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 fourteen: Things coming to light
Kotaro sat at a table along one of the sides. There were three of his men, or the 'lads' as he liked to refer to them as, going out from each side; three from his left and three from his right, for a total of seven men sitting down. The table they sat at was on a stage in a banquet room at a hotel where they were holding a press conference, the room being packed with reporters, people from various magazines and newspapers, and a few others. All of the people came to the panel to ask what questions they had.
About the ten girls that made of the cast of 'Saga Stories', the most popular live-action TV show in Japan right now.
Now, under normal circumstances, Kotaro would have no problem holding such a panel, given that he was the manager of the ten girls. However, during a recent attack by the warmonger monsters that made up the horde led by the late warlord Hirajo, one of the girls of the actress troop Franchouchou, Yugiri, accidentally let slip a secret about her and the other nine girls on the cast of Saga Stories. It was because of Yugiri's slipping of that secret that Kotaro, who was by no means happy about the cover being blown, knew that the panel had to be held so that he can address concerns that the populace of Japan may have.
About all ten of the girls of Franchouchou being zombies.
"Alright, we'll start the panel now, so we'll start taking questions," Kotaro announced, instantly eliciting a sea of hands to shoot right up into the air, accompanied by people calling for Kotaro to call on them. The manager of Franchouchou, a bit annoyed by how eager and demanding the crowd was being, decided to pick a hand at random.
The person who was called on struck Kotaro as familiar, as it was the man dressed in black, and he had long black hair and some white scarf number worn around his neck and shoulder area. "I'm Shouta Aizawa, representing U.A. High School," the man said as he gave his name, "I was at a panel a while ago where I asked about one of the girls in Franchouchou being able to detach her body parts while I was under the impression that it was because she had a quirk that allowed her to do so. Given what had recently come to light about the girls that you manage, can it be safe to say that the claims of that girl having a quirk were actually a lie to cover up the fact that she and her fellow actresses are zombies?"
"Yes, that was a lie that number one came up with quickly to help cover up how she and the other girls are zombies," Kotaro replied, "Given that we had to keep things under wraps at the time. Next question." The sea of hands went up, and Kotaro picked another one at random.
The person who was called on was a woman who looked to be in her early sixties; she had red, fang-like marks on her face, one on each cheek, wore what appeared to be the standard uniform for Konoha shinobi, and she was accompanied by a large dog that wore an eyepatch and was missing an ear. "The name's Tsume Inuzuka," the older woman said, "Since those girls are all zombies, will any of us have to worry about a potential zombie apocalypse because those girls decided to bite and/or scratch others?"
Kotaro was wondering when such a question was going to be asked, given that it was typically the first that many humans would ask about the subject. "Rest assured that zombie-ism is not infectious, despite what popular culture may show," Kotaro began to explain, showing a lack of the usual eccentricity that he is known for, "Also, there is no such thing as a zombie virus. There is no need to worry about anyone being turned or whatever. Next question."
Once more, the sea of hands shot up, and Kotaro picked one of them at random. When he saw who it was that he had picked, however, Kotaro had wished that he had picked someone else. This is because the person that the eccentric man had picked was Mr. Sagazine, the man behind Sagazine Editorial Department. Kotaro recalled how Mr. Sagazine and his magazine company had been something of a thorn in Franchouchou's side for quite some time, digging where they were not supposed to be digging, and getting fairly close to uncovering the truth of the girls all being zombies.
Kotaro could feel some sense of smug superiority, the kind of superiority that came from having one's feeling of suspecting something being validated, radiating from Mr. Sagazine, and it made him want to punch the magazine editor square in the face. Retaining his composure, however, Kotaro allowed the man to ask his question. "As many people have noticed about things before, some of the girls in Franchouchou resemble various deceased actresses and idols. With the news coming out that the girls of Franchouchou are all zombies due to the recent monster attack on the city, can you confirm if those girls who look like deceased actresses and idols actually are those very girls in question?"
"I cannot confirm or deny anything at the moment in regards to that question," Kotaro replied, "And on a related note, if any of the girls of Franchouchou have any relatives that are still alive, those relatives will be the first to be informed about their daughters, nieces, sisters or whatever having been raised from the dead as zombies. This informing will be done as privately as can be managed, so as to protect the privacy of those involved in the process."
The eccentric man and his panel spent the next few minutes answering a few more questions, and Kotaro found himself having to repeat certain answers more than once. Thankfully, he had also given the people a phone number that they can call if they have any questions regarding zombies like the girls of Franchouchou, as well as any other race of monster. This phone number, which had been supplied to Kotaro by the monster world government as he's the manager of a group of monsters (zombies are technically a race of undead-type monster), was a hot line one could call to learn what all to do. It had been set up by the monster world government in anticipation of all the humans wanting to ask what exactly the hell is going on, due to the advent of Hirajo.
