A/N: Early update alert! Hehe! A little bit of inspiration went a long way for this one. But here it is! Hope you enjoy! With any luck, I can get the next update ready by next week...if the writer's block keeps its ugly head away but no promises!

Hope you all enjoy and stay safe!


35 / The Truth

"Would you like to explain yourself, Ai?"

Everyone's quiet and Sakura doesn't know what to do.

Ai's already shaking; she's staring at the woman and the woman is staring back. No one is moving. No one is talking. No one is running away.

(they know)

There's Takeo Go, imposing as always, face dark, he's rather terrifying from a distance. Lily also stares at her father, she lets out a miserable cry, loud enough for her friends to hear. The little girl grabs Yugiri's hand, unsure of what to do. Takeo's ugly expression seems to soften but it's a little hard to tell.

Sakura gulps.

(they know)

Standing next to him is Reiko Amabuki, not as tall, not as imposing but perhaps the most dangerous of the lot. Her expression is serious, eyes glare at Saki with such intensity, Sakura fears a fight might actually break out. Saki's glaring back but she's keeping calm. Somehow, someway, like Sakura, Saki has figured that running wouldn't save them.

(they know)

As for that third mysterious stranger, Sakura doesn't know what to think. She's almost sure she had seen that guy before but can't pinpoint where. He's looking at them, a bit nervous, eyes darting from left to right, taking note of them all. It's like he's trying to decide what to make of the group in front of them.

(...they found them out)

Sakura doesn't even need to guess on who that woman standing in front of the others is; it's not that hard to tell the difference between her and Ai. There's a part of Sakura that remembers her own mother. The only things that could tell them apart was their height, hair and eye color, and the fact that Sakura's mother was as blind as a mole without her glasses on a good day.

(how did they find them out?)

"W-well?" The woman is relentless; she's a bit nervous, Sakura can tell but still she stands tall, unmoving. Sakura frowns. Ai's still shaking.

"I...I…" Ai stammers, then shakes her head. There's a storm already forming in her heart. She's paralyzed, scared.

Sakura quickly moves to the front, standing in between the woman and Ai, trying to keep the storm at bay, blocking the view. Junko moves too, grabbing onto the shaking Ai's arm, pulling her back, away from it all. Tae grabs the younger woman, copying Junko, as if understanding that something is terribly wrong and doing everything she can to help. She's moaning quietly, as if trying to soothe Ai.

Genji sighs and shakes his head. "Just get it over with…" he whispers as Renoir nervously looks on. Kotaro doesn't speak. He just looks into the darkness waiting to be swallowed whole.

Meanwhile, Sakura stares at the woman, wondering if she stares long enough everything would disappear. She shakes her head and asks, "W-who...who are you?" The question catches the woman off-guard but it doesn't last long.

"Ar-are you Minamoto?" she asks, not missing a beat.

Saki flinches. Yugiri closes her eyes. Junko is too busy with Ai to notice and Lily's trying to hide. Tae turns to look but says nothing.

(she knows, she knows...they know)

Sakura narrows her eyes; she's not sure whether she should answer or not, knowing it won't make a difference in the end. Both stare at each other, no one speaks, no one moves.

(there's cars in the distance, the night is getting darker, the people are getting away and there's silence)

"...Yes."

(there's no point in running away)

The woman's eyes widen slightly, not expecting that response. "You are...Sakura Minamoto, correct?" Sakura nods slowly. "...so you are…" she trails off.

"...dead?" Sakura finishes, not bothering to answer the question whose answer they already know. "Who are you?" Sakura asks again, voice firm.

(they can't run, can't run, her luck's already got her this far)

"...My name is Aoi Mizuno," the woman says, eyes misty as she glances at the shaking Ai behind Sakura. "I'm Ai Mizuno's mother."

Sakura closes her eyes; there's so many emotions all over the place.

(there's a storm, the wind is howling)

Sakura lets out a long sigh, eyes open, not sure what to do.

They can't run away now. There's no point.

(what to do, what to do?)

"...what do you want?" Sakura asks, already knowing the answer. Aoi's frown depends, a few tears escape her eyes. The woman shakes her head and says,

"The truth...we want the truth…"

Sakura just stares at her for a bit, stares at the people behind her. We can't run away anymore. She looks back, eyes settling on her brother's own. He just nods and steps forward, making sure to hide the girls in his shadow.

"If you want to talk, we can't do it here," he says, gesturing towards the van with his head. "I know a place we can talk. If you have a car follow me." He turns to Kotaro and shakes his head. "Let's get this over with…"

/…..

The ride back home is mostly a silent one.

Genji drives as Kotaro sits quietly in the passenger's seat staring at nothing as behind him, Sakura and Saki whisper to each other about the recent events, acknowledging that there's nothing to be done anymore, Renoir sits silently next to the two as behind them everyone else is trying to cope. Ai's already calmed whispering to Junko how she let herself slip, wanting to blame herself but the older idol doesn't let her. Tae looks on, unsure of what to do now. As for Yugiri, she holds Lily close, the tears not yet gone from her pretty little face. Romero whines at their feet.

"There's nothing to be done now," Genji says after a while, his eyes glancing at the rear view mirror, noticing the three cars that are following behind. "Better be prepared...hope they are, too…"


The old mansion seemed a bit intimidating up close; it looked old, weathered, with vines seemingly wanting to rip the walls and windows apart.

Okoba had heard rumors about this old thing. Rumors about ghosts and monsters, rumors about an unknown serial killer wanting to hide their victim's bodies, the works.

The real story of this old building was a little bit more complicated and not at all supernatural.

