Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
Here ya go. Another chapter.
Keroro wiped at his brow with a wet towel. "He won."
Natsumi didn't have anything she could tell Keroro. She had lost against Giroro, too.
"What do you think 966 is going to make with those materials?" asked Saburo. "We have no clues, no idea what his plan will be at all." He couldn't brighten the mood to the agency's loss, but he tried to keep them on track. "We don't even know if Giroro will steal again. For all we know, 966 has the materials he needs now and the world could be doomed."
"Don't give up, Saburo!" Natsumi pleaded.
"When our main team loses against him so much, it's kind of hard not to." Saburo laughed for a moment, jabbing at her pride. She frowned... that wasn't particularly nice.
"Natsumi's been training very hard. We all have, with Tamama's new training procedures," Momoka said. "It's just that our morale is low... We've been getting beaten so much."
"I'm sorry." Natsumi honestly was. "I should have never been beaten. The stupid frog shouldn't have needed to go on the field. He could have died. Giroro could have killed him." She didn't know how Giroro felt about Keroro anymore, but he had seemed more dangerous in their latest battle. The friendship they once had was now permanently broken. It was if Giroro was trying to distance himself from them, especially her. She knew her secret - her name was still safe in Giroro's hands - but the lives of others wasn't something she was willing to gamble with.
"He didn't kill me, though. I think there's still an ounce of good in him deep down," said Keroro. He was letting Mois baby him, bandaging him up as Tamama narrowed his eyes and watched her like a hawk. "I just wish I had concrete proof that he was good. That there was something in him to make him doubt his loyalty."
Natsumi wished, too. She fingered her shirt pocket, feeling a slim piece of paper. She pulled it out and read it with a confused expression. She didn't remember putting anything in there!
"966 is going to use mind control," she spoke. "Giroro... He must have slipped me this in battle!"
"Mind control? But... mind control isn't possible." Saburo flipped through some files. "Mind susceptibility is a theory that you could make someone do something for you if you subtly prodded and suggested it to them in a particular way... but it hasn't been perfected to be used in any government organizations or corporations beyond normal marketing. Achieving absolute mind control would take some serious thinking on a whole other level." He ran his hand through his hair. "This is bad. Very bad. So this is what he was planning."
"Mois, I'm good. No need to stroke my hair." Keroro pushed her off when he saw Saburo sweating at the news about 966. "Okay. We have the facts, our mission, and our goal. All of you will undertake constant training from now on," he ordered. "We will investigate every 966 incident. We have to find him. This guy is a serious threat. We cannot let him achieve absolute mind control. It'll be over for all of us."
Natsumi grinned. Constant training... she could do that! So she would pretty much live in the dorms with Koyuki for a bit as she tried to better herself. 966 would not win this time.
She had to work on increasing Mois and Momoka's strength, too. They kept getting their butts kicked way too easily.
"I'll get my men to do your homework for you. No need to worry about school..." said Keroro. "No outside activities, either."
"NO!" It was Momoka who refused, slamming her fists on the table. "You can't do that."
"Well, I suppose you'll have to still take care of your work as an heiress," said Keroro, "but that benefits us, so it's fine, Momoka - "
Steam poured from her mouth. "I have planned for over a month to make our school dance extravagant! You are not letting us skip it. It's going to be the night of our lives!"
Natsumi opened her mouth for a moment. Oh yeah. We have a school dance coming up! It was the talk of the school - everyone was excited about it. A night of dancing... an excuse to ask someone out. Natsumi mostly didn't care much for it. Why go to a school dance with normal high school boys when she was a spy that could be running around rooftops stopping bad guys? A school dance seemed so juvenile and boring compared to that.
The only one she had talked to about it was Mois, who was very excited about it. Romance and all. Natsumi had easily shrugged and said she was ditching.
"You got Fukki to accept, didn't you?" Tamama said bluntly, a smile on his face. He hadn't known Momoka for very long but he had kind of gotten friendly with her. Also, her crush on Fuyuki was quite apparent.
Momoka blushed. "Nothing is going to stop me from dancing with Fuyuki. He accepted my invitation to go on a date with him! Okay, so he might not think of it as a date... but whatever! He's going with me! That's all that matters."
Natsumi would have laughed if things weren't so serious. "Momoka... maybe we could have a dance just for you two back at the office?"
