JPHiP Forum
AKB48 Fanfics => AKB48 Fanfics => Topic started by: saeyu on March 08, 2015, 06:44:39 PM
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Hello Everyone~~
Thanks for your feedback on Sae's next pairings...so here we are, with a new fic with my two oshi's Sae and Nana! The pairings for Sae will be quite complicated because Rena, Mako and Milky were all suggested, so why not write on ALL of them?! :inlove:
Sorry I can't fit in other suggestions like Acchan or Jurina, maybe next time in some other OS's
Anyway, here is Chapter 1 (http://saeyu.tumblr.com/post/113083965913/alien-detective-agency-nanamiki-sae-others).
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Chapter 1 - New Kids on the Block
"All of you, hands up!" Two men disguised in masks pulled out their guns and pointed at the stunned curator who, a minute ago, was just chatting casually with the only two other visitors at the Uchida Foundation Gallery.
The gallery is housed in a modest Victorian style cottage, bizarrely sandwiched between the large suburban mall standing at the gateway of the Mitsuki Municipality and the 70's style government administration quarters. Usually ignored by passer by's, this gallery has actually curated a collection of rare artefacts, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone is robbing it.
Peeking from the front glass pane, a lean, tall girl tightens her fists. Her eyes light up with excitement, a reaction contrary to what someone who has just stumbled upon a robbery would make. Especially not from someone who looks skinny, pale and shy in her short skirt, worn out tracksuit jacket, and bitten fingernails. The girl is about to ram into the entrance when she felt a tug from behind.
"No, Rena, we should leave." A calm voice commands in a monotonous tone.
"But there are people inside!" The girl looks back at her companion, a shorter, younger girl that with straight, tidy bangs, who looks unmoved by Rena's passionate plea.
"One woman is crouching at the seven o'clock corner, and two others at two o'clock, with the centre of action occurring in a thirty-meter radius. To over power two Glock 22 guns, you will have a 98% probability of being seen, and 60% probability of getting hurt." The shorter girl is already eyeing for a way out as she speaks.
"Geez Nana, I just can't stand here and do nothing, stop being so heartless..." Rena reluctantly follows the girl, who has already started walking.
"It is just illogical. Fatality rates of gun robberies are 0.5%. They will be fine." Nana answers and looks at her friend seriously. "We came here to find out how to get home. We should lay low and focus on our tasks."
"OK, fine...." Rena looks worriedly back at the robbers, who've retrieved two paintings and looks set to leave. She boarded the van they have rented to move their stuff, and drove on into the town.
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*one month later, in Don Quixote High School
"Naaaaaanya!" A cheerful voice rang in the hallway.
A girl who is busy counting the books in her hands stops on her tracks and turns around, just in time for a pair of arms to fling around her.
"Miki-chan!" Naanya exclaims happily. "How've you been? I haven't seen you for so long!"
"I'm genki genki, mori mori!" Miki releases her friend and spins around, flaring her navy blue uniform skirt like a ballerina. "See? I am in amazzzzing shape!"
"Haha," Naanya laughs and looks considerably relieved. With a slight hesitation, she assumes a more somber look, "I...you don't have to push yourself to be cheerful in front of me..."
Miki's smile finally softens at Naanya's remarks. She knows that her friend is referring to the tragedy of her dad's recent death.
"There's...there's no point to sulk all day. I know Papa will not want to see me like that. Besides, Sae-chan has transferred back and we'll live together from now on!"
"Sae-neechan?" Naanya's eyes lights up at the thought of seeing Miki's older sister. They are both energetic and fun to be with, not to mention how cool and ikemen she looks. "I remember how you bawled your eyes out when she moved away last year. Such a dependent little sis..." Naanya playfully makes a disgusting look.
"Says someone who cried for a whole week and refused to leave neechan's empty room!" Naanya had grown up with Miki and they were best friends since elementary school. She always stayed over at Miki's place, which is how she got to know Sae as well. To say the truth, she felt extremely stricken by Miki's father's accident, but she has determined to be strong for Miki, putting up a cheerful face so that they can both start high school life happily together.
"Ah....here it is, our classroom." Naanya leads Miki's hand and walks in to class 1-A, where they met some familiar faces from junior high. After all, the town in the outskirts of Tokyo is not that big, so it isn't entirely difficult for them to settle in.
The homeroom teacher came in and introduced himself. Unfortunately, Naanya and Miki's seats are randomly assigned to two different corners of the room, one in the right front corner and the other at the left back. Miki looks longingly at her friend, while staring at her neighbouring seat, which is still empty.
"Sir!!" Miki raises her hand up energetically and stood up, jumping up and down to get the teacher's attention. A few giggles can be heard by classmates who are new and not used to this hyper-energy, but for the others who have been with her since junior high, they simply smile knowingly.
"Why don't I have a neighbour?" She continues to ask before the teacher had a chance to speak.
"Nishino-kun, you should learn to have some patience. Please sit down." He clears his throat and continues, "I would like to introduce to you all, a transfer student who's not from Mitsuki or the Tokyo area. Please welcome her and help her out in any way you can."
The door slides open with everyone's eyes fixed on the new transfer, who glides into the room gracefully like an ojousama.
"Nice to meet you all," Nana said with an almost undetected smile. "My name is Okada Nana. I am from Nagoya..." She pauses and said in an unexcited tone, "Please take care of me."
The classmates are all awestruck with her beauty and composure. Her jet black hair is tidily combed. Not a trace of crease can be found on her white uniform blouse, neatly tugged in her pleated navy blue skirt. The neck tie is in a perfect triangular and symmetrical shape, and so are her knee high socks and squeaky clean indoor shoes.
"Please sit there, next to Nishino-san, who is earnestly waiting for her neighbour."
The girl whose name is mentioned can't believe how much she's blushing as Okada approaches the desk, unaware of the effect she has on her, and everyone else in the room. She sat down calmly without noticing the silly smile on Miki's face.
She's so beautiful!! Nishino thought...
"Ano..."
"Nishino-san?" Okada turn and faces directly at Nishino, who is taken aback by the straight forwardness and looks away shyly. Meanwhile, Naanya's eyes narrow in curiosity, wondering why the two words, 'shyness' and 'Nishino,' will suddenly appear together in one sentence...
"I..em...I...you are new here, right...ha...haha" Miki starts speaking awkwardly.
"This is a redundant statement." Okada answered. Upon hearing something so abrupt in the type of small talk like this, Miki glances up at her immediately. However, there doesn't seem to be any malice in her look. She's just stating it as a fact.
"Hahahaha!!" Miki laughs at this socially awkward creature in front of her. "Naaaachan, you shouldn't say that to people you've just met."
"I am Okada Nana, not Naachan." She pauses after she corrects the girl, who reaches out and pats her head, amused at her reaction. However, Okada continues, "If that is how you plan to call me afterwards, I will take note of it."
Miki gaped and slowly nods at the girl, wondering whether she is a robot or just an emotionless nerdy girl.
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While her friend is enjoying the first day of high school, Rena herself has also found her way to the college campus. There seems to be quite a few strange looks from people passing by, not used to the yankee way she dresses.
The first class is a calculus lecture, and Rena enters, sitting down on an empty seat without thinking too much. However, she notices how some students beside her just moved away upon seeing her. She shrugs and tries to look at them for more clues, but they simply averted their gazes.
"Why is everyone scared of me..." She mumbles as she recalls how she's shunned in high school as well for the naturally dark aura she has. "I'm really friendly, yo..."
The lecture started and Rena felt someone snuck in and sat right beside her. A girl with short, messy hair, who looks like she's just woken up, turns her head sideways to look at who is staring at her so intensely.
Perhaps Rena didn't notice this, but she looks oddly focussed, fixing her sights on a stranger who just sat down beside her. Normally, this will be the time when the stranger or acquaintance feels uncomfortable, and Rena would never understand what she's done to scare them away, but this time, the girl smiles back.
"Good morning.... My name is Sae, Nishino Sae desu! What's your name?" The smile on her weary face seems weak, but it cannot hide the sincerity in her voice. Meanwhile, the girl called Sae is strangely amused by the psychotic look on Rena's face. She does look creepy, but she also has a pretty face, and for a reason she cannot pinpoint, she feels attracted to her round, fiery eyes, instead of threatened by this intense gaze.
"Rena, Matsui Rena!!!" The girl spreads a huge smile on her face, glad that someone is finally talking to her. Her voice was so loud that it interrupts the lecture.
Scratching her head embarrassingly, Sae looks to the front, with a dozen of faces staring at them in confusion.
"Please carry on...heh heh..." She gestures the class to continue and tugged on Rena's sleeve, whispering, "we better keep quiet, but it's nice meeting you."
Rena smiles back and nods furiously. She can't contain her excitement that someone can be so nice and friendly to her. She's just staring at the lecturer, pretending to listen while she steals glances at the girl, who's now taking notes, sometimes biting her pencil, sometimes scratching her head. All these little gestures suddenly look so cute in her eyes.
"Who can solve this problem?" The lecturer looks around, pointing to a sample problem on the blackboard.
"How about you, the girl there who came in late?" Sae gulped and looks at the lecturer, slowly raising a finger to point at herself.
"Yes, you."
Sae sighs and stood up, walking down to the auditorium. She starts scribbling some steps on the blackboard, but got stuck in the middle.
"Iiiya..." Sae curses to herself and wonders why she's being picked on like a high school kid in the first lecture of the year.
"There's a minus sign missing!!" Rena's voice rang through the hall, as she stood up and slams her hands on the table, excited that she's found out the answer and can help her new friend out. However, there's a bigger problem. A huge crack splits the table into half and everyone looks stunned at the girl's outburst...and her inhuman strength.
"Shit..." Rena whispers as she looks at the fallen piece of furniture in front of her.
An eerie silence falls upon the whole hall and all eyes are locked onto this yankee looking girl.
"Aaa...ano, Rena-chan, that' s...that's why I told you we should move to another seat just now! Heh.." Sae took the chalk and corrected the mistake that nobody cares about now on the blackboard. "You see guys, the table is already broken when I came in, so that's why we're...er....talking about it just now...." She looks back at the lecturer, who doesn't look convinced but decided to stop this awkward moment as well.
"Yep...well students, be careful with our desks...they ARE getting old. Anyway, the problem is indeed solved by changing the sign here...."
The class's attention quickly focussed back to the blackboard and barely anyone remembered the broken desk by the time the lecture ended.
"Sa...Sae-san!" Rena followed after the girl to the open quad outside the lecture building.
"Renachan, thanks for helping me out just now." Sae looks at her and smile. "What other classes are you taking?"
"I...I thought you'd be scared of what I did just now..." Rena looks worriedly at her new friend. "Thanks for covering up, by the way."
Sae takes a deep sigh and smile. "To be honest, it shocked me too....that a skinny girl like you is soooo strong, but...you look like a cool person to me. Let's be friends, okay?" She extends her hand forward, and flashes a cool smile.
"Sae-san..." Rena looks into the girl's eyes and blushes without herself knowing it. Sae's eyes are so bright and warm...and, and she's not scared of me? She clutches her chest suddenly as she felt her heartbeat quickens.
"Eh??" Sae rushes forward and grabs hold of the girl's shoulders. "Are you okay, Rena-chan?"
"I...I am fine..." She nods weakly and looks down. Rena herself is confused by how her body reacts. What's going on? Why does it feel so nauseating just by looking at her? I'm...I'm about to explode!
"Let me call the campus medics..." Sae is not convinced by the flustered look on Rena's face. She reaches for her backpack to get the phone.
"Ah...here it is..." However, when she looks up, she feels a puff of wind on her face, but Rena is nowhere to be seen.
"EH?" Sae looks around frantically, but she can't even see a trace of the black tracksuit girl. Everyone else seems to be going on with their lives, walking, chatting and passing by her normally.
"Is this....a dream?" She scratches the back of her neck and wonders again.
"What dream?" Two hands land heavily on her shoulders behind her.
"WooooW!" The scared Sae jumps and look around, finding non other than her good friend, Kojima Mako.
"Sae-chan!" She smiles happily at her, a dimple showing on her cute face.
"You scared me, Makochan!" Sae protested with puffed cheeks.
"What happened to you today..." The girl in high ponytail frowns at Sae's genuinely shocked face. "You're usually unfazed by stuff like this. Don't tell me...that you haven't slept last night?"
"I...I couldn't....I couldn't stop thinking about that case..."
"Then don't close it." Mako looks serious for the first time. "Sae-chan, I have been thinking after last night...we should continue 'Nishino Magic Detective Agency'."
"What...no...no way!" Sae smiles bitterly and shakes her head. "Dad worked there full time. The only choice we have now is to close it down and carry on with our lives. I have college, I have Miki...and I have bills to pay."
"Which is all the more reason to continue, right? Clearly, he must be on with something big too...Don't you want to carry on and finish what he's started?" Mako is referring to the file they found, when they're cleaning out the detective office last night.
The file was not in the regular cabinet. It's found tugged beneath a smaller cabinet under his desk. They stumbled upon it only because Mako was trying to retrieve a hair clip that fell between the cracks. Moving it away with Sae's help, they found this file hidden at the bottom. It couldn't be some lost file, because it looked very new, and it looked purposely hidden by the neat position it was placed. Opening it, they weren't greeted with a lot of details though. A photo of a girl, with the name 'Watanabe Miyuki' scribbled on the back hastily by pencil, as well as a small plastic ziplock containing a corner of a piece of cloth with yellow powder stained on it.
"Watanabe Miyuki..." Sae mumbles the name of the strange girl on that photo. She looks their age-- an ordinary cute looking girl, with slightly curled, black hair, wearing an innocent smile on her face. The photo is a candid shot of her walking somewhere against a nondescript background, showing only the upper half of her body. She can't even decide whether she's a client, a suspect or some kind of witness in the case. However, Sae knows that her face has imprinted in her mind, and she'll never be able to get the case off her head.
"I did a quick check on the directory today after my photography session," Mako said as she pulled a piece of paper out. "Look, she's a freshman here too."
"Wow, Mako... you really do make a good detective." Sae looks at her friend in wonder. "And...thanks for sticking by all this time." The weary smile on Sae's face touches Mako.
"Nonsense..." She scold her gently and takes her into her arms, giving her a tight hug. "I am your best friend, Sae. Please rely on me when you need to."
Sae nuzzles in Mako's neck and relaxes. It has been three weeks since she moved back from Tokyo. She left her hometown last year to go to college, but after the sudden death of her father, she transferred back in order to take care of everything, including his only family member left, Miki. These three weeks have been a hectic time, with many arrangements on the funeral, questions by the police, and a hint of mystery shrouding his dad's shooting. He was at the mall with other people, but when the criminals robbing a neighbouring art gallery barged in in their escape and asked everyone to duck, he alone stood in a zombie-like state, ignoring their commands. One robber freaked out and shot him. It was a very untimely death. A stupid reason to die...Why...why didn't he react to them? Yet Sae had no time to think really. Three weeks passed by in a blink of the eye, and now, the school year has started as well, with the empty detective agency waiting for her last arrangements to be closed down.
Mako continues to pat on her friend's back gently. She is a year younger than her, but they have been close friends for a few years now. She still remembers her first day in high school, bumping into the basketball star on her way to class. She caught her in her arms and smiled at her, walking her to the classroom in fear that she'd get lost. And since then, she couldn't forget that moment with Sae. At that time, she felt so unreachable to Mako-- a popular ikemen sophomore surrounded by cute admirers, while she's just an ordinary freshman with average looks and talent. However, with a great stroke of luck, they got to know each other through Naanya, her adopted sister. It turned out that her good friend, Miki-chan, is Sae's little sister! Through them, they became closer, and Sae helped her out all the time, even encouraging her to take up tennis and photography. When news that Sae's moving out of town to go to college came through to her, she felt her heart poked by a million little needles. That's when she realised that she's already fallen in love with her. Sae's back...she's really back...but I, what can I do about this? Mako wonders as she strokes Sae's hair tenderly.
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*two weeks later
"Ah~~ I heard that Sakuratan is back to school!" Miki clings onto Naanya's hand excitingly as they walk up to the roof to have lunch. They found a key to the locked roof one day by accident in an old gym storage, and it has become their secret paradise since.
"Really? I feel so relieved! So many girls are disappearing lately..." Naanya opens her lunch box and smiles happily as she sees a cream bun inside, packed by Mako secretly without their parents knowing.
"Yes, it's creepy isn't it? But they always returned unscratched. Sometimes, only a necklace, a hair band, or a ring is reported missing. I wonder what his motives are..."
"The kidnapper? Yeah..but the scary part is, the girls themselves do not remember anything while they were gone. They claimed to have just...a weird dream, and didn't notice the time that's passed by at all. No one ever saw them kidnapped or returned! It all sounds...scary."
The girls carried on with their lunch as they chatted. The sky is bluer than ever and Miki's heart feel light today. For the two weeks, the only thing that bothers her at school is Okada Nana. She barely talks to her, or anyone. She refused when Miki invited her to lunch, activities, or just to walk home together. But she can't say she's cold towards her. In fact, it might sound strange to say this, but she feels that if there's ever anyone Okada takes an interest in, it's her, Nishino Miki. It seems that even Naanya feels this way too.
"Speaking of biology lab, I saw Okada Nana peeking at you today." Naanya winks.
"No, she didn't. It couldn't possibly be, she barely answers me when I talk to her." Miki explains but is secretly happy about what she's heard.
"She's definitely interested in you..." Naanya reasons, tapping her chin with her finger. "See, yesterday, I saw her staring at you in the cafeteria, and looked away when I found out. Why is she stalking you if she doesn't like you?"
Miki jumps up from the bench and skips to the edge of the wall, refusing to hear Naanya out in a fit of embarrassment. Looking down to the quiet garden, there's almost not a soul in sight as most people are still in the cafeteria, enjoying themselves. But there, coming out from the building alone, is none other than Nana, holding a book in her hand. Miki leans forward and tries to get a glimpse at where she's going.
"What are you looking at!" Naanya just finished her bun and rushed towards the girl, slapping her arm on her back.
"WO---AHHH!" Miki's back has leaned so much forward that Naanya's slap caused her to lose her balance, and she trips. At the same time, the shout catches Nana's attention, and to her horror, she sees a figure stumble all the way down the roof, landing on the grass in a loud thump.
"Miki!" Naanya exclaims as she found her hands grasping onto thin air while she tried to stop Miki from falling. The girl is laying flat seven stories below her, gazing at Naanya in dazed eyes. Blood starts to seep from the corner of her mouth.
Nana reaches Miki's side and found the gasping girl spitting out blood.
"Miki..." The stunned girl crouches and props her body up in her arms. She coughs and winces at the movement. "Miki...look at me...look at me!"
This is the first time that Miki heard any emotions from her neighbour's voice. However, she feels too dizzy to react. Every inch of her body is shouting in pain...is that how it's like to die? With great effort, she moves her neck and looks up into Nana's eyes. She looks worried with her knitted eyebrows and frowning lips, but nonetheless, she's glowing like angel, with a halo of light shining behind her back.
"Naachan...you are so....beautiful..." She heard her own breathless whisper. The girl bites her lips at the remark, and carries on to place a hand on Miki's stomach. She starts to feel a warmth radiating from there, spreading all over her body. There's a strange sensation that feels like her body is rapidly getting charged through electricity flowing up her capillaries and veins.
"Stay still, you have just fainted from seeing a snail climbing out of the bush." Nana places Miki's body down and looks around, hoping that no one has seen them. She looks up and found Naanya on the roof, staring at them in disbelief.
Someone saw me...Nana furrows her eyebrows, but she got distracted by the voices of some footsteps coming into the courtyard, alarmed by Miki's shout earlier on. She ran away before a teacher and a student arrived, while Naanya crouched down from the roof edge and hid herself too.
"Nishino-san...are you okay? What happened?"
The girl stands up and straightens her uniform, like she's barely fallen.
"I'm...I'm all right. I saw a....a snail and freaked out...."
