Disclaimer: I do not own Zombie Land Saga, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Saga Stories: A tale of Zombie Land Saga
Chapter two: Well they have certainly found themselves in a grave situation
Sakura Minamoto found herself sitting around in one of the rooms in the abandoned mansion that Kotaro and his men have taken to using as the base of operations for their scheme involving the production of 'Saga Stories', a slice-of-life sitcom TV show that they're producing for their ultimate end goal of saving the Saga prefecture. Sakura, who had in truth actually died back in early to mid-2008, was brought back from the dead as a zombie, albeit she was gussied up thanks to Kotaro's flawless skills in applying makeup to make her look like a living girl when she acted in her scenes for the series premiere.
Sakura was not the only girl who was raised from the dead as a zombie for this 'save Saga prefecture' plan of Kotaro's; there were nine other zombies girls such as her. Saki, Ai, Junko, Lily, Yugiri, Tae, Sigrid, Ayumu and Hikari all sat around in the same room that Sakura was in. Aside from Tae, who was acting somewhat like a mindless beast acting on instinct, all of the zombie girls, including Sakura herself, had 'awakened'. What this means is that they all had their minds and wills again, not acting like mindless undead like Tae and instead acting like regular girls that were both alive and breathing.
"So…" Hikari remarked slowly as she carefully looked at her hands, slowly turning them so that her red eyes can look at the grayish-blue skin, "…This is what being a zombie is like." Lowering her hands to rest on her lap, Hikari remarked in a more or less casual tone, "I guess that zombie shooter game I played at one of the arcades I went to had everything wrong."
As the zombie gamer girl spoke, she brushed a lock of her long light brownish hair to tuck it behind her ear so that it wasn't in the way; in addition to the long light brownish hair, Hikari had a slim yet healthy (if zombies could be considered 'healthy') build and freckles under her eyes. Hikari wore a baggy long-sleeved sweatshirt whose neck hole exposed the tops of her shoulders (this sweatshirt had a cream-colored body and light lavender sleeves), a pair of studded cargo shorts that were gray in color, a pair of slightly baggy socks, and a pair of brown shoes.
"I will admit, I was at first a bit unsettled upon waking up and realizing that I am now what is known as a 'living dead'," Yugiri remarked in an oddly at ease tone for someone saying that they were unsettled, "But after some of the guys working for that Kotaro fellow, as well as Kotaro himself, explained a few things to us, I'm thinking that things could have been far worse. At least I no longer have to worry about fellows such as…him."
"Since we're all zombies now," Lily began, sounding like she was trying to make the best of the situation, "That means we'll never age, right?" After Sakura, Junko and Ai all nodded in agreement with Lily, finding her logic to be sound, the young zombie girl smiled brightly. "Then in that case, I don't see what the big deal is," Lily went on, "I mean, we're going to stay as we are forever! Personally, I'm rather liking the idea of staying small and cute for-"
Lily was cut off when Sigrid slammed the surface of the floor that she and the other zombie girls sat on so hard, that the noise made Lily flinch; similarly, Ayumu not only flinched but also put both of her hands over her ears, as if the volume of Sigrid's fist slam was painful to her. "This is an outrage!" the half-foreign zombie girl barked, "I distinctly remember taking part in a glorious battle in which I perished. I had earned my reward of ascending to Valhalla to feast and dine at the side of the gods themselves before we took part in Ragnarök! And yet I was spirited away from such honor, returned here to Midgard as a draugr!" Slamming her fist onto the floor once again, Sigrid snapped, "An outrage, I say!"
"Yeah, I'm going to have to side with Viking here," Saki remarked from where she stood, getting all of the other zombie girls to turn and face her; out of all of the zombie girls, Saki was the only one not seated in the room, either on an actual seat or on the floor. In her case, Saki was leaning against a wall, her arms crossed over her chest. Scoffing with a hint of annoyance in her tone, Saki continued, "I mean, did any of us even ask to come back as zombies? What are Shades and his little helper fairies even thinking, raising us girls from the dead to be actresses in this little show of theirs?"
Not wanting the bad vibes to continue, Sakura took the initiative to try and settle any and all disputes before they could arise. Standing up from where she sat on the floor, the long-haired zombie girl said with a hint of nervousness in her tone, "Umm, Saki-chan, you can at least appreciate that you're alive again. I mean, this is all something of a second chance for us, if you think about it. How many can claim that they have been dead for multiple years straight but then came back to the land of the living?"
Pointing a finger at Sakura, making her flinch slightly in the process due to how quick and sudden the finger pointing was, Saki snapped, "Exactly what I'm trying to get at her, Egghead! Dead for multiple years straight, which in my case I found out I've been dead for a little over twenty-two years!" Crossing her arms over her chest, the gang girl zombie scoffed as she turned her head to face away from the group as she muttered, "I bet that my Tamagotchi is long dead by this point. Such a shame, too. That little thing was kind of cute…"
"And why bring us back to be actresses?" Ai asked, "I mean, wouldn't it be more logical for us to at the very least be formed into an idol group?"
Nodding in agreement with her Heisei counterpart, Junko remarked, "I'd have to agree with her. Being idols would make a lot more sense if you ask me." With a look of consideration, the Showa idol zombie girl continued as she held her right hand over her chin, "…Although I'm rather used to working alone rather than as part of a group…"
With a shrug, Lily said with a hint of knowingness in her tone, "You two are just saying that because the both of you are idols and thus are more used to it. I just so happen to think that the lot of us being actresses, especially ones that will stay young and cute forever, is a much better idea in the long run."
Turning to look at the young zombie girl with an expression that held a bit of accusation, Junko remarked, "Well aren't both you and Ayumu former actresses? It would make sense that this plan of Kotaro's would appeal more to the both of you."
"Umm," Ayumu began, sounding just as (if not more so) timid as Sakura when the long-haired zombie girl began, "I didn't say any-"
"You hush your mouth," Junko scolded when she quickly turned to the teen actress zombie, interrupting Ayumu in the process and making her flinch and cower away a bit.
"Hey!" Lily snapped at the Showa idol zombie girl upon seeing her scold Ayumu in such a manner, "You leave Big Sis alone! She didn't do anything!"
