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 ten: What is this 'normal' of which you speak?
(FLASHBACK)
(DATE: JULY 31ST, 1997)
Saki Nikaido, the first kamikaze squad leader of the all-girls delinquent gang Dorami, was sitting on some steps outside someplace with Reiko Kirishima, the boss of Dorami and a close friends of Saki's. "Hoo boy, that fight we watched last night where Einherjar's boss throttled that punk bitch from Korosuke sure was a riot," Saki said as she let out a cheer, pumping a fist into the air. Turning to face Reiko, the blonde ponytailed girl said, "What do you think?"
Reiko turned to face Saki, giving her an amused smirk. "…I think that I'm glad that Dorami was saved some trouble," the boss of Dorami replied, "Not that I wouldn't have minded having to be the one to show that Korosuke girl her place, mind you. But seriously." Turning to face forward, Reiko remarked, "Those girls in Korosuke just don't know when to quit, do they? They seriously don't want us taking over Kyushu, do they?"
"Bah," Saki said as she stood up, "I say that we take out right now. Save us some trouble in the long run."
Reiko turned back to regard her close friend, a look of mild amusement on her face. "Geez, girl, that crazy streak of your will get you killed one day if you don't reel it in," the purple-haired girl said, some warning in her tone but still otherwise sounding amused overall.
"No way am I ever going to die," Saki replied, sounding as if she had all the confidence in the world while reaching into her coat pocket to pull something out, "Neither is this little guy that I got right here." Saki pulled something out and showed it to Reiko, revealing her treasure to be a Tamagotchi. The blonde delinquent could not help but let out a little amused chuckle as she showed the small digital pet to Reiko. Reiko, for her part, merely returned an amused, albeit very mildly confused, smile before she stood up from where she sat.
"Come on Saki, let's bounce," Reiko remarked, "I'm starving. Let's go grab something to eat."
Saki nodded in agreement as she followed her boss and close friend. "Man, I wish that Drive-In Tori was open this early," Saki remarked.
"We had Drive-In Tori last night," Reiko pointed out, "Geez, Saki. You eat anymore chicken and you'll turn into a chicken." As the two delinquent girls walked and talked as they playfully teased one another, they walked through a field littered with the knocked out girls of a group of Korosuke members, a telltale sign that Saki and Reiko had worked up quite an appetite before relaxing for a bit.
The two girls got on their respective motorcycles, with Saki even saying, "Yo Reiko, last one to the usual convenience store we swing by is a rotten egg!"
Reiko only let out a smirk as she turned to face Saki. "Geez, you never do seem to learn, do you?" Reiko said more than asked, "You do know that you've never beaten me in a race, right? Speed is my middle name."
Jerking a thumb at herself, Saki replied, "And guts is my middle name!" Reiko only let out a chuckle as she and Saki revved up their respective rides before they raced off, leaving whatever and whoever behind them in the dust.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
Saki woke with something of a start from her futon in the futon room at the abandoned mansion in Saga, where she and the rest of the girls of Franchouchou live. …If you can say that they 'live there', given the fact that all ten of them are zombies. The delinquent zombie girl looked around the room and saw that, aside from the unaccounted for Hikari, she was the only one who was currently awake, given that the eight zombie girls that were accounted for were all fast asleep in their respective futons.
Sakura was laying on her left side in her futon, and as such Saki, who was located close to her, could see the long-haired zombie girl's face. Lily, at some point, ended up rolling right up next to Ayumu, and the two of them ended up cuddled next to each other, unaware that it even took place. Tae slept flat on her back with her arms and legs in the air a bit, like a dog laying on its back as its legs twitched slightly in its sleep. Ai and Junko were asleep in their respective futons, with the way Junko laid combined with the sleep outfit that the Showa idol zombie girl wore reminding Saki of someone's grandma.
Yugiri was fast asleep herself, looking relatively neat in her futon. And Sigrid laid in the least neat fashion out of all the zombie girls aside from Saki herself; the half-foreign zombie girl's right leg and left arm stuck out from under the blanket, which was covering Sigrid's form haphazardly and unevenly. Sigrid also snored away, sounding far and away from what many would suspect a popular actress to snore like, if said actress snored while asleep at all.
"…That was one weird dream," the delinquent zombie girl muttered to herself as she slowly got out from her futon. Careful so as to not disturb her fellow undead, Saki made her way out of the futon room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen area, where she found Hikari sitting at the counter table, a mug of coffee and a toasted plain bagel off to the side as the gamer zombie girl played on a handheld game system.
Having sensed/heard someone enter the kitchen area, Hikari looked over and saw Saki. "…Well look who decided to join us in the waking world," Hikari remarked, a hint of amusement in her tone as she watched Saki make her way over to the fridge, "How did you sleep, Saki?"
"I had a weird dream that wasn't so much a dream as it was a memory from my past," Saki replied as she found a Styrofoam take out container from Drive-In Tori, deciding to just eat that for breakfast. As she sat her procured foot at one of the places at the counter table before heading over to the coffee pot to get a mug of coffee, Saki continued, "I don't suppose you know what I'm talking about, do you Hikari?"
With a shrug, Hikari replied, "Actually, I do as a matter of fact. I woke up about an hour ago from a rather scary dream that was a memory from my own past." After taking a sip from her own mug of coffee, the gamer zombie girl continued, "The reason why I say it was scary is due to the fact that it replayed the last moments of my life, right up to the point where I suffered that asthma attack that killed me."
"Oh, so that's how you died?" Saki asked, a hint of sympathy in her mildly curious tone as she sat down across from Hikari after having gotten herself a mug of coffee, "You had a fatal asthma attack?" After Hikari nodded once in the affirmative while giving of a mostly indifferent air, the delinquent zombie girl remarked, "Well look on the bright side, Hikari. You're a zombie now, so you don't really have to worry about stuff like asthma anymore."
Hikari nodded once in agreement without taking her eyes off of her handheld game system. "I can also pull off all-night gaming sessions without any issue," Hikari added, "Well, no issue to myself, at least. I'm pretty sure I might wake one of you other girls up at some point."
Saki nodded once to show that she understood to some degree; Saki herself had something of a fondness for video games, what with her love of Tamagotchi and how she liked to frequent arcades back when she was still alive. But Saki would readily admit that Hikari would run circles around her if they went head to head in a fighting game or something similar; Saki supposed that what Kotaro said about Hikari being a 'legendary gamer girl' was not without merit.
Saki shook those thoughts out of her mind, however, as she had something that she wanted to ask. "So Hikari," Saki began, "Do you remember what Shades has us slated to do today?"
