Thanks for reading and commenting everyone! Thankfully I managed to get chapter 10 written so here it is! Hope you enjoy the read! Chapter 11 will be up either Monday or Tuesday!
Replies:correnereyes: Lol I appreciate both the lurking and the commenting! Thank you, I’ll def continue till the end!
FlameHazeKatsu: Atsuko constantly worries for Minami T_T Concert shall be coming soon, look forward to it!
Archer1992: Thank you! I’ll try not to keep you waiting too long for my updates! Enjoy!
Chichay12: Lol you’re welcome
Itoshisa no accel plays a big role in Minami’s fighting style
X_Last-Cross_X: AW Minami (Jane) is def better at guns then swords, if OW Minami practices enough with her sword, she can def learn to wield is better. & Thanks for liking this fic T_T The concert will come soon!
Yuki88: Lol glad you like Karen, I was worried since she’s not someone mentioned so often but she’s awesome
Shinoki: Sasshi meeting Sasshi would be quite hectic but entertaining :p Riichan is indeed a baka in the AW as well! & yeah, certain songs would be lonely for her to perform alone
Takaminafan49: Thanks! & we’ll see when OW & AW Minami get to chat
Rachel431: Thanks! Glad it was worth the wait for you
Haruko: Thank you T_T Really glad you and your friend like this and are making predictions for what can take place!
POPCAT: Thank you very much!!! & wow, guess it would take that long to read starting from the beginning
Glad you like it though and thanks for the support!
cisda83: Thank you for looking forward to what may happen!
Dieyg48: Lol yeah, AW sasshi is pretty outgoing, she’s exactly like OW sasshi, but more expressive :p & yeah, took her awhile to put the gun together but at least she showed dedication to getting it down
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Chapter 10 – The Mission We made our way out the base and went down the path leading into the forested area. Everyone had their respective weapon on them. Atsuko and Yuko both had their guns strapped behind their waist. Karen had a dagger strapped to each thigh. Yui had what appeared to be Tonfa guns and Rena had claws on each arm ready at any moment. I carried the sword in a sheath, strapped to the side of my waist, while the rest of our weapons and supplies were in our watches.
We kept walking, keeping our eyes open for the out of the ordinary. Karen explained that sometimes they never find anything on the scouting missions, but it was routine to always have members out in certain areas.
The silence was getting to me so I increased my pace and walked up to the closest person. Rena. “Hey, so if a lot of members are sent out to scout certain areas, who’s technically in charge at the base?”
Without looking over, Rena answered as we kept walking. “Numbers aren’t something we have to worry about, but we do try to leave experienced members at the base who know how to handle difficult situations if they arise. Usually Mariko always stays behind to look after things”
“Sayaka, Tomomi and Minegishi are also at the base” Yui answered from up ahead.
I let out a low whistle, “everyone’s pretty amazing. What about you Rena, I heard you’re someone Minami really counts on. Sasshi said Minami would let you bend or break orders if you thought you had to.”
Rena glanced down at me and shrugged out of modesty, “She gives leeway to a couple members, but it depended on whether they felt confident enough to disobey her orders. Minami always encouraged everyone to be a leader though. It’s just that I’ve known her for a long time, and she knows me well, so she trusted the decisions I made.”
“Rena sans decisions usually include following Jurina on missions though” Karen teased from up ahead.
Rena smirked, “well someone has to make sure that kid stays out of trouble”
“I suppose it’s hard to break old habits, considering you’ve looked after her for about seven years” Atsuko chimed in.
I smiled;
some things never change...Wait. I looked up to Rena, “Hold on, you addressed Minami as another person! Do you honestly believe I’m not her?” I asked astounded.
She let out a small laugh, “I know you’re not her. At first I believed you may have really lost your memories, but the moment I saw your eyes I knew otherwise.”
I saw Atsuko look back as we spoke and Karen and Yui fell into our pace.
“My eyes? I’m sure we have the same eyes though?”
