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 three: Undead understanding
The zombie girls were all relaxing back at the mansion after a successful performance over at Saga Castle. As the girls all milled about the room that they were hanging out in while in their zombie-like appearances, having a little party to themselves to celebrate their surprise success at the open mic performance, Sakura looked around as she stood off to the side with Hikari. The long rose-colored haired zombie girl wore a small but sincere smile that showed that she was proud of all of the progress that she and her fellow zombies were making.
Sakura was particularly proud of the progress that she had made with Ai and Junko; the two idol zombie girls were at first rather hesitant to go on ahead with the idea of being actresses on the show that Kotaro and his men were producing, with Junko being especially stubborn. However, Sakura was able to get through to them at last, although it took her totally thrashing Junko in an impromptu rap battle to accomplish that goal. Sakura received further confidence from the rest of her fellow zombie girls when Saki, and to a lesser extent Sigrid, gave her a thumbs-up.
"I have to say, Sakura," Hikari remarked as she looked around the room with Sakura, watching the other zombie girls interact with one another, such as Ai and Junko chatting it up with Yugiri, Saki and Sigrid downing their fifth and seventh cans of cola respectively as they talked about their respective pasts, and Lily looking up to Ayumu as if the child actress zombie girl saw her teen counterpart as someone to idolize. With an amused smile on her face, Hikari continued when she turned to face Sakura, "You have made a lot of progress in getting the rest of the girls to agree to go along with whatever it is that Kotaro and his men are trying to do."
Nodding once in agreement, Sakura replied, "I'm just glad all of the girls are getting along with each other now."
"By the way," Hikari began, her tone carrying a mild hint of curiosity, "When we got back from the performance over at Saga castle, I saw you writing in some little book while Saki, Ai and Sigrid were setting this party up. If you don't mind me asking, what was up with that?"
"Oh, I was writing in my journal," Sakura explained, "I was writing about all of the major highlights that I experienced ever since you and the other girls aside from Tae finally awakened." With a bit of an embarrassed look on her face, the long-haired zombie girl continued, "I still can't believe that Junko and I got into a rap battle against each other when we were supposed to be doing improve comedy at the open mic performance."
The gamer zombie girl let out a bit of an amused chuckle before saying, "Actually, about that." Pulling out a smartphone (Kotaro and his men supplied each of the awakened zombie girls with smartphones for various reasons related to their business), Hikari explained, "That rap battle that you and Junko had not only went viral, but it did more than well enough in getting the attention to 'Saga Stories' that Kotaro wanted. I found a really good video clip of the rap battle up on a video sharing website."
To demonstrate what she meant, Hikari pulled up the video she was talking about and played it for Sakura, who let out a bit of an embarrassed moan when the rap battle reached its climax. When the rap battle ended, Hikari paused the video when it was about three seconds from ending. "There are also a lot of comments here as well," Hikari remarked, "Some of which tell others about how we're the stars of 'Saga Stories'." Hikari then scrolled down to show Sakura some of the comments on the video;
BigRockLover300
Those girls from Saga Stories who rapped at Saga castle were pretty amazing! I'm more of a metal guy myself, but I can still appreciate the quality of their singing here! I'm going to have to find somewhere that I can watch the first episode, as well as keep an eye out for next week's episode as well!
SlimRockLover150
Even the odd choice in going for a 'zombie' theme did not detract from how epic the rap battle was. And those are two of the girls from that Saga Stories show? I'm going to have to look into seeing the next episode. Here's hoping that they do an episode where they do a lot of songs!
DivorcedMom69
Although that rose-haired b**** had absolutely no idea how to act like my spineless ex-husband for the improv performance, she is still pretty damn good in my book what with how she totally thrashed her white-haired pal in that rap battle. I think those girls are the stars of that Saga Stories show that my son Katsuki's friend Todoroki likes to watch. I think that I ought to look into catching the episodes myself. Might be fun.
After scrolling through a few more comments left under that video, Hikari said to Sakura, "As much as that rap battle you had against Junko may have been embarrassing for you once the reality of things had caught up to you, there's still no denying the results. Also, a lot of people really liked the rap battle, so it's nothing for you to be too sheepish over." Turning her attention to look up at Sakura, the gamer zombie girl added, "You don't give yourself enough credit."
"You…" Sakura began, "…You really think that I-"
"Great job, ladies!" Kotaro's voice boomed out suddenly, cutting Sakura off midsentence and making all the girls turn to face the direction Kotaro was in when he came bursting into the room. The only zombie girls who did not turn to see the eccentric man's entrance were Tae, who was distracted by some dried squid snack she was chewing on, and Ayumu, who covered her ears with her hands and hunched up upon hearing Kotaro's voice boom out. Ayumu stayed like that for a few seconds until Lily was able to ease the teen actress zombie girl out of her flinching.
Walking into the room with a confident stride, Kotaro said, "Your performance at Saga castle, as spontaneous as the rap battle may have been, was nonetheless just what was needed to further spread the word of Saga Stories! Our viewership is bound to go right up through the roof thanks to you girls, Sakura and Junko especially!" The eccentric man then began clapping a bit, leading a few of the zombie girls themselves, along with some of his men who were also in the room at the time, into a good round of applause.