"I'm pretty sure that he said we're supposed to join a group dance at a local park later this morning," the gamer zombie girl replied, "We're going to be joining a group made primarily of elderly people, since Kotaro said that a large percentage of Saga's population is composed of the elderly, and if we work with them we should, in theory at least, appeal to a fairly large chunk of Saga's population, thus upping the popularity of 'Saga Stories'."
"Ah yeah, now I remember," Saki remarked, a hint of annoyance in her tone, "I still can't believe that Shades had set us up for it…"
(FLASHBACK)
(DATE: DAY BEFORE CURRENT DAY)
The ten zombie girls were all seated in the basement room as Kotaro stood in front of a chalkboard, on which a pie chart was drawn; a small blue sliver was labeled 'impressionable youth' while the rest of the chart was composed of a big fat red chunk labeled 'old farts'. The eccentric man pulled out an extendable pointing stick, stretched it then used it to point at the pie chart on the board.
As he pointed at the pie chart that he drew on the chalkboard, Kotaro said to the girls, "As you girls can all can see from this very informative and respectful chart, the elderly make up the lion's share of the population here in Saga." Leaning forward towards the girls as he held himself up by putting his hands on the small table between him and the girls, Kotaro continued, "So if 'Saga Stories' is to win the hearts of all of these oldie-goldies, then there is only one thing that you can do." Kotaro then pulled out a sign that said 'kashima' and showed it to the girls.
"You ten are all going to learn the epic awesomeness that is…" the eccentric man said as he took in a breath for dramatic effect, "…KASHIMA DANCE!"
(FLASHBACK OVER)
Saki let out a resigned sigh as she said, "Well, I guess we're stuck going to have to dance with a bunch of old geezers." Giving off an indifferent shrug, the delinquent zombie girl said, "Well, I guess that it could be worse."
"I doubt that there will be good Wi-Fi strength at the park," Hikari remarked, a slight hint of annoyance in her tone before she took a bite out of her bagel.
Later at the park, the ten girls of Franchouchou stood as a group in front of a group of the elderly. "Ehh?" an old man said as he held a hand to his ear, "What did you say again?"
"For the last time, those young girls over there want to join us for the kashima dance, you old coot!" another old man said somewhat loudly at the first, "Clean your ears out, for crying out loud already!"
As the ten zombie girls, all of them looking human due to either monster glamour/makeup on Tae, looked at the elderly, Saki remarked with a dumbfounded look of unamusement on her face, "You cannot be serious about this."
"Ehh, Kotaro-san sounded pretty serious about it when he told us about it yesterday," Sakura remarked. Gently shaking her head, the long-haired zombie girl said, "Although now that I think about it, I believe that joining some nice old people in a group activity sound pretty nice, not to mention it sounds like a fun way to spend the morning."
Junko nodded in agreement with Sakura. "There's also the fact that seniors tend to follow certain shows occasionally," Junko pointed out, "If we can get 'Saga Stories' to be one of those shows, then we'll get a very nice bump in viewership."
The first older man slowly got up as he said, "Well, we might as well get started on this." He let out a breath, keeping his eyes closed and looking calm. Suddenly, the first old man opened his eyes, wide and excited. He pumped a fist into the air as he exclaimed, "Let's get this show on the road, already!"
One of the elderly ladies in the group pressed a button on a portable radio, playing some music that was recorded on a cassette. The rest of the elderly people, all already in position, began to start performing the kashima dance, going through the motions with such unity and rhythm that the zombie girls were all surprised. "Wow!" Lily exclaimed, "You guys look like you've been doing this for years, it looks so good!"
"Hot damn!" Saki remarked, sounding similarly as impressed as the child actress zombie girl, "Look at you guys go!"
The first old man, with a somewhat smug look of self-amusement on his face, gestured for the girls to come over with the 'bring it on' hand wave gesture that martial artists use to challenge one another occasionally. "Well come on, girls," the first old man said, "Get on in here. The rest of the dance won't do itself, you know."
"Hang on," Sakura said with a look of surprise on her face, "We're supposed to have the whole dance all down already?"
"Umm, can we even keep up with them?" Junko asked, looking mildly unsure about her and her fellow undead being able to keep up with the living elderly.
Ai, with a look of amusement on her face, remarked as she walked forward, "Well there's only one way that we can find that out." It was the Heisei idol zombie girl that led the rest of the girls over to the group of dancing old people. Once they all got into place, the girls of Franchouchou proceeded to join the dancing elderly. It took them a few moments, but soon enough all ten of the zombie girls got into the rhythm and danced alongside the old people.
However, unbeknownst to both the zombie girls and the living elderly, they were being watched by a middle school girl with long, light brown hair that had two buns from which tails of hair came from. This girl wore a long red coat over a gray blouse, a black tie, a black long skirt, a pair of black shoes and black socks that were long enough to disappear up into the skirt. The look on the face of the middle school girl was all the sign that was needed to let those who would have seen know that she was not amused by seeing the Franchouchou girls dance in the park with the old people.
The middle school girl scoffed, a sign of her annoyance.
Sometime shortly after the kashima dance, Lily, Tae and Ayumu were still at the park while the rest of the girls were at a nearby convenience store. "Wow, that was even more exhausting than some of our scene run-throughs for the show," Lily remarked after she got a drink from the water fountain in the park. As soon as Lily was done, Tae put her mouth right over the spout for the fountain and began to drink from the fountain, greedily and mindlessly.
As the three zombie girls were at the water fountain, Sakura came dashing over. "Hey, you three!" Sakura called out as she made her way over, making Lily and Ayumu both turn to look but not Tae who was still distracted, "We're all waiting for you!"
"Okay!" Lily called back out as she waved at the long-haired zombie girls. Tae finally looked over and waved, but she fell over backwards as she gushed out a lot of water from her mouth, laying on the ground as she spewed water like a fancy fountain located outside of a mall. Right as Lily and Ayumu both turned to look at Tae and proceed to help her, they and Sakura were all distracted when they heard some motors rev up nearby.
Looking over, the three zombie girls (Tae was still on the ground spewing water) saw three delinquent-looking girls that looked like they went to one of the local middle schools. There was the girl with the long brown hair (who the girls haven't seen up until now), a girl with chin length brown hair of a darker shade than what the long-haired girl had, and a girl with black hair in twin pigtails that rested over her shoulders; also the third girl wore glasses. The three delinquent-looking girls began to walk over in a slow strut meant to intimidate. Both Lily and Ayumu were worried, but Lily stopped short when she saw the cycles that the three delinquent-looking girls had; the cycles were actually pink supped up scooters.
"…How lame," the child actress zombie girl muttered to herself, "You cannot be serious."