"Well Junko does have a point," Ai remarked, "Things are looking best for the two of you, and I'm seriously doubting that the rest of us here are in any mood to hear any biased defense from either you or Ayumu."
Raising a hand, Yugiri said with a hint of scolding firmness in her tone, "I believe that you and Junko-san ought to be more open to this second chance that all of us here have been presented with. And I could tell that Ayumu-san was speaking with a valid defense in response to Junko-san's initial accusation towards her and Lily-chan, so Lily-chan's snapping at Junko-san seems to me to be valid."
Sigrid, with a mildly annoyed scowl on her face, remarked, "As much as I do not like the fact that I've just come to learn that I was spirited from my rightly earned spot in Valhalla, I'm going to have to agree with the harlot draugr on this one. The white-haired draugr's scoldings towards the soaked draugr have no just bearing in my opinion." Crossing her arms over her chest, the half-foreign zombie girl continued, "If I were the chieftain here, then I would have ordered silence from the white-haired draugr for interrupting her soaked counterpart, and then allow said counterpart to continue."
"Yeah, that drenched-looking girl looked like she was trying to say that she didn't say anything along the lines of being thankful we're going to be actresses over idols," Saki remarked over from where she stood leaning against the wall, "Sigrid has a point on how we should have given that girl a chance to finish speaking her bit first so we could hear her out before someone like Junko jumped down her throat for no good reason."
"Oh sure," Junko said in a mildly sarcastic tone, clearly sounding annoyed that she seemed to be on the losing side of the argument, "Agree to go along with something that eight out the ten of us have no experience with!"
"Uhh, news flash," Saki said as she turned on Junko, "Eight out of ten of us have no experience with being idols either."
"Which is why I am sure Junko will agree with me when I say that we can show the rest of you girls how to about the business," Ai remarked, drawing a nod of agreement from her white-haired Showa counterpart.
Scoffing in response, Hikari said to both zombie idol girls, "And you two both think that Lily and Ayumu can't show us how to go about being actresses?" Gesturing over to where Sakura sat, Hikari continued, "Not to mention Sakura over here, who did most of the acting for the first episode on her own until most of us awakened." The zombie gamer girl had a point; Sakura did do most of the acting for the series premiere episode of 'Saga Stories', and when the other girls (Tae being the exception here) awakened, Ayumu and Lily, both gussies up to look human, acted in the last scene of the episode, a tail end scene to confirm for viewers that Sakura's character's dream was just that, a dream.
Gesturing to Ai and Junko, Hikari continued, "Lily and Ayumu are both experienced, and Sakura has shown that she can keep up with the job."
"Are you serious?" Ai nearly exclaimed, "You actually think that this whole business of being actresses is a good idea? Do you know what kind of dangers actresses can face?!" As Ai's little spat there began getting most off the other girls arguing amongst themselves, Saki, who refrained from the arguing for the most part, was the only one who saw a hint of alarmed fear in the Heisei idol zombie girl's eyes, especially when said girl mentioned 'dangers actresses can face'.
Right when the arguing reached a fever pitch, the noise of which made Ayumu cover her ears again, Sakura let out a loud, distracting whistle, getting all of the other zombie girls to turn and look at her. Even the unawakened Tae turned to regard her, although she did so in a manner such as a dog heading towards the direction of someone who whistled for it to some over. Once all eyes were on her, Sakura calmly inhaled before she began speaking to her audience.
"…Look girls," Sakura began, a hint of firmness in her tone, "I know that this is a rather sudden thing that the lot of us have been thrusted into. Even I'm still having some reservations about being an actress in this show that Kotaro-san and his men are trying to produce. But the fact of the matter remains unchanged. We all died at various points over time, we were all brought back as zombies, and we're all being made to act in this show. If you ask me, we might as well suck it up and just roll with the punches."
The other zombie girls all looked at the one among their number with dark rose-colored long hair for a few seconds, none of them saying anything. After a bit, both Ai and Junko looked like they were about to say something, but before either of them could get a single word out, they were both cut off when there was some clapping. All of the girls turned to look in the appropriate direction, and as they all saw, it was Kotaro the eccentric man, with that Japanese Chin zombie following him on foot as always, who was clapping.
Gesturing to where Sakura was standing, the eccentric man said, "She raises a very excellent point, girls. So what if a lot of you aren't happy with the fact that you're going to be acting in the show that I'm producing? You're all back in the land of the living. Not everyone can claim to have died and stayed that way for some length of time, then come back as if nothing changed." With a bit of a chuckle, Kotaro added, "Except with the fact that you girls are all now zombies. But I digress." Pointing to all of the zombie girls as a whole, Kotaro said, "The first episode of 'Saga Stories' just hit the air waves, and the response is booming!"
"We already got a response for that show?" Junko remarked, her tone and expression both showing that the Showa idol zombie girl was skeptical.
"Yeah, I don't believe it," Ai said, her tone showing that she agreed with Junko.
Shrugging indifferently, Kotaro said, "It's not like someone who is brand spanking new to the business of producing a TV show would understand how viewership works." Kotaro pulled out a smartphone, used it to get online, and surfed the web until he found what he was looking for. "This here," the eccentric producer began to explain, "It a Tweeter feed where a lot of people are commenting on the series premiere of 'Saga Stories'."
Kotaro then turned the smartphone around to show the zombie girls what was on it. Sure enough, they all saw many people's remarks, practically all of which had nothing but praise for the first episode, even though it was mostly just Sakura acting (not that anyone who saw the series premiere was aware that, outside of the tail end scene where Lily and Ayumu were acting, all of the other girls were acting while unawakened);
Frostymom69
I watched the series premiere with my son Shoto while he was visiting me at the hospital that I'm staying at, and we both loved it! Now he's changing his visiting schedule so that we can watch new episodes together every week. We now have something that helps us repair our damaged parent/child bond.
Catlover420
First episode was awesome! The part where the girl was running from those zombie neighbors in her dream was really heart pounding! Hopefully her character won't have nightmares anymore. Hope next week's episode is just as great, if not more so!