"AA~ sasuga Miki-chan!" The other student sighs, exasperated and relieved at the same time. "I thought something horrible had happened when we heard a scream."
Miki pats her own body again, amazed that not an inch of her bones and muscles feel hurt at all. She looks to the direction where the strange healer has fled. Just who...no, what, is Okada Nana?
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EEEEEH? This is amazing!!! :lol:
So, Sae is Miki's sister. And she's close with Mako. :)
No one seems to like Rena... wait, she broke a desk! :shocked
And Nana was able to save Miki, but Naanya saw her... :O
Please update soon! :twothumbs
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Saeyu-san, polygamy is NG :drool:
It's complicated.. Looking forward to your next update
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ohh this looks fun ><
thank you author-san[emoji1]
no triangle between nana miki and naanya? hehe[emoji1]
can't wait for the next update~
sent from なぁちゃんのハート
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no triangle between nana miki and naanya? hehe[emoji1]
I honestly want MakoNaanya, though. :3 *wink, wink*
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Detective Agency yes!!!! :panic:
Thank you saeyu san for this new interesting fic.
And taking my suggestion into consideration for your new fic..
This makes me happy....hahay!!!!!
I think I'm in team saerena here.. :onioncheer: :onioncheer:
As I remember saerena has a chemistry in mg 2...
Its ok even though its not saeyuki or saemayu I'm not disappointed ...
Sae-chan harem.... :cool1:
I have read your saemayu fic in tumblr....
I like that too.....
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no triangle between nana miki and naanya? hehe[emoji1]
I honestly want MakoNaanya, though. :3 *wink, wink*
Trueeeee!!! :lol: XD
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Hello everyone~
I'm sorry for the late update. Something happened in real life and I'm still extremely busy, but I will try to write and finish this story every now and then.
Please enjoy:
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Chapter 2 - Nishino Magic Agency
"Rena, I need to tell you something..." Nana sat down on a chair at the kitchen counter, looking intensely at Rena, who's enjoying her chicken wings. Ignoring Nana's gaze, she continues to pour her second bottle of tabasco over the food.
"We need to move away." Nana continues.
Rena looks up finally upon hearing this surprising statement from a dull and cautious person like Nana.
"Nana-chan, are you freaking out?" Rena confirms her suspicion as she sees the person in front of her blinks and tries to contain her frowns unsuccessfully.
"BWAHHHAAAAHAAA!" She arches her back and laughs out loudly, unable to believe how Nana can actually let anything go out of her control.
"I..I used my powers today." She announced. "I used it at school and I was seen."
The girl puts down her chicken wings and stopped laughing. "How...what on earth would cause you to use your power?" Rena is more curious about the circumstances that will force Nana to risk revealing her identity, more so than the danger of them being spotted. Even since they knew each other since regaining back some of their memories, Nana has acted the way her kind does, extremely cautious, logical and emotionless.
That is not to say, that inhabitants of planet AKB do not have any psychological emotions. In fact, they are known to be very emotional creatures, but they have embraced the philosophy of balance and tranquility, choosing to develop techniques that will suppress the volatility of their minds. Meanwhile, Rena, who is from planet SKE, is of a warrior tribe that is more carefree, spontaneous, and hedonistic. The fact that the two planets formed an alliance in the Galactic Federation has always baffled others, but that was thanks to the work of Queen Paru, which will be another story.
That makes it all the more strange that Nana will actually use her power on someone.
"Did you...try to pry into somebody's mind to find out where the spaceship is?" Rena ventures.
"I don't have that much power." Nana shakes her head. "But I healed a human being today."
"Healed?!" Rena stands up immediately and measures the younger girl in front of her again. "I never knew you have SUCH powers!"
"They only work for humans because I can manipulate their cells, which is composed of simpler elements. I didn't know I have this power too." Until I feel desperate to do something about Miki's life...Nana thought silently.
"Well, what makes you think you'll get found out?" Rena shrugs and sits down again, dejected that this power doesn't apply to herself. "It's no big deal, Nana, I almost exposed myself today, but luckily, I was saved by Sae." Even just with thinking about her name, Rena giggles giddily at herself, totally ignoring Nana's troubled look.
"Who's Sae, and how many times do I have to tell you to be more careful?" The girl stopped on her lecturing though, aware that she's also exposed herself today. "I was seen by a girl, and obviously, the person I healed knew too. If they ever reveal it to anybody, we'll raise a lot of suspicions."
"If we move away now, we will never find Princess Wako. The 0048 star is going to align with Earth soon, and that's our only chance of ever going back. Do you really think the school girls will say anything?"
"Logically, they should not. It does not benefit for people to find out they were at the rooftop, but..."
Rena cuts her short and finishes the sentence, rolling her eyes. "But human beings are illogical...I know, I know. Anyway, I feel so happy that Nana has found someone she cares about."
"I just came across her. I don't care about her at all." Nana responded but her eyes fluttered uneasily as she said it.
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The bell attached to the brim of the doorway rings as the door of the detective agency opens. It's late afternoon now. Both Sae and Mako look up, surprised by the sound of anyone visiting.
A lady walks in and looks around the small office cautiously.
"Do you...do you take cases today?" She asks, taking off her designer shades. The lady is in her forties and looks well to do.
"Welcome, madam, would you care for a cup of...tea?" Seeing that Sae is still stunned that they've got a walk-in customer, she took the lead to sit the lady down. "I am Kojima and we are very happy to help you out. How may I address you?"
"My name is Mizuki, and a cup of tea would be lovely," The lady sits down but her face is still tensed with worries. "I want you, to help me find evidence of my husband's cheating!"
Sae finally got out of her trance and took a stack of forms, where standard questions are printed on it, and started filling in the details.
"Madam Mizuki," She sat across her while Mako left to brew some tea. "May I know how you came to suspect your husband?"
The conversation carried on with the lady introducing herself as a housewife of some banker who works in the area. She came to suspect her husband after finding a broken pink hair clip in his trouser pockets one day, and she would like to confront him with undeniable evidence in hand.
"In other words, you would like us to have pictures and videos of his activity with the adulteress...and of course, find out who she is, right?" Sae scribbled more notes on her filled questionnaire. The enquiry part isn't that bad after all, she thought, thanks to the template her dad left behind. Mako was already back with the tea and helped jotted some notes too.
"Yes, but I already have an idea of who she is." The lady pulls out a photo and shows the duo.
"Re...Rena-chan?!" Sae almost spitted the tea in her mouth out, as the other two look onto her.
"Do you know this girl, Sae?" Mako asks quizzically. She looks so cute in the picture...she thought, and Sae calls her by a nickname...
"Ah...eh...not really very well, but we take some classes together. She seems like a nice girl though. Are you sure you got the right person, Madam?"
"It should be her. I stalked my husband into a building and saw that he went to the 7th floor. A while later, she came out from the same floor too. There couldn't be anyone else."
"Well then, all the more easier I guess, since I already know how to find your 'target'." Sae stood up and shook the lady's hand. "We will keep you updated."
"Thank you." The lady nodded and left.
"Sae-chan..." Mako took the saucers and cups and tries to act as casually as possible. "Who's this...Rena-san? I've never heard you talk about her."
"Rena is..." An amused smile spread on the boyish girl's face. "Is a girl that wears her heart on the sleeves. She's so spontaneous and weird, but very smart too. I really don't think she did it...look, those apartment buildings have multiple flats per floor. She's only suspecting her coz she's young and pretty."
Seeing the amount of praise she gets from Sae's mouth, Mako felt an uneasy rush of jealousy well up in her heart. She can't believe she's jealous of a girl she hasn't even met yet...I'm such a bad person! She scolds herself and turns to walk away with the cups.
A pair of hands threw around her from the back, almost causing her to drop her things.
"What...is my Makotin jealous?" Sae playfully nudges her neck with her chin.
"What are you talking about...who do you think you are..." Mako mumbles as she half-heartedly tries to struggle off. She knows that Sae is just joking.
"Hehe, I know you aren't, but I just love to tease you anyway." She is still clinging onto the girl, who wears her long hair down today. The smell of her shampoo is so good, Sae thought as she takes a deep breath. Mako is unlike other girls to Sae. They all follow her around, swoon on her ikemen looks but never treat her like a normal person. But Mako supports her like a true friend will. Sae still remembers how she smiled brightly under the sun on the park that day when she told her she's got admitted to college in Tokyo. That smile was so empowering and sweet, that whenever Sae's down, she'll recall it and become energised again. Sae knows that only in front of Mako, will she be able to show her weaker side and leave everything to her. It is something she treasures with her life.
"Well, you've got it all wrong then. I am just amazed by Rena-san's cuteness. Be careful that I will snatch her from you!" Mako elbows the girl behind her and shrugs off, walking towards the pantry. "We need to get the equipment ready. Let's do some stalking tomorrow!"
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*at school
"How's it..." Naanya looks on urgently. "Miki-chan...say something!"
The other girl continued to stare into the microscope, too baffled to utter a word.
"Mou!" Naanya pushes Miki off the bench violently and took over the seat. Peeking into the microscope, she sees hexagonal shapes pulsating together in a thin slime of blue colour.
"Textbook, Miki, textbook!" Naanya reaches her hand out, but her eyes are still stuck in the lens. She's pretty sure that the cell samples she saw in her biology textbook aren't like this.
"There's no need." Miki simply said. "It doesn't look a bit like ordinary human cells."
"Uso-dayou!" Naanya finally looks up, while Miki took the sample away and burns it.
"What are you doing?" The dumbstruck girl asks.
"We can't let anyone find out...." Miki said. "And...we can't let her find out that we found out." They got a sample of Okada Nana's tissues from a pair of chopsticks she disposed after eating lunch today. After that healing encounter, Miki often stole glances at her neighbour but she seemed to be avoiding her on purpose. She couldn't contain her anxiety any longer, so she elicited Naanya's help to get the sample. It all sounded like a crazy idea, but that no longer feels so far fetched after what they saw on the film.
"Are you...going to do anything about it?" Naanya asks.
"I don't know...but she DID save my life. I can't pretend nothing has happened."
After the last class, when Nana stood up and was about to leave, Miki mustered up the courage to grab her by the hand.
"Naachan!"
The girl paused and look around, barely able to hide her unease.
"I need to talk to you..." Miki said weakly.
Nana pushes her arm off politely and stares at her in icy cold eyes, "I have things to do, I cannot stay."
"But..." Miki backed down slightly by the coldness, and watched as Nana leave the classroom.
It seems that there's no other option but to follow her home...Miki thought as she packs up her stuff too.
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Nana has just eaten one bite of her dinner when the doorbell of her flat rings.
"Rena, did you forget your keys again?" She opened the door and found Miki and Naanya standing there instead.
"Why are you two here?" She asks.
"Naachan, we're classmates, right? We are just dropping by to say hi," As Miki speaks, Naanya pushes the door wide open and welcomed themselves in.
"Chotto..." Nana protests but they've already sat themselves on the couch.
"What are you doing, Naachan?" Miki asks with a bright smile.
Nana looks at her, at lost in what to say. She wanted to kick them out, but there doesn't seem to be a very good reason to do so. Besides, she needs to know how they think about that incident, maybe...maybe I could erase it from their memories?
"I am just having dinner." She sat back down on the table, and took another bite of her bowl of pasta.
"Really?" The two girls rushed to the kitchen counter. Miki is genuinely hungry so she took a fork from the nearby utensils rack and grabbed a bite, uninvited.
"Let me try out Naachan's cooking..." Nana's eyes shot wide open but she's too slow to stop her. As soon as Miki put the food in her mouth, she's overwhelmed by a pang of spiciness shooting up her nose.
"URGGGHH" She coughs and stares at the girl across her, trying to speak but is choked by her coughs.
Naanya's stunned and was worried for a second, stroking Miki's back for a bit, but then she starts ssexy beasting in laughter seeing her distorted facial reactions.
"Why...why did you put so much wasabi in it?!!!" Miki finally confronts the girl who continues with her dinner normally, ignoring Miki's coughs.
"I...I never told you to try it."
At this point, Naanya looks on in amazement, how the girl in front of her can eat something that's half covered in the spicy ingredient so nonchalantly. She's being reminded of the reason why they came. Yappari, Okada Nana is not human.
"Look, Nana-san. We took a sample of your tissues and examined it in the biology lab."
Okada's head springs up suddenly and puts down her chopsticks.
"They look different." Naanya continues. "Who are you? Where are you from?"
"Chotto..." Miki tugs on Naanya's sleeves and shakes her head, whispering in a not so small voice, "Why are you being so straightforward?" The bad thing about Naanya is that she has a really bold and explosive character, Miki thinks to herself. She's always perceived to be a brat because of that, even though she's a nice character deep inside.
"I am from there." Nana slowly stands and points her finger up. The two girls can't help but follow her finger, wondering...or rather, trying hard to suppress what they think she means.
"Rus..Russia?" Miki asks.
Nana shook her head and walk around the kitchen counter, standing beside the two.
"UP there." She stares intently at Miki as she lowers her voice and repeats.
"You're...Kyaaaa!" Naanya jumps out of the high chair and takes a few deep breaths. "Are you really an alien?"
Nana turns her attention towards the freaked out girl and walks towards her.
"Yes. I cannot let this secret loose. Excuse me," She said and place her palm on the girl's head. "I must wipe your memories."
Actually Nana has no clue if she can do this. She's tried something akin to telepathy and mind reading by touching a person, but wiping memories? It is too advanced for her. After all, ever since they are awaken accidentally by the earthquake, both Rena and her have only regained their memories and powers partially. Both of them spent two years trying to keep their powers under control, and Rena isn't even quite successful at it. However, time is running out, and Nana has decided to take some risks to keep them both safe. She regretted so much after saving Miki that day. It was the only time she let her emotions snapped and decided against logic. For nights after that, she still wonders why she did it, although deep down she already has her answer...
A pain started to strike in Naanya's head. Unbeknownst to the three girls, the door opens as Rena's stunned to see Nana channeling her power into a stranger's head.
"AHH~~" Naanya begins to scream in pain and Miki rushes towards her friend, but at that very second, a huge force explodes from Naanya and pushed Nana off, expelling Miki sideways towards the wall. Since the force reacts directly towards Nana's attempt to intrude in her mind, it is much stronger than what hit Miki, smashing on her like a cannon shot, sending her flying towards the window.
She's abruptly stopped by Rena from breaking through the window and falling out of the building. Opening her eyes again from the sudden shock of Naanya's force, she found herself in Rena's arms as she came in between her and the window that's inches behind them.
"What the..."
All the girls turned and looked towards the apartment entrance, where the voice came from, and found a jaw-dropped Sae staring at Rena, who's somehow moved from one end of the entrance to the opposite end of the room by the window in less than a second. Mako stood equally stunned beside Sae, her hand trembling as she holds onto the video camera, its light still flashing in recording mode.
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Everyone--Sae, Mako, Rena, Nana, Miki and Naanya -- all sat down on the couches and chairs and looks at each other, none wanting to start and say anything.
The video camera is place in the middle of the coffee table.
"Look," Miki said first and takes the camera in her hands. "I will erase the recordings first."
"No wait..." Mako stops her and said, "Just...what is going on here?"
"Nana and I," Rena starts to speak and glances at Sae furtively. "We are not from this world."
"What do you mean? You are ghosts?!" Sae tilts her head and asks in an unusually high pitched voice.
"No, we're aliens, man!" Rena corrects her friend immediately. "But I just want to emphasise, we are not from the same planet! We SKE's are not cold like those AKB's!" She points at Nana accusingly.
That's hardly the main point...Naanya thought to herself with a mental face palm. She was still recovering from the enormous force generated within her, unable to get why, or how she expelled Nana's 'attack'. She looks up and found Nana staring straight at her too, ignoring the current conversation.
"AKB or SKE...no, no, no, planet AKB and SKE...what the hell...is that Mars??? Wow, this is crazy!!" Sae stands up and buries her head into her hands, scratching her hair desperately. "I need oxygen..." She breathes and fans herself.
This causes Rena to giggle. This girl is way too cute, even when she freaks out.
Miki stands up too at this point and pressed the erase button on the video camera in her hands.
"Don't worry. We will never spill this secret. I swear." She said solemnly, looking towards Nana and Rena.
"Really?" Rena jumps up and grabs Miki's hands excitingly. "Thanks!!! You look so cute by the way, what's your name? I love lolissss!!!"
Miki blushes at the praise from such a beautiful girl, despite the slightly creepy look in her eyes.
"Miki...Nishino Miki desu..."She answers with a soft voice, which makes Rena squeal happily. This made two persons in the room react.
"She's my sister, Rena-chan." Sae said in a flat tone. Somehow, she finds that she doesn't enjoy seeing Rena drool over somebody else like this.
At the same time, Nana snatches Rena's hand off Miki's protectively. She knows that Rena has a huge tendency to dote on little girls.
"Don't even think about it. Miki is off your limits."
"What? I've always wanted a cute sister like Miki-chan, not someone so uninteresting like you..." Rena points her fingers together and sits back down dejectedly upon seeing the scary look in Nana's eyes. Miki sits back down, her face blushing in embarrassment at Nana's protectiveness.
"Ok ok..." Mako speaks up again. "Let me just summarise what I know. Rena-san and Nana-san are both new in town, but you are aliens from another planet...from two other planets. You saved Miki's life and you are keen to keep this a secret. Of course, we will never say anything...but I want to know why you have moved here. Is there something going on? Why did you try to hurt Naanya?" She looks at her sister protectively, remembering the excruciating scream from her when Nana placed her hand on her head.
"I am sorry, I was being rash." Nana stood up and bowed towards Naanya and Mako. She is still at lost as to why her energy backfired. Not only that, she was expelled with a much greater force, which doesn't seem to originate from herself. But after all, she hasn't tried this trick on anyone before Naanya. Could it just be that her energy went out of control? Anyway, this girl must be special. Nana thought...because, she feels special to me.
"It's okay, Naachan." Naanya smiles at her. Although not fully understanding what's going on, she also felt a strange bond between them forming. Looking at Nana now, she feels like she's known her for a long, long time. "You just wanted to make sure we don't spill out your secrets, right? Don't worry, I swear I won't. There must be a reason why you're here."
"Yes, that's right!" Miki adds in. "You saved me. Let me know what I can do to help!"
"There's nothing..." Nana tries to refuse but she's quickly cut off by her companion.
"We are here to find our spaceship." Rena states. "We can't exactly remember why or how, but our spaceship crashed on earth twenty-three years ago. To survive on this planet's environment, our DNA is fused into the human species and we...er...hatched as babies a few years apart from each other. We theorise that the pods on the spaceship ejected right before the crash, and Nana and I were found in Nagoya as orphans. I was born earlier, and we both gained our memories back at the great earthquake that happened two years ago."
"I found Rena through a unique wave of frequencies that connects our minds." Nana takes over the conversation and continues. "Together, we tried to piece bits and pieces of information together. We know that we still have one companion missing--our most important companion. I am an official of AKB and Rena is a delegate from SKE, tasked with escorting our Princess Wako to safety from planet NMB's attack. She's missing, and we need to find her."
"Can't you just use your telepathy thingy to find her?" Sae asks, calming down considerably and taking in their story seriously.
"I can't unless she's awaken like us. The Nagoya earthquake was really a stroke of luck, activating the dormant elements in our brains. I can send out signals in the same frequency, but if she doesn't answer back, it is as good as a radar trying to detect a stealth fighter."
"How do you come to believe that your princess is here then?" Mako asks. The two of them have really gotten used to their detective identities, probing relentlessly on the alien's story while Miki and Naanya are still too shocked to process details like this.
"We found some clues on the spaceship's crashing site. Do you remember the factory explosion that caused the government to close off what's now called the Yuiichi Zone? We hacked into their systems and realised that they have not found the spaceship either, but only fragments of metals, technology, and gear that is not from this planet. Judging from the composition of soils around this area, if our princess's pod landed with the spaceship, she would be born at around the same time as Nana."
