AKB0048 BATTLESHIP KATYUSHA, BUNK ROOMS
Honoka came to her senses around two hours after she had been socked unconscious by Ooshima Yuuko the 9th. Her cheek had been covered up by a gauze and some medical tapes to prevent any further swelling.
Honoka groggily got up and pressed her forehead, maybe from the shock Yuuko's punch might have given. She pressed on the memories she last had before that moment.
Ah, that's right. Tsubasa-san is…
She could not even finish the thought, as she silently sobbed at the sad reality.
It was not like she has accepted it, however. It was the fact that it was a hopeless case nevertheless.
AKB's abilities were not for keeping someone alive. It was to make people feel like they were alive.
Honoka realized that, and got mad at herself for doubting AKB.
"Ah, stupid ol' me…" Honoka muttered and messed her hair up as she looked down on her bed. She shifted her position to make herself sit on the edges of the bed.
She was on the bottom platform of the double deck, and sleeping before her were Honoka's former members; some from her generation, some were not. But she knew all of them, especially Ayako, who was currently the Yuki Kashiwagi of AKB.
"Well, in the end, we all make mistakes, huh…" Honoka continued to mutter as she resolved herself to stand up. She then exited the room to look out the halls.
Things became awfully peaceful ever since the rescue mission. Everyone seemed to be asleep, as she heard nobody walking in the halls. Well, except for one familiar girl.
This certain girl was headed towards the bunk rooms, so she saw Honoka exit the room just then.
"Ah, Kousaka Honoka-san. Or should I say… Ooshima Yuuko the 6th."
Honoka turned to see the girl, who had brown hair and the same lump of hair tied to a right side ponytail.
"Ah, Ooshima Yuuko the 9th, huh…" Honoka called and looked at the girl in front of her with intent.
"Seems like you just woke up. Wanna head over for coffee?" Yuuko offered. "Maybe we can talk things out while drinking."
"Ah, yeah, sure," Honoka agreed. "I'm in."
Yuuko then lead the way without any more words, as if she was assured that Honoka would follow.
The latter did, and they were soon in a vending machine. They got what they wanted, and then sat down on the benches right across the machines. They then popped open their cans and took a sip, at a seemingly exact same time.
After Honoka took her sip, she then asked Yuuko. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"First of all, I wanna say sorry," Yuuko said. "I guess punching you across the face was too harsh for a method to calm you down."
"Ah, don't mind it," Honoka denied, waving off Yuuko's apology. "I think that was best. I must've gone crazy back then. But apologizing isn't the only thing you wanted to talk about, right?"
"You see, Honoka-san—or rather, Honoka-senpai," Yuuko started, "I just want to know how you feel right now, after Kira Tsubasa-san's…"
"Ah, that…" Honoka muttered as her heart stopped for a moment. It went from calm to crazy in a matter of seconds. She gripped her can with sheer force. "Please don't bring her up. I'm still in a shock."
"I'm sorry, but I… just wanna know how painful it is to lose someone," Yuuko reasoned.
"It just hurts, okay?!" Honoka suddenly shouted, dropping her drink and standing up to face Yuuko, who was still sitting down. "Even gripping my chest doesn't make it feel any better! You can't think of anything else. You can't run away from her! You can't even bring her back! It makes you regret everything you've done so far until that moment! Urgh, this is so damn painful!" Honoka then clutched at her chest to stop the pain, but it was not at all helpful.
"Ho-Honoka-senpai!" Yuuko shouted as she put aside her coffee to support Honoka.
"Damn those DES… I'll kill them!" Honoka muttered her resolve, and stood up as she walked briskly towards the hangar. "Even if it means my end!"
"Oi, Honoka-senpai, wait up!" Yuuko called out as she followed Honoka. She wore a quite worried face. No, it was worse than worry.
She had to watch over Honoka and what she was about to do.
DES BATTLESHIP GUSION, NAKAJIMA'S OFFICE
"… And to that," Shimada concluded, "Captain, I would like to ask for your permission to let me test this one out."
"No," Nakajima immediately declined. "I'm not risking any of my soldiers in this. Especially Ryuko. Shall anything happen to her, we'll lose all hope in defeating AKB."
"I've been telling you a lot of times now, Captain. This procedure will not only improve her performance, but she also can be free to become the top idol she wants to be. Don't you think it's a win-win?" Shimada said.