Osakagirl16
I understand how being nervous when moving to a new place can feel, given that I moved from my home in Osaka a while ago. The main girl in the first episode is very easy for me to relate to, and I hope that she'll be showing up in more episodes as they come out. I have it marked on my calendar when next week's new episode drops!
After taking his smartphone back, Kotaro said as he exited the app he was using, "And those are just some of the many examples of how you girls, despite the very little experience that most of you have, will soar into stardom as actresses set to save Saga." Slipping his smartphone back into his pocket that he got it out of, Kotaro continued, "Anyway, all of you girls follow me. We need to head down to the one dance room that was set up as an aerobics studio for some training."
"Training?" Sakura repeated in a curious tone as she and the other zombie girls that were still sitting slowly got to their feet; seeing the others get up, Tae took it as a cue to get up herself, not wanting to be left behind.
Nodding in confirmation, Kotaro replied, "Yes, Sakura. Training." Pointing to all of the zombie girls as a whole, the eccentric man began to explain, "The reason why Sakura, Lily and Ayumu were able to pull off looking like living humans in the series premiere is because of my genius skills in applying makeup. However, as you girls are all zombies, a race of monsters, you are all capable of learning a basic glamour power that will allow you change your appearance so that you look human."
Pounding his right fist into his left hand Kotaro said, "The lot of you girls will be learning how to master this glamour power so as to save money in the budget. We're going to the aforementioned aerobics room as there's enough space there for all of you to spread out and practice learning the glamour power. For those of you who don't quite get it down pat by the time that you're needed to act out a scene in the second episode, don't worry, we still have more than enough costume makeup to make you pass for living. But don't go letting that lull you into thinking that you don't have to master the glamour power. Makeup costs a lot of money, and until we start seeing a respectable return on the show, our budget for makeup will be limited."
"Umm, question," Hikari began, raising a hand and prompting Kotaro to turn and face her, "But how do you know so much about this? And what do you mean when you said that bit about how 'zombies are a race of monster'? Do you mean to tell me that there are more kinds of monsters out there, such as vampires and werewolves, maybe even a dragon?"
Kotaro just stood there, looking right at Hikari in silence for a few seconds. Suddenly, Kotaro began clapping his hands very quickly while holding them slightly off to the side as he loudly exclaimed, "Come on, girls! Get to the aerobics room for glamour power practice! We don't have a moment to waste! GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!" Sakura and the other nine zombie girls were all caught off guard by Kotaro's sudden energy, although the long-haired zombie girl was less surprised as she had seen such behavior from Kotaro at least once before. Even so, none of this stopped the eccentric man from corralling all of the zombie girls out of the room that they were all in and over to the aerobics room for the 'training' that he was talking about.
A short while later, Sakura and the other zombie girls found themselves in a dance studio-esque room, where some of the men that were cahoots with Kotaro were instructing the zombie girls (aside from the unawakened Tae, who was kept occupied by Kotaro shoving a bit of dried squid snack into her mouth) in using the glamour power that Kotaro was talking about earlier, which was called monster glamour.
"Imagine a glowing sphere-shaped mass of energy deep inside of yourself," the man instructing Sakura, about the same age as Kotaro but had long black hair, said as he instructed her, "Use your will to draw from this mass, then visualize yourself as a human. The visualization and the drawing of energy will work in tandem, eventually merging into a single action that will allow you to use monster glamour far quicker in later uses."
Nodding once in understanding, Sakura said, "Got it." Closing her eyes, the long-haired zombie girl breathed in and out slowly (although she no longer needs to breathe to live, being a zombie and all, Sakura found that she was still capable of breathing to an extent) as she visualized the mass of energy the man was talking about in her mind. It was a goldish colored mass of swirling energy that, if it were a material thing in the real world, would be about the size of a basketball.
Sakura then visualized herself standing next to this energy mass, and that both were in a black void together. Sakura visualized herself reaching out to the mass, her palms facing it, as she tried willing the energy to come to her. "Come to me," Sakura thought in her mind, putting a lot of effort into concentration on this exercise. The long-haired zombie girl then began to see the mass of energy shift shape, with a tendril coming from it floating right towards Sakura. When the tendril reached her and started covering her in a glow of energy, Sakura then visualized herself as how she looked back when she was still a living human girl.
While all of that was going on in Sakura's mind, Sakura in the waking world began to slowly lighten up in her skin tone, with the men working with the zombie girls watching on as the long-haired zombie girl's skin shifted from grayish-blue to a healthy-looking, living skin tone; there also seemed to be a bit of luster returning to Sakura's hair as well. After Sakura's appearance had finished changing, she still had her eyes closed, as she was still concentrating. However, she was brought out of her concentration by clapping applause from Kotaro.
Looking over where Kotaro stood, Sakura saw the eccentric man clapping as he was looking right at her. "Bravo, Sakura!" Kotaro remarked, his tone carrying a decent hint of amusement, "You are the first of the girls to have successfully used monster glamour to make yourself appear to be human. Take a look in the mirror behind you if you don't believe me."
"Ehh?" Sakura said in a confused tone as she turned around. To her surprise, Sakura saw how she looked in the mirror; she looked as she did the day she died, right before she ran out of the house to go to her audition to become an actress. The long-haired zombie girl couldn't believe that the living-looking girl that she was looking at in the mirror was her; she even held her right hand up to her face as she poked herself in the cheek. Sure enough, her counterpart in the mirror did exactly the same.
"I…" Sakura said, the realization having just hit her even though she still had trouble believing it, "…I look human."
"Hot damn, Egghead!" Saki remarked in a tone that was a mix of amused and impressed, "You got it down quicker than the rest of us!" Turning to face where Kotaro stood, Saki said, "Shades, you're saying that we can do what she just did?"
Kotaro, when he turned to face Saki, nodded once in the affirmative. "Just do as my men here are instructing you, and soon you will be able to master the use of monster glamour, so that I don't have to use my makeup skills to make you look human, like what I had to do for Sakura, as well as Lily and Ayumu, to make them look human for the series premiere."
"Yeah, I saw that episode," Saki replied, a hint of annoyance in her tone, "Geez, I still can't believe that you had the gall to use me and the other girls like that while we were still mindless." Gently shaking her head, the zombie biker girl continued, "But still, if this 'monster glamour' skill that you're talking about will make me look as human as Sakura and the others did with that makeup job, then count me in!"