Originally, the old mansion belonged to a rich businessman who managed a branch of some unknown business in the prefecture. Eventually, the businessman moved and the building was reformed into a museum of history and folklore. Unfortunately, as the old owner had already abandoned it, the museum struggled to stay afloat before it finally closed its doors in 2005 due to a lack of funds. After many years, the mansion was sold to another businessman but other than that Okoba knew nothing more.

But now that he was here, Okoba figured that whoever bought the house was involved with this whole zombie business and that frightened him somewhat.

He could vaguely understand wanting to make money by using the talent of the dead but…

...why even revive people that would catch attention? Why bring back popular girls and expect not to get noticed? Why...zombies?

Okoba gulped as he and Takeo, with some difficulty, got out of the reporter's car. Reiko was already out of her car and Aoi was slowly opening the door.

Meanwhile, the girls were already out and had almost ran straight inside leaving Minamoto behind. The young woman stood in front of the door, waiting for them as the three young men walked past her to get inside, one of the young men literally pushing the man with the glasses to go faster.

Minamoto sighed upon noticing this but didn't bother to move as she waited for Okoba and the rest.

It was only then that they finally took notice of the dog at Minamoto's feet.

The dog (or was it a monster?) glared at them, an eye wanting to pop out of its socket, it's body stretching, spit flying all over. It barked at them, spit and all. Minamoto just taps the dog's head and it suddenly stops, the dog's pulsating eye stares back at her, confused.

"Romero's harmless," the girl tells the adults, smiling with a hint of embarrassment. "You're strangers. He's being cautious."

Cautious? That thing was being cautious!?

If Okoba didn't know better, that thing seemed ready to tear someone's eye out.

Reiko walked closer, leaning down a bit. The dog sniffed the air, growled and then sat. It then sighed and curled into a ball.

Okoba blinked.

(...wha-what just happened!?)

Minamoto just opened the door and invited them in, the dog forgotten by the doorstep.

/…..

Okoba and the rest of the adults followed after Minamoto, all four of them on edge, as if expecting more surprises. It seemed that Minamoto expected some apprehension on their part because she said, "Sorry about Romero...he's usually a good dog. He won't hurt you."

"You have another pet around here?" That was Reiko. The woman didn't really sound concerned but she wasn't willing to play games if things did get ugly.

Minamoto shook her head. "That's it...you weren't expecting a fight...were you?" The girl suddenly stops and turns to look at the adults. Takeo's the only one that seems to look a little guilty. Okoba just avoids her gaze. Aoi glares back and Reiko is rather passive but alert. Minamoto nods, as if accepting the inevitable, and continues walking. "The girls went to change...and remove their makeup…" the girl goes on, finally stopping in front of a door. "We are more than willing to tell you the truth...but...I want a few favors from all of you...is that alright?"

Aoi and Reiko glanced at each other. Takeo almost nods his head immediately but stops in time and Okoba just shrugs.

"What do you want?" Aoi asks, her tone guarded.

"First...well, if it were possible...not tell anyone about...us…" Minamoto says, eyes looking down. "It's mostly for our protection but…" the girl turned glanced at Okoba. "...we are a bit worried about the reporter here…"

Ah.

So, they figured it out.

"D-don't worry...my lips are sealed," Okoba assured her and Minamoto let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." Her response was sincere and he noticed the tension calming a bit. Minamoto took a deep breath."The other...the other favor is...not to hurt the person that...brought us back to life."

"Hmph...why don't you let them slap him for good measure? He kinda deserves it." Okoba almost jumped at the new voice and, looking up, noticed one of the young men leaning against the wall by Minamoto's side. His blue eyes seemed to stare at Okoba menacingly.

"Genji…" Minamoto muttered, shaking her head.

"What? He deserves it."

"That's not the point!" Minamoto glared at him. "A fight is the last thing we need right now."

"Agreed." Reiko nodded before turning to the young man. "And you are?"

"Genji Kurosawa…"

"Ah!" Okoba's eyes widened. "Y-you are…"

Kurosawa glared at the man. "Seems our little stalker's figured it out, huh?"

"Genji…" Minamoto warned before turning towards Reiko and saying, "He's my younger brother...and no, he's not...dead."

"Ah," Aoi said, understanding before she frowned.

"No. He just found out a couple of months ago," Minamoto explained, noticing Aoi's look. "That one was my fault."

"I got lucky," Kurosawa murmured, shaking his head. "Unlike Mr. Newspaper over there…" Okoba flinched slightly. It seemed Kurosawa wasn't as willing to trust him just yet. Not that Okoba blamed him. He wasn't exactly innocent. He had a few gossip articles in his resume to be judged by.

"Don't worry...like I said, my lips are sealed." Besides...there's a chance that…we might not even come back al

Minamoto opened the door behind her and gestured the adults to get in, giving her brother a mysterious look as he followed after the rest.

The room is dark and before any more light can get in, Minamoto quickly closed the door. Now, there's just darkness. Okoba hears movement but can't see it but then, they appear. Red. eyes, red, bloody eyes, they stare through the darkness. Six pairs in total. All staring into the darkness, all staring at them.

Okoba gulps but he can't see his companions's reactions. It's too damn dark.

"I'm going to turn the lights on...so...get ready, okay?" That's Minamoto. She's trying to assure them, of what, he's not so sure. "Ready?" No one answers but that's enough for her. In a split second, she turns on the lights and suddenly there are six corpses standing before them. They look rotten, light blue skin, sunken, red eyes, dead.

Okoba's breath gets stuck on his throat as the corpses, no, as Franchouchou turns to stare at them.