"And I've been telling you, Dr. Shimada," Nakajima countered, "This experiment of yours is way too risky. First of all, you are proposing an electric bond between the power source and the mech. That requires a lot of body experiments, and it will cost us a lot if we put this to use. And we should also consider repairing the Gusion II. If you have any idea how hard it is to find scrap metal in space, then you must understand why I cannot permit you."
"But Captain, this will double—no, triple Ryuko-chan's performance! Isn't this—" Shimada brought out his argument, but…
"I told you no already, didn't I?!" Nakajima shouted, thus surprising the scientist. "Get out of my office and rethink your proposal. Come back when you have some plan that will not harm any of my men or Ryuko in any way possible."
Shimada grinded his teeth against each other, but he muttered, "Yes, Captain." The scientist then stood up and walked out of Nakajima's office.
The captain, who was keeping a stern face throughout the entire discussion, sighed and finally showed worry.
"What the hell was with that proposal? He might even risk death," Nakajima muttered as he put his thoughts around Ryuko.
I'll keep her alive and free of harm, until that moment…
His thoughts were interrupted when the whole room suddenly shook.
"What—?!" Nakajima shouted as he stood up from his chair. The shaking only lasted for a second, but it was not excusable. He ran out of his office and checked the halls. "What happened?! Who—?!" Just when he was about to ask who did the shaking, he saw it.
An AKB LAS…
"What happened?!" a girl's voice came from Nakajima's back, and out came Ryuko. "AK0048… are they being reckless?! Sending out a single LAS to tackle our ship?!"
OUTER SPACE, OUTSIDE DES BATTLESHIP GUSION
"YOU BASTARDS!"
"YOU KILLED TSUBASA-SAN, DIDN'T YOU?!"
"I'LL GET MY REVENGE ON YOU!"
"I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
"COME OUT HERE!"
All of those were Honoka's statements as she launched missiles and energy beams at the helm of the ship. The staff were trying the return fire, but they didn't get to touch Honoka. With such skill, there was almost no one who could best Honoka in battle when she was at the peak of her emotions.
The battleship then proceeded to sending out unmanned mechas to apprehend the intruder, but Honoka just brushed through them with grace. Her talent in fighting was splendid, and it was on a whole new level.
All this while no music was heard.
"YOU GUYS AIN'T COMING OUT, ARE YOU?! I'LL JUST HAVE TO—!" Honoka pointed her rocket launcher as well as her gun, but they were both out of ammo. "Damn, at this point of time…?! There should still be—!" She looked at her weapons and saw that there were still indeed plenty of them. "Then, why...?! Move!" She then tried to control her LAS, but it was in no condition to move at all.
"Now's the time! Fire!" a command sounded out through outer space, and a series of energy beams and missiles came towards Honoka.
Honoka's eyes widened as she realized that the LAS itself had lost energy.
"Why? Why won't you move?!" Honoka angrily muttered while she budged on the controls. No, they were not moving. Not an inch.
So all of my efforts were in vain, huh…
Honoka closed her eyes and prepared for heavy impact.
But someone came in front of her and shielded her from the projectiles.
"Eh…?" Honoka sounded as she slowly opened her eyes to what seemed like the most blinding sight ever. A silhouette of another LAS could be seen, and it met the impact of the missiles and lasers. "Yuuko-san?"
"Ho-Honoka-senpai…!" Yuuko stuttered as she held out the pain she was feeling through the explosions. "Sing! Give the mech energy with your voice!"
Honoka kept silent and chose from the list of songs she was supposed to sing as she came to a realization.
That's right… I'm supposed to give life to this LAS through song!
"Beginner" started to play, and they went through the intro before the verses, where Honoka was supposed to start singing.
But when she opened her mouth, Honoka's voice did not come out. Not even a shred of it came out.
"Honoka-senpai?! What happened?!" Yuuko called out as she finally came to get Honoka away from the projectiles. "Tch, this again… For now, let's retreat, senpai!"
"… Senpai? But I'm a year younger than you…" Honoka muttered, but enough to let Yuuko hear through the comlink.
"Because. That's all I can say," Yuuko replied, and saw that Honoka was already sleepy. "Take a rest, senpai. I'll carry you towards our ship."
"… Yeah…" Honoka obliged, closed her eyes, and fell unconscious. She must have consumed a lot of energy.
