"The die no longer works."
Kai's grim statement shocks me. My eyes turn down to the incapacitated body of our dear friend. For the longest time, we have been playing an endless game of luck and chance. The die was the only thing keeping us going. Without it...
"We should warn the others," Suguri says in a cold, emotionless voice. I can see the life receding into the chasm of her empty eyes. I have no choice but to agree. The others may panic, and it is likely that we will be torn apart...
...But what choice do we have, now that the game is over?
There Is No Winner ~ A 100% Orange Juice Tale
"Tadaima~!" I call out to my housemates as I enter the front door. They almost always answer with their own greetings as soon as I enter, but something feels different. Perhaps the smooth, leathery red furniture has been moved since I left. Maybe the white-and-orange-painted walls have pen markings on them. Or it could be that the shiny porcelain tile floor is creaking.
"Oh, welcome back, QP!," someone answers. I clutch my grocery bag full of pudding as the figure descends the stairs on the right. As the figure turns toward me, I see that it is Marc.
"Ah, Marc! Where is everybody?," I ask her. Marc's sweet nature keeps our little family together, and she's very strong and reliable, too. Her rivalry with Peat seems very thin, though. Peat's the only one who remembers it at all.
"Well, Kai and Suguri haven't come home yet, and Peat's out with some friends. I imagine he'll be back after their game," Marc sighs. It troubles me that Peat has been out with friends, especially after what happened today. I set the pudding down on the antique table by the red leather sofa, and sit down on said piece of furniture.
"Marc, when you've been playing, has anything...strange happened?" Being the bearer of bad news is not an easy job. Marc looks at me, confused as to what I am hinting at.
"I don't understand," she confesses. "Did something strange happen to you today?"
"Well..." I tell him what happened, in a slow but blunt manner. Marc's eyes widen as the words flow out of my mouth.
"You mean to tell me that...Nanako died?!"
"Yes," I assured her. "Permanently."
"And the die didn't work?"
"No," I respond, reaching in my grocery bag for a chocolate pudding. "No matter how many times we tried. And Nanako didn't even roll the die herself. She just...wouldn't move."
"If that's true...then how are we going to continue the game?," she asks in a worried tone.
I have no idea what to say to her, except that we have to stop the games for now. Kai and Suguri should already be telling the others what is going on, but we don't know if Peat has found out already...
"What if Peat goes down?!," Marc starts panicking. She does not hesitate to rush out the door. I call out to her, but to no avail. I start rushing after her, but then I stop.
"Right! Can't go out without mah Pudding!" I head back inside and snatch a vanilla, chocolate and tapioca pudding from the brown grocery bag. Placing them in the pockets of my pink sweater, I follow the trail of Marc's hasty footsteps.
It seems we arrived too late.
The scene before us is not unlike the normal carnage found in a game of dice, but the sight of our fallen comrades makes it look like a war zone. The sole remaining player mourns her enemies in this brutal victory.
Kai and Suguri do not notice our presence as Marc and I stumble on this terrible sight. We see Sora crying over the sight of these our fallen comrades. I can see Aru lying down, her bag of stars scattered along the board, like blood from a flesh wound. Fernet is down for the count as well, looking pissed off in her final moments. And then, our eyes turn to...
"Peat!"
Marc runs up to her dear friend in tears. She tries shaking the fallen pilot awake, screaming at him to wake up. Suguri hangs her head, but Kai and I watch on without words. I take out a pudding and lick off the stuff from the aluminum seal, before pulling out a spoon. I watch the dreadful scene, eating my tapioca as the drama unfolds.
"How can you eat tapioca at a time like this?," Kai retorts to me. Being the so-called main character of this game, he looks fairly average, with short brown hair and glasses. Not to mention he is also very sensible and even sarcastic at times.
"What? It's delicious," I reply defensively. I turn back to the scene, only to see Marc and Sora duking it out on the board. Suguri dashes in faster than I can see to stop them, holding them away from each other.
"That's enough," Suguri rebukes them in her usual calm manner. Her long silver hair, red eyes and blue sweater give off the impression that she is not as much of a talker as she is a doer. Certainly one could say the same here. Sora moves back from Suguri in compliance, while Marc continues to swipe the air in order to reach Sora.
"What do we do now?," I ask Kai.
"It may already be too late for the others," he replies. "Still, we should look for anyone who has survived."
All of us except Marc nod in agreement.
"What about the others? What about Peat?!," Marc complains.
"Until we figure out what's going on, we cannot do anything about them," Suguri replies. "For now, let's make sure no one else suffers the same fate as Peat. Okay?"
Marc begrudgingly nods.
We managed to find a few more survivors, but unfortunately we lost Syura, Saki, Alte and Kyoko to the broken die. That just leaves the eight of us. Kai told us to gather around at my house, and teamed up with Suguri to come up with a plan. In the meantime, we had to wait in the living room.
"This sucks," Yuki spits out pessimistically. Her foul temper is accentuated by her gray hair and feline appearance. Her clothing made her seem like an office worker. A silver magnum rests on her left side, ready for her next target.
"Such a shame the newcomers had to die," Kyousuke murmurs. Unlike Kai, Kyousuke's blue hair, glasses and cold stare made him look more like a bishonen character. Heck, he even takes his shirt off sometimes to impress the ladies!
"I miss Kae," Krila whines. She snuggles her doll as tears flowed through her right eye. The left eye is covered by an eyepatch, and her dirty green hair and gray clothing made her look even more like a cutesy pirate.