"I agree with Momoka, actually," said Mois. "Can we please have the day off for the dance? Everybody at school knows Tamama and me! They all expect us to go, so it would be weird if we skipped out."
Keroro frowned. "Look, I'm your guys' boss! I say no dance! Did you miss the part about a super villian developing mind control? We can't just call off work so you can get your teen hormones on!"
Momoka crossed her arms. "Our boss, huh?" She sat down with a smirk. "And... could you remind me who funds this agency? Who owns half of the world's economy? Who is more powerful than you can ever imagine?"
Keroro gulped. "Be reasonable, Momoka."
"He accepted a date with me!" she reiterated. "Nobody is ruining that for me. Not you or 966! I will break his mind control just to dance with Fuyuki, if that's the case. But we are going to the dance and that's final."
Keroro slumped in his seat. Why did the agency continue to hire rash teens and children instead of competent adults like Saburo? Saburo was level-headed. Smart. Collected. More Peach Summer Snow, on the other hand? Only Koyuki seemed to be able to follow orders and not think about dancing.
Keroro was defeated. "I... I suppose than you can all go to that dance. Mois makes a good point about it being suspicious if you were missing."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Natsumi just looked at him oddly. "B-but... But what about all the cool spy stuff we could be doing to deal with 966?"
"There are other spies in this agency. And Koyuki will be staying here, of course," he said matter-of-factly.
Natsumi just kicked at the floor. She wanted to have a training montage. She didn't want to go to a boring dance!
"You didn't get a date, did you, Natsumi?" Keroro asked with a smirk.
She looked pretty annoyed. "Shut up. I don't want a date. I want to stop villains."
"I can be your date!" Koyuki volunteered.
"Nah, last time you went out in public, you challenged what was then a civilian to a fight. AND LOST," he reminded her. Tamama sneered and stuck his tongue at her. Keroro sighed. "I can't even believe this..."
"I'm sure you'll find someone. I can ask one of the guys I know, if you want," Mois offered.
Natsumi shook her head. That was even more humiliating. "I'll just go alone."
"All right," she agreed. "I'm just so happy and excited we get another break! Like, we got one recently, but hopefully Tamama won't almost die this time." She smiled and hugged Keroro. "Thank you! I'll think of you while dancing!"
"Get your paws off of him, woman," Tamama growled. "Don't tell me you have your eyes on this prize, too!"
Keroro struck a pose. "I do like to be referred to as a prize, given my stunning appearance."
"I'm not doing anything wrong. There's no crime for... well..." She blushed. "...being in love."
Tamama gasped. "Oh no, you didn't just - ! You stole my popularity. My candy. Everything. But you are not stealing him. I didn't know it was possible to hate you anymore than I did, but now I do." He glared at her.
Love, huh? Wish that was true, Natsumi thought to herself. Clearly Tamama was conned by this act. Maybe Saburo, too, because he was smiling at the little act. Natsumi wasn't fooled. Mois talked waaay too much about her boyfriend to be really in love with Keroro. It was more for her disguise than anything else.
I guess disguises take more than putting a ribbon around your face or changing your hair color. It's changing actions and personality, too, she realized.
Still, she wished Mois was in love with Keroro. He was stupid, but he was in the agency and she could potentially get together with him. He wasn't bratty or dorky like Kululu. And he wasn't constantly checking out Koyuki. That was going to blow up reeeaaally badly.
If I can't take out world-wide evil the night of the dance, I suppose I'll have to settle for the evil in my friends' lives. Natsumi cracked her knuckles. I'll confront Kululu about his feelings for Koyuki and I'll kick his butt. He doesn't deserve Mois. Way easier than kicking 966's butt, but still a nice warm-up.
Maybe good would still come from this dance. She had been filled with dread for it, but now it didn't seem too bad.
"Keroro...~" Tamama said in a sing-song voice. "You know I go to that school with the dance, right?"
"Um... yeah. Obviously. You're in Natsumi's and Mois's grade. I know that," Keroro told him.
"Yeah! Well, I don't have a date, either! I was going to go just to pig out on food and be beautiful and let people know how much better I am than them." He gave him puppy-dog eyes. "But if someone... say,you wanted to come and be my date... they allow you to bring older dates from outside of the school and you're not too much older..."
"Ummm... I'm going to stay here and do actual work, like a normal person!" said Keroro.
"But I'm so cute!" Tamama whined.