…
Kotaro never felt more relieved in all of his life when the panel was finally over. As the room began to clear out and Kotaro and the lads were gathering their things, Kotaro was approached by Mr. Sagazine and some of the magazine editor's men. Mr. Sagazine had a look on his face that made it clear that he wanted answers, or at least wanted to say something to the manager of the popular actress troop. "Are you absolutely sure that you can't give Sagazine Monthly an exclusive on any of the girls in Franchouchou that you manage?" Mr. Sagazine asked, "Can't confirm at least one name?"
"We're trying to keep the privacy of any involved families as protected as possible," Kotaro said, his tone firm, "The last thing that we over at Saga Stories Productions want is for the private life of innocent families to be broadcast all over the nation, if not all over the world. Their privacy has to come first."
"But the readers want to know," Mr. Sagazine replied.
"They can wait if and when the case comes out," Kotaro said firmly, making it clear that he wouldn't be giving Mr. Sagazine even one scrap. The magazine editor, clearly annoyed that he wasn't able to get anything even remotely juicy to put in his company's magazine, decided to take his leave, all of his men following him. Kotaro was glad when that intrusive man finally got the hell away from him. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to resist the urge to punch that man across the face for much longer.
The girls of Franchouchou were chilling in the futon room of the mansion as Kotaro and his men came back from the panel they hosted to answer some questions that people might have now that the girls had been outed as zombies. Some of the girls, such as Junko, Ai and Hikari, all looked at Yugiri with annoyed looks, given that their being outed as zombies happened because the courtesan zombie girl had allowed her monster glamour to slip while she was saving a couple of innocent civilians during the recent monster attack on the city.
"Well I don't think that things will be as bad as we all believe, girls," Lily said as she looked around the room at her fellow undead, "I mean, the humans were reassured that zombie-ism is not infectious, and since we all proved that we aren't evil monsters like the big scary ones that were attacking the city, we'll be quick to be accepted. Oh!" The child actress zombie girl clapped her hands together, a look of realization on her face. "Maybe now I can finally tell my papa that I really am Lily! I hope that it won't shock him too much…"
Lily mentioning how she could finally tell her still-alive father that she really was who he thought she was sparked sudden realization in the minds of the other zombie girls. Some of them also had still-alive loved ones who were around when they died; family like Lily, some close friends like Saki and Sigrid, even fans of their work like Ai, Junko, Lily again and Ayumu. The idea of humans getting to once again see their lost loved ones, even though said loved ones had returned as members of the living dead, was an opportunity that would be bound to generate at least some tender crying.
Sakura, who had met her younger brother Sasuke while she and Saki rescued him and the daughter of Saki's old friend Reiko, was particularly hopeful for the shot of reuniting with her old family. Sasuke in particular, as he was three when she had died; the long-haired zombie girl had missed a little over one decade of Sasuke's life. Sakura felt guilty for having missed seeing so much of her little brother's development, even though most of her memories of him had him as a brat. Understandable, because he was three when Sakura was hit by a van and was killed.
With a spring in her step, Sakura got up to her feet, stood in the room as she got everyone's attention. "Okay, people, when Kotaro-san is ready, we need to discuss with him how to go about getting in touch with family and other loved ones of ours that were alive when we all died and are still alive right now," the long-haired zombie girl began, "I'm certain that, given that the cat's out of the bag, he won't be too hard to convince to arrange for us to meet with our families and other close loved ones that we left behind."
"I…" Ayumu began, a somewhat unsure look on her face as she spoke with some trepidation in her tone. The other zombie girls, aside from the unawakened Yae who was just laying about on the floor mindlessly, all turned to regard the teen actress zombie girl. Ayumu felt like she was under a lot more pressure than normal, with so many pairs of eyes all focusing on her. Still, she had come this far, and Ayumu refused to let anything stop her.
She took a breath to steady herself before she continued. "…I would like to meet my mom again, if possible. As well as to see if she's still in contact with any of the persons she hired to help look after me while I was going through my actress career." Not that any of the other zombie girl were able to tell, but there was a hint of determination, a knowing gleam, in Ayumu's eyes as she spoke about wanting to potentially meet some of the persons her mother employed to look after the popular teen actress that she was in life.