"Aside from finding Princess Wako, we also need to find our way home. Our planet needs her, as she's the only heir to to Queen Yui's throne. We know that in order for our spaceship to go back on a trajectory towards SKE, we must rely on the force field when star 0048 aligns with the Earth. We don't have much time left."
"Rena-chan!" Sae's eyes are now sparkling in tears. She is no longer scared or confused, but feels very sorry for the girls, who are stranded in a strange land like this. How must it feel, to be light years away from home, being the only ones that are not same as the others? It must be very lonely...she thought as she listened on. "You guys have suffered too much to be away from home! I promise, I will do everything to help you find your princess!"
"Sae-chan..." Rena's again overwhelmed by such a kindhearted girl. Nobody ever felt so compassionate about her before, not even her own adopted sister, when she revealed the secret to her. She feels tears welling up her own eyes too.
"That's very nice and all, but I have an idea too..." Mako interrupted the star crossed couple and clears her throat, "Why don't you join our detective agency?"
-
Alright, I have to say this..
Ehm..
I LLLOOOVVEE it!!!
The theme is unique, and the pairings... haha. It's not everyday we can see these pairings. I love the young gen members.
Keep the good work up, and thank you Seiyu-san..
Ganbatte...
(Flying to the planet to see Queen Paru... (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Angels_and_Demons/death-angel-0081.gif))
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Oh, this is gonna be good! >w<
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You're back Saeyu-san hehe...
I like this chapter...
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Ah was waiting for you, Saeyu-san
Happy to see you come back!
Anyway, what a scary power. Don't do it again if you are not expert at that kind of stuff, Nana! Gosh you hurt 'em
Y'see, it has turned became "Finding Princess"
Good luck, Sae. Let's just pray so this author won't go anywhere again and let us see the view of you save the princess smoothly :twisted:
Just kiddin' Take ur time, my love, Saeyu-san
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I love the young gen members.
(Flying to the planet to see Queen Paru... (http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Angels_and_Demons/death-angel-0081.gif))
Thank you niineechan! I love young gen too! I hope they get more attention in the fanfic universe. Sometimes it feels like I'm visiting 2011's AKB when I visit this forum :nervous
Oh, this is gonna be good! >w<
Thanks for dropping by! Tentoumuchu Saikou!
Thanks @arawche079! It's very kind of you to leave a message every time.
Y'see, it has turned became "Finding Princess"
Good luck, Sae. Let's just pray so this author won't go anywhere again and let us see the view of you save the princess smoothly :twisted:
HAHA, yes, the story is about finding the princess but there are some mysteries that will string everything together. Hope you'll enjoy all the crazy pairings!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Chapter 3 - The mysterious girl
A week has passed since the discovery of Rena's and Nana's identities. Originally, Nana was hesitant about joining Sae's agency, but Mako has convinced her that they needed their agency's tools to infiltrate different information systems in order to locate their princess. In return, they helped them solve cases with their special powers.
"Mr Mizuki, is thinking about his daughter..." Nana is reporting what she read in his mind earlier. "The so-called woman he's cheating with must be his illegitimate daughter, because he was also thinking about how to hide this secret from Mrs. Mizuki."
"Naruhodou..." Sae nods and tries to piece everything together. "Now if only we could find out who that daughter is..."
"Well, I am going back to school now. Please remember to let us have the list of girls born in 1999 soon."
"Of course Nana-chan. Say 'hi' to Mikichan for me!" Sae smiles as the other girl nodded curtly and left.
"Time to go to class too..." Sae thought and stood up.
It's early afternoon at the campus, and she's about to meet with Mako and Rena, who're all in the same psychology class with her. Happy to be sharing Nana's news with them, Sae started a little skip as she notices how beautiful today's sky is. Her attention got caught on a squirrel that is almost falling off a thin tree branch. At the same time, someone must have taken their eyes off the road too as she felt herself collide onto a body.
Falling down on top of a shocked girl, Sae's gaze fixed upon a face with sparkly, round eyes.
The girl recovered from her shock quickly and smiled, looking curiously at Sae's slightly embarrassed face.
"The squirrel's cute, isn't it?" Her lovely voice caused the girl on top blush as she tried to answer that with a "yes" that's somehow caught on her throat.
Sae isn't so much dumbstruck by the girl's cuteness as compared to her realisation that the girl beneath her is Watanabe Miyuki, the girl whose photo was strangely kept in her father's folder of secret case. She must take this opportunity to befriend her and find out more...
"Sor...sorry!" She stutters as she scramble up and extended her hand to pull the girl up.
The girl took it without ceasing her smile and asks, "You're quite funny...and ikemen. Do you like girls?"
Sae's eyes widen at this bold question from a stranger. She can now hear her own heartbeats pounding at the cuteness that's in front of her. She looks away and slides her hands into her jeans pockets, shifting about uneasily.
A chillness touched her face and she looks back at Miyuki, who's standing close and putting a bottle of iced water on her cheek.
"See if this will calm you down." She chuckles cheekily and took one of Sae's hand out of the pocket, putting the bottle into it. "My name is Watanabe Miyuki. You can call me Milky. What's yours?"
"Sae..." The boyish girl answers back softly, trying hard to focus on her original intention. "I...Are you a student here too?"
"Yup, well, I am off to class now...see you, Sae!" She winks and walks away, but Sae turns and grabs her hand.
"Can I...can I have your phone number?"
"Sure!" Milky seems happy that Sae's making a move, taking a pen out and wrote the number down on the back of Sae's hand.
"Please don't wash it...." Sae stares at the numbers on her hand and seems to be seriously considering that.
"Just kidding!" Milky quickly brushes Sae's nose with her fingertip, causing the girl to look back up again. "You are seriously funny, Sae-po. See you!"
Sae finds herself still looking at the blank space after Milky has skipped off. She didn't imagine that she'll be so affected when she sees this girl in real life. But she is seriously...quite cute. What does this girl have to do with dad's detective cases? Why is she in a top secret file that he tried to hide?
Turning around the corner, Milky clutches her chest as the smile disappears from her face. She is used to being casually flirtatious with girls and boys. It's part of her character, or perhaps, part of her arsenal of tools, to get close to cute high school girls. Usually, it's all an act. It's not that she is particularly blackhearted, she convinced herself. But she just needs to do that to get her mission done. So it came to her surprise too, that her heart is capable of beating so heart at a sight of a random, clumsy, boyish looking girl. It delights her even more that she's taken an interest on her too. Wouldn't it be nice to fall in love and go out with someone, like all the girls her age do? She shakes her head really hard suddenly, shocked that this thought came into her mind. Miyuki, you can't do this, okay? You have a mission and your time is running out.
Back in the psychology lecture hall, Sae snuck in and once again, found that she's late. Pon! She felt her head hit by Mako, who had saved a seat in front for her.
"Sorry Makotin..." She turned around and flashes her smile in a half apologetic manner.
Mako's frown turned into a barely contained smile. "You're so cunning. Don't think I'll forgive you every time you smile like that."
"But you've obviously melted in front of me." She boasts while ducking from another hit from Mako. "Here," she continues to whisper and eyes Rena, who's sitting beside Mako, to huddle closer. "Nana-chan has found out about who the man was trying to see, now we'll just need to locate her..."
The continued to exchange plans about the case during the lecture, and at the end of it, Rena and Sae are tasked to work on another case about locating a person's lost son, who's believed to have joined a gang, while Mako will stalk Mizuki's daughter and find out more about her. They have decided that if they just report this fact to the man's wife, things will turn sour, so it's better to find a way to transition everything properly. Arming with her photography equipment, Mako sped off, leaving Rena and Sae alone with an address that Mako's given them.
"She's crazy!" Sae moans as she crumples the piece of paper and put it back in her pocket. "She wants us, two weak, little girls, fight our way into the heart of a gang, and rescue someone who might not even want to quit the gang!"
"You are not weak..or little, Sae chan!" Rena laughs and pats the half-pouting genking's head. "Don't worry, I am strong and I will protect you!"
"Hehehe" Sae breaks into a laugh too and playfully cuddles up against her. "I know my Rena-chan is the best! Love you!"
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Mako stalked the man for the whole afternoon and found that he's meeting with his daughter at a manga cafe. Or rather, should she say, he's stalking her too because the young high school girl didn't seem excited to see him. She didn't want to destroy his family and thought that they shouldn't meet again, but he was persistent until she scolds him off. Originally, Mako was going to follow him as he leaves, but the upset daughter was quickly approached by someone else to comfort her. She saw that 'someone' sit down beside the girl, wearing a cute and innocent smile on her face too. The face of that girl is now on her digital camera's screen as she ponders about it back at home, sitting on her own bed.
The girl that's caught Mako's attention is Watanabe Miyuki. She wonders how strange things can be sometimes, that the worlds of two completely different cases collide so easily. They still couldn't figure out why Watanabe's photo is in that unlabelled file, and the laboratory results of those yellow powder that was put together in the same file revealed nothing new. Anyway she can't wait to share these results with Sae...but her thoughts are interrupted by someone opening the bedroom door.
"Naanya!" Mako springs up from her bed and gave Owada Nana a hug.
"Mako-neechan! It's a surprise to see you back so early today! I miss you so much!"
"Of course I have to be back," She pats her little sister's head and smiles. "Mom and dad are both out of town. Who else is there to take care of my little princess? Come, let's make dinner..."
Naanya chattered on about school incessantly as Mako starts cooking in the kitchen. She's trying hard to recall where the grater is, when Naanya suddenly hugs her from behind.
"Hey~~have you been listening?" She asks crossly.
"No, not really." Mako answers back cheekily and turn around just as Naanya's finger poke into her dimple.
"Kojima Mako! See if I'll forgive you everrrrrr!" Naanya snatches Mako's spatula from her. "I'll make my own dinner, I don't need this kind of sister!"
Mako smiles and took a step back, sitting down at the kitchen table, looking amusedly on at Naanya, who's trying hard to take control of the boiling pot of sauce and sizzling pan of eggs.
"Ahh~" She cries as some sauce spills from the pot she's trying to lift, scorching her arm in the process. Mako jumps out of the chair and turns off the stove, regretting that she's let her sister take things so far.
"Naanya!" she quickly settled everything and sat her sister down, cleaning her forearm and blowing on the reddish skin that was covered with the slight splash of sauce.
Naanya is sobbing like a little kid even though she isn't really that hurt. "Wuaaaahhhh~~" She starts crying and hitting at Mako's shoulders gently while she continues to examine her "wound".
"See, it's fading already, it's fine, Naanya..." she ignores her cries and embraces her, cooing her sweetly. "It's all right now, my baby..."
"It's your fault." Naanya sobs and nuzzles in Mako's arms. "If you didn't ignore me just now, I wouldn't have to cook by myself!"
"Hehe, but you'll have to learn to take care of yourself someday, right? After all, neechan won't be with you always, you'll marry some day...and have to take care of your own hubby...."
"No!!" Naanya protests. "I won't marry, and...and Mako-chan, you can't leave me!"
Mako chuckles and strokes her sister hair. Sometimes, she thinks about whether she has spoiled this kid too much, but it can't be helped, Naanya is so cute and endearing, ever since the day her parents brought her back home. At that time, Naanya was barely 3 years old and Mako a little older than 6. The little girl was timid and scared of her surroundings, clutching the sides of her dress tightly as she enters the door of her new home. However, once she's set her eyes on Mako, she rushed into the older girls arms like she's known her forever. The first thought that came to Mako's head was to protect her and treasure her, since she's received the greatest gift in her life. She's old enough to understand that Naanya is not her blood-related sister by then. But she never thought of Naanya as a stranger anyway. She's not just her sister too, she's greater than that.
"Okay I won't leave you, my spoiled baby..."
"You know what?" Naanya looks up at Mako. "I will marry you when I grow up."
Mako hits her head playfully and laughs. "I'm your sister, Naanya!"
Naanya stood up from Mako and feigns an angry pout. But I don't want to be your sister, Mako. I love you.
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*In front of the gang headquarters*
"This place seems heavily guarded...I hope Maru-kun is really inside." Sae whispered beside Rena as they approach the warehouse situated in an off beaten track at the outskirts of the city.
"Let's go in!" Rena rushed off in a puff of wind.
"Wait!" Sae shouts but Rena is already fighting off the ten or so guards who are attacking the intruder from all sides.
Wincing at the side, and seeing how each punch and kick dismantled the black suited gangsters into a pile of sandbags, Sae somehow feel bad for the helpless men.
Rena looks back at Sae and winked after she finished off the last guard.
"Oi! You gotta wait till I'm mentally prepared to rush in next time, you know?" Sae catches up to Rena's side as she slides the huge gate open.
"But Sae-chan, I want to go home and watch Bingo!" At this point, Sae's mouth already dropped open at a hundred or so gangsters who had been minding their business, whether it's drugs, weapons, or prostitutes. They all looked up at the sound of the door opening, finding the silhouette of two girls standing there behind the setting sun, their shadows extending all the way to the end of the hallway, where some people were chained up, amongst them the target of the detectives' client.
"We're coming to get you, Maru-kun!" Sae shouted all the way across the huge warehouse, breaking this awkward silence. The men finally woke up to the fact that these two girls took down all the guards outside and are, unbelievably, intruders.
They scramble to arm themselves but Rena has moved in like a breeze. The men saw their fellow comrades fall in a blink of the eye, so fast that they can't even catch a glimpse of the girl's move. Sae didn't wait to rush in as well, following behind the fallen men on Rena's path, until they reach the cages where the boy was chained up.
"Stop there!" a man shouted from behind. Rena and Sae turn around to see a gun pointing at them.
"I...I don't know what kind of monster you are, but I'll shoot if you don't leave. I really will, even if you are just girls!" His hands are shaking but the trigger can be pulled anytime. Sae gulps and looks at Rena, who is now biting her fingernails and laughing.
"Are you angry? Hahahahhahah!" She laughs as though the gun is nothing to her.
"You...you really think I won't shoot, do you?" The man's face is boiled red in anger. His finger twitches at the trigger. "Die, bitch!"
Sae tries to throw herself in front of the unfazed Rena. She must have gotten crazy! She thought. But she found herself throwing her arms around a puff of air as the sound of the bullet fires. The next thing she knew, the men has collapsed on the floor, with Rena grabbing hold of the twisted barrel of the gun.
"What...what is this freak?!!" The men that are imprisoned by the gangsters all started mumbling and crouching back, seeing this inhuman feat that has just unfold upon them.
Rena turns back and walks calmly to the cages, looking straight into Maru-kun's eyes. "Your mum has asked us to come rescue you." Her eyes sparkle in a wide smile as she continues, "now come with me, my boy." She twisted the bars of the cage like bending marshmallows.
"No..." The boy scrambles to the corner of the cage. "No!! I don't need saving from a freakster!"
Rena stopped on her tracks, a little bit taken aback at what she heard. Although she shouldn't have, she thought, since she had been used to this ever since she was a child. It must have been the affections that Sae has showered her with lately, that cause her to forget the usual way people treat her....
"Rena..." Sae gently pushed her aside and walk towards the yankee boy.
"Take back what you said." She commanded. "The freakster here is you. A yankee who got chained up by real gangster, who can't save himself, and don't recognise the love from your parents. Rena is a kind person to save someone like you!"
The boy looks stunned at Sae's lecture. He hesitated and looks back at Rena, who's biting her fingernails again.
"We are setting you free. Whether you choose to go back or not, it is your choice; but I will not let you insult Rena again. Apologize." She took the boys collar and pull him up.
"Sorry.." The boy said and lowered his head.
Sae looks back at Rena with a worried smile, while she stopped biting her nails and stares into Sae's eyes seriously for the first time. Sae-chan...you can't be so nice to everyone, including me. I...I will fall in love with you. No, I already have.
A noise came from the left side, catching the girls' attention. One of the gangster seem to be running off. Rena sped out in a flash and pushed the guy down, with Sae following from behind. When she reached where they are, she found that the man is already lying flat on the ground, with Rena holding a tiny piece of crystal in her hand, examining it.
"What's that?" Sae asks.
"I...I think I have found something important."
-
My reaction to MakoNaanya
:w00t:
XD
:inlove:
:oops:
:wub:
:O
:shocked
:drool:
They're becoming like Citrus; incest sister love! :deco:
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Haha.
U r quite true. It feels nostalgic somehow.
Well, i think the old pairings have stuck in many people's hearts. :sweatdrop:
But, yeah. It's 2015 already. Young gens should take the move!!! :panic:
Anyway, thx for the cuteness here... MakoNaanya.. :inlove:
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Naanya doesn't have blood-related with you, Mako. So she can marry you when she grow up XD
The MakoNaanya moment just so AAAAAAAAWWW~~~>///<
Thanks for that.
And everyone's fall for Sae><
Love will be so complicated in this fic-,-
I love your fics, Saeyu-san^^
Thanks for updating and I'll wait for the next one~
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Naanya stood up from Mako and feigns an angry pout. But I don't want to be your sister, Mako. I love you.
O'ow *Brace myself for the upcoming incest story*
Sae! Go and get karate lesson, will ya
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Guys guys guys! Hold your horses, it's not incest!! XD
@Ruka: Yes I took your suggestion on Mako Naanya but right now it's still one-sided hehe
@niineechan: I love old gens and young gens. To me, they are both equally precious, glad you liked it!
@junchan48: yes the fic is quite complicated, and I don't think I'm good at handling it :panic: please have patience on me, I'm working on it! Thanks!!
@Weird Panda: hehehe, I want Sae to have a goofy character here, coz it's a team, not everyone can be physically strong, so Sae will be the kind one. :heart:
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Chapter 4 - the List
At midnight, the lights of Nishino Magic Agency are still lit with live and action.
"Look, if we can find the Key in this area," Nana circles the location where Sae and Rena busted the gangster earlier on today, "it means the the ship could lie anywhere in this town."
She drew a perfect circle by using the Yuiichi Zone as a central point, and the distance between that gangster warehouse as its radius.
"What's the 'key' anyway?" Mako asks as she picks the crystal at the table up, and lifts it under the light above them. It reflects dozens of rays around the room, illuminating the surroundings immediately.
"It works like a chip, or a central unit, for our spaceship. Without that, a lot of complex procedures, like autopilot, docking, and entering wormholes can't be done. It is not necessary for us to get back to our planet, but its special powers will help a lot." Nana explains with her head still concentrated on how she could plan for search and recovery effectively, now that the possible area of shipwreck grew by that much.
"Perhaps that's why the gangsters were guarding it like their heirloom," Rena added and took the Key back from Mako. "It is possible to turn metals into different elements in small amounts...such as...making aluminium out of things like copper."
"Are there any other 'Keys' lying around?" Sae asks.
"No, not unless another spaceship has crashed. It's hard to come by even in our planets as it's engineered by our best scientists. Usually, each spaceship is powered by one." Rena puts the thing into her pocket and stands up.
"Thank you for finding it." Nana said. "Now, if we can divide this group into 3 teams, we should be able to cover one hundred and forty square..."
"Oi oi oi!" Rena stops Nana on her calculations by quickly covering her mouth. "I have missed Bingo is not about to miss Majisuka Gakuen! Let's call it a day!"
Everyone stood up and were about to leave, but Mako tugged Sae's sleeve, whispering, "There's something I found that I want to show you." Sae realised from the look in her eyes that it has something to do with the secret case.
"Okay...Rena-chan," Sae calls out to the girl who's already stepped halfway out of the agency's door, clasping her hands together to bow. "Could you help check on Miki for me while I stay for a little longer?"
"Ahh~~~~" Rena turns her head around with a wicked smile. "No worries, I will let Naachan do that." A puff of wind greeted Nana's half confused expression, and she knew that Miki's probably her responsibility tonight.
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*at the Nishino residence
Ding-dong~~~
The door opens and a large blob of futon greeted the slightly stunned Nana.
"Sae-chan, why are you so late!!!" The futon covered Miki dashes straight into Nana's chest without looking, pulling her inside and locking her arms around her tightly.