"Now then," Kotaro continued as he got the applause to settle down, "I'm here to tell you girls something rather important." Pointing dramatically at the zombie girls as a whole, he went on, "You girls need to settle on a group name for your actress troop!"
"A…" Sakura began, her tone showing mild amounts of confusion, "…Group name?"
Crossing his arms over his chest as he nodded once in the affirmative, Kotaro continued, "I had actually talked with some of the people who watched you girls' performance, and a lot of them asked if your actress troop had a group name." Clapping his hands together, the eccentric man then said, "When I was asked if you girls had a group name, I was struck with inspiration! If you had a group name, then think of how much better we can market Saga Stories to the viewers!" Kotaro lowered his arms back to his sides before he pointed at the girls.
"I will leave the task of coming up with a group name up to you girls," the eccentric man said, "But if you girls take too long, or if you can't decide, or if what you girls come up with sounds weird, then I'll come up with a name for your group myself." Turning around to leave the room, Kotaro said as he walked out, "I'll give you girls until ten tomorrow morning. Have fun trying to come up with a handle!" Before any of the zombie girls could stop him, Kotaro had left.
As the girls all looked around at each other, Lily spoke up and said, "I got it! I know what our group name can be! How do you girls like the sound of…" Taking a dramatic pause, Lily spun around in place a bit before she stopped in a pose facing the others before saying, "The pretty rainbow sparkle Lily force?"
The other zombie girls looked at the child actress among their number with varying looks of questioning. Saki let out a snort before saying, "Sorry, Shrimpy, but that sounds like it would give us diabetes."
"Can undead such as us even develop diabetes?" Hikari asked rhetorically.
"What is this diabetes of which you speak?" Yugiri asked in a curious tone.
Shaking her head, Sigrid let out a mildly annoyed sigh as she got up, walked over to a dry erase board and picked up a red dry erase marker that was resting on the thin tray attached to the board. "I got this," the half-foreign zombie girl said as she popped of the cap and began writing all over the board, drawing big bold letters. When she was done, Sigrid turned around and showed her fellow undead what she had come up with. "Raging Valor Valkyries!" Sigrid said with all the confidence in the world, "A name such as this will bring all of our foes to kneel!"
"We…" Sakura said, a bit of hesitance in her tone, "…Aren't a tribe of Vikings, Sigrid."
Sigrid was about to argue with the long-haired zombie girl, but Tae came walking up, her eyes fixated on the dry erase marker that Sigrid held. As the unawakened zombie girl made moaning sounds while gesturing to the marker, Hikari took note of this. "…Hey, I think that Tae is trying to show that she has an idea," Hikari remarked. Figuring that it wouldn't hurt to humor Tae, the half-foreign zombie girl handed her the dry erase marker just as she finished erasing what she had written on the dry erase board.
Tae looked contemplatively at the tip of the dry erase marker for a few seconds, prompting the other zombie girls to look on in wonder of what their unawakened member had in mind. Then, without warning, Tae stuck the writing end of the dry erase marker into her mouth and began to suck on it. This action from Tae prompted some of the zombie girls to face palm, as they felt that something could have actually been expected out of Tae.
"Tae, that's for writing on the dry erase board," Sakura began to say after she took the dry erase marker from Tae, "Not for-" Sakura was cut off when Tae, who turned quickly so that she faced the dry erase board, sneezed suddenly, splattering a lot of the ink from the dry erase marker onto the board. This drew some groans of disgust from some of the others, and Yugiri even scolded Tae a bit when the unawakened zombie girl sneezed a second time. When Tae sneezed that second time, however, Lily's expression lit up, as if the child actress zombie girl had just been struck by a bout of inspiration.
Pointing at Tae, Lily declared, "That's it! That's what we can use as our group's name!"
"A sneeze?" Saki asked with a hint of dry sarcasm in her tone as she crossed her arms over her chest, her expression showing that she wasn't exactly sold on the matter.
"Father of achoo?" Sigrid added, drawing an amused look of approval from Saki as she offered her half-foreign counterpart a high five, which was accepted.
Gently shaking her head in the negative, Lily began to explain, "No, we're not naming the group sneeze." Gesturing to Tae, Lily explained to the others, "Tae's sneezing sounds kind of like she's trying to say 'Franchouchou'." Nodding once in a confident manner, Lily went on, "It's not only a name that sounds cute, but it's also original. I say we go for it!"
The others all looked around at each other for a few moments. Suddenly, Sakura clapped a bit while saying, "That's actually a good idea, Lily! Yeah, I say that we go-" Sakura was cut off when Tae lunged forward at her to get back the dry erase marker. The two girls struggled, and in that struggle Sakura lost her hold on the dry erase marker; it flew through the air, and ended up landing in Yugiri's hands.
Tae noticed that the courtesan zombie girl now had the marker that she sought, so she promptly turned and went right at Yugiri, forcing her to run around the room to avoid Tae. As Yugiri called out to her fellow zombie girls for some help in getting Tae to stop chasing her, Sakura went in to try and grab Tae and hold her back; the other zombie girls didn't exactly move in to help, and Saki and Sigrid even pointed and laughed at what Yugiri was going through.