Rena smiled at my confusion, and Atsuko spoke up. “She doesn’t mean simply by the color.”
“Yes, ever since I met Minami, I noticed that her eyes always seemed to express more than her words. The secrets, the wild yet lost look...It’s hard to explain, but it’s something I and Maeda understand better than anyone.” She confidently told me.
I wanted to ask more questions, but figured it’d go into their past, and I had a feeling that wasn’t a story they wanted to tell at this moment.
“Well, thanks for believing me.”
“I told you, it’s not a matter of believing, it’s easy to tell. I’m sure a few others members realized as well, but everyone has their reason for not speaking up.”
I raised an eyebrow, “reason?”
“You’re story itself is not easy to believe. The thought of an alternate world makes the members uneasy, that if they believed it, they’d wish they could be living a simpler life. Then there are some people who just won’t speak up, like Maeda. Some people are stubborn, wanting to believe you are Takamina for various reasons, like Yuko.”
I nodded, somewhat understanding where she was coming from.
“If you two are done chatting, we have to focus back on our mission here” Yuko said from the front as she and Atsuko walked side by side.
“Don’t mind her, Yuko sans always uptight on missions, especially if Kojima san isn’t around.” Yui whispered to me.
After going deeper into the forest, both Atsuko and Yuko suddenly halted.
I looked and saw everyone follow suit and tense up, their guard on high alert. Suddenly, I heard something as well. It sounded like...Teeth ripping away at...flesh.
Atsuko motioned for us to ready our weapons, everyone did so, and I place my palm on my blade handle. We slowly approached once Yuko signalled us to follow behind them. Behind the clearing, we saw six mutts sinking their teeth into deer and ripping away at its remains. I cringed at the site.
“Damn” I heard Yuko mutter. She looked back and made eye contact with me, then faced Atsuko. “Should we retreat?”
“...No. We can’t let them run loose and go killing. They’re in our territory; we have to get rid of them.”
Wait.
We’re going to fight these things! Atsuko looked to us all, “it’s too messy to charge in on all them, we have to make sure we each have a number we can handle. Yuko and I will try to draw three to us, Yui, Karen, Rena, each of you handle one. Minami, stick by Rena.”
I nodded nervously and drew my sword out, clutching it in both my hands.
“Now!” Yuko yelled. Yuko and Atsuko diverged to the right of the small pack, Yui ran behind mutts, Karen to the front and I and Rena to the left.
“Stay back” Rena said as she released the claws from her attached arm guard. She drew one of the mutts’ attention to her. Its teeth were stained red and eyes blood shot. It looked the size of an overgrown lion. Slowly it made its way forward as it growled, getting ready for another hunt. It leaped, mouth wide open, Rena crouched and rolled away. Instantly standing as the mutt made a landing, she turned one-eighty and slashed the mutt on the side with her right claw, dodged another of its advances and brought her left claw in an uppercut motion and slashed the mutt at its eye.
I stood back and watched in awe. Looking over, I saw Karen had both her daggers out, and was dancing around the mutt and cutting it at whatever opening she received. Yui was also handling herself well, at close distance; she was using the Tonfa guns to disable the mutt. She’d strike it with power on the head and made the mutt flinch, once it backed away a bit, she aimed the guns to its feet and fired a shot from each. Most likely not wanting to use the shots too often since everyone was fighting close to one another. Yuko and Atsuko were fighting back to back, continuously trading and switching targets as the three mutts circled them. Each held a sword in one hand and they moved perfectly in sync as they cut their respective mutt, turned with one another as they switched targets and continued to fight. I could tell they were having trouble though, and it made me feel helpless.
This is my fault...Because instead of bringing a sixth party that was experienced, they brought me along and now they’re fighting my share. Come on Minami, you’re the one who said you wanted to help, don’t go back on your words, take responsibility...Do something!
Yuko and Atsuko had to break formation as the mutts jumped in between them. One charged at Atsuko and the other at Yuko. The third was pacing around Yuko, looking for an opening.
