sorry. You don’t have to worry about me!”
“Let me see!” Haruna forcefully took Yuko’s left hand, pried it away from the midget’s strong hold, and peered at it. Her expression remained perfectly emotionless.
“It might be better if you kiss it,” Yuko suggested with an innocent smile.
From her bench, Mariko grinned as the girl handed over her end of the deal: a hundred coins. “Such an actress!” the girl commented in a jocularly annoyed tone.
Haruna stayed silent as she tightened her grip on Yuko’s wrist. “Ouchie! Nyan-nyan, ouchie!” she yelped.
“Yuuchan, I hope you will learn your lesson,” the cat girl warned in a sickeningly pleasant voice. Confused, Yuko’s irises moved in all directions as she tried to figure out the situation.
“Aw, no kiss?” Yuko whined. She was about to say something when a dizziness washed over her. “Huh?” she blinked, looked down at her hand as a reflex, and gaped as blood oozed out from her one centimeter scratch more than it should have. There was a tickling feeling as she sensed her blood being forced to circulate to the wound.
Her jaw dropped once again when she realized what happened. Her lips shook uncontrollably as she looked at Haruna pleadingly. “Nyan-nyan, I’m sorry! I was wrong! I won’t do it again! Please don’t! I don’t have much blood to begin with, look!” she begged and pointed at her short body, indicating—or rather, exaggerating—a possible lack of nutrition. “I’m sorry!” she wailed, but her insincere apologies and promises fell on deaf ears.
As the girl grinned widely, making a satisfied victory sign, Mariko scowled and gave back seventy-five coins.
“Hey,” the girl shook Mariko’s arm, pointing at Jurina, and asked, “Who is that girl?” Mariko only relaxed in her seat and crossed her legs with a smug smile on her lips.
Quite a peaceful pair the two partners were: Jurina had been helping Rena practice awhile without a commotion. In Jurina’s hands was a rather large brick; all around her lay little smashed pieces of what used to be a large pile bricks. Visibly happy, the new member kept swaying her body left and right and whistling upbeat tunes.
“Rena-chan,” she called her partner, lowering her hands slightly, “can I ask you something?”
Rena, who was bending her legs in a fighting stance, ready to break the bricks, straightened her back and looked at Jurina. “Yes. What is it?” she asked.
“I was wondering…do you always wear gloves?” she inquired, glancing around them. “No one else does.”
The princess-like girl narrowed her eyes slightly, her head bowing in unknown thoughtfulness. Her hand pulled the right glove down tightly, as if she was afraid it would slip from her hand the moment she loosened her grip. “Being with me…” she mumbled in her mouth, “I’ll only hurt you.”
“What was that?” Jurina asked, leaning towards her partner to listen more closely. “I couldn’t hear you.”
Shaking her head, Rena smiled and said, “No. I’ll tell you when the time comes, okay?”
Nodding hesitantly, Jurina made a noise of agreement in her throat before lifting her head up, seeming interested in something. She looked around the training ground, sniffing and flaring her nostrils, turned back, and found Yuko, who was still wailing tearfully. Walking over to Yuko and crouching down, she sniffed one more time and asked, “Are you bleeding?”
Thanks to her very flexible face muscles, Yuko’s mouth twisted downwards in such a way that should not be possible for a human and whined, “Nyan-nyan doesn’t forgive me. Can you stop the bleeding?”
Rubbing her chin, Jurina frowned playfully. “I might kill you, since my magic will be working against Haruna-san’s,” she said as her fingers ran over Yuko’s blood on the floor. “I can sense her magic working on you… I think I understand your example from earlier perfectly now.”
Rena, who continued practicing alone, had somehow kicked up a brick using her leg and was now juggling said brick easily. She took a deep breath, adjusted the right angle, and raised her leg to kick it.
As Jurina stood up and began to return to her partner, Mayu suddenly stopped talking to Yuki and called out, “Jurina, dodge!”
The energetic mage stopped in her track in time to see Rena’s foot make contact with the brick, shattering it to pieces. Through the dust of the broken object, Rena’s leg still swung forwards by inertia at Jurina, who happened to be in the way.