The zombie girls, once they settled on Franchouchou as their group's name and got Tae to settle down and stop chasing Yugiri, sent Sakura, Lily and Ayumu to Kotaro to tell him what they came up with. The eccentric man, with a look of mild amusement on his face, agreed with the name, thus officially dubbing the zombie girls' actress troop as Franchouchou. After that, the ten of them decided to go to a local park at night, as they wanted to get out a bit.
Saki and Sigrid sat on some swings while Sakura, Lily, Tae and Ayumu spun around on a carousel; Hikari sat on a bench while looking up something on her smartphone, Ai and Junko stood off to the side to chat it up, and Yugiri stood off to the side by herself as she took a drag from her Meiji era smoking pipe. Although all of the girls were in their true forms, there was very little chance, if any, that someone would see them without their monster glamor/makeup on to cover their undead state.
"Hey girls," Sakura said as she talked to the girls that were spinning on the carousel with her, getting all three of them to look at her although only Lily and Ayumu were listening to her, "Are any of you worried about how the next episode of Saga Stories will do?"
"Sakura, you're talking to me and Big Sis here," Lily replied in a reassuring tone, "And you've proven to be no slouch as an actress yourself. With three acting powerhouses like us, I have no doubt that the show will go on to soar into the ratings."
Sakura, with a hint of worry still in her expression, nonetheless smiled in an appreciative manner as she nodded once in thanks to the child actress zombie girl. Sakura looked like she was about to say something, but she was cut off when Ayumu said to Lily, "Hey, I have a question, Lily. Is there a reason why you keep referring to me as 'Big Sis'? Don't get me wrong, I'm actually very flattered by the gesture, it's just that I'm wondering what the reason behind it is."
Turning to face Ayumu, Lily said, "Actually, back when I was still alive and first got into acting, you were one of my main inspirations to becoming an actress, Ayumu." Nodding once in a manner to confirm what she was talking about, Lily went on, "Yeah, I remember how you were a really popular actress back then, Ayumu. You were actually an idol to me, the kind of actress that I wanted to be." With a hint of somberness entering her expression, the child actress zombie girl went on, "I cried on and off for three days straight after I heard in the news about how you, well, you can guess what I'm talking about…"
Ayumu, with a hint of somberness in her own expression, replied, "Yeah, I can understand what you're getting at." Gently shaking her head, the teen actress zombie girl continued, "Now that you mention it, I did hear a bit about some up and coming child actress a short while before I had died, and that my manager at the time was trying to arrange a meet up between me and said child actress." The somberness in Ayumu's expression faded a bit, replaced with warm joy. "I'll go on and guess that you were that child actress that my manager wanted to arrange a meet up with."
"Aww man!" Lily said in a tone of complaint, sounding like she just learned that she was ripped off in a deal, "You're telling me that I could have actually met you in person?"
"Umm, Lily," Sakura began to say, "You've not only met Ayumu in person, but now you're actually working with her."
Turning to face Sakura, Lily replied, "But I could have met Big Sis sooner!" Relenting a bit, the child actress zombie girl remarked, "Still, it's nice that I got to meet and work with her anyway. Better late than never, I suppose."
After Lily complained, Ayumu looked like she was trying to reach over to Lily, but hesitated and pulled back. This did not escape the notice of Sakura and Lily; Tae was still distracted, so it got by her no problem. "Umm, Ayumu," Sakura began, "Are you oaky?"
"I…" Ayumu began, but stopped short, let out a resigned sigh, then continued, "…I don't like how things went against Lily like that, so I was thinking of trying to pull her into a hug to make her feel better. But I'm not sure if that would have been something that she would be-" Ayumu was cut off when Lily suddenly threw her arms around her and pulled her into a hug herself; the teen actress zombie girl froze up suddenly by this spontaneous physical contact.
"Eeeeeeeeeeee!" Lily squealed in delight, "I knew that you were really awesome, Big Sis! I just knew it!" Lily hugged Ayumu like that for a few more seconds before letting go. When Ayumu remained frozen due to Lily's hug, both Lily and Sakura noticed this, with Lily looking on at the teen actress that she idolized with a concerned expression. "…Big Sis?" the child actress zombie girl began, concern clear in her tone, "Are you okay? I didn't surprise you too much by hugging you like that suddenly, did I?" Ayumu remained frozen, her expression looking a bit rattled, as Lily and Sakura both looked on at her with looks of concern.
Worried about Ayumu, Sakura made the carousel stop so that she and the others could get off. As Sakura tried to lead Ayumu off of the carousel, her leading caught the attention of Yugiri, Saki and Sigrid, who all stopped what they were doing and walked over to see what was going on with Sakura and the others. "Hey Egghead," Saki began as she gestured to Ayumu, "What's going on with her?"
"Ayumu suddenly froze up when Lily surprise hugged her," Sakura explained in a concerned tone, "I think we ought to get her back to the mansion right now."
