SBS Time!
Cody the Wordwalker: Poor Sanae did not get to watch her anime…
Game2002: Sanae got to watch it after the news report.
Chapter 4
Reversed and Insane
The next morning, Sanae and Shinygyoku, while eating breakfast at a café near the hotel they stayed at, looked into the bank robbery incident yesterday. The former, sporting a different hairstyle in the form of a ponytail, read through a newspaper containing an article on the robbery.
"This is what we will do," said Sanae without looking up from the paper. "We will go to that bank after we're done with breakfast. Because those robbers were rescued by Seija and Elis not very far from that place, it's likely that those two were present there. Why else would they decide to rescue those robbers for no reason? They must've seen them robbing the bank and thought that they would become good underlings or something like that."
"What are we to do once we go to that place?" asked Shingyoku.
"Fortunately, I found a video of the footage of those two flying using my smartphone," said Sanae, showing the gatekeeper her mobile phone. "We'll show this to the people there and ask if they have seen anyone looking like these two. Perhaps we'll be able to find out something from this and then later decide on what to do. Sounds like a good plan to me!"
"You know your way around this place, so I will let you come up with plans," said Shingyoku.
"You can leave everything to me!" said Sanae with confidence.
Things were back to normal in the bank that was previously robbed by those robbers. People went about doing business in that place like such a thing never happened.
The peace was shattered when gunfire was heard. Everyone turned to the door but saw nobody coming in. Instead, the robbers came in from the backdoor, one of them firing at the ceiling while doing so.
Everyone in the bank either screamed or ducked for cover from possible gunfire. The guard pointed his gun at the robbers, but before he could pull the trigger, Elis dashed at him and caught him by the hand and then twisted it to make him drop the gun.
While everyone was in panic, Seija jumped on top of the counter and said out loud in a cheerful-sounding voice with her arms spread out to the side, "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! It's such a pleasure to see all your horrified faces this morning! I bet none of you are expecting this to happen again after what happened yesterday?" She then waved one finger. "Guess again! These folks you thought were brought to justice are back again!"
She pointed her hands at the bank robbers, who gave her strange stares. "Hey guys! Cheer up!" Seija told them. "Isn't it great to be able to be back on stage again?"
"Can we just get to the point?" one of them asked.
"You guys are impatient, aren't you?" Seija asked him. "There's no fun if we rush things, but I suppose I can understand that, what with security being much tighter than it is compared to where I come from. Well, let's get on with the show, shall we?"
The amanojaku got down from the counter and walked towards the people, who backed away from her when she approached them. "As most of you people know, this place held some unpleasant memories because of what happened yesterday," she said. "Coincidentally, I happen to be in this very place that time. Now let me ask some of you a question: how many of you were here when that happened?" She looked around to see if she could get answers, but nobody raised their hands in response. "Oh, either everyone here is a new face or they're just too shy to admit it. Let me ask you this instead: you came here for money, right?"
She looked around for responses, but when she once again got none, she turned to one of the robbers and told her to toss over her gun. The amanojaku caught the gun and then fired it at the ceiling to scare the people before asking the same question. Scared, many of them replied that they indeed came here to do money-related businesses. She tossed the gun back to that robber after that.
Seija shook her head slowly. "Money, money, money… I've read about how the world out here is obsessed with money, about how it's what makes the world go around. I can understand the importance of it, because at where I come from, they use money as well. However, if you think money is truly the only thing that people in this world cares about, think again."
As she was saying this, she approached a nearby desk that had some papers and pens, and she picked up one of the latter and observed it. "Have you ever asked yourself this question? Is money truly more important than life? They say that money is one of the roots of evil, as wherever there is money, there is bound to be crime. They think that money is the answer to everything in the world. I'm not against people thinking that or taking pleasure in nothing but money, but to some people, committing crime is about becoming immersed in the sense of pleasure and excitement it gives! Sometimes, they feel like they simply have to do something that is against the law."
She then walked around the place with the pen in her hand. "Take me for example. It is the nature of who I am to go against the law and to do things that other people don't like. I commit crimes and cause trouble because it is in my nature to do such things, and also because it's fun! Therefore, I'm going to…" When she got close to a random person, she stabbed him in the side of the neck with it without a warning. "Kill someone just because I can!"
The sight of this caused the people to be horrified, and screams filled the place. As the man lied dying on the floor, Seija looked at the pen and said, "Oh, this isn't for stabbing people? Eh, who cares?"
While everyone was in panic at what they saw, she turned to the robbers and said, "C'mon, my friends! Fire away! Let the party noisemakers go wild! Fill this place with excitement!"