Marc is pouting in the corner by the stairwell and glaring at Sora, still upset about Peat. Sora apparently does not take notice as she talks to me in the mini-kitchen.
"It's taking them a while. Shouldn't they have a plan by now?," Sora asks me. Her dull gaze, emotionless tone of voice and clothing choice are comparable to Suguri's, but her long blonde hair and blue eyes distinguished her physically from her friend.
"I dunno," I tell her over a mouthful of chocolate pudding. Right now, I can only imagine how everyone feels about this. Yuki feels oddly cathartic about this, considering she lives to kill her opponents. Kyousuke is known to be a pacifist, so at least it makes sense for him to feel bad about everyone dying.
"Somebody get Krila to shut up, please!," Yuki growls. Krila's crying has reached unpleasant decibel levels for Yuki, which is around what normal people consider the chirping of birds in the morning. Sora breaks her short-lived conversation with me to comfort Krila. Her crying does not stop as Sora pats the poor child on the back.
"I'm going to kill that little $ %#*!," Yuki curses as she pulls out her magnum. She dives straight for Krila, but Kyousuke stands up to stop her.
"Control yourself, Yuki," Kyousuke reasons with her. Rather than yield, she lets her trigger finger answer him.
CRACK!
Kyousuke cringes as a large hole is blown straight into his chest. Under normal circumstances, Kyousuke has a good chance of surviving a blow from Yuki. This is especially true considering the die no longer has any control over the strength of an attack. Kyousuke stands firm despite the serious injury Yuki gave him.
"Stand down, Yuki," he repeats. Shocked at Kyousuke's resilience, Yuki lowers her gun and grits her teeth.
"This isn't fair," she complains. "Killing was so much fun when there was a safety net. Why did this have to happen now?!"
"That's what we have to find out," a voice speaks from another room. Out steps Kai, with Suguri behind him. All eyes turn to them with expectation. It is then that I notice that Krila has stopped crying. Her attention is on Kyousuke, who looks somewhat unwell after taking such a blow from Yuki.
"Kai, Suguri, what are we going to do about this?," Sora asks them, her hand still on Krila's back.
"We have to find out what went wrong with the die," Suguri responds. "Our best option is go find the creator of this game and ask her what happened."
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. They know exactly who she is talking about. Perhaps the most powerful player of the game, she once brought us together with a specific purpose: to mess with our lives and play a painful game of life and death for her own amusement. It is rare for her to lose a game, and the mere act of talking to her would be suicide.
"...We will have to speak to Tomomo," Kai breaks the unsettling silence.
Marc breaks her constant menacing glare at Sora for one second at the mention of the name.
"To-Tomomo?!," she squeaks from the corner.
"I know it upsets a lot of you, but there's nothing else we can do," Suguri affirms. "Tomomo is our best chance of grasping the situation and finding a solution to it."
"Think of the loved ones you have lost," Kai adds. "Would they let you sit here and forget them?"
Everyone looks down in deep thought. I feel bad for Marc, since Peat was a very close friend of hers. I am sure Sora and Suguri have lost some friends as well. I am not sure Yuki had any friends to begin with, but she still looks depressed about something. Kyousuke must have lost a good deal of fangirls in this chaos, and Krila probably also misses her friends as well. We all have something to fight for, and we need to see it to the end, even if Tomomo is in our way.
"I will never forget," Sora speaks first.
"We will do whatever it takes," Marc adds.
"Tomomo may be a bully," Krila continues.
"But we can take her down," Yuki follows.
"And honor our friends' sacrifices," Kyousuke replies.
"With pudding!," I finish.
Everyone's face hits the floor. I must have said something weird, because Kai gets up and leers at me with an unpleasant expression.
"Would you knock it off with the pudding already?," Kai retorts.
"What? It's delicious," I reply defensively.
Our trek to Tomomo's Abyss (as she calls it) takes us through the same areas we tread through the first time we met up and fought her. Before long, the sight of the airport where Sora, Peat and the others played comes up. Marc looks solemnly at the scene, her head never leaving the fallen body of Peat until we passed the area.
Yuki is the first to notice the chill as we approach Christmas Miracle, the former home of the late Aru.
"Cold...," she grunts. Indeed, many of us start to feel the subtle chill. Some complain, others sigh happily. Pudding is best cold, so I enjoy the cool breeze as my mouth is filled with sweet vanilla.
"We will have to camp out here," Kai informs us. "It's starting to get dark."
"I'm cold...," Krila whimpers, snuggling her stuffed toy for warmth. Kyousuke picks her up without a word, and puts her on his back.
"Just hold on to me," Kyousuke utters to her. It seems Kyousuke is plenty warm, because Krila's face gets super red after being placed on his back.
"Th-thanks," Krila replies awkwardly.
Kai and Suguri organize everyone at a particular spot, and start relaying instructions for setting up the camp.
"Who will gather firewood?"
"I will," answered Kyousuke. He puts down Krila, who looks up at him with awe.
"Alright, then. Who will set up the tents?"
"I will," Sora replies. On her back is a backpack with two family-size tents attached. Just enough for ten people.
"Krila, can you set up some traps to keep intruders away?," Suguri asks her. Krila nods, and steps away, making a brief glance at Kyousuke. That leaves Yuki, Marc and myself.
"What are we to do?," Marc asks.
"Find stones for the fire pit," Kai answers him. With that, we set off in the harsh wintry wind in search of stones.
