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 four: Dinner and a show
The zombie girls of the abandoned mansion located in Saga prefecture were in good spirits thanks to a mix of some new episodes for 'Saga Stories' that had aired plus a commercial that they all recently starred in for a nearby hot springs. As such, while they were all a bit on the confused side (aside from Tae) to be sitting in the basement room with the prison cell while writing on the chalkboard was set up to look like the scoreboard for a baseball game, they still had a good feeling about their prospects.
Sakura in particular was in a good mood, especially as she observed her fellow zombie girls getting along with one another amiably. Yugiri and Ai both listened to Junko as she told them a story from when she was alive, Saki and Sigrid were chatting it up between the two of them, having recognized one another as fellow former-kamikaze girls, Lily was excitedly going on about some sort of business while Ayumu respectfully paid attention, and while Hikari was keeping to herself, engrossed in a handheld video game system that she was playing, she wasn't going out of her way to be a bother to anyone/get on someone's nerves.
Sakura was glad to see all of them getting along, although their attention was all suddenly snapped to face forward towards the chalkboard when Kotaro, wearing a black baseball cap and carrying a metal baseball bat, came walking into the room, standing right in front of the chalkboard. Without saying a single word, Kotaro pointed his bat right at the faces of all of the zombie girls, drawing some confusion out of them.
"You girls have really knocked it out of the park ever since we started!" Kotaro began, "You all ought to give yourselves a pat on the back for being such a breakout hit on Japanese TV. You've not only brought some tourism here to Saga already, but it's tourism that's coming from all over Japan, and even a bit from outside of the country! And things are only going to go up for us from here!" The eccentric man then let out an amused laugh.
"Ehh?" Saki began, "We already-" The biker delinquent zombie girl would have continued, but she was cut off when Kotaro tossed up a baseball with his free hand and swung his bat at it, hitting the ball and sending it right at Saki, slamming into her and with enough force to knock her over, sending her crashing to the floor and making Ai, who sat next to Saki, flinch slightly as Saki was knocked over. Annoyed and pissed, Saki got back up, found and picked up the baseball that Kotaro had used to hit her, and threw it right at him, striking him in his thigh.
The baseball sunk into Kotaro's thigh so much, making the flesh in that area ripple a bit in the process, that it stunned the eccentric man, making him drop his baseball bat which fell to the floor in a clatter. As Kotaro face-planted on the floor in the basement room, Saki snapped at him as she held her hand over her forehead, "The fuck is your problem, Shades?! Are you trying to make me dead again or what?!"
Kotaro, who was still a little stunned, slowly tried to get back up. "…The third episode got the most viewers to date," Kotaro said, "And I got a call from someone wanting to hire you girls to act in another commercial."
"We got another commercial offer already?" Sakura asked in a surprised tone, gently patting her lap absentmindedly, her hands brushing against the pockets on her cargo shorts in the process.
Slowly getting back to his feet, Kotaro said as he covered the bruised area of his thigh, "Indeed we did. I hope you girls all have your appetites, because the commercial deal I struck will have you girls performing for a restaurant."
"A…" Ai began, "…Restaurant hired us to act in a commercial for them?"
Walking over to the Heisei idol zombie girl, Kotaro stood in front of her, bent over slightly so that his face was an inch from hers, and said, "Was I not clear enough for you? Restaurant, you girls, acting, commercial."
Scoffing in a mildly annoyed tone as she wanted to get to the point, Sigrid said, "Well alright then, you elfish man. Would you at least be telling us what manner of dining hall is employing our services to bring attention to them?"
As he stood up and turned to go back to the chalkboard, Kotaro said, "Only a local staple here in Japan, my good warrior girl." Reaching the chalkboard, the eccentric man gave it a good slap, which made the board flip over, showing what was written/drawn on the other side; a drawing of a chicken accompanied by a sketch of a bowl of food that had steam lines coming from it. "You girls will be acting in a commercial for Drive-In Tori," Kotaro declared, "The best chicken place this side of the Pacific Ocean, if not the world!"
Most of the zombie girls were unsure what to make of Kotaro's flashy declaration of what restaurant that they would be acting in a commercial for. Saki, however, stood up with a look of stunned realization on her face, as if the news that Kotaro had just told her and the other nine girls was a deal too good to be true. "No…no way…" the delinquent biker zombie girl said in a shocked tone, "…We get to work with Drive-In Tori…?"
"Saki," Sakura began as she turned to face her fellow undead, the tone of her voice showing that at the very least Sakura's interest was piqued, "I take it that you're familiar with this Drive-In Tori place that we're going to be working with?"
With a look of disbelief on her face, Saki turned to face Sakura. "…Am I familiar with it?" Saki said, "The real question here how are you not familiar with it, Egghead?" The delinquent zombie girl straightened up a bit, folding her arms over her chest. "Drive-In Tori is bar none the best place to eat at!" Saki went on, then added after letting out a bit of a sigh, "It actually holds a lot of fond memories for me, all the way from back when I was still alive and was rolling with my old gang, Dorami. I remember good times from when we would swing by to eat and relax after riding all day."