I took a deep breath.
Fight your own way...Itoshisa no accel. Itoshisa no accel. Relax, pretended your performing...Well our lives are on the line here but still! Pretend. Itoshisa no accel. The mutt Yuko faced jumped and latched its teeth onto her sword, the other one, seeing an opening, snuck up behind her as she tried to free her weapon from the other mutts’ mouth. I took another breath then ran around Rena and went to where Atsuko and Yuko were. Get its attention away from Yuko! I halted directly to the side of the mutt that was approaching Yuko. I knew human blood would get the beast attention as Sasshi once explained, but I figured I’d use another approach.
“IN YOUR POSITION~ SET!” I shouted before the mutt could pounce on Yuko. Its head instantly turned to me and it looked pretty pissed that I interrupted its meal time. Yuko quickly glanced back.
“Idiot! What are you...” she however had to turn her attention back to her opponent and tried to overpower it. The mutt I shouted at growled and stalked towards me. I slowly backed away to create some distance from Yuko and Atsuko. I also didn’t want to turn my back to it. My hands holding the sword slightly shook, but I gripped tighter to make it stop and took another deep breath. As I kept backing away, I began to silently sing the words of Itoshisa no accel.
“Sonna yasashii manazashi de~ mitsumenaide watashi no koto wo...” I stopped backing away once I noticed the mutt was going to try to shift to attacking. “Datte wagamama itta no wa~dareka dareka wakatteru.” He sprinted and then jumped; I ran slightly forward, gave a light jump and turned as I ducked underneath him, bringing myself to a halt after sliding on my knees.
via Imgflip GIF Maker I stood and held the sword in front of me. “sukoshi sunao ni naretara~nagai yoru wa tsuzuita no ni...” The mutt ran forward this time as it barred its teeth once again. I sidestepped to the right and it turned, charged again. "koko de oriru, to tsubuyaita~FURIIUEI no michi no hashi.” This time I planted my feet firmly to the ground and decided to strike first before the mutt got too close. As its face approached and came close enough, I quickly swiped my sword into a side to side motion and sliced at the mutt a couple times in the face.
via Imgflip GIF Maker He yelped in pain as blood ran down the cuts and he backed away a bit. Just like Sasshi said, the sword was light, but sharp. I kept the swinging motion going and this time approached the mutt. He growled but slowly backed away. “Mune no oku ni CHIKACHIKA tenmetsu shiteru ~ HAZAADO~ anata wo tameshite mo kanashii dake~ Haa~!” I saw a small ditch behind the mutt, so I decided to keep making him back away until he lost his balance. This time I gripped the sword and charged forward, I jumped and quickly turned as I spun my sword in his direction, and kept repeating the action to make him back away, which he was doing.
via Imgflip GIF Maker At the last step, I stepped and slashed my blade swiftly back and forth, managing to cut him across the neck. He howled, and as he stepped back, slipped into the ditch. I was going for a final blow to stab him, but suddenly, he angrily and quickly jumped out. Before I could react, he raised a clawed paw and struck my sword out of my hands. He then tackled me down to the floor and my head made painful contact. Both his paws were pressing me down to the ground and I felt his breath on my face. I tried to focus but I saw white and black spots in my vision, still dizzy from the hit to the head when it made contact to the floor. Just when I thought it may be over, a gun shot rang out. The mutt howled and got off me, and another shot rang. I heard him fall to the ground beside me.
My vision was finally returning to normal and I could see Yuko clearly standing over me with an angry look. She reached down and grabbed me by the collar then lifted me to my feet. “Are you and idiot! You could’ve gotten yourself killed!” She shouted as she slightly shook me.
“Yuko, take it easy, she hit her head. Shaking her won’t help” Atsuko lightly scolded as she approached from behind Yuko with the others in tow.
Yuko released me and I stumbled a bit. My head was throbbing and it made me a bit dizzy.
“Though idiotic, I must admit you did pretty okay for your first fight” Atsuko complimented as she glanced to the mutt.