Saburo looked between the two of them and draped an arm around Keroro's shoulder. "You know... about 966... and about Tamama..." He whispered something to Keroro that Natsumi couldn't hear.
Keroro's eyes light up with some sort of wonder and realization. "That can't be true! You really think that?"
"It's the only hypothesis I have. One way to find out, right? So you might as well accept being Tamama's date," Saburo suggested.
"Fine. T-Tamama... I guess I'll be your date." Keroro avoided eye contact and blushed a little bit.
"SQUEE! He's mine now, woman!" Tamama was joyful and grabbed Keroro's arm. He looked so happy, so innocent.
"Aww... you're kind of cute - uh, I mean, this could be kind of fun. You probably think me being your date is an innocent sort of thing," Keroro looked at Tamama like he was a child.
"We gonna bang!" Tamama stated.
Keroro turned deep red and dove under a pile of paperwork.
Natsumi laughed. "Awww! That's kind of cute, stupid frog! You have a boyfriend!" she grinned. "Didn't know you'd be so embarrassed."
"I... I have a lot of th-things to do, like, um... look! There's like a speck of dust on my desk! And, oh, did anyone notice we had a clock in here?" Keroro was rambling. "So don't talk to me."
Natsumi cackled more.
"We're all going, though. So it's no big deal! I mean, besides Koyuki," he pointed out.
"Yeah, I'll be going too," Saburo nodded, "All right if I go with you, Natsumi?" He gave her one of his winning smiles.
Natsumi turned a deep shade of pink. Despite all her failures, Saburo was asking her out? It was like a dream!
Maybe... this dance wouldn't be as bad as she originally thought.
Natsumi put more preparations into the dance than was necessary. She had a date with the greatest spy ever after all - Saburo!
Giroro, Keroro, 966, they could wait. She actually had a social life for once!
Koyuki was happy to help her dress up for this dance. She did seem a little concerned how everybody was not looking into Giroro's location and instead focusing on this dance. But she kept her mouth shut because all of her friends were excited.
Natsumi knew this would be a great night.
The dance was held in a large, extravagant ball room. Momoka had had it built for the school just for this event.
Natsumi walked in, trying to stand tall and have confidence in herself. She just needed to act cool around Saburo. This was a break from the 966 mission.
Students were standing all around chattering as lights shone. everywhere. She could see some outfits had more effort than others, but Natsumi couldn't see Saburo in sight. He and Keroro probably hadn't gotten there yet.
"Mois! Stop fussing! It's fine." Natsumi could hear Kululu's voice and she turned to see a faint blush across his cheeks. He was looking down at his girlfriend, who was fixing his cape.
"But it's not in the middle. The bow isn't even tied properly," Mois pouted.
"I don't even know why you put me in a cape. That's not appropriate attire for a dance. I'll step on it!" Kululu complained.
"But you look so cute in it," she teased. "I've never seen you dressed so fancy!"
"I look more like some sort of super villain than a high schooler at a dance. Well, unless I was attending some masquerade ball I suppose. Then it would be appropriate attire. But I suppose I can't blame youfor reading the fliers wrong." Kululu was clearly placing blame.
"Awww, sorry! I really thought it was a masquerade!" she apologized.
"Then why aren't you in a fancy masquerade dress? Why didn't you bring a mask?" Kululu asked. His mask was now in the trash.
"Ummm..." She looked off to the side.
He sighed. "It was just a scheme to get me in fancy clothes, huh?"
"I can't help it! You're so fun to dress up... Are you mad at me?"
"A little bit. I do look awful threatening. And you know I couldn't hurt a fly!" Kululu pulled her closer and kissed her ear. "I love you anyway, you're still the cutest thing to be created by this earth. Dressing me up because you've got a thing for this sort of stuff doesn't tick me off too much... In fact, it makes me more turned on than anything - "
She covered his mouth with her hand. "Shhh... Natsumi at 12 o'clock."
Kululu stopped flirting. Instead of blushing or acting dorky, he just looked at Natsumi with this weird and threatening gaze.
"Mois! You're here... early?" She tried to ignore Kululu's stare. Was it threatening? Was he leering at her? He was looking her up and down, examining each part of her body like she was a piece of meat. She guessed that now that Koyuki was gone, he was ready to cheat on Mois with the next person. And she was that new object of affection.
"Yeah. I was at Kululu's house," Mois smiled. "You should see it! So many alarms..."