"Do you know how scared I am? It's almost one already...I can't fall asleep, and...and I think I saw a ghost just now!!" Miki started touching and feeling her sister, suddenly remarking, "Eh? Why..have you become so short and skinny?"
Pulling off the futon to take a closer look, Miki's eyes shot wide open with the sight of the girl of her dreams.
"Na...Na...NANA?!" She squeals in excitement.
Nana stands still, frozen at the series of actions and reactions that spanned out in a few seconds.
"Sae-san said she still needs to deal with another case, and asked me to check on you." Nana scans the girl from top to bottom and decides that she looks energetic enough to be fine on her own. "Good night then, Miki-san."
"Naaaaaaa-chan!" Miki pulls her classmate back and hugs her from behind. "Don't be so cold to me! I really can't fall asleep alone!" Nana froze on her steps and gulped. She looks extremely nervous even though she's put on a straight face. Luckily the genuinely bibiri Miki couldn't see the state she's in.
"How can I help you then?" Nana asks in a soft voice.
Turning her friend around, Miki faces her with a timid and scared expression. "I...I saw a ghost just now!" She's in the verge of tears as she said it, but this didn't seem to stop Nana from answering, "Ghosts do not exist."
"But...but they do!" Miki protests and jumps up and down, literally. "Many people also think that aliens don't exist...now look at you."
"It is different. I am saying that by gathering all verifiable facts. I have the power of telepathy. If they exist, I would have known."
"Well, maybe only human beings can see and feel their existence. You can't deny that based on your own experience!" Miki sees how Nana's eyebrows twitch at her argument, and knew that she's won.
"See?" She smiles triumphantly. "I can't fall asleep alone, knowing that the shadow will attack me anytime."
"You are right." Nana finally conceded, even though in the bottom of her heart, she knew the chances of ghosts having a grudge against Miki is thin, even if they do exist. "What do you want me to do?"
"I am sleepy..." Miki pouts. "Can you stay with me till I fall asleep?" Taking Nana's hand and leading her into the bedroom, she gestures the pale-faced girl to lie down, but Nana shook her head.
"Mou..Naachan! That's how Sae-chan usually puts me to sleep. I need someone I can hold onto, or I'll be too scared!"
It's not that Nana didn't want to help her friend, but she's just too afraid that she'll loose control. She has done everything she could to avoid Miki since the day they met, but again and again, she broke rules she set for herself, all because of Miki. She's never felt so intensely about anyone in her life, so much so that she's occupied her thoughts in all her waking moments. That's why AKB'ers are trained to act rationally in their culture since childhood. They are an extremely loyal and emotional species, and their success lies on turning these feelings from obsessions that will take over their lives, to a more positive power that will guide them to live via discipline. This caution has all been thrown to wind the day she decided to save Miki, however.
"Shall I..just lie down here?" Nana reluctantly climbs into the bed and made some space for Miki. "Yes, like this." She spread her friend's arm out and lays beside her. "Hold me, and don't turn off the lights!" Miki wraps her arm round Nana's waist and realised how tensed the alien is. Somehow, this amuses Miki greatly.
"Ne, Naachan? Have you never slept over at somebody's place?"
"No, not really."
"Don't be scared...I'm not going to bite you." Miki chuckles and huddles closer. "Unless...unless you can't resist that I'm so cute and want to kiss me!"
Nana's face turns red and didn't answer, feeling lucky that Miki isn't looking at her as she teases casually.
"Didn't you say you are tired? Close your eyes and stop talking..."
"Okay, okay...stop being so strict on me...I can't just go 'blah' and fall asleep immediately, ya'know?" Taking a deep breath, Miki comments, "ah~~Naachan, you smell so nice, do all aliens smell like this?"
"No, it is the smell of my shampoo." Nana answers seriously.
"Haaa~" Miki sighs, "You really have a blockhead, don't you? But that's what makes Naachan so cute in my eyes! Anyway, one more question: do aliens sleep?"
"Of course we do. We usually do that by closing our eyes and stopping our chats..."
Miki rolls her eyes and look up at the alien with an exasperated face. "Okay, I get your message. Now," She took Nana's hand from the arm that Miki's laying her head on, and patted her own head gently. "Continue doing this so I can fall asleep."
"Like this?" Nana continues to stroke and pat obediently. She's never done this to anyone before, and finds it strangely soothing.
"Yes," Miki whispers and closes her eyes to enjoy this doting, as she's finally prepared to fall asleep. "Sae-chan does that to make me sleep, and it works all the time..."
The room finally falls silent except for the longer and calmer breathing, signalling Nana that Miki has fallen asleep. She finally plucked up the courage to observe Miki's face, which looks serene under the dim moonlight, quite a contrast to the funny faces and expressions that's always on her face during the day. Without those expressions, Miki, with her long hair and cute, delicate features, is really like a princess, Nana thought. I wonder what she's thinking in her dreams? A terrible thought of reading Miki's mind suddenly springs up, but Nana brushes it aside quickly and shifts her gaze away from those shiny, soft lips. Looking out the window to the dark, clear sky, Nana eventually falls asleep too...
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Back at the detective agency, Mako has shown Milky's photo to Sae, and they are both discussing possible cases that Sae's father might be investigating on.
"I have a strong feeling, after seeing the way she acts with Seina-san [the daughter's name], that Watanabe is related to the series of kidnapping cases." Mako sits down and scans the photos again on her camera, continuing. "Do you remember how you told me that one recent file was missing?"
"Yes," Sae went to the cabinet and pull it open, fumbling absentmindedly between the 2301 and 2303 files. 2302 is missing. "And I do recall dad talking about a case that one of victim's parents have hired him to investigate on. Even though eventually, that girl appeared again, with lost memories of course--I remember that the parents were persistent about finding out who the kidnapper is."
"However," Mako interrupts. "We couldn't find the file related to this case when we tried to clear the office out."
"Right..." Sae bites her lips worriedly.
"But you don't seem too fond of this idea, do you?" Mako stands up and walk towards her.
"I...I actually bumped into Milky on campus today. She's...quite innocent, you know?"
"Milky?" Mako asks with a raised brows. Did she just use a nickname on that girl?
"I mean, Watanabe-san... that's what she's called apparently." Sae's face redden and looks away guiltily. "She seems too cute to be related to what you've suggested. Besides, what's her motive? She's just..."
"Milky isn't it? What a cute name." Mako answers in a chilly voice. "You seem pretty smitten by her...guess it can't be helped, cute girls always catch your attention..."
"Ha?...hahahaha!" Sae laughs suddenly, tilting her head to observe the pout on Mako's face. "My dear little otter, you are jealous, aren't you?"
"Who...who says..."
Moving in really close, with their noses almost touching each other, Sae whispers, "Stop denying it." She just enjoys looking at Mako's serious face. Most of the time, this girl is cheerful, and wears a broad smile whether she's happy, embarrassed, or upset. But when she frowns, her lips pout in a cute way that makes it irresistible to Sae.
Mako feels like her heartbeat has stopped with Sae standing so close to her.
"Awwww!" Sae felt herself yanked away violently.
"Stop fooling around! We still have to retrieve the list of names tonight for your alien friends to find their princess!" Mako rushed back to her seat and starts typing off at the computer. That was close! She thought. What if, what if she kissed her back there?
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*morning at the Nishino Residence
Nana hears a loud clamour right above her head in her dreamless sleep. Her eyes shot open and saw a hand holding up a phone. Instinctively, she looks to her side, and felt a moist peck on her cheek.
Ka-chaaa!
The sound effect of the phone's camera brought Nana back to her senses. Miki laughs as she brings the phone back to their side, and shows her the selfie she just took. In it, Nana's eyes were still droopy while Miki kissed her cheek by her left, crouching at the bedside. She felt her ears burning just by looking at this.
"Naachan, you really are a deep sleeper! I tried to wake you up a few times but you hardly budged! Look," Miki starts swiping through the screens on her phone, showing her more pictures she took of her sleep. "Hahaha! Your sleeping face is...yabai!"
Nana has never felt so embarrassed before, as the half opened eyes and mouth of her sleeping face is such a contrast to the cool, expressionless look she usually wears.
"Miki...I..." Rarely does she find herself stumped, but this is Miki's effect on her.
"Hahaha! It's okay to relax like this every once in a while! It must be tiring to be so serious all the time, I know that...I know that." Miki's triumphantly put the phone back into her pocket and starts walking out of the room. "Even if you have an ugly sleeping face, I still love you! That's why I gave you my precious kiss and prepared a nice breakfast for you!!"
She closes the door behind her, leaving the flustered Nana some time to recollect herself and get changed for school.
At the dining area, Sae has just finished her breakfast and stood up to leave as Nana came out dressed in Miki's uniform. It's a bit large for her due to Miki's taller frame, but she still looks good on it.
"Ah, good morning, Nana-chan! Thanks for taking care of Miki for me. When I came back, you both were fast asleep in each other's arms, so I didn't want to wake you guys up. Dinner's on me next time!" She winks and took the keys at the kitchen counter, opening the door to leave.
"And one more thing," Sae retreated her steps slightly, putting a usb memory stick in Nana's hand. "We got what you want. There're hundreds of girls in it...it's tough, but at least it's a good start."
"Thank you, Sae-san." Nana bows as Sae finally left.
"Sit down, Naachan, she's already left." Miki contains her laughter while trying to straighten Nana's back from the bowing pose. "Here, ahhh~~~"
Nana sits down and looks at a piece of fried egg already put in front of her mouth in a puzzled face.
"Ah~~" Miki instructs.
Nana opens her mouth slowly, and the piece of food went inside. She can't remember when the last time she's fed was.
"I...I can do it on my own, Miki-san..." She looks away and starts to chew.
"Do you not like it?" There's a dampened excitement in Miki's voice.
"No, no, I do!" Nana replies immediately. Seeing a surprised look in Miki's face, Nana furrows her eyebrows and looks away again.
"Wow, this is the first time I hear any nervousness in your voice! You know what, this makes me really happy."
"Is...that so..." Nana murmurs and steals a glance at Miki, whose gaze is still fixed upon her with her sunshine smile.
"Yabai!!" Miki suddenly shouts. "We need to leave soon or we'll be late! Eat now, eat now!"
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*At school
"Ne ne....did you hear? There's another case of kidnapping this morning!"
Miki and Nana barely sat down at their seats as Naanya approached them to break this news.
"Another case? The kidnappings are getting frequent!" Miki exclaims.
"The worst is, the girl who's gone missing is...." Naanya paused for the dramatic effect, "our client's Mizuki-san's daughter!"
"I feel sick," Nana stands up suddenly. "I need to go to the infirmary."
"What?" Both Miki and Naanya glanced at each other knowingly as Nana walked out of the classroom.
"She's clearly not sick...such a bad liar." Naanya smirks.
"We can't all follow her though...class is starting..."Miki looks on worriedly.
Outside, Nana is heading towards the computer room with Sae's memory stick clutched firmly in her hand.
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*At Nishino Magic Agency
Sae is alone in the agency as Mako and Rena are both off to classes in the morning. She stares at the news about the kidnapping on the computer screen and taps her chin in deep thought. She's thinking about Mako's words last night, about how her dad's secret case might be related to the kidnappings. And now, the girl they were following was really kidnapped, and Milky was seen with her.
She took a deep breath and dialled the number she's stored from the writing on her hand that day...
"Hello, is this Watanabe-san?"
"Hi, is this...Sae-san?"
"A...ahh...yes," Sae stutters on the phone, "Milky-san, good morning!" She tries to act casual and genki, but ends up shouting onto the phone. Sae face palms herself.
"Do you have classes today?" It's Milky who broke the awkward pause with the question.
"Not until the afternoon....what's up?"
"That's perfect! Let's meet up!"
Sae's eyes shot opened at this sudden invitation.
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NanaMiki NanaMiki NanaMiki NanaMiki NanaMiki NanaMiki
More.....! :panic:
Thx for the update author-san.. :bow:
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NANAMIKI!!! Kawaii~ :heart:
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I am so glad that NanaMiki is loved by you guys hehe. I'm personally divided between NanaMako, NanaMiki and MakoMiki...wait, did I just mention all the couples possible in three musketeers? LOL
Anyways, here is an update on the next chapter. It's more on Sae so consider it to be a continuation of the previous chapter rather than a new one.
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Chapter 5 - Stars
Sae still finds it unbelievable that she's standing outside the science museum as she waits for Milky to arrive. Is this like, a date or something? Ah~~what am I thinking? She just wants to meet up to fill up her free time, and I, I am here for investigation...for investigation!
"Hey, Sae-chan!" Milky waves energetically.
Sae looks to the direction of the voice and saw Milky dancing towards her in a knee-length dress, her hair flowing in the breeze effortlessly. She looks so carefree and out of this world, like a...
"Fairy..." Sae accidentally blurted her thoughts out.
"Heh?" Milky waves her hand in front of the dazed Sae, trying to get her attention. The clueless and innocent look on the ikemen girl's face is what attracted Miyuki's attention that day when they literally ran into each other's lives.
"Ah..ah! Sorry!!" Sae blinks and felt her cheeks turn red. "I was just...I'm just....Well, haha! So here we are! Why pick this place? Is there a project you need to do?"
"Hahaha, no, Sae-chan!" Milky laughs and wrap her arm around Sae's, like they've known each other forever. She didn't notice that Sae tensed up at the contact. "I'm not in middle school anymore! This is just a place that I love to come every so often."
"Why?" Sae finds herself slowly relaxing and getting used to the closeness as Milky leads her into the giant hall of main exhibits. She turns her head to look at the girl beside her, who just smiles and shrugs.
The museum is quite empty at a regular day, save for a few group of elementary school tours. The couple played through a few exhibits in the main hall casually, until they reached the end of the hall, which leads to another exhibition on the astronomy section.
"This is what I came here for..." Milky looks at Sae, who smiles and nods back. Funny that a girl like Milky, who majors in biology, would take a special interest in what happens in the outer space...
The couple kept chatting and walking through exhibits, watching videos and experiments here and there, enjoying their time alone in that hall. The astronomy room is quite spacious, and much more dimly lit to show models and photos of stars, planets and orbits...etc. They started debating about Pluto's status.
"It feels like a family finding out that their youngest little baby is in fact not blood related, and then they all turned against her..." Sae said that in a half joking, half reminiscent manner. "Ever since I was a little kid, Pluto's always been part of the planets. See, even Sailor Moon has a Sailor Pluto...I just can't 'disown' her like this!"
"You sound like a father," Milky chuckles and continue to read about Pluto's description on the plaque. "At least, she still has five moons orbiting her...look...look at this-- 'Charon and Pluto are also tidally locked, so that they always present the same face toward each other'."
"That's true, they'll always have each other no matter what happens, that makes me happier." Sae grins.
"There's always going to be an end in everything we see today: when the sun dies in a few billion years, all of the planets here will be engulfed..." Surprisingly, Milky sounds abnormally defeated from her usual cheerful self.
"Five billion years sound awfully far away, don't mind don't mind!" Sae tugs her hand and smiles brightly, trying to cheer Milky up.
"Yup, it's quite far off... I mean, everything has its end one day, I understand that..." She releases Sae's hand and walk towards the the exhibits about stars and outer galaxies, her head hanging low. "Is it wrong to do everything we can to save something we treasure, or shall we just accept what fate has in store?"
"Milky," Sae walks up from behind her and turns her around, hands resting on her shoulders, looking into her eyes seriously. "Is there something bothering you? Tell me."
There's a sadness in the girl's eyes, but she smiles bitterly and shakes her head.
"I'm okay...I'm just, unsure of myself sometimes." She continues to walk along the large spread of stars lining along the curved wall of the exhibition hall. "Every time I feel this way, I will come here to reassure myself."
Sae stood there and looked on at the lonely figure of this girl, realising that she's not as carefree as she looks. Silly me...She thought. Of course, everyone has their own troubles, no matter how well of a facade they put up.
It's almost lunch time as they left the museum. They've started to talk about college, and then about this town, when Milky revealed that she was born in Nara and moved to this town about a year ago.
"It must be quite tough to be away from your family, isn't it?" Sae learned that her parents had divorced when she was young, and that her mum has gone out of the country for work, so she is now all alone in this country, let alone this relatively new neighbourhood she's move to.
"Yes it is, I'm thinking about them all the time." She then winks again and smiles brightly. "But it's okay! I've met new friends here, and good people like you!"
Sae smiles in relief. "Of course, with a pleasant personality like yours, it wouldn't be too hard to make new friends?" Then, she thought of Mako's photo at the manga cafe and the lost girl of their client's husband. "By the way, have you heard of the kidnappings of middle and high school girls? Do you feel unsafe moving this this town?"
"Ah~" Milky stop on her steps and shrugs. "A little bit. I saw on the news that there's a kidnapping again yesterday. From the photo, I recognise that I've actually met this girl before. We go to the same manga cafe..."
"This girl...do you know her well?" Sae continues to probe.
"Seina-chan? Yes, we've chatted a few times already. She also lives alone and have divorced parents, and we read the same manga, so...so I'm really sad that she's missing..."
"I guess that's why you feel down just now.." Sae moves closer and wrap her arm around her shoulder, patting her to comfort the girl. She feels so wrong about ever doubting Milky's involvement in the kidnapping cases.
"It's going to be fine..." She continues to pat as Milky rests her head on her shoulder.
"I really miss home. I want to see the stars..." Mily chuckles pitifully at her own words. "What am I saying? It's high noon right now."
They walked to the bus stop that'll take them back to the university. The bus arrived and Milky boards, looking back as Sae suddenly pulls her hand from behind.
"I know where to take you. Let's skip class today."
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*at Don Quixote High School
Nana types away at the corner of the computer room, scanning the list and a number of variables, confirming what she's suspected. First of all, the girls who had ever been kidnapped are all in that list, including Mizuki's daughter, Seina-san. Second, all of the girls had been adopted at some point in their lives, a fact that is not known to the authorities because they haven't made this connection yet. These girls are not necessarily orphans; they might have just changed guardianships due to divorces, relocation and a list of other common reasons.
That makes the list a lot smaller. She's now looking at the list of around fifty girls. Twenty two of them had already been kidnapped and returned unharmed. Now it all makes sense.
Her phone buzzed with a mail from Kojima Mako.
"Nana-san, did you have a chance to see that list yet? There are hundreds of girls in it, but I found that all the kidnapped girls fall into that list! Do you think that the kidnapper is also trying to find out who your princess is? This makes the other girls all vulnerable...but there can't be so many possibilities! I'm still scanning the list. Give me a call when you see this."
Nana typed a short message and replied, "Yes I saw it. It's a very long list. Don't worry too much Mako-san, it may be a coincidence."
She put the phone away, looking at the list of fifty and determined to keep it a secret for now. The cursor blinks at her while she stares at the screen, not knowing what to do next. The text beside the blinking cursor reads:
"Nishino Miki"
The door slides open, interrupting Nana's thoughts when she's about to move down the list. It's none other than Miki and Naanya.
Quickly saving the files and shutting down everything, Nana stood up before they both reached her seat.
"Naachan! We finally found you! We looked everywhere!" Miki exclaims and almost smacked the girl's head. "Do you know how worried we are when we learned that you didn't go to the infirmary?"
"Come on, " Naanya also urged. "It's P.E. now, let's go to the gym and join everybody else so you won't get caught!"
Nana looked at Miki and studies her for two seconds, and move her head to look at Naanya calmly, as if she's not sensed the urgency in their voices.
"Stop standing here like an idiot..move!" Miki took Nana's hand and started running, with Naanya following behind them.
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*At Rena and Nana's flat
Rena came home from classes, puzzled that Sae didn't join the afternoon. Did this sleepy head totally forgot to wake up? She texted her and got a reply saying that she's working on an urgent case, but Mako was also caught in surprise about that, so they both went home without learning what happened to her.
Mako has told Rena about the list already, warning her that someone else is looking for the princess too.
Now, Rena is just lounging in the sofa with the tiny piece of crystal in her hand, day dreaming about the fight at the gangsters headquarters. The words Sae said to defend her still rings in her heart. She's the first, perhaps the only, person who knows about her everything and still accepts her for who she is.
