A/N: Here's the full chapter! Had to delete the preview in case anyone got confused. Anyway, you're getting a bit of backstory here from your favorite biker gang...we're moving slowly, but surely to the next problem.
Hope you enjoy!
45 / Biker Lion from Kyushu
Life was one hell of a ride, Reiko decided a long time ago. Life was strange and complicated and unfair. There's too many things happening at once, and it was giving Reiko a migraine just thinking about it.
There's Saki. Saki, her old friend who died. Saki, the stupid girl that jumped off of a cliff. Saki, the dead girl. Saki, the zombie idol and her undead friends (plus the dog, couldn't forget their dead mascot).
Saki coming back to life had made life even more complicated than what Reiko was used to, or rather, she brought back that craziness Reiko had been so used to from back when she ran Dorami.
(but Saki was dead)
Maria, too, had found the situation so unbelievable that she had actually laughed at their faces and called them liars, because there was just no way, because it was impossible, because, because...and Saki had removed her makeup, showed the girl her real self, the dead skin, the sunken eyes, the scars, everything. Her daughter, to her credit, had taken it well. Her panic and fear is replaced with sudden excitement, so much so that once she finds out who Saki really is there's talk about reviving Dorami, but Saki, thank god, turns that chance down quickly.
"There's no point," the girl says, and Maria, pouting and disappointed, backs off. Reiko is glad.
(that's one bullet dodged, one gang buried)
Saki's hanging out with that Lily girl and her father at their apartment. Maria's with them, too. They're planning to go to a local arcade to have a little fun, and maybe go visit that old mansion later on. Saki told Reiko she had wanted to check on Sakura and the other girls, see how they were holding up, probably convince them to hang out with them and such.
Reiko frowned when she thought about it.
She knew she shouldn't really be bothered by her daughter visiting that place, hell, she had actually been rather curious, wanting to meet those other "zombies" and whatnot. Saki, she knows, will keep her safe, but there's still too much Reiko doesn't know. That man, that Tatsumi, had hidden away during their first visit. Saki had told her most of what she knew about the man, about that Minamoto girl and the others, about the whole mess with Minamoto's younger (older) brother, about that other boy, and about being idols.
Reiko recalls all the research Okoba had shown her. Weeks of work, days of sleepless nights, and even then, it doesn't feel like it's enough.
The woman knows enough about Saki, knows about her life and her death, knows about Mizuno and the thunder, knows about Konno and the plane, knows about Hoshikawa and her youth, but what about the rest that remain? There's Yamada, the unknown, Yugiri, the living legend, and Minamoto, the odd one out, and to top it all of, there's that man, that Kotaro Tatsumi, the real mystery man, the one who brought them back, or so the girls believe.
"That's what the Egghead, I mean, Sakura told us, anyway," Saki told her, once the mess with Maria had finally passed. "He told her some bullshit story about how he brought us back. We've known him for a year now, so we kinda figured it wasn't worth asking him a second time. He'll probably go on about that zombie movie shit again." And that was that.
But Reiko hated the fact that that's all she knew.
Dr. Mizuno and Mr. Go had their (dead) kids to think about. Okoba was a reporter and not exactly trustworthy material in her book. There's too many things to worry about and very few living people to trust.
Reiko's itching to call Susan, call Susan and tell her that Saki's back, she's dead, but she's definitely back, singing but dead, living but not really. Suddenly, Reiko's sighing again, unsure. Susan knows how to keep her mouth shut, of that, Reiko can count on. The problem was everything else. There's a chance, a very slim chance, that Susan already knows about Franchouchou, about that girl that resembles Saki, there's a chance, always a chance, that she suspects something's up but she's not sure how to proceed from there.
Half an hour later, Reiko's dialing Susan's number.
Sakura can't believe there's a lion in the room. It's fluffy, and very, very real. Sakura hopes she's dreaming, but the lion's licking her face gently with it's scratchy tongue, crushing Sakura's hopes with reality. "Wha..what is this!?" Yugiri smiles, leaning a bit, taking hold of one of her hands and giving it a little squeeze, in an effort to calm her.