Kululu draped an arm around Mois's shoulder. "H-hey, maybe don't invite your friend to my house? You know how shy I am..."
This startled her. "Sorry, Kululu!"
"It's all right." He ruffled her hair and looked at her affectionately.
Natsumi tried not to make a disgusted face. Then she realized since Saburo hadn't shown up that this was a perfect time to talk to Kululu. She just needed to get him alone.
I can make this into a mission. Get the target on his own so I can take him out. Simple and easy. Should I man-handle or go the manipulation route? I think I'll do manipulation. Natsumi wasn't that skilled in that area and could always use some practice. "Having fun?" she asked Mois.
"A lot! I was just trying to convince Kululu to dance with me, but he keeps tripping." Mois looked down a bit disappointed. "I wanna dance!"
"I can't help it that I can't keep up with a cheerleader," he defended. "I'm not a very good dancer."
Dork, Natsumi thought. "Well, I'm sure loads of other guys would just love to dance with Mois if you can't."
Kululu's eyebrow twitched. Natsumi grinned a little bit. He should feel the pain. Mois could be with whoever she wanted if he had the gall to mentally cheat on her. Who knew, maybe he actually WAS cheating on her? "Hey, Mois? My date hasn't arrived yet. Mind if I teach Kululu to dance while I wait?"
Mois looked confused by the request. "I can't agree to things for Kululu - "
"I'll dance with her," he decided. Mois's mouth opened up a little bit in shock. So he wouldn't dance with her, but he'd dance with Natsumi?
"Good, can you look for Saburo while I teach him to dance." Natsumi grabbed Kululu's gloved hand and pulled him away, leaving Mois alone.
"Good luck?" Mois wasn't even sure what was happening. All she knew was Natsumi was now gone with her boyfriend.
And she left to go scout out Keroro and Saburo.
As soon as Mois was gone, Kululu's attitude immediately changed. The nice, though pathetic, dorky person that Natsumi was used to now looked at her with a threatening glare. He gripped her arm and had no empathy in his eyes. Even so, there was interest in his eyes.
He's probably checking me out. Looking at me like I'm a piece of meat. Natsumi felt disgusted as Kululu spun her.
He wasn't as bad at dancing as he had claimed. His moves were more calculated and defined than he had implied. They had a dramatic flair to them.
"I thought you said you couldn't dance," Natsumi said. "You're leading me more than I'm leading you."
"I can't dance with Mois. You ever tried to dance with someone who jumps around as a hobby? She's way too agile and... and cute! And she always looks up at me with those eyes—" He cleared his throat.
"Not a nice way to talk about your girlfriend," she chided. "You know Mois is a very good friend of mine."
"I... know. She talks about you a lot. Truth be told, before the train ride, I was wondering what kind of person this mysterious Natsumi was, but meeting you..." A soft smile spread across his lips. Natsumi smiled as well, ready to hear it. "...was a big disappointment."
Her jaw dropped. What an awful thing to say! Was this how he won girls? "I could say the same about you. The moment I met you, I knew you weren't right for Mois."
Kululu continued dancing with her, hand on hers as he twirled her. Their dance stayed intense, classmates unaware of the hatred airing between them.
"I could say the same about you. It took me a bit to realize it, but she doesn't need friends like you." He was glaring now.
"She doesn't need you in her life. I caught you looking at Koyuki. I caught you looking at me, even. We're not just some flings you can use to cheat on Mois. I know who you are. You're scum. Pervy, cheating scum," she accused.
Kululu's glasses glinted. "What's the problem at looking at Koyuki? Is that a crime? And don't read into it too much. I'm looking at you exactly as how you are - an annoying twerp. I wouldn't want any sort of relationship with either of you."
"You're only going to end up hurting her. And when you do, there will be hell to pay. So back off now and maybe you won't get your butt kicked so humiliatingly that you'll piss your pants in front of the entire school and go crying back to your mommy!" she threatened.
Kululu gripped her waist, his fingernails digging in. "I would never hurt Mois, so don't even think of threatening me like that. But you, on the other hand, are definitely going to end up hurting her. She doesn't even know your true nature," he hissed. Natsumi wondered what he meant. Probably that she was mean and threatening Mois's boyfriend. "But I'm going to tell you simply, if you hurt Mois, you won't even have to worry about crying. All your worries, all your hopes, dreams, happiness, anger, sadness... It will be gone. Because I will end you," he whispered it into her ear. "So good luck, Natsumi Hinata. Good luck trying your hardest to not hurt Mois."