Saki, as well as Yugiri and Sigrid, all nodded in understanding, and proceeded to assist Sakura and Lily in rounding up the other zombie girls. Tae was, given her unawakened nature, oblivious to the situation, both Junko and Ai were a little steamed that Ayumu freaking out resulted in all of them having to head back early, and Hikari was actually glad to be returning to the mansion, as it's got a far superior Wi-Fi signal than what little trickles were able to be picked up there at the local park.
The following morning, the zombie girls were going over their copies of the script for the next episode of Saga Stories that they were acting in. As they were all on break more or less, Junko remarked, "You know, one of us could have just brought Ayumu back here last night while the rest of us continued to hang out. I don't see why all of us had to return because just one of us had a problem that didn't require emergency attention."
"Hey, you leave Big Sis alone, Junko!" Lily scolded, her tone very clearly showing that she was annoyed, "Besides, it was my fault that she freaked out anyway!"
"And I was the one who called for all of us to return to the mansion," Sakura supplied, drawing a nod in the affirmative out of Lily.
Scoffing in a tone that was more or less indifferent, Junko remarked, "That still doesn't excuse the rest of us all having our time ruined because one of us had an episode and needed to be returned to the mansion to cool off. I mean, was all of us having to return early really necessary when only one person, maybe two tops, was what was needed to take Ayumu home?"
"I'm kind of having to agree with Junko-san on this one," Yugiri remarked, "It was a rather lovely night, and I don't really see the logic in all of us having to turn in early for the sake of just one of us." Looking up to the ceiling with a hint of wistfulness in her expression, the courtesan zombie girl remarked, "It would have been nice to enjoy a few more drags from my pipe under a beautiful moon like that." Ai didn't say anything, but a nod from her showed that she was on the same page as Junko and Yugiri.
Lily, a bit fed up with some of her fellow zombies refusing to be understanding, stood up rather forcefully. "This is why I've been saying that we need to take the time to get to know each other!" Lily scolded, "If we know how all of us function, then we can more readily avoid stuff like what happened last night in the future!"
Sakura, who nodded in agreement with Lily, stood up from the chair she was sitting in. "Lily has a point, girls," the long-haired zombie girl remarked, "I think that we ought to do some sort of group exercise where we share with each other what kind of people we are, so that we can get to better know each other."
"I couldn't agree more," Kotaro's voice said, making all the zombie girls turn to see the eccentric man himself walk over. When Kotaro came to a stop, the zombie Japanese Chin that always followed him around came to a stop as well, sitting at his feet. "I can't believe that I overlooked something as essential as group exercises meant to help you girls learn to better work with each other," Kotaro said, "Unfortunately, that's going to have to wait, because I just secured a deal that will help further boost the selling power of Saga Stories!" Pointing dramatically at the zombie girls, Kotaro said, "You all will be acting in a commercial for a local hot springs! This will not only further spread the word of Saga Stories, but it will also generate some income for us! Time is money, after all!"
"Speaking of time," Saki began as she flipped her copy of the new episode's script close, "What time is it, Shades?"
Looking at the watch on his wrist, Kotaro said, "Oh, it's about five minutes until three PM, Saki. Don't worry, I seldom fail to take any detail into account."
Ayumu, who was more or less keeping to herself since some of her fellow undead were talking down about her, suddenly perked up. "It's almost three PM?" the teen actress zombie girl said, a look of mild alarm in her expression, "Then I've got to-"
Kotaro stopped Ayumu by holding his right hand out so the palm faced her. When Ayumu took pause, Kotaro turned and pointed to one of the tables that was in the set room that everyone was in. This table had a spread of various food items, as well as a few choices of drinks; a sight like that was not uncommon in filming studios that produced TV shows, movies, commercials and the like. Kotaro specifically pointed to a box sitting on the table that, upon taking a closer look, held a selection of fairly big muffins.
"A blueberry muffin has been set aside for you specifically, Ayumu," Kotaro explained, his tone showing that he was being calm and understanding towards the teen actress zombie girl, "I even told the guys to make sure that it's a blueberry muffin." With a bit of a self-amused smile on his face, Kotaro added, "It's like I said. I seldom fail to take any detail into account."
Ayumu nodded once in thanks to the eccentric man while saying, "Thanks, Mr. Kotaro." When she turned around slightly, Ayumu was met up by a sorry-looking Lily.
"Umm, Big Sis," Lily began in a guilty and apologetic tone, "I'm sorry if me hugging you by surprise last night made you freak out like that. I didn't mean anything mean by it, I swear."
The teen actress zombie girl let out an understanding sigh before she addressed her child counterpart. "…No, it's just that I failed to tell you about all of my own eccentricities, Lily," Ayumu replied in an understanding tone, "I'm not going to hold it against you. Just please keep in mind that I usually don't like it when people hug me without my consent, especially if they hug me without warning."
"Okay, I'll be sure to ask first from now on!" Lily said, "Well anyway, can I go with you when you go get that muffin you want? I was hoping that there might be some chocolate chip muffins over there as well." Ayumu nodded in agreement, a bit glad to actually have some company with her, and company that was understanding of her. When she was told that it was exactly three on the dot, Ayumu made a beeline for the table with all the food on it so she could get that blueberry muffin, Lily tagging along like she said she would.
