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 fifteen: Arcade Anarchy

The Saga Stories project has shot way up in popularity in Japan as of late. This is due to a number of factors; the actions that some of the girls of Franchouchou took during the recent monster attack on the city, the girls having been outed as zombies, reassurance from the rest of monster kind that zombies are totally unlike how human pop culture has depicted them, a Saga Stories special that recently aired that humanized the girls by reuniting them with still-living loved ones that they left behind back when they died, and so-on.

Kotaro, the somewhat eccentric man that had been running the Saga Stories project ever since the very beginning, was worried that things would take a turn for the worse if the girls were ever outed as zombies. So color him surprised that the girls coming out and revealing what they really were had the opposite effect of what he had feared. The general acceptance of the undead actress girls, now that everyone knew about the world of monsters as a whole, is part of why Kotaro was now allowing the girls of Franchouchou more freedom, whereas before the girls were all largely confined to the mansion whenever they weren't doing actress work.

With the new found freedom to get out more, Saki decided to take advantage of it by going for a stroll. She was in her human form, so as to keep people from freaking out from seeing a random zombie wandering around. The delinquent zombie girl found herself walking along a path that had struck her as familiar, yet she had no idea why she felt a strong sense of nostalgia. As Saki continued to make her way along her path, she started hearing some noises that, again, stoked the fires of her memory. Saki's eyes narrowed a bit, giving her a suspicious look.

"…Why the hell do I feel a strong sense of déjà vu?" Saki muttered to herself, deciding to follow the noises that she was hearing, getting closer and closer as the noises grew more and more loud. She turned a corner, and soon spotted something that not only answered her suspicions but put a look of surprised delight on her face. Saki spotted an arcade that was just up ahead, the décor and people crowding around it a telltale sign.

Saki snapped her fingers in a gesture that showed she was excited. "Oh hells yes, the arcade that I used to hit up all the time is still in business!" Figuring that she had some time before she was expected back at the mansion, the delinquent zombie girl decided to head right over to the arcade to check out what all had changed in the twenty or so years since she had died. Walking inside of the arcade, Saki was taken aback by the mix of familiar surroundings and unfamiliar additions.

Some of the old arcade games she remembered were still here, although one or two did show signs of age. There were also a number of new arcade games that Saki did not remember. It had stuck Saki as odd, seeing both new and old games, unrecognized and very familiar, all in the same location, one that was both vintage and new. "…Well I'll be damned," Saki muttered to herself, "Times really have changed, haven't-"

Saki found herself cut off when one of the teens who was playing one of the arcade games spotted her. "Hey, isn't that one of those zombie girls who stars on that one TV show?" the teen called out loudly, making a lot of people all look around out of excitement out of getting to see a TV actress. Soon enough, some of the other arcade patrons spotted Saki and began swarming her, and seeing the swarm alerted the rest of the arcade patrons to where Saki was located, which led to more people rushing over to Saki.

After getting the crowd to calm down, Saki said, "Heh, sorry if me coming here distracted you all. I was just out for a walk when I saw that the arcade that I used to hit up all the time was still in business, so I figured I'd stop in to check it out, see how things changed."

"You used to come to this arcade?" one of the girls that came over to see a TV actress asked, sounding surprised.

Nodding in the affirmative, Saki replied, "Yeah, this place was in business back when I was still alive. And hoo boy, looking around I can see that some things have changed." To the crowd of fans that had gathered around her, Saki said, "You know, I'm in the mood to try some of the games here, but things might not be exactly as I remember, even in regards to the games that I saw here back when I was human. I don't suppose any of you would mind showing me around and tell me how things work so I won't look like an idiot later?"

Right away, a number of hands and cheers went up from the gathered fans, all of them clamoring for the chance to get to spend the day with a popular actress. As Saki scanned the sea of hands that had gone up, she saw someone try to make their way through the crowd to see her up close. Saki was about to tell that person off for trying to push the others away, but before a word left her mouth, Saki saw that it was Hikari, one of her fellow zombie girls.

"Hikari? Saki said, a bit surprised to see another one of the Franchouchou girls here at the arcade, "What are you doing here?"

"I was bored, so I figured I'd come to the arcade here," the gamer zombie girl replied with a shrug, "I've come here a few times before after I had awoken when I was raised from the dead, at least whenever I got the chance."

Saki was taken a bit aback out of surprise that one of her fellow Franchouchou members had found the old arcade that she herself would hit up back when she was alive. As the crowd began to recognize that Hikari was also one of the zombie girls that starred on Saga Stories, they got even more excited as there were two popular actresses right in front of them. "I heard what you said that you used to come to this arcade back when you were still alive," Hikari remarked to Saki, "Which makes a little sense to me since I saw that one of the older games here has your name entered as one of the high scores."