"It is quite alright, Sakura...he's friendly," the courtesan said, nodding as the lion licks the pink haired zombie again.
"He's a lion," Sakura manages to squeak out as the lion yawns. Yugiri giggles.
"That he is," the courtesan said. "Do you not recall?" Sakura blinks, glances at the lion, whose busy yawning, showing razor sharp teeth. Sakura gulps, barely remembering what's happened to get to this point. Sakura remembers the missing Tatsumi, the bear, a letter, maybe, and that's about it. She cannot make heads or tails of what happened after that, especially not with this lion around.
"I..I...remember Tatsumi...not being in his room," Sakura says slowly, as the lion goes to lick her cheek again. "The bear, and the broken window...but...what about the lion?"
"He's a gift, I suppose," Yugiri tells her, a little uncertain.
"...why?"
Yugiri shrugs helplessly with a smile. "It is a long story."
The lion, finally realizing Sakura's not willing to pay attention to him, yawns again, and walks away, deciding to take a nap. Sakura sits up with Yugiri's help, as Tae walks up to them. She's in her pajamas, and she's growling softly, tilting her head at Sakura who waves at her in greeting with a smile before remembering the lion and turning to Yugiri.
"...so, he's a gift."
"Yes," Yugiri said, nodding. "A stuffed lion."
Sakura blinks.
"Huh?"
"He's dead," Yugiri explains, gesturing at the lazy beast nearby. "Dead, like us."
"What."
"What she means is that there's another bastard reviving the dead in Saga," Genji suddenly interrupts as he opens the door. Her brother nods at the courtesan, and walks up to the three girls, glancing at the lion nearby. He's carrying some water bottles in hand. "How are you feeling?"
Sakura stares at him for a bit before sighs and says, "Dead."
Genji smirks. "I figured." He offers Sakura a bottle and she takes it without another word. "So, what part do you wanna hear first? About the zombie stuffed lion, the bear, who is also super dead, or the bastard that brought them back to life?" Sakura stares at her water bottle for a while, trying to process what her brother has just told her, and once she realizes what he's saying she places a hand on her face.
"Which one is going to give me less of a headache?"
Genji shrugs. "Neither."
"Fine," Sakura sighs. Yugiri just pats her shoulder, clearly understanding the sudden frustration due to recent events.
"Would you like something to eat, Sakura?"
"Not really," the girl murmurs but Genji shakes his head.
"Why don't you go and make some lunch, Yugiri? I'll keep an eye on her." The courtesan smiled, nodded and stood up, making her way towards the door.
"Lunch?"
"You've been sleeping for a while," Genji explains as Yugiri walks past him and out the door. "You crashed the moment we arrived and have been sleeping since." He offers a water bottle to a curious Tae, who takes it and inspects it, unsure of what to do with it. Sakura quickly offers to help her, showing the older woman how to get the bottle open and before long the older woman is taking a few gulps of fresh water. Genji takes a few sips of his own bottle and says, "So...what you wanna know about first?"
"Does it matter?"
"Maybe," Genji said, taking another sip. "Well, we can start with that monster bear…"
"I remember," Sakura muttered, grabbing her bandaged arm, and feeling odd. There's no pain, as if the arm itself had gone numb. It's weird and Sakura can't figure out why it feels so wrong.
"You are an idiot," Genji remarks, glancing at his sister's arm. His sister just smiles, as if getting torn apart had been worth it. "You remember the express mail that crashed and broke a window, right?" Sakura takes a sip of her water bottle and nods. "We followed directions to an old abandoned lot, met a crazy guy who's reviving dead animals to open a zoo." Sakura stares at her brother, trying to make sense of the man with the dead animal zoo. "He's responsible for that bear, by the way, oh, and he gave you that lion." He pointed at the sleeping lion, who was snoring quite loudly now. "It's his way of apologizing for, you know, getting torn apart and stuff. His name is Safari, by the way."
Sakura stares at her brother, and then turns to stare at the sleeping lion.
"So, he's mine?"
"Yep."
"I have a lion."
"Obviously."
The pink haired zombie lets out a loud sigh. "Fine, fine...who's the man?"