While the two actress zombie girls were over at the table getting a blueberry and a chocolate chip muffin, Kotaro turned to face the other zombie girls. "The filming for the hot springs commercial should be a walk in the park for all you girls, now that you all got some acting experience under your respective belts. We'll be going once I get the makeup applied to Junko, Ai and Tae so they can look human."
"Actually, Kotaro, about that," Ai began as she got up while gesturing for Junko to come over and join her. The Showa idol zombie girl seemed to know what her Heisei counterpart was trying to get at. With the two of them standing next to each other, Ai and Junko closed their eyes and concentrated; a few seconds later, both girls' respective appearances went from looking like the zombies they really were to looking perfectly human.
Clapping his hands together, Kotaro remarked in a very amused tone, "Well alright, ladies! You two managed to master using monster glamour! And it looks to be a solid mastery by my guess, too." Crossing his arms over his chest, the eccentric man said, "Now I only have to worry about the makeup for Tae. This will certainly stretch the makeup budget by a mile!"
"Hot damn, you two!" Saki remarked as she walked over to the human-looking Junko and Ai, "About time you caught up with the rest of us! Not only will this save money like what Shades says, but it'll also save time as well!"
The two idol zombie girls, both appreciative of finally getting some praise and respect, nodded in thanks to the delinquent zombie girl. After Ai and Junko nodded in thanks, Lily and Ayumu came walking over, eating a chocolate chip muffin and a blueberry muffin respectively; Lily was about a quarter done with hers while Ayumu was about halfway finished. "What are you guys all talking about?" Lily asked, a curious look on her face, "And why are Junko and Ai already in their makeup to look human?
Turning to regard Lily, Junko said, "Oh, Ai and I were actually showing everyone that we can both use monster glamour now." Gesturing to Kotaro while still keeping her eyes on Lily, Junko continued, "Also, Kotaro was just explaining to us about the commercial for a hot springs that we're going to be act-"
"A hot springs?" Ayumu said in a mildly alarmed tone, cutting the Showa idol zombie girl off midsentence, "We're going to a hot springs?" Ayumu started trembling a bit; it wasn't anything too excessive, but it was enough for the others to take notice. The teen actress zombie girl didn't stop trembling until she felt a gentle patting on her left shoulder, making her turn in that direction and seeing Kotaro looking at her with an understanding expression.
"…The hot springs also has a sauna room where you can sit and relax as you enjoy a nice steam," Kotaro explained, "At least two of you girls are going to have to relax in there anyway for a scene in the commercial to show off the sauna room." With a nod, Kotaro said, "There's no need for you to panic, Ayumu. No one will force you to dip into any of the springs, or similar bathing pools and the like."
Ayumu let out a sigh of relief, thankful that she wasn't going to be forced to enter any bodies of water. Ayumu's relief caught the attention of some of the other zombie girls, mainly Saki, Lily and Junko. This was something that they were wanting to investigate later on, but for now they all had a job to do. It was going to be a rather enjoyable job for them anyway. Saki especially, as she was looking forward to getting to enjoy a nice soak in a hot springs.
The commercial shoot for the hot springs went rather well for a lot of the scenes. While Ayumu, Hikari and Tae were enjoying the sauna room so that scene for the commercial could be shot, Saki found Sakura while they and the other zombie girls were relaxing and took her along to find Lily. "Shrimpy's the one who has been hanging out with Ayumu the most since we all woke up as zombies," Saki explained to Sakura when pressed, "So maybe she can fill in a few blanks for us to figure out what exactly is up with her."
Sakura, although a bit hesitant to press someone for info, did want to gain a better understanding of the teen actress zombie girl, and if talking about the subject to Lily would help gather some bits of info in that regard, then Sakura was all for it. The two girls found Lily talking to Ai and Junko over at a table as all of them enjoyed glass bottles of milk. "Hey Shrimpy, you and the others here don't mind if Egghead and I join you, do you?" Saki greeted Lily as she and sat down at the table with Sakura.
"No, I don't see the problem," Lily replied, "Although now that you mention it, you and Sakura both look like you came here wanting to ask me for or about something."
Letting out a mildly resigned sigh, Sakura said, "Actually Lily, Saki and I were hoping that you might be able to fill in a few blanks for us in regards to Ayumu. You've hung out with Ayumu the most out of all of since we all awakened, so we were hoping that you might be able to give us some insight on how Ayumu functions as a person."
"I'm actually a bit curious about Ayumu myself," Ai admitted, "I would like to at the very least know why she seemed so rattled by the prospect of having to go into one of the springs here."
Lily looked down at her glass bottle of milk that sat in front of her at her place at the table, a look of resigned somberness on her face. "…I have a pretty good idea on why Big Sis is skittish like that," the child actress zombie girl remarked, "It might have something to do with something that I remember back when I was still alive…"
(FLASHBACK)
(DATE: OCTOBER 6TH, 2011)
It was bar none the worst birthday that Lily ever had. When she woke up earlier that morning, all that was on her mind was the excitement of her big celebration today, a celebration to ring in the fact that she was, as of today, twelve-years-old. The first thing that Lily did was go onto her computer that was set up in her bedroom to check a few things on the internet, mainly leading news stories and her email.