Shaking her head a bit to try to refocus herself, Saki pointed dramatically at her fellow undead actresses. "For once in a rare while, Shades actually did something right. Girls, there is no way that we can allow ourselves to fail here! We have to put our all into making this commercial for Drive-In Tori as epic as possible! Do I make myself clear?!"
Sakura and the other zombie girls were a bit surprised to see Saki, of all undead, so behind one of Kotaro's deals. As for Kotaro himself, he slowly clapped in applause, a sign of approval for the rallying that Saki was doing. "…Your troop leader has a point, Franchouchou," the eccentric man said to the group as a whole, "As with the hot springs commercial that you girls recently just finished pulling off, this commercial with Drive-In Tori has to be a success if we're to get as much attention for 'Saga Stories' as possible. Also helping the point is that we're being paid here, and the funding will certainly help."
"I have a question," Ai said as she raised a hand, "When do we start shooting the commercial?"
"Right now, actually," Kotaro replied, surprising all of the girls with how little notice all of them were getting before they began work on filming the commercial.
As Junko looked around at the surprised reactions of her fellow undead (Saki looked particularly surprised that they would be working on the Drive-In Tori commercial within very short order), she saw that only Ayumu did not looked surprised. "Excuse me, Ayumu," Junko remarked, able to get the teen actress zombie girl's attention right off the bat, "You seem to be surprisingly calm about how suddenly this was sprung on all of us."
"Actually, Mr. Kotaro told me about it as soon as he secured the deal for the commercial a few days ago, shortly after the hot springs commercial we produced first aired," Ayumu explained, "I actually had sufficient notice in advance." Junko nodded in understanding, thankful that Kotaro was taking care not to spring things on Ayumu suddenly since the teen actress zombie girl's not exactly good with being able to deal with things that are suddenly dropped on her by surprise.
Clapping his hands together, Kotaro said after all the zombie girls turned to face him, "Anyway ladies, you better get ready for a drive, because we're going to go visit the Drive-In Tori what will serve as the sight for our filming the commercial! You girls should also bring you appetites, as we're going to be treated to a meal there before we begin filming!"
"Hot damn, Shades!" Saki exclaimed, "You not only secured us getting to shoot a commercial for Drive-In Tori, but we're going to be eating there as well?!" Turning to face the other zombie girls, Saki said, "You girls haven't lived until you ate at Drive-In Tori!"
"I…don't think that we can exactly live at all period," Ai remarked, a hint of mild confusion in the Heisei idol zombie girl's tone, "I mean, we're zombies, aren't we?" Saki could only roll her eyes at Ai failing to grasp what she was talking about.
Later, the zombie girls found themselves outside of a restaurant that had a yellow board over the front entrance; on the right hand side of the board (if you're standing outside and facing the board), there was a black and white figure of a humanoid chicken in a red circle. The text on the board identified the restaurant as Drive-In Tori. "Ah," Saki remarked as she looked up at the restaurant, a hint of reverence in her tone, "I can't believe we're actually here!"
The other zombie girls were not quite sure what to make of Saki's behavior here, mostly because none of them ever expected such behavior out of the delinquent zombie girl. Sigrid, with a curious look on her face, crossed her arms over her chest as she turned her attention to her fellow undead delinquent girl. "I assume that this dining hall here is the reason why you're acting as if you're going to feast besides the gods themselves up in Valhalla?" Sigrid asked as she turned her attention to Saki.
"It certainly does have a mom and pop feel to it," Sakura remarked off to the side.
"Is this place really all that famous?" Junko asked dryly, sounding moderately unimpressed.
Saki, ignoring the snide comments from the peanut gallery, merely let out another hum that sounded with ecstasy. "It feels like coming home again," Saki remarked reverently, "Just coming here really takes me back…"
(FLASHBACK)
(DATE: JULY 30TH, 1997)
A row of motorcycles and other similar motorized bikes were lined up outside of a Drive-In Tori sometime during early night. All of these rides bore small flags that identified the people who rode them as the girls of Dorami, the greatest all-female delinquent gang. "When I was alive," Saki said as she narrated over the flashback, "The girls in my gang and I would raise hell all day long, often times doing so right into the night as well. After a long day of riding, we'd swing by Drive-In Tori for something to eat."
In the flashback, Saki, who wore a red-colored long coat, got off of her ride as she turned it off; pulled up next to Saki was the bike of another girl in Dorami, one who had long purple hair that had some streaks of color in it. This girl was dressed similarly to Saki, what with the red long coat and all. As Saki and this long purple-haired girl stood next to their respective rides, the rest of the girls that were with them pulled up and parked their cycles.
Stretching her arms up into the air, the girl with long purple hair said, "Hoo, now that was one hell of a fight that we watched, Saki! I seriously can't believe that one idiot girl from Korosuke thought she could take the boss of Einherjar in a one-v-one!" The girl with long purple hair then let out a fairly loud, amused-sounding belly laugh. Saki, for her part, merely smiled calmly as she gave a single nod of agreement.
