The meeting room was full of chatter. An array of journalists and reports had collected to attend Franchouchou's first press conference after the news had broken. They talked loudly amongst themselves about important business matters as they waited for the main event to start. Suddenly the crowd grew quiet as the controversial figures themselves took to the stage. The seven girls walked out in a line with stoic expressions. One by one they took their seats, all except for Saki who remained standing to introduce them.
"Hey so," she started unprofessionally. "Thank you all for coming. A lot of you were probably pretty surprised to hear all that stuff about us and this is a pretty weird situation, I'm not gonna lie, but we figured it would probably be best to talk about all of it. Most of you guys have probably put together a lot of this, but we wanted to start by introducing ourselves, for real this time, so uh-" She gestured to Sakura to start.
Trying to put on a brave face despite her nerves, Sakura leaned into the microphone in front of her. "Um, hi there. My name is Sakura Minamoto. I was kind of just an idol fangirl who lived in Saga around 10 years ago, no one special, but uh, it's nice to meet you all." she laughed awkwardly.
After sitting down, Saki went next. "I'm Saki Nikaido. I was a biker gang leader back in the 90s, the one who started Dorami and took over Kyushu. Probably would have gotten the whole thing if I hadn't, you know."
"I'm Ai Mizuno, Iron Frill's legendary original center" cutting her off, Ai spoke calmly and straightforwardly.
She and Junko were the most used to speaking in public and thus the most professional. "I am Junko Konno, solo idol from the Showa era."
Yugiri, on the other hand, seemed genuinely unconcerned with the situation. "You may know me by Yugiri. I was an oiran during the Meiji era."
"I'm Lily Hoshikawa!" their littlest member called out cheerful as ever. "I'm the adorable child actor from the 2000s." She beamed at the audience before throwing out her arms in Tae's direction. "And this is Tae Yamada!"
With a grave expression, Tae spoke seriously into her microphone. "Aeareghhe gaer haegrhea hga gaeg ah aehgreh herea. Reag aergh a etgh gh. Hgea geha geahg gehagh aghgge rhea." The others nodded in agreement before turning their attention back forward.
Saki started back up again. "Yeah, Tae's got that right. Anyways, I bet you guys have a lot of questions, so let's go ahead and get this underway." After her prompting, a sea of voices rose up from the audience, all calling out their questions at once. It was enough to startle the girl. Intimidated by the noise alone, she stuttered and picked out someone at random, "Uuuhhh, you?"
The reporter she pointed out stood up, holding out a tape recorder in front of her. "You all listed a wide variety of time periods, some going back more than 100 years. Have you all been alive for that entire duration of time; perhaps in secret or after having faked your deaths?"
"Oh uh, not quite." Sakura answered sheepishly. They were getting into the hard stuff right off the bat, huh? "All of us died during our lives and were brought back to life rather recently." She smiled. This prompted an even stronger uproar, most of the questions revolving around how this was possible. Sakura suddenly felt like hiding under the table.
Thankfully, Ai picked up in her stead. "I understand that's kind of shocking to hear. However, none of us know anything about how exactly we came alive again, so I'm afraid we won't be able to ask your questions about it." The girls around her looked solemn and apologetic. It was clear that all of them would like to know as much as everyone else. The clamering died down as the reports rethought their comments.
Someone else spoke up excitedly. "Do any of you know anything about the circumstances of your deaths? Do you have any memories from your previous lifes? How did it feel to die?"
As the most comfortable with the topic, Saki took this one. "For the most part, yeah. We all remember how it happened for ourselves."
"That being said," Junko added politely. "Some of those events and the time surrounding them can be fairly traumatic to recall, so I think we would all prefer not to speak about them in too much detail." Ai breathed a subtle sigh of relief. Even with Junko's warning, the public would no doubt bother them about it, but she was at least happy someone said it besides her.
"Why is it that you chose to keep your identities secret?"
Sakura gave talking another try. "Well, we were led to believe that people might not take very well to the fact that we're zombies. Some of us even have some bad experiences getting caught and being reacted to rather um… violently?" She wondered if the policeman who shot her was watching right now. She didn't think what he did was unreasonable, but she did hope he felt a little bad about it. He really scared Ai, Junko, and her!