The child actress had gotten a good amount of email from fans ever since her career had taken off, so sorting through all of that tended to take up a lot of her early morning routine time. This, however, was not the reason why this was the worst birthday that Lily ever remembered having. No, the reason for that stemmed from one of the news articles that she found while she was in the middle of checking what news was on the internet. It was an article that, to Lily, felt like a knife had been stabbed right into her heart;
Popular teen actress Ayumu Akarui dead at seventeen
Earlier this morning, the body of Ayumu Akarui, the beloved teen actress that had captivated much of Japan since she started acting when she was thirteen, was found submerged in a full tub of water in her home. An autopsy confirmed that Ayumu's cause of death was drowning, and her time of death was eight-fifty-seven PM yesterday on the fifth. Foul play has been ruled out. More will be reported when it comes up.
Lily couldn't believe it; Ayumu Akarui, the coolest girl ever, the very girl that Lily herself idolized and wanted to be like, died the day before she (Lily) turned twelve. Lily didn't believe the first article that reported Ayumu's death, but every sub sequent article that reported on the late teen actress's death was essentially a repeat of everything; Ayumu died due to drowning while taking a bath, with many simply suspecting that she simply fell asleep in the tub.
As soon as she realized that she couldn't deny it any longer, Lily ran right over to her bed, flopped down, buried her face into her pillows, and began to bawl her eyes out. The child actress would not be moved for at least a few hours, and even when she recovered enough to carry on, Lily would still maintain a completely sad and depressed mood. A mood that would continue on and off for…pfft, a good while, at least. A little over a month, to be specific.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
"…I thought about Ayumu's death every day," Lily remarked in a somber tone, "From the day I learned about it on my twelfth birthday up until my own death." With a sigh, the child actress zombie girl said, "I was at my most miserable for pretty much the rest of my life." Looking at the other zombie girls who sat at the table with her, Lily said, "That's one of the reasons why I stuck as close to Ayumu as I've been doing ever since we all awakened."
Sakura and the others all looked around at each other, exchanging mildly concerned looks of sympathy. "…Geez, Shrimpy," Saki remarked, her tone lacking any of its usual playfulness, "I had no idea that Ayumu means so much to you."
"And you say that she died due to drowning," Sakura remarked, drawing a meek and mildly somber nod in the affirmative from Lily, "Huh, that would explain why Ayumu is so frightened by the concept of dipping into a hot springs, or taking a bath." Crossing her arms over her chest, Sakura continued, "When I was doing the improv with her and you back at Saga castle, she said that she preferred showers over baths, and was a bit insistent on it."
"I guess this means that trips to the beach or pool are out of the question, then," Ai remarked, a hint of concerned understanding in her tone, "It would seem that the way that Ayumu had died left her with a rather nasty case of aquaphobia. I can't really blame her given the evidence. Also, I can somewhat relate since I have pyrophobia for similar reasons." Crossing her arms over her chest, the Heisei idol zombie girl said, "I think we ought to be more accommodating to Ayumu."
Sakura smiled a bit, glad to see that her fellow undead are open to wanting to try to be as helpful to Ayumu as possible, to help her better adjust. "There's just one problem with this plan," Junko remarked, "We don't have a lot on Ayumu other than some of her little personality quirks and how she died." With a serious look, Junko continued, "If we're going to do what we can to help Ayumu, then we need to learn as much as we can about her."
"Then we can just ask Shades if he has anything on her," Saki replied, "I mean, he's the one who gathered all of us, isn't he? It would stand to reason that he knows a lot about all of us. We'll just ask him to explain a few things about Ayumu to us so we can get a better understanding of-"
*CRASH*
"HOW DARE YOU, DRAUGR HAROLT!" Sigrid's voice bellowed angrily following what sounded like something or someone being thrown into a pile of various objects and causing a rather noisy crash and clattering, cutting Saki off in the process. The girls at the table all got up to go and investigate, and what they found made Junko and Ai scowl with annoyed expressions, Sakura and Lily go wide-eyed with shock and worry, and Saki hold a hand over her stomach as she pointed and laughed at what she and the others found.
Yugiri, wearing only a towel wrapped around her so that nothing improper was exposed, was lying on the floor surrounded by empty bath pans as Sigrid, clothed similarly to the courtesan zombie girl, stood about six feet away, a clearly angry look on her face. The other zombie girls had no idea what was going on, and their confusion was further fueled by the fact that Sigrid had taken to bellowing at Yugiri in a language that none of the girls understood, although Sakura had a strong hunch that it was one of the Nordic languages.
Sakura turned to look at Saki, Lily and the idol zombie girls, a look of steadily growing panic on her face. "I…think that we should alert Kotaro-san about this," Sakura remarked, drawing nods of agreement from Ai, Junko and Lily while Saki moved to go try and calm Sigrid down.