The next few hours were spent by the zombie girls practicing the use of monster glamour. Sakura was the first of the girls to master it, as she was able to activate and deactivate it at will with a speed that was more or less instantaneous. Having seen Sakura master the power drove the other zombie girls onwards, fueling their desire to be able to make themselves look human once more. After the end of the session, Saki, Lily, Yugiri, Sigrid, Ayumu and Hikari had mastered monster glamour as well as Sakura. This left Ai, Junko and Tae as the only ones who still had to rely on the makeup skills of Kotaro to look human.
"I honestly did not expect any of you to have mastered using monster glamour by the end of the first day of practice, to be completely honest," Kotaro began, "So color me impressed that seven out of ten of you have mastered the power in a day. That being said…" The eccentric man then turned his attention to the two idol zombie girls. "Ai, Junko, you both disappoint me," Kotaro began, "I can understand that Tae, who is still unawakened, could not master the use of monster glamour. But the two of you are both awakened, same as the rest of your companions here. You could have at least gotten the initial use taken care of today."
Ai and Junko, both still annoyed with a number of things, were both reaching their respective wits' end, and this last bit of shaming from Kotaro was starting to set both of them off. "Why am I even here anyway?!" Junko snapped, her brow furrowed a bit, "It's bad enough that the last thing I remember before waking up as a zombie was that I was fleeing from overeager fans and the paparazzi in a car. But now I'm not only a zombie, but I have to do something that I wasn't trained to do? Just where do you get off?!"
Junko did not even give Kotaro a chance to respond (not that he was actually going to respond to the Showa idol zombie girl snapping at him, mind you) before she turned around and stormed out of the dance studio. Ai, although she did not say a word, gave Kotaro a look similar to that which Junko had just given the man before she turned around as well to follow Junko out of the room, leaving the other zombie girls having a mix of reactions.
Sakura, Lily and Ayumu all had panicking expressions, freaking out over the friction that had just cropped out. Yugiri paid the two zombie idol girls no mind as she pulled out a long pipe from the Meiji era and began to take a drag from it. Tae just sat off in the corner, mindlessly chewing on a piece of dried squid snack as she was unaware of what was going on. Both Saki and Sigrid crossed their arms over their chests, looks of mild annoyance on both of their faces.
"They act like children who aren't getting their way," Sigrid remarked indifferently about Junko and Ai, "Or were likewise just told no. Their little temper tantrum here puts them both at a level lower than the little one, who is actually a child yet has thus far behaved herself better than the both of those idol draugr combined."
"Yeah, those two are both being total drags right now," Saki remarked, her tone showing that she agreed with the zombie girl who, like herself, used to be a kamikaze gang member.
Seeing the two gang zombie girls off to the side talking to each other, Hikari walked over to them and asked, "What are you girls talking about?"
"Just how that Ai and Junko were acting more childish than Shrimpy, who is actually a child," Saki replied. Giving the zombie gamer girl a curious look, Saki said, "By the way, Hikari, way to go with mastering this glamour power second out of all of us girls here."
With a mildly self-amused look on her face, Hikari replied, "Well the fact that we were all doing training to master a new power reminded me a lot of some of the anime that I would watch back when I was still alive, what with how the protagonists of said anime would train to learn a new power of some kind. I was into anime and manga almost as much as, if not just as much as, video games and the like."
"Heh," Saki chuckled, amusement in her tone, "I guess that being an otaku has paid off for you."
Hikari, recognizing the playful jab, merely smiled in amusement of her own. "Yes, I guess that it did," the zombie gamer girl replied. Hikari turned to look in the direction that Junko and Ai both stormed off in. "…I guess that what happened just now is a thing as well," Hikari went on as her small smile turned to a small frown, her tone sounding mildly worried, "But then again, I guess it is to be expected. I mean, those girls are probably still reeling from the shock of having returned from beyond the grave, and they're taking things out on the rest of us here. I hope that someone here is able to make a breakthrough with Ai and Junko. Otherwise…" Gently shaking her head, the zombie gamer girl added, "…I'm not sure what will be done with them."
Pounding a fist into her hand, Saki sneered, "Feh, we just have to knock some sense into those two is all. Show them who's the head honcho around here. They'll fall in line soon enough once one of us asserts dominance over them." With a self-amused smirk, the delinquent zombie girl added as she jerked a thumb at her chest, "It wouldn't have been the first time that I had to show someone their place."
"I can always send them back to Helheim," Sigrid offered casually.
Hikari was a bit alarmed at the violent plannings of the two former kamikaze gang girls; she wasn't quite sure what exactly Sigrid meant by what she said, but the zombie gamer girl felt that Sigrid's plan should be shelved either way. Briskly shaking her head, Hikari said, "I was hoping that we could get Ai and Junko to settle down without having to resort to violence. After all, it wouldn't look good for the show if word got out that there was a physical altercation between at least three of the leading actresses."
Both Saki and Sigrid sighed in resigned tones, with Saki adding, "Fine, we'll try to come up with something non-violent." With a look of annoyed consideration on her face, Saki continued, "My bet is that Egghead can make a breakthrough, or something."
"Egghead?" Hikari repeated, sounding confused.
In response, Saki pointed with her right index finger over to where some of the other zombie girls were talking amongst themselves; it was a group consisting of Sakura, Lily, Yugiri and Ayumu, with Lily looking up at and talking to Ayumu while wearing an expression that one would wear when meeting someone who's a big inspiration to you. To Hikari's interest, Saki was pointing right at Sakura.
"…Sakura over there," the delinquent zombie girl said in an explanatory tone, "Her head kind of reminds me of my old Tamagotchi, which was egg-shaped. Thusly, I have taken to referring to Sakura as Egghead."
"Ah," Hikari relied as she nodded once to show that she understood what Saki was getting at with her explanation.