"Dude, one of the scores I left on a game here is still standing?" Saki asked, amazed that a record of something she had left back when she was still alive was still standing.

Hikari nodded a few times in the affirmative. "It was actually the top score." The gamer zombie girl gave her delinquent counterpart a bit of a smug, self-amused look. "…Up until I beat it and got the top score myself, that is."

"Oh ho, is that a challenge?" Saki asked, clearly amused by Hikari's attitude. Clapping her hands together, Saki said as she pointed to Hikari, "Since you said that it was a game that had my name as the top score, I should be familiar with how it plays. Just give me a minute to go and get some hundred-yen coins, then I'll reclaim the top score!"

Hikari gave Saki a wry look in response to her declaration; similarly, some of the gathered teens were muttering in confusion. "…The game was changed to use tokens now, just like some of the newer games here," Hikari pointed out to Saki.

The delinquent zombie girl, a mildly embarrassed look of surprise on her face, briskly shook her head after looking at Hikari for a few moments before refocusing on her. "Well it's been a little over twenty years since I last stepped foot into the arcade," Saki defended, "I had no idea that the arcade switched to a mainly token-based system! I need to be caught up on all of the changes that have occurred since then and now!" Hikari nodded in understanding before she took Saki over to a token machine so that they could get some game tokens in order to play some of the games in the arcade.

Over at the mansion, Sakura was walking into the kitchen area to grab a snack when she saw that Sigrid was sitting at the island counter, drinking from a drinking mug full of cola. There was a box from a bakery sitting in front of the half-foreign zombie girl. Pointing to the box, Sakura asked, "You went to a bakery, Sigrid?"

"The elfish man who manages our clan got this," Sigrid replied while pointing to the bakery box, "He just asked me to make sure the unawakened draugr doesn't mess with it."

Nodding in understanding, Sakura went to a cabinet, got out a can of Sunhoney Root Beer, then sat down at the island counter on the side opposite of Sigrid. Looking at the box, Sakura asked, "What's in here, might I ask?"

Sigrid shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Don't know, didn't check or ask." Arching a wry eyebrow at the long-haired zombie girl, Sigrid said, "I assume you won't touch anything in the box if I permit you to check, yes?"

Sakura confirmed that she would leave everything in the bakery box alone, drawing a nod of approval from Sigrid to open the box to see what was inside. Sakura saw that it contained a selection of muffins, the fairly big ones that were on a food table off to the side whenever a scene for an episode of Saga Stories was being filmed. Sakura spotted a blueberry muffin among the number, remembering that blueberry muffins were Ayumu's favorite snack; the teen actress zombie girl always had one every day, and always at three PM.

Sakura, nodding to herself in an understanding manner, closed the bakery box. "I can see why Kotaro wouldn't want Tae to mess with this." Gesturing to Sigrid, Sakura asked, "So how have you been doing this morning?"

"I saw the unawakened draugr growl at the harlot draugr earlier," Sigrid began, "But then I learned that the harlot draugr finished off a bag of dried squid snack." Shrugging, Sigrid added, "It was no big deal." The long-haired zombie girl smiled a bit, happy to see that Yugiri was still continuing to shape up; the incident with Tae that Sigrid spoke of was by no means caused by the courtesan zombie girl making a mistake brought on by her lack of understanding things that have changed since the Meiji era.

Rolling her shoulders a bit, Sigrid went on, "Also, I'm to accompany Nagi's son Sigurd to a sports supply store. You see, since Ulfberht had been returned to me by Nagi, her son now lacks a bat for when he and his friends practice baseball. I am to go with Sigurd to help him pick out a new bat with which he and his team shall bring their opponent to kneel on the diamond."

Sakura was a bit amused by what Sigrid was set to do later; the half-foreign zombie girl was going to accompany her still-living friend's son to go get some new sporting equipment. Sakura even thought that it sounded a bit like a date, but she knew better than to believe that. "Well, so long as you and Sigurd know what you'll be doing," Sakura replied, "Just so you know, some of us have been recognized out in public ever since the special for Saga Stories aired, so don't be all that surprised if you and Sigurd are interrupted by folks looking to-"

The long-haired zombie girl was cut off when she and Sigrid heard the front door of the mansion open. A few moments later, Saki and Hikari entered the kitchen, both of them carrying one armful each of what were clearly prizes that were won at an arcade. "Hot damn, Hikari and I made a killing at the arcade today!" Saki cheered as she proceeded to dump her prizes onto the island counter, followed by Hikari doing the same.