"We simply didn't wish to scare anyone, nor did we want to get hurt ourselves." Yugiri summarized.
"Nor did we want our deaths to complicate anything and prevent us from performing for all of you." Junko finished.
The crowd fell into a murmur. It was the first time anyone had used the word "zombie" and Sakura has once again thrown it out so casually. While everyone considered the information, another voice rose up. "Was it difficult to conceal yourselves? You mentioned being discovered before. Were there other close calls?"
Everyone looked over at Tae. Tae looked back at them with confusion.
Playing her usual role as peacemaker, Sakura answered with a smile, "I would say so."
"There were a lot of things that we couldn't do." Lily chimed in. "We had to stay away from water, change our names, and play it off when something strange happened. You know, the usual." She giggled to herself.
"You, Ai and I were all recognized at different points in time." Junko added.
"Saki too," said Ai pointing to the girl in question. "Although that was pretty solidly her own fault; could have easily been avoided."
Saki stuck her tongue out at her without disagreeing. "I think the biggest problem we had was probably this though." She lifted up one of her arms and used the other to pop it off at the shoulder. She held the disembodied lift up and waved it at the crowd, who gasped dramatically. Despite being crude, the others couldn't help but laugh because of how true it was.
Saki placed her arm back in place as another question was called out. "What other features of your bodies do you have?" someone called out in astonishment.
The girls thought this one over. "Well, we can't really die." Junko suggested out loud.
"That's true." Ai agreed. "We don't use special effects in our shows. We were actually hit by lightning during our performance at Saga Rock… again. Although we're not like movie zombies. Even if we get hit through the head, we're fine."
"We were kind of like the brainless zombies in movies before we woke up and became conscious." Sakura continued.
"We get pretty dried out if we don't get enough water sometimes." Yugiri added. "And we're fairly susceptible to temperature changes. Poor Tae froze up in the mountains."
The girl in question nodded regretfully
"And we're pretty strong now!" Saki boasted, rolling up one of her sleeves to flex.
"What is it like for all of you to live as zombies? Is it hard to manage? Do you still feel pain and other sensations?"
Before they could respond however, Tae began growling lowly into her microphone. "Aggheg ree asgh egreaa." she stated succinctly. Lily patted her shoulder sympathetically.
"It certainly can be difficult." Sakura parroted. "For a long time, I wasn't able to recall my life before I died and I think Tae and I's head injuries still cause problems for us sometimes."
"It took some time to get used to." Junko lamented as well.
"Plenty of us still have the injuries that killed us somewhere on our bodies. It's not like we can heal or anything now. We don't really need to eat or sleep. Although we get pissy if we don't. A lot of the physical feelings are there; our pain tolerance is threw the fucking roof; but not all of them. Being a zombie is a lot like being a human, but some parts are missing, sometimes literally. Honestly though, I'd say the advantages are worth the weird stuff."
Junko picked back up, "Yes, it's not all bad. It does give us a second chance at life that we're all very grateful to have."
"Lily likes it! She gets to stay cute and adorable forever now!"
"Pardon me," Someone spoke out suddenly. "This might be rude, but if you are all truly undead, such that you're able to remove body parts, why do you look so… alive?"
While the others looked chagrin, Yugiri stepped up. "We wear special makeups to appear more lively. It can be difficult to apply, but it's most effective. Without it, we would certainly be more recognizeably undead. However, I do not think any of us will be seen in public that way anytime soon. A lady must always look her best after all." The rest of them nodded their agreement, thanking their older sister.
"Actually, there was one instance in which we had to perform without it." Ai corrected her, catching everyone's attention. Realizing they didn't remember, she explained, "It was at the shelter, after our house was washed away and we didn't have any of our usual stuff, so we tried to use masks that Junko made, but they broke on stage."
The other's gradually remembered with a scattering of "oh yeah"s and "ah right!"s
"Thankfully, everyone there assumed we were doing a bit or something so it was easy to cover it up, but it was pretty scary. So uh, if any of you kids are at home watching, sorry about that!" She turned to a camera to say with an apologetic hand wave. "We tried to come clean at the time, but nobody really believed us. You all were a lovely audience though."