Cringing, the young girl quickly brought her arms up to cover her body by instincts, her fingers making a red arc in the air as the tips were stained with Yuko’s blood.
The arc immediately widened into a reddish transparent shield, which blocked Rena’s incoming kick with a dull thud that resembled a head butt sound.
Silence enveloped the training ground; Mariko and the girl watched the event with disbelief. Yuko had stopped her annoying wailing and Haruna’s attention was not on the flowers anymore. Mayu and Yuki froze like fossils from thousands of years ago. Minami and Atsuko had also forgotten their childlike fight.
Still in her kicking pose, Rena stared astonishingly at the girl behind the red barrier, whose mouth was hanging open. Jurina blinked until her eyes seemed about to fall out and lowered her arms warily. As soon as her overly burnt head cooled down, the barrier narrowed into a thin line and dissipated with a sibilant noise, filling the air with the smell of blood.
“Oho!” A flat voice tinted with interest exclaimed. Stepping out from the building’s door was a long-haired girl, followed by another who had her hair up in a short ponytail.
The ponytail-haired girl raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is our new member a blood mage?”
The other commented, smiling sourly, “Blood mages are strong, but the magic itself is quite dangerous.”
“Wait,” from where she was, Jurina jumped and bounced all around in excitement, tearing up a bit. “Blood magic? That is so cool!” She shouted, clasped her hands together, and thanked an unknown deity, “Dear lord, my dreams of unicorns are still intact and alive!”
From her seat, Mariko held her forearm across her face and smashed her forehead against it. The girl beside her also snickered after hearing Jurina’s sentence.
“All right,” Mariko called, standing up, “get over there and introduce yourself to her.”
Smiling amiably, the girl with a ponytail said, “Sashihara Rino. I gather information around here,” and pointed at her uniform. “That’s why I wear gray shirts.”
Yuko, being Yuko, jumped in the conversation, “Sounds like nothing, but she knows everything going on around here. And I mean literally everything.”
“Oh Yuko, you’re not dead yet?” Minami asked incredulously, surprised at the amount of blood Yuko had lost. Behind her, Atsuko was, once again, clinging to her back, her arms wrapping around Minami’s shoulder.
“Oh Takamidget…I can’t die that easily; there are still many beauties in this world to enjoy, right Mariko?” Yuko turned to Mariko and they grinned at each other. Then as if remembering something, she smirked evilly, her eyes twinkling with mischief, “Wait now…weren’t you two fighting?”
Minami straightened her posture and froze instantly as she felt a cold aura emitting from the person hugging her. She felt goose bumps on her arms and bit her lips when Atsuko spoke lowly in her ear, “I’ll get you some tomatoes later. And I don’t want to hear any complaint from you, clear?”
Nodding fearfully, Minami looked daggers at Yuko, who took them with a provoking smirk. “All right, cut it out, midgets!” To accompany her order, Mariko smacked the midgets, eliciting complaints from both of them. She glared playfully at Yuko and gave the girl a free cheek pinch. “And that is Sama to you!”
“No one here calls you Sama!”
At this, the woman hardened her face and glared at the girls around her.
“Hello Sama…”
“Morning…Sama.”
“H-hi Sama…”
Mariko nodded satisfactorily and said in a teasing voice, “See, squirrel? Everyone does~” Yuko only scrunched up her nose and mouthed, “Traitors.”
“As lively as always,” the girl who was with Rino commented; she wore the same gray uniform as Rino. “I’m Sasshi-san’s partner, Yokoyama Yui. We make sure all information is as accurate as possible.”
“Anyway, we should hurry up and go inside. The Twin Towers are waiting,” Rino said.
“Twin Towers?” Jurina asked.
“The Twin Towers are Gorilla and—”
Yuko, again, started poking her nose in the conversation; however, before she could finish, a voice stopped her, “Stop calling me that.” A tall woman appeared from behind Yuko, as natural as though she had always been there, drawing a surprised cry from Jurina.
“A-are you an assassin or what?” the young girl stuttered.
“But we are assassins,” another voice spoke up, this time from behind Jurina, making the girl jump in Rena’s arms.