After apologizing for the mess she and Saki made, Hikari noticed the box from the bakery that sat on the counter, pointed at it. "You two went to the bakery?"

"No, Kotaro did," Sakura said, "It's a bunch of muffins. Also, I'm certain that the blueberry muffin inside is for Ayumu."

"Oh yeah, that's Ayumu's three-o-clock snack, isn't it?" Saki remarked, remembering what Sakura was talking about.

After Sakura confirmed that Saki got it right, she looked at all of the stuff that Saki and Hikari had brought back with them. "I take it that you girls went to an arcade together and had a really fun time there?"

"Actually, I went to the arcade on my own," Saki explained, "I walked past it, remembering it as the arcade that I would hit up all the time back when I was still a human. I was feeling a little bit nostalgic, so I decided to check it out, see what had changed." The delinquent zombie girl jerked a thumb at the gamer zombie girl. "Hikari here was already in the arcade, and helped me get use to all of the changes that had happened since I died way back when."

Hikari nodded in confirmation. "It was sort of like teaching an older parent or perhaps even a grandparent how to play some of the games, how some of the newer arcade features worked."

Saki crossed her arms over her chest, gave a sarcastic huff. "Geez, remind me that I'd be a mom in my forties if I hadn't died, why don't you." There was a bit of playful banter between Saki and Hikari as the two went about getting something to wat, although Sakura did remind them that they had to clear their stuff that they got at the arcade off of the island counter. Sakura was a bit surprised to see Saki getting along with Hikari specifically.

Sure, Saki was agreeable enough with all of the girls of Franchouchou as a whole (Saki's patience was tested occasionally from time to time), but Sakura just didn't see Saki building such a rapport with Hikari. The long-haired zombie girl was sort of playing off of stereotypes as she thought about this; she imagined Saki as the typical schoolyard bully and Hikari as the kind of person who would be given the 'nerd' label due to not going out when she could and preferring to stay inside to play video games.

But Saki and Hikari were getting along as if they were thick as thieves; maybe their shared love for the arcade helped to bridge a gap between the two undead actresses? Sakura felt happy to see that two of her fellow zombie girls were getting along so well, and also felt a bit guilty that she thought that her stereotype-way of thinking would have actually interfered with the friendship between the delinquent and the gamer. Still, Sakura actually didn't know all that much about any of her fellow zombie girls. And she was a bit curious to learn more.

"Hey Saki," Sakura asked, getting the delinquent zombie girl's attention, "I didn't know you were all that into going to arcades. I thought that your interest in video games was limited to just those little Tamagotchi things."

Saki, with a self-amused look on her face, gave a chuckle as she turned to face Sakura. "Oh, silly Egghead. There is loads that you do not know about the awesomeness that is the story of my life before I bit it big time in that game of Chicken so long ago." By that point, Saki and Hikari had finished clearing away their prizes so that they could sit down and eat something with Sakura and Sigrid. Gesturing to the girls, Saki said, "As you girls all should know, I was without a doubt one of the baddest girls that ruled the road back when I was still alive. Hell, I'd probably be one of the baddest girls on the road today if I had gone in that direction. But I wasn't just nothing but riding my motorcycle, eating Drive-In Tori and being a punk." With a look of remembrance on her face, Saki said, "Dorami and I would hit up the arcade all the time…"

(FLASHBACK)

(DATE: JUNE 10th, 1997)

Saki, Reiko and two other girls from Dorami were at the arcade, relaxing by playing some of the arcade games. In the flashback, Saki was playing the game that she got the high score on that had stayed as the high score until Hikari ended up beating it. "The girls and I would hit up the arcade if we wanted to relax and have some fun," Saki's voice said as it narrated the flashback, "Times back then actually made it that Dorami's frequent presence at the arcade kept it from being hit by rival gangs and other troublemakers. Our protection of the arcade was more effective than police trying to keep delinquent activity to a low."

The flashback then shifted to a scene where Saki and her Dorami friends were sitting in a concession area of the arcade, enjoying some sodas. "Those days that I spent at the arcade with Reiko and the other girls of Dorami were some of the best. It's part of why I was both surprised and glad to see that the old arcade I went to all the time was still standing. I thought that it would have fallen victim to the tough times between my death and my strolling by it by chance earlier this morning."

(FLASHBACK OVER)

Sitting at the island counter at the mansion with Sakura, Sigrid and Hikari, Saki said as she finished her story, "Now that I know that the old place is still up and running, I may go there whenever I need to get out of the mansion. Granted, the modernization touches that were added since I had died will take me some time to get used to, but the old arcade still feels like one of the homes away from home that I remember from when I was still alive."