"People to look after you?" Saki remarked in a curious tone. A second later, realization struck the delinquent zombie girl. "Oh yeah, that has to do with you being autistic, doesn't it?" Ayumu nodded in the affirmative. Saki gave an amused chuckle. "Well, it would be pretty rad if I could chill with Reiko again. Maybe take on something of a mentor role to her kid Maria, as well as Reiko's nephew Eijiro." Looking around at her fellow zombie girls, Saki said, "That nephew of Reiko's is hella awesome, able to make himself into something of a human stone boulder and keep me and Reiko's motorcycle from going over that cliff."
"I wonder if any of the fans that me, Ai, Lily and Ayumu are still interested in our work as idols and actresses," Junko remarked aloud.
A slap to someone's thigh caught the girls' attention, making all of them turn to see Sigrid, who had slapped the top of her right thigh as she gave an amused, boisterous laugh. "Mayhaps I can meet with Nagi, see how she is doing since I fell in battle so many years ago! It would indeed be grand to get to drink with my closest friend and oathsister once more!" The other girls liked how the half-foreign member of their number was rolling with the punches a lot better than they had expected, and Saki pointed out that Sigrid's friend Nagi had a son, similar to how her (Saki's) friend had a daughter.
As the zombie girls were talking about the prospect of meeting still-alive loved ones that they had respectively left behind when they died, they were caught by surprise when the door leading into the futon room was thrown open, with Kotaro and some of his men walking into the room after the bold entrance. "Okay, ladies! We got a lot to cover for something that I came up with to potentially boost the popularity of Saga Stories! Everyone down to the meeting room right now! Hup-to, hup-to! Let's go already!"
The zombie girls all gave varying airs of annoyance as their eccentric manager, showing a bit more of his trademark eccentricity now than he had since the girls were outed as zombies, was ushering all of them to the meeting room down in the basement that had that jailcell. The girls all figured that they could breech the subject of potentially arranging to meet some of their still-alive loved ones to Kotaro at some point during the upcoming meeting, provided that Kotaro was receptive to the idea.
The look in Ayumu's eyes suggested that she very much hoped that Kotaro would approve.
To the collective surprise of the girls of Franchouchou, the idea Kotaro came up with actually involved reuniting the girls with any loved ones they had left behind when they died, using that as an opportunity to boost popularity for Saga Stories, as well as work in conjunction with the monster world government in order to foster good relations between monsters and humans, an idea that was all the more urgent due to the actions taken by the late Hirajo and his hordes of warmonger-type monsters.
"Now, some of you who left loved ones behind when you died, I'm sorry to say but there had been a few passings since your respective death," Kotaro began, "Especially you Yugiri, but then again you died well over one-hundred years ago, so there's no way anyone you knew during the 1800s can still be around." The courtesan zombie girl, with a mildly somber look on her face, gave an understanding nod, as the time difference between when she died and when she returned as a zombie was rather notable.
Turning to look at Junko, Kotaro went on, "As for you Junko, your last remaining grandparent, a grandfather I believe, died in an accident at the factory that he worked at." To all of the zombie girls as a whole, Kotaro said, "That's it, thankfully enough. All other loved ones you all might remember are still alive." The zombie girls all sighed in relief, and Junko, who was upset to hear that her grandfather had died since her own death, understood that it was highly unlikely that her grandfather, had he not been killed in that accident, would still be alive anyway.
Clapping his hands together, Kotaro said, "Now, I haven't been able to contact every last loved one you girls all have yet. I was only able to do the ones for Lily, Ayumu, Junko and Ai so far." The eccentric man gave an affirmative nod. "I figured that it was best to start with the girls who were famous in life, given that they, well, were famous in life."
"I suppose that you're going to handle getting ahold of all of our loved ones, Shades?" Saki asked, drawing a confirming nod out of Franchouchou's manager. Shrugging indifferently, the delinquent zombie girl remarked, "Fair enough. I had some ideas on how to go about getting ahold of my old friend Reiko." Turning to look at Sakura, Saki continued, "And as for you Egghead, don't you, Lily and Ayumu know where Sigrid's pal Nagi lives?"
Sakura nodded in the affirmative, remembering the little quest of sorts that she and the experienced actress girls in Franchouchou had gone on in order to learn more about Sigrid, back when the half-foreign zombie girl was in a bit of a funk while wondering about her return to the land of the living. "Good," Saki remarked, "Then if push comes to shove you can just take Sigrid with you to visit her old friend."
Kotaro coughed to get everyone's attention. "Mind you, since Sigrid had died the night she killed eighty-seven members of various rival gangs, she can't be held legally liable for her actions since she died and had been dead for roughly as long as Saki had been. Still, there might be some folks who are sore about what Sigrid had done before she died, so it may be best to do any reuniting with Sigrid as low-key as possible."