"Yeah, I'm going to have to side with you on that one, Reiko," Saki remarked, a hint of amusement in her own tone, "I swear, it was like watching an actual Viking throttle a punk girl from one of the middle schools around here. Glad the other members of Einherjar had no issue with letting you and me stay to watch the fight between their boss and that punk bitch from Dorami's rival gang." Gently shaking her head, Saki went on, "But that is beside the point. Well anyway, the other girls are here, so let's head in and eat, boss."
"Sounds like a plan," the girl with long purple hair, revealed to be named Reiko, said as she nodded in agreement with Saki. The two girls, with a few other Dorami girls by their side, walked up to the Drive-In Tori to get some chow. The flashback then cut to a scene where the Dorami girls were all seated at a table inside, eating and drinking and overall having a good time at the Drive-In Tori.
As she went on narrating over the flashback, Saki said, "I remember the number one yakatori meal was the meal we'd usually spring for. It was the best." The flashback went on to show the girls in Dorami cheering as they had the little dining party there; the flashback ended up ending on a shot of Saki and Reiko clinking glasses of soda together in a toast.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
As Saki continued to look up at the Drive-In Tori, Sakura leaned to her side slightly to better see the delinquent zombie girl. "Sounds to me that your life back then was a bit on the wild side," the long-haired zombie girl remarked, "Huh, Saki?"
Looking up at the sign for Drive-In Tori, Lily pointed at the chicken mascot and said to Yugiri, "That chicken looks kind of weird." Having heard the child actress zombie girl's comment, Saki quickly turned to face her.
"Your face looks kind of weird, Shrimpy!" Saki snapped, a fist pulled back in preparation to throw a punch, "And I'll make it look weirder if you keep talking smack about Coco!"
Looking back up at the chicken mascot, Sakura said, "Coco, huh?"
"That thing has an actual name?" Hikari asked rhetorically, "Huh, and here I just assumed that it was called the Drive-In Tori chicken." The gamer zombie girl's comment drew a few nods of agreement from both Ai and Ayumu.
As the zombie girls stood around the front of the Drive-In Tori, Kotaro came walking over to them. "What's the holdup, ladies?" the eccentric man asked, "You girls need to be looking alive here!" The girls, having heard Kotaro call out, all turned to face him. When they did, they saw that he stood next to a man with short black hair, and he wore a pair of black-framed glasses, a dark pinkish short-sleeved men's dress shirt, a black apron that covered him from the waist down, similarly colored pants and a pair of similarly colored shoes.
Gesturing to the man that stood next to him, Kotaro said, "Girls, this here is the president of the Drive-In Tori franchise."
"It's nice to meet you girls," the president said in a casual yet friendly tone of greeting, "You know, when my wife heard that your manager wanted to try to arrange for you girls to shoot a commercial for Drive-In Tori, she insisted that I take the deal. She's a really big fan of that 'Saga Stories' show that you girls all star in."
The girls, as a group, all said, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, sir." The only girls that were not part of this group were Tae, who was still unawakened so she just stood there and moaned, and Saki who stood straight before bowing to the president, going as low as she could as she gave the highly respectful (most likely to the point of ridiculous) gesture.
"I seriously can't believe that I get to work with your restaurant, sir!" the delinquent zombie girl said in a tone that was at near exclamation levels of volume, "I can't think of anything better than getting to film a commercial for Drive-In Tori!"
Lily, with a bit of a dry look on her face, said from off to the side, "And she thinks I'm weird."
"Thanks again for coming in today, girls," the president remarked, "I'm looking forward to what you girls will bring to the table when we begin production for the commercial." With a bit of an embarrassed look on his face, the president continued, "By the way, I don't suppose it would be too much trouble to get a picture of all ten of you girls and have you all autograph it, would it? My wife would absolutely love it."
Clapping her hands together, Saki replied, "Do you have a pen?"
Chuckling in a good-natured tone, the president replied, "Well I'm glad to see that at least one of you is on board. But that can wait until later." Turning to his side slightly, the president gestured to the Drive-In Tori. "Before we actually get to all of our business, why don't you girls come on inside and try some of our signature dishes on the house?"
The zombie girls all sounded amazed that they were being treated, so they all said, "That sounds great!" in unison.
Again, Tae and Saki were the exceptions, as Tae just stood there and moaned mindlessly while Saki bowed once again and said, "I would love that, sir!" This behavior from the delinquent zombie girl drew some dry looks from Lily, as well as Junko and Hikari.
Inside of one of the dining rooms in the Drive-In Tori, the zombie girls were all seated a table that had a decent spread on it. There were a few plates of raw chicken strips placed next to small grills that were built into the table that the girls were seated at. The other girls watched as Saki, using a pair of tongs, took one of the raw chicken strips and placed it on the grill, watching as the meat was cooking, with the sounds of its sizzling being heard throughout the room.
"Here in Saga, we use chicken as the meat of choice in grill restaurants such as this," the president said as the girls were enjoying themselves, "As opposed to the beef used in most other similar restaurants outside of Saga."