Natsumi felt a chill. His words were just a regular, immature threat, but he said them so calmly. It wasn't a real death threat. She knew that. He just carried himself so highly. She was just caught off-guard.
He bowed after the dance and turned away. "A sufficient dancing lesson. Thank you."
"I found Saburo!" Mois ran toward Natsumi, pulling Saburo by the hand. Kululu tried to avoid looking at Mois holding another guy's hand so he wouldn't be too jealous. But the two quickly switched partners.
Saburo waved as Mois left. "Who was that?" he asked. "Didn't know you had someone else to dance with."
"Mois's boyfriend," said Natsumi.
Saburo furrowed his brow. "Didn't know she HAD a boyfriend. She's not supposed to."
"It's for her cover. And to keep her admirers away," Natsumi explained. Saburo nodded. Still, he was in the dark that she even had one.
"Poor sucker." Saburo just shook his head.
"Umm... want to dance?" Natsumi asked, her face turning a little red.
"Hmm... I suppose that would make me fit in best. But I have work to do," he told her.
Natsumi frowned, tears welling up in her eyes. Did he ask me out just so he could do undercover work? Damn. She didn't like being used.
That was just beginning of that night.
Momoka loved dancing with Fuyuki. She loved talking with him. But surprisingly, she felt a little bad about ditching her friends and their mission - catching 966.
Should I have really made us stop working? she wondered. People smiled all around her, but she was filled with doubt. This was a perfect opportunity with the boy of her dreams, but was it right?
"Is something wrong, Momoka?" Fuyuki asked, tilting her chin a bit to see her frown. Momoka blushed.
"I... I wanted so badly to go to the dance with you that I canceled work. But... 966 is planning something awful," she confessed.
Fuyuki smiled a little. "It was sweet that you wanted to dance with me. But we could have done that any day. And we're here now, so that's what matters. I think all you need to do is start planning how to kick that guy's butt. If you want, we can sit down at a table with some punch and work."
Momoka shook her head. "As long as I keep my eyes on the mission, I think I'm good." There had to be a mission here. Why else would Saburo of all people ask Natsumi out? Although Natsumi had a big crush on him, it was common knowledge to all but her that he wasn't very interested. Sometimes his missions involved him getting into a relationship with someone of power and getting their secrets. He was a player; it was easy for Natsumi to fall for him. He loved flirting, but he didn't really like anyone.
He had flirted with Koyuki, Mois... and Fuyuki, oddly enough, when Natsumi wasn't around. Momoka just felt sorry for her.
She's going to get her heart crushed eventually unless she grows out of it, she thought to herself. Sad.
Far away from the ballroom, Giroro walked along the top of rooftops. His orders were to install a weird device 966 had created that would make most of the city's populace's minds turn to mind-controlled mush.
It was a prototype, to see if a mind control plot could successfully make him rule the world.
Odd. Natsumi isn't attacking me, Giroro realized when he was scouting out the perfect location for this antenna. He had looked into if Natsumi would be safe when the antenna hit the ground. The signal didn't reach her school, and from what he had looked into, her school was having this big dance thing that night, anyway.
So Natsumi might be the only one not affected by the mind control. Everybody else, including anyone in the agency's office, where he knew the new location of, would be 966's puppets.
He found the perfect rooftop. Big, large, and had the electrical ports 966 had described to him that he needed.
"Here," Giroro decided, smiling and walking toward the roof.
"Oh no you don't," someone hissed. Giroro turned around and faced a middle-aged woman dressed in a motorcycle jacket and looking quite cool. Her dark blue hair was tied up in a ponytail. She smiled, cracking her knuckles. "I won't let you."
"You from the agency?" Giroro asked. He didn't recognize this agent.
"Yeah. Just got called back from a big mission to kick your butt. Heard my daughter's been doing a good job of that, but she's busy," said the woman.
Giroro paused a moment as he did a double-take. "Your daughter is Summer?"
The woman smiled. "Name's Fall. Prepared to get your butt kicked by me, too?"
Giroro grinned. "I've put Summer behind me. It's a new season for me. I won't be getting humiliated again any time soon."
Aki rushed at him, ready to attack. But Giroro easily defended her blows. Unlike Natsumi, her fighting style was solely the agency's, and Giroro knew it well. After only a few short moments, Aki was lying on the ground, covered in bruises and unable to move.