"They really were, weren't they?" Junko commented as the rest of them agreed.
"What was it they said about us when that happened?" Saki wondered out loud.
"They said that we weren't scary enough so we couldn't be zombies. We were just Franchouchou!" Sakura recalled.
"Right! Man, I just about cried when they said that."
Scratching her cheek shyly, Ai expressed a similar sentiment. "Yeah, I'll admit that it kind of meant a lot to me at the time too."
The room had gone quiet, listening attentively as the seven of them recounted their experiences together. It was weighty news to say the least. No one knew quite what to think at first, but as the undead idols went on, the reality of things was starting to dawn on everyone. They really were zombies, weren't they? Moreover, they were very amicable for movie screen monsters. While they had all been drawn in by the possibility of a scandal to report, it was hard not to sympathize instead. The atmosphere slowly turned more friendly as they all seemed to regard them less as devious celebrities hiding a dark secret and more as young women with an unfortunate circumstance that they were simply trying to manage to the best of their ability.
"Is that to say that it was taxing to keep this information to yourselves? Did you ever want to reveal yourselves before this?"
Saki sat back in her seat and huffed. "It certainly would have been a lot easier if we could have."
"But it was already so scary to imagine what people would think of us if we did!" Sakura interjected. "Coming out would have been terrifying! It's terrifying right now!"
"It isn't exactly a flattering image." Yugiri admitted, thinking back on what they really looked like..
"It's not uncommon for performers like us to have on-stage personas. The image we portray to our fans isn't necessarily representative of our real lives." Junko explained. "In that way, it's not much different than being an idol during the Showa era."
"None of us wanted to rely on our previous lives for notoriety either. We wanted to succeed on our own merits." Ai went on. "Although the zombie part was a bit more stressful…"
"I would have loved to reveal ourselves." Lily countered with a shrug. "At least to some people." It seemed the panel had a wide array of feelings to this that they didn't all quite agree on.
"Was there anyone who knew about your condition? Anyone you could confide in?"
"Our manager was aware." Junko answered." He was actually fairly supportive, providing us with the resources and encouragement we needed to focus on our careers. It is his job after all." Now she was missing her old manager from when she was alive…
"That's true. The makeup we have on now is all his doing. We still can't get it quite as good on our own." Sakura complimented with a smile off to the side for the man himself behind the stage.
Kotaro scowled at her from behind his sunglasses, telling her to focus with irritation. Sakura's smile fell with disappointment. Having watched the Saki commented, "Well, let's not give Shades too much credit. He's as helpful as he is a hindrance." She paused for a moment before asking a question of her own to her groupmates. "Can we talk about the other people who knew?"
Ai sighed since she's already blown their cover. "Perhaps but not in much detail. We don't want them to be badgered on our behalf."
Saki nodded in understanding. "Well there weren't many to begin with. Although Maimai was pretty fun to have around!"
Ai glared at her with exasperation. Junko put a hand on her shoulder patiently. "Number Seven was a wonderful groupmate while she was with us and she did become aware of our situation. Although, it was entirely incidental and not on purpose. Thankfully, she was exceedingly understanding and kind."
"It was good to have someone to talk to about it and she didn't even freak out when one of our heads fell off!." Lily added cheerfully.
"Yeah and she hooked me up with the new tamagotchi!" Saki shouted. "She was a real one."
Tae growled excitedly, seconding that opinion. Maimai had been nice to chew on.
Sakura sung her praises as well. "She helped get us caught back up with the world after everything we missed and she still comes over to show us new things sometimes." She thought for a moment before adding, "I think Maimai was the first person not to think poorly of us when she found out we were zombies. It was very reassuring."
"Yes," Junko picked back up. "But do remember that Number Seven is retired from Franchouchou. As the only living person in the group, she felt a little out of place with us. As such, she chose to focus on her adolescence since she had an opportunity the rest of us were not granted. Please give her the space to enjoy her life." The others nodded their approval.
Another question from the audience, "What about your loved ones from when you were alive? Have any of you been in contact with the people from your previous life?"