The blinding snowstorm ahead of us makes it hard to see. Beneath us is cold, crunchy white snow, and above is nothing but clouds. We cannot even see the stars above. Whenever we played, the stars would fall upon us as a blessing, giving us a chance for victory. What we did with the stars after that depended on what happened to us. If we were killed, we lost half of our stars. Whatever stars we had left after the game were used as currency. I spent it all on puddings, though.
We eventually found stones by a frozen riverbank, buried under thick snow. They are large enough to work for a fire pit, so we carry them off one by one. Marc is used to carrying heavy things, but Yuki and I struggle with each stone.
"So...heavy," Yuki grumbles.
"I think you'd better leave this to me," Marc tells the both of us. We nod and leave the stones behind, heading back to the camp. As we reach the campsite, we see Krila laying down traps ahead of us.
"Krila!" I happily call out to her. As she sees me coming, her eyes widen.
"Watch out!," she screams back to me. As I take another step, a small explosion sends me flying six feet into the air, and I fall back down onto the snow with a thud. Krila gasps in ecstasy, then rushes over to where I fell.
"Are you okay?!," she asks me with great concern. I feel drained somehow, and I cannot move. Krila shakes my back, but my consciousness is fading fast...if only I could eat that lemon...flavored...
I see Kyousuke carrying a large log in the forest. His glasses are almost completely fogged up, so he has to put the log down and wipe his glasses before continuing. This happens quite a few times before he sets down the log to rest.
"It's hard taking care of people. If only you were here, Saki..."
That's right. Saki was also a casualty. I knew that much. But Kyousuke still lives, so what went wrong?
"Who's there?"
Crap, Kyousuke noticed me. All the fangirls are going to be jealous now. I might as well show myself here. I step forward out of my hiding place, and face the cool-tempered man in front of me.
"What are you doing out here, QP?," he says as he relaxes.
Not yet, I tell myself. He could still easily overpower me. I should act natural.
"Suguri...told the rest of us to help around," I lie to him. Judging from his cold, suspicious sneer, he does not seem to buy it, but he shrugs his shoulders.
"You should be heading back to camp," he replies. "I don't need help." He gets up from his seat and lifts up the log once more, preparing to leave me behind.
"That's not true," I reply. "Didn't you ask for Saki's help just a minute ago?" He stops for a moment, then puts down the log again and wipes down his glasses.
"Saki's not here," he tells me, a touch of melancholy in his voice. He puts his glasses back on, and lifts up the log once more. A few more feet later, he proceeds to put the log down again, but I grab his hand.
"You don't have to clean your glasses," I console him. "Just follow me."
Kyousuke does not refuse, instead picking up the log and letting me drag him by the hand. The path out of the forest is straight and clear, a light at the end of Kyousuke's long path.
It will have to wait until later, I tell myself. It is only a matter of time before the dog fattens herself up...
I can taste sweet lemon pudding in my mouth.
"She's moving!," I hear Krila calling. I feel the moist, slimy texture of pudding all over my face. I lick my lips, and slowly open my eyes. Above me are the worried faces of Krila, Kai, Yuki, Marc, Suguri and Sora, all gathered around me.
"What's...going on?," I ask everyone sleepily. "Am I being sacrificed to Lord Pudi?"
"No, silly," Marc responds.
"You fell unconscious after stepping onto Krila's trap," Sora explains.
"I'm so sorry, QP," Krila apologizes.
"Pudding...," I groan. "Where is the lemon pudding?"
"You ate it," Suguri tells me. "It was Kai's idea to give it to you."
"Mmm..." I struggle to get up. Everyone moves back a bit to give me room. I look around for Kyousuke, but he's not anywhere to be seen.
"Where's Kyousuke?," I ask, still a bit woozy.
"I'm over here," I hear from my left. Everyone turns in that direction, and sure enough, Kyousuke walks up to us, putting down the log and wiping out his glasses. Upon taking a look at me, he gives me a puzzled glance.
"Back so soon? I thought you were in the forest getting kindling," he recounts. Everyone stares at him in disbelief, including myself. I know I saw him in the forest, but I could not have really been there...could I?
"What are you talking about, Kyousuke?," Yuki responds. "She was with us this whole time."
Kyousuke takes a moment to ponder what he saw in the forest. Everyone whispers about what's going on with him, but Kyousuke changes the subject after thinking for a bit.
"Anyway, I have the firewood. Who's starting up the campfire?," he speaks.
"I will," Suguri replies. She takes out her laser sword and slices the wood in three pieces. Kai follows after her and places them in the fire pit Marc set up. Sora, now finished setting up the tents, rubs two sticks together at an inhuman speed, quickly sparking a flame. With the flame set up, only one task needs accomplishing...
"Can anybody cook?," Kai asks everyone.
Everyone looks at one another with expectation. It seems nobody in the group can cook much at all, or are unwilling to cook. In the meanwhile, I take out some banana cream pudding out of my sweater and pull the top off the cup. Then Yuki takes a good look at me, followed by the envious eyes of everyone else except Krila.
"...QP?" Yuki asks me in a creepy voice.
"What?" I respond nervously.
"You wouldn't mind..." Kai joins in.
"Sharing that pudding..." Suguri lulls.
"...would you?" Marc finishes.
This is bad. I don't want to share my pudding, but I am afraid they will kill me if I do not. I know Yuki and Marc especially can loot my corpse faster than I can say 'I'm the protagonist!' Although, that's more something Kai would say.
"Guys!" A voice calls from behind my stalkers. Everyone turns to the source of the voice. Krila stands alarmingly close to the fire, and reaches out her hand. Kyousuke and Sora react immediately, rushing up to move her away. However, just as they are an arm's distance away, Krila moves back and looks up at them.