Pointing an accusing finger right at Sakura, the long-haired delinquent girl snapped somewhat loudly, "The hell gives you the right to come here and do that stupid dance with those stupid old people, huh?!" The angry snapping and intimidation that the long-haired delinquent girl was giving off scared Sakura, frightened Lily and made Ayumu cower in a crouching position while covering her ears with her hands.
"Umm…" Sakura said, "…This is a…public park? Isn't everyone allowed to use it?"
"What middle school do you losers go to, huh?!" the long-haired delinquent girl demanded loudly, ignoring Sakura's comment completely. When the long-haired delinquent girl raised her voice that time, Ayumu let out a panicked cry of distress. The long-haired delinquent girl turned to face Ayumu, who Lily stood in front of. "The hell is her problem?!" demanded the long-haired delinquent girl as she pointed to the cowering teen actress zombie girl.
Lily, with a very angry looking expression, scolded, "Hey, you leave Big Sis alone! She has autism and you being very loud is making her feel really distressed!" Crossing her arms over her chest, Lily continued, "Also, I'm still an elementary schooler!"
The three delinquent girls looked at Lily and Ayumu with shocked looks of surprise. "Picking on an elementary schooler doesn't sound all that cool," the delinquent girl with chin length brown hair whispered to the long-haired delinquent girl, "And picking on a girl that's autistic sounds arguably less cool than that."
"I agree," the glasses-wearing delinquent girl with black hair whispered in agreement.
The long-haired delinquent girl nodded once in agreement with her fellows before gesturing to Lily and Ayumu. "You two are excused," the long-haired delinquent girl remarked before turning her attention in full right back to Sakura. "You, however!" the long-haired delinquent girl snapped at Sakura, taking care to not be too loud, "The hell gives you the right to make a big racket in our park?!"
"I, umm…" Sakura said as she began to panic, "Doesn't this park belong to everyone?"
"Excuse me?" the long-haired delinquent girl demanded, unaware of the fact that Tae was now standing behind her. The unawakened zombie girl must have thought that the hair buns that the long-haired delinquent girl wore were actual food buns, because she bit down on one, prompting the long-haired delinquent girl to freak. Her fellows look on with stunned looks as Sakura looked on with a mildly worried look.
Lily, on the other hand, laughed a bit as she watched Tae annoy the long-haired delinquent girl. "Well alright, Tae!" the child actress zombie girl cheered, "Way to show that jerk who's boss!" Sakura, for her part, ran up and managed to pry Tae off of her biting down on the long-haired delinquent girl's hair bun. Once she was free, the long-haired delinquent girl backed up over to where her two fellows waited.
Looking right at Sakura and Tae, the long-haired delinquent girl snapped, "The hell is that black-haired bitch's problem?!"
Sakura would have answered, but before she could get a word out Saki came running over. "Oi, Egghead!" the delinquent zombie girl said, "The hell is the hold up? If we take any longer to get going, I'm going to kick your ass!" Right when Saki reached Sakura and the other undead girls, the long-haired delinquent girl gave her a menacing look.
"And just who the hell are you supposed to be?" the long-haired delinquent girl demanded of Saki while pointing to Sakura and Tae, "You want I should kick your ass when I'm done dealing with these two bitches here?!"
Saki just looked at the long-haired delinquent girl with a mildly surprised look that was more curious than anything else. Then, Saki suddenly gave the long-haired delinquent girl and her fellows a very intimidating glare, making the long-haired delinquent girl back up a few steps and her two fellows huddle up to one another as they cowered, acting like a pair of deer that were spotted and confronted by an alpha wolf.
"Don't go picking fights that you can't win," Saki warned in a growl, her menacing glare helping all the more to make the three delinquent girls back off.
Whispering to the long-haired delinquent girl, the one with the chin length hair said, "I think that we ought to do what this new one says. She seems really scary, and I highly doubt that even the three of us combined can take her down in a three-on-one."
"I agree," the glasses-wearing delinquent girl remarked.
The long-haired delinquent girl scoffed in annoyance before turning around to return to her scooter, being followed by her two friends. When the long-haired delinquent girl turned around, Saki and the others were able to see what was on the back of her red long coat; it was a bunch of kanji that said 'Dorami Eighth Boss: Maria Kirishima'. When she saw what was on that girl's coat, Saki let out a small, shocked-sounding gasp, as if something from her past had just popped up to pay her a surprise visit.
The three delinquent girls were on their respective scooters when the one identified as Maria Kirishima said, "Just remember, this park is Dorami territory! So don't go acting like a bunch of dancing monkeys here!" The three girls then rode off before anyone could stop them.
…Not that any of the zombie girls that were there were in any mood/position to stop them from riding off. "Well now," Lily remarked dryly, "Talk about awkward."
"I know," Sakura commented. Turning to face Saki, Sakura said, "Thanks for scaring those girls off Sa-" Sakura stopped short and, along with Lily and Ayumu, looked at the stunned Saki, who simply stood there.
"…Seriously?" Saki muttered to herself as she just starred ahead, having no idea what to make of the blast from her past that had just cropped up here.
On a grassy field in front of a river near an overpass, Maria and her two friends were sitting near the bank of the river, their scooters parked nearby on the road. "I'm starting to think that it may be in our best interest to quit being biker girls and simply let Dorami fade into the past," the girl with chin length hair remarked, "We ought to quit while we're ahead and have yet to get the three of us into anything serious."
"Are you serious?!" Maria practically exclaimed when she turned to face her friend, "We're biker girls, not some little brats having a sleepover!"
Letting out a resigned sigh, the short-haired girl continued, "But we don't even ride around on motorcycles. We only have scooters."
"Yeah, and being in a gang is hard work, Maria" the glasses-wearing girl remarked, "Not to mention how we've been riding around while trying to avoid your cousin and his friends since they're trying to catch us and get us to stop anyway because your mom wants you to stop it with this whole gang thing." Slumping forward a bit as she rested her face in her hands, the glasses-wearing girl said, "I don't think this is all worth it."
"I'm never walking away from Dorami!" Maria declared defiantly, "I don't give a fuck what my mom or my good-two-shoes cousin and his friends have to say!" Giving the glasses wearing girl a firm glare, Maria scolded while giving a menacing look, "Also, what did I tell you about ever mentioning either of those two bastards?"
The glasses-wearing girl looked frightened as she inched away; even the short-haired girl looked scared, and she wasn't even being scolded by Maria. The current leader of Dorami would have gone on to say something else, but she was cut off when she and her friends heard a bike horn sound off. The three girls looked over and saw a row of black motorcycles come riding up. To the worry of Maria's two friends, the motorcycle in the middle denoted the rider as the leader of a gang called Korosuke.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," the short-haired girl said in a tone of complaint, "They of all people have to show up now?!"