The panel took on a serious tone. They looked between themselves, waiting for someone to take this one. Lily was the one who eventually stepped up to the plate. "Some of us do have living family and friends. However, we have kept our distance and elected not to contact any of them. It was important for us to reveal ourselves as zombies to as few people as possible to prevent any slip ups. Plus, appearing again after years of being gone felt selfish? We're not the same people we were before and we can't really come back into their lives. We didn't want to complicate things and bring back old, painful memories when most of our loved ones have probably moved on from our deaths." She was surprisingly articulate. Although she was the one who'd had to think about this the most. It was as if she was talking directly to her pappy and explaining herself to him.
"That doesn't mean that we haven't had run-ins with anyone though." Saki pointed out. "Like we said, we've been recognized plenty of times, but even if we try and play it off, there's only so much you can chalk up to coincidence before people figure things out on their own. Honestly, the people from my life are really nice to pretend they don't know who I am after how I showed back up."
"Well, you didn't do the best job of hiding yourself from them." Sakura said as gently as she could. "You all sought them out to reenact your death in front of everyone."
Saki waved her hand at her dismissively. "It was justified at the time. Although I imagine that all is going to change now."
"Yeah," Ai agreed. "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I bet I'm probably gonna get some phone calls from Nina, Kaoru, and the others now." She threw another small hand wave at the camera with an embarrassed look.
"Oh, can you ask them if I can have their autograph if you do?" Sakura asked excitedly. She'd been unable to use Ai's connections to get Iron Frill merch before but she wasn't going to let the opportunity slip by anymore. After a moment, she reconsidered her priorities and tacked on, "And I think I would like to see my family again if I can now."
"I'm not even certain if there is anyone still around from my life." Junko admitted.
"I'm fairly certain there isn't anyone from mine." Yugiri offered in consolation with a small chuckle. "Perhaps we would be able to meet their descendants?"
The mention of Yugiri's life inspired another round of uproar that Saki had to attempt to calm back down. "Oi, oi! One at a time. We can't hear everyone at once." She picked out a particularly excited looking journalist to have a turn.
"Number Five, in all of the information that's been gathered about Franchouchou's identity, it doesn't seem like anyone knows much about you. Can you tell us more about yourself?"
The older woman was surprised to be the center of attention for once. "Ah yes, that doesn't surprise me. My death was likely covered up by the government and excluded from the records of the time." she said with a polite smile.
Everyone paused. "Can you elaborate on that?"
Yugiri hesitated for a moment. "I'm not certain. Can I?" She asked, looking to the others for guidance. Half of them shrugged. The other half deferred to Kotaro. Their manager shook his head in disapproval. "I think I will perhaps hold off on that explanation for some time yet. However, I can say that I was a courtesan working in Tokyo, I entertained various men and women of the upper class until the rates of my services were auctioned too high and I was unable to continue. I'm informed that some depictions of me have survived to the present day if anyone would like to identify me as well."
"What has it been like to adjust to modern life? What was the most difficult part?"
This question was likely directed towards Yugiri, the oldest member in the group by a good distance. However Junko was the first to speak up. "It's been utterly baffling." Her professionalism dropped for a moment as she voiced her pent up frustrations. "Technology has moved so fast. For me it was only a couple years ago that everyone watched TV on the tube and took polaroid pictures on film. I cannot make sense of computers at all." she whined.
To the far end, Tae moaned her agreement excitedly. Unbeknownst to the others, she lived during the same time as Junko and often missed the simplicity of it.
"Honestly!" Saki interjected as well. "Why does every single person carry around a cell phone now and why can it do like a million things?"
"Now, now," Yugiri tried to corral them. "I lived through a very different period with a lot of change. I believe you all refer to it as the Restoration now. I understand it can be difficult, but all of these new things are good things, yes?"
The others groaned reluctantly.
"What about the idol business? What is it like to work in the entertainment industry now as opposed to your previous lives?"
Ai took the microphone as the others continued complaining amongst themselves. "I'd say it's fairly distinct. The internet plays a much larger part in things than it used to for one."