As Jurina stared dumbfounded at the two newcomers, the girl who was betting with Mariko stepped in and grinned energetically. “And this,” she stressed her voice, emphasizing ‘this,’ “is where I come in the picture. First, I should introduce myself. I am Minegishi Minami, otherwise known as the famous Miichan. No? You don’t know me? That’s fine; I’m still expanding my reputation. Anyway, the only reason I’m wearing gray is because I don’t engage in battles directly, okay?” Miichan paused, took a deep breath to boost herself, can continued her long self-introduction. “My specialty is making poisons, so don’t try to mess with me, okay? Who knows what’ll be there in your food tonight? Oh yeah, I’m Mariko’s partner.”
“What do you mean, ‘Oh yeah’?” Mariko asked with an elegantly annoyed face.
“That means I just remembered you,” Miichan replied, poking her tongue at Mariko.
Focusing back on Jurina, Miichan pointed at the tall person behind Yuko and began, “That Gorilla and the one behind you are the Twin Towers. They’re the only ones who wear black uniforms.”
“Hey, we can introduce ourselves!” The so-called Gorilla objected, earning herself a displeased Miichan. Snorting, she said, “I’m Akimoto Sayaka.”
“We’re partners in crime!” the girl who scared Jurina spoke up with an excited grin. “Miyazawa Sae. Sayaka and I are both assassins. But since no one else is an assassin here, people call us the black Twin Towers.” Sae finished with her lips pursed, apparently not very fond of the nickname.
Meanwhile, Jurina was observing the two assassins closely, her mouth hanging open. She said absent-mindedly, “Matsui Jurina…Rena-chan’s partner…” After stopping to reorganize her messy brain for a minute, Jurina chirped up. “Awesome!” she cried. “Do you have that throwing things? The one that has four blades and such, do you?”
“We’ve only thrown daggers and needles before,” Sayaka replied slowly.
“Do you mean the throwing stars? Aren’t they used by ninjas, though? And are ninjas even real?” Sae gave an efficient answer with her backhand question.
“Oh,” the kid mumbled, clearly dispirited, “and here I thought unicorns were real.”
Shaking her head, Mariko grunted, “What have that girl been reading?”
“Okay! That’s enough attention on people!” Miichan complained loudly. She pouted, her whole face twisted downwards in depression. “I don’t even have any appeal time here! There is not enough of my beautiful presence!”
“Miichan! Calm down!” Oshima Yuko also participated in Miichan’s whimsical nonsense. “Miichan, don’t break the fourth wall! Do not break it! I say!”
“Enough joking around, kids,” taking on a serious face, Mariko put an end to the playful ambiance. “Anything new?” she asked.
“We’ve found something,” Sashihara Rino answered. “Let’s go inside. The walls might have ears.”
End of chapter 3.
How was it? OTL
Please read and review ; v ; b
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I've been waiting for this chapter.. finally!!! :on lol: and it took me almost half an hour again to finish reading it.. :depressed:
but this was a good chapter.. love the training scenes especially the one Yuki and Mayu against Yuko.. :hehehe:
Jurina's power so awesome!!! :bingo: need to see more of that soon.. and what with Rena and her gloves??