"Do you guys have a pot and some ingredients? I can fix up a quick vegetable soup," she squeaks.
The idea of an innocent-looking girl her size cooking food sounds quite appetizing. The majority of the creepers move back towards the campfire, while Yuki stays behind to continue pestering me.
"Can't you please let me have a morsel?" she begs.
"No! It's delicious," I refuse her.
After dinner, we split up into our separate tents. Kai, Kyousuke and Marc sleep in one tent, while Suguri, Yuki, Sora, Krila and I sleep in the other. It kinda sucks that the boys (plus Marc, Lord Pudi have mercy on her soul) have more room in their tent, but at least we are all huddled together against the cold.
"Uuu~," Krila whimpers as I try to sleep.
"What is it, Krila?" Sora whispers to her.
"I'm scared," Krila answers under her moaning.
"Scared of what?" Sora asks.
"It's too dark...What if monsters attack us?" Krila responds worriedly.
"It's alright," Sora assures her. "If one of the traps go off, you will know, and we will protect you." Krila continues to whimper despite Sora's comforting words. Something else is needed to calm Krila down. Sora turns to Krila and speaks to her as a mother would to her child.
"Let me tell you something that happened long ago, Krila," she starts. "There was once a girl who wanted to live peaceably on the remnants of Earth, and let others do all the work when it was in trouble. Soon, there came a time when even the usual heroine could not save the world by herself. The girl had no choice but to step in."
Krila listens to the story with intent in her eyes. All signs of fear in her began to drain away.
"The girl flew up into the sky, and discovered that the heroine of Earth fell to the darkness. She confronted her, but could not manage to save her. This made the girl very sad, and she decided to punish the people who made the heroine suffer. She killed them off one by one, until she had reached the mastermind behind it all. By now, the girl was so angry she could not see that she had fallen into the same trap that Earth's heroine had fallen into."
"What was that?" Krila asked.
"She had become...inhuman." The words sound heavy under Sora's lips. Krila notices tears running down Sora's cheeks after a long pause. Reaching out with her mangled doll, Krila catches the tears before they reach the ground. Sora wipes her eyes and looks at Krila. The little pirate wears an innocent smile, one that brings out the impurities in others and heals them. Sora's eyes threaten to well up once more at the sight of her face.
"Is that the end of the story?" Krila asks.
"Huh?" Sora wonders.
"What happened to the girl after that?" Krila repeats.
Sora remains silent for a few seconds. What happened in the story must have been very personal to her. As I lie awake in bed, I try to guess what happens next. If the girl became inhuman, what did she turn into, then? A puppy? A kitten? A Poppo? Also, what did she do? Did she cuddle up under a blanket? Did she find a plastic bag to play with? Did she play dress-up? I want to know~!
"She...I don't know," she answers. "I don't remember what happens next."
I spit out my breath after that massive disappointment. What a cliffhanger!
"QP, are you okay?" Sora asks.
"Uuu~," I answer.
Either way, Krila ends up sleeping comfortably tonight.
The next morning, we continue our trek to Tomomo's Abyss, which leads us to Suguri's home, Planet Earth. 'If it's a planet, then why is it only take up a small chunk of land?' I wonder. Regardless, it is just a large forested area with the occasional open area full of neatly-trimmed grass.
It is in one of these open areas that we decide to break for a bit. Many of us are tired from walking, and my caramel pudding is crying in my sweater. Time for a quick snack!
As I look around, I see Suguri wandering the area, looking for something. I walk up to her, continuing to spoon up the sweet caramel goodness into my mouth.
"What are you doing, Suguri?" I ask her. Suguri turns toward me as if she is surprised, only I see no expression of surprise in her.
"Oh, QP. I was just looking for a trail," she answers me.
"To Tomomo's place?"
"Kind of," she responds. "You cannot get to Tomomo's Abyss by foot. We have to find Warfare and teleport over there."
"How far is Warfare?" I ask.
"About two hours of walking away," she replies. "If I could fly, I would be able to see in what direction we should go."
"You can fly?" I exclaim in surprise.
"Not anymore," she responds. "I remember flying around in a place like this before I was engulfed in this strange blackness. That is probably when Tomomo brought me here."
"What was flying like?" I ask, quite curious.
"It's nothing special," Suguri tells me. "You do not get to enjoy the scenery much, and the wind blinds me. I prefer walking."
"Then why did you fly?"
"Because..." Suguri pauses for a moment and searches herself. I see a rare look of bewilderment in her after that. "I...cannot remember."
Sora said the same thing last night. This cannot be a coincidence, can it?
Like Suguri said before, Warfare is not too close from Planet Earth. The first thing we notice when we step out of the forest is not the desolation and damage of war, but something else entirely.
"Visitors, Poppo~!"
"Popopo~!"
"Popopopopo!"
"Ugh," Yuki groans. Even she knows the terrible reputation the enthusiastic and deceivingly-friendly Marie Poppo race carries. Built as thieves to lure us to her, Tomomo took great care in making the Poppo model suitable for the job. She had curly pink hair, short animal ears, and wore something akin to a plain country dress. Her constitution is unequal, but it did not make her a strong fighter. When Tomomo was defeated, she let the Poppos stay in an uninhabited zone as compromise, namely Warfare.
"Can Poppo help you?"
"Yes, we would like to see Tomomo," Kai tells one of the Poppos.