The other three zombie girls all looked amazed that Saki had such a deep fondness for a staple of the life that she used to have back when she was still human. Hikari, in particular, nodded in a show of approval. "I've actually been going to that arcade for a while now, shortly after I had awoken as a zombie and had mastered the Monster Glamour skill. My death was far more recent compared to yours, so I can still say that my experiences with video games left me seeing the idea of going to a traditional arcade like that as retro. Regardless, my love for gaming left me wanting to do the quote unquote 'retro' thing and hit up an arcade."

"Heh, yeah well you going to my old arcade regularly was pretty good, as it gave you an understanding of how things worked," Saki remarked, "With all of the modernization touches that happened, I would have been lost if you weren't there to show me around. I felt like a stranger in familiar lands." The delinquent zombie girl took a sip of her drink, shuddered a bit but not due to what she was drinking. "I can't believe how much of a fossil I've become, even though I'm permanently stuck at eighteen."

"Oh, don't be like that, Saki," Sakura remarked, "Things are bound to change and progress in a period as long as what you had been dead for. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Saki nodded to Sakura in acknowledgement, thankful that the long-haired zombie girl was being so sympathetic to her. Clapping her hands together, Saki said, "Oh, there's going to be this big ol' gaming tournament at the arcade this Saturday, and Hikari and I were both planning to look into entering it."

Nodding in the affirmative, Hikari explained to Sakura and Sigrid, "We both saw a poster that showed what the prizes will be, and the both of us are very excited to win some of those prizes." The gamer zombie girl turned to look at her delinquent counterpart. "I believe that the prize of a classic Tamagotchi game caught your attention?"

Saki pointed in a commending manner to Hikari. "You're damn straight it does! It looks just like the one that I entrusted to Reiko shortly before I was killed playing that game of Chicken long ago, and I'm eager to get a new one." Crossing her arms over her chest, Saki added with a huff, "I bet my old one is long dead by this point…"

"Well here's hoping that Odin will see you through on your quest for a nostalgic treasure," Sigrid said to Saki, before draining the rest of her mug of Moonberry Cola. Setting her mug down, the half-foreign zombie girl turned to look at Hikari, arching a wry eyebrow. "…What of you, gamer draugr? We have heard Saki's tale for her love of games, got her side of the story. I would be interested in hearing what tale in that regard that you have to offer." Sakura and Saki both turned to look at Hikari with curious looks, like what Sigrid was doing.

The gamer zombie girl looked a bit troubled and resigned, looking down and to her left as three pairs of undead eyes were on her. Finally, Hikari let out a resigned sigh, figuring that she didn't have a lot of options to get out of this one. "…Honestly, the reason that I got into video games as much as I have is because there was little else for me to do in my free time back when I was still alive," Hikari said, "I…didn't get out much."

Sakura and the two tough girl zombies looked a bit confused by what Hikari had said. "…Oh, I guessing that your asthma from when you were alive limited your ability to get out and do a lot, huh?" Sakura half-asked, half-guessed.

Hikari shrugged a bit. "Eh, that was part of it, yes. Another part had to do with the fact that I…" Stopping short, Hikari sighed as she thought about what to say next. "…You remember what Kotaro said when we were asking him if he knew that Lily used to be Masao, right? About him confirming something about me because he thought that's what you girls were going to ask him about that night?"

The three other zombie girls at the island counter all looked like they were trying to recall what had happened back then. Sakura and Sigrid stopped thinking when Saki said, "Oh, I remember!" With a bit of a mildly unsure, mildly uncomfortable look on her face, the delinquent zombie girl went on, "Shades said something about you being inbred, right?" Both Sigrid and (especially) Sakura looked shocked as they were reminded about what Kotaro had revealed concerning the parentage of the gamer zombie girl.

"…Yeah, my birth parents were brother and sister," Hikari replied, looking a bit downcast and embarrassed, "From the same set of parents. By some miracle I didn't have any of the problems associated with those who are inbred, but I was still regarded as something of an outcast by some of my extended family, as well as my grandmother. Only my aunt, who is the middle child with my mom as an older sister and my dad as the youngest, and my grandfather regarded me without any care for the truth of my parentage."

The other zombie girls at the island counter looked a bit concerned, having had no idea that Hikari's life from when she was human had so many twists. Hikari then got up from the island counter, saying that she wanted to be alone for a bit, and took off from the kitchen, saying that she'd collect what prizes of hers she got at the arcade she was leaving in the kitchen later. After the gamer zombie girl had left, Sakura looked to Saki and Sigrid with a mildly worried look.