The bank robbers looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions, and when Elis told them to fire in a fierce tone, they started firing their guns all over the place, shooting down various people. Seija flew into the air and got into a resting position with one arm supporting her head while watching the killing going on down there with a large smile.
She then floated over to one of the robbers and said to him, "Did you record everything with that camera of yours?"
"Yeah, I recorded everything," he told her.
"Then leave it here for the cops to see and broadcast to the public!" Seija said as she took it from him. "By the way, is this thing still running?"
"Yeah…" he told her.
Seija then pointed the camera at herself and smiled and waved at it. "Hey there! Did you folks see all that? Just so you know, things are only going to get a lot wilder from here on out! I'm going to show this world a kind of madness it may not have witnessed before! You must be really excited to see what I have in store, right?" Noticing a dying person next to her, she bent down next to him, picked him up by the head, and asked him, "Are you excited to see what sort of chaos I'm going to cause next?"
She then moved that person's mouth by herself and said in a deeper-sounding voice, "I'm very excited!"
Seija then switched to her normal voice. "Hahaha! Then look forward to it! Or maybe not." She then twisted the person's neck before turning to the camera. "My name is Seija Kijin! Remember this name well, because I'm going to make you all go frustrated and scared every time you hear it! Yahahahahaha!"
Police cars showed up outside the bank, and the robbers that were busy looting from the vault the whole time Seija was making her speech came and said that they must run now. "Looks like I have to go! Look forward to more! Bye-bye!" Seija said to the camera before leaving the place with the others. Before she left, she hastily wrote a message saying "Play me" on a piece of paper and then put the digital camera on top of it before leaving.
The villains rushed back into the police truck they stole the previous day and drove off as fast as they could. Sitting at the back of the truck, Seija laughed and then asked the robbers, "Did you guys enjoyed my speech? Or were you too busy stealing stuff? Not saying it's a bad thing, mind you…"
"We stole a lot thanks to you! This completely makes up for what happened yesterday!" said one of them.
"It's not over yet! The real fun has only begun! Now that the people out there have gotten a glimpse of us, let's show them what more we are capable of!" said Seija. "Get ready for the next big event, guys! We're going to become celebrities by the end of today!"
"What do you have in mind next?" one of the robbers asked her.
Seija placed a finger underneath her chin and thought for a while before saying, "Honestly saying, I haven't thought of one yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something fun to do soon."
Sanae and Shingyoku arrived at the bank not too long after the police arrived at that place to investigate. After learning from one of the people there what happened, the wind priestess said in horror, "How terrible… I can't believe such a thing happened…"
"We have arrived too late…" said Shingyoku.
As she was saying that, a policeman came out of the bank with a digital camera and said to the police captain, "Sir, this camera appears to have been left behind by the robbers. It contains a recorded video of what they did."
"Then go play it," suggested the police captain.
"Excuse me, sir," Sanae said to the police captain when she heard what they said, "can we take a look at the video as well? I'm curious about what message those robbers left behind."
"We'll show it to the public after we've looked through it, so have patience, girl," the police captain told her before telling that policeman to get to work with the camera.
Sanae sighed and said, "Why must they always do things this way…? Can't a normal citizen offer any help? Not that we're exactly normal people…"
"I can sense faint magical energy coming from the back part of this building," Shingyoku told her.
"What do you mean?" asked the wind priestess.
"While in my male form, I have strong magical and spiritual abilities, and sensing magical energies is one of the things I am capable of," explained Shingyoku. "Let us go to the source first, and I will explain to you in detail."
The two made their way to the back of the bank, where they also found policemen, as they had been told that the robbers parked their ride there. "Seija and Elis's magical energy is coming from here," said Shingyoku. "It is already gone, but I can still sense whether or not someone with magical power was once here."
"Really?" said Sanae.
"I can also tell which direction they have gone to," said Shingyoku. "We will need to move fast, as the energy left behind will soon disappear, and we will be unable to track them."
"I'll leave it to you, then!" Sanae said to him.
"Please wait," said Shingyoku before closing his eyes to concentrate on sensing the energy. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and looked in a certain direction. "They have gone in that direction. The energy is growing fainter, so we must act fast."
"C'mon! Let's go!" said Sanae, and then she followed Shingyoku.
A bus filled with cheerleaders was driving down a part of the street that didn't have that many other vehicles. As the driver busied himself with which way to go, the female cheerleaders were happily doing practice for the sports game they were going to.
All of a sudden, Elis dropped down in front of the bus and, using only her bare hands, stopped the entire thing, causing more or less everyone inside to fall forward from the sudden halt.
Seija then approached the door with two robbers, both of whom were armed with guns, and knocked on it with a wicked-looking smile on her face.