"You're not as good as your daughter. Retire," Giroro said harshly.
Aki just grit her teeth. "My daughter is extraordinary," she agreed. Her voice sounded calm, but inside she was panicking. I wasn't supposed to lose! I was chosen for this mission because I'm one of the agency's top agents. But Giroro was devised to be a soldier. He was tougher than her in hand-to-hand combat.
She couldn't lose. The world would be doomed if she did. So as Giroro turned his back on her, she pulled out something from her pocket. I've never used one of these because they blow too much up, but Mois made them. Maybe it's time to test them. She threw it at the antenna just as Giroro put it down.
In a flash of light, Aki's brain was mush. She just lay there awaiting orders from 966, but the moment of blankness didn't last long. In a flash of light the antenna blew up. Giroro jumped backward before he could be caught in the explosion.
"DAMMIT!" Giroro growled. "Now I'll have to go back to the warehouse and get another! That's going to take a whole ten minutes."
Aki's eyes widened. It only minorly inconvenienced him? She couldn't move, though - the mind control, however brief, had tired her out. Most of the populace must be lying on the ground just from the brief invasion in their heads.
Giroro rushed off before she could get up and stop him.
Natsumi. Fuyuki. Be safe.
The explosion had been pretty large and had taken out Giroro's ideal broadcrasting spot. And although he had a new prototype, he didn't know where to stick it.
He took out his small little tracker, invented by 966, that showed the best locations for a signal the closer he got.
"Wish I could just ask 966 to his face where he wants me to put this. But he had to be in a business meeting of some sort. I didn't even know he talked to anyone besides me." Giroro frowned. It was probably those government officials 966 was catfishing for money. At least, he used to be doing that before Giroro had come to work for him. That's what he told him, at least.
The light on his device started blinking with a very good location. Lots of people to test and a good signal throughout the city. "N-Natsumi's school..." Giroro realized. Or, more precisely, where her dance was taking place.
966 had given him specific orders not to attack the school, but he wasn't attacking it. Just placing something there. So... it was okay. And he kind of wanted to provoke Natsumi into fighting him.
But Natsumi might be put in danger. No. You have to put Natsumi out of your head. Remember? You're a villain. You're not in love with her or something. Seducing her to the dark side had not gone well, but he was willing enough if she chose to join of her own accord. Still, thinking of Natsumi was getting in the way of his job.
He had to move on.
"So... the school, I suppose." He headed off.
"Sorry, Natsumi," Giroro apologized on the roof of the school. He broke the glass of one of the skylights.
Students screamed as someone jumped down from the rooftop.
"G-Giroro?" Natsumi was shocked. So work wouldn't wait. But she couldn't attack him in public! She had a reputation to maintain.
Giroro smiled. "No battle. All your minds will be ours soon - " He was about to plunge the antenna into the ground just as the lights went out, casting the building in total darkness.
Everybody screamed.
More skylights broke and glass rained down, letting the moonlight stream in. Ropes were thrown down as the ninjas that they had seen on the beach jumped down.
"Orders, sir?" spoke of the ninja asked.
"Take them all out!" said another.
Oh no. Oh no! Oh no. Natsumi gritted her teeth as the ninjas wildly attacked. Things were bad enough with just Giroro, but now the ninja were only here to "spread chaos" and get Giroro and her to attack each other? They would have done that on their own! Now they probably had to team up against them or something...
Students screamed. In a panic, every one started rushing around. Nishizawa guards flowed in to fight the ninja. Priceless artifacts, windows, and chandeliers of all sorts started shattering.
Natsumi was so worried for her fellow classmates and friends. She couldn't see where Giroro was if he had started the mind control or something. It was too dark.
She felt a hand on her arm. Saburo pulled her under the table.
"Saburo?" Natsumi asked, barely making out his silhouette. "Wh-what's going on...?"
"Sorry, Natsumi. I organized this a little bit." Saburo tried to be chipper. He handed her her uniform. "Your mother lured Giroro away from his ideal location so that he would only be able to broad-cast from this school. Your mom was beaten, thanks to Giroro being familiar with the agency's fighting style, but I wanted to nip this mind control thing in the butt," Saburo confessed. "So I lured him to where your team was so you could take him out on familiar territory. It's your time to be a hero."
So that was the plan. Natsumi smiled, although she didn't like being used. "What about all the ninja? Was that part of the plan?"