Sakura, having finished grilling a bit of chicken meat herself on the grill closest to her, picked it up and popped it into her mouth. Sakura was amazed by the flavor of the cooked chicken meat, thankful that her taste buds still functioned no problem; when she had the first thing she ate after awakening as a zombie, Sakura assumed that she wouldn't be able to taste anything. But she was glad that her assumption was proven wrong, and as such she happily ate the chicken that she had cooked up on the little grill. As the long-haired zombie girl ate, Saki turned to face her, amused by the look of enjoyment on Sakura's face.
"Hey, you should try the garlic pepper sauce," Saki advised, "There's also the teriyaki sauce right there if that's more your speed." Reaching towards the grill with a pair of chopsticks, Saki took a piece as she said, "Oh, there's a good piece."
"Oi, I was cooking that piece for myself," Sigrid said in an annoyed tone as Saki ate the piece she took, "There's plenty of food here to satisfy your appetite." Saki laughed out an embarrassed apology to which Sigrid, in a more or less indifferent tone, remarked, "Very well, but don't let it happen again." The half-foreign zombie girl then picked up a large glass mug of soda and took a few gluttonous gulps from it, draining it dry like as a Viking would with a flagon of mead. "At least this place serves Moonberry Cola," Sigrid remarked after wiping her mouth with the top of her right wrist, "I cannot think of a better drink to quench my warrior's thirst with. At least until I turn twenty and have my first drink of mead, that is."
Looking over at Junko, who sat next to her, Yugiri asked, "I take it that you're still thinking about what to get, Junko-san?"
Junko, as she looked at a copy of the menu, said, "There's this honey chicken item that looks to be rather appetizing. I think that I might spring for that one."
As the girls ate and drank, Kotaro was still talking to the president. "…And that is the seven basic principles of our company," the president said as he concluded something that he was telling Kotaro about.
"I see," the eccentric man replied, "But was the side story you went on concerning your wife's second liposuction really ne-" Kotaro stopped short when the excited clamoring coming from all of the girls cut him off, leaving him unable to talk over it. Turning slightly to face the girls, Kotaro snapped, "Hey, will you girls pay attention?! Seriously, it wouldn't kill you all to listen up, you know!" Having heard Kotaro snap at them, the girls aside from Tae perked up and turned to face him; some of the girls, such as Saki, Lily and Sigrid, still had some food (Saki and Lily) and drink (Sigrid) in their mouths, their cheeks puffing out slightly being a sign of this.
"It's alright, Mr. Tatsumi," the president said, "I'm just glad to see that all of the girls are enjoying themselves here. As the president of the Drive-In Tori franchise, one of my goals is to make sure that all customers that come in to dine here are satisfied with the dining experience that's provided to them by the friendly Drive-In Tori staff."
Swallowing the mouthful of food that she had in her mouth while she looked over at Kotaro and the president, Sakura said, "Thanks. I really have to say that the food here is nothing short of incredible, sir."
Smiling from the complement, the president replied, "Thank you, girls. I'm glad that you enjoy the chicken here, as it's as fresh as we can-"
"Ha! Look at Tae go!" Hikari laughed in amusement as she pointed her chopsticks at the unawakened zombie girl, her comment cutting off the president midsentence; everyone turned to see Tae gulp down chunks of raw chicken, uncaring that none of it was cooked.
"Tae, no!" Lily remarked, "It's not safe to eat the chicken like that! You're supposed to cook it first before eating!"
The president, with a mildly unsettled look on his face, said, "Umm, I know that I say that we serve the freshest chicken meat that we can, but it's not that fresh." As the president stood there trying to talk Tae out of eating raw chicken meat (it's not going to work, just so you know), Kotaro stood up from where he sat at the table, turned to face the president, and gently held his hand to the president's chin, turning his head so that he faced him.
Kotaro looked into the president's face, the scene of the two of them locking gazes looking as if it was surrounded by sparkles. "Now then," the eccentric man said, his tone drawing some blushing from the president, "Why don't we talk about what you want the girls to do when we shoot the commercial." The president was unsure what to make of this gesture, but the fact that he didn't try to get out of it at all was a sign that he didn't exactly object to it.
Later, outside in an open field, some men assisting with the commercial shoot were getting things set up while a white cover stood over a table with some gear set up on it, alongside a few boxes and some cases that held filming equipment. Kotaro, the president, a tall fairly buff guy wearing a white men's tank top and a pair of cut off short and a somewhat portly man dressed like a traditional director stood under the white cover as they talked about getting ready to shoot the commercial for Drive-In Tori.
Off to the side, one of the girls was wearing a costume that consisted of brown feet and a white one-piece number that resembled a suit made for people to wear when they sleep in bed; the hood of this outfit resembled a cartoonish chicken's head. When the girl wearing this outfit raised her head up from looking at the ground, it turned out that it was Saki that was wearing the chicken outfit.
"Yahoo!" the delinquent zombie girl cheered, "This is awesome!"