The Korosuke motorcycles all parked in a circle around Maria and her friends, more or less trapping the three of them in. The boss of Korosuke, a girl with long light-gray hair, walked up to stand before the three girls of Dorami, giving them a menacing look of self-amusement. "It seems that you Dorami girls just don't seem to know when to quit," the Korosuke boss remarked with an amused smirk, patting her left hand's palm with a rolled up whip, "Do I have to take the three of you out once and for all, or will you all agree to finally hang your coats up and let me and the newest generation of Korosuke rule the roads here?"
"Oh geez, it's Korosuke's boss!" the glasses-wearing girl said as she and the short-haired girl cowered behind Maria, "I heard that her mother is a previous boss of Korosuke."
"I heard that the mom of Korosuke's current boss, back when she was still running Korosuke herself, is the person that scored the killing hit on the boss of the long-defunct gang Einherjar," the short-haired girl remarked, sounding very much afraid.
Maria paid her cowering friends' remarks about the current boss of Korosuke no mind. Rather, she looked at Korosuke's boss with a look of amusement. "…I guess we don't," Maria said, "But then again, it's not like I was ever going to stop-"
Maria was cut off when the various members of Korosuke pulled out various weapons; a rusted metal pipe, a crowbar, a length of chain, and one Korosuke girl even had a fucking chainsaw. And those were just a few examples of what armaments the Korosuke girls all brought with them to intimidate what was left of Dorami into shutting down. "I don't think that you get what I'm trying to get across to you," the Korosuke boss said to Maria, "But then again, we've had bad blood between us since day one."
"Heh," Maria sneered, "I was looking forward to being able to settle things between us once and for all. It sounds like a pretty good idea to me."
…
The black van that Kotaro uses to cart the Franchouchou girls around drove along one of the roads as Kotaro was getting them back from the park. "Can someone open a window, at least?" Junko asked, sounding mildly afraid, "Sorry, but I need some air in here. I feel really nervous about riding in the van, after all."
"Here, let me try a pressure point technique," Yugiri offered as she pressed her thumb against the Showa idol zombie girl's forehead.
"Umm…I'm not sure if it will work since we're all zombies," Sakura pointed out, sounding mildly unsure of the courtesan zombie girl's idea.
There were a few other things going on in the van, and all at once, but Kotaro cut all of it off by shouting, "Will you brain-dead dead weights knock it off?!" As the eccentric man was shouting at the zombie girls, Saki was just listlessly looking out the window she sat next to. As she was looking out that window, the delinquent zombie girl saw the Korosuke girls surround Maria and her two friends, while off to the one side a group of five teens came running over.
Worried for Maria and the revived Dorami, Saki opened the van door and jumped out, startling the rest of the zombie girls aside from Tae for obvious reasons and Sigrid who was amused by Saki's daring; Saki also pissed Kotaro off a bit with her stunt when Lily informed him that she (Saki) just jumped out of the van. With the momentum that she had, Saki rolled down some steps in a curled up position, eventually reaching where the girls by the river bank were all gathered.
By the time that she got up after she stopped rolling, Saki saw that the gathered girls, as well as the group of five teen that she just now saw, were all looking at her. Only the five gathered teens were not freaking out. Also, Saki was seeing them upside down for some odd reason. Patting her head, Saki realized that her head had twisted, so she pushed it a bit to pop everything back into place, putting her head upright.
"There we go, good as new," Saki remarked. The delinquent zombie girl walked towards everyone, but was stopped by a random Korosuke girl.
"Umm, this is none of your business," the random Korosuke girl said, only to be intimidated by a glare from Saki. This glaring also caught the attention of Maria and the Korosuke boss. With none willing to hinder her any further, the delinquent zombie girl made her way up to Maria and the Korosuke boss.
Pointing at Saki, the Korosuke boss demanded, "And just who the hell are you?"
"Why the fuck do you care?!" one of the five gathered teens, a boy with red eyes and spiky, ashy blonde hair, snapped, "If she gets in the way, then we'll kick her ass same as yours!" Holding up his hands, the ashy-haired boy surprising conjured a few tiny explosion that flew up. "You all better back the fuck off and go away right the fuck now unless you want a taste of U.A.," the blonde boy snarled. Jerking his left thumb at his friend with red spiky hair, the blonde boy said, "We're only here for Stupid Hair's bratty cousin."
All of the delinquent girls from Korosuke paled a bit, with the one who tried to stop Saki even saying, "Aww man, we really can't afford to tango with kids from that high school." Pointing to the blonde boy and the red haired boy, the Korosuke girl continued, "And those two, they placed second and third in their school's recent tournament against Vulcan High."
The Korosuke boss scoffed a bit as she led her fellows back to their motorcycles, all of them getting on, revving up and riding off. After Korosuke had left, Saki turned to face the five teens that had shown up. "…So," Saki said to the five teens while jerking a thumb at Maria, "One of you is related to Maria here?"
"Yeah, she's my younger cousin," the boy with red spiky hair replied, "Her mom, who's my Aunt Reiko, asked me to try to get her to stop it with being a delinquent. That being said." Turning his attention to Maria, the red haired boy said, "Cous, Aunt Reiko has a point. Being part of a delinquent gang is hella unmanly."
Maria growled a bit as she and her two friends were scolded mildly by the red haired boy. Giving her older cousin a rude gesture, Maria said, "Screw you, Eijiro! Why do you and your friends here insist on butting in?!"
"Hey, he and your mom are both concerned about you!" the only girl in the group of five teen scolded. When Saki turned her attention over to look at that teen girl, the delinquent zombie girl was surprised to see that the teen girl had pink skin, as well as pink fluffy hair and a pair of little yellow horns growing out of her head. Pointing at Maria, the pink-skinned girl continued, "You and your friends can get yourselves seriously hurt if the three of you keep this delinquent stuff up, you know!"
Nodding in agreement with the pink-skinned girl was a boy with strong yellow-blonde hair that had a black lightning bolt mark on the one side. "She's got a point," the lightning boy remarked, "Putting the physical dangers aside, there's no shortage of legal dangers you and your friends here can potentially face as well. I mean, if the police don't arrest you three at some point, then a pro hero will do them the favor of tracking you girls down and bringing you in if they can't get you to agree to behave."
"Actually," said the last boy in the group, who had straight black hair that reached his shoulders, as he gestured to himself and his friends, "The five of us all have our provisional licenses now, so we're legally allowed to detain you three girls and call the police to come and deal with you." Taking a step forward, the black-haired boy said as he gestured to Maria and her friends, "Since the three of you girls are clearly delinquents that are up to no good, my friends and I all have just cause to detain you."