Having regained her composure, Junko weighed in. "Celebrities were far more glamorized during my day. I have to admit that I'm still not fond of how accessible we're expected to be to our fans. Although, the biggest change for me has been transitioning from solo artist to group member. It's a very different experience, but it's been an overall pleasant one."
"Not much has changed for me. Although I didn't work very much in music." Lily admitted with a shrug.
"The forms of entertainment audiences are interested in have changed greatly. I haven't been able to put my flower arranging skills to use in some time. The musical and dance stylings are much more dramatic as well." Yugiri offered. She seemed to be looking at Junko in specific for some reason.
From off-stage, Kotaro waved down Saki to get her attention. Once she looked, he gestured to his watch and held up three fingers at her. The leader nodded her acknowledgement and made an announcement when the girls were finished. "Hey, so we've been going on for a good amount of time now, and as much fun as it is to talk about all this, we've gotta call it quits on this eventually. So we'll hear a few more questions today, alright?"
With the end of the press conference drawing near, the audience of news media once again rose up into a hullabaloo. This time Saki knew it was coming though. Acting decisively we quickly picked out the last three people they'd talked to. "You in the back, you with the shaved head, and you with the cool jacket." On the other hand, she didn't have the most sophisticated criteria.
With the final speakers having been selected, the meeting quieted down completely for the first time since it began. The first person Saki pointed at stood up, "After everything that this group has been through, perishing under such unfortunate circumstances and miraculously returning to life, why is it that each of you decided to become idols, again or for the first time?"
Having the floor gave the speaker the opportunity to pose a more elaborate question. The panel figured it was a natural inquiry. When given the gift of life, most people likely wouldn't first think of using it to become struggling local idols, but it was something the girls had made peace with a long time ago.
"We all decided upon it for our own reasons." Sakura answered with a touch of nostalgia. "I wanted to be an idol when I was alive. I was on my way to deliver my audition to Iron Frill when I died." She paused to laugh at herself. "I know it probably seems a bit silly, but being an idol was the only thing I wanted to do with my life, so when I was given that opportunity, I jumped on it, dead or alive."
Back up Sakura's dream, Ai spoke up as well, "I was wholly devoted to my career as an idol in Iron Frill. I was only just getting big when my life was cut short, and in front of everyone too. That lightning strike is the only thing I'm known for now, but only because I never got the chance to show what I could really do. I'm not going to let my legacy just be that bit of bad luck. I'd rather craft it myself, even if I have to start back at the bottom again and work my way back."
Yugiri nodded before adding to Ai's declarations. "My legacy as a courtesan is secure. However, that success ended up being my downfall. I was forced to retire from my profession and although I found other pursuits in life to enjoy until my death, I would very much like to return if possible. I truly loved to be an entertainer."
"It was similar for me." Junko agreed. "At first, I was very hesitant to join. After the shock of dying, the last thing on my mind was performing. But after watching the others for a time, it became harder and harder not to participate. Living as a zombie is still very difficult at times, but no matter the state that I'm in, I simply have to sing. I'm not able to help it."
"I think it's more about the audience." Lily took the conversation in another direction. "I like being an idol as much as I liked being an actress, but acting to me was mainly just a way to share something with the ones I love. It was a way to spend time with my pappy and being an idol is a lot the same. I like giving people something to enjoy and get excited about. I like making them smile and being someone for them to look to for happiness!"
"Hell yeah!" Saki interjected. "It took me a while to figure it out, but being an idol takes guts! I may not have my old biker girls with me anymore, but I'm still here and there's no way I'm done tearing it up. I'm still gonna take over this whole country. I'm just doing it as the leader of a new crew." She pumped her fist out in emphasis. "After all, we've gotten an important mission set out for us."
Before anyone else could, Tae stood up and responded to Saki's set up with an enthusiastic roar. "Save Saga!".
The others smiled and threw up their fists and cheered back, "Save Saga!"
The asker quickly bowed in thank you and sat back down, writing furiously in their notes. In their place stood the "one with the shaved head" as Saki had referred to them. "In regards to Saga, Franchouchou has been considered a staple of the community, both as performers and residents. It's been a few days since the news broke about, how has this affected your standing with the prefecture? How have your fans reacted?"
"Pretty well actually." Ai started.