your fic full of mysteries!! I'm still curios with Acchan's left eye and now this!!! :frustrated:
and the twin towers are assassins?? that was so cool.. totally can see that they were sneaking around behind people's back.. :ding:
so many new charas and the story getting interesting!! you need to update soon!! :mon whine:
my AtsuMina moment.. :luvluv1: me love it.. their childish fight.. so cute.. :shy2: and Taka so obedient toward Acchan!! :hiakhiakhiak:
The Ice Queen totally owned the Suberi Queen!!! :mon inluv:
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Wow, I like the fighting scenes :thumbup :thumbup
Jurina's power is cool! XD XD
hahaha... Miichan has shaku's character here, breaking the fourth wall :lol:
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Ohhhhh, I've have been waiting for your update, Titi-chan XD May I call you that? :D
And yes, when I read about Rena being a martial artist, I also thought about Tifa of FFVII, what a coincidence :D That's why I told you it's really cool :lol:
For this chapter, I think you did a good job in the comedy parts, they are quite entertaining, I love them :thumbsup
The betting scene between Mariko-sama and Miichan is so hilarious :lol:
The fighting scenes are good and cool :twothumbs And Acchan being tsundere, poor Minami :lol:
Poor Yuko, one versus two :lol: But her power is cool, she can control all the elements :cathappy: MaYuki is such a duo :thumbup
And Haruna is cold-hearted I guess, made her love bleeding nonstop :lol: Poor Yuko again :lol:
About Jurina's power, I guessed it right, didn't I? :D Blood magic :lol: Although it's not really like I imagine but wow, it's super cool XD A blood shield, huh? XD Sugoiiiiiiiii XD
Talking about Jurina, I LOVE this kid :inlove: (Well, I always love her but it's not necessary to say it out loud here :lol:) Such a cute kid with all the things about unicorns and throwing stars :lol: She even fangirl over herself :lol: And Mariko-sama facepalm :lol:
And Rena's gloves, I smell tragedy here :catglare: Another unhappy past I guess? :catglare: Anyways, I'm still waiting for it :oops:
About Miichan, well, her introduction is hilarious :lol: No wonder she is Mariko-sama partner :lol:
Twin Towers in black uniforms and being assassins :panic: Black Twin Towers FTW :twothumbs
“Oh Takamidget…I can’t die that easily; there are still many beauties in this world to enjoy, right Mariko?” Yuko turned to Mariko and they grinned at each other.
Well, does Mariko-sama join in with Yuko to enjoy many beauties in that world? :lol: I mean in which way? :lol: Not that way, right? :lol: Mariko-sama is not pervert like Yuko, right? :lol:
She glared playfully at Yuko and gave the girl a free cheek pinch. “And that is Sama to you!”
“No one here calls you Sama!”
At this, the woman hardened her face and glared at the girls around her.
“Hello Sama…”
“Morning…Sama.”
“H-hi Sama…”
Mariko nodded satisfactorily and said in a teasing voice, “See, squirrel? Everyone does~” Yuko only scrunched up her nose and mouthed, “Traitors.”
AND THIS PART :lol: I laughed so hard when I read it :lol: Poor Yuko (the third time :lol:) You can't win against super trolling Mariko-sama :lol:
That's all for this chapter 3 XD I'm waiting for chapter 4 :lol: In the next chapter, the real story is going to start I guess XD I mean no more introduction, right? XD
You can rest as much as you can but please don't forget or drop this fic in the middle :bow:
Thank you for your hard work :bow:
P.S: And I heard from someone that you are a Vietnamese :D Another coincidence because I'm a Vietnamese too :lol: Nice to meet ya XD
To think that a Vietnamese can write really good fics in English like that make me feel ashamed about my poor English :P
Please continue to work hard, I enjoy reading your fics :thumbup
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Tii-chin I like your fic so much :tama-heart:
The combat scene are really good ! And funny (Mayu/yukirin vs Yuuchan xD so unfair!!)
Atsumina moment :k-wink: Acchan is angry at Takamina but she still embraces her :k-inlove:
And Juritan's power is cool (but a little scary!) This girl is so cute with her unicorns dream :tama-laff:
And she so excited by everything :k-great:
Please continue this !! I want mooore :luvuluvu:
Bye~
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Lol poor Yuko
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So because I had this sudden urge the other day, I decided to draw something = 3=
Consider this Acchan's birthday gift from me, but she probably will never receive it OTL
The picture has a big size, so please click on the link if you don't mind~
Anyway, Happy Birthday Acchan~ XD
(http://i49.tinypic.com/2r5rhbn.png) (http://i49.tinypic.com/2r5rhbn.png)
http://i49.tinypic.com/2r5rhbn.png (http://i49.tinypic.com/2r5rhbn.png)
NOTE: That block of thing in Acchan's left hand is supposed to be an ice bolt that was slowly materializing itself.
Edit: Thank you, Flean OTL
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Can you draw Takamina too?? Or I need to wait until Taka's birthday next year?? XD
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more characters are coming XD
please continue this :twothumbs
really love your drawing :thumbup
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I want to know the rest of the history