Maria growled in annoyance as her cousin and his friends left her with no options. Turning to face Saki, Maria said, "And what about you?! Why did you butt in, huh?!"
Saki gave Maria a neutral look before turning her head to look away. "…Your wimpy ass stood no chance of fighting that chick," Saki replied simply, "You don't even have a weapon. She would have mopped the floor with you." Turning her body so that she was fully facing away from Maria, Saki said, "…By the way, you got a mom, right?" Maria and her friends, as well as the five teen that came over, all perked up a bit out of piqued interest by Saki's question. "…Do you mind telling me what your mom's name is?" the delinquent zombie girl asked.
"Why the hell do you care?" Maria snapped, "My mom is a total wuss!"
"Oi, don't go talking about Aunt Reiko like that, Maria!" the red haired boy, identified as Eijiro, snapped at his younger cousin, "That's not very manly of you!" Maria merely growled at her high school-aged cousin before she turned around and left, followed by her two friends.
After the revived Dorami gang left the scene, Saki let out a resigned sigh. "…Sorry that your cousin is giving you so much trouble," Saki said when she turned to face Eijiro and his friends.
Gently shaking his head, Eijiro replied, "I'm honestly not caring about that trouble she's giving me. I just share Aunt Reiko's concerns about getting Maria to cut it out with all of this damn delinquent rebellion junk, is all."
Saki smirked a bit as she looked at the red haired boy. "…You got a really good head on those shoulders of yours, kid," Saki remarked, "Your cousin really ought to take more after you, if you want my opinion."
Eijiro nodded in thanks to the delinquent zombie girl before his ashy blonde-haired friend got his attention and led him and the rest of the teen off to go after Maria and her friends, leaving Saki be. As she watched the five teens depart, Saki had only one thought on her mind.
"…How does that girl have PINK skin?!" Saki exclaimed in her mind.
Later that night at the Amabuki residence, the now adult Reiko was sitting at a dining table, some plastic-wrapped food set up to be unwrapped and eaten whenever. Looking at the clock, the purple-haired woman saw that the time was about five minutes past eight. As she looked at the wall clock with a worried expression, Reiko heard the front door open. Looking over, she saw Maria walk in.
…Actually, Maria was somewhat forced in, as her cousin, gripping her right arm by the bicep, pushed her into the house. "I tracked Maria down for you, Aunt Reiko," Eijiro remarked, "She was doing that Dorami gang stuff again. My friends are taking her two pals back to where they both respectively live as we speak."
Reiko let out a resigned sigh of relief. "Thank you for helping me, Eijiro," Reiko said before turning her attention to Maria. "And seriously, Maria! What is going on with you?"
"Get off my back," Maria scoffed as she tried to leave, only to be stopped by her cousin.
"Wait, this was in the mailbox for you," Reiko said as she got up, picking up a letter that was on the table and showing it to Maria. It was a simple folded paper that said 'challenge' on the front.
Maria saw it, recognizing it right away for what it was. "Those dumbasses just won't leave me alone," Maria snarled as she yanked the challenge letter from her mom's hands.
"Hey cous, you gotta stop doing this," Eijiro remarked in a concerned tone.
"You back off too" Maria snapped at her cousin, "Geez! What the hell is wrong with both you and mom?!" The delinquent girl proceeded to storm away, leaving her cousin looking on in concern and her mother, a somber look on her face, sitting down with feelings of guilt eating away at her on the inside.
Reiko let out a resigned sigh, troubled by the actions of her rebellious daughter yet feeling that she had no way to put an effective stop to it. "I'm…" Reiko said, barely loud enough to be heard by both Maria and Eijiro, "…I'm sorry."
Maria, upon hearing her meek mother apologizing, shuddered a bit with anger and annoyance. Turning quickly to face Reiko, Maria snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why do you keep apologizing for no damn reason?! Why are you such a weakling?!" Before either Reiko or Eijiro could stop her, Maria stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her which made her mother flinch slightly. Seeing his aunt flinch like that made Eijiro scowl in disappointment aimed at his younger cousin.
The Amabuki residence wasn't the only place that night where scolding was taking place, as there was similar chewing out occurring over at the abandoned mansion in Saga. However, said scolding was of a…slightly more eccentric…nature. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF GILGAMESH IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Kotaro yelled at Saki as he had her in his office. The delinquent zombie girl was looking away, her head turned to the side, as Kotaro was chewing her out over the stunt that she had pulled earlier in the day.
Pointing an accusing finger at Saki, Kotaro said, "You're lucky that those high schoolers all thought that your neck being twisted like that was due to you having something called a quirk! Do you have any idea what could happen if word about the truth concerning you and the rest of the girls in Franchouchou were to get out?! Communication between you girls and your living fans has to be where you girls are acting as actresses, and acting as actresses ALONE! Don't go jumping into every random happening that you end up coming across! Do I make myself clear?!"
Letting out a sigh that was an even mix of resigned and mildly annoyed with Kotaro's antics, Saki replied, "Yes, sir."
Kotaro, who was leaning over his desk as he chewed the delinquent zombie girl out while he was propping himself up by putting his hands on his desk, straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest. "…You don't quite seem to get the picture here, do you?" the eccentric man asked, "You and the other girls have to avoid violence. As actresses, getting involved in violence is a very big taboo. If just one of you slips up, there's a very good chance that it will undo everything." As he gave Saki a serious look, the eccentric man said, "Don't go forgetting that."
Saki had to admit that she was a bit surprised with how serious Kotaro was being at the moment. Granted, Kotaro did have his moments of being wise and serious, but to Saki's view said serious moments were very few and very far between.
Later after Maria had stormed away, Reiko was alone in her house. She picked up a framed photo of herself holding Maria back when she was still a baby. The purple-haired woman remembers back to when Maria was the precious little baby girl that she gave birth to; Reiko recalled with fondness of how she would lift the giggling baby Maria up into the air.
"I'm so grateful to have you in my life, Maria," Reiko recalled saying to baby Maria way back in the day. Reiko also remembered one moment when Maria was taken to school by her dad, with Reiko reminding her daughter to use good manners at school. There was also a memory that Reiko recalled when Maria said that she was heading out to visit her cousin Eijiro, explaining to her mom that she wanted to see her older cousin use Hardening.
Reiko remarked that she was glad that her daughter was the kind of girl who refrained from getting herself into any sort of trouble. Indeed, Reiko was glad that Maria was developing into the kind of person that she was seeing grow up right before her very eyes. As one can imagine then, it took the purple-haired woman by surprise when, one night, Maria came home a bit later than usual, wearing a red long coat.
Maria had an annoyed, unamused scowl on her face, and swiped her thumb against the right side of her nose as she scoffed. Reiko was shocked, knowing full well what this sudden development in her daughter meant. The plate that Reiko held at the time she saw this slipped from her grasp, falling to the floor where it shattered upon impact.