Thankfully, Kotaro was able to keep any repercussions from cropping up, saying that Yugiri and Sigrid was merely letting an argument between the two of them escalate. The hot springs at the time of the incident had very few people outside of the zombie girls, Kotaro, some of his men and staff working at the hot springs, so they were able to get away with only having to apologize to the staff for causing the disturbance. As Sakura would later discover, the reason for Sigrid going nuclear on Yugiri was because of an incident that Sigrid claims had Yugiri 'showing an extreme lack in having honor';
Sigrid and Yugiri were relaxing in a co-ed area of the hot springs, sitting in the same spring as an older man that was in something of a funk. However, the man had an epiphany and snapped out of his funk, but while he was recovering like this, Yugiri slapped the man across his face and told him more or less exactly what he was in the middle of saying when he had the epiphany. Seeing this act of Yugiri's had sent Sigrid into a rage that saw her slug Yugiri across the face, then pick her up and throw her out of that area of the hot springs, where Yugiri had been found by Sakura and the others in that pile of bath pans. The rest is history.
"The harlot draugr stole that man's thunder," Sigrid defended in a huff when the zombie girls were all back at the mansion, all of them having changed into sleepwear, "I was not about to just stand by and let her get away with such dishonor. Not without consequence, at least."
"Okay, so Sigrid isn't the biggest fan of Yugiri in the world," Sakura remarked, "Good to keep in mind for the future." Turning to face Lily and Junko (Saki and Ai had both already turned in for the night), Sakura continued, "But that's besides the point. Kotaro is still going over a few things over in his office, so we should be able to ask him more about Ayumu."
Hearing Sakura mention that she, Lily and Junko were going to learn more about Ayumu piqued Sigrid's interest. "…The soaked draugr has your interest, then?" Sigrid asked.
"We want to do what we can to help Big Sis adjust," Lily explained, "That's why Sakura, Junko and I are going to go ask Kotaro about her. We figure that since Kotaro is the reason all of us are here as zombies, then he has a lot of info on all of us."
"I still don't know why the All-father permitted my return here to Midgard," the half-foreign zombie girl remarked as she folded her arms over her chest, "But if that eccentric man has the info that you girls seek, then all the more power to you." Sakura, Lily and Junko all nodded in acknowledgement to Sigrid before they turned around as a group and left the large room where all of the futons had been set up for the girls.
…
Kotaro was a bit surprised to see Sakura, Junko and Lily visit him at his office as a group; he did not think that these three specifically were that close of friends to come in a group like this to see him. Kotaro's interest was piqued more when Sakura said, "Kotaro-san, the girls here and I were hoping that you might be able to tell us a bit about Ayumu."
"…Why do you want to learn more about Ayumu?" Kotaro asked, his tone showing that he was curious, but also understanding.
"The girls and I want to know why Ayumu has various personality quirks, such as flinching terribly when loud noises occur, insisting on having the same specific snack at the same specific time every day, freaking out by freezing up when hugged, and why she's so hesitant to go near any large pools of water like hot springs and baths," Junko replied.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Kotaro said, "Well I'm pretty sure that her aquaphobia has to do with the fact that she died due to drowning, and as for everything else, well…I don't suppose that any of you girls are aware of what autism is, do you?"
"Oh, I'm actually familiar with it, yes," Lily replied in something of a casual conversational tone, "I remember from back when I was still alive but before I got into acting that there was this one girl in a class I was in at my old elementary school and she had autism, but she was still a really nice girl and all and I fail to see why the other kids were so mean to her and Hey hold on a minute, are you saying that Big Sis is autistic?"
Giving a single nod in the affirmative, Kotaro explained, "Indeed she is. It's a little known secret because a lot of the assistants that were employed by the Akarui family at the time were rather embarrassed by the fact that they had to keep an eye on an autistic teen like Ayumu. A good few of those very assistants were constantly frustrated due to having to put up with Ayumu's various eccentricities, and there was even one lady who expressed some relief about no longer having to look after Ayumu when news of her body being found broke out."
"That…is that really…" Junko remarked, a bit wide-eyed with revolted shock, "…My goodness, that sounds absolutely disgusting."
Nodding in agreement with the Showa idol zombie girl, Kotaro went on, "That very same woman, in a private interview with a reporter hoping to boost his career with an inside scoop about Ayumu's death, even had the gall to claim that Ayumu's autism made her nothing short of a nightmare to look after." Gently shaking his head, the eccentric man said, "Personally, I fail to see what that woman claimed. In all the time that I've been working with all of you girls, Ayumu has been nothing but an absolute marvel to work with. She has brought a lot of light to the 'Saga Stories' project, and I for one am glad that she's one of the legends that I sought out."
"This has certainly explained a lot about Ayumu," Junko remarked, a hint of lingering guilt in both her tone and expression, "To think, I was under the impression that Ayumu was nothing more than a troublemaker who was being impish for the sake of being impish. I was not aware that it something she couldn't help…"
Kotaro regarded the Showa idol zombie girl with a look of consideration, observing how she was clearly remorseful of how she had been treating Ayumu up to this point. Kotaro also saw that both Sakura and Lily looked sympathetic and understanding, both girls under a new perspective. Lily looked especially understanding, but neither Sakura nor Junko noticed this. Kotaro did, and he had a fairly good feeling why the child actress zombie girl looked more sympathetic than she previously did, but he elected not to inform Sakura and Junko about any of it.