A few minutes after Ai and Junko stormed out of the dance studio, they were gathered up by some of Kotaro's men. Once they were gathered, Ai and Junko, along with Tae, were all given the makeup treatment to make them look like living humans, as they had not yet mastered the monster glamour power. Once all of the zombie girls were looking alive, Kotaro explained to them that an effort to spread the word of 'Saga Stories' was needed, or at least wouldn't hurt.
As such, they were going to attend an open-mic performance at an old performance center that was in Saga Castle. The performance center's audience was filled mainly with seniors, who came to watch whatever it was that the performers that came to the open-mic show were going to do. Kotaro, who was backstage with the zombie girls, peeked from off to the side of the stage to see who all was out in the audience. With a self-satisfied smirk on his face, the eccentric man said, "Hoo boy, look at all of those people out there. No doubt that word of 'Saga Stories' will be spreading like wildfire after this open-mic performance."
Kotaro noticed that there a few young adults in the audience, scattered here and there; he figured that they were here with at least one of their respective grandparents. Kotaro also spotted a pair of guys, one tall and slender and one somewhat short and well-fed, who looked like they were both dressed to go to a rock concert or something. Kotaro felt that those two guys, out of all the possible people in the world, were a bit out of place in such a setting. But hey, it's not like he's exactly going to turn down free advertisement via word of mouth, and that means that the more mouths out there spreading the word of 'Saga Stories', the better.
Saki, who snuck a peek into the audience, felt a bit confused. "Ehh?" Saki said with a mildly confused hint in her tone, "Why are we here to perform for a bunch of old geezers? And what the hell is it that we're supposed to be doing to entertain them anyway? Charades or whatever?" Crossing her arms over her chest, Saki scoffed, "I didn't sign up for this exactly."
"I figured that you girls could do some improv comedy," Kotaro replied, "The open-mic night poster never said that only music performers were going to be allowed to take part, although if any of you girls sings a song, hey, more power to you." Turning to face all of the zombie girls, Kotaro said, "Alright, ladies! Who here is ready to give the good folks out there a good time and tell them about 'Saga Stories' at the same time?"
Yugiri, a hint of amused seductiveness in her tone, remarked, "Oh my, we're here to entertain people? Then we ought to do our best to give them the best service that we can."
"We're here as minstrels, not harlots," Sigrid scoffed at the courtesan zombie girl, her tone sounding like the half-foreign zombie girl was not all that amused, or is otherwise fond of, her courtesan counterpart, "Keep it in your pants."
Lily, with a confused look on her face, turned her head to look up at Ayumu. "Hey, Big Sis," the child actress zombie girl said to her teen counterpart, "What's a harlot? Also, what does Sigrid mean when she told Yugiri just now to keep it in her pants?"
"Lily," Ayumu replied in a tone that sounded honestly baffled, "I am just as lost as you are." Ayumu turned her attention to Sakura and, when she saw Ayumu turn to look at Sakura, Lily did the same. "Hey, Sakura," the teen actress zombie girl began, "What's a harlot, and what does one mean when they tell someone to keep it in their pants?"
Unlike with both of the youthful zombie actresses, Sakura seemed to have a pretty good idea about what the meaning of what the topic was. However, there was an embarrassed look on her face, as well as some similarly embarrassed blushing. "I, umm, well, you see," Sakura tried to say, stammering a bit every so often out of embarrassment, "The thing is, well, umm, why don't I tell you both later?" The tone of Sakura's voice made it clear that she hoped that both Lily and Ayumu would drop the subject. Luckily for Sakura, they both did, which prompted Sakura to breathe a sigh of relief.
…
Without much further fanfare, the zombie girls were all out on stage. With a mix of Kotaro's skills in applying makeup and most of the zombie girls having mastered the use of monster glamour, no one freaked out as the girls all looked human. "Umm, hello, out there!" Sakura greeted the audience as she spoke into a microphone, "We're the cast of 'Saga Stories', the new show that premiered on TV a few days ago. We're here to do some live improv and to spread the word of our show, which you can catch every Sunday on channel seven, so don't forget to tune in to watch new episodes!"
The response from the audience, although not a standing ovation, did show that some of the people were interested in what Sakura and her co-stars were doing here. The long-haired zombie girl turned to the side and gestured for Lily and Ayumu to come over; Sakura chose the two former actresses because of their respective experience in acting. "My co-actresses here," Sakura went on as she gestured to Lily and Ayumu respectively, "Numbers six and seven, will act out a scene where six and seven play a child and her mother respectively visiting a store that is run by me. Now, I'm first going to need someone in the audience to provide a kind of store."
"Bath supplies store," an older lady sitting in the audience called out.
Nodding in agreement, Sakura said, "Good, a bath supplies store is good. Now, the next thing that I'm going to need is the store's location."
"Two blocks from U.A. High School," called out a mid-teens boy sitting in the audience; this boy had a short mess of fluffy dark green hair, he had some freckles on his face, and he wore a baggy t-shirt that said 't-shirt' plus a pair of cargo pants and a pair of red boots.
"Oh, that's the top hero high school in Japan," Sakura remarked as she pointed out into the audience in the general direction that suggestion came from, "Good choice." To the audience as a whole, Sakura said, "Now the last thing that I need is the person running the store."
"Zarbon from DBZ Abridged!" called out an adult woman who sat right next to the teen boy with green hair; this woman was a surprisingly youthful-looking middle-aged woman that had ash-blonde hair and red eyes, and she wore a white shirt under a purple dress shirt that was completely open in the front, a black skirt and a pair of slip-on shoes.
Sakura, with a confused look on her face, replied, "Umm, I'm not quite familiar with that one. Can I get another suggestion?"
"My ex-husband Masaru!" the same ashy-hired woman called out.
Nodding, Sakura said, "Divorced man it is! Now that my co-actresses and I have a store, a location and a person running the store, we can begin the improv." Sakura, Lily and Ayumu all quickly got into position, the process running smoothly due to the experience that Lily and Ayumu had as actresses and the bits of actress training Sakura had when she was alive.
Within a few seconds, the three zombie girls were ready to act out the scene while the other seven all waited back along the back edge of the stage; Tae, who was unawakened thus tended to do as her base instincts led her to do, was kept in place by Junko and Ai, both of which were given the duty of keeping Tae in check by Saki (i.e. she intimidated them into doing it). When they were ready, Lily and Ayumu walked towards where Sakura was waiting.