Back in reality, Reiko turned around the framed photo she held, opened the back in order to reveal a photo that she kept hidden there; it was a photo of Reiko herself back in her wild days as a delinquent girl. Standing next to Reiko in the photo was Saki, Reiko's closest friend. The two girls stood outside of a Drive-In Tori, and Saki was holding up a Tamagotchi. Reiko, as she took a long look at that photo, could not help but let out a bit of a chuckle.
"If you could see me now…" Reiko muttered to herself, speaking to her long dead friend as if Saki was right there with her, "…I wonder what you would say to me, say about me."
Over at the abandoned mansion, Saki was standing on one of the upper floor patios, looking out into the backyard as she allowed her mind to wander.
(FLASHBACK)
(DATE: AUGUST 1ST, 1997)
"So Saki," Reiko began in a conversational, casual tone as she and Saki looked over a landscape on a curve in the road, the two of them leaning on some railing that had been set up, "What are your plans?"
Saki, turning to face Reiko, said with a hint of confusion in her tone, "Plans for…"
Reiko let out an amused chuckle, amused by her friend being slow on the uptake. "The future, you knucklehead," the purple-haired girl replied, "What are your plans for the future?"
Saki turned back to look over the landscape that unfurled before her and her boss in Dorami. "My guess is that after we take over Kyushu," the blond-haired delinquent said, "We could go and take over the rest of the country. It won't be easy, especially given that we're eventually going to have to go up against Einherjar since word has it they have the same goals, but there's no doubt in my mind that we can pull it off."
"Heh that sounds like you," Reiko remarked. Turning her head to face forward again, Reiko said, "Personally, I got something a bit different in mind."
"Hmm?" Saki asked, turning back to face Reiko again, "What do you mean? What sort of plans do you have for the future?" Reiko only gave a calm, closed-eyed smile as she gave the notion a few moments of thought.
"This may strike you as a bit on the odd side," Reiko said as she began to admit to what she really wanted in life, "But I just want to get married, have a kid or two, and overall just have a nice, normal life. Nothing to fancy or anything." Letting out a sigh, the purple-haired girl said, "My folks are divorced, and I'm in a biker gang. That's not exactly normal, you know? It kind of sucks how nothing's come out normal for me. I mean, my older brother's got the right idea, what with how he has his life figured out and all." Gently shaking her head, Reiko said, "I just don't want my kids to grow up and walk the same path that I did, that I'm walking right now."
Saki gave a mildly confused frown as she regarded her boss and friend. "That word you keep saying, 'normal'," the blonde-haired girl said, "What is this 'normal' of which you speak?" Reiko could not help but giggle a bit at her friend's honest question.
"Oh Saki," Reiko remarked, clearly amused by the fact that, apparently, the word 'normal' literally does not exist in Saki's dictionary.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
Saki continued to lean on the railing of that upper floor patio at the abandoned mansion, thinking about times long past. "…That girl did have the same eyes as Reiko," the delinquent zombie girl muttered to herself, "And that red-haired boy did confirm that the girl and Reiko are related." Saki would have gone on, but she stopped short when she heard the blaring horns of gang motorcycles sound off in the distance. It made Saki remember the encounter with the current Korosuke that took place earlier in the day.
Saki remembered how Maria looked like she was gearing up to have a one-v-one against the current boss of Korosuke, despite clearly having no chance of winning. Saki wouldn't put it past Maria if she were to try to sneak off to have another go at trying to challenge the Korosuke boss when no one was around to get in her way. "…You cannot be serious," Saki muttered to herself as she ran back into the mansion. She sped down the stairs and got to the front door. Saki placed her hand on the doorknob, but stopped short when she heard someone call out to her.
"A lovely night for a stroll, don't you think?" Kotaro's voice called out to Saki in a serious, knowing tone, sounding like Kotaro knew that Saki was going to head out to do something rather risky, "Going out somewhere, I take it?" The delinquent zombie girl turned around and came face to face with the eccentric man himself. Kotaro gave Saki a serious look, one that would hear no arguing from her. "Did you not observe anything of what I said to you earlier?" Kotaro asked, his tone oddly serious for the moment. Saki sighed in a resigned tone before she turned to face the eccentric man fully.
"...Aside from the fact that you apparently worship a Sumerian demigod…" Saki began somewhat dryly, "…I actually heard a lot more than what you're giving me credit for."
"Then where do you think you're off to?" Kotaro asked.
Turning around to face the front door, the delinquent zombie girl said, "…Where do you think? I've got some business that only an actress like myself can do. Business in which I won't be doing anything to besmirch the good name of Franchouchou, just in case you were worried about stuff like that." Saki then opened the front door and walked out, uncaring if Kotaro would try to stop her or not.
…But the eccentric man was not going to stop her. He simply stood there, Romero the zombie Japanese Chin fast asleep in his arms, as he considered what exactly it was that Saki was going to get up to. But he had a strong feeling that Saki would live up to her words of 'not doing anything to besmirch the good name of Franchouchou'. Kotaro could tell that the delinquent zombie girl was serious, and he felt that she had to see whatever it was that she had in mind right through to the end.
…
Over at the Amabuki residence, Reiko opened the door to Maria's bedroom. "Maria, sweetie," Reiko began as she opened the door, "Are you hung-" Reiko stopped short when she saw that not only was the room empty, but the window was open, letting the cool night air in as the curtains blew in the breeze. The purple-haired woman let out a worried gasp as she looked around, soon spotting the opened challenge letter Maria had gotten in the mail earlier that day.
Reiko dashed over to her daughter's desk where said letter laid. It simply said 'Come at midnight to Kagamiyama, 10TH Korosuke boss'. Reiko gasped once again as she read the location where the challenge was to be held. "Kagamiyama," Reiko muttered aloud to herself as a brief flash to something that occurred in her past flashed across her mind; a busted spot in some railing that led to a skyward billowing cloud of black smoke and some flames.
It was something that Reiko was never going to allow to happen again, especially to her daughter Maria. With a firm look of determination on her face, Reiko rushed to her bedroom and yanked open a drawer in her nightstand; inside of which, resting on a small little pillow, were two items from Reiko's past. One a small key and the other a light blue Tamagotchi whose batteries have long since died.
Reiko grabbed the key, ran to her garage and right over to something covered with a tarp covering. The purple-haired woman yanked the covering off, revealing her motorcycle that she rode on way back in the day, back when she was still in Dorami herself. Despite the age, Reiko's motorcycle was still in excellent condition, functioning very much the same as it did well over twenty years ago.