As the Poppos continue to surround us in strange fascination, we all withhold our belongings from their reach. I hold my sweater tightly to keep the pudding in. Suguri keeps a grip on her laser sword. Yuki holds her magnum tightly. Kai tucks his hand in his left pant pocket. Marc holds his ridiculously-sized bomb behind his back. Kyousuke holds Krila up on his shoulders.
"Okay~! Follow us, Poppo!"
We cautiously follow the Poppos towards what looks like a large red clay pillar. As we approach it, we can see several Poppos pushing against what looks like a large jackscrew, lowering the pillar.
"Step right up! We Poppos will send you up to Tomomo!" Our guide chirps.
"Thank you very much," Kai responds in a polite manner. He motions us to climb onto the pillar. All of us manage to get on with relative ease, save for Kyousuke. Sora takes Krila to allow him to climb up himself.
"Ready, Poppo?"
We all nod.
"LET GO, POPPOS~!" As the guide screams to her Poppo comrades, they all simultaneously jump away from the handles. Without any chance to react, the pillar rockets skyward, and the pressure from the air brings us all to our knees.
"Uwaaaaaaaahh~!" Krila screams as we ascend.
"Hold on!" Kai tells us.
We are soon enveloped by a bright light...
"Is this Tomomo's Abyss?" Marc questions.
We are greeted by a Greco-Roman-esque temple with the pillars and indented ridges and everything. It seemed to us as if we were floating in the sky, judging from the beautiful outside view.
"Seems to be the complete opposite," Kai remarks.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Yuki grumbles. The trip up here was very hard on all of us, Yuki especially.
"Who is there?" A familiar voice to most of us calls out. We all turn to face her.
Tomomo stands tall above us. Her coarse brown hair and grimacing, sharp grey eyes inflicts terror on those that had not stood in her presence before, Krila in particular. Her dress has billowy white sleeves, rustic colors, and a yellow neckerchief. Tying the dress together is a large mahogany bow on her back. Her footwear bears a striking resemblance to slip-on dress shoes, the white top making a stark contrast to the puce sole. In her hand is a strange staff, shaped like a sewing needle but with a tuft of cotton where the point should be.
"Ah, it's you guys," Tomomo remarks, looking pleased to see some of us here.
"Tomomo, we have to ask you something," Kai speaks. "Our friends are-"
"I know what happened to your friends," Tomomo interrupts. "After all, they are my friends, too."
"Then surely you know what is going on with the game?" Suguri pipes up.
"Indeed I do," Tomomo responds. "The die no longer works. Someone is working against the game, and the die have been replaced with fakes. I am afraid saving our friends will be impossible without retrieving those die back."
"Who stole the die?" Kai asks.
"Simple," Tomomo answers. "The Poppos did."
"Is this another of your harebrained schemes to get us here?!" Yuki shouts, pointing her magnum at Tomomo. She obviously doesn't know who she's threatening.
"Put the gun down," Tomomo tells her sharply. "Before I kill you."
"Then tell the Poppos to give us back the die!" Sora calls out.
"I cannot do that," Tomomo replies to her. "Some of them are working against me."
"Why you little..." Yuki angrily raises her gun to Tomomo and fires. The shot grazes Tomomo's left shoulder, and Tomomo winces in response. She raises her staff, concentrating her energies on us.
"Magical Massacre!" Tomomo screams. Within seconds, every one of us falls over dead on the floor...
...except me, Krila and Kyousuke. Krila, however, is breathing rather heavily after the unexpected attack. Upon seeing her friends, she stops breathing altogether, her face growing pale. Kyousuke grabs her before she faints from the shocking scene.
"Sorry about that," Tomomo murmurs after casting the spell. "I could only do that if I was wounded somewhat. Seems you three survived, so I'll tell you the rest over dinner."
"...We are humbly grateful for your hospitality," Kyousuke politely responds, showing some semblance of fear of her power. We reluctantly follow Tomomo into her dining hall.
A large spread lays before us on a long table covered with a white cloth. As we sit down on the regal-looking armchairs, many Poppos bring us plates, napkins and utensils to use. They even brought in an oxygen tank for the unconscious Krila, who sits in Kyousuke's lap.
"I do apologize again for the trouble," Tomomo repeats herself. "Death can really push people off the edge, can it?"
"Thish puddin' ish delishush!" I exclaim with my mouth full of delicious coconut-flavored pudding.
"I suppose it does," Kyousuke responds to Tomomo, ignoring my exclamation. "But if death can be averted, people will go out of their way to make it happen."
"Are you hinting at something?" Tomomo questions with a wry smile.
"All of the people that have died from this incident mean a lot to me," Kyousuke tells her. "But I want Saki alive more than anything."
"I see," she replies, understanding what he means. "You two came to this realm together. I didn't think you would develop feelings for each other, though..."
"If I could only save one of them, it would be her," he assures her.
"What of the girl you carry? Don't you think such a harmless girl should be taken care of, too?" Tomomo asks of him with a smile on her face.
"Assuming the shock has not killed her," he answers. Tomomo nods in understanding, and snaps her fingers. One of the many Poppos in the mansion, wearing a maid uniform, comes to her side.
"Make sure the child is properly treated," Tomomo tells the Maid-Poppo.
"Yes, master~!" the dwarfish maid affirms. She takes Krila from Kyousuke, along with the oxygen tank, and dashes down the hall. The sound of broken glass and banging metal ring out from said hall, and Tomomo shakes her head and sighs.
"I'll gather up the bodies of your friends as well," she tells the both of us. "In the meantime, you both should look for the rogue Poppos scattered across the realm."