She put the key up above her head and look into the tiny rays of light, which radiates a warm glow in the room. There's still so much that's unknown in her life here, and her life at home.
What kind of a planet is SKE?
What kind of species is she?
What kind of a person WAS she?
She thinks back again at the day the earthquake happened back in Nagoya. She's attending a yankee school back then as one of the strongest fighters at their school. At that time she's no memories of her past. It was the loneliest time in her life. Being adopted to a family who had no kids of their own, at first, little Rena was doted on and raised like the Matsui family's own. Then one day, she recalls her mother getting pregnant, and everything starts to change. The baby boy was born, and...passed away due to sickness. Her parents never recovered from the grief. Glasses and things started to shatter in the house, and there are more and more shouts, yells and fights. Little Rena was completely forgotten.
The super human strength grew with her age, and she didn't know what to do with it, nor did she understand why she had it. She only wanted to act friendly and yearned for some warmth in her life, but every time, her strength scared people off. At last, she found her place as a distant but feared loner in a yankee girl's school. It was then that the earthquake struck, hitting her head and cracking it open.
She recalled how the spaceship went out of control, with the dials all going out of control in front of her panicking eyes as they crashed onto Earth. She recalled her companion, Nana, who instructed them to lock themselves into pods at the last minute before the ship hits the atmosphere. The sound of the ship's screech as it collides into the air rang as her own body transforms under the liquid-filled pod...
Both Nana and her had regained only part of their memories back. They tried to piece together what they know, but it was scant. She doesn't even remember why she's sent to take the princess away. What if...what if they're the bad guys, trying to kidnap the baby princess? And what if, the person coming back for the princess now was the one who shot their spaceship down? After all, it couldn't have crashed without a reason.
A ray reflecting from the Key shone right into Rena's pupils, as they dilate at the sudden stimulant. She shudders and some scenes flashed quickly in her head.
Springing up from the couch, she mutters, "We're not alone."
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It's night time when Sae and Milky reached the neighbouring town of Sawaguchi. It is a small countryside town that houses one of the area's largest observatory.
"But we haven't applied for the lottery for night-time star-gazing."
"What did you think I do while you were asleep in the bus?" Sae winks and show the admission mail on her phone.
"I never thought we'd travel this far to see it." Milky takes a deep breath and takes in the beautiful view at the entrance to the telescope.
"Let's go in."
The tour went on well as they are blessed with clear skies that night. Milky has never seen anything as clear and as far away.
"So this is the Albireo...." She exclaims happily.
"It's also my first time here..."Sae says as she scratches her head around the explanations from the tour guide. In truth, she knows nothing about stars and galaxies. The closest thing she did was accompany Mako once when she had a night photography assignment to take pictures of the Orion. She still feels guilty about ignoring Mako's message earlier today, but she doesn't feel like telling her about Milky, whom Mako seems to have developed a hostile suspicion on...
"The world is so big, with so many things important to protect..." Milky said as they continue to peer into the telescope. "It's wonderful," she continues, "I think, I'm peering closer at it than I ever could..."
"It?" Sae asks.
"It's nothing..."
"As long as it makes you feel better, that's okay. I know Milky-chan has troubles that you cannot share. If you are ever unsure of yourself, just believe in your heart, and do as it says."
Milky stood up from the telescope and looks into Sae's eyes.
"Even...even if...it could turn out bad?"
Sae's stunned at the conflicting pain in her watery eyes. Is it wrong to throw reassuring words out callously? I don't know what happened to her, I'm in no position to give out any advice...
But Sae rests her hands on Milky's shoulders, squeezing them gently and nodded in conviction.
"You can't care about what every one else feels. There's always going to be a need to make choices. I promise you, I will be by your side and believe in you no matter what. So, have some confidence in yourself."
"Thank you." Milky smiles at those kind words.
After all, Sae thought, I can't bear to see her sad... Watanabe Milky, what kind of magic did you cast upon me?
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"What are you thinking?" Milky nudged Sae as they left the observatory, sitting in a nearby open space where they can still see the stars in the sky clearly.
"Nothing..." Sae murmurs and huddles closer to Milky as a sweep of night breeze blew at them.
"Thank you, Sae-chan. You have no idea how much it means to take me here today."
"Anything that makes you a little happier." Sae said and looks back at the girl, who now wraps her arms around her waist and rests on her.
"You are such a nice person...we've barely known each other, and yet, you're willing to do so much for me..."
"I don't do this to anyone," Sae raises Milky from her embrace so that they can face each other. At first, Milky is still giving her usual carefree smile, but when she saw the seriousness in Sae's eyes, her heart started pumping madly, and she looks away.
Sae sees the hint in her look, and felt encouraged to move closer.
"I like you, Miyuki."
Milky looks back and simply nodded, closing her eyes as the nervous girl draws close. She felt her lips touched by a warm softness. In return she wraps her arms around Sae's neck and brings her even closer, as they taste each other's passion. Sae tugs Milky in closer so she can feel her with her own body as they drown in each other's kisses.
Breaking from their kiss finally, Milky asks in a breathy voice, "Are we going back tonight?"
"Let's find a place to stay here instead..." Sae answers in a tone that's asking permission for something more. "Is that okay?"
Understanding what she means, Milky squeezes Sae's lap gently and answers, "Sure."
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Woooh...
SaeMilky... (///_///)
Hohoho.. U're obviously enchanted, Sae-chan.
More please.. :bow:
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What? I don't understand what she means. Would you kindly explain it, author-san?
Or maybe you wanna make it clear by showing us what Sae and Miyuki had just experienced that night at the next chapter?
:kickass:
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Its more interesting now><
Poor little Rena T.T
And dat SaeMilky moment~
What do you mean with Sae want something more, author-san?-,-
SaeMilky progress is fast XD
Gonna wait the next chap!
Thanks for the update, Saeyu-san^^
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I love the nanamiki moment!! I hope that you can make more of nanamiki moment!! :nervous :nervous :nervous
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I love the nanamiki moment!! I hope that you can make more of nanamiki moment!! :nervous :nervous :nervous
Thanks for dropping by! I missed messages in your tumblr box a while back coz I was on a break for a long time :nervous NanaMlki will be featured prominently in this chapter!
What do you mean with Sae want something more, author-san?-,-
:shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :shakeit:
What? I don't understand what she means. Would you kindly explain it, author-san?
Or maybe you wanna make it clear by showing us what Sae and Miyuki had just experienced that night at the next chapter?
:kickass:
Sorry they are NSFW. I wonder what they can do in a hotel room at night.... :? :? :?
Woooh...
SaeMilky... (///_///)
Hohoho.. U're obviously enchanted, Sae-chan.
They are really in love but being a fanfic, how can things just progress smoothly :twisted:
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Chapter 6 - Safe
Like previous kidnapping cases, Seina-chan was found safe and sound back in the manga cafe one morning when the staff came to open the store. Similar to other cases, no footage were captured in nearby cameras as they all went short-circuited shortly before dawn. This time, the girl appears to have her wallet and a pair of earrings stolen; therefore, the police continues to file it as another robbery case and hope that nobody will try to stir things up again.
Meanwhile, Mako had used this opportunity to let her client know of the existence of her husband's illegitimate daughter, telling her how it's not the girl's fault, and asking her to consider the situation, now that she's kidnapped. The woman was shocked and angry, but she's willing to see the reason in Mako's explanation, and forgave her husband in the end.
"Case closed and cheque cashed!" She leans back on the chair happily in the agency, while Sae types in notes on another case about some petty theft at a local boutique, where the owner has asked them to find out who the culprit is.
"That's right! I'm glad everything is fine now!" Sae clicked and saved the file, turning off the computer. Swinging her chair around, she faces Mako and smiles appreciatively.
"I would've never known how to handle that case so tactfully like you. She thought it was just her husband cheating, but it turns out to be a much bigger case. I'm so glad to have such a partner like you."
"Hehe!" Mako laughs cheekily and folds her arms together in pride. "Of course I'm the smart one of the two! By the way, did you look at the list of girls I sent?"
"Yes...it's very long, but quite troubling too."
"Yes it is..." Mako said. "Anyway, let's grab dinner!"
"Em...sorry, I can't make it today." Sae stood up and grabbed her coat, heading toward the exit suddenly.
"You've been busy with things that we don't know lately." Mako stands up and her face turns serious as well. "What are you hiding from me?"
"What?" Sae turns around and laughs forcefully. "What are you talking about? I'm just going back to college to finish my lab report." She left and close the door, without letting Mako question her further. In truth, she's meeting with Milky tonight again. After that night, they've become a couple. She shouldn't have to hide anything, but somehow, it's turned out like that when she meet Mako's eyes the day after. She lied to her that she's felt sick and skipped class at that moment, and so, the lie continues.
Mako sighs and sits back down on the chair. In truth, her attention has been divided between worrying about Sae, and the list of girls that's sitting in front on her desk. She thought it's a good idea to elicit help from the aliens to solve cases, and it had been. From reading minds to actually fighting off thugs, Rena and Nana have proven to be very useful resources. Without them, she doesn't know if amateurs like Sae and her, with school and family to take care of, can continue to run the agency so smoothly.
However, she would never have guessed that finding the princess and the spaceship will be a case so close to her heart. She's dug into the list of girls that's been abducted before, and all the cases have one thing in common: a piece of jewellery-- a necklace, or a ring -- had always gone missing, along with other things like money, accessories and whatnot. She's sure that this is not just to throw the investigators off track, because she's now laid out drawings or photos of things that'd gone missing on the table, and they are all made with some sort of precious stone.
This may not be an interesting finding. After all, girls with jewellery is a common place thing, and having them stolen seems to make sense. Kojima took the file of the laboratory report on the yellow powder and read again.
"The material appears to have interacted with crystals or stone-like elements in great heat, causing it to disintegrate and mingle into powder."
This girl, Watanabe Miyuki, must have something to do with the kidnappings. Moreover, she must have something to do with the aliens. And the princess...oh, the princess.... Mako feels a headache in her head and turns the list of girls over so she doesn't have to see that name staring back into her eyes.
"Owada Nana"
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Nishino Miki smiles happily back at Okada Nana, who's sitting at the bleaches under the sun with an umbrella, watching Miki play soccer in the field.
Miki kicks and scores a goal at the match as everyone cheers. She dances around to celebrate and the audience roars in laughter. Looking back up at the girl with umbrella, who merely gives her an unwilling smile, Miki snorts and turns around proudly, smiling to herself though, at Nana's awkwardness. Lately, not only is that stiff-necked allowing Miki to follow her around; she's also accompanying her at club activities, even though she's the stay-at-home type.
Naanya hands her a bottle of water after the match. "Good job today!" They walk together back to the changing room.
"Hey," Naanya nudges as she sees Nana moving slowly with the crowds to leave the bleaches. "It seems like things are going well with you two, isn't it?"
"With Naachan?" Miki asks. "What...what are you talking about?"
Naanya smiles and whispers into Miki's ear. "Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about. When it comes to things like this, don't chicken out!" She releases Miki from her grab and winks goodbye as Nana approaches them.
"I'll leave you two on your own, I still have something to do!" She skips off with Miki wanting to protest, but stopped on her tracks as Nana looks at her questioningly.
"What's wrong, Miki?"
"Errrr...nothing!" She coughs and laughs. "Let me change quickly so we can walk home together!"
Nana waits dutifully outside the changing room, glancing her watch and then gazing absentmindedly at the cloudless sky. She recalled the day when she brought the weight of Miki possibly being their princess home, and decided to keep it a secret from Rena after all. There's both an excitement inside her heart, that she's found her kind in someone that she likes, and also a morbid fear that this will put her in danger. There's someone competing to get her hands on the princess, and if Miki is really their target, what could they do to her, and will she be able to protect her if the time comes? This burden is kept in further silence after Rena told her that some of the memories have been reactivated in her earlier via the Key.....
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*flashback to Rena's discovery of more memories the day Sae skipped class
"Rena," Nana spoke carefully as she picks the crystal up. "Did you mean that you recall us being chased and shot down by another spaceship?"
"Yes," Rena answered. "I recall the moments when I came to pilot our ship, with you and Princess Wako, originally chartered to SKE...I think your country is in war...in war with a planet called NMB. That's why the princess had to evacuate, and the one that caused us to crash was a fighter pilot from NMB. However, I remember clearly that the shield on our ship had reflected some of the missiles back; I'm 100% sure it got hit as well...they could not have survived, could they?" The fear in her voice have betrayed her words.
"Yet here we are, with enemies trying to get hold of our princess too..." Nana said, recalling Mako's text message.
"I know, but since the plane has crashed too, I think our enemy is in the same position as ours." Rena tried to comfort herself on this.
"You are right, if that person is from NMB, they clearly have no information more than we do, otherwise, they won't be getting the wrong girl." Nana said.
"How...how do you know that Seina-san is the wrong girl?" Rena said.
Nana refused to answer and took the Key back to her room, closing the door behind her. She threw herself into the bed and went through the list of 'suspects' in her mind. Then the ray of light in the crystal that she's been holding up synced with her and caused her to convulse in pain.
In the dreamy sequence, she saw and recall her Queens, Yui and Paru.
*"I cannot see this child die...no, not even if it's for my people."
*"Are you sure?"
*"Yes. I will protect her with my life. You should go too."
*"No. This is my homeland, I will stay till the end with you."
*"Come, my dear Azura...."
Nana gasped...that's my name, they were calling me. She watches herself walk towards the throne.
*"I'm not allowed to, even touch her Highness."
*"Please don't say that. As a nagaith, your piety remains crucial, but special times yields special needs. You must bring this child away. I only trust you."
*"Thank you my Ladies. I will do as you say. I will keep her safe." She took the baby into her own hands.
The scene flashes to the moments before crashing into Earth's atmosphere. She opened the hatch, carefully put her baby princess in, and before closing it, she kissed her forehead.
*"Stay safe, my princess."
The banging pain in her head subsided and she tasted salty tears that has flowed to the corner of her mout. She now recalls her previous identity in AKB. A nagaith, a holy caste in the planet of AKB, the epitome of faithfulness and stoicism. They are sworn to uphold rationality, and thus sever all things that generate passion from their lives, including basic physical contact with other beings. With this level of sacrifice, they are allowed to advise the planet with clear and unbiased minds, obtaining the highest of power and authority in the kingdom, second only to their rulers.
When I bring my princess back, she'll be my Queen...and, I will never be able to touch her.
*end of flashback
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Nana checks her watch again and half an hour has passed. She knocks on the changing room door but no one answers. Panic takes over the girl but she calmly opens the door, walking into the empty small space of the changing room, with not a soul in sight.
Narrowing her eyes, she walks towards the showers and calls out, "Miki! Are you in there?"
Her voice echoes back from the shower stalls. Is she...kidnapped right under my nose? Nana starts pulling open the shower curtains one by one in a fit of frenzy, discovering in despair that all the stalls are empty.
"Miki...Miki!" She shouts urgently and dashes out towards the door, only to see a figure jump in front of her.
"BAH!!" Miki jumps out of nowhere to stop Nana on her tracks. The stunned girl widened her eyes at the clueless, cheerful Miki, who is congratulating herself at her foolish prank.
"Yes!!" She pumps her fist, looking back at the larger locker from which she jumps out. "What a great place to hide. It works every time...on Pikarin, on Ryoka-chan, on Naanya, and even on my pokerface Naachan!"
When Miki turns around again, she found that Nana gritting her teeth, her lips quivering and all the blood on her face drained.
"Na...Nana..." Miki has miscalculated the effect this silly prank has on her normally emotionless friend. "I, I didn't mean to, make you angry...I'm sorry."
"I am not angry." Nana finally mutters after a long pause.
"You are...stop lying." Miki puts her hand on Nana's cheek to stop her from shivering. "It's...okay to be angry at me. I don't like to be hated, but...I don't want to see you hiding your feelings from me. I know it, something is up. I'm not that stupid, thinking that you like to follow me around, after avoiding me for weeks since you saved my life."
I'm not that clueless, Nana. Please let me take some load from your burden.
Nana closes her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's nothing. Let's go home now." She brushes Miki's hand off calmly, and turns to leave.
Nana, am I really just a child to you? When will you ever open your heart to me? Miki thought as she holds her tears back and follows her from a distance. Both of them didn't say a word on their way home.
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*in the Kojima residence
"Naanya!" Mako calls out as she knocks and enters Naanya's room.
"Mako-neechan!" Naanya is delighted to see Mako, and stood up from her desk to hug her.
"How's your day been? Have you finished your homework?" Mako sits Naanya down on her bedside and starts making small talk. There is an absentminded look on her face, and Naanya immediately noticed that.
"It's okay." She said and looks deep into Mako's eyes, trying to detect what's wrong with her.
"Eh?" Mako looks away embarrassingly like she's caught. She was planning to ease in to the topic naturally, but it looks like her acting skills are still a bit lacking. "Why...why are you looking at me this way?"
"This is what I should be asking you!" Naanya laughs and answers back. "You almost never bother me at this time of the day. It's not even five yet. How could I have finished anything? I am just back from school. Ne, Mako, what's going on?"
"I em..." Mako moves close and leans in, hands reaching down the blushed girl's collar. Naanya straightens her back at such a sudden move. She quickly tries to act normal as it's should be for sisters to be intimate with each other, and she doesn't want Mako to notice that she's nervous.
Mako grabbed hold of the thin chain and pull the necklace carefully out. The amber glistens in front of their eyes.
"Naanya~you are still keeping it around you at all times, ne?" Mako marvels at the beauty of this pendant and remember how she noticed the way it shines when it dangled from Naanya's neck the first time she ever saw her. The day she's been brought back home by their parents. Ever since Naanya was young, she refuses to part with the necklace, not even in showers or at places like the swimming pool. Both Mako and their parents have stopped trying to make her take it off, and no one knew where it came from. Slowly, as Naanya grew up and went to school, she started wearing it beneath her uniform so that it wouldn't be against school rules. In time, her family has forgotten about it as it didn't draw any attention or brought any trouble so far.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Naanya smiles. Even though Mako is holding the pendant in her palm, it feels to Naanya like her heart is being touched by her sister. The feeling is so indescribably close, that she shudders inadvertently when Mako let go of the stone.
"Are you okay?" Mako noticed the shiver and thought Naanya's feeling cold. Pulling her into her arms, she hits the girl lightly and said, "How many times have I told you to put on something if you decided to turn the AC up?"
"No, it's not like that, I'm..." Naanya wanted to continue, but she's cut off by Mako.
"Naanya..." The younger girl felt Mako's cheek resting on her head as they snuggle closer to each other. "Will you miss me if some day, I have to travel far, or...if let's say, you have to leave town?"
"Huh? Neechan are you leaving me? Why are you saying weird things today?" She wants to sit up from the embrace but Mako locks her in closer with her arms. She doesn't want Naanya's questioning gaze to pierce into her eyes.
"I'm just asking what if... just chatting casually, you know. Naanya, we see each other every day, and I've gotten so used to having you by my side every day. I...I had a dream that you grew up and is leaving home for college...and that made me realise that I will miss you so much if you go..." Mako is making her story up as she goes through the emotions she first felt when the possibility of Naanya being the princess looms suddenly in head, after the connections on her birth, the necklace, the kidnappings, the list....all suddenly snapped in place. She keeps telling herself that it's too far fetched, and how in hundreds or dozens of girls, it should still be unlikely for Naanya to be the one. However, this idea began to grow the more Mako wants to get rid of it.
"Ma...Mako?" Naanya struggles off the embrace and sits up, alarmed to see tears in Mako's eyes. Her sister rarely cries, and to see her in such a state over a dream is even more surprising. She hugs her close and comforts her in return.
"I have just got into high school, stop worrying about such things...haha!"
"That's right..." Mako sobbed and laughs too. "It's a bit early, isn't it? It's so embarrassingly...hahaha..." Mako paused a bit and continues, "I really...don't wish to see you leave me..."
