Chapter 43: Azumanga Daioh VII
Opening Theme: Shining Days (Mai-HiME)
Yuri stared at the girl who had stopped her. She had never met this girl in her life so why suddenly stop her in the hallway like this?
"What?" Yuri asked still a bit shocked.
"I'm your rival!" the girl declared pointing her thumb at herself.
- Kagura Keiko, 15 Years Old, High School Student at Azumanga High School -
"And I'm challenging you at the sports festival!" she stated pointing at Yuri.
Yuri took a step back as question marks popped up behind her head as she started at Keiko dumbfounded. Who was this girl and why did she call Yuri her rival?
"I…um…" Yuri managed to say.
"The name's Kagura Keiko and I'll be seeing ya around!" she declared before running off leaving behind a very confused Yuri.
"What was that about Sakaki?" Koyomi asked.
"I'm not sure," Yuri admitted.
"Yeah she was strange," Tomo said. "Anyway I'm starving, let's get lunch!"
"Why are you so damn loud?" Koyomi asked shaking her head in annoyance. "It's so embarrassing being around you."
"Aw don't say that Yomi," Tomo said putting an arm round her shoulder. "I know what will cheer you up. A nice lunch… or are you on a diet again?"
"I'm not on a diet!" Koyomi shouted just as her stomach growled. Her face turned red as she looked down.
"Right," Tomo said with a smirk. "So anyway let's get lunch!"
"We're back, home, we've returned!" Rein called. As she and Hanabi entered Chiyo's house. After no one came to greet them Rein turned towards Hanabi. "Are you sure Mikoto knows how to make it back home?"
"I'm sure she found the two of us just fine in Amestris remember?" Hanabi asked with a smirk. "I'm sure she will find her way home."
"I hope so I'm worried," Rein said.
"Why are you talking about Mikoto like she's a dog?" Winry asked as she sleepily leaned over the railing.
"Winry!" Hanabi called in happiness.
"Finally decided to see us after all this time huh?" Rein asked. "So how are you doing, how do you feel, how have you been?"
"I'm okay," Winry said. "Going back to Mikoto, where is she?"
"We don't know," Rein admitted with a shrug. "She ran out of the clothing store and just disappeared, vanished and went missing."
"We were hoping she made it back home, but I guess not," Hanabi said with a sigh.
"Well it is Mikoto right?" Winry asked the two. "I'm sure she is alright."
Mikoto awoke in an unfamiliar place. She tried to stand up but found herself chained to the floor and the wall. Mikoto grunted as she tried to pull herself free but to no avail.
The door to the room she was in opened getting the girl's attention. The two people who walked in were Raid and Aki. Mikoto growled at seeing Aki. Aki smirked at her response to seeing him again.
"She's just like a wild animal," Aki chuckled to himself. "I doubt it will do much good to make her our crewmate captain."
"You never know what kind of crew may come in handy," Raid told Aki with a smirk on his face. "Either way she seems to have quiet the fighting spirit so why not."
"I'm not going with you!" Mikoto stated. "I'm going back to Hanabi, Rein and Winry!"
Raid took a moment to process the new information. His eyes then lit up in realization. "By Hanabi you mean Nefertari D. Hanabi the princess of pirates yes?"
"That's right!" Mikoto stated. "I'm with her!"
"So that means the others failed," Aki sighed. "Oh well I didn't have much hope in them anyway." He then began to laugh. "I still can't believe that Luke still thinks that you were serious that time."
"Silence Aki," Raid said. "I'm going to invite this little girl to my crew right now."
Raid approached Mikoto. When he got close enough Mikoto lunged at him with her teeth bared. Raid moved out of the way in time and grabbed her neck. He then slammed her face into the ground.
"You got spunk I'll give you that," Raid told the downed girl. "But don't think I'll just let you attack me like that." His hand began to glow with an eerie green light. "I'll be sure to punish you once you are a part of my crew!"
Mikoto screamed as her whole body what wrecked by an intense stream of pain.
"I'm home," Chiyo said opening the door to her house. Getting no response Chiyo walked up to the rooms that the Nefertari Pirates were using. Giving each one a knock and receiving no answer led Chiyo to believe they were all out.
"But where did they go?" Chiyo asked tilting her head to the side in confusion.
"It's hopeless, dreadful, and absolutely terrible," Rein sighed as she fell backwards onto a chair outside a café. "We can't find Mikoto anywhere."
The group had been looking for about two hours but could find any sign of Mikoto anywhere. The three were all starting to get really worried. Even Hanabi was worried now. She had thought Mikoto would have met up with them by now but she was nowhere to be seen.