"So it's another wild goose...er, Poppo chase?" I answer her, my face covered in delicious pudding.
The two of them send aloof stares at me for whatever reason. I cannot tell if it is the pudding on my face or if it is the bad joke. I assume it is the pudding.
"What? It's delicious," I tell them defensively.
Following dinner and a good night's rest, Kyousuke and I set off, under Tomomo's direction, to Star Circuit. According to her, this is a new area that popped up recently, which she felt correlated with the recent disappearance of the die blocks. With few other leads left, we have no other choice but to check it out.
In the space of two hours, we arrive at our destination. It is a space of the sky that should be physically impossible, but just exists. Everywhere is covered in large stars with smiles. Some of these stars form a convenient road across the area, hence 'Star Circuit'.
"Be careful not to fall," Kyousuke warns me. Below us is an endless pit of spiky stars. You can even see blood where some poor souls fell to their deaths. It gives me a shiver up my spine. I take out a key lime-flavored pudding to calm myself down.
Before long, we hear the chirping of Poppos along the road. Kyousuke holds his arm out to stop me.
"The Poppos are here," he tells me. "Let's slip along quietly."
"But the Poppos-"
"Shh," he silences me. I was going to tell him that Poppos have above-average hearing, but Kyousuke must already know the tip. We skedaddle along the road at a quiet pace.
"Do you hear something, Poppo?"
"I think so~"
The Poppos instantly turn their heads in our direction. Kyousuke and I freeze like a statue, but the little midgets end up far smarter than that.
"Intruders, Poppo~!"
"Pooooopooooooppooooo~"
Like a siren, one of the Poppos calls the others to arms. Some of the cute little anthropomorphs form what looks like a barricade made out of themselves in front of the entrance to a cave made from broken, crushed stars. The rest of the Poppos form organized squadrons to combat against us.
Kyousuke loosens up and sighs. He seems quite aware that we are greatly outnumbered. I eat through the rest of my pudding like a madman, but even after finishing it, I still feel nervous. Kyousuke turns his head towards my nervous face.
"I want you to do exactly as I say," he says as he starts unbuttoning his shirt. My face feels hot, and I turn away, more embarrassed than nervous.
"A-a-are you sure, Kyousuke?" I ask. "I-I'm not in heat, s-s-so..."
"Just do it," he replies. "It might hurt us both a bit, but you should be able to make it if this works."
"R-right," I answer, trying to come to terms with Kyousuke's sudden desire for dirty antics.
"I want you to follow my lead," he instructs me. "I'll plow in and break through that barrier, and you stay behind me. I'll hold them off as you get in, but you'll have to do the rest yourself."
"Huh?" I gasp in confusion.
"Let's go!" He flings off his shirt, revealing his bare chest. He grabs my hand and dashes into the Renegade Poppo Army, who are all dazzled by the nakedness of Kyousuke.
"Haah!" He thrusts his arm forward and tears through the Poppo ranks. I try desperately to keep up with him as he drills his way to the barrier. He grabs me and flings me into the netted structure, breaking it open like a formation of pins against a bowling ball.
"Farewell, QP," he utters. Facing the remainder of the RPA, he cracks his knuckles and awaits his brutal death. "I will be with you soon, Saki..."
I awaken on my back, facing the way I came in fifty-or-so feet above me. The area around me is made of an ebony stone, covered in jagged green lines resembling computer circuits. The ceiling, despite clearly having one from the outside, is either endless or nonexistent. Obsidian cubes with a similar pattern to the floor and walls float above the endless space above my head.
"I see you came," a voice echoes from the other side of the room. I sit up quickly and turn to the voice, expecting to find the one behind all this. What I see takes me aback, as it is the last person I would expect to see in a place like this.
Standing before me is myself, yet somehow not quite myself, looking down at me with a confident, nasty grin.
"I'm surprised you made it this far," she tells me. "Your lack of motivation throughout this journey has been astoundingly consistent."
"Who are you?" I ask the reflection in front of me.
"Can you not see? I am you, but Dangerous," it responds to me. "You could say...I am you from the future."
I see next to this doppelganger a column of large square blocks stacked on top of each other. Each block has a different number of dots on its face. I recognize them immediately.
"Gimme back the dice!" I tell my evil clone.
"I don't think so," she replies with a creepy smile. "You will never touch these die, as long as you live."
"What is your deal?!" I scream at her.
"I have a pudding-flavored beef with you, QP," she talks back to me in an angry tone. "You've always been the better and more popular player, and I've had enough of it! You will fall today!"
She raises her hands up and chants. The tiny bunnies in her sweater pockets jump out and swirl around her. A white beam of light lowers onto her as she completes the chant.
"Sweet Guardian, grant me pudding! Take it from the girl in front of me!"
The beam of light expands and envelopes me. I try to block the light from my eyes as I am engulfed by the light. I do not feel anything, but when the light dies down, the enemy in front of me looks quite dangerous. A pudding-tinted aura envelopes the dog-girl and her shrunken bunny heads. She flip-jumps off the height and lands in front of me, not hesitating to swipe at my side. I dodge quickly, but she sends one of her pals to push me away. The hit connects, and my body flies against the stone wall.
"How...are you...so powerful?" I groan as I struggle to stand up.
"It's quite simple, really," the Dangerous me laughs as she steps forward. "You and I are virtually the same being in the universe we came from. In this realm, we're like twins, only closer."
"What are you...saying?" I ask her.