Over a ways away, Junko was wearing an outfit exactly like the one Saki was wearing; standing near Junko as Ai, who was wearing an outfit consisting of dark reddish-orange footwear, dark orange leggings, yellow overalls that puffed out slightly around the thighs (making them resemble chicken legs to an extent), a light blue t-shirt under the overalls, and a yellow hat that had an orange bill and two black dots around the forehead area, making it sort of resemble a chicken's face.
Yugiri wore the same outfit as Ai, except that the courtesan zombie girl had a red t-shirt rather than a light blue one, Lily wore the same as Yugiri and Ai but she wore a seafoam green t-shirt, Ayumu wore the same but she had a light lavender t-shirt, and all of the other girls wore the same outfits as Saki and Junko. As Sigrid looked at her arms in the sleeves of her costume, she remarked in an indifferent tone, "Well this is certainly some strange manner of garment. I look like a humanoid game bird of some kind."
"I seriously can't believe we have to wear these outfits for the commercial," Junko said, sounding mildly embarrassed, "Are these costumes really all that necessary?"
"Hey, doing this commercial will help us pay for better outfits," Ai pointed out. Turning her head slightly to look at some of the other zombie girls, the Heisei idol zombie girl pointed out to her Showa counterpart, "Besides, some of the others here don't seem to mind having to wear the full-body chicken costumes like what you're wearing." Junko turned her attention over to where Ai was looking. Saki looked to have no issue at all wearing the costume, still overcome with feelings of giddiness to be working on the Drive-In Tori commercial, and Sigrid looked like she was actually rather amused by the costume that she wore.
Letting out a resigned sigh, Junko said in a mildly defeated tone, "If the resident tough girls of our actress troop have no issue with wearing the full-body chicken costumes, then I guess that I have no choice but to suck it up myself."
"The costume looks really good on you, Junko," Sakura remarked as she walked over to talk to the two idol zombie girls.
"…Please don't lie to me," Junko replied, still a little embarrassed to be wearing the costume that she was in.
Over to where Lily was standing around with Yugiri and Ayumu, the child actress zombie girl said as she looked up to her older counterparts, "Those outfits look really cute on the both of you, Yugiri and Big Sis!"
Turning to her side slightly, Yugiri turned her head slightly to look at the ducktail-like protrusion of her outfit, which covered her rear end. "An outfit like this would have been an interesting choice to wear during my previous line of work," Yugiri remarked as she got a glimpse of the tail that covered her rear.
"I'm glad that Mr. Kotaro got me a t-shirt in my favorite color," Ayumu commented, "And the purplish shade of this lavender goes well with the yellow of the overalls." As the girls in the overalls talked, Tae sat off to the side, chewing on the right end of the sleeve of the costume that she was put in.
"Alright, everyone!" the buff guy with Kotaro and the president called out, "Let's get into positions! We're about to get this show running!" Holding up the clipboard that he was holding, the buff guy took a quick look at it to make sure he had everything written down properly. Turning to face everyone else, the buff guy said, "First off, I'd like to introduce all of you guys to the lovely ladies of the actress troop Franchouchou, who we will have the pleasure of working with on the commercial today!"
The other guys under the white cover all clapped in applause while the girls, knowing that they were being cheered for, all bowed in thanks to the guys applauding them. "And let's not go forgetting the beloved mascot of Drive-In Tori," the buff guy said as he gestured off to the side, "Let's give it up for Coco!" Everyone turned to look in the direction that the buff guy gestured to, and as such they saw a guy wearing a full-body chicken costume walk in; his costume was of much greater quality than the sleep suit-like outfits some of the zombie girls were in. Also, Coco wore a pair of sunglasses (even though it was daytime out right now) that he took off as he made his way over to where everyone else was at. The guys likewise applauded Coco.
As the chicken man walked past the zombie girls, Saki looked on with a stunned look, looking as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "Wow, I can't believe that we're in the presence of such a great legend," Saki remarked, sounding as if a literal god just walked in front of her.
"Just breathe, Saki," Sakura said when she turned her attention to Saki.
"Yeah, just do what Sakura said," Lily remarked dryly, sounding slightly annoyed with how the delinquent zombie girl was acting.
Coco had a bit of a self-assured look of confidence on his face, an expression that bordered on being smug. As he walked, Coco stopped short with a look of startled alarm when he sensed something off. He turned his attention and saw Tae, with a look of hunger that was making her mouth water on her face, looking right at him. Suddenly, Tae let out a wordless shout as she leapt up and flew right at Coco, making him flinch and cower. Luckily for the chicken man, the unawakened zombie girl was caught by Sakura.
"Tae, no!" Sakura exclaimed as she tried to reel Tae in, "He's not a chicken for eating!" As she held Tae, Sakura fell over, taking Tae down with her and keeping her pinned on the ground. Sakura looked up at Coco and said, "Umm, sorry about that, sir. Tae here is probably still a little bit on the hungry side, is all." Coco, the smug airs he was giving off restored, held a hand up in a gesture to show that he was letting it go. As Coco continued on his way, Sakura whispered to Tae, "That's actually a guy in a chicken costume, Tae. He's not a real chicken." The unawakened zombie girl just laid there, not quite understanding what Sakura was saying.