The others realized that Kotaro had a point, and Saki admitted that she was rather impressed that Sigrid had such a kill count. "Anyway, girls," Kotaro went on, "This little project where you all will reunite with loved ones you had in life will actually be part of a televised special of Saga Stories. A behind-the-scenes special, if you will, showing you girls with your family and friends as the barrier between the worlds of humans and monsters is lowered. Rest assured that everyone that I spoke to on the phone has agreed to the terms, and various other arrangements will be done to help adjust things as needed."
As the girls began to try speaking over one another, making a fair bit of noise in the process, Ayumu cried out suddenly, loud enough to get everyone's attention. The girls all turned to regard the teen actress zombie girl, saw that she had her hands covering her ears as she was wincing in clear distress. Remembering that Ayumu was sensitive to loud noises, the girls, all of them now giving off a humbled and apologetic air, calmly apologized to their friend.
Kotaro held a hand out to the other zombie girls, the palm facing them, in a gesture to get them all to stop/calm down. No one said anything for a few moments, allowing Ayumu time to recover from her noise-induced freak out. As she settled down, Ayumu looked around, saw that the other zombie girls were looking at her apologetically. Also realizing that things were calm now, Ayumu nodded once and said in a sheepish manner, "…Sorry about that, girls," the teen actress zombie girl apologized, "But I don't like loud stuff."
"Which is part of why I had shot down the idea of doing the special live, in front of an audience," Kotaro said to Ayumu, the air he gave off understanding. Franchouchou's manager walked up to the autistic member of the undead actress troop, gestured to her with his right hand. "I've actually arranged for you to be the first of the girls of Franchouchou to reunite with a still-living loved one, Ayumu. You'll be sitting in a living room set with your mother, and the two of you will talk to one another about a few things, with that conversation being your part of the special that will be televised."
The teen actress zombie girl went wide-eyed with surprise when she was told that not only was she the first zombie girl to be reunited with a still-living loved one, but that it was going to be her mother. What's more, it was going to be in a calm, controlled environment set up by Kotaro who made sure to take Ayumu's needs into account so as to keep her from having a freak out. "If the idea of going first bothers you too much," Kotaro went on in the same understanding tone, "Then I can easily rearrange the order that you and the other girls-"
The manager of Franchouchou was cut off when Ayumu gently shook her head. "…There is no need to do that, Mr. Kotaro. I really want to see my mom again." There was a hint of seriousness in the teen actress zombie girl's tone, the kind of seriousness that made it very clear that she had something in mind. "I want to ask how she has been doing ever since I died. I also want to ask her how some of the people she hired to help look after me during my living career."
Kotaro was clearly oblivious to the fact that the undead autistic girl before him had something in mind, if the way he nodded in agreement and his assured smile as he nodded were any indication of that. Likewise, most of the other zombie girls were oblivious to the underlying hints that the experienced teen actress among their number was giving off. Most of the other zombie girls, as well as Tae who is always oblivious to everything due to still being unawakened, believed that Ayumu was trying to step out of her comfort zone, to try and develop better as a person.
…However, Sakura, Lily and Saki were all able to pick up on the hint that Ayumu clearly had something in mind when she said that she really did want to be the first of Franchouchou who got to reunite with a still-living loved one. Sakura and Lily were both worried about Ayumu, while Saki had the sinking suspicion that Ayumu had a chip on her shoulder, that someone had wronged her back when she was still a member of the living. Kotaro going on about how Lily was slated to be the next member of Franchouchou distracted all of the other Zombie girls, Lily most of all because she was excited of getting to reunite with her father.
Saki kept her suspicions in mind as she turned to pay attention to what Kotaro was saying as he went over the finer points of how the meetings between the girls and their respective still-living loved ones would go down. The delinquent zombie girl figured that the most she could lay claim to in terms of reuniting with a still-living loved one would be her friend Reiko, who she had met before back when she helped to get Reiko's daughter Maria to quit it with trying to follow in her footsteps as a delinquent. As far as Saki cared, she pretty much knew what all she'd do when it came to the part where she officially reunited with Reiko.
What had more of Saki's concern was her suspicions about Ayumu.
The following day was the first day of filming for the special edition of 'Saga Stories' where the girls who made up Franchouchou would have sit downs with loved ones that they left behind when they died. The fake living room set that had been set up had two armchairs across from one another at a bit of an angle so those watching could see the front sides of both persons that were having the reuniting. There was also a small table situated between the two armchairs, and it had a tray with a small selection of cookies.