Without a moment's hesitation, Reiko hopped on her motorcycle and rode out, intending to find her only child before a terrible happening from Reiko's past had a repeat performance on that night. "Please be okay when I find you, Maria," the purple-haired woman thought worriedly as she raced off to Kagamiyama, praying to any and every deity that would listen to her that Maria was still alright when she found her.
(FLASHBACK)
(DATE: AUGUST 30TH, 1997)
"You ready to do this?" a random Korosuke girl with a very elaborate hairstyle that was apparently meant to resemble what Saki and Reiko assumed to be a phoenix asked the blonde-haired girl of Dorami.
"You ready to get a new hairstyle?" Saki retorted dryly. As the Korosuke girl scoffed while she walked over to her motorcycle, Saki handed something over to Reiko. The purple-haired girl was surprised to see that it was Saki's beloved Tamagotchi. "Yo, Reiko, hang on to this for me," Saki said before walking over to her own motorcycle. When Reiko called out to her, Saki turned back around, flashed Reiko a confident smile. "Relax," Saki reassured her boss and friend, "There's no way I'm going to die. Not until I come back to get that little guy back from you."
…Yeah, Saki ended up dying when she crashed through the railing overlooking that area, falling down over the ledge and crashing her motorcycle, creating an explosion that wrecked both herself and her motorcycle, which created a billowing cloud of smoke and flames that rose up into the night sky. Silver lining, the Korosuke girl who Saki was racing in that game of Chicken cowered out at the last minute and turned to avoid potentially crashing herself, which meant that Saki technically won that game of Chicken.
But it wasn't all that much of a silver lining as far as Reiko was concerned. "Saki!" the purple-haired woman cried out in fear as she ran over to the spot what Saki crashed through. She looked over the ledge, unable to see either Saki or her motorcycle due to all of the smoke and flames that billowed upwards. The boss of Dorami cried Saki's name out in anguish, begging against all hope that this was nothing more than some elaborate prank.
(FLASHBACK OVER)
But it wasn't a prank. No, Saki really did die all those years ago, and now there was a very good chance that Reiko's own daughter may end up meeting that very same fate. Which was all the more reason why the purple-haired woman sped off towards Kagamiyama, revving up so much that in her haste to speed off to save her child, Reiko let her apron that she wore fly off.
"This overlook has a lot of history for our respective gangs," the current Korosuke boss said as she and Maria, both on their respective rides, looked towards the railing that served as the barrier between life and death for them in the game of Chicken that they were about to race in, "I can't think of a better place for Dorami to die than right here." Pointing towards the railing, the current Korosuke boss said, "We'll race towards the railing. Frist girl to hit the breaks loses." Turning to regard Maria, the Korosuke boss said in something of a smug, taunting tone, "You can still back out now if you want."
Maria merely scoffed in annoyance in response. "You think I'm going to chicken out now?" Maria asked, "That sounds dumber than my good two shoes cousin." Giving the Korosuke boss a serious look, Maria said, "Let's just do this already."
The Korosuke boss actually smirked a bit in amusement. "…Now that's what I wanted to hear," the girl with long gray hair remarked. A random Korosuke girl raised her right hand up, preparing to signal the beginning of the game of Chicken. However, before she could finish her countdown, she and everyone else there heard the screeching of tires. Looking over, all of the delinquent girls saw a woman riding up on an admittedly rather epic looking motorcycle. But to Maria, when she saw that it was her mother on that motorcycle, she only scoffed in annoyance.
"Wait Maria!" Reiko said as she brought her motorcycle to a stop.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Maria snapped, her annoyance growing more and more as Reiko got off of her motorcycle and simply walked past Maria.
Facing the current Korosuke boss, Reiko said, "Look, I'm going to have to ask that you call this off." Bowing her head to the Korosuke boss, Reiko continued, "Please. I'm begging you."
The Korosuke boss, as well as her fellows, did not react in any notable way; they did not laugh at or mock the purple-haired woman. However, Maria did have a few choice words for her mother. "…Why the hell is it that all you know how to do is bow your head and apologize?" Maria said, getting her mother to perk up and turn to face her. "You were the first boss of Dorami, weren't you?" Maria demanded, "So how the hell did you end up like this?!"
Reiko, as well as Maria's two friends who came to watch because of course they did, and the lot of Korosuke girls that were there, all stood off to the side with surprised looks on their faces as Maria walked over to her scooter, intending to get on. "Maria, wait!" Reiko said, "Don't do this! Please! You're throwing your life away!"
Maria ignored her mother and was just about to sit down on her scooter's seat. However, she and everyone else there perked up when they heard the chiming of a bicycle's bell. Looking over, all of the girls there saw someone come racing up on a bicycle. When the bicycle girl got close enough, Reiko recognized her as the blonde girl from Franchouchou, the actress troop that stars in the latest hit TV show 'Saga Stories'. The very same actress that very closely resembles her late friend Saki.
It actually was Saki, but Reiko did not know that. As she came close, Saki turned her bike to the side in an attempt to drift. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" Saki said in a panic as she got close to where a lot of the motorcycles belonging to the Korosuke girls was parked. Luckily for her, Saki was able to pull up and stop the bike before crashing into the row of motorcycles. "Whew," the delinquent zombie girl said in a relieve tone, "That was a close one."
Saki got off of the bike, showing that she wore a sash that was labeled 'captain for a day'. Paying no mind to the girls and Reiko, Saki merely walked towards the current Korosuke boss. "Take a look at the sash, bitch," Saki said to the Korosuke boss while jerking a thumb over her shoulder at Maria, "I'm in charge of Dorami for today. That means that I'm going to be racing you instead of the pipsqueak over there."
Maria was very steamed that this blonde girl from earlier was butting in, but before she could get a single word out, Saki cut her off. "Chill thyself before you kill thyself," Saki said to Maria, "If anything, you ought to be glad that Dorami got another member." Maria tried once again to speak up, but Saki cut her off by putting her hands on both of Maria's shoulders. "Just so you're aware," the delinquent zombie girl began, "A past member of Dorami got killed doing this."
The look of shocked surprise on Maria's face told Saki that she had her attention. "Are you seriously willing to die here?" Saki asked, leaving Maria standing there stunned as she herself turned around and began walking towards Reiko's motorcycle. "Yo, I'm borrowing your ride," Saki said, not even bothering to turn to face Reiko, much less ask properly to borrow the old but well cared-for motorcycle.
"Don't you even think about doing this!" Reiko said, "What if you die?!"
Saki merely turned to face Reiko, flashed her a smile that reminded the purple haired woman of her long dead friend, a friend that she had no idea was standing right there in front of her. "There's no way I'm going to die," Saki said, further shocking Reiko with more blasts from their shared past together.