“Yeah! I looked over and you were pretty cool wielding the sword Takamina san!” Karen smiled.
“Not bad at all for an idol, I’m guessing those moves were from...your performance, I believe you said” Rena commented.
I lightly nodded. “Yeah, that was part of the choreography”
“And unless I heard wrong...were you singing?” Yui asked intriguingly.
I chuckled. “It helped to calm me down.”
“Guess you weren’t kidding when you said you planned to hold a concert for us” Karen chimed in excitedly.
Atsuko came up beside me and guided my arm around her shoulder, “we should get back then and have you rest up if you plan on holding that concert for us” I looked up and finally saw Atsuko give a warm smile.
We made our way back to the base with no further disruptions. As we entered, we were greeted by Haruna and Jurina.
“Ah! Rena! So mean, you didn’t invite me on your mission!” Jurina ran up to Rena and pouted. Rena ruffled the younger girls’ hair.
“Next time. Besides, you had your own scouting mission.”
“Boo~ But I wanted to see Takamina san in action” Jurina looked over to me curiously then smiled. “How was it” she frowned as she saw Atsuko supporting me a bit. “Did you get hurt?”
“I’m fine, just hit my head slightly. Nothing to worry about, a small headache is all it is” I smiled reassuringly.
“You should take some pain killers and rest up just in case” Haruna offered as she walked over to Yuko.
“Yeah, that sounds good”
“We’ll take her, we’re headed over that direction anyways” Yuko said with slight irritation. Yikes, is she still mad at me...
“Yuu chan and I can take her” Haruna agreed.
“Alright, I’ll leave her in your care then” Atsuko said. She and the others bid their goodbyes and left. Haruna smiled at me and Yuko gestured with her head that we should start moving.
The two of them lead me to a cabinet in the middle of the hall that was located by the clinic. Yuko unlocked it, reached in and grabbed a small container with capsules. “Here” she handed it over to me. “Take one before going to bed and another when you wake up”
“Going to bed..?”
Yuko narrowed her eyes, “idiots who do idiotic things and get hurt have to rest! So yes, you’re going to go lie down...You still have a lot of time till your concert thing, so least you can do is rest in order not to give a half assed performance...Not that we’re expecting anything” Yuko stubbornly said as she crossed her arms. Beside her, Haruna smiled.
“Don’t mind Yuu chan, she’s just worried”
“Am not!” Yuko slightly blushed as she lightly shoved Haruna.
“Yes, yes, whatever you say” Haruna answered teasingly.
“Well then, I’ll head back and get some rest. Thanks”
“Hold it, why are you going that way” Yuko asked in frustration.
I looked over quizzically. “Heading back to my quarters”
Yuko kept glaring until Haruna elbowed her. “Uh right...You can use one of our rooms to get some rest; you don’t have to go back to the cell.”
My eyes widened in shock. “Eh! Serious”
“Don’t act so surprised. We know you won’t try anything, though you’ve proven to be an idiot, I trust you’ll behave. So just go rest up already”
I figured I’d take them up on their hospitality, especially since the bunk bed in the cell wasn’t so comfortable. “Thanks...So am I using your room?”
“No!” They both raised their voice and answered at the same time.
“Uh...” I saw them both blushing but didn’t really get why.
“Um, you can go to Atsuko’s room, there’s a spare bed in there anyway” Haruna calmly answered.
“Are you sure that’s okay? ...I mean, that room belongs to her and...The other Minami”
Haruna waved her hand, “don’t worry about it. Atsuko wouldn’t mind. We’ll show you the way.”
They led me to a door and imputed a pin, once it opened, they bid their goodbyes. “Call Sasshi to come get you once you wake up” Yuko instructed.
“Thanks” I said.