"You sure have your burst of energy… senpai," Yuuko muttered to herself as she carried Honoka's pod. "Looks like I'll be learning a lot again…"
AKB0048 BATTLESHIP KATYUSHA, HANGAR
When Yuuko arrived with Honoka's pod, everyone crowded the two and started to rain Yuuko down with questions, like "What happened?", "Did something harm her?", "Why did she go out all of a sudden?", or anything along those lines.
"I'll answer all of your questions later! Just let Honoka-senpai rest!"
"… Senpai?" Yuki asked. The others seemed to ask the same. "A person of your age calling someone younger than you senpai?"
"It's a matter of experience, is all," Yuuko simply claimed and brought Honoka out of her pod before carrying her inside the ship. "Yukirin. Her voice—"
"I know that, but I have to admit that this is not stress. Her voice box should be overworked from all that shouting," Yuki answered without hesitation.
"Eh?" Yuuko sounded. It wasn't Honoka's case she was worried about. Well, that too, but what was more of concern was that her voice could be heard from more than a thousand miles.
Was Honoka-senpai's voice that powerful before?
"Anyways, her voice should recover in a certain number of days with some adequate rest. That's all I can say," Yuki added, and ushered the others to give way to Yuuko. "Now, get a move on. I believe your senpai is not getting any more comfortable." Yuki giggled after, making Yuuko blush red.
"Th-That's not…! Geez, I'll be going now!" Yuuko rushed to say so, and then proceeded to taking Honoka to the bunk rooms.
"Ahhh, there she goes… To think this Yuuko would actually have her own upperclassman…" Yuki muttered. "Ah, that bring me, how are Toudou-san and Yuuki-san?"
Sayaka answered, "They're still not coming out of their rooms. The food we've been giving them only had one bite off them each."
"This is bad…" Kojiharu said while crossing her arms. "Everyone seems to be affected by that girl's death…"
"Of course they'd be," Acchan agreed. "Losing someone dear… just hurts."
"I wish we can do something for them…" Yuki whispered, thinking hard of ways.
"Takamina-san! Yuki-san!" someone called from inside the ship.
The called ones turned to the voice.
"Ah, Sonoda-san," Takamina called back. "What brings you here?"
"We… We want to join AKB!" Umi said, her head high.
"We want to help Honoka-chan!" Kotori added.
"We can't let her do everything alone," Umi continued. "As her friends, we want to support her! To the best we can!"
"Girls... What will you do to support her, then?" Takamina asked, her face serious.
"We will… Muse will fight! Anything for Honoka!" Umi answered.
"… You'll need more training than that," Takamina concluded.
"Eh? Why is that?" Umi asked in the midst of her surprise.
"AKB does not sing to fight," Takamina informed. "We sing to reach out to people's hearts. We hold concerts to give people a ray of light. That light is hope, and we're doing this to give them hope, not to let them succumb to despair."
"… So… are we not good enough?" Umi, who led the group, asked the question which seemed like a statement of defeat.
"But I like your resolve. Anything to give Honoka this ray of hope, huh… And to say you'd fight for it, despite not having any combat experience. It's been a while since anyone has had a resolve like that," Takamina said. "You're in. If anyone in this place objects, then we'll have to test them. How about it? To the attendants who don't want to let them in, raise your hand."
No one raised a hand, much less a finger.
"Anyone who wants to let them in, raise your hand."
And everybody, almost simultaneously, raised their hands.
"Guess we have no objections," Takamina voiced out her observations. "Yup. Welcome to AKB0048, 78th Generation." Takamina then gave out a hand for them to shake.
Umi responded and shook Takamina's hand, but the latter tightened her grip of Umi's hand, to the point that the bluenette cringed from the pain. Takamina smirked to this and brought out a powerful aura.
"Practice starts tomorrow. Just to let you know, our practice sessions aren't like your hourly dance lessons and voice practices. Is that right, girls?" Takamina informed and called out to all her members.
All of them responded with a seemingly dark expression. One of them muttered, "Practice is hell in AKB…"
"So! Will you be taking them on?" Takamina challenged.
"What do you think of us?" Umi shot back, her head high and her mouth curved into a proud smile. She also wore the same aura Takamina was carrying, and the members of Muse just smiled nervously as they knew that Umi has found herself another demon. "We accept your challenge!"