"Oh, hello and welcome to my bath supplies store," Sakura greeted Lily and Ayumu as they acted out the improv scene, "My name is Masaru. Is there anything that you're looking for?"
"Oh yes," Lily replied, "I was wondering if you had strawberry-scented bubble bath formula."
Nodding in the affirmative, Sakura said, "Oh yes, we have a variety of scented bubble bath formulas. As a matter of fact, my ex-wife's favorite scent is strawberry."
"No it's not! I like lemon best!" the ashy-haired woman shouted from the audience, "You see, this is one of the reasons why we got divorced in the first place, you spineless shit!" The teen boy sitting next to the woman turned to face her and whispered to her to please not heckle the live performers on stage at the moment.
Sakura, without breaking character or even showing that the heckling was getting to her, went on by saying, "If you'd like, I can show you to where I stock the scented bubble bath formulas." To Ayumu, Sakura asked, "Is there any scented bubble bath formulas that you are interested in?"
Ayumu, a somewhat noticeable look of mild panic on her face at the mention of the idea of her taking a bath, quickly shook her head in the negative. "No, I do showers over baths," Ayumu replied, "I have no need of anything for baths specifically forever."
"That's alright," Sakura replied to Ayumu, "We still carry a wide selection of body washes, shampoos and conditioners for whatever your bathing preferences may be."
The audience seemed to be enjoying what Sakura, Lily and Ayumu were doing thus far. One of the older men in the audience, who was holding a bag of dried squid snacks, remarked somewhat loudly, "Now you see, this is quality live entertainment. I just wished there was more live improv like this performed closer to the retirement home." Due to this older man being loud enough, the other seven zombie girls, who sat with their backs to the wall on the floor at the back of the stage, were all able to hear him, with their attention turning to look at him. This meant that not only did Tae see him, but she also saw that he was eating dried squid snacks.
Seeing that most alluring (to zombies such as her, at least) foodstuff, Tae was unable to help herself as her undead instincts kicked in. Without caring that Junko and Ai both moved to try to keep her from getting up, the unawakened zombie tried making her way right over to that older man, intent on getting some of his dried squid snack.
Partway through the improv scene that Sakura, Lily and Ayumu were acting out, Tae got free from the hold of the two zombie idol girls, stood up and walked right towards the older man with the dried squid snacks. Seeing Tae so randomly get up and try to walk off stage, Sakura had to quickly move to keep a hold on her, grabbing the unawakened zombie girl by her left arm. "No, it's not your turn yet!" Sakura said as she struggled to pull Tae back, "You need to go sit back down until it's your turn to act!"
Try as she may, Sakura was unable to pull Tae back; in fact, the long-haired zombie girl pulled so hard that Tae's arm simply popped off from the rest of her, causing Tae to fall over face-first onto the stage. When her head hit the stage floor, it hit it with such force that Tae's head popped off as well, flew up a bit to the mixed reactions of Sakura (freaked out), Junko and Ai (annoyed), the other zombie girls (mildly wondering) and everyone else in the audience (just rolling with it) before the head flew at the older man with the dried squid snack, then landed on his arm where she was harmlessly gnawing on the bit of his shirt sleeve to keep hold.
The older man, surprisingly undisturbed to see a girl's head fly off, noticed that Tae's head was trying to reach forward to take a bite of some dried squid snack. With a mildly amused smile on his face, the older man said, "I'm guessing that you want some, right?" The older man reached into his bag of dried squid snack, pulled a piece out, then held it to Tae so that she could grab ahold of it with her teeth and begin to chew.
As Tae contently chewed away on her acquired piece of dried squid snack, Sakura moved quickly to retrieve Tae's head. "Umm…" Sakura said in something of a mild panic as she tried to think of how to explain to the audience that Tae's head came off but she was still alive (none of the audience members knew that the zombie girls were zombies), "…This is the special power that number zero has! We all have superpowers!"
"You mean quirks?" the green-haired teen boy in the audience shouted over to Sakura.
"Yeah, sure, let's go with that!" Sakura replied right away. Sakura would have gone on to explain further, but she was cut off when she noticed that Tae's body had gotten up and was now running around. Turning to face the girls on stage, Sakura said, "Hey number two, catch!" as she threw Tae's head to Saki, who caught it rather handily. As Saki wondered aloud just what she and the other girls were going to do with their fellow zombie girl who was still unawakened, Sakura grabbed ahold of and began to drag Tae's moving body back onto the stage.
When she got Tae's body back there, Sakura retrieved Tae's head from Saki and stuck it back on. However, about the moment Sakura got Tae's head back on, to her and Saki's surprise, Junko came up and yanked Tae's head back off. "Number four, what is wrong with you?!" the long-haired zombie girl snapped at the Showa idol zombie girl, "The last thing we need to happen is for everyone here to freak out by showing them that number zero's body parts can detach from her body! Are you seriously that insane, or are-"
"Look out there," Junko said as she pointed out into the audience, drawing Sakura's attention to the fact that a lot of people in the audience were clapping in applause towards what they were seeing. The ashy-haired woman was even laughing a bit while the teen boy that was with her was writing something down in a notebook, muttering something about 'a quirk that allows the user to detach her body parts', or something along those lines.
Giving Sakura a look that was a mix of self-amused and mildly annoyed, Junko continued, "We're actresses, aren't we? And actresses are supposed to entertain people." Gesturing to Tae, the Showa idol zombie girl said, "The people here are entertained by what's going on with her, so why would we stop?"
"This isn't right!" Sakura nearly exclaimed as she took Tae's head back from Junko and stuck it back onto Tae. However, Junko took Tae's head back off and shoved Sakura off to the side with a hip bump when the long-haired zombie girl tried to get Tae's head back again. As she held Tae's head out to show off to the cheering audience, the Showa idol zombie girl had a smug and somewhat self-amused smile on her face.
Chuckling to herself, Junko said somewhat to herself, "I don't know why I haven't thought of this before. This whole 'zombie actress' thing might actually be a-" Junko was cut off when, to her surprise, Sakura went up and slapped Tae's head out of her grasp, sending Tae's head flying back to the wall at the back of the stage, where it smacked into the wall and promptly fell down, being safely caught by Hikari.