Clapping once to get the attention of all three girls, Kotaro said, "Well girls, now that you know what you do about Ayumu, do any of you feel any different about her?"
Briskly shaking her head, Lily said, "Why would I feel any different about Big Sis just because I learned that she's autistic? She's still the same awesome person that I've always known her to be, so I don't have any reason to feel any different about her." Sakura and Junko, both of them now having a better understanding of the teen actress zombie girl, nodded in agreement with Lily. This show from the three of them made Kotaro smile a bit. It was a warm, sincere smile that showed the eccentric man was approving of the girls' response.
"Well I'm glad to see that your opinions of her haven't changed," Kotaro replied, his tone sounding impressed with the strength of character of Sakura, Lily and Junko, "It's wise to have some understanding towards Ayumu, but that does not mean that you have to be constantly walking on eggshells around her. She's autistic, not a time bomb."
After the three girls nodded in agreement, Kotaro asked if they had any more questions. Since none of them did, Kotaro sent them back to the room where they and the other zombie girls set their futons up in. With nothing more to keep them up, Sakura, Lily and Junko all decided to turn in for the night. …Only for Tae to randomly begin chasing after Junko for some odd reason when the Showa idol zombie girl crawled into her (Junko's) futon and was about halfway in, resulting in the two girls running around the room.
The noise made by Junko screaming in a panic as she ran around the sleeping room from the unawakened zombie girl made the other girls wake up, drawing annoyance out of most of them while Ayumu started shivering out of distress over the volume at which Junko was screaming. Lily, whose futon was right next to Ayumu's, turned to her teen counterpart and, after gently getting Ayumu's attention by patting her gently on her arm, reassured her that there was nothing to be alarmed about; Lily even, after she got the okay from Ayumu to do so, gently hugged her, which did have some success in calming down the panicking teen actress zombie girl.
As for Tae's chasing of Junko, that came to an end when Saki, annoyed at having been woken up right after she had gotten to sleep, threw a pillow that hit Tae in the head with such force that it knocked Tae's head off. Tae, both her head and her body, settled down after that, and everyone was able to get to sleep finally.
The following morning during breakfast, the zombie girls were surprised to see the commercial for the hot springs that they had acted in during a commercial break as they watched the morning news. "Excuse me, Ayumu," Junko began as she tried to get Ayumu's attention. When the teen actress zombie girl failed to so much as even notice that Junko was trying to get her attention as she was focused on her breakfast, the latter sighed in an understanding tone.
Seeing this, Lily said in a casual tone, "Hey, Big Sis!"
Apparently, hearing Lily call out to her with the nickname that the child actress zombie girl had taken to using to refer to her caught Ayumu's attention right off the bat; it helped that Lily's tone was friendly and a bit excited. "Yes, Lily?" Ayumu asked curiously.
"Junko wanted to say something to you," Lily replied as she pointed Junko out to Ayumu, making her turn to face the Showa idol zombie girl.
Once she had Ayumu's attention, Junko said with a bit of hesitation, "Umm, Ayumu, I believe that what bits of the way I've acted towards you ever since most of us awakened as zombies was not the most exemplary model of acting towards one's fellows. That being said, I would like to apologize if I had done or said anything to offend or otherwise hurt you."
Ayumu, although a bit surprised by Junko's apology here, was nonetheless happy that someone was taking the time to express regret in having acted without understanding towards her. Nodding once in acknowledgement towards Junko, Ayumu said, "Apology accepted. It was really nice of you to-" Ayumu was cut off when a minor spat broke out at the far end of the table that the zombie girls all sat at for breakfast, where Yugiri sat opposite of Sigrid.
The two girls were snapping at each other as they fought over a sausage patty that both of them reached for at the same time. In their scuffle, the sausage patty in question flew up and landed right on Ayumu's head. While the sausage patty sat there, Tae, having seen it fly and land on Ayumu's head, jumped up and went right at it, putting her mouth over the patty while her arms were wrapped around Ayumu, a sudden gesture that made Ayumu freeze up.
"Tae! Get off of Big Sis right now!" Lily snapped.
END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER THREE
Author's notes:
I'm a bit worried that I did not properly represent how autism can affect someone by showing that the character Ayumu has it (it's something that I have had planned since chapter one, so it's not some out of the blue decision). I'm still doing research on the matter, and if anyone is willing to tell me a few facts that I should know so that I can better use Ayumu in this story (if you do, I'd rather it be in a PM than in the comments), then I will welcome it. But aside from that, yeah, this has been the third chapter of this story; it doesn't even have a counterpart in the series proper, given the originality of the plot.
For the next chapter, I'm going to do this AU setting's version of episode 5, where the girls perform in that commercial for Drive-In Tori; I'll most likely do something other than having the girls compete in that Olympics events afterwards, though. Sure, I'm essentially doing it a chapter early, but considering the commercial that the girls shot in this chapter, I feel that doing two hot springs chapters in a row might make things a bit on the stale side.