As Kotaro's men got the last touches finished up, the girls, who were all in their human guises as they watched the men setting things up, heard Kotaro call out. "Hey, Ayumu! We got a guest here that I'm certain you want to see." The girls of Franchouchou all turned around, and as such they saw that Kotaro was standing next to a woman who looked basically like an older Ayumu; she looked like what Ayumu would have aged into if she hadn't died.
The woman wore a light, pastel green baggy turtleneck sweater, a pastel cream skirt that reached halfway down her shins, stockings that disappeared up her skirt, and a simple pair of black shoes. The woman also wore glasses, behind which were eyes that were watering up as she looked at the teen actress zombie girl, a look of being emotionally touched on the woman's face. Ayumu, for her part, looked just as touched as the woman, who she clearly recognized right away just as the woman recognized her right away.
The woman and the undead autistic girl ran up to each other, threw their arms around one another and hugged each other tightly. "I…I can't believe it…" the woman said through her gentle crying, "…I have you back, Ayumu. I really actually have my daughter back."
"I missed you too, mommy," Ayumu replied as her voice was breaking due to her clearly starting to cry. The other girls of Franchouchou were touched by the sight of Ayumu reuniting with her still-living mother, seeing the two embrace one another as they cried over all of the time that was taken from their lives by Ayumu's death. Some of the more emotional members of the undead actress troop, such as Sakura and Lily, started to tear up a little bit as well as they, along with the other zombie girls, all watched Ayumu reunite with her mother.
After Ayumu and her still-living mother had calmed down enough from their respective crying, Saki crossed her arms over her chest, a look on her face that was equal parts touched, amused and sympathetic. "She looks like an older version of you, Ayumu."
Ayumu and her mother turned to face the other girls, with Ayumu nodding in agreement. "Yeah everyone, this is my mom Minamo. When I first got back into acting when I was still alive, she was my manager. She handled pretty much everything."
"Well I was the only one who really knew what made my daughter tic," Minamo said to the other girls, "Not a whole lot of people, either back then or even now, have any idea on how to work with an autistic child and teen actress. There was no way ever that I was going to put my trust in some unknowing idiot with managing my daughter, so I ended up taking on the role of Ayumu's manager myself. Oh, that reminds me."
Ayumu's mother turned to face Kotaro, giving him a serious look that only a mother who was concerned with the safety and well-being of her child can give to a person. "Mr. Tatsumi, first off I have to say out of principal that I am not fond of the idea of anyone messing with Ayumu's remains, although in this case it did lead to me reuniting with her. Second off, you had better be taking any needs my daughter has into account. If you have done anything to mismanage her in the slightest, I swear that I'll-"
The eccentric man held up his right hand, the palm facing outward, towards Minamo to cut her off mid-threat. "Rest assured that I take everything about your daughter into account. Also, I'd like to say that Ayumu has been one of the easiest girls in Franchouchou to work with, even with the fact that she requires special considerations sometimes." Giving a quick glance over to where Yugiri stood, Kotaro returned his focus to Minamo before adding with some strained annoyance in his tone, "I…cannot exactly say that all of the girls in Franchouchou have been as easy to work with as your daughter."
Minamo had a satisfied smile on her face after she got that answer from Kotaro. Nodding once in acknowledgement to him, Minamo said, "Well I'm glad to hear Ayumu is doing well for herself ever since she came back." Realizing something, Minamo turned around to look at her daughter. "…Umm, sweetie, I've been told that you're apparently a zombie now, and rest assured that I and a lot of others out there know that zombie-ism is not infection or anything along those lines. However, I'm a bit surprised with how…human…you look."
"Oh, I was taught how to use something called monster glamour, which is a power monsters can learn to make themselves look human," Ayumu explained. After getting the okay from Kotaro to do so, the teen actress zombie girl released her monster glamour, showing her true, undead look to her mother. Minamo was a bit taken aback by surprise at seeing her daughter's skin become a grayish-blue and her eyes turn red, while also taking on the appearance of having been dunked in a large tub of water.
Ayumu held her arms out at her sides. "This is what I look like when I'm not disguising myself as how I looked back when I was still alive."
Minamo, though still surprised, calmed herself down with a gentle shake of her head and a smile. "…Sorry for being surprised, sweetie," Ayumu's mom said with a gentle, understanding smile, "But this is my first time seeing one of the living dead. Even so, I'm just glad that for all intents and purposes, I finally have my daughter back."
