9: UPSIDE DOWN

"I don't think we're doing the right thing, Hachiro."

"Of course we're not, dumb-ass. Be quiet, she'll wake up."

"But I'm really regretting this decision, Hachiro."

"Damn it, Rina! It's too late for second thoughts. Now help me carry her out."

The voices were distant and muffled, but Gumi could just make out their clipped, hushed sentences. Her eyes were closed. Her head felt fuzzy.

"I could always get a second job, Hachiro."

"Shut up, woman. You've already tried that. It's not enough. Now you get her arms, I've got her legs."

Gumi felt herself floating in the air. She'd always wanted to fly, like the magicians in her favorite fantasy books. Apparently she wasn't a very good flier, though, because she crashed onto the ground below. She moaned from the massive pain that spread throughout her skull.

"Shit, she's waking up!" A voice said from far above her.

Gumi moaned again and slowly opened her eyes. It took her forever to register who stood above her, and finally, it came to her-

"Mom? Dad?"

They climbed into the car, but not before Gumi's mother shot her a sad look. Then they sped off.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Where are you going?"

… … … … … … … …

Luka woke up with a pounding headache. Damn it. Another hangover. She needed to stop going to Festival. There were patients to tend to, and having her brain flattened out by tiny, invisible hammers didn't make it any easier.

She climbed out of her comfortable bed, wincing as the motion made her vision go fuzzy. She threw a robe over her lacy nightgown and left the dormitory, making sure to be quiet as she passed the other girls. With a glance through the dusty window at the darkened sky, she figured it was around 6 AM.

It was lonely and creepy in the hallway by herself. Since no one else was awake, she wasn't allowed to turn on any lights. So she felt her way around corners, occasionally hitting door handles.

When she turned left into the infirmary, she ran right into a tall, dark figure.

Startled, she shrieked and jumped back. Gakupo stepped out of the infirmary and frowned.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Jesus, yes." Luka ran a hand through her long, magenta hair. Gakupo squeezed her shoulder, moving past her into the hallway.

"Sorry. Just grabbing this." He shook the bottle of aspirin.

"Ooh, I'll take some of that." She said, grabbing the bottle and screwing it open. She swallowed one dry.

"It's for Miss Nakajima." Gakupo said, taking it back from Luka and tucking it into the pocket of his pinstripe slacks. "Figured she'd need it."

"Yeah, more than any of us. How many songs did she sing last night?"

"At least eight. Didn't get to bed until three in the morning. And the crowd kept handing her drinks."

"Yeah. Booze, no sleep, better get that to her right away. Meanwhile, I've got patients to tend to. Out of the way, Kamui."

Gakupo smiled and walked down the hallway out of sight. Luka entered the tiny, cramped room and turned on her electric lantern.

The few people that lay on bare cots groaned and rolled over, turning away from the light. She smiled and put a blanket over the lantern, muting the light. Then she flicked the switch on a small, round machine, preparing her patients' tea. Luka

barely knew them, but that didn't stop her from treating them like her children.

She had to, since she couldn't have any herself.

… … … … … … …. …

Gumi rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms, accidentally hitting something when she did. She looked left and jumped, shrieking softly.

"Are you going to freak me out every time I wake up?" She asked, sighing and falling back onto her pillow.

Gakupo smiled apologetically. "I'll try."

"What's that? Ooh, awesome." She sighed with relief as she unscrewed the bottle of aspirin and swallowed two. "I can't believe you guys do that every other night."

Gakupo shrugged. "If you ask me, its pretty stupid of them. I'm sure its not worth risking our security."

"Hey, I'd say its pretty worth it. Festival is fantastic." Gumi put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes. She could still hear the crowd screaming her name.

Gakupo smiled. He was happy the gang had already accepted her into the family.

As he left the tiny room reserved for new members, he hummed a few bars of Gumi's song "Panda Hero" to himself.

Pa pa lah Pa Pa lah….

… … … … … … … … … …

Miku knocked three times on Len's door and waited patiently. After minutes of waiting, she grew impatient, and opened the door.

Started, Kaito and Len jumped away from each other.

"Sorry!" Miku blushed and began to leave. "I'll come back."

"No, it's okay. What's up, Miku?" Len asked, nonchalant. Kaito grabbed a brush from the sidetable and ran it through his messy blue hair.

"I'm…uh…calling a meeting. My office this time. It's urgent. So…come when you're ready." She scratched her head and looked at her shoes, the depression filling her soul again. Seeing her ex-boyfriend making out with someone else just reminded her of all the good times they had together, and those memories were occupying her brain now.

"So, yeah. See you there." She quickly left, closing the door behind her.

… … … … … … … …

"You want to what?" Len cried, leaning forward in disbelief.

"Miku, that's not going to be easy." Luka said, frowning.

"So much to organize." Gakupo rubbed his temples, already thinking of all the precautions he'd have to take.

"I've made my decision, everyone. It's for the best." Miku said, folding her arms and glaring at her team.

Rin shook her head. "So, what, we're just going to run away from everything?"

"That's not what moving means. We're just putting ourselves at a safer distance from the new kids in town. We don't need any more kidnappings or interrogations. Not everyone is as strong as Meiko. Do you want it to be like last time? Having to travel in packs every time you went outside? I won't risk another turf war."

"But we were here first." Mikuo said. "I know its childish, but still."

"They came here looking for trouble. We've had enough of that. Besides, moving to another area of Japan will make it easier to raid smaller villages. Gather supplies and weapons. Then we might be ready to take on the Alyss."

The rest of the team were silent as they pondered this.

Finally, Meiko spoke up. "She's right."

The others glared at her.

"What?" Meiko shrugged. "We don't have near enough fire power to take them down. From what I understand, the old Alyss had at least three hundred members, and that was just in Japan. They're a worldwide trend."

"So are we, though." Kaito said. "People in France go around claiming they're one of us. Children in Beijing draw little stripes on their noses in washable marker. We're just as big as they are."

"How many members do we have now? Won't it be impossible to move all of us from one location to another?" Len asked.

"Head count last month told us we have two hundred and seventy four." Mikuo said.

"Seventy five." Gakupo added, and for a brief moment, everyone smiled. They'd all enjoyed Gumi's performance last night.

"I've already worked out how we'll move. We'll go in small groups of twenty, every few days. One of us will lead each group."

"We've only got one car." Meiko said.

"Yeah, and where are we going, exactly? Have you picked out a location?"

"Yes, actually. Another ghost town, near the Katakami River. It's about 18 miles away."

"You've really thought this through." Mikuo said, surprised and a little proud of his sister.

"Why there?" Luka asked. "Just curious."

"There's a huge, empty shopping mall, big enough to hold everyone. I mean, this school is big, but its small as far as schools go."

"Ooh." Rin said. "A mall would be perfect for us."

"You just like it cause it's a mall." Len punched his sister in the shoulder, and she smirked.

"So how do we get there? Like I said, we've got one car." Meiko asked, determined to keep Miku on the ground.

"Ah." Miku smiled wickedly. "That's the fun part."

Everyone leaned forward eagerly. The Matryoshka hadn't had proper fun for years.

Miku let them wait a few seconds, until finally whispering, "We're going to hijack a train."