"No of course I won't. I love you, remember?" Naanya looks at Mako's eyes earnestly, searching for hints on whether she fully understands what she means.
"Em...Ne, Naanya-chan," Mako sits up and puts on a dead serious face suddenly. "Is it okay, if you lock the necklace away in the cabinet for the time being?"
Naanya looks at Mako's grip on her hands, and then back at the serious face. "Eh...it's not like I don't want to....but I really can't bear separating from it..."
Mako sighs and smiles. Yappari, it wouldn't be easy to convince her like this, without saying anything. Besides...it's just a wild guess--she may be completely wrong.
"I, I just don't like it to think that you could lose it some day." She explains awkwardly.
"It's going to fine, Mako-chan!" Naanya smiles and pats her head. "I always hide it under my uniform, no one hardly ever sees it."
"Well, just promise me, not to show it to anyone. And, and don't tell anyone about it."
Naanya feels a strange tension in Mako's voice. Why bother about a necklace that's always been around so suddenly? However, Mako seems too fixated about it.
"Okay, I won't." Naanya nods and see a relieved smile in Mako's face.
I really can't afford to lose you, Naanya. I will do everything to keep you safe.
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KYAAAAAAAAAAA THAT MAKONAANYA AT THE END!!!!!! KANPEKI!!!!!!! :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:
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Yaaayy.... XD update... :D yaayyy.... :inlove:
Sae-chan being sneaky... kekekeke... 8)2
Meh. U r right. things won't go smoothly in this fic. :smhid
However, loving NanaMiki ssooo much!! :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:
NanaMiki NanaMiki all the way... :yep: :yep: :heart: :heart:
Seems like I know who the princess is. But I won't say it. Don't wanna be a spoiler tho~ :roll:
Thanks for the nice job, author-san. Come here. Let me give you a hug for updating this...(hug) :deco: :jerk: :-*
Keep it up!!! :jphip: :fap :yossi:
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@Ruka: :deco: :deco: Mako is having a sister complex hehe
@niineechan: yes the princess is pretty obvious, I think I have handled that part quite badly! Glad that you liked the NanaMiki parts!
Hello everyone~
This chapter should mark the final one where things are still in a slow pace. From next chapter onwards, there will be a small climax where things will happen rapidly. Boy it's hard to finish this fic with so many characters! I think there will at least be 5 to 6 more chapters to go. Here is an update below, enjoy~~
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Chapter 7 - the Kidnapper
Rena stands behind the lamppost round the corner of a building block, looking across the streets at the store, whose lights are blinking open at the middle of the night. According to Mako's photos, the thieves had been coming in at two to four in the early hours, stealing cash or goods from the store. Rena is tasked to find out more about them tonight, as the owner specifically requested them not to call the police. She should have been doing the shift with Sae tonight, but she needed to take care of Miki, who fell sick. After a few minutes, the lights were turned off again, and the thief emerged from the front door.
She's asked to follow and not engage. Armed with a mini camera, she continued to take pictures and stalk behind as quietly as possible. She walked silently as the thief walked down the street, removing the mask he had on his head in order to blend in when they hit the main streets. A loud thump beside Rena startles her as she looks to her side, relieved to find that it's a cat that's landed on top of a dumpster. However, the man turned around and noticed Rena too, who barely caught a glimpse of the thief's face before he starts running off.
"Hey! Stop!" Rena, catches up to him in lightning speed and caused the man, who's now inches in front of her, to panic and trip. She's planning to jump on top to trap him, but a weird force resists her movement, like she's suddenly swimming in water.
"What the..." Rena notices that the man is literally suspended in the air instead of falling down. She wants to zap in front of him to see his face clearly, but she found that her power is not working. Instead, everything, including herself, is glued into its place. The air particles became dense. In fact, Rena has a distinct feeling that she's the only thing capable of moving now, in a slightly slower than normal human being speed.
She pushes forward with great effort and reaches the front, so that she can observe the distorted face of the man in detail.
"HaHAHA!!" Rena laughs loudly at the comical looking man, who's frozen like a slow-motion video that's stopped in the middle. Ah~~ she recognises him as the owner's cousin, one of the employees of the store.
"But why?" She said to herself out loud. "Is that part of my powers?" She looks down to her hands and wonder what she's done to literally stop time.
A cranking voice rang behind her as a metal door swings open in a nearby building block. Rena turned herself around and looks on, as a figure dressed in black carries a girl in pyjamas on her back, walking away from her.
That's strange, Rena thought, how can there be other people moving in this time suspended reality?
"Hey!" Rena shouts, causing the black figure to turn around. She's startled to find that it's an ordinary, pretty looking girl. Why is she carrying someone on her back in the middle of the night? Before she can think, the girl who's dressed in black looks visibly shocked.
"How could you..." She seems to have murmured, and starts running. But carrying another girl with similar weight on her back, she couldn't go far, and soon, Rena catches up with her, panting and sweating.
"Why....does...it...take so much effort?" Rena grabs the shoulder of the pyjama girl's and pulls her back. The caused the figure in front to loose her balance and drops the girl on the floor.
"Yabai!" Rena shouted as she didn't mean to hurt the girl. Then, she noticed that the girl's eyes are opened and her figure is locked in the piggyback position. Like the thief, the pyjama girl is also time suspended.
"It's you, isn't it?" Rena looks back at the girl in black accusingly. "You stopped time. What are you trying to do with this girl?"
Instead of answering, the girl lunges forward to hit Rena. Unlike the alien, this girl doesn't seem to be affected by the density of air particles stopped in time. Even with her super-human strength, Rena finds that she's no match to her enemy. She saw a throw at her head coming, but before her hand could reach to block it, she's hit on the face. A sense of dizziness takes over her as her body sinks into a fall, like she's plunged into a pool.
Finally hitting the floor, Rena tried to shrug off the dizziness. In a snap, she felt that the heaviness of the air is lifted and she's back to normal again. Rubbing her temples and looking around, the black figure and the girl is nowhere to be seen. She turns around again at the thump of the thief tripping onto the floor.
"Don't run away!" Distracted by the thief, Rena decides to chase the guy and leave the strange girls alone for now.
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*At the Detective Agency
"Another kidnap case!" Mako throws the morning papers on the desk angrily. She looks around at the solemn figures of Sae, Nana and Naanya. The crew was told to gather here by...
"Suuumimasen~~~" Rena rushed into the door with a bag of cabbage in her hands. "I went to get breakfast..."
"Morning, Rena-chan!" Sae greets her with her usual smile. "What could possibly make you gather all of us here so early in the morning?"
"I found who the thief is!" Rena sits down and cracks open the package happily.
"Wait...is that why you ask us all to come?" Naanya yawns and thought how she's violently woken up an hour earlier by Mako this morning.
"No no no!" Rena stood up and fling her hands animately. "Oh, Naanya, your face is too cute so I can't face you when I'm talking..." She fans herself a bit to recollect herself in front of a bunch of confused and sleepy audience.
"I saw something strange last night..." Rena told everything she saw about the mysterious girl and how she stopped time.
"Did you say..." Mako stood up and took the newspaper towards Rena. "that she's carrying a girl in pyjamas with her? A girl had gone missing this morning. Look!" She pointed at the photo of a school girl. Rena eyes shot wide open.
"Oh my god, it's her, it's her!"
Everyone flocked towards the newspaper to have a closer look.
"Rena, you ran into the kidnapper." Nana said finally as the group sits back down on the couches and chairs. "Do you remember how she looks like?"
"Yes, she's not disguised at all. She was clearly shocked when she found out that I was able to move."
Naanya handed a notepad and a pencil to Rena. "Rena-san, you must draw the kidnapper out."
"Me?" Rena gave a crooked smile and looks around at pairs of expectant eyes. She lowers her head and starts to concentrate. For five minutes, she tried to scribble, rubbing off some strokes here and there. She could even feel a drop of sweat sliding down her temple.
"Okay, finished!" She puts it up happily for everyone to see. "I think I did a great job."
Her self-congratulatory remark is met with silence, and Naanya's ashen face even betrays a sense of contempt.
"Rena-san," she said with knitted eyebrows. "This looks like...I don't even know what it is...Betty from the Flintstones?"
Rena pouts and glares back at the loli, who pretends to cower in fear.
"All right...that's enough." The level headed Nana came in between them and put her hand on Rena's head, closing her eyes.
"I can see her now. But I too, am not good at drawing." Nana open her eyes and breathes heavily to catch her breath. Reading minds of an alien is a much harder thing, and that's even when Rena consciously opens up that part of her memory for her.
"Yes, I can vouch for that." Naanya snickers, thinking back at the time when she saw Okada's portrait homework for art class.
"Well, think of it this way, at least two of us know who the kidnapper is." Mako stood up and move towards the cabinet to pull up a file. "If we can run through..."
"Aww wait!" Sae stood up and exclaims suddenly, cutting Mako off. "Rena and I will be late for class. So will you two if you don't walk now!"
Naanya glances at her watch and yelps, grabbing Nana's hand and rushed out before saying good bye.
"Okay, we have to leave too. Let's talk about it in detail tonight!" Taking Rena's arm, Sae drags Rena off as she continues to focus her attention on the bag of cabbage.
Mako's smile wears off after the door shuts on the Agency. She opens the file and look at the photo of Watanabe Miyuki, wondering if that is who Rena had run into last night.
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Naanya follows Nana closely from behind as the two walk in silent. She's never said it out loud, but she always wanted a chance to talk to the alien in private.
"Ne...Naachan..."
Nana paused from her deep thought about the kidnapper. She seems like a formidable foe, and once again, the pyjama girl is in Nana's own short list of potential princesses. She's once again reminded of Miki's vulnerability, and she doesn't know what to do about it. What good does her telepathy skills do when it comes to someone who can stop time?
"Is," Nana turned around and faces Naanya. "Is Miki feeling better now?"
They haven't spoken much since that day in the locker room. Nana, with all those complex and conflicting feelings in her heart, began to keep a distance from the poor girl again, while Miki feels upset with herself for making Nana angry. Even when Naanya pushes her friend to talk with the alien honestly about their feelings, Miki just sighed and refused.
"You know how she hasn't been her usual self lately. If you really care about her," Naanya looks crossly at Nana, whose eyes are ridden in guilt. "why don't you go ask her directly yourself?"
"I...It's okay..."
"Stop being a coward, Okada!" Naanya suddenly raises her voice. "You may be able to fool others, but not me." She looks into Nana's eyes and Nana realised that the young girl is right. Her gaze is so piercing that she find herself unable to conceal any feelings from her. Naanya is surprised too, at how much she could see into Nana's heart. Not in literal sense of what she's thinking, but more on the connection they've built ever since Nana tried to wipe her memories but backfired that day.
Naanya clutches her heart and softens the look on her face.
"Sorry, I didn't realise how much pain you're going through..." The girl wipes a drop of tear from her eyes. "You love Miki. You love her so much that you're scared to hurt her, but don't be such a fool. She needs you too."
"I am not allowed to love anyone." Nana closes her eyes to recollect herself from Naanya's sudden intrusion into her heart, which has caused ripples to run through her carefully suppressed emotions.
"You are, this is Earth, not a planet so far away that you don't even know how to return to." Naanya walks past Nana, who stayed stunned in her position. "What you aren't allowed to do, is to hurt my friend." She then continues to walk on.
Nana stood there for a moment more and took a deep breath before opening her eyes. Somehow, Naanya's words are like magic to her, settling the thoughts that have been battling for weeks inside her mind. She decided to go visit Miki after school.
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*In the university
"Let's go to lunch!" Rena stands up and yawns after their lecture.
"Lunch? Em...I, I'm sorry, Rena-chan! But I can't today!" Sae clasps her hands together and bowed slightly in apology.
Rena sighs and smiles again. "It's okay, Sae-chan, next time then!"
Sae looks up and beams an innocent smile, relieved that Rena didn't ask anything further. "So, see you later!" As she runs off in a puff of wind, Rena stood there and an idea crept into her mind...
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"Sae-chan, here!" Milky waves happily as Sae sat down on the grass beside her girlfriend. She has made pack lunches for both of them, and they started eating and chatting off under the sun.
After the meal, they both retreated under a tree in a quiet corner away from the crowds, and sat beside in each other's arm. Sae looks at her partner's satisfied face and chuckles, before leaning in for a kiss. She never knew that being in love could be so happy, and she treasures every moment she spends with Miyuki, even if it's not something that happens often.
"Sae-chan," Milky asks shortly after they broke their kiss. "I don't mind meeting like this, but lunch hours are too short. Do you want to...hang out tonight too?"
"Sorry Milky...I have a job to go to."
"A job?" Milky sits up and look at Sae in a puzzled face. "Do you like, work at a pizza joint?"
"Haha, no, no! I wish it's like that. But me and my friends, we are sort of running this, erm, detective agency."
Sae didn't notice how the expression on Milky's face has changed, and she continues, "It used to be owned by my father, but...things happened, and now I came back to take over his business, and reunite with my sister, Miki-chan. So, I guess I'm busier than an average college student, and I'm...sorry I get into this relationship without telling you this..."
"No..." Milky holds her head and stands up abruptly. "It's all right, that's totally fine."
Sae sees the blood in Milky's face almost gone, and stands up as well, propping her swaying body up. "You don't look fine, Milky."
"Ah...it may be...just the sun. Nishino Sae...Nishino...that's your name, right?"
Sae nodded. Looking at Milky for a moment, there's a realisation that emerged into the pained expression of Sae's face. She finally said, "We work in a number of cases for our clients. Even for cases like the kidnapping of school girls...we are working on that too."
Milky looks up fearfully into Sae's eyes. She knew what she's trying to get to.
"But the girls always came back safe and sound, right?" Sae smiles weakly at her and broke the silence.
"Yes...I don't really feel well. I think I should leave. See you later, Sae..." Milky clutches her things and walks off briskly. Sae followed for a few steps but stopped, sighing and sitting back down.
"It doesn't make a difference on how I see you." She murmurs to herself.
Rena retreats back into the building as Miyuki walks past her with head bowed low. Rena looks on back to the dejected Sae and bites her lip. That girl, that Watanabe Miyuki, was whom Rena ran into last night. Could she be an alien too? That explains her powers. Could she be NMB's fighter pilot, who crashed her ship along with theirs? She recollected from her last flashback that they are after the princess too, but she don't know why. She should've chased after her to find the kidnapped girl, but she didn't. Instead, she looks onto Sae, who's just slumped back down and is now sitting in silence, staring absentmindedly at the fallen leaves.
Deep down in Sae's heart, she knew she's never stopped suspecting Milky. She knew that her suspicion is magnified when she saw how the girl struggles with guilt and a desire to do the right thing. Of course, she'd like to share the burden to her, but she's trying to deny the truth she fears, so she decided to shut herself off of anything beyond the happiness they share together. Even this morning, she doesn't know why she's panicked when Mako suggests Rena to look at Milky's photo from that secret file. Perhaps, she knew it all along, and is just not willing to accept it. Then why, why did she just reveal her identity to her so casually just now? What was she thinking? Maybe, there's a deeper desire to learn why she's doing it. A deeper desire to walk down the path with her, no matter how thorny it is...
Sae-chan, Rena watches and thinks to herself, now that you knew, what will you do? She clutches her chest at the realisation that Sae's in love with someone. Someone that's not her. Someone that's her enemy.
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*at the Nishino residence
It's around four, when Miki climbs out of bed to make herself some food. It seems to laborious though, with her fever still simmering and teeth clattering in cold.
The door bell rang, and Miki thought it's Naanya, who will bring class notes to her.
"Na...Nana-san?" Miki exclaims when she sees the girl standing at the door.
San? Nana's eyes fluttered at this distant honorific. But that's how much they've grown apart these past few weeks.
"I brought you notes from class." She handed a few notebooks over, legs still glued onto the centre of the door mattress.
"Thank you." Miki took the notes and continue to stand at the doorway, not sure whether she should invite the girl in or not.
"I have something to tell you." Nana proceeded to say.
Realising what Nana wants, there's a dash of hope visible in her face, but she quickly suppresses her delight in case she's wrong.
"Do you..do you want to come in?"
"If you allow me to." Nana bows properly.
Relieved that Nana really wanted to come in, Miki led her to the living room to sit down.
"Do you want a glass of.." She's about to turn to the kitchen when Nana grabbed onto her hand suddenly.
"Miki," She said with all seriousness in her face. "I'm sorry."
"Nana-san, there's nothing to be sorry..."
Nana cut Miki off and hugs her tightly. "Please don't call me with a "-san"." Miki's shocked by Nana's move, and didn't know how to react. But finally she pushed the girl away.
"I can't deal with this. I don't understand what's going on in your mind. You never show your feelings, even though I've always bare my heart towards you. I don't understand why you can be so cold, and so good to me at the same time." Miki thinks back to the first days of school, when she tried and tried to pry her neighbour's mouth open, but she just refused her robotically. A mist starts forming in her eyes, as she laughs at her own desperateness. "Then one day, you saved my life. Then you started letting me follow you. You allowed me to hold your hand...you even watched me play soccer when you hated the sun so much."
Nana continues to look at Miki without change in her expressions.
"Then all of sudden, you shunned me again. Is it because I'm too childish? Because I'm too noisy? Or am I really that annoying to you?"
"I am an alien. You are a normal, human, girl." Nana said as Miki cries out loud and wipes her tears with her fumbling fingers. "This is the reason."
"I know you're an alien...so why does it matter? I say it now, and I'll say it a million times again." Miki takes a deep breath and prepares to say it properly, once and for all. "Okada Nana, I, Nishino Miki, am in..."
Nana suddenly plunges forward and put her hand on Miki's mouth, stopping her from saying the word. Whispering into her ear, she said with conviction, "Certainly, I want to be the one that makes this confession."
She pulls a little distance so they are now facing each other properly, Miki still being shocked at Nana's bold behaviour.
"Miki, I love you. I love you very much."
A broad smile, which hasn't appeared on Miki's face for weeks, once again adorns this lovely girl.
"I love you too, Nana."
The two of them embraced and Miki feels a warmth encompassing her body. When they part, the fever is gone.
Nana looks up and down at Miki and nodded satisfactorily, but this time, Miki was the one who clenched her fist and hits Nana's head.
"I forgot that you know how to heal people!" Miki shouts as she fumes in madness. "I've been suffering in fever for two days, you bakanana! You should've come a lot earlier!"
"I am not supposed to use my powers like that." Nana explained with a straight face.
Still trying to sniff and sob her tears away, Miki took Nana's hand and began to wipe on her own cheek. "Baka...why did I fall in love with such a stubborn bore! Look, you should be wiping my tears gently with the back of your hand, telling me how sorry you are...like those princes in shoujo manga...now!"
Nana's body jumped a bit at the strict voice and she starts to wipe obediently at Miki's command, totally clueless on what to do to make her girl happy.
"Like this?" She asks while brushing the tears off Miki's cheeks carefully.
Miki nods and blushes at the gentle gesture. When it comes to Nana, all her boldness and boyishness are gone.
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*A few days later, at night
Milky unclenched her fist to snap time back into motion, after she's a few blocks away from the girl's house. She pants as she moves down the main street into the crowds of people shopping on the main street. Once again, that girl is not the one. Every time she tries to verify, she's using a bit of her own core energy, an energy that she found no way of replenishing, at least on Earth. She brushes off the remaining traces of yellow powder off her sleeves and walks on as casually as possible.
Her breathing become more and more laboured this time and she realised she has to stop and rest. Her body sways and almost slides down at a moment of dizziness, but she felt her weight bolstered by a pair of arms behind her.
"Are you okay?"
It's Sae.
Milky quickly stood on her feet and tries to walk away fearfully.
"Why haven't you returned my calls?" She calls back and stopped the girl on her tracks.
"I knew you would come back to return the girl safely." She said with a much softer voice as she walks up and turns Milky around gently.
"So...I am caught." Milky simply said coldly.
"No," She said. "Come with me inside. It's getting cold."