Shingyoku and Sanae did their best following the invisible trail of magical energy, but in the end, the former said that the energy had vanished. "I am sorry," he said. "The energy was faint to begin with, so it vanished in a short amount of time. I am afraid that I am unable to track them down any longer."
"It's all right," said Sanae. "At least we know the general direction they headed in. Let's look around this place and see if we can find out anything."
They happened to be standing outside a television store, and some of the televisions were broadcasting the same news report. "The bank robbers left behind a message using a digital camera," said the reporter. "We will now show it to you, but please be warned, as it contains graphical scenes."
They both heard this and so turned to one of the televisions to see a video of Seija making her speech at the bank and the massacre that happened afterwards. Sanae was horrified at what she saw, especially the part where the amanojaku "played" with a dying man. "This is terrible…" she commented.
"Their evilness knows no bounds…" said Shingyoku. "They must be stopped before more innocents are harmed!"
"Definitely!" agreed Sanae. "If only we know where they are at the moment…"
Just then, they heard some screaming and shouting, so they turned and saw some people in the distance pointing at something that was concealed by buildings in shock.
The bus containing the cheerleaders was on top of a ten-story tall building, leaning halfway off the roof. Behind the bus, Elis was holding onto its back to make sure that it wouldn't fall off, while the robbers stood around her.
Inside, the cheerleaders and the driver were struck with fear and at the mercy of Seija, who was pouring gasoline onto the floor and on the people. "Cheer up! Aren't you people supposed to be called cheerleaders for a reason?" she asked them. "You should be glad that you are helping me become famous around here! It's such an honor to be able to have some sort of relation with someone who will one day be a celebrity out here!"
After she was done pouring gasoline, she threw the container aside and said, "Let me go through with you all again about what I'm going to do." She then took out a lighter and said, "See this lighter here? As you all know, oil and fire mix with each other very well, so well that they go off with a bang! While you lot are happily playing with fire, my friends out there will give your ride a big push off the roof and towards the ground below, where you will go… go… Honestly saying, I've never seen something big on fire hitting the ground from a huge height before, so this is the perfect opportunity to witness something like this!"
"Why are you doing this?!" one of the cheerleaders asked with a face full of tears.
Seija turned to her and replied, "Three reasons: the first is to publicize my little group so that we will become the hot topic of the century, the second is because it's fun, and the third is the reason I gave earlier, to see what it's like for something big and burning to hit the ground."
"You're insane!" one of them angrily shouted at her.
"Oh, I'm not insane, I'm just doing what people with the right mind usually wouldn't do," said Seija. "Thinking about it, maybe that is considered insanity... So yeah, I'm insane!" Then she laughed in a psychotic manner before leaving the bus.
Floating outside the door, she tried to light up the lighter while saying, "It's been nice knowing you people. I hope you fondly remember me at wherever you're going after this!"
Seija was having a hard time trying to get the lighter to light up, but despite this, everyone in the bus was crying and screaming in horror, as they believed that their doom was going to happen sooner or later.
Suddenly, something hit the bus from below and lifted it into the air, surprising Seija and those behind it. It was Shingyoku in her female form, lifting the bus into the air and then turning it to the side so that it was entirely on top of the building and in no danger of falling off. Placing the bus onto the floor, she turned to the surprised robbers and Elis and said, "Your acts of evil shall end here!"
"You actually came all the way out here to look for me?!" asked Elis in shock.
"She's not the only one here!" said Sanae as she landed next to Elis. "We're here to bring you people to justice! That was evil of you to want to burn those innocent people in the bus alive! I will never let you get away with this!"
Shingyoku and Sanae heard Seija speaking, so they turned around to face her. "I was expecting that someone from Gensokyo would come and look for us sooner or later," said the amanojaku. "I was expecting the gender-confused gatekeeper, but I honestly had no idea that the shrine maiden from that mountain shrine would show up. I was expecting Reimu instead."
"I came from the outside world, so I have better knowledge of this place and thus came to look for you!" Sanae told her.
"I guess it makes sense," said Seija.
"Give up now!" Sanae said while pointing at her using her wand. "Come back with us to Gensokyo quietly, or else we will use force on you!"
"Me coming quietly with you? This shows that you have no experience in dealing with me, which is also why Reimu is a lot more interesting than you!" said Seija with an evil grin, and then she let out a sigh before shrugging and slowly shaking her head. "Too bad she's not here, so I guess I'll have to make do with you instead."
"Don't worry; I'll be sure not to disappoint you!" Sanae told her.
TO BE CONTINUED
The story isn't ending yet. We're in the "middle."
Also, the bus got to the top of the building because Elis lifted it there.
Lastly, the cheerleader bus part is inspired by the second episode of the second season of the TV show Gotham.