…
With everyone standing in position, the buff guy said to the girls and Coco, "Now that we have everybody in position, let's try working through the first take!" The girls all nodded in agreement, with Saki even going the extra mile by saying that she and the others wouldn't be letting Drive-In Tori down.
"I can just tell that this is going to be great," the director said as he held his megaphone up. Swinging it down in front of him, the director said, "And ACTION!"
The background music for the commercial started to play, and when the girls were given the cue, they all started singing in perfect unison. "Yakitori number one, chicken and rice number two, salad's number three for nutrition! Service with a smile, come on and get your fill! Yeah!" As the zombie girls continued to sing the rest of the song, Tae was the only one who wasn't singing; instead, all that Tae did was moan along while the other zombie girls sang.
"And cut!" the director called out, shortly before the girls could finish singing the song.
"CUT!" the buff guy exclaimed in a somewhat excited manner.
The director, with a slightly confused look on his face, turned to face the buff guy and said, "Is it me, or do the vocals sound a little off to you?" The buff guy nodded in agreement, as he had reached the same conclusion himself.
Sakura, walking a few steps closer to the director, said, "Sorry about that! We'll try fixing things over here on this end!" While the long-haired zombie girl apologized to the director and the other men, the other zombie girls were all looking at Tae.
"You need to sing better!" Saki scolded at Tae, "Are you trying to bring dishonor to the wonder that is Drive-In Tori?"
"Saki, please remember that Tae is still unawakened," Sakura whispered to the delinquent zombie girl, "Singing is pretty much out of the question for her." Sighing, Sakura continued, "I don't know what we can do with her, though."
"Hey, are we ready?" the buff guy called out as he jogged over to the girls, getting them to turn and face him as he approached.
With another sigh, Sakura said, "To be honest, I'm not sure."
Giving the girls a thumbs-up, the buff guy said, "Just cut it out with all of the moaning and it'll be perfect, girls!" The buff guy then jogged back to where he was previously standing before any of the girls could stop him.
"Hey, wait!" Sakura called out, "We're not-"
"We're all set, guys!" the buff guy said to the others waiting under the white cover.
Sakura, a bit panicked since she and the others weren't being given enough time to work out something, quickly turned to the other zombie girls. "Okay, you know what? New plan!" Sakura said to her fellow undead, "All of us will do the singing instead of Tae." Turning to face Tae specifically, Sakura said, "Tae, you remain silent for everything except for the end, where you will do the cock-a-doodle-doo sound. You think you can swing that?" Tae, still unawakened, gave a slight nod as she made a moan that sounded like she knew what was wanted of her. There was no way of knowing that for certain given Tae's unawakened nature, but Sakura didn't have much of a choice on the matter, so she had to put her faith in Tae.
Over at the white cover that everyone was under, the director said, "Alright, let's give this another shot." Raising his megaphone up, the director swung it down in front of him as he called out, "And ACTION!" The music for the commercial started to play, but right when the other girls got the first two words out, Tae suddenly let out the cock-a-doodle-doo sound, prompting the director to yell, "CUT! Number zero, your timing was way off!"
"Sorry about that, sir!" Sakura said as she apologized on Tae's behalf.
…
It took many takes, but eventually, the girls were not only able to get through the routine for the commercial without issue, but Tae finally got the timing for her role down perfectly. "And cut!" the director said. Leaning back in his director's chair a bit, the director continued, "That sounded pretty good that time. Let's do a quick check and move on."
As the girls relaxed a bit, Sakura turned to face Ai. "Good call on changing the harmony at the end there," Sakura said to the Heisei idol zombie girl, "It really helped Tae nail the timing for her bit perfectly." Ai merely smiled in response, thankful that some efforts that she had made had done something good.
Over at the white cover, the director was going over something on a computer screen. Turning to face the buff guy, the director said with a mildly amused smile, "This one is pretty solid."
"Well alright," the buff guy replied. Turning to face everyone else under the white cover, the buff guy said, "It looks like we got ourselves a keeper with the last take."
The girls, having heard this, all sighed in relief, with Sakura even saying, "Thank goodness that this is all over."
"I'm not sure if I can agree with that," Kotaro said, a hint of serious ominousness in his tone. With the girls all looking at him with a variety of expressions, the eccentric man said, "Do you all really think that you've finally got it? Just take a look at yourselves. What do you girls all think you are right now?"
"Umm…" Sakura began, sounding more like she was going to give a guess as opposed to an actual answer, "…Actresses?"
Pointing dramatically at the zombie girls, Kotaro loudly declared, "You're supposed to be chickens!" The volume of Kotaro's voice made the girls recoil a bit; Ayumu even cowered a bit as she covered her ears with her hands, rattled by the volume of Kotaro's loud passionate speaking. "You're supposed to be chickens right now!" the eccentric man declared, "And you girls think your little bit acting here will pass? You need to be more chicken-y, ladies! Come on, cock-a-doodle-do your frigg'in job!"