Someone clapping their hands together made the girls and Minamo turn to face Kotaro. "Okay, I need to get you ladies seated in the living room set over there so we can begin shooting the first part of the Saga Stories special. If you two will be so kind as to follow me." Ayumu and Minamo both nodded in agreement as Kotaro turned to face the rest of Franchouchou. "I don't think that I need to say this, but you girls just stay off camera and watch things from the side."
The other zombie girls all agreed to Kotaro's orders, with Saki and Sigrid already taking steps to make sure Tae, in her unawakened state, didn't obliviously ruin anything. Once the other zombie girls all understood what they had to do, they found a good spot on set where they could watch Ayumu and her mother have their chat while being out of the way.
…
The camera was showing Kotaro standing in full view while holding a portrait of Ayumu in her human guise. "Due to the recent events that had taken Japan, if not the whole world, by storm due to the recent monster attack in the city," Kotaro began in a serious tone, "The existence of the world of monsters was exposed to those of the human world. Granted, the two worlds are in the process of learning to co-exist, but it's still a touch-and-go process, with a number of things being brought to light due to the insane actions of the warlord Hirajo."
Raising the picture of Ayumu that he held, Kotaro went on, "Such as how Franchouchou, the troop of actresses that star in Saga Stories, is composed entirely of girls who were all raised from the dead. One such girl is Ayumu Akarui, who many in Japan are bound to remember as the most beloved teen actress of her time. In an effort to help foster good relations between humans and the various races of monsters, the girls of Franchouchou will be sitting down with those that they knew in life that are still alive today, and we're starting with Ms. Akarui, who is reuniting with her mother Minamo."
Kotaro stepped off to the side, showing that Ayumu, in her true form, was sitting across from her mother. The idea of Kotaro holding the picture of human-Ayumu then stepping to the side to shoe what Ayumu looks like as a zombie was something that he would be doing for all of the girls that were going to reunite with loved ones that they left behind in life. Kotaro said that it was meant to help show the contrast between the zombie girls and their still living loved-ones.
Minamo, with a bit of a relieved smile on her face, gave a resigned sigh. "…You know, sweetie," Minamo began, "When I heard that one of the girls that played a role on this show was revealed to be a zombie during the monster attack, I was less surprised that I thought I would be. But then again, a bunch of big, muscular monsters were attacking the city by that point, so I guess the lack of surprise could be excused to an extent." The Akarui matriarch let out another sigh.
"…Then I heard that all of the girls on this show were zombies, and I was contacted by the producers for this show and they told me about you. At first, I was shocked, confused, had no idea what to think." Minamo gently shook her head before she went on. "…But after the other pieces started falling into place for me, I came to a single conclusion about all of this business about monsters turning out to be real."
Smiling sympathetically at her undead daughter, Minamo said as tears began rolling down the sides of her face again, "…You're back. You're actually back. I seriously have my daughter back." The Akarui matriarch wiped a tear away from the corner of her right eye. "I…I just can't believe that my only child, who I thought I would never get to see again, is back. The fact that you're some manner of sentient undead doesn't matter to me. What does matter to me is you." Minamo looked her daughter right in the eyes. Ayumu's expression, though similarly touched like how her mother's is, still held a hint of firm resolution to them.
"I'm certain that you have a lot that you want to say to me, sweetie," Minamo remarked, "So go on ahead and ask whatever you want to-"
"Do you know how Miss Kujoko is doing?"
Minamo stopped short when her undead daughter interrupted her, partly due to the interruption in and of itself, but mostly due to how surprised she was that Ayumu was asking about someone that none of the other girls in Franchouchou had any idea about. "…Oh, you mean the housemaid that I hired after your career first took off?" Minamo asked. The Akarui matriarch's expression grew bitter, to the surprise of the other girls in Franchouchou who were seeing it.
"…Kujoko was arrested a few years ago, sometime well after you died. Kujoko had been hired by the Tatsuma family, which the pro hero Ryukyu comes from. When I head about Kujoko's arrest, I was disgusted to learn that she was discovered to have secretly poisoned an eight-year-old girl who was Ryukyu's kid sister." Giving her undead daughter a curious look that now had a hint of strong suspicion in it, Minamo asked, "Ayumu, why do you-"
"She drowned me."
Everyone stopped short when the teen actress zombie girl dropped that bombshell of a reveal. The look of firm seriousness on Ayumu's face made it clear that the undead autistic girl was not joking around at all. The other girls in Franchouchou all looked shocked and surprised (aside from Tae for obvious reasons), the men that worked for Kotaro all stopped short when they all heard Ayumu said what she did. Hell, even Kotaro went slack-jawed out of sheer surprise when Ayumu say that her drowning while taking a bath was not an accident.