Winry came out of the café with a tray of food and drinks. She sat them on the table for everyone to help themselves. Rein picked up her soda and took a few sips while Winry pocked at her sundae. Hanabi took a bite of her parfait before setting her spoon down. "I'm sure Mikoto is fine," Hanabi told the two getting a confused look from them.
"What do you mean?" Rein asked. "How can you be certain, so sure and know that?"
"She is one of the crewmates I picked out," Hanabi said smiling at Rein and Winry. "I know that no matter what happens you all will find a way to push through." Hanabi took another bite of her parfait, this time with a huge smile.
Rein and Winry were shocked upon hearing this. Did that apply to them too? It must have since Hanabi asked them to join. Hanabi had a lot of faith in them to say something like that. At that point the two had the same thought in mind. 'I need to get stronger so Hanabi won't have to take back what she just said!'
Sometime later the three girls made it back to Chiyo's house and sat down in front of the T.V. Winry didn't stay long however and went back upstairs to her room. Rein also stood up and walk towards the back of the house. Hanabi sighed after they left. Mikoto was missing and now her other two crewmates were off doing something.
Chiyo walked into the room a bit surprised to see Hanabi sitting on the couch. "Oh Hanabi-san I didn't know you made it back already," Chiyo said her smile returning to her face. "Where are the others?"
"Rein and Winry went somewhere else in the house and Mikoto is missing," Hanabi told her much to Chiyo's surprise. "We have to find Mikoto somehow."
"Maybe she just got lost," Chiyo suggested.
"I doubt it," Hanabi said. "She found me and Rein traveling across two countries in a few days."
"Oh…" Chiyo said in a barely audible voice.
"Well enough about that," Hanabi said trying to put her missing crewmate in the back of her mind for now. "What did you sign up for in the sports festival?"
"Oh, I signed up for the three legged race, tug of war, cheerleading and ball rolling," Chiyo said with a weak smile.
"I see," Hanabi said in thought. She knew what tug of war and cheerleading was. She however, had no idea what the other two games were.
"Anyway," Chiyo said with a bigger smile. "I'm going to start making dinner so can you tell the others to wash up soon," Chiyo said walking into the kitchen.
"Sure," Hanabi said turning on the T.V.
Kamineko ran through the dark streets as fast as he could. He lost his footing and collapsed to the ground. He struggled to look up as he remembered what had just happened.
-Flashback-
Kamineko had followed Aki from the shadows of the surrounding buildings and trees. He was waiting for a moment to attack and free the girl Aki was carrying. It wasn't common for Kamineko to like a human but Mikoto seemed nice.
Kamineko followed him to a rundown building. While Aki walked through the front door Kamineko began to leap from ledge to ledge as he made his way up to the fourth floor. Peering inside each window he passed he found the rooms to be either pitch black or completely empty. The rooms that were too dark for humans to see into had various weapons and other objects that Kamineko didn't find too important.
Suddenly on a floor below him a green flash of light lit up a window which was accompanied Mikoto's cry of pain. Kamineko quickly leapt down and slid through the gap in the window. Aki noticed Kamineko and pulled out a few vials of powder from his pockets.
"Oh there is the cat I was going to cook up," he said disinterested.
"Rude little creature breaking into our house," Raid said removing Mikoto's shackles. "Let's see what he'll do, right my new subornment?"
Mikoto stood up and turned to face Kamineko. Then she turned to face Raid and clenched her fist. Kamineko leapt for Aki with his mouth agape. However he was stopped as Mikoto turned around and kicked him back into the wall.
Kamineko stood up and stared at Mikoto in shock. "Don't attack my crewmates!" Mikoto growled at the little black cat.
"Well said," Raid said. "Now get that thing out of my sight."
Aki threw the powder down at the little animal. Kamineko bounced off the wall and into the air above the three humans in the room. Mikoto leapt up and punched Kamineko resulting in him flying through the window and down to the ground.
-End Flashback-
Kamineko struggled back to his feet before taking off down the road again. He wasn't sure who to turn to. He knew he had to help the girl that he had befriended. He wasn't sure where he was headed but he hoped it was to someone who could help.
He made it to a house before his strength left him and he collapsed barely conscious. He heard the door to the house open and a gasp. He then felt himself getting picked up by someone. "You poor thing," was all he heard before his consciousness left him.
It had been two days since Mikoto disappeared and it was also the day of the sports festival. Chiyo had told the three members of the Nefertari pirates that they were allowed to come and watch as members of her family if they wanted. Winry declined seeing as there was nothing for her to gain mechanical wise by going and decided to hold up in her room again.
Hanabi was going to look for Mikoto but was persuaded by Rein to go and cheer Chiyo on. Hanabi needed to see how skilled Chiyo was outside of the kitchen after all. So Hanabi went with Chiyo while Rein went out to look for Mikoto.