"Yeah, you'll recognize they don't fight the same as the old ones. We're impersonating them for another reason... Just an inkling of a suspicion I have. I'll tell you if it's confirmed to be true." He shot her a smile. "You, Momoka, and Mois can take them easily. Go be a hero."
Natsumi nodded and let him turn around while she changed into her outfit as quickly as she could. She wiggled out of under the table to face the ninjas and Giroro.
Her eyes adjusted for a moment to see Koyuki there.
"I was called in," Koyuki smiled. "Students have started being evacuated by the Nishizawa guards." She looked around at the attacking Nishizawas putting on a show by only pretend-fighting the Nishizawa guards in non-fatal ways.
"Wh-what's with the ninjas?" Koyuki was very confused.
"I'll tell you later. We have to stop Giroro before he uses that mind control antenna," Natsumi told her. She pushed her anger at Saburo out of her head and tried to look for Giroro, or for anyone she recognized.
Momoka and Mois quickly joined Natsumi's ranks and smiled, eventually finding Giroro standing on the stage, ready to plunge the antenna into the ground.
"You can't stop me. Sorry," Giroro told them, laughing. It was dark, and he worked much better in darkness than they did. "Even with these weird ninja things."
They got ready to fight. But at that exact moment, the lights turned on and Giroro screamed at something behind Natsumi.
"Argh!" Natsumi rubbed her forehead at the bright lights. She looked at Giroro, who was pale as a ghost.
"I don't know what's going on here, but this is a bit much for the agency if they want to stop my plans, huh? Ku, ku, ku." Natsumi heard a terrifying laughter and turned around. Near the doorway stood 966, who looked and sounded just as his holographic version had. How had he gotten there? She wasn't sure. But his hand was on the light switch.
"Don't know who these dumb ninja guys are, but their party's over. Ku, ku, ku." 966 pressed a button on a device he had attached to his glove. A cold blast circulated around the room, freezing everyone in place.
No...No! 966 is here? Natsumi frowned. Giroro, she could deal with, but both of them at once? Maybe this was the final battle.
Nobody could move. Not the fake ninjas, not them, not the Nishizawa guards, not even the fleeing students.
966 laughed. "Ku, ku, ku." He walked slowly and dramatically up to the stage with Giroro, who was just as frozen as the rest of them. "Now... Giroro, buddy, pal... What orders did I give you?" He draped his arm around Giroro ignoring the rest of them.
Natsumi wanted to move, to stop 966 from attaching the antenna, but she couldn't. She was struggling. They all were. But none of them could move. They could speak, but Natsumi was so scared, she couldn't. Scared that she had lost. That all her friends and she were going to die.
"Attach this to the place with the best signal," Giroro told him simply. "And this ballroom has the best signal. It'll get the entire city instead of that one small district you told me to look at."
966's face moved closer to Giroro's so that they were eye to eye. He said a bit quieter, "Yes, but what did I tell you concerning this school?"
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... never attack it. But, you see, I'm not attacking it! I'm testing your invention! Nobody will be hurt, don't worry," he assured. "I wasn't planning on hurting anyone. But then the ninjas came in and - "
966 grabbed Giroro's collar and kicked him in the gut with his sharp boot, throwing him across the stage. "DO NOT EVER ATTACK THIS SCHOOL. YOU HEAR ME? I made that very simple! DO NOT TOUCH THIS PLACE. And you deliberately disobeyed me. Sorry buddy, but there's going to have to be some punishments here. Ku, ku, ku. After all, the future ruler of the world can't go easy on anyone who's disobeyed him." 966 pressed something and Giroro was zapped with electricity.
"OW... what was that?" Giroro asked.
"Electrical chip I installed in you. Ku, ku, ku. Better than the Agency's. You hardly noticed." He released another diabolical laugh.
Giroro's eyes widened as he realized 966 had done to him exactly what the Agency had. The last bits of 966's comradery and human emotions were slipping away... if they had even BEEN there in the first place! Giroro had thought they were friends! But 966 had attacked him in his anger.
"Not only that, but you were conned," 966 continued. "These ninja here don't attack like the Underground. I bet it's just the Agency's little show to lure you out. Ku, ku, ku. Idiot." He pressed a button, and the frozen ninjas disintegrated into dust.
He had killed them in only a second.