Giving Junko a very annoyed and angry look, Sakura snapped, "Can't you at least try to hide the fact that all of us are zombies?!" Junko, as well as Ai and all of the other zombie girls were all taken by surprise by Sakura's sudden outburst at the white-haired zombie girl. "Seriously, you're not even bothering to try and hide it!" Sakura ranted on, "What kind of actress's head just comes popping off at random?! Does that sound even remotely human to you?! What kind of human can pull off a stunt like that, huh?! Is that brain of yours rotting inside your head as well?!"
"Alright, you quisling hussy," Junko remarked, sounding just as annoyed and angry at Sakura but not raising her voice enough to match the volume that her rose hair-colored counterpart was using, "You want to try to defend this crazy plan to have all of us be actresses in a show, then fine, I'll take you on. If you're that eager to show that you got what it takes, then I'll be glad to kick your butt from here all the way over to Hokage Rock over in Konohagakure!"
"If they find out that we're zombies, we'll be more than dead by the time's all said and done!" Sakura snapped back, unperturbed by Junko rising to her challenge, "I hope that at least some of my words are getting through to you, but I doubt that it's happening given how obviously thick that head of yours is! If you can't take this seriously, then you'll be the zombie with the head damage that won't regenerate! How much more has to happen before you regret it?! How many people shooting at us will it take for you to get it?!"
As Sakura was scolding Junko on stage like that, Kotaro, who was watching from off stage behind some curtains, looked on in a bit of curious amusement before the eccentric man started to make beatboxing sounds with his mouth, even finishing off with sounding perfectly like a DJ turning an album to make a 'werka-werka' sound.
This was apparently enough to trigger a full-blown impromptu rap battle between Sakura and Junko. "What makes you think I'll just roll over and agree? I died while riding from a chase and now you want me to be an actress zombie?" the Showa idol zombie girl began, "If my other choice is acting like a stuck-up snot, then I should have been left in the ground, I'd rather rot!"
As Junko said her first bit in the rap, Yugiri began playing a shamisen that she apparently got out of nowhere; likewise Sigrid was going "Hua!" every so often, each sound sounding like part of some Viking war-chanting. Saki, with an amused look on her face, joined her half-foreigner counterpart in the Viking war-chanting, which flowed perfectly with Yugiri's shamisen playing.
Lily, as she watched on, looked like she wanted to join in on this fun as well. Acting quickly while Sakura and Junko were both distracted facing each other down, Lily grabbed Tae's head and stuck it back onto Tae's neck. The unawakened zombie girl lunged forward and took a microphone that was laying on the stage into her mouth and sucked on the mouth piece, which only served to help the beat of the rapping. Seeing this, the child actress zombie girl looked like she was even more excited to play at least some sort of roll in the impromptu rap battle between Sakura and Junko.
"I can't remember anything before all of this went down," Sakura rapped as she took her turn while Lilly moved from one end of the stage to the other while clapping, getting some of the people in the audience to clap along to the beat, "But in the studio, I felt something click. I'm not some random good girl, and I'm not some random clown. I just want to do more than to be some worthless brick!"
"Who cares if you got memories in your head?" Junko rapped as she and Sakura both swayed to the beat of the music, "You don't get to see friends and loved ones, and your idol career's long dead!" Giving Sakura a challenging glare, the Showa idol zombie girl said, "We're done, got it?! Nothing's going to be able to change that!"
"Hell no!" Sakura retaliated, "Like hell we're done! This new chance is just getting started! We need to keep going ahead, or we'll just be living dead! Even though all of us died, we're only stopping when we decide! So stop hiding and ride again! Kick some ass, idol!" Back stage where he was hiding off to the side, Kotaro made some reverse record sounds with his mouth, being able to tell that Sakura was not done rapping yet.
Looking over to Ai, Sakura rapped, "And that also goes for you standing over there! Going to act like a loser when you're part of a celebrity pair? You've got all the talent in the world, but you're trying to give it up without giving things a whirl! Quit complaining and whining about why you can't win! If you've got even the slightest chance, then try to do it then! Even a zombie can do it if she tries, and when you prove it, you'll prove the dead can rise!"
The audience was surprisingly entertained by the rapping and thus they applauded it, although the 'zombie theme' of the rap as they were calling it amongst themselves did strike them as something of an odd choice. Hearing the applause coming from the audience, Sakura turned to face them, taking note on how most of them were elderly people.
"That goes for all of you old folks out there, too!" Sakura rapped on, "Tell anyone who talks about golden years to you to go screw! Take a nap in the afternoon on the porch? Not you! People worried about the low rate of birth? Show all of them what silver's worth! If they want to blame everything on you anyway, then stay active and show them you're here to stay!" Holding her microphone up aloft, Sakura then threw it right to the stage floor while shouting, "Bang!"
The audience went as wild as a lot of them could go, Sakura's finish bringing the performance as a whole to its climax. Some people even stood up to give a standing ovation, they were that entertained by the rapping between Sakura and Junko. The zombie girls, aside from Sakura who was breathing in and out a bit, looked around in wonder as they took in the sight of everyone in the audience cheering for them. This was especially so for Junko and Ai, both of which had been scolded in rap by the long-haired zombie girl. The looks of wonder on Ai's and Junko's respective faces showed that the both of them were starting to realize that maybe, just maybe, that this 'actress' thing may be worth sticking around for and giving another chance.
As the audience continued to applaud the impromptu rap performance, the zombie girls all looked over the audience, amazed that the crowd was so excited for them. As Sakura, who just then noticed the support from the crowd, looked around, Saki came walking over to her. "Wow, it looks like you really got the attention of these geezers and the few odd younger people here, Egghead," the biker zombie girl remarked, "Not bad. Not bad at all." Sakura, for her part, looked on with a look of mild shellshock on her face, as if the rap battle she had just won came to her as a sudden surprise.