But it was clear that the person shocked the most by Ayumu's bombshell of a reveal was her mother, who looked like she had taken a rather staggering punch to her stomach from Sigrid, and speaking of the half-foreign zombie girl she looked fit to go out and find a certain someone so she could kill said certain someone. Back to Minamo, she blinked a few times, her mouth still wide open due to sheer shock of what her undead daughter had told her just now. After a couple of moments, the Akarui matriarch was able to regain her composure.
"I…I'm sorry," Minamo began, sounding like she might get mad at someone, "Did you…you just tell me that-"
"Mom, I was there," Ayumu interrupted once again, the look of her expression and the tone of her voice making it clear that she was being serious, "Miss Kujoko forcefully drowned me while I was taking that bath. I distinctly remember seeing her angry face as she pushed me fully under the water, snarling at me." Ayumu's expression grew a bit of an angered hint as she went on, "In the few moments I was able to force my head out of the water, I heard her say that I needed to die because, in her words, that I was a retarded monster that made life for everyone looking after me a total living hell."
"Okay, cut!" Saki yelled, startling the cameraman that was filming into stopping the filming. The other zombie girls all dashed onto the set after filming was cut, with Saki looking like she would join Sigrid in going out to hunt heads. "Ayumu, are you absolutely serious about all that you said just now?" Saki asked, "Are you serious that you drowning in the bath when you died was not an accident, but rather happened because someone that your mom had hired wanted to kill you due to the fact that you're autistic?"
Ayumu said nothing, maintaining her angry, bitter expression. But she did nod a few times in the affirmative, and that was all the confirmation that Saki and the others needed to swear to find this Miss Kujoko woman and wreck her shit. Minamo looked particularly shocked by all that she had just gotten from her daughter, but when she calmed down from the shock she was very much angry at her family's former employee, even more so than when she heard of her poisoning and killing the kid sister of the Dragoon Hero.
After Kotaro was able to get everyone calmed down enough, he decided that filming Ayumu getting to reunite with her mother had to be put on hold, given that he did technically have new details in the death of a teen actress that needed to be investigated. A police detective by the name of Naomasa Tsukauchi had been called in to be part of the team thrown together to look into the matter of the teen actress zombie girl's claims. Kujoko, who was serving a long sentence for her murdering of a pro hero's kid sister, was brought in for question by Naomasa.
The former housemaid was seated in an interrogation room, opposite of a table that Naomasa sat at as well. The good detective is actually a quirked human, and his quirk lets him know if he is being lied to by someone that he is asking questions to; this makes Naomasa excellent at the job of interrogating suspects, since he'll know from the get-go if a suspect is telling the truth or not. Kujoko, who knew that she would be stuck in prison for the rest of her life anyway, decided to not even bother trying to lie.
"Yeah, I drowned Akarui's retarded brat. So what?" Naomasa was a bit taken aback by how casually Kujoko had confessed to having drowned Ayumu. The former housemaid put her hands flat on the table that she and the good detective sat at. A look of firm, bitter annoyance was plastered over Kujoko's face. The only thing that kept Kujoko from standing up was the fact that she was handcuffed to the table she and Naomasa sat at.
"Do you honestly have any idea how much of a pain in the ass it is to have to look after a kid whose brain is all messed up?! Having to do everything a certain way and make sure certain things are always kept up with? That girl was a fucking nightmare to look after. You had to walk on eggshells around her to keep her from having a total meltdown. Oh, and I'm not the only one who had issues keeping up with that retard's eccentricities. Fell free to go on ahead and ask the others that Akarui had hired to help with her messed-up brat. I know for a fact that some of them will back me on this one."
Naomasa was more and more revolted by Kujoko, mostly because his quirk was active the whole time so he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything that came out of the mouth of the former housemaid was true to her knowledge. The good detective gave his report to the other men at the station, and soon arrangements would be made to re-open the investigation made into Ayumu's death a few years ago.
Evidence would have to be gathered, and eventually Kujoko would have to go on trial. Seeing as how Ayumu, the girl that Kujoko had confessed to having drowned, is actually back in the land of the living, it was quite the opportunity in terms of the law, as it would the first time in the history of Japan that a zombie would be involved in the process of a trial in court. It was going to be quite the show, a murder victim giving testimony at a trial where she would see the woman who had taken her life.