"I'm saying that we both share the same stomach," she answers. "Ah, yes. You are quite the pudding lover. You've eaten...eight different flavors of pudding? That's quite the variety you've got there."
"Just get to the point!," I yell at her. She retaliates with another smack with her bunnies, sending me flying against the wall again.
"I gain power as you eat pudding, you numbskull!" she yells at me. "That's what Sweet Guardian does. It draws all the pudding available to me, and strengthens my attributes as a result. With this power, I can surpass even Tomomo!"
She knocks me against the wall repeatedly with her bunny heads, beating me down to the last inch of my life. She grabs me by the neck and lifts me up, priming her bunny heads for the final blow.
"But I don't want that," she finishes. "I want you..."
"Stop!" A familiar voice calls out. Out of the shadows steps Tomomo, looking quite healthy despite the army of Poppos she must have fought to get here.
"What is the meaning of this?" My doppelganger growls at them.
"It's about time we put an end to your shenanigans, Dangerous QP," Tomomo smirks. "You will not harm QP any further."
"Watch me," my doppelganger replies. She sends her bunny head to end my life...
Suddenly time stops, and the air becomes still. My body is frozen in place, but I find I can still think. But what am I to think about, other than pudding?
My friends...I can think about them. I shut my metaphorical eyes and think as hard as I can of my closest friend. Marc is there, smiling with Peat. Ah, it's a memory. I expand upon this memory.
I'm at Pudding Chase, back where it all started. Everyone that was there at the time came to a large celebration: Kai, Marc, Suguri, Peat, Yuki, Aru, Hime, Sora, Fernet, Peat, even Tomomo and the original Poppo were there. I cannot remember what the occasion was, but everyone was smiling and laughing. Was I being made fun of? No, it cannot be. This memory...it makes me feel warm, like I belong with these people.
"QP," Marc calls my name. "Happy birthday."
She hands me a gift-wrapped box the size of the bomb she carries around. I shake it to see what it is, then open it with ferocity. Inside is the biggest pudding cup I have ever seen, as big as a trash can. My eyes start tearing at the impossible, but beautiful sight.
"We all made it for you," Marc tells me with a smile. "You don't have to ask what flavor it is. Just call it...Friendly Pudding."
I remember thanking everyone for the beautiful gift, giving them hugs and enjoying myself after that, but I never ate the pudding. It looked too good to eat. Instead I kept it safe in my sweater and bought some pudding the day after. If my friendship was measured by this massive pudding alone, I wanted to keep it forever.
But now, things have changed. It's not about my friends anymore. They're dead, and this aged pudding must be eaten before I die. It's the last chance I will ever have to experience it. As the happy memory ends, time starts to move forward once again...
Dangerous me is on the ground, unmoving and beaten up like a pulp. I rise up slowly, and meet Tomomo who is wiping her hands together like she has just finished a tough job.
"Are you okay, QP?" Krila looks at me all teary-eyed. I reach over and pat her head in affirmation.
"Yeah, I'm alright," I answer her, smiling. I turn back to Dangerous me's body with concern. "But how...?"
"I used the same trick I used on your friends a while ago," Tomomo responds with a smirk. "I had to prepare Krila and myself for it before I could use it, though. We can heal up later."
"What did you do?" I ask them.
I hear the gurgle of their stomachs as they look away in embarrassment.
"Vomiting agent," Tomomo tells me.
"I'm hungry now," Krila complains.
"Let's all get something to eat at my place," Tomomo invites us. "How does eggs and bacon with 100% Orange Juice sound?"
"No pulp?" Krila requests.
"Sure, no pulp," Tomomo nods.
As we start to walk out, I cannot help but feel that something is wrong here. It feels great that we have the die back and all, but it does not feel right when everyone wins.
"Wait," I call to them.
"What is it?" Tomomo stops to ask.
"This does not feel fair to her," I respond, looking towards my Dangerous self. "We should take her with us."
"Are you crazy? She tried to kill you," Tomomo rebukes me. "And if she were allowed to live, she would surely bring an end to us all."
"That's not true," I tell her. "She just feels left out because of me. I feel if I show her the extent of the kindness everyone has shown me, she might live peacefully with us."
"Hmm," Tomomo ponders my argument. "Fair enough. Are you going to use the die?"
I shake my head. "I'll use pudding to wake her up." Sweet Guardian should still be in effect, so if I eat my massive pudding, I can get a chance to talk to her. I pull out the Friendly Pudding from my sweater and remove the lid.
"Is that the pudding we gave you on your birthday?" Tomomo asks with fascination. I nod.
"And you've been saving that until now?" she points out with a grossed-out face.
"I couldn't eat it until now," I reply. "Your friendship was too delicious to eat."
"That makes no sense," Tomomo responds as she shrugs her shoulders. "Then again, what part of this story has made any sense so far?" With that, I proceed to eat the pudding.
The taste is something I have never experienced before. I could point out many good things about it, such as the hint of cinnamon and tinge of citrus within. It is clear that my friends were at least trying to make the greatest pudding ever conceived, especially for me. Unfortunately, they did make mistakes. Someone thought to put salsa and stale bread crumbs in it, and the fact that I waited this long to eat it makes this even more apparent to my taste buds. Without a doubt, this is not the best pudding I have ever tasted. But weighing the good with the bad, it is not a terrible pudding, just a strange, wholly new flavor of pudding.
It can only be...friendly.
As I swallow the last of the pudding, I see my Dangerous self standing up in a daze. I leap out of the transparent cup and face her. She looks at me with anger and confusion.
