"Hey! Hey, Lily-chan! Wake up!"
The young zombie shuffled in bed, but didn't get up. A frown appeared on her face. "What?" she mumbled.
"I have something to show you~!" Sakura sang softly.
"What?"
"Come to the basement and you'll see!" she smiled.
"I don't wanna go down there, it's gross…" she whined.
"It's really important! Please?"
"No!" She pulled the covers up over her head.
"Come on! I really want you to take a look at this!"
"Go away…"
"Not until you come see what I have in the basement."
"Fine!" She threw the covers off of her and turned to face her. She sat up and pouted. "But I won't like it."
Sakura pushed open the door. "Just sit down over there, please!"
"Hello, Lily-chan," Yuugiri waved. She was seated in the center chair. She motioned for the child to join her.
"Hi." She took a seat next to her angrily. She crossed her arms and pouted.
"Grruh," Tae groaned. She had been gnawing on one of the chairs.
"Okay!" Sakura exclaimed. She walked to the front of the room where Koutarou had stood two mornings prior and put her hands on her hips. "Now, I'm sure you're all wondering why I brought you down here!"
She was met with nothing but blank stares.
"U-um, alright, well, uh…" she stammered, as she had honestly expected a better response. What do I do? They're upset I woke them up at three in the morning!
"What is it?" moaned Lily. "Just tell us already!"
"Oh, um, well, I'm sure you all are aware of what happened yesterday…"
Lily and Yuugiri nodded. Tae blinked one eye after the other.
"Well, I've come up with a plan!" She smacked the board just as Koutarou had to spin it around. The board didn't move. "Huh?" She hit it again. Again, it didn't budge.
"You're hitting it on the hinge, dear. You've got to hit it lower," Yuugiri explained.
"Oh." She smacked the bottom of the chalkboard. It came and crashed down onto her head. "Ow!" She rubbed her head before stepping to the side and pushing it the rest of the way down manually. Drawn on the board was a rather detailed drawing of Saki, Ai, and Junko with the kanji for 'Operation: Save the Saviors of Saga!' written above it. "Operation: Save the Saviors of Saga! We have to find them and we have to bring them back home and we have to save Saga! Any questions?"
Lily raised her hand.
"Yes, Lily-chan?"
"Why do we have to do that?"
"To save Saga!"
"Well, why do we have to do THAT?"
"Well, when we went on stage, back when you all weren't awake, it felt incredible. I was so happy. And the audience was happy, too! I was excited to see how well we would do with a fully conscious team, but they didn't even give it a chance…"
Lily slumped down in her chair and crossed her arms. "That's not a very good reason…"
"If I may," Yuugiri asked.
"Yes, Yuugiri-san?"
"How are you planning to convince them?"
"Huh?"
"Well, they seemed quite devoted to their escape… You have a plan for retrieving them, do you not?"
She paused for a moment. She hadn't considered the method she would use to convince them to return. "I… don't know."
"You don't even know how you're gonna get them back?" Lily asked.
"Well, um, not yet, no, but…"
"So you dragged me out of bed to tell me you were gonna do this but don't have any plan at all?!"
"Well when you put it that way, then it…"
Lily stood up and started stomping toward the door. "Yuugirin, I'm going back to bed."
"Okay."
"W-wait, no, don't-"
The door slammed shut as the child stormed out of the room.
Sakura and Yuugiri stared at each other for a second before Yuugiri started. "Perhaps I should-"
"Yeah, go…"
She stood up and walked to the door. "Terribly sorry." She walked out, softly closing the door behind her.
Sakura stared at the back wall of the dungeon. I should have known that wouldn't work…
"Grrhhhh…" Tae groaned.
"Oh, Tae-chan! I forgot you were here…"
She looked up at her in response to hearing her name.
"Well, do you like the plan?"
She tilted her head to the side and let out a questioning grumble. "Grrah?"
She sighed and smiled. "Well, it's good to know that someone doesn't hate it."