The look on the long-haired zombie girl's face made one thing clear to the resident tough girls of the actress troop Franchouchou. "…Girls, we need to go see Kotaro and ask him for what all he has about Hikari."

Kotaro, as well as some of the men working under him, were setting up a set for a scene that was going to be shot for an upcoming episode of Saga Stories. Since no filming was actually being done at the moment, he was free to talk to for the most part, which is why he was able to give some of his time to Sakura and Saki; Sigrid had to leave for her prearranged outing with Nagi's son Sigurd to help him pick out a new baseball bat.

The eccentric man was a bit surprised when Sakura and Saki explained to him their concerns about Hikari, about them wanting to know more about the life she had lived as a girl who was inbred. "…What little I do know is that bringing Hikari into the world was her mother's doing," Kotaro said, sounding a bit more serious than he normally did as he turned to face Sakura and Saki, "Hikari's mom took her younger brother, who is Hikari's dad, to a wild teen party. After he had passed out from drinking, she proceeded to do the dark deed."

"Wait a minute, Kotaro-san," Sakura began, a confused, suspicious look of mild shock on her face, "You mean to tell me and Saki here that a girl wanted to get pregnant by her own brother intentionally?"

Nodding in the affirmative, Kotaro replied, "Indeed. Hikari's father actually had no idea what had happened, what his own sister was up to. Hell, he didn't even know that Hikari was also his daughter until Hikari was rushed to the hospital when she was five, due to having suffered her first asthma attack at the time. Needless to say, there was a good bit of heated discussion in the family that night."

Both Sakura and Saki looked like they were mulling over what they had been told. "…So Hikari's dad never intentionally played any part in whatever crazy scheme her mom was trying to cook up," Saki said.

"Exactly, Saki," Kotaro answered in the affirmative, "Also, you won't believe how accurate you were just now by calling what Hikari's mom was up to a 'crazy scheme'." Gesturing to the two zombie girls that stood before him, Kotaro began to explain to them, "You see, girls, a long time ago there was actually this cult that had been operating in the shadows of Japanese society for a good long while. A group that called themselves the Cult of Sinborn."

"Cult of…" Sakura said, both her and Saki looking confused, "…Sinborn?"

"Cult of Sinborn, yes," Kotaro replied, "They were a cult that believed that Japan was a dying nation, that it was being corrupted from within by sin. They sought to save Japan from the sin that they believed was killing it from within." With a solemn sigh, Kotaro said, "Hikari's mom was a member of the Cult of Sinborn."

Saki crossed her arms over her chest, an annoyed, suspicious look on her face. "Alright, so how does Hikari herself factor in to all of the crazy bullshit that her mother got herself into?"

Gesturing to the girls, Kotaro said, "You see, girls, the members of the Cult of Sinborn believed in the doctrine preached by their leader. This doctrine said that Japan could be saved from its death by the sin that was corrupting it from within by someone who was born of sin. A death by sin could only be stopped by a birth by sin. That was the motto of the Cult of Sinborn, a motto that the cultists intended to fulfill like some sort of dark prophesy."

Sakura and Saki both looked shocked by what they had been told by Kotaro. "…I think that I remember hearing some people say that it's considered sinful to have a kid with one's sibling," Sakura remarked, "That children who are inbred are the product of sin." The long-haired zombie girl was looking down at the floor as she spoke, but then turned to look back up at Kotaro. "I'm guessing that this cult believed that their hero who would supposedly save the country had to be an inbred child?"

"The leader of the Cult of Sinborn entrusted the task of bringing the cult's hero into the world to Hikari's mother, as she was the only one who had the means to actually go about 'saving Japan' as the cult believed would happen," Kotaro explained in a grim tone after affirming Sakura's guess, "And as you girls can see, Hikari's mother was successful, as we now have the legendary gamer girl as a member of Franchouchou."

Kotaro turned to face away from Sakura and Saki, his back to the two of them. "…It was a dark time for Japan back then, though many did not see the signs for what they were. Back then, I was already hard at work in my efforts to save Saga, so my lover at the time told me about a group that he was a member of, saying that they had a plan that would save all of Japan. Since that also meant Saga would be saved as well, I decided to check it out, only to discreetly leave as soon as I could when I saw the crazy show that it was."

"…You almost joined a cult that had one of its members give birth to an inbred child because of some cockamamie scheme the cult's leader cooked up, Shades?" Saki asked, a confused and mildly suspicious look on her face as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Almost, yes," Kotaro replied, "But the Cult of Sinborn was crazy, even by my standards. I politely told my lover that I was not interested in joining his club." Shrugging, Kotaro went on, "Me not joining ended up working for the best, as the cult was soon afterwards hit with a series of unfortunate events. First thing was that my suspicions that the Cult of Sinborn was all just one big scheme ended up turning out to be true, as the cult leader was basically running one big ol' scheme to con the members who joined out of money. He also was able to get away with various collections. To this day, I have no idea what became of that man."