The zombie girls looked on with looks of confusion on their faces. The only exception here was Saki, whose expression was oddly calm. "…For once," the delinquent zombie girl began, "I may have to agree with Shades on something." The other girls all turned to face Saki, confused looks on their faces. "We had to be real chickens for this," Saki said at a somewhat low volume, then suddenly raised her volume as she exclaimed, "We had to be real chickens for this commercial and we all blew it!"
The zombie girls had no idea what to make of Saki being so passionate about this. Similarly, a lot of the guys under the white cover had no idea of what to make of Kotaro saying that the last run wasn't good enough. "Umm, that last take was pretty good," the director began, "I'm sure that it will be more than-"
"I know they're stupid, but these girls have the fire of acting in them!" Kotaro declared, cutting the director off midsentence, "You must give them another chance to get this down perfectly!"
Over at the girls, Saki said to her fellow undead, "Come on, girls! We can do better than this!" Pointing over to where Coco was doing some breakdancing off to the side, Saki continued, "Do you girls really want to let Coco show us up?!" Pounding her fist into her hand, the delinquent zombie girl said, "If we're going to be taking Japan by storm, then we've got to be able to gobble up the star of the show!"
Tae, having heard Saki declare that they had to 'gobble up the star of the show' and seeing her point to where Coco was standing, immediately ran right over to him, her mouth salivating as her gaze was locked on the chicken man. Coco saw Tae run for him with a look of hunger in her eyes; as such, he promptly freaked, especially so when Tae nearly took a bite out of the rear end of his costume before she resorted to chasing him around.
"Tae, no!" Sakura shouted as she and most of the other zombie girls (Sigrid stood by and laughed as she pointed at the fleeing Coco) proceeded to chase after the unawakened member of their number, "I told you that Coco is not on the menu!" At one point, Tae was able to latch onto Coco by biting down on the rear end of his costume, pulling him back as he tried to get out of the hold and continue to flee.
"Quick, someone get number zero off of Coco!" the director ordered.
The buff guy agreed to do so and moved to rescue the chicken man, but he was stopped by Kotaro. "Wait, belay that belay that," the eccentric man said, making the director and the buff guy take pause as they both turned to face him. Pointing dramatically, Kotaro said, "Get that camera rolling! This is the gold that we've been needing, the story that everyone never knew that they needed to see with their own eyes!"
The director, as he was more or less forced back into his director's chair by Kotaro, more or less just rolled with it, calling out, "And ACTION!" as he swung his megaphone down in front of himself as (most of) the other girls tried to pull Tae off of Coco. In the process, Tae ripped the rear end area off of Coco's costume, revealing the red and white striped boxer shorts that he was wearing underneath the costume.
…
Later that day during the late evening hours, the girls and Kotaro stood outside of the Drive-In Tori with the president. "Great job, ladies," the president said, "I even had some of my men prepare a little thank you gift for you girls, in addition to what we paid you for the commercial." The president pulled out a little paper shopping back that had a small handle. The girls looked on in wonder, curious about what was in the bag.
"Is it more food?" Sakura guessed aloud, only to be proven wrong a few seconds later when the president pulled out a white t-shirt with the Drive-In Tori logo on it. The t-shirt was sealed in a plastic wrap of some kind.
"Ta-da," the president said, "Drive-In Tori t-shirts. I couldn't get what sizes any of you girls wear, so I hope you don't mind that all of you are getting size 3XL." As he put the bagged t-shirt he pulled out back into the shopping bag, the president continued, "Also, some of the men who worked with you girls on the commercials saw how numbers two and eight both seemed to like the full-body chicken costumes that they respectively wore, so they'll be allowed to take the costumes home with them." Hearing this, both Saki and Sigrid let out amused cheers, with Sigrid even pumping a fist into the air.
Nodding in mild amusement to the excited reactions of Saki and Sigrid, the president said, "You two are welcome. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the final product of your efforts today in making that commercial for Drive-In Tori. I'm also looking forward to the next episode of 'Saga Stories', since Mr. Tatsumi here said that Drive-In Tori will see some product placement in the next episode."
"Indeed, Mr. President," Kotaro replied with a nod. Turning to face the girls, the eccentric man continued, "Since Drive-In Tori advertised us, it's only fair that we advertise them! The dinner scene in the next episode that we'll put out will see number one being visited by numbers two and eight, who bring by some take out from Drive-In Tori to share with her out of thanks for helping them to repair an old motorcycle that number two inherited from her late grandfather." Pointing dramatically at the zombie girls, Kotaro said, "We need to make sure that we get at least a few good shots that clearly show the Drive-In Tori logo during that dinner scene, otherwise we'll have to do as many takes of the dinner scene as we did takes for the commercial that we had just gotten through with filming!"