"We were very surprised initially, but we've received nothing but support from our friends in Saga." Junko put a hand to her chest to show gratitude. "Many of the people we've come to know as neighbors and coworkers have been kind enough to come up to us to share their consolation."
Sakura picked up, "Even those that haven't, have continued to treat us normally or tried to be accommodating, even though they're not exactly sure how to."
"Yeah! It's been really rad!" Saki called out. "And now that we don't have to hide the fact that we're zombies, we can do all sorts of shit! I don't have to get someone to get the stuff on the high shelves for me anymore. I can just take off my arm and get it myself. People love it!"
"From what I've read online, a lot of our fans feel the same way." Ai supplied. "Actually, what I seen the most has been a lot of 'we been knew.'" She had to laugh.
Yugiri acted suspicious, "Well, I highly doubt that."
"Right," Lily tried to explain. "They probably don't mean it literally though. They just mean that we've been acting weird since we first started and they aren't shocked to find out that something was up with us."
"Yeah," Ai continued. "They mainly seem to think it's funny that there's finally an explanation for why all of our songs are about death, or why our mascot is Romero."
"I like the memes" Lily offered
Tae growled in agreement.
"No one really seems to regard us any differently. They aren't scared of us like we were worried they would be. No one has tried to shoot me again."
"We're all incredibly grateful that Saga has accepted us for who and what we are." Junko summarized everyone's feelings and everyone nodded along.
Their last speaker stood to finish them off. Their question was the most straightforward one they'd gotten yet. "What will Franchouchou do next?"
"Well, we will keep performing, of course." Yugiri replied succinctly.
"All of this undead business has certainly complicated the matter quite a bit. It's been an adventure figuring out how to live as zombies, how to hide it, and now how to be honest about it, but that's not anything we didn't know about before we got into it." Junko explained
"Nothing has changed. We're still the same people we've always been and we still have the same goals." Ai continued
"There's nothing more we want to do than excite and entertain." Lily uplifted brightly
"We're not going anywhere. If anything, this is the start of a brand new legacy." Saki rose to her feet and pointed to the audience as if challenging them. "Go ahead and keep an eye out and watch Franchouchou rise to the top!"
As she did, Sakura and the rest of them stood up from their seats as well. "And most importantly, to anyone who has supported us before and is supporting us now, thank you so much for having us." With genuine smiles and looks of determination, the panel bowed respectfully to the audience before leaving the stage, but only for now.
Notes:
Is this interesting to anyone besides me? I don't know what it is, but I'm fascinated by the idea of the girls recounting their experiences to the public once word about them eventually gets out. The show seems committed to seeking their secret safe and exploring the shenanigans of hiding it. That's not a bad direction to go in, but I kind of think most of us would rather see what happens if they got found out. Firstly because it's a good source of tension, but also because I don't think any of us can imagine the world turning on the girls. Like I know the policeman shot them and people scream and whatever, but we all know that's just because it was dark and they were being scary. If they just came out as public figures then it'd be fine. It's fine. It would be totally fine. Like, it's fine. Everything is fine.
Honestly, the ease in which it seems like this problem could be solved can be frustrating sometimes. It would be way more fun to have the girls be able to use their zombie-ness in their daily lives. It would be really heartwarming to see them be accepted by the people around them. It would be dope to give them the ability to be known by their loved ones. It would be interesting for them to make claim to their previous lives and be able to share their stories and stuff. Franchouchou should be Saga's local undead, sisterly neighbors. Change my mind. They're a little weird, but they're theirs and they love them. That being said, this piece might have started to drag a bit, especially in the beginning. It was fun to write and explore, but it's all old information we already know so idk if it's fun to read at all. Like everything I do it ended up longer than it really should be. Call it a previous overview of the kind of AU I have in mind for them or call it a drabble cause that's what it is lmao. But if this did anything for anyone let me know. I can probably think of other scenes to explore life for Franchouchou if they were out. Maybe have them interact with people after the fact and show off their zombie quirks. Have new people come to town and get confused on why no one is alarmed by the zombies living next door. Maybe explore how they interact with their loved ones once they can stop being tongue and cheek about it. Who knows