"Why did you bring me back?" She asks me.
"Because you're still one of us," I reply. "You're my friend, and friends never abandon one another."
"That's stupid," she growls. "It's not going to change the fact that I still want you dead."
"If that's what you want," I resign myself. "Just know that I can stop you now."
"Entertain me," she smirks. The white aura forms around her and the two bunny heads circle around her. I close my eyes and think of my friends. I imagine my Dangerous self with them, smiling like she just did. That gives me enough motivation for my ultimate trump card.
"In the name of Pudding, I pray...Lord Pudi, give me strength!"
A green veil surrounds me as the ground shakes. My entire body is laced in the green blessing of Lord Pudi, and my strength greatly increases. This is a higher power gifted to only the most dedicated of pudding-lovers, known only as...
"HYYYYPEEEEERRRR MOOODE!" I scream out. Everyone in the room trembles at the sheer might of the holy power of Lord Pudi. I point to Dangerous me with confidence under my brow.
"Are YOU ready for the might of pudding?" I shout to my foe.
"Such a hammy line!" Tomomo freaks out.
"I could use some ham right about now," Krila whines.
I advance quickly, attacking my friend with all I have. Each punch is like a microburst, blowing everyone a step back each time. My friend counters with her bunny heads, and each blow is like a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier. Such power is enough to topple either of us, but neither budges. We are equal, but separate. Our blows repeat one after the other, an endless tango of ferocity, powered by the sweetest of snacks.
"PUDDIIIIIIIINNG!" we scream as we each land a final blow in the air. The entire Sealed Archive shakes uncontrollably, and its green neon lights dim one by one.
"We gotta get out of here!" Tomomo yells, attempting to take Krila with her.
"No! Not without QP!" Krila screams. She slips out from Tomomo's grasp, and runs towards the expanding shockwave. However, she is immediately snatched by a squadron of Poppos.
"Get her out of here!" Tomomo commands them.
"Popoppo!" The ever-cheerful dwarfish bandits steal away from the scene, with Krila screaming and crying for me.
"I'm sorry," Tomomo sighs with regret. "For our sake, QP...don't die." With that, she hastens away from the area herself.
We are floating in empty space.
The area is decimated by our attacks.
We are the only ones left.
Both are wounded beyond compare.
A friend struggles to breathe.
"You are strong," she utters.
"There is no greater force than pudding," I breathe out.
"Pudding alone would not have saved you," she points out. "Something else was there."
"Perhaps it is Lord Pudi?" I propose.
"Why would divine power favor you over me?" she questions.
"Because I value my friends," I answer. "Lord Pudi decreed that pudding is something best shared with friends. The more friends we share with, the less lonely the pudding afterlife will be."
"True," she replies. "I remember that scripture now."
"I extend to you my friendship," I offer with a smile.
"In the name of Pudding," she responds. She shakes my hand.
"Amen."
One week later...
Krila wakes up from what felt like a horrible nightmare to her. She has taken up residence in my house, alongside Marc, who is quite happy about letting her use the only empty bedroom in the house. Krila took it in respect for me as a friend, and now she lives a comfortable life with her restored friends.
But her trauma has not healed.
"Good morning, QP," she says to her new doll. Sora was kind enough to knit one for her, in the exact shape of my anthropomorphic canine self. Krila threw away her old doll in an instant and received the new doll with open arms. "Are you ready to play with the others today?"
The doll lies limp in her hands. She places her hand on my head and tilts it forward twice, pretending the doll is nodding.
"Alright!" Krila jumps out of bed, and heads out in her pajamas.
Around the house, people are slowly waking up and gathering around for a special dinner. Today is Krila's birthday, and as soon as she steps out, everyone congratulates her on surviving to her next year. She is happy that all her friends are here, but she is also sad for reasons unknown to her. What could it be? She wonders this all throughout the day.
At last, the hour of her celebration comes. As everyone gathers around for the traditional birthday song, Krila hugs QP tightly and smiles. The cake, a black forest with a cherry on top, burns bright with eight candles within it.
"Make a wish," Sora tells her with a smile. Krila hesitates for a moment. This would be her last wish for another year. She has to make it count. Determined, she silently utters her wish in her head.
Before she can blow out the candles, a knock on the door is heard. Everyone's heads turn left and right, wondering who could possibly be missing from the party. Krila jumps off the chair and opens the door herself, despite the protests of the guests.
The blinding light of the outside contrasts with the figure in front of her. Her eyes widen and her mouth opens. She drops the doll in her free hand, which plops onto the floor. She begins to tears up, and squeaks out something only the ears of an animal can hear.
"...This is the best birthday ever."
The End
Greetings~! EisenKoubu here. Thank you for reading my fic about one of my favorite party games! I would just like to point out a couple things before I wrap up here. First, Lord Pudi was borrowed from Hatoful Boyfriend and is not an Orange_Juice creation. I decided to use that because it's already there and it might help answer some personal questions regarding QP's obsession with pudding. Second, I would like to apologize if the events of this story do not mesh well with the stories of the games these characters belong to. I have not played any of Orange_Juice's doujin shooters, so I have little idea what the stories of those games are. I am only familiar with 100% Orange Juice, and for the foreseeable future, it will likely stay that way. Once again, thank you for reading, and feel free to share your thoughts on my work! :)
EDIT (1/19/16) - I assumed when writing this story that Marc was a crossdresser, but since I can't find the line in OJ's campaign mode, I've changed Marc's gender back to female. I've also corrected some typos and changed a few words here and there.