"Crazy man's name is Sora Akiyama. He's in the business of bringing the dead back to life, well, mostly anyway. He's got the whole place stuffed with stuffed animals like Safari there...but they can't move an inch. Not like that lion playing dead over there and that freaking bear." Genji smiles. "Although, you did enjoy your visit to that little zoo."
Sakura looks up. "Huh?"
Her brother winks. "Remember that stuff that idiot gave you?" Sakura nodded slowly. "Made you a little crazy, seemed to everyone you were having the time of your life." His sister let out a loud groan before deciding to take a sip of water to try to wash the sudden shame away. "You talked nonsense, sang, got a pet even, and flirted with Yugiri shamelessly." At that, Sakura spit out her drink with Tae mimicking her actions as Genji let out a loud laugh.
Meanwhile, hiding behind the closed door, Yugiri giggles quietly to herself and walks off towards the kitchen, a bit of red on her cheeks and a few beats in her heart.
After Reiko and the others had buried Saki and gone their separate ways, Dorami went through so many changes it was almost sad to think it had once ruled over the island of Kyushu.
Their leader married and had a little girl. One girl got her degree and became a vet. Another became a model. Two were well-known business women. One became a coach, a few others had normal jobs, a lot more had their own spouses and kids, and those were the few that remained in Kyushu still.
Reiko had lost contact with most of her old gang, but she was fine with it.
Dorami had crashed and burned, and even with its original members moving on with their lives, someone was out there picking up the ashes.
Susan, the girl with the bat and the degree, had called her out of the blue one day to tell her about it.
Dorami's revival happened just five years after Saki's passing.
The second boss of Dorami was a hard-headed girl that had joined the gang a few months before Saki's untimely demise. A few months into her new role, she had managed to amass quite a following and Dorami had seemed ready to take over once more, but tragedy struck, during a race someone ran a red light and it was all over.
Third boss was a school dropout, smart when it counted, but with an addiction problem that would have forced Reiko to kick her out had she been of her generation. The girl's stint as a boss lasted a little over six months, due to her little addiction problem getting out of hand and landing her in jail.
Fourth boss, as Susan had put it, Reiko's equal in every way. The gang had recovered most of its spunk from the third's mistakes, and for a while it seemed that Dorami would be back on the top in a few years, but then, the illness took over. Cancer, from what Susan managed to find out. Poor kid got weaker every day, until finally dying years later. She lasted a year.
The fifth boss, and the one Reiko remembers the most fondly, was a foreigner. Girl had appeared as if from nowhere (London), and before long, she had taken over as the boss, winning race after race, fight after fight. It was almost scary how the foreigner had led Dorami to victory after victory, reminding Reiko and Susan of a past that no longer felt real. But life is cruel, for just two years into her reign, a death in the girl's family made her lose her spark, and she left Dorami for good. Susan managed to get into contact with the girl a few years ago, becoming friends, exchanging news and whatnot, and from what Susan told Reiko, the kid was alright.
It was by the sixth boss that everything had begun to fall apart. Dorami was doing alright, the kid had vision but very little spine, and that's all it took for one Souto Kenta to win over the few girls that had stayed behind, and that's when things did spiral out of control.
Kenta was Saki without her conscience, Reiko without her limits, she was basically the best of the worst. She was charismatic, temperamental, and cruel, always wanting something to prove. But unlike Reiko and Saki, Kenta never had a plan going forward. Money and conquest was always in her mind, but not a way to keep the system going her way. She broke noses, she broke legs, she gave scars, she stole, she cheated, but Dorami was still stuck in the same place. Kyushu's conquest had seemed like a dream, and Kenta was tearing everything apart by thinking short-term.
The Dorami of old knew what it wanted; to kick Oki's ass out of Kyushu and conquer Japan. Ambitious dreams for a bunch of young adults but they had felt on top of the world. Dorami had conquered and won, and then, they just fell, and kept on falling, and Souta Kenta would be the last to fall.
Reiko still remembers Susan's panicked call; the woman was washing dishes, her daughter was taking a nap upstairs and her husband had gone out to get groceries.