Outside of Saga Castle, Sakura was standing off to the side in some shade as the sun was setting. The long-haired zombie girl was still surprised at, as well as a little ashamed of, herself for what she had just done during the zombie girls' performance. However, Sakura was soon brought out of her pity party when Saki walked over to her, getting her attention. "Yo, Egghead," Saki began, her tone making it clear that she was impressed, "That was actually pretty ballsy of you, that rapping that you did with Junko back there."
"I didn't mean for that to even happen," Sakura replied in a mildly flustered manner, "I was just so frustrated with how Junko and Ai have been acting ever since they and the rest of you girls had awakened." With a sigh, the long-haired zombie girl continued, "I just wanted everyone here to get along and give this second chance that all of us have a shot, like what I'm doing."
As Sakura continued to look down to the ground in shame, she was surprised when Saki reached forward and wrapped her right arm around her shoulders, drawing Sakura into a friendly hug. "You know, I already felt that you got some of the right stuff," Saki began, "What with how you took so readily to all of this crazy stuff and with how you took charge a bit and whatnot. But now, after how you totally thrashed Junko in that rap battle like that? Well color me impressed, Egghead." Giving Sakura a pat on the back, Saki said, "Girls with guts like you are okay in my book. I was a little unsure of this whole actress thing myself, but with someone like you setting the standard, I wouldn't mind following along."
"Thanks, Saki," Sakura replied, her spirits restored a little by how she now had Saki's respect apparently, "Although I'm not sure if taking part in rap battles is very actress-like."
"It doesn't matter," Saki remarked in a reassuring tone, "With how well we did here tonight with getting the audience that excited, I'm more than sure that we accomplished what Shades brought us here to do to spread the word of that show we're acting in."
The other zombie girls were sitting nearby, all of them (aside from Tae who was distracted by some dried squid snack that she had) watching as Saki gave her respect to Sakura. Seeing the biker zombie girl give her seal of approval to Sakura, Junko and Ai both turned to look at one another, looks of regret on their faces (especially so for Junko). The two idol zombie girls both got up and walked over to where Saki was hanging with Sakura.
"I…believe that Saki raises an excellent point, Sakura," Junko began, the hesitance in her tone showing that she regretted ruffling Sakura's feathers the way that she did, "I would like to apologize for my behavior, both to you today and to everyone else as a whole ever since I had my 'awakening' as it's being called."
"I want to say sorry for my part in all of that as well," Ai remarked in an apologetic tone, "And I think I speak for Junko when I say that the two of us would like to try to give this whole 'actress' thing an honest go." The Showa idol zombie girl nodded with what her Heisei counterpart said, a sign that showed that she did in fact agree.
Sakura, for her part, was touched by the gesture that the two idol zombie girls was trying to show. Smiling a bit in a touched manner, Sakura said, "Thanks, you two. I'm sure that if all ten of us put our all into it, then we'll be able to knock being actresses out of the park and bring our show into the top ratings bracket!"
"And the rest of you all better follow my lead on this one," Saki remarked a she jerked a thumb at her chest, "The ten of us are all members of the same acting troop according to Shades, right? And that troop needs someone to be the troop leader. So all of you better say hello to the leader of our actress troop, because she's right here! Saki Nikaido!" The other nine zombie girls (again with the exception of the distracted Tae) all turned to look at Saki with looks of mildly surprised confusion.
"…Umm, Saki-san," Yugiri began in a mildly wondering tone, "Wouldn't it make more sense for one of those among our number with more experience in being actresses than you to be the leader of our actress troop? I mean, Lily-san and Ayumu-san are both experienced actresses, and Sakura-san is well versed in the workings of the acting world herself. I just believe that having someone with such experience leading our little group here would be one of the wisest choices that the ten of us can make as a group."
Waving away the courtesan zombie girl's reasonable argument, Saki said, "Well I have a lot of experience being a leader, so it ought to be me." Pounding a fist into her hand, Saki continued, "With me in charge of the troop, there's no way that anyone would be able to stand in our way as our show makes its way to the top of the ratings!"
"Heh," Sigrid remarked in an amused-sounding scoff, "If it's leader experience that's needed, then I'm just as qualified to be the chieftain." Waving a hand to blow away any argument, the half-foreign zombie girl continued, "But then again, being a minstrel in the spotlight was never my horn of drink, so if you want to lead the party, then be my guest."
"Then it's settled!" Saki declared, "I'm now the official leader of our actress troop!" Saki then gave off a confident laugh as she had her fists planted on her waist, drawing a mildly exasperated sigh from Sakura. Regardless of the outcome, Sakura was glad that all of her fellow zombie girls were now on board with the idea of being actress for 'Saga Stories'. She was especially glad that she had been able to reach through to Junko and Ai, as they were the most hesitant.
With a mildly confident smile, Sakura nodded once in agreement, showing that she didn't mind it that Saki was declaring herself the leader of their acting troop. The other zombie girls, just glad that things were going to continue without major setbacks, all just decided to go along with how things were turning out.
END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER TWO
Author's notes:
Wow! At over 10,400 words by this point (Word kept track of the word count for me), this is the longest chapter that I've written for any of my stories to date, even without the disclaimer at the beginning and this author's note here! That is a new record for me!
But back to the serious matter here, this has been the second chapter of 'Saga Stories', which presents the events of the second episode (of season one) in a different way due to the AU nature of this story. I wanted to put more focus on Ai and Junko and how they acted during these events. Junko especially so, which is why when this chapter got to the part with the rap battle, I switched Saki out and replaced her with Junko as Sakura's opponent in the rap battle; Junko rapping against Sakura is also why the words in the rap itself had to be changed slightly. That's the main difference between this chapter and its counterpart in the series proper, I suppose.
Either way, by the time that things were said and done, Sakura's still got everyone agreeing to go along with the 'Saga Stories' project that Kotaro has going, and she still put on enough of a show to get Saki's respect straight up, which is probably a secondary facet of this chapter's counterpart, if you think about it. But that's beside the point. Anyway, I'm going to have to more or less build up an original plot for the next chapter in order to better fit the actress theme that this AU story is trying to go for (episode three's plot doesn't really work all that well for this story's setting), as well as to make up for the fact that Ai and Junko were won over here.
I'm sure that I can come up with something, although I'm not opposed to suggestions and ideas from all of you guys.