Sitting down at a nearby cafe, Milky sips from a cup of tea and recovers while Sae begins.
"Why are you after the girls? You must tell me so I can help you." Seeing that Milky didn't reply, she continues, "What will you do if you found Princess Wako?"
Milky looks up from her drink in amazement.
"How do you know..."
"Just tell me. I promised you that I will always be by your side."
"Even if it means that I will kill her?"
"What?" Sae asks as Milky looks guiltily away.
"I don't have a choice. I need her to save my people. Every person in planet AKB and NMB have their own corestone. It is like the heart for human beings. We were once the same species millions of years ago, but slowly, we evolved into different kinds. Anyway...my planet...my people, they are facing extinction if we don't use the princess' corestone to rejuvenate the decaying production of epsilonmana, our primary source of energy."
"But there must be another way..." Sae asks, even though her voice quivers in uncertainty.
"I know you have alien friends from that planet. I saw her that night." Milky sighs and stands up. "We will have to end here, Sae. We...we are never meant to be."
"No!" Sae hugs her tightly from behind.
"Milky, I've promised to walk down this path with you, no matter the consequences. I don't care about what others think. Even if they hate me for betraying them, I...I will do everything I can to help you!"
"You can't!" Milky breaks away and glares at her with a pained look. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Yes I do! I know...I know that Miki is in the list, isn't she?" Sae's voice dies down at the end of her sentence.
"Are you saying that you will allow me to test on her and see if she's the princess? Are you saying that you will allow me to kill her if she's the one?"
Milky slaps hard on Sae's face. She doesn't want to see Sae turn against her friends and family.
"I..." Sae clenched her fist, unable to answer back. "I don't know what to do. I just know I love you." She lowers her head in shame.
"You can't...I can't." Milky reaches her hand out, wanting to comfort the girl she still loves deeply, but stops halfway. "There's so much more that you don't know....Sorry Sae. We have to break up." I would rather we become enemies today, then to see you hate me more one day.
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Eventually, Sae left the cafe since it has to close. Walking aimlessly into a nearby park, she sat down on a bench.
"Sae-chan, it's about time to go home."
Sae looks up, surprised to find a solemn looking Rena.
"Rena...have you been, following me?" Sae asked the obvious question, since the answer is written all over Rena's face.
Sae lowers her head in shame. It's the worst time to see Rena, and even worse that she knew what has happened between Milky and her.
"I really wanted to betray you. I really wanted to betray my own sister...and Mako, and Naanya too. I'm the worst." Sae hits the bench repeatedly with her fists.
Crouching down and grabbing hold of her arms, Rena stopped Sae and takes her shivering self inside Rena's embrace.
"It's fine, Sae. It's because of love, so don't feel bad anymore..." Rena pats on her back and rubs it gently. "Everyone does silly things for love..."
Rena continues to hold onto Sae, who's crying uncontrollably in her arms. She thought back on that day, when Mako showed Milky's photo in private to her, asking if she was the kidnapper she saw that night. She never knew she would tell a lie that will be against the welfare of her princess, but she shook her head, and saw Mako put the photo back into the file in disappointment.
"I promise I will keep the secret about Milky for as long as I can."
"Rena-chan, you don't have to do that. I should...I should probably make up my mind soon."
"Don't worry. I will wait for as long as I need to." If love is about seeing the person you like being happy, then I don't mind doing everything I can to make you smile, Sae.
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The nanamiki moment!!!! :inlove: :inlove:
Update soon!!
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The confession... So sweet.. :wub:
Despite being cold, Nana wanted to confess first. :wub:
Rena lied to Mako for Sae's sake.. O God..
Nice update, autor-san. Keep it p!! :twothumbs
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Hello everyone~ thanks for dropping by again! Here is the new chapter! It's a bit fast paced (I think), hope you'll enjoy! :)
Chapter 8 - the Spaceship (1)
*In the Detective Agency
"I have a theory..." Mako laid out the map again after weeks of investigation. "that your spaceship is still in the Yuiichi Zone."
"I understand that you are referring to the large unmarked territory within the facility, but it is too small." Nana points at the greyed box in the map.
"I think that just serves as an entrance or a portal to where it really crashed." Mako continues. "That's because of the magnetic activity they recorded at the perimeters."
"Magnetic activity?" Rena asks.
"Yes," Sae handed another document to her. "That's what the figures meant in the file I stole a while back. With such great activity, there must be something with enormous energy below the facility..."
"That the government isn't able to get their hands to somehow." Nana interrupts, recalling how she had read the mind of a top official by disguising herself as a waitress to get close to him at a private party. "They can't even get close to the void."
"Even if that is true, what makes you think we can get into it?" Naanya asks.
"Perhaps," Rena held the Key up for every one to see. "This can?"
"Bingo!" Mako taps her pencil on the map and circles an area right outside the Zone. "We will enter from the air duct to find out."
"The whole zone is heavily guarded!" Miki says in concern. "How are we all gonna get inside without anyone noticing?"
"No, we aren't ALL going to go inside," Sae looks sharply at her sister. "All you high schoolers are not going to take part in this operation."
"Even me?" Nana said in confusion.
"Yes," Rena said. "There's no telling what will happen if we can get into the grey zone. We still have to find our princess, so for safety reasons, we can't go together. Besides, I want you to take care of these two while we're gone." Her look gestures towards Naanya and Miki.
"This sounds too dangerous!" Naanya exclaims and clings onto Mako's arm. "Why must you go too?"
"Don't worry Naanya," Mako smiles and pats on the girl's head. "We must try this time because there's only two months left before the stars align. Rena and Nana have helped us so much...we must do everything to repay all the cases they have solved for us. Besides, only I have obtained this pass."
She put a worker's permit on the table, with her photo and a fake name on it. "I will be the contract cleaner that goes into the facility by the front door. Once I get here," She points to a section near the grey zone, "we will hack the cameras to make a video loop, and I will unlock the ventilation cover from the inside so they could both enter from the shaft."
"That's all good, but how are they gonna climb back up the shaft when they leave? It's eight hundred meters deep..." Nana ponders at the trio's plan.
"That's where I come in," Sae said. "While Mako leaves from where she comes, she will need to go underground again to the public sewers. Meanwhile I will go here. "she points to another side of the facility, where the research lab is. "A control system is in there, where I will redirect water into the unused passageway that's right above the grey zone. Going back to meet with Rena, hopefully with more information on the ship, we will both exit by swimming from the pathway as the water fills up and brings us all the way back to the public sewage system. Mako will let us out from there and our mission will be accomplished."
"OK, sounds like a plan!" Rena exclaims cheerfully to lighten up the situation.
"I don't like the idea of you taking so much risk, Rena..." Nana pulled Rena aside after the meeting. "Let me go with you too."
"Just stay here and support us," Rena eyes the two younger girls again. "For all we know, the kidnapper is still roaming freely in this town."
"Yes, I wish I knew his name."
Rena gulps and walks away guiltily, after being reminded that 'Watanabe Miyuki' is still a secret she needs to keep dutifully from her friend.
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*Two days later, at the Detective Agency
"Mako, it's all clear." Nana speaks to the headset as Naanya and Miki huddle beside her to get a good view of the computer's monitor, which is showing the views of cameras in the government facility they have hacked in. They see Mako wearing a clean blue jumpsuit with a trolley of cleaning supplies, steadily heading towards the grey zone.
"Three, two, one... now switched." The camera's feed is changed to a video loop so that no one is able to see Mako trail off to the cover of the air duct, where she unscrewed the plates and let Sae and Rena in.
"Where is the grey zone?" Rena asks.
"It's here, " Sae points to the a small dot marked in the middle of the room. "We cannot see it with naked eye, and it's only found out that there's this void when they tried to map out the area. That dot represents about 20 square meters of space, and god knows what else beneath it."
"All right, see you guys then." Mako looks into Sae's eyes and added, "Stay safe."
Both of them nodded as Mako head towards the exit. Suddenly a voice rung through their earpieces.
"Stop. There is someone coming from 20 meters. He's heading towards your room." Nana said. "Rena, you must try the Key now, there is no other options to hide."
"Bugger! Why is there suddenly someone coming?" Rena took the key out in panic and directed the light rays towards the dot. A whirlpool of blackness opens up.
"A few more steps. There is no way out. All three of you, jump in!"
Mako ran back and with a last confirming glance from her companions, all three of them jump into the hole.
"What the crap, Naachan!" Naanya shakes her also stunned friend's arm. "They could die!"
Just at this moment, the door opens and the guy walks in, taking a glimpse of the black circle that has just closed back into a dot.
He blinks and rubs his eyes, not sure if what he's seen is true. He looks around again, and scratches his head, before reaching out to the walkie talkie to report something.
Nana shot up from her seat and heads to the exit of the agency.
"Where are you going?!" Miki pulls her and asks in a shivering voice. What just happened there completely derailed the plan early on, and they barely had time to react before her sister and good friends are gone.
"Miki," Nana turns back and cup the cheeks of her panicking lover. "I need to get in to the facility now. They will soon find out that Mako is missing. Stay here with Naanya and don't go anywhere."
"No! I'm coming with you!"
"Me too!" Naanya runs up toward the other two girls. "I can't leave Mako-chan in there and do nothing!"
"You two..." Nana furrowed her eyebrows and began to raise her hand, but it was firmly put down by Miki.
"Don't you dare hypnotise us! Stop wasting our time, let's go now!"
Nana sighs and runs off, followed by the two girls behind her.
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"Wait here." Nana instructs as she is about to jump into the ventilation shaft. "Seal the entrance after ten minutes and meet me at the bushes over there. If I am not back in twenty minutes, leave this place."
She looks sharply into Naanya's eyes to make sure she's holding Miki back before sliding down the chute. That's the fastest way to get to the records room, although this method could be found out by now.
The slide seems to take ages and she's starting to get dizzy. Suddenly she saw a speck of light, and in no time, she found herself popping out the of chute into the empty room, hitting the floor and rolling a few feet to take the momentum of falling to a halt. Shaking her head in pain to regain focus on the surroundings, the door opens with two men coming in.
"Who are you?" One man immediately demands while they both reach for the guns.
Nana quickly raises her hand and hardens her gaze. The men were hypnotised in a second and forgot what they've seen. Nana shifts her head to learn what they're thinking, finding out that the man who ran into Sae and others has reported some strange activity in the surrounding zones, and they were just making rounds to check on his report.
She made the men guard the corridor with more mind controlling, and walked further down the corridor to reach the video room. Once more, she controlled the lone personnel there to make sure all cameras and videos of today are wiped, and from the computer there, she accessed the database to erase all records of the cleaning company's contract, including Mako's access records. By now, she's sweating profusely, holding her head as she reaches back out of the room to regain control of the two original guards. Her power is quite formidable but the weakness is that she must be physically near a person to use it. Moreover, she had never needed to wipe memories, read minds and control their thoughts at the same time. She wonders if she can make it back out of the facility in time.
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Mako slowly got on her feet and adjusted her vision on the pitch dark surroundings. The last thing she remembers is falling into the hole, with gravity feeling lighter and lighter until she passes out. She is positive that Sae and Rena both jumped in with her, but where are they now?
"Sae-chan? Rena-san?" She calls, finding a few eerie echoes returning, and nothing more.
She hears her own breathing intensify as the darkness engulfs her.
"Sae?" She calls out again in a shaky voice.
Suddenly a dim light in front is visible, beckoning her to come forward. She took a small step, scared that she will step on nothingness and fall deeper into the abyss, but luckily, it didn't happen. Slowly she began to move toward the light, until she sees something the size of a helicopter, standing in front of her. That object looks nothing like she'd imagine of a spaceship, as it is simply shaped like an orb, with a smooth surface, save for a little handle, protruding out in front of her.
She reaches out and pulls at it, which opens easily, to her surprise. She walks into the much more lit interior, which is immense and full of panels on one side of the room.
"This must be the spaceship..." She marvels at the futuristic design. She walks around the edge to feel the surface, which doesn't feel cold like metal surfaces at all. "This place looks huge..." she whispers.
"Mako?" A voice ahead alerts of her and she found herself frozen in place. It's...
"Naanya?" In front of her, Naanya stood in the same creamed colour dress she wore when she came back home the day she's adopted. Only now, she's all grown up, with the stone on her necklace shining as brightly as ever.
"Why are you here?" Naanya smiles bitterly as she walks towards her sister.
"Shouldn't this be my line?" Mako's eyes widen in shock. Aren't they in a mission? Did Naanya tagged along in the end?
"Mako-chan, you shouldn't be here. You can't follow me home." She said as she brushes her hand gently on Mako's face. It feels cold.
"NO!" Mako grabs her into her arms and shakes her head violently. "You're not! You're not the princess! Don't go!"
"But I am." The younger girl slides her hands off and pushes a little bit away, so she can cup her palms on Mako's pale face.
"I know what you're scared of, but it's all true. I will leave you. I will leave you forever."
Naanya turns around and walk towards a glass chamber that appears out of nowhere. A strong beam of light shines into the centre of that square chamber.
"No, don't you go in!" Mako chases after Naanya, who walks into the chamber. She tries to snatch her hand, but caught only air as she enters the door. The light disappears and the glass became solid walls that surrounds her.
"Naanya!" She looks around in panic and her sister is nowhere to be seen. However, she saw Sae crouched in a corner of the room, shivering anxiously and mumbling to herself.
"Sae!" She ran towards her and shakes her. "Did you see Naanya? Did she really leave?"
The short haired girl slowly looks up and saw Mako. "I killed you, Milky...I'm sorry!" She cries and pulled Mako down into her embrace, hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry, I meant to protect you, but why do we have to be enemies? I love you, I still love you, please don't die, come back to me!"
"What are you talking..." Mako struggles off Sae's violent clutch, holding her shoulders and trying to push her back. Who is she mistaking her for? Why is she panicking? Her thoughts aren't even coherently formed, before the familiar face of Naanya appear in front of her again.
"Why don't you just let me go?"
Mako sees a pitiful plea in Naanya's eyes, the thing she most feared about.
"I..." She tries to explain to her sister, "I just..."
"You knew it a long time ago, that I am the princess. Why didn't you just tell me? I could've missed my last chance to go home!" Her plea turn into an angry accusation.
"Naanya...but I...I just don't want to...I will miss you so much!" Mako protests, tears finally rolling down her eyes.
"Are you sure it is not something more than that?" Naanya smirks as she moves closer to the flustered face of Mako's.
"How...how can it be? Stop it, Naanya." Mako hates it that she's insinuating something so sinister. This is impossible. She is having a huge crush on Sae-chan, and Naanya is just a sister to her. Or is she just a sister? She's afraid to search her heart for an answer.
"That's right," Naanya breathes onto Mako's neck. "You're the older sister. You must set the right example. But aren't you curious about what I have to offer?"
"Besides...we are not blood-related..." Naanya starts to nibble on her neck playfully. Mako feels her grip on the younger girl loosening as she surrenders to the toxic sensation of her touches.
"But, you can never have me. I will leave you now. I will leave you forever!" With a forceful yank, Mako was pushed off to the ground again.
She shook her head and found herself pinned to the ground by Sae.
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"Let's do it, Miyuki...just one more time, before we part our ways..." Sae looks lovingly at Milky, who's breathing heavily beneath her. Everything that happened after falling into the hole was a giant jumble of mess, but it didn't matter anymore. It didn't matter that she thought she's stabbed Milky to save her friends, now that she's back again. Even if it's just one more time, that's enough.
"Sae...we will always be enemies...aren't you... scared that you cannot turn back?" Milky's panting gets heavier as Sae kisses her cheek lovingly.
"Yes I am," Sae admits. "I am scared to death every day. My only comfort is having you."
Sae reaches to the back of the girl and tries to take the jumpsuit off.
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The sudden exposure of her skin in the cold air caused Mako's body to tense up as she can only imagine where Sae is heading towards next.
"Sae...Sae!" She shouts finally, halting the brushes and caressing of the hypnotised girl.
Sae blinks and gapes.
"Mako?" She looks at the girl beneath her and backs off in widen eyes.
"The reason why you've been acting so strangely these past weeks....it's all because of Watanabe Miyuki, isn't it?"
Sae can't tell whether Mako's flushed cheeks were due to anger or something else, but she felt her right hand grabbed. She felt her neck hooked and pulled down by Mako's arm, until they are face to face with each other.
"Now that you've started it, don't stop." Mako feels her lips nourished by warmness and decides to let go of her mind for the time being. She closes her eyes and sees the creamy dress and shiny pendant dangling above her once again. Sae, let's use each other for now...to satiate the fears and desires we can't contain.
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"There's one more minute to go!!" Miki's yell at the watch in her hands while Naanya continue to look down the shaft that reveals no clues other than darkness and silence.
"Stop looking and put the cover back on!" Miki said and grabs the cover from Naanya's hands, slamming it onto the opening.
"But!"
"Nana said she'll not come back up from here...so there's no use to look! Let's seal it now."
She took the tools out of the pocket and reassure herself that Nana must be far away from the grey zone now, probably walking out the front door of the facility like a boss now.
They sealed the shaft together with little fuss, and look back at each other for any assurance they can get.
"There's no turning back now..." Naanya speaks in a soft voice.
Miki wanted to answer with some comforting words, but her eardrums are suddenly assaulted with a high pitched screech, and she felt like she's thrown upside down.
In less than a second, she felt herself thrown violently onto the floor.
"Ittai..." Miki tried to balance her head and to her shock, she sees Naanya and the entrance of the shaft standing around twenty feet away from her.
Naanya blinks at the sudden thump she heard from the distance and yelps in surprise. Wasn't Miki just right beside her a second ago? Then she realised that they were not alone. There are two other figures rolling and fighting on the ground beside Miki.
Miki tries to orient herself and finally lays her eyes on the commotion that's happening right beside her.
"Nana!" She exclaims when she saw the struggling look of the girl fending off a punch at the bottom. She looks even paler than her usual self.
"Stop it! Argh!!!" The girl who's throwing the punch looks in pain also, holding her head with one hand and finally rolls off from Nana as she clutches her head with both hands in pain.
"You....you're..." Nana struggles to stand up, holding her hand out towards her foe, but she collapses on one knee as she pants. "You're the...kidnapper."
"What are you doing to my head!" Milky screams in agony as the pang of pain increases.
She had originally planned to abduct Miki at the agency, knowing that her protectors would be away. After that night when Sae confronted her, she knew that she had to continue her mission no matter what. Besides, the list of her targets are running short, with a few girls, including Miki and Naanya, remaining. She could no longer avoid testing on them. Although she desperately hopes that neither of them are the princess, if it really comes to that, she really has no choice. It's either them, or her own people. Her entire planet.
Making sure that the two girls were unguarded, she picked Miki and froze time. However, just at the moment of her freezing, her eyes met with Nana's, who's running out from the bushes. At first, it seemed that there's no effect. Everything still stopped on its tracks, with Nana frozen in place as Milky went towards the girls and carries Miki off from the ground. Walking back to the tracks, she's about to pass by Nana when her head is hit with pain and forced to cease her powers, which required a lot of her energy. At this point, the girl lunges toward her, throwing Miki off her shoulders and they began to fight. Nana's physically weaker, not to mention that she's already taxed by her mission back in the facility. Quickly, Milky gained the upper hand, but the pain in her head persists with Nana's powers channeling continuously in an attempt to stop her from freezing time again.
Finally, Nana could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, releasing her effect on Milky.
"Nana!" Miki rushes forward and holds the girl in her arms. "Are you okay?"
"Run..." Nana manages to utter as she takes in all the air she can. Meanwhile, Milky starts recuperating from the assault, and realise that she won't be able to freeze time in a while with the damage in her head.
"Who are you?" She questions Nana angrily. "I tell you...this trick won't stop me from getting her."
"Why are you looking for my princess?" Nana questions her in return, as she props herself up from Miki's arms and glares at her enemy.
"Your princess?" Milky ssexy beasts and realises that the girl in front of her is from AKB. "With all the talk and dogma about rationality, your people is nothing but a bunch of selfish assholes. We're just asking for one life...one corestone, so that millions of people and families can be saved."