Kenta had been arrested for killing a rival biker for a cheating boyfriend who couldn't keep it in his pants.
And just like that, Dorami was truly over, that is until one Maria Amabuki rose to become the eighth boss of Dorami, and the dead came back for more.
/….
Susan answered after a few rings; there's sounds of barking, and a familiar voice saying good-bye, a door opening and closing until finally...
"Ishikawa Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Ishikawa at your service. How may Iー"
"Susan, it's me," Reiko said, her finger tapping the table nervously.
(this was it, this was it)
"Oh! If it isn't my old boss! How kind of you to call during these trying times," Susan Ishikawa said, voice cheery and polite. "What's the occasion?" Reiko hears a small hum, and a snap of fingers. "Ah, could it be you got into contact with that stalker? What's his name again? Okushi, Koba…something or the other?"
"Okoba," Reiko said, clearing her throat. "He's a reporter, not a stalker."
"You sure? You seemed kinda pissed off when you asked me to get his number."
"I was upset, yes, but it's not...it's complicated."
"Anything I should keep an eye out for?" Susan asked after a while. "You know I got yourー"
"He...he wanted to talk about Saki."
(she said it)
Susan gasps. "What...what about Saki?" Her old friend sounds confused. "He's not thinking of pinning something on a dead girl, is he?"
"No, no, nothing like that," Reiko said. "It's…" The dead. Saki's back, Saki's singing, Saki's an idol, but she's dead, dead. "...are you familiar with a local idol group, Franchouchou?" Silence. "Susan?" Reiko hears a long sigh, and there's the sound of walking, moving things around, before finally, she hears her friend's voice.
"So...you noticed the resemblance, huh?"
"I'm so sorry, Yugiri!" Yugiri was greeted by a very apologetic Sakura the moment she stepped inside the room; Genji was laughing loudly next to his distressed sister, while Tae balanced an empty water bottle in her hands, and the lion, Safari, snored the day away.
"It is quite alright," the courtesan told her with a sweet smile, kneeling next to her and offering the plate of food to a laughing Genji, who put it aside as his sister glared at him.
"This isn't funny, Genji!" Sakura whined, but her brother just shook his head.
"Heh, you're right. It's hilarious."
"Argh!"
Yugiri's smile widened, and she patted her friend's shoulder. "Lord Genji," she said, nodding at the still grinning Genji. "Could I have a moment?"
"Sure, sure," Genji said, getting up. He winked at his sister. "Good luck!"
"Genji!"
The young man just waved as he walked out, leaving behind the three zombies and a stuffed lion.
Sakura groaned again. "I...I can't believe this…"
(when had her brother turned into Saki!?)
"Sakura…"
"Yugiri," Sakura began, sighing. "I...I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with my behavior, sorry, sorry…" Yugiri let out a small giggle, surprising the sincere girl.
"Oh, it's quite alright, Sakura…you were rather well-behaved, not like some of my previous clients...You were awfully polite and attentive, it was rather touching." Sakura groaned louder, her cheeks getting redder and redder by the second.
"I feel like dying again…"
"Oh, Sakura," Yugiri leaned a little closer, and whispered, "I rather enjoyed it." Sakura looked at her, blinking and red.
"What?"
"The flirting," the courtesan confessed. "You are too kind...even out of your mind." Sakura let out a small cry and buried her face in her hands. Yugiri giggled. "It's quite alright, but…" The courtesan gently removed her friend's fingers from her undead face and said, "I wonder...where would you like to go on a date?" Sakura just sputtered as an answer while her brother laughed from outside the room.
"Genji!" Sakura yelled as her brother's head appeared by the door.
"Hey, you won't hear anything from me if you wanna date Yugiri."
Sakura reacted by grabbing her water bottle and sending it flying at her brother, who reacted just as fast and moved his head to safety with a big laugh. Yugiri laughed, too, that is until she noticed Sakura's expression of anger and embarrassment change.
"Sakura?" But Sakura doesn't answer. She's busy looking at nothing, flinching as she goes to grab her arm, the one that was torn apart by the bear, pain in her face.