When Kotaro was able to resume production for the special edition of Saga Stories that would see the girls of Franchouchou reunite with their various still-living loved ones that they had left behind when they died, he had to re-shoot the portion where Ayumu sat down with and got to talk to Minamo. Thankfully, with the burning issue the teen actress zombie girl had having been addressed, the mother and daughter pair were able to talk to one another normally, with Ayumu telling her mom about her times with Franchouchou and Minamo telling her undead daughter a few things that she had missed since she died.
After that, Kotaro was able to get through the rest of the meet-n-greets; those for Ai and Junko didn't have as much impact as the one for Ayumu, although the ratings did show that the former idol zombie girls drew a lot of attention. Lily reuniting with her father, as was expected by the other girls in Franchouchou, was a rather emotional and touching scene, made all the sweeter by the sheer contrast between the tiny Lily and her giant of a father Takeo. The large man was able to very easily cradle his young undead daughter in one arm.
Yugiri and Tae were both skipped, the former because everyone she knew was long dead, and the latter because she had no known loved ones Kotaro could find; even if the eccentric man was able to find a loved one for Tae, her still being unawakened would have made the meet-n-greet a rather difficult and awkward affair. After the experienced actresses, the former idols, the Meiji-era courtesan and the unawakened one were crossed off the list, Kotaro was able to work on the rest of the zombie girls and their meet-n-greets.
Hikari was reunited with a fifty-someodd year old aunt who was there because Hikari's mother was unavailable. There was also a hint in the attitude of Hikari's aunt that suggested that the older woman did not have all that much faith in the gamer zombie girl's parents, but then again if one remembered what Kotaro had once said to the girls of Franchouchou, then it would be easy to see why Hikari's aunt held so little faith in Hikari's mom and dad.
Saki's meet-n-greet ended up seeing her formally reunite with her old friend Reiko, who brought her daughter Maria and nephew Eijiro along. The crimson-haired boy expressed a bit of surprise at seeing Saki's zombie form, but it was out of pure curiosity. Saki likewise gave Eijiro props for his role in saving both her (Saki) and Reiko's motorcycle from going over that cliff. Reiko and Maria both expressed that they were happy that Saki was around again, and the group soon took their leave, but not before Eijiro looked at the camera and gave a shoutout to a classmate of his at the school that he goes to, the classmate in question being named Todoroki.
Sigrid had a less energetic meet-n-greet when she sat down with her old friend Nagi and Nagi's son Sigurd. The half-foreign zombie girl told her still-living friend that she is still trying to find the reason that the all-father Odin permitted her to return to Midgard as a draugr. Nagi figured that Sigrid would still keep her beliefs with her, not even being surprised that even death had no effect on curbing Sigrid's personality, Sigrid's beliefs. Near the end of the meet-n-greet, Nagi had presented Sigrid with Ulfberht, the metal baseball bat that Sigrid had carried around with her in life. The bat, which was in its carrying case, was no back in the hands of its true owner.
Sakura's meet-n-greet was last, and it saw the long-haired zombie girl reunite with her mother, who was basically an older, blonde-haired Sakura, and the zombie girl's still-living kid brother Sasuke. The still-living Minamotos were surprised that Sakura was around again, but after the initial shock had faded, Sakura's mother told her undead daughter that she was free to come on by the house (the Minamoto family still lived in the same house that they had lived in back when Sakura was still alive) at any time.
Sure, things were far from gentle for the girls of Franchouchou over the course of their journey ever since they started as the troop composed entirely of undead actresses. And that journey was rougher for some than others. But they had each other, and now they also had the confidence of their still-living loved ones. With the living being in their lives, as well as the fact that they had each other, the girls of Franchouchou were primed to handle whatever may come their way.
END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Author's notes:
With the fact that, in this story's setting, the girls were outed as zombies, it was necessary to address a few things, cover a few loose ends. This chapter is the starting point (don't go thinking that this chapter is a one-all cure, I got more to do) for the process of the zombie girls getting back into the swing of things from their old lives back when all of them were still counted among the number of the living.
Speaking of setting, this story shares the same setting as some of my other works, as you may have noticed. That all will be covered more later. Anyway, I wanted to use this chapter to shed more light on Ayumu, the teen actress to Lily's child actress. I had a lot in mind when I was working on Ayumu's character, with one of said things being the reveal in this chapter of how she had really died. I had it as a murder-by-drowning for a while, and with Ayumu alive (in a sense) to give her side of the story, I was able to show that not even death can stop justice.
But more on that topic when the time comes. Anyway, the next chapter will see Saki take the starring role, with Hikari of all people playing the support role to everyone's favorite delinquent zombie girl. You'll have to wait for the next chapter to see why these two girls are the main and supporting characters for that adventure.