"She's not just one life. She's our Princess Wako." Nana answers flatly. "Leave these two girls now, or I'll kill you." She raises her hand up again, but she knew she's bluffing. She's too tired to use her powers.
"Don't think that the only thing I can do is stop time." Milky clench her fists and started walking towards the girls.
"Die!" Suddenly, Naanya dashes toward Milky with a hammer in her hand. Milky turns in surprise but throws out a strike in the air, which repels Naanya even before she's reached her. The hammer is knocked off her hand and she hits the ground, groaning in pain.
"Naanya!"
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YAY!!!! A update!! :twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs :twothumbs
What happen to Naanya?! :? :? :banghead: :banghead:
Update soon!!!
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What's happening?? :?
Seems like that spaceship thing playing with Sae n Mako's minds n showing them what they fear most..
But this helps Mako to realize what she true feels for Naanya :ding:
Is Naanya the real princess? :dunno:
Uhm. Seems like I need to wait 4 the next chapter to find the answer.. :cool1:
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Hello everyone~~
Sorry I was out of town last week so I couldn't update. Is Naanya going to be fine, of course....! You will find out below.
@niineechan: you are very observant :) thanks for always dropping by!
@christy:Sorry about the late update!
Chapter 9 - the Spaceship (2)
Rena rubs her backside as she stands up and look at the pitch-dark surroundings. So this is what the bottom of the hole looks like? She blinks and adjusts her vision, quickly finding two distinct tunnels laying in front of her.
"Sae-chan? Mako-chan??" She calls out with no answers.
She hits her head hard and scolds herself. "I should've hold onto their hands when we jumped! Itttaiii..."
Looking at the two identical pathways in front, she sighed and did a quick eenie meenie, before choosing the path on the left. She wonders how Sae and Mako will be able to find their way, as they don't have heightened vision like Rena's. As she calls out their names walking down the path, she felt something strange in the air.
"Yabai!" She covers her mouth and quickly turns back, running to where she started.
That's a dangerous gas, Rena can tell reflexively. Where had she come across it before? She searches her mind hard by rubbing her head, and reaches for the Key that's resting deep in her pocket. At a touch, the memory came back.
It's a war gas that NMB has been using on the planet. It's actually a simple type of material degradable by simple tetronomium, but its power lies on its slowness. It works by firing up the nerves of living beings and caused them to reach a hysteric state, so that the victim will be consumed by fear and hallucination, eventually burning out their energy and die. The tinge in this gas is not easy to detect, but as a warrior, Rena has been trained to do it and she remembers how it was the hardest test to past in the academy, with a lot of her classmates loosing control and started doing strange things instead of fighting the trainer drones.
"Wow...fond memories..." She chuckles at the thought of her classmate eating imaginary food in front of tank and then shakes it off. "Ah! Focus Rena!" She rolls up her sleeve and tries going into the other path.
The smell seems fine this time, and in no time, she's reached a larger chamber, with a giant disc-like aircraft that has a jagged edge on one side, indicating quite a violent crash that it had experienced.
"Yikes!" Rena looked at her baby with a painful expression. More memories flow back now as the ship that's taken them to Earth now lays right in front of her eyes. "I remember now..." she murmurs as she goes around for the latch to enter the ship.
She remembers that before getting into the pod herself, she has activated the stealth mode, which is designed to keep the ship off hands of enemies from 90% of the known civilisations to SKE, including Earth. Once it crashed, there is a mechanism to shield it in a fifth dimension, so that her companions can come and retrieve it with a key that's encoded with the proper serials of the ship. Evidently, none of them has come for them yet.
"Sugoi!!" She went into the ship used the Key in her hand to activate the panels. "This is amazing! It's 85% intact... okay, basically, only part of the shield is damaged, by that stupid NMB fighter ship.... and not by the crash. The propellers can probably be fixed...even if not, we can still leave..."
Rena start punching the keys and dials, exhilarated that she can finally lay her fingers on the thing she loves most, flying a fighter spaceship. They had let her take the fastest one, though being nimble means that it has less offensive capabilities. Never mind; she should be able to find some useful stuff here.
She explored and checked every part of the ship, satisfied to find two sets of basic armours that were prepared for her and Nana when they boarded.
She went back to the seat again to access more details on the stealth mode. She's recalled that they might have a possibility to set off and dock in the same way, perhaps this time under the Nishino Magic Agency, without any Earth technology from detecting. She fumbles with a few more settings, and...
"Bravo! It can be done! Sae, Mako! We can leave without that swimming plan of yours!!" She yells and looks around at the empty ship.
"Shit!" Jumping up from her seat, Rena finally realises that Sae and Mako are STILL missing. If they aren't here, then...
"Fuck!" The girl bites her nails anxiously as she grabs onto the mask of her gear set and put it on, stumbling off back to the first path she'd originally tried. They couldn't be breathing stupid NMB toxins all this time could they?!!
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Naanya climbs up from the floor, clutching her stomach on a sudden impact of Milky's mysterious power.
The worried expression on Milky's face worn off quickly as Miki leaps forward to catch her attention again.
"Stop hurting my friend!" She shouts and throws a stone, which is easily deflected by Milky's kinetic force.
She walks up slowly with a smirk on her face, knowing that Nana is too weak to do anything now.
"I will borrow her for a test and give it back to you soon, priest."
Nana knew that she's referring to her nagaith status, and realises that she knew much more than her on what's happening between the three planets.
"You can't take Nishino Miki. Whether she's my princess or not, I will not let you touch her."
"Touch? I thought that you yourself, with your holy status, aren't allowed to touch anyone as well?" Milky smiles smugly as she sees Nana cringe instinctively and let go of Miki's hands.
"Shut up!" Miki shouts, but Milky continues to mock, seeing the guilt in Nana's eyes.
"Or did the despicable Yui granted you an exception?"
"She's Queen Yui!" Nana finally stood up and glares at her tormentor.
"She's just a traitor of our planet! This is so typical of her, to do anything she wants, disregarding the others! You have broke your oath and touched the princess, all because of an outsider...an NMB traitor who decided to marry into your planet, breaking her engagement and putting shame into our planet!"
"What...whatever happens is necessary. And this is Earth, I am not bound by any rules here." Nana rebutted but her eyes flickered with uncertainty.
Milky laughs in contempt and took out a dagger. "Is that so? Is that why you feel okay to indulge in human pleasures with the girl beside you?"
"Cut it out!" Nana roars but her contorted face tells Milky that the attack is right to the point. Her mind is once again torn between the guilt of falling in love and her duty to her people.
Milky sees this opportunity and dash forward to finish off her opponent.
"Nana!" Miki sees this and puts herself forward to take the stab, but Nana was even quicker. They both fell onto the ground with Nana on top, facing Miki.
"Iyaaaaaada!" Naanya saw the dagger stab right into Nana's back as she shielded Miki from the attack. A glow from her pendant suddenly shoots out a beam, knocking Milky out as she turns to the source of the energy in shock. She flew a few feet away, crashing to the fence of the Yuiichi Zone, and went unconscious.
Blood starts seeping out from the back of Nana's wound, dripping down on the ground beside Miki, as she looks in shock at Nana, who's still trying to prop herself up to shield her.
"Nana! Nana!" Miki springs up and allow the injured alien to slump into her arms, as she feels the warm blood soaking through the grey shirt of Nana's back onto her hand.
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Rena blazes through the corridor until she reaches a smaller chamber, where a sphere-shaped spacecraft lies.
"An NMB kaze-fighter..." She gritted her teeth and adjusted the mask on her head before moving in.
"Sae-chan? Mako-tin?" She calls out and glances through the panel of controls and screens, looking for clues on how much damage this ship has taken when it crashed. The stealth mechanism from her own ship must have created a dimension that accidentally engulfs this ship too, keeping it safe from human hands, and ironically, from NMB's own detection. She must be careful not to trigger any contact.
The main controls must lie in the centre chamber, Rena thought as she moves towards the solid walls that are mounted dead at the centre of the otherwise round and smooth design of this ship.
Hovering the hand on the access, the door slides open.
Rena did open her mouth to yelp, but she's so shocked that no voice came out of her. Amazingly, the two persons she's looking at didn't even notice her entrance and continue on with their heated session. Rena closes her eyes instinctively, her senses deeply shaken, as those expressions on their faces, especially Sae's, imprinted in her mind like a stab into her heart.
A loud scream escaped from Mako as Sae rolls away, forcing Rena to open her eyes too.
She looks at the two panting heavily like they're about to suffocate. Yet as Sae rolls off, she pulls onto Mako and brought her back into her embrace, begging her for more. That's when Rena is reminded of the toxic gas they've both been breathing.
"Milky..." Sae utters with great effort.
They're not going to stop until they die! Rena suddenly realises and plunges in the separate them.
"Sae-chan!!" She slaps hard onto the girl's face to wake her up and did the same to Mako.
"Naanya..." Mako replies in a sheepish smile and tries to caress Rena's face. She realises that she's almost going to pass out.
Throwing Mako onto her back, and grabbing Sae into her arms, Rena rushes out of the chamber, but Mako's flinging arms hit the panel as Rena dashes off, however, the alien was too busy to notice this tiny detail. By the time they're back to her own spaceship, a glow blinks on a small screen in the NMB's spacecraft control room.
"This is Sayaka...copy that? Is it you, Miyuki, sending out a signal? Are you...are you in Earth?"
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Back in the AKB spaceship, Rena laid her friends down and took off her mask, scratching her head on how to revive those two.
With the toxins starting to wear off as fresh air fills their lungs, Sae suddenly jolts in realisation of what just happened. Grabbing her clothes, she quickly huddled to the corner to dress up, but she's too weak to move fast.
"What's...what's going...on?" She finally gave up on dressing and asks as she buries her head between her knees, too ashamed to look into Rena's eyes.
"It's okay," Rena takes off her jacket and wraps it around Sae. "You both were hallucinated. You were poisoned...it's not your fault." She rubs her back and soothes her.
On the other hand, Mako felt that all her muscles are paralysed as she lays on her back, her mind finally getting a bit clearer on the situation.
"What have I done..." She whispers and passes out.
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Miki and Naanya carries Nana to the car and sped off, with Naanya taking the wheels.
"I...I don't know Miki, where should we go...the hospital??" She's grabbing onto the steering wheel nervously. None of them have a license but Nana drove like a pro when they came here. It's a miracle that Naanya hasn't crashed, applying the limited skills she's learned from Mario Kart.
"We can't! They don't know how to heal an alien!...Wait Naaaaaanya!!" Miki screams as Naanya almost crossed to the other lane.
"What about the others...where are they?!" Naanya calls out to the earpiece desperately, even though there had been no reply from Sae's side since they fell into the hole.
"Take..take me...home." Nana breathes out slowly. "Don't panic. I...I will be fine..."
"You don't look fine! Come on, heal yourself!!" Miki shakes her a bit but continues to cup her hand on the wound so that blood won't gush out like a fountain.
"I can't...."
"Idiot!! Then why didn't you just let me take the blow? You can heal me then, right?" Miki's bawling tears like a baby, but Nana simply smiles.
"I can't bear...to see you get hurt...not even for one second..."
"Nana, stupid Nana!" Miki cries hugs her tight. Isn't she supposed to be the logical one?
At this moment a cranking voice is heard from their earpieces.
"Guys...guys?" It's Rena.
"Rena-san!!!" Naanya yelps in joy. "Where are you guys?"
"We're back in the agency, but where are you?"
"Huh?! How?!!!! What the...how can this happen?" Miki looks around but no one's able to calm her down.
"Ok, Miki-chan, calm down first...is there something wrong on your side?"
Both Miki and Naanya shout in synchrony, "Yes!!"
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Nana blinks her eyes and adjusted to the lighting. Her bones and muscles feel like they're thrown to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. With great effort, she raises her hand, but winces in pain.
"Naachan!" Miki face appear in front of her, blocking some of the harsh light. "Stop moving around, you are hurt!"
The poor girl turns her head as Miki sits down, holding her hand and intertwining their fingers as she sits down.
"Where...am I?" Nana feels the dryness on her throat as she cranks out a question.
"You're safe here." Another voice beside her answers. Nana turns to find Rena smiling at her. Then, she saw a bunch of panels behind the girl, and made a few quick glances around her.
"Rena, this is..." She gasps.
"Yes, this is our spaceship, we found it!" Rena's hands clasps together in joy, and moved a bit to the side so Nana can take in the whole view. She remember's SKE's state of art technology, the pods in which she puts the baby princess, and the seat she took when she piloted the plane with Rena. The scenes of crashing came back vividly...
"It's okay, Nana-chan..." Rena came forward and strokes her hair gently, seeing the hollow fear in her eyes. "I found something that helped you recover in the ship." She points to a device that is connected to an empty unused pod. "All your human-tissues are healed, but don't risk it again next time!"
Nana made a small nod as she admitted that she had been too rash. Remembering the scene of confrontation with Milky, she gently slips her hand away from Miki's fingers.
"How did you come back? Or...are we all inside the spaceship, in the Yuiichi Zone?"
"No no, don't be silly..." Rena laughs and continues to explain. "We erm..found the ship after a bit of poking around, and using the stealth mechanism, did a parallel transport so that the condensed zone switched from the crash site to here -- right below Nishino Magic Agency! F-ing amazing isn't it?"
"Parallel transport?" Nana squints and concentrates on the panels, trying to recall what that was. Rena started a barrage of technical talk that drove Miki to scratch her head in confusion, but Nana listened intently as the terms triggered more memory of her previous life. "Ah~Rena-san, this is a good move." Glad that they're all safe, Nana finally relaxes and smiles. As for the pain on her back, there's still another question in her mind...
"How did we escape? I can't remember a thing." She sits up and holds her head with one hand, the other reaching out to grab the cup of water beside her.
"I don't know... the attacker just....suddenly passed out." Miki answers and sits closer. "Sorry, you were on top of me so I couldn't see a thing."
On top? Nana chokes in her drink and coughs suddenly in Miki's horror. Taking the cup from her hand, she rubs her back to soothe the coughing.
"Watch out and don't take huge gulps, you've just woken up!" She reprimands worriedly.
However, Rena's seen through what happened and smirks as she walks away towards the door.
"Oh my Nana-robot-san! I can't believe that dirty thoughts will ever take over your mind until today!" Nana tenses up and tries not to glare back at Rena while Miki looks on to the older girl, again with a confused look. "I will leave you guys to catch up alone. Let me check on the others now..."
"O right..." Miki recalls. "Where are the others? Is Naanya taking care of them? They both looked like they came back from a battle."
"Yeah..." Rena smiles embarrassingly as she slides the door open. "They em...got pretty lost with the dark surroundings...haha... so they must had been running around like headless chickens..."
Miki nods as the door slides close, even though she has no idea what she means.
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Right up there outside the condensed void, Naanya sits in the couch at the middle of the detective agency, glancing sideways at Mako and Sae, who currently occupy two corners of the office in dead silence. Other than looking traumatised and battered, the two of them are acting weirdly, like they can't stand each other's presence.
Not only that, instead of acting relieved or happy to see her safe, Mako avoided Naanya's eyes as she ran towards her and gave her a hug when they reunited from the mission. Rena had just brought the three high school girls back from the middle of the town, where Naanya was driving through in completely wrong turns trying to find their way back to the agency. She wanted to ask what had happened to her sister, but was hushed by Rena, telling her to prepare the Key quickly so they could bring Nana into the spaceship as soon as possible to heal her.
"Ano...don't you guys want to know what happened to Naachan?" Naanya tries to break the silence.
Sae stole a glance at Mako, who's sitting by the window, still pretending to look out onto the streets.
"Eh, yes..." Sae finally clears her throat and rolls her chair nearer towards where Naanya is. "She...I hope she's doing fine. How did you end up out there?"
"Sae-chan! You wouldn't believe who we've run into! We were trying to cover your tracks after the plan botched, and guess what? The kidnapper appeared out of no where. She just looks like a pretty ordinary girl! And she said a lot of confusing things...I think she's an alien too!"
Naanya continued non-stop, babbling in incoherent sentences about how Miki got "teleported" in front of her eyes, how Nana and the kidnapper wrangled and wrestled, and how she was suddenly propelled by a force as Nana got stabbed.
Sae sits there and listened on with a sunken heart.
"When you left, is the kidnapper still...alive?"
"Sae-chan, what are you talking about? Who cares about that girl when Naachan is almost dying? We're all running for our lives!" Naanya looks towards Mako's direction in an attempt to seek assurance on how weird Sae's remark was, but as her eyes met with the older girl's, she sees a pained expression on her face.
"Are you all right?" Naanya springs from her seat and rushes toward Mako.
As if she's suddenly jolted from a daydream, Mako cowers from her sister and tries to cover up that odd reaction, seeing the hurt on Naanya's face. When the younger girl was describing what happened, Mako didn't miss the little detail about an unknown force propelling the kidnapper, whom she's now sure is Milky.
"Naanya," She moves forward and holds her hand. "I was just too tired in this crazy heist, sorry." She pats her head and forces a smile. "I am okay...and I'm glad that you are unhurt too. Can you...can you tell where the unknown force came from...is it..can it be from Nana-san?"
"Impossible." Naanya looks up the ceiling as she tries to recall. "Naachan was already stabbed and the force doesn't seem to come from her direction anyway...in fact... it does seem that it's from behind me, because that girl is flying right away across from me, while Nana and Miki were on my left! Oh my god, could there be ANOTHER alien around?"
Mako closes her eyes and smiles bitterly at her sister's slowness. Naanya, it was you.
"I see..." She whispers and pats on her back, before returning to her seat beside the window sill.
"Naanya..." Sae tugs the girl slightly and signals her to move back to the couch. "Mako-chan must be too tired from the mission today. Let her take some rest."
Naanya nods and opens her mouth to ask about the mission, but Sae already knew what's coming and sits her down on the couch.
"I er...will go back home to check on what I can bring to Miki. Naanya, you'll have to take care of Mako-chan while I'm away, okay?" She gives an awkward smile and hurriedly left the office. She needs to find out whether Milky is all right.
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"Miyuki!"
The girl whose name is called upon shrugs and wakes up from her deep dream. In the dream, she went back home and was spending her time shooting in the simulation facility, like she was back in the old days, training as a special agent. All the good memories from planet NMB was back; the time she snuck out of practice and got into trouble when her sempai found out. The time when that sempai cheered her up after punishing her. That time when she waved her a tearful goodbye, when she made her promise to come back after the mission. After that mission in the kaze-067, the ship that she crashed onto Earth.
She blinks her eyes to adjust to her surroundings and sits up, looking at the person who's called out to her.
"You are..." She hesitates at the girl in front of her, lifting up and grabbing the blanket sheets nervously.
"Don't you remember me, Miyuki?" The girl smiles and touches her face gently. In human form, Milky finally recognises the alien comrade standing in front of her.
"Sayanee? Is that really you?"
The girl smiles satisfactorily and sits down beside the bewildered and teary Milky.
"Yes. I have finally found you, my dear baby. Have you found the princess?"
Milky recalls the force that knocked her unconscious. The beam of light that came from that girl's chest.
"Yes, I believe I have." The brightness and power from the girl, or precisely, from her corestone necklace...She murmurs to herself as she considers Naanya's relationship with Sae.
"Well, then, I will get her. And I will hunt down those who keep her from us, those who hurt my precious Miyuki. I will make them pay."
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I luv dropping by since i luv this fic :heart:
So.. Everything is clearer now.. Yui eloped with Paru.. Lol. :on lol: and Naanya is the princess.. :mon cigar:
I'm wondering what NanaMiki did after Rena left.. :dunno:
But the most epic in this chap is that Naanya was able to drive the car just from her experience in Mario Kart.. LOL :wahaha:
Princess Wako is the MVP.. Haha.
Thx for the update, author san.
See u soon.. :bye:
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Update soon! Can't wait to read!
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please update, can't wait to read the story after this