Sakura paled a bit at the thought of having to do multiple takes for one thing again. Saki and Sigrid were less worried than the long-haired zombie girl; Saki especially so, as she was not one to bring dishonor to the name of Drive-In Tori at any time ever.
A few days later, over at a two-story house in one of the residential areas in Saga, a woman was entertaining another woman at the house. The first woman wore a long-sleeved pale light tannish blouse, a matching skirt that reached halfway down her shins, and a simple, dark pinkish apron that lacked any frills. This first woman also had purple hair that was long enough to throw into a ponytail that rested over her right shoulder.
The second woman, the guest that was being entertained by the first, had dishwater blonde hair in a hime-style cut that reached halfway down her shoulder blades. The second woman wore an outfit that looked similar to the blouse and skirt that the first woman wore, but the second woman's blouse was a pastel light blue, the skirt was a regular light blue, and the second woman didn't wear an apron. The two women were chatting along with one another, speaking as if they were good friends who had known each other for many years.
"Is Maria still having that rebellious streak of hers, Reiko?" the second woman asked the first, who was apparently named Reiko.
Nodding once in the affirmative, Reiko let out a mildly resigned sigh as she said, "I just wished that my daughter didn't try to take after me, take after what I did before I even gave birth to her." Looking to her friend, Reiko continued, "Even so, I still think that we can get Maria to stop it with her rebellious acting, Nagi."
"Maybe we can try to get Maria to hang out more with my son Sigurd?" the second woman, apparently named Nagi, half suggested half offered. Leaning forward a bit to get closer to Reiko, Nagi continued, "And isn't your nephew a hero course student over at U.A. High School? I bet that a hero-in-training like him would be an excellent example and role-model for your daughter to follow. Just call up your brother's family and ask to borrow your nephew for a bit."
Nodding in agreement with Nagi, Reiko sighed before she said, "Yes. Either your son or my nephew would be excellent persons to try and get Maria to take after. They would both do well at leading her away from the lifestyle that the two of us used to live." Looking up a bit, Reiko sighed as she looked up at the ceiling. "…To think," the purple-haired woman remarked, "It's been over twenty-two years since my closest friend died in that motorcycle crash."
Nagi, with a mildly amused look on her face, leaned back in her seat and said, "You're talking about that Saki girl that used to roll with you in your old gang, huh? Yeah, I think I saw her once, on that one occasion where she came along with you when the two of you girls came to watch my old gang leader Sigrid take on that one girl from Korosuke in a one-v-one fight." Arching an eyebrow, Nagi said, "Saki was the girl with the long blonde ponytail, right?"
"Yes," Reiko replied, nodding once in the affirmative. After the purple-haired woman confirmed things for Nagi, the blonde woman let out a sigh.
"…Then that explains why I get a feeling of déjà vu whenever I see those girls from the cast of that new show 'Saga Stories' perform," Nagi remarked, "That girl that's referred to as number two looks an awful lot like that Saki girl you were friends with before she died." With a look of consideration on her face, Nagi continued, "Similarly, I get the feeling that the girl that's called number eight looks an awful lot like Sigrid."
Reiko nodded in agreement with her friend, a look of mildly grim understanding on her face. "Those girls do seem to look an awful lot like our respective old friends who died over twenty years ago," Reiko remarked, "Maybe they're relatives?"
"Hmm, maybe," Nagi replied, "Oh, did you see the commercial for Drive-In Tori that those Saga Stories girls just did? Not to mention the latest episode of their show, which saw three of the girls eat take-out from Drive-In Tori."
Reiko nodded in the affirmative to Nagi. "And to think that one of the girls from the dinner scene eating some Drive-In Tori is the one who looks a lot like Saki," Reiko remarked before giving a gentle shake of her head. Letting out a chuckle, the purple-haired woman said, "The coincidence is real here, Nagi." The blond-haired woman merely nodded in agreement, letting out a mildly amused chuckle as she did so. The two women then went on with their social visit, talking more about the coincidences they've noticed, as well as what to do with Reiko's daughter.
END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER FOUR
Author's notes:
Due to the AU nature of this story, the part where the girls filmed for the Drive-In Tori commercial ended up taking up a lot of this chapter, with only a mention of the episode of 'Saga Stories' that saw the Drive-In Tori product placement having been seen. Additionally, in this chapter's counterpart from the series proper, it's a reporter who recognizes Junko, but instead of that, here I have Reiko and a woman heavily associated with Sigrid's past recognizing Saki and Sigrid respectively; this will play a role later on in this story's counterpart of the episode where Saki has a run-in with Maria.
Also, in my research for this chapter, I discovered that Reiko's maiden name is the same last name as a character from another anime series that I'm writing a story for. As such, I decided to make the two of them related in my various works. If you want to learn more, look up Reiko on the wiki. Believe you me, you'll be just as surprised with the discovery as I was. Well anyway, I need to get to work on brainstorming what to do for the next chapter of this story; it's going to be an Ai-centric chapter from what I can see.
That's actually a good thing, as I've been wanting to do some work on her, especially since Ai has a different cause of death here in this story as compared to what she has in the series proper.