Scoffing in an incredulous manner, Saki said bitterly, "Figures."

"Second off," Kotaro went on, "Shortly after the cult leader made himself scarce with all of the money he made off with, most of the cult members, including Hikari's mother, was arrested by the police for various charges. Those arrested are still in prison to this day, aside from a few who had died due to various causes. I have confirmed that Hikari's mother is among the arrested cultists that are still alive. She knows that Hikari has been raised from the dead to be a member of Franchouchou."

Sakura and Saki nodded in understanding; they had been told that Hikari's mother was contacted for the Saga Stories special that had recently aired, but were told that Hikari's mother would not be available. Hearing what Kotaro was telling them now answered a lot of questions for the two zombie girls.

Looking up at Kotaro, Sakura asked, "Saki and I were also curious about what Hikari said about how she didn't get to go out all that much back when she was human. Would you know anything about that, Kotaro-san?"

"This was back when the Cult of Sinborn was still active," Kotaro said, "But the cult leader, as he was wanting to maintain his scheme, had convinced Hikari's mother to keep her as secluded as possible, for the purposes of 'keeping her pure' so she would be ready to save Japan when the time came. Her schooling was strictly monitored, and she was not allowed out for anything that the cult leader had 'deemed' was an unnecessary outing. This meant that Hikari's social life was pretty much non-existent. She grew up without ever having made a single actual friend, and all of the free time she found herself with she decided to put into video games, as it was a way to keep herself entertained that did not require her to 'go out unnecessarily'."

Sakura and Saki were getting more and more disgusted with what all that they were hearing about the life that had been thrusted upon Hikari, all because some crazy bastard had been able to charm a lot of gullible folks into joining his cult, which was nothing more than an elaborate piggy bank to the man. Kotaro, seeing the looks of disgust on the faces of the two zombie girls, decided to finish up the story on as much of a high note as he could manage.

"…Of course, Hikari's life ended up becoming a lot more free after the Cult of Sinborn was busted by the police. She was taken in by her aunt, one of her few relatives in her extended family that did not see her as a living abomination. Even with the vastly extended freedom that she now had on her hands, Hikari was still a bit of a recluse, having grown rather accustomed to the shut-in lifestyle consisting mostly of playing video games. Hikari lived there with her aunt from that point on, up until she had a fatal asthma attack a few years ago. Thought the time that Hikari had left in her human life was short, it was truly her life."

Sakura and Saki both felt rather sorry that the life that Hikari had back when she was still alive was as terrible and confined as it was, that she only truly had the freedom she needed for just a few years before she had that fatal asthma attack. The two of them were also quite shocked that Hikari had literally not made a single friend over the course of her entire human life, having only video games to keep her going. It made the two of them happy to know that Hikari, who had been a part of Franchouchou since the beginning of the Saga Stories project, finally got to have the chance to socialize, to make friends.

…But at the same time, Sakura and Saki both felt bad about that, as it meant that Hikari had to literally die then be raised from the dead as a zombie in order to finally get what many would agree was a basic human need/right. It really says something if a person's quality of life actually improved by becoming a member of the living dead. The two girls both turned to look at their group's manager, with mildly concerned looks.

"The best thing that you and the rest of Franchouchou can do for Hikari," Kotaro began, able to tell ahead of time what the girls were going to ask him, "Is continue to be there and support her, just as the two of you have done for each other and for every other member of your actress troop. Continue with being a friend to Hikari as you have been doing so far, as you're literally some of the first real friends that Hikari has ever had."

"Right," Sakura nodded in agreement, with Saki nodding alongside her. Turning to face Saki, the long-haired zombie girl said, "Saki, we need to find Hikari right away."

"Got it," Saki replied as she followed Sakura out of the set room that everyone was in. As he watched Sakura and Saki depart, Kotaro felt that he had definitely made the right choice when he included Sakura among the girls that he had raised to help with the Saga Stories project.

A few days later, the day of the gaming tournament at the arcade had finally come. Both Saki and Hikari were excited, as they both had their eyes on some of the offered prizes. Sakura, as she had some investment to see Hikari develop past her history and become a better version of herself, decided to go to the arcade as well and watch her and Saki take part in the tournament to win some awesome prizes.