Hanabi and Chiyo made it to the school and met up with Yukari's class of 1-3. Upon noticing them Tomo was the first to speak.
"Yo Chiyo-suke and Hanabi!" Tomo called to them waving her arm in the air. "What took you so long?"
"It's a long story," Chiyo said not really wanting to go into it. Then she noticed something. "Where's Sakaki-san?"
"We don't know," Koyomi said her voice filled with worry.
"She could be hurt out there," Kaori said with tears in her eyes. "We should go find her!"
"I'm sure she's fine," Koyomi said.
"First Mikoto-san and now Sakaki-san…" Chiyo said silently. Hanabi however was close enough to hear her.
"You think they are connected?" Hanabi asked leaning down to whisper to Chiyo.
"I'm not sure," Chiyo whispered back. "But the two of them disappeared about two days from each other. It is bound to seem suspicious."
"We'll just have to keep an eye out," Hanabi said.
"Yeah," Chiyo responded until she noticed what she was saying. "Though I haven't joined up yet."
"I know," Hanabi said with a wide smile.
Kamineko awoke in a strange place. Glancing around he came to find that he was in a room. Whose room he was in was unknown to the little cat. Suddenly the door opened to reveal someone Kamineko knew. It was Sakaki Yuri, the girl who was always trying to pet him.
"Oh good you're awake," Sakaki said setting down a bowl of milk and water. "You were outside of my house and seemed injured so I brought you inside and took care of you. What happened?"
Kamineko was about to hiss at her when a thought came to him. She might be able to help him save Mikoto. Kamineko rose to his feet and jumped out the window much to Yuri's shock. She leaned out the window to see Kamineko staring back at her from in front of the house. Taking the hint Yuri hopped out of the window and began to follow Kamineko.
Rein sighed as she continued to look for the missing HiME. She had no idea where she could have gotten to. She was about to look in another part of town when something small and black shot through her legs. "What was that?" Rein asked as someone ran passed her. "Sakaki!?" Rein called out giving chase.
"Rein," Yuri said looking at the shorter girl. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm looking for Mikoto," Rein said. "What are you doing here? Isn't the sports festival today?"
"Oh… right," Yuri said just remembering. "I forgot about it since I was taking care of him." Yuri pointed to Kamineko as she said this.
"So where is it going then?" Rein asked.
"I don't know but he wants me to follow him," Yuri said as the three continued to run through the streets.
Raid walked up to a large building. "So this is where she said it was?" he asked himself. He glanced down at the name of the school. "Azumanga High School huh?" He had no idea where to look in this place so the easiest thing to do would be to destroy it and everyone in it and then start looking. "Are you ready to fight for our crew Mikoto?"
"Of course captain Raid," Mikoto nodded as the two walked into the school grounds.
Rein and Yuri followed Kamineko to a building and stopped. "Why bring us here?" Rein asked.
"I don't know but I'm going to find out," Yuri said entering the large complex with Rein and Kamineko not far behind.
Upon entering the building Kamineko led them up to the fourth floor. He walked up to a room and began to paw at it.
"Whatever this is about is behind this door," Yuri said reaching out to open the door.
"And what do you think you're doing?" a voice asked from behind them. The three turned to see Aki and another man. The man had long silver hair and blue eyes. He wore a white suit with white shoes. On his hip was a tonfa.
-Tamaki, 25 Years Old, Navigator of the Raid Pirates-
"Who are you people?" Yuri asked.
"We are members of the Raid Pirates and this is our base," Aki said.
"The Raid Pirates!?" Rein asked in shock. "The same group as that guy with the cannon!?"
"Oh so you are the one who beat Chase then?" Aki asked uninterested "Well he was the weakest of us. I guess I could capture you like the other one and have you join up with us."
"Other one…" Rein repeated as the information sunk in. "You are the one who took Mikoto!" Rein shouted drawing a few cards getting ready to fight.
"And what if I am?" Aki asked as Tamaki grabbed his tonfa.
"Yuri I need you to go and get Hanabi," Rein told her.
"But-" Yuri began but was cut off by Rein.
"Listen you can't fight these guys but Hanabi can," Rein told her. "She should be at the school."
"But that's a bit far," Yuri told her.
"Well Winry is at Chiyo-Chan's house and that is closer but…" Rein hesitated to finish her sentence.
"I'll go and bring he back!" Yuri said rushing down the stairs.
"So two on one huh?" Aki asked. "The odd don't seem to be in your favor."
"Tell me about it," Rein said getting ready to fight.
Ending Theme: Kimi ga Sora Datte (Mai-HiME)