The boss of Korosuke didn't care who she raced; either way, she was going to end Dorami here and now. The long gray-haired girl faced off against the delinquent zombie girl as the two of them looked towards the railing overlooking Kagamiyama. With the signal from the one girl in Korosuke, the boss and Saki began to race right towards the railing, surprising everyone that was watching the race.
The two girls were neck in neck for the first few seconds of their Chicken game. However, Saki suddenly sped up, surprising the Korosuke boss. "Are you frigg'in kidding me?!" the Korosuke boss cried out in surprise. The Korosuke boss gripped the breaks to bring her motorcycle to a sudden stop, not wanting to have to deal with the apparent crazy that was the surprise member of Dorami that took the small gang's current boss's place in the race.
"Ah hells yeah!" Saki cheered when she saw that the current Korosuke boss chickened out of the race first, "Score one for Dorami, score zero for-" The delinquent zombie girl stopped short when she saw that she was getting dangerously close to the railing overlooking Kagamiyama, her eyes widening a bit in surprise. "Oh shit!" Saki exclaimed as she raced closer and closer to that railing, "This is looking really-"
Saki stopped short, as did the motorcycle that she borrowed from Reiko, when someone jumped in front of the speeding motorcycle and, pushing against it with their hands, managed to actually stop Saki and the motorcycle in place, even though the wheels and motor were still going. To the delinquent zombie girl's surprise, it was Reiko's nephew Eijiro that had jumped in front of the ride and stopped it in place with nothing more than his sheer physical strength.
What further surprised Saki was that Eijiro looked extremely rugged, as if he were made entirely from some very hard material, as well as sharp and jagged in a few places. With a snarling, serious look on his face, the red-haired boy shouted at Saki, "Turn it off!" Getting the cue, Saki quickly shut off the motor, safely turning Reiko's motorcycle off. With no power currently making the motorcycle go, Eijiro was able to relax as he backed off from pushing against his aunt's old ride while allowing Saki to get off.
"…Damn," Saki remarked, "That was almost a-" Saki was cut off when Reiko, who had come walking right over to where she stood with Eijiro, struck Saki right across her face with a rather powerful slap.
"What in the name of Anubis is fucking wrong with you, huh?!" Reiko exclaimed angrily at Saki as she gripped her by the collar of her jacket, "You're lucky that my nephew came in and stopped you and my motorcycle from crashing over that railing! Otherwise things would have gone very fucking south for you! Just what in the hell were you fucking thinking?!"
Saki said nothing as she was chewed out by Reiko. Instead, she turned to face where Maria was standing, shooting her a rather amused looking smirk. "…Yo, Maria," Saki called out, "I'm going to have to call shenanigans on all of that stuff you said when you talked down about your mom here. From where I'm standing, she's pretty damn tough."
The delinquent zombie girl's words made Maria and Reiko look at one another; as a result of being distracted, Reiko let go of Saki, allowing her to flump down on her butt before falling over to lay on the ground face up. "…I still don't quite get it," Saki muttered to herself in a rhetorical manner, "I still don't understand this 'normal' that everyone speaks of."
Saki was surprised when a hand was extended to her, an offer to help her get up off of the ground. Saki took it, and ended up coming face to face with Reiko's nephew Eijiro. "That was a pretty manly thing you did," Eijiro remarked, "All to try to get my cousin to finally give Aunt Reiko the respect that she deserves from her." As she looked at the red-haired boy, Saki looked at him, saw that he was no longer hard and jagged all over.
"…You aren't hard and jagged anymore," Saki noted.
"I'm not using my quirk right now," Eijiro explained.
Saki wasn't even going to try to argue the point with Eijiro. Instead, she merely let out an amused chuckle, showing some defeat in trying to understand everything that was going on at the moment. "…Thanks again for the save, kid," Saki remarked, hints of mild amusement in her tone, "Both in saving me and your aunt's motorcycle."
Eijiro nodded in agreement before he and Saki were approached by the Korosuke boss. "I guess this means that you win," the Korosuke boss said to Saki, "If you were an actual biker girl, you would be a legendary one."
"Legendary…" Saki said to herself, then immediately perked up. "Oh shit!" the delinquent zombie girl exclaimed, "I almost forgot the most important part!" Saki then went over to Reiko's motorcycle, turned it around so that it faced everyone, and turned on the front lights before she stood on the seat so that everyone could see her. "Now listen up, everyone!" Saki declared, "There's nothing awesome about throwing your lives away! You want to be legends? Then take after me and become a real legend!"
The Korosuke girls, Reiko, Maria and Maria's friends all looked on with surprised looks, whereas Eijiro gave a few silent nods, approving of how badass and manly Saki was being at the moment. He felt that Saki had everything down here, and would be able to convince the delinquent girls that were all gathered here to give up the delinquent life and stop trying to get themselves up into any trouble.
…Kotaro, who watched nearby in the van, also approved of what Saki was doing, how she managed to diffuse the situation without using violence. He could also hear it when some of the girls recognized Saki as one of the actresses on 'Saga Stories', getting a lot of the delinquent girls to get excited on how not only were they in the presence of an actress, but that said actress was a badass biker girl who just showed that she was made of some seriously tough stuff. It helped that Kotaro heard the red-haired boy confirm that Saki was indeed one of the girls from the actress troop Franchouchou.
"…Looks like 'Saga Stories' just got a few more fans," Kotaro remarked to himself quietly, the amusement in his tone making it clear that he was glad that he allowed Saki to do what she had just done tonight.
END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER TEN
Author's notes:
Well, there you have it. Saki has had her time in the spotlight, to show what she has to offer compared to the rest of the zombie girls. I made a few slight changes here and there, such as axing the live performance at the end (given the premise of this story, said performance would have been rather out of place) and making it so that Reiko's motorcycle wasn't destroyed; I actually have some plans for Reiko's motorcycle later on, so it was necessary for it to make it through the events of this chapter. I also worked a little bit more on building up the world that the zombie girls find themselves in, as it's necessary for a much later chapter in this story. Also, you would be just as surprised as I was if you'd look up what Reiko's maiden name is.
Anyway, the next chapter will see the zombie girls all go on a familiar trip up to the snow-covered Mount Tenzan. However, whereas in the series proper the trip was done to help Sakura relax before a big show, here in 'Saga Stories' the trip will instead be done to help another one of the main seven zombie girls, one that got little development in the first season in comparison to the rest of them. She's a zombie that I've been wanting to do a lot of work with, and I think that at least one person may be inclined to agree with me on how she needs some more time in the spotlight. That's right, folks, buckle in and get ready for a Yugiri-centric chapter next time.
…Wow, this chapter went on for a while.