After they both left, I stepped into the room and closed the door. I still didn’t get Yuko, but back on the field, she actually seemed worried...Maybe these small gestures were her way of saying thanks for what I did...or maybe not... I sighed and looked around the room. It was simple, there were a few decorations here and there, but the room was mostly filled with pictures. I walked around and looked at them. They were all of the members. Group shots of them goofing off, training, eating, outdoors. It made me smile.
Before I knew it, tears streamed down my face, and I was taken aback. “Eh...Why am I crying” I wiped away at the tears but they kept falling. Looking back to the pictures, I understood the reason for my tears. I missed home...My home. I was nostalgic. I missed the members, my friends, and my family. I missed practicing and helping out the juniors, I missed Yuko’s crazy pranks, no3b activities, Mariko’s trolling...I missed it all. It’s not that I was unhappy here, the members were also kind here for the most part, and almost the same but...They weren’t the family I grew up with...It felt like everything since the day I came here, till now, was bottled up, so I let myself cry for the first time since I arrived.
After who knows how long, I awoke. Rising from the soft bed, I looked out the window. The sun had set, and the moon began to light the sky. I stood and took another painkiller for safe measures, but I was feeling 100%. Walking over to the mirror, I saw my eyes were still slightly red, I’d clearly cried myself to sleep. Sighing, I rubbed at my eyes and walked over to the table I’d left my watch, lifting it, I called Sasshi.
A few minutes later, Sasshi met me outside Atsuko’s room. “Good evening sleepy head, hope you got a good rest” Sasshi brightly said.
I laughed, “Yes. And by the way, thanks for the weapon Sasshi, It came in handy”
“Glad to hear it! I tend to mess up on some creations but I’m still the best when it comes to this! And...Huh, Takamina! Are you okay! Were you crying!?”
She approached with a worried expression and tried to inspect for injuries.
“Sasshi I’m fine” I shooed her away to give me personal space. I guess it’s obvious I’d been crying. I’ve never wished for makeup to be around more than I do at this moment.
“Then what’s wrong” she asked sadly.
I gave a light smile, “it’s nothing...I guess...I just missed my home and friends is all...”
Sasshi’s mouth opened in surprise, “I’m so sorry! I’m such an idiot! I should’ve remembered that all this was all new to you and that you’re far from home. So it’s natural to miss it” she lowered her head.
“Ah! No really, look its okay.” I didn’t want her to feel bad, or guilty, since she blamed herself for this whole switch. I sighed and place a hand on her shoulder, making her look at me. “Really Sasshi...It’s...It’s hard, but...It’s not all bad. I’m glad I got the chance to meet you and the others here. I know my friends are okay back home, and that your Minami is taking care of them, and I know we’ll find a way to fix all this...Really don’t worry. I tend to be an emotional person; I was bound to cry at some point. I’m okay now” I gave her my most convincing smile. She smiled in return.
“Thanks Takamina...So...is the concert still on for tonight!?” she eagerly asked.
I nodded. “Of course, I could really use one.”
“Alright!” she fist pumped in the air. “I already got some equipment ready in the main lobby”
“That’s great”
“Ah! That’s right! I know what can further make you energized!”
“Huh?”
“Actually, the person who suggested making that sword for you was Atsuko!”
“Atsuko? How does she know about that sword?”
“No! Your Atsuko from back home”
It took awhile for those words to register. “Eh! How!?”
“It was what I wanted to show you last night, a possible way to make contact with your world. I managed to call them! It doesn’t always work, but it should. What do you say we give it a try and give your friends a call before your concert!?”
My heart was pounding from excitement. “Yes! Let’s!”
End of Chapter 10
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Hope you guys liked the chapter
I aint the best of making GIFS but I wanted to make and use those to describe the actions Minami was doing of Itoshisa no accel and thought it'd be fun to have a little visual here
Note: Also, sorry about the lack of indent in the middle for some lines. For some reason, it looks indented when typed out, but when i paste it's not! I'll try to fix that in the next chapter so hope you don't mind
Topic: Travel To A Distant World: The Recruitment (Mayuki) [side story] (Dec 29 2013) (Read 143394 times)