To Sakura's piqued interest, there was a few TV media vans parked outside of the arcade by the time she, Saki and Hikari had arrived. As they later found out from the arcade's manager, he had the idea of letting the media know that two of the zombie actresses from Saga Stories had been entered in the tournament today. He was hoping that, by associating his business with the widely popular undead cast of Saga Stories, his business would attract more patronage.

It didn't take too long after Sakura, Saki and Hikari saw the news media vans parked outside of the arcade for Kotaro, bringing some of his men and the rest of Franchouchou along for the ride, to pull up at the arcade, Kotaro and the other zombie girls in his van, and Kotaro's men in a few cars that they had. As the eccentric manager of Franchouchou had to work some stuff out with the arcade's manager, the ten zombie girls were all in the concession are of the arcade, with Lily, Ai and Junko even greeting some fans that came to the arcade just to see the zombie actresses.

While Lily and the undead idols did their thing, the other zombie girls were seated at a table, watching as Hikari pulled out her special hat and put it on. "I always wear this hat whenever I get into some serious gaming," the gamer zombie girl explained, "Especially if I'm entering some sort of competition, like the tournament."

"Tis an interesting hat, to be sure," Sigrid remarked as she downed a large cup of soda, wiping her lips with the back of her right wrist. Giving Hikari and Saki a curious look, the half-foreign zombie girl asked, "So you two, do you believe that Odin will guide you both to victory in this competition?"

Rolling her shoulders a little bit, Saki said, "Yeah, Hikari's been helping me get used to all of the changes here at the arcade. And the game that will be used for the tournament is actually one of the old games that I remember from back when I was still alive. Once I brushed up on it and got used to how it now uses arcade tokens rather than hundred-yen coins, all of my old skills from way back when came back to me." The delinquent zombie girl pounded a fist into her hand. "I'm so going to get that Tamagotchi."

As the other girls in Franchouchou reassured Saki that she would be doing well, they heard someone in the concession area said in a clearly German accent, "Hey, the lot of you all smell familiar to me." Aside from the still-distracted Lily and idols, the girls of Franchouchou all turned to see a teen boy, accompanied by a teen girl, walk up to them. The girl was wearing the girl's uniform for Azu-Daioh High, but the boy was dressed casually in what he later explained was his casual outfit.

"…Yeah, you're those zombie girls that Ginei had me do some recon on," the German boy said as he tapped the side of his nose, "A dragon's nose does not forget, nor can it be fooled."

"Draco here is one of the monster students attending Azu-Daioh High," the girl that was accompanying the boy, apparently named Draco, explained, "He's a dragon." To prove that the girl that was with him was right, Draco changed into a form that was his human self plus wings growing out of his back, a pair of horns growing out of his head, a large red scaly tail, and his hands and feet became draconic. Draco then changed back to normal.

Gesturing to Draco, Saki said with some suspicion, "What do you mean 'recon'?"

"Ginei hid at a beach one time and took pictures of you because he was doing a bounty job for a magazine of some kind," Draco explained, "He got the pictures and sold them, but he caught a whiff from you girls telling him that you weren't human despite how you looked. He later asked me to look into the matter, and I confirmed his suspicions that you girls were all some manner of undead-type monsters, zombies specifically."

"So it was your friend who took pictures of us while we had our bonfire on the beach," Yugiri remarked, giving Draco a judgmental look.

"I…suppose that you'll be wanting to speak to Ginei about it later," Draco remarked, "But as for me, I am a bit occupied since some of me and Osaka's classmates are entered in the tournament at this arcade."

"I'm Osaka, by the way," the girl accompanying Draco said, sounding somewhat excited, "Me and Draco's whole homeroom class is here to cheer on our classmates who had been entered into the tournament!"

As some of the zombie girls introduced themselves to Draco and Osaka, the latter being the only human in the conversation, Sakura suddenly stopped short, a look of realization on her face. "Oh! I heard that there was some old witch that was using magic to make a lot of the female students over at your school super chubby recently, and that the problem had since been fixed."

Osaka looked a bit concerned by what Sakura had mentioned, but Draco calmly nodded in the affirmative. "Ja. Me and the other boys in Azu-Daioh High's newspaper club tracked down that witched and destroyed her, breaking the curse she had cast and returning all of the girls that had been affected to normal."

"Geez, I knew that there were other kinds of monsters out there when Shades had all of us learn the Monster Glamour skill," Saki began, "But I had no idea that there were witches out there, not to mention assholes who take pictures of us and sell them to that Sagazine hellhole."

Draco would have said something, but before he got a word out the manager of the arcade called out that the tournament was about to start. Taking their cue, Saki and Hikari got up so that they could go play against the competition and win it big time. The rest of Franchouchou wished the two of them luck, while Osaka somewhat excitedly took Draco by his right arm and proceeded to drag him over to where the rest of their homeroom class from school was at.