"Y-you... You killed them!" Momoka squeaked out, finally drawing attention to her. They had just been agents acting... and 966 had killed them. He could kill everyone else, too. They were all in his hands, his toys to play with.
They had lost.
"Huh?" 966 wasn't very interested in Natsumi's team, but he glanced at Momoka. "Sure did. I can't forgive anyone who puts these poor lonely students in danger." His voice dropped volume. "Hmmm... the Nishizawa heir? Geez, you'll have to do better than putting a ribbon around your face to hide your identity. I always forget I live in a world of idiots."
Momoka was able to break free of her frozen shackles and paralysis just to slump onto the floor in defeat. Her identity - broken in front of all the students. Hopefully they hadn't been listening. 966 was right about the idiot thing. But he had easily figured her out.
"Did you hear that?" the students chattered. Momoka covered her ears. "966 saved us from that evil agency that sent ninjas to attack! Wow, he's a hero! He's chosen to protect us!" The students cheered his name.
Natsumi's eyes widened. No! That was the opposite of what they were supposed to think. Why were they cheering his name?
966 was probably grinning under his mask. He looked at his hand snarkily, as if he was the best. "Yeah, I know, I'm the greatest. Keep on cheering for me."
Was that why he had chosen to not attack the school? Because high schoolers were idiots and would happily make him their leader?
Natsumi wasn't sure. But she was sure of one thing. Because of the damage he had done to Giroro, it was clear this was the real 966 and not some hologram.
If Momoka could break free from the paralysis, she could. Struggling with all her might, she managed to finally move her foot. Koyuki and Mois got the idea and finally were able to move forward.
"966, I think it's time for a rematch." Natsumi jumped onto the stage. ,A real 966 she could attack. Much better than a hologram. "I might have lost this time, but you won't beat my team. We're More Peach Summer Snow and we will save this school - even the world - from your grasp."
"Sure I'll fight you," 966 shrugged, "Miss Natsumi Hinata...~ ku, ku, ku." He said her real name in barely a whisper.
She turned pale and glanced at Giroro. YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T TELL HIM! she wanted to shout. Giroro was crap. He had broken his promise and he was as good as dead to her now. She was so ticked off. All her fears were turning to reality.
"Summer, stop! You'll lose. He's much tougher than us right now," Koyuki advised. Natsumi shook her head. She couldn't give up. If she did, it was over. He wouldn't just leave without hurting everyone, without turning their minds to mush.
So she couldn't walk away either.
"966, our team will beat you!" Mois shouted.
966 tilted his head and stepped back.
"I won't forgive someone for conning the students like you do - hurting this planet!" She pulled herself off the stage to confront him. "You might want to protect this school, but so do I. And I will not forgive you for you or your henchmen for attacking something I find so precious!" Her speech was overdone and heroic, but it seemed to get the students back on their side, chanting the words "More Peach Summer Snow" instead of "966" like they were witnessing sports teams fighting and weren't all in danger.
Mois, nice job playing for the crowd, but we're still in danger. Wait - don't pull out an explosive! It could hurt some civilians! Natsumi put a hand on Mois's before she went fishing for firecrackers in her bag.
To her surprise, 966 clutched his head. "Wait, who are - No... No...! It couldn't be... That doesn't make sense! But - " He looked among Mois, Koyuki and Natsumi.
"What? Scared to fight us now that you've seen my whole team?" Natsumi teased. She could see 966 was shaking, much to her confusion. "Attack on my signal - "
She was cut off by both Koyuki and Mois charging at him. He pushed Koyuki away with a blast from his glove that exerted some sort of air pressure, making her just jump back to the wall, but he grabbed Mois's hand lightly and moved his face closer to hers.
"Your eyes - "
"What's wrong with my eyes?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said quickly.
Mois punched him in the gut. Her hand was greeted by his thin layer of dense armor and she cried out in pain.
Natsumi frowned. They were getting beaten. But to her surprise, 966 turned away. He grabbed his antenna and looked at Giroro.
"Get up. We're leaving. We're done here," he told him.
"O... okay..." Giroro seemed just as confused as Natsumi. "But... what about More Peach Summer Snow?"
"They can have the victory, if they want. I'm bored," 966 said simply. And he and Giroro left.
An hour later, paramedics came to the school and unfroze everyone. Natsumi still wasn't sure what had happened.
Had they lost? Won? What was going on?
Why had 966 acted so weirdly? Why had they survived that battle?
She didn't know.
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