The tournament had been a rather successful event for everyone as a whole. The arcade itself was particularly lucky to have gotten such notoriety on the local news, as it was Hikari, one of the popular undead actresses that had taken Japan by storm, who ended up winning the whole tournament. Saki ended up placing fifth overall, but this was actually some deliberate effort on her part, as the prize for fifth was the Tamagotchi that she sought. Hikari's prize was a special necklace that resembled a blue-gem amulet from a popular anime, also Hikari got a royal load of tokens for the arcade games.

The news reporters wanted to do some interviews with Saki and Hikari, so with Kotaro setting things up and keeping a close eye on the interviewing, the two zombie girls talked about the time that they had in the arcade. The news coverage ended up drawing a lot of attention to the arcade, and Kotaro even got an idea for a plot for an episode of Saga Stories that was based off of the girls' experience at the arcade.

That evening at the mansion, as the girls of Franchouchou, all of them in their zombie forms, were all relaxing after their time at the tournament today, Sakura, after having written about her experiences that day in her journal, looked over to see Saki sitting cross-legged on the floor in the futon room, giggling out of sheer delight and amusement as she fiddled with her Tamagotchi. "Well hot damn!" Saki exclaimed, clearly happy with something, "I didn't get an Oyajitchi!"

"Having fun?" Saki looked up from her prize when she heard Sakura call over to her. The delinquent zombie girl gave an amused grin, did the 'v for victory' hand sign as she held her Tamagotchi with her other hand.

"Heh, yeah," Saki replied, "Sorry for geeking out like I have Egghead, but this really takes me way back to when I was still human."

Sakura smiled in an understanding manner. "Well all have our ways, Saki," Sakura replied. Getting up, Sakura made her way over to where Saki sat, going on ahead and sitting down right next to her. After sitting down with Saki, Sakura looked over in one of the directions in the room, prompting Saki to follow Sakura's light of sight to see what it was she was looking at. To Saki's interest, Sakura was looking over to where Hikari sat cross-legged on the floor up against a wall near one of the windows in the futon room.

The gamer zombie girl was looking at a touch pad, with a pair of headphones that she was wearing plugged in to listen to something. The anime-inspired necklace that she won at the tournament today was worn around her neck. "…She has gone through a lot more than what we could have originally guessed, Saki," Sakura remarked, smiling in a comforted manner, "I'm just glad that she was able to get over the life that she had lived and become a better person." Turning to look at Saki, the long-haired zombie girl went on, "I was still surprised to learn about what all Hikari had gone though due to all of the circumstances that surrounded how she was brought into the world in the first place."

"Yeah, I want to find that greedy creep that Shades mentioned and punch him really, really hard in the face," Saki remarked in a mildly vengeful tone, "Maybe strike him square in his holy land with a combo-breaker kick while I'm at it."

Although Saki, as well as Sigrid, both tended to be physically violent when it came to standing up for their fellow zombie girls in Franchouchou, Sakura was still touched that the two resident tough girls were, in their own way, showing that they had the best interest of their fellow zombie girls in mind. Sakura had also seen how the other girls in Franchouchou were getting along with each other, was glad to see that they were starting to become like a family that had a strong bond which could not be broken.

…And now that family had their still-living loved ones, who were there for them if they needed it. The long-haired zombie girl was happy that she and the rest of Franchouchou had as much as they did; each other, their respective loved ones who were now back in their (un)lives, and there is no forgetting their vast fanbase, a fanbase that is seemingly legion. Taking everything into account, Sakura began to wonder if now, after all of the times that she has had, she had finally truly made it as an actress.

END, SAGA STORIES CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Author's notes:

This is the chapter that I had set up for Hikari, the last of the three additional zombie girls that were added to the mix all the way back in chapter one. Sure, Hikari took longer than either Sigrid or Ayumu to have her time in the spotlight, and Ayumu sort of had a second chapter before now. But now that some light has been shed on Hikari (heh), I can now get to work on progressing the storyline of this fic along.

Speaking of, the next chapter will see something that is a long time coming, with some of my other works having an influence. The build up took a while, but now I can finally get to work on hammering out a chapter that I knew I wanted to do, a chapter that will play a major role in more than just 'Saga Stories'. As a side note, I included a few references to how, in the series proper, Saki liked to game a bit, going to arcades and whatnot; I feel like her interest in gaming is a secondary aspect of her character, with Saki being a delinquent as her primary character aspect. Thus, it could be said that Hikari's primary aspect is her being something of a video game otaku. But more on that later.

I hope